1 and life was blameless, were wont boldly to affirm, that the Papal Church, whose decrees and edicts were at that time considered oracular, was that very Whore of Babylon and Assemblage of Devils so clearly foretold in the Revelations. I am aware that the authority of these men possesses little weight with our adversaries, and shall therefore produce witnesses whom they themselves hold in the highest esteem and veneration. What if I say that *Pope Adrian himself frankly confessed that all those evils which have afflicted the Church emanated from the Papal Throne? Pighius does not deny that they committed a great error in suffering so many abuses in the Mass, which nevertheless in other respects he considers most Holy. Gerson laments that the multitude of idle and ridiculous Ceremonies which had crept into the Church, had utterly destroyed all that Piety which ought to dis Heretiques; therefore were they condemned by the Churche of Rome. But Goddes Name be blessed for ever, Sithence that time the Pope's painted power hath stil abated; and these poore detestable condemned Heretiques have stil encreased. The Defence of the Apologie, p. 454. * Johan Sleidanus, lib. iv. Anno 1523. Also Fasciculus rerum sciendarum, Cornelius Bitontinus in Concilio Tridentino, and Platina's Life of Adrian. * tinguish it; and that the power of the Holy Spirit no longer flourished amongst them. In a word, all Greece and Asia complained that the Popes of Rome, by their Doctrine of Purgatory and Sale of Indulgences, had offered violence to the consciences and prejudices of men, and at the same time robbed them of their money. The Tyranny also of the Roman Pontiffs, and their abominable Persian-like pride, has excited the indignation of all men; for (not to mention those who from their having openly and freely. exposed the vicious habits of the Papists may be considered by them as enemies) Laurentius Valla, Marsilius Patavinus, Francis Petrarch, # Surely, the Christian menne, that be this daie in Græcia, and Asia, utterly abhor the Pope, with all the deformities of his Churche. The Greeke Emperour Michael Palæologus, for that he had submitted himself to the Pope, in the late Councel of Florence, was therefore afterwards abhorred and hated of his People, while he lived; and being deade, was forbidden Christian Burial. Isidorus the Archbishop of Kiouw in Russia, for that, being returned from the said Councel, he beganne for unities sake, to move the people to the like submission, was therefore deposed from his Bishopricke, and put to deathe. The Defence of the Apologie, p. 457. *Paulus Emilius, Pantaleon. Jerome Savanarola, Abbas Joachim, Baptista Mantuanus, and more particularly St. Bernard, all of whom resided at Rome! in the Sacred City! under the eyes of the most Holy Father!! and were intimately acquainted with his most private habits and above all, who never apostatized from the Romish Faith: these very men I say have not scrupled on some occasions publicly to assert (whether truly or falsely I cannot say) that the Pope himself is Antichrist.* * St. John in the Revelations says, Antichrist shall sit in a City built on Seven Hills. This observes the Bishop is the case with Rome. Gregory the Great, St. Jerome, and St. Bernard, frequently make allusions to the Roman Pontiff as Antichrist. The latter positively declares, that "the Beast spoken of in the book of Revelations, unto which is given a mouth to speak blasphemies, and to wage war against the Saints of God, is now seated in St. Peter's Chair, as a Lion prepared for his Prey. Epistola. cxxv. The Abbot Joachim, nearly six centuries ago, declared that "Antichrist was already born in Rome, and would advance himself higher in the Apostolic See." And Arnulphus, when addressing the Council of Rheims on the subject of the Pope, said, "What think you, Reverend Fathers, of this man, sitting on high on his throne, glittering in purple, and Cloth of Gold? Whom think you that he is? Verily, if he is destitute of Charity, and puffed up with vain conceits of his own knowledge and importance, then is he Antichrist, sitting in the temple of God, and exalting himself as if he were God." In consilio Rheim. Inter Opera Bernardi. Nor can any one pretend that these men were the disciples of Luther or Zuinglius: for they lived not only some years, but even ages before the names of the latter were heard of. They saw however at that early period that errors had crept into the Church, and were anxious to reform them. And why should we be surprized at the existence of these errors? more especially at a period when neither the Bishop of Rome, who at that time was the sole Head of the Church, nor indeed any other person, either did or even knew his duty? for no one can for a moment suspect that the Devil during all that period remained inactive, and participated in the negligence and sloth of these Idlers. * So keenly indeed did the Popes feel these attacks, which were made by Poets and Philosophers, as well as Divines, (for instance, Dante, Petrarch, and others,) that a Bull was issued at the second Lateran Council, subjecting every one who spoke of the coming of Antichrist to Excommunication. Concil. Lateran. sub Julio et Leone. Sessio. ii. Let it shame the Successors of the Apostles, saith St. Bernard, not to be the Lights of the world, but the Light of the Bushell. Let us therefore say unto them, ye are the Darkness of the world. In Cantica, Serm. lxvi. St. Hilary tells us, that the Churches, in which God's word does not prevail and keep watch, suffer shipwreck. In Matt. Canon. viii. Not to trouble our readers with our own remarks on the moral habits and lives of these men, and the fidelity with which they guarded the Interests of God's House, we will introduce the words of their own friend and Advocate, St. Bernard; "The Bishops to whom the Church of Christ is now entrusted, are not Teachers but Deceivers, not Pastors but Impostors, not Prelates but Pilates.* Such was St. Bernard's opinion of him who then assumed the title of Sovereign Pontiff, and of those Bishops who sat with him at the Helm.† He was no Lutheran; he was no Heretic; he had not forsaken their And our Saviour exhorted his disciples to come with diligence, in the parable of the Sower. Whilst men slept, the enemy came and sowed tares. Watch therefore and pray. Matt. xiii, 25. The antithesis which conveys so much force to the expressions in the original, cannot be adequately preserved in a translation; the words of St. Bernard are-non doctores, sed seductores, non pastores, sed impostores: non Prælati, sed Pilati. Epistola ad Eugenium. + St. Bernard's opinion of the abuses in the Church of Rome was by no means singular: for one of their own Cardinals applies the words of the Prophet Jeremiah * to the Clergy of that period. A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; The Prophets prophesy falsely, and the Priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so. Johannes Vitalis de Prælatis et Sacerdotibus. * Jer. v. 30, 31. |