§ 8. THE PAPAL OFFICE ASSAILED. 75
give sins and to punish. No bishop or priest has a right to excommunicate or interdict individual freedom without the consent of the peojile or its representative, the civil legislator. The power to inflict punishments inheres in the congregation "of the faithful" — fidelium. Christ said, "if thy brother offend against thee, tell it to the Church." He did not say, tell it to the priest. Heresy may be detected as heresy by the priest, but punishment for heresy belongs to the civil official and is determined upon the basis of the injury likely to be done by the offence to society. According to the teaching of the Scriptures, no one can be compelled by temporal punishment and death to observe the precepts of the divine law.^
General councils are the supreme representatives of the Christian body, but even councils may_err. In them laymen should sit as well as clerics. Councils alone have the right to canonize saints.
As for the pope, he is the head of the Church, not by divine appointment, but only as he is recognized by the sjbate. The claim he makes to fulness of power, plenitudo potestatis, contradicts the true nature of the Church. To Peter was committed no greater authority than was committed to the other Apostle^. 2 Peter can be called the Prince of the Apostles only on the ground that he was older than the rest or more steadfast than they. He was the bishop of Antioch, not the founder of the Roman bishopric. Nor is his presence in Rome susceptible of proof. The pre-eminence of the bishop of Rome depends upon the location of his see at the capital of the empire. As for sacerdotal power, the pope has no more of it than any other cleric, as Peter had no more of it than the other Apostles.^
The grades of the hierarchy are of human origin. Bishops
1 Ad observanda proecepta divince legis poena vel supplicio temporali nemo evangelica scriptura compeUi prcecipitur. Part III. 3.
2 Nullam potestatem eoque minus coactivam jiirisdictionem habiiit Petrtis a Deo immediate super apostolos reliquos, II. 15. This is repeated again and again.
^ Nan plus sacerdotalis auctoritatis essentialis habet Rom. episcopus, quam alter sacerdos quilibet sicut neque beatus Petrus amplius ex hoc habuit ceteris apostolis, II. 14.
76 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
and priests were originally equal. Bishops derive their authority immediately from Christ.
False is the pope's claim to jurisdiction over princes apd nations, a claim which was the fruitful source of national strifes and wars, especially in Italy. If necessary, the emperor may depose a pope. This is proved by the judgment passed by Pilate upon Christ. The state may, for proper reasons, limit the number of clerics. The validity of Constautine's donation Marsiglius rejected, as Dante and John of Paris had done before, but he did not surmise that the Isidorean decretals were an unblushing forgery, a discovery left for Laurentius Valla to make a hundred years later.
As for the Scriptures, Marsiglius declares them to be the ultimate source of autlioiity. They do not derive that authority from the Church. The Church gets its authority from them. In cases of disputed interpretation, it is for a general council to settle what the true meaning of Scripture is.^ Obedience to papal decretals is not a condition of salvation. If that were so, how is it that Clement V. could make the bull Unam sanctam inoperative for France and its king? Did not that bull declare that submission to the pope is for every creature a condition of salvation ! Can a pope set aside a condition of salvation? The case of Liberius proves that popes may be heretics. As for the qualifications of bishops, archbishops, and patriarchs, not one in ten of them is a doctor of theology. Many of the lower clergy are not even acquainted with grammar. Cardinals and popes are chosen not from the ranks of theologians, but lawyers, causidici. Youngsters are made cardinals who love pleasure and are ignorant in studies.
Marsiglius quotes repeatedly such passages as " My kingdom is not of this world," John 17 : 36, and " Render unto Cfesar the things which are Caesar's ; and to God the things which are God's," Matt. 22 : 21. These passages and others, such as John 6 : 15, 19 : 11, Luke 12 : 14, Matt. 17 : 27, Rom. 13, he opposes to texts which were falsely interpreted to the advantage of the hierarchy, such as Matt. 16 : 19, Luke 22 : 38, John 21 : 15-17.
^ Interpretatio ex communi concilio fidelium facta, etc., Part III. 1.