APOSTASY OB^ THE ROMISH CHURCH. 231
bishops; and I wish they bad been liberal only of what was their own. And what was the reason of their so doing? Because the city was "imperial:" in which one sentence, both their supremacy and the grounds of it are discarded and virtually condemned ; for their pre- tensions are utterly inconsistent with this synodical determination. They proceed: For the same I'eason, Ta l<sa 'TrpidZiTa. a':rivii[j.av rOj Trig "^as 'Fui/mtjs ayt'ararui '^povjj, iuXoycog zphavrsg tyiv (iadiXi'ia -/.ai euy- xX^roj rifjLyjh/'ffav rroXiv, y.ai ruiv 'iCMV d-roXauoi/Cai' 'zpitsZuoiv rfi 'rpisQurspa (SasiXidi 'Fu),'j.7i, xa/ sv roTg sxzXriffiuGTr/.oTg- — " They" (the hundred and fifty bishops) " assigned the same or equal privileges unto the holy see of new Rome ; rightly determining that the city which is honoured with the empire and senate shoidd enjoy equal privileges in things ecclesiastical with the ancient queen-Rome,"^ or Rome-regent of old. Is not your present supremacy here sufficiently condemned, and that by as famous a council as ever the Christian world enjoyed? And it will not avail you that you fell into this heresy fully afterward, and not before the determination of this council : for he that falls into a heresy after the determination of a council is no less condemned therein than he that fell into it before, and gave occasion to the sen- tence; yea, his guilt is the greater of the two, because he despised the sentence which he knew, which the other, it may be, neither did nor could foresee. I gave you an instance before how it is con- demned and written against by the British church here in this island, and many more instances of the same nature might be added.
The Hildebrandine branch of your supremacy, — I mean the power that you challenge over kings and potentates, " in ordine ad spiritu- alia," — which, having made some progxess by insensible degrees, was enthroned by Pope Gregory VII., hath as little escaped opposition, censure, and condemnation, as any heresy whereinto your church is fallen. This Gregory may be accounted the chief father of this heresy; for he licked the unshapen monster into that terrible form wherein it hath since ranged about on the earth. What this man's principles and j^ractices were, I shall not desire you to learn of Cardinal Benno, whom yet I have reason to judge the more impartial writer of the two, but of Cardinal Baronius, who makes it his business to extol him to the skies: " Facit eum apud nos deum, virtutes narrat," — " He makes almost a god of him ; " or at least ^ihv a]/hpa., as Socrates tells us the Lacedemonians called an excellent man, Plato in Menu. The chief kingdoms of Europe, as England and Spain, with Sicilia and Sardinia, and sundry other principalities, he claimed as his own unquestionable fee. The empire he accounted his proper care, making the deposing of emperors much of his business. The
» This trauslation is accommodated from the original terms of the canon. To give the full meaning, the Greek quotation slioiild be completed by the addition of the fol- lowing words: u; txiiv/iv fnyccXunnr^xi ■Trpciyf/.Kirt. — Ed.
232 A VINDICATION OF THE ANIMADVERSIONS ON FIAT LUX.
principles he proceeded upon, the same cardinal informs us of in his Annals, ad an. 1076, n. 80. And he hath done well to record them, that they might be preserved " in perpetuam rei memoriam," that we might learn what your great father exercised himself about, —
"Diini succus pecori et lac subducitur agnis," Virg. Ec. iii. 6, Avhilst the poor sheep famished for want of knowledge and instruc- tion. They are called " Dictata Papas," and " ex tripode" we may not doubt, being in number twenty-seven ; whereof I shall mind you of a few. The first is, " Quod Romana ecclesia a solo Domino sit fundata;" — "That the Roman church was founded by the Lord alone." (2.) "Quod solus Romanus pontifex jure dicatur universalis ;" — " That the Roman bishop is rightfully called universal." So some think, indeed, ever since Pope Gregory I. taught them that he who assumed that title was a forerunner of antichrist. (8.) " Quod ille solus possit deponere episcopos, vel reconciliare;" — "That he alone can depose bishops, or restore them;" which agrees well with the practice of all the councils from that of Antioch, which deposed Paulus Samosatenus. (7.) " Quod illi soli licet, pro temporis necessi- tate, novas leges condere;" — "That he alone, as necessity requires, can make new laws." Let him proceed. (8.) " Quod solus possit uti im- perialibus insigniis;" — " He alone can use imperial ensigns." It is a great kindness in him, doubtless, to lend them to any of his neigh- bours, or rather subject-kings. (9.) " Quod solius papge pedes omnes principes deosculentur;" — " That it is the pope alone whose feet all princes may or ought to kiss." Yea, and it is a kindness if he kick not their crowns from their heads with his foot, as one did our King John's; or tread upon their necks, as another did on the Emperor Frederic's." (11.)" Quod unicum est nomen in mundo, — papas scilicet;" — " That there is only one name in the world, — to wit, that of the pope;" no other name, it seems, given under heaven. Once more, (12.) " Quod illi liceat Imperatores deponere;" — " That it is lawful for him to depose emperors." I hope you will not be offended at the calling over these heresies because the so doing is not suited to our j^iesent design. I took them out of your Cardinal Baronius, in the place above quoted, who hath placed them as on a pillar, V. D. P. L. P.,^ — " Where they may be easily read by all men." And that you may not think that these were the heresies of Gregory alone, the same Baronius affirms that these Dictates were confirmed in a synod at Rome, whereby they became the heresies of your Avhole church. Did Peter thus feed the sheep of Christ ? seeing " Pasce oves meas," is the great pretence for all these exorbitances. Alas, —