deniers of the immortality, Simonists, Sorcerers, maintainers of filthiness, and other obstinate and wilful heretikes may err, then-it is easily seen that the Pope may err." "Verily the Council of Basil saith thus: It is reported and read that many Popes have fallen into errors and heresies; it is certain that the Popes may erre: the Councel hath oftentimes condemned and removed the Pope, in respect as well of his heresie in Faith, as of his lewdness in life." (r) POPES SIMONIACKS.-The EVIDENCE of this would fill a volume: Platina states it repeatedly that the PONTIFICATE was obtained by the BASEST PURCHASE. (s) Dr. Whitby gives the following Authorities as to the 11th Century. "Glaber, the Monk, informs us that the Emperor Henry the second, having convened all his Archbishops and Bishops in France and Germany, told them, 'That ALL ECCLESIASTICAL DEGREES, even from the Popedom to the doorkeepers, were oppressed with DAMNABLE SIMONY, and that this SPIRITUAL ROBBERY obtained in all places; and that the Bishops not being able to deny this charge, fled to the Emperor's mercy, who said to them, go your way, and what you have unlawfully obtained, endeavour to dispose of well." 66 Century 12. St. Bernard in his commentary on Psalm 19th, saith, 'That the OFFICES of Ecclesiastical Dignity are turned into FILTHY LUCRE, and a work of darkness.' In his oration of the conversion of St. Paul, he adds, 'That now all ecclesiastical degrees are given as an occasion of filthy lucre.' In his book of considerations written to Pope Eugenius, he insinuates, that 'Ambitious, covetous, sacrilegious, SIMONIACAL, INCESTOUS PERSONS, FORNICATORS, and such like MONSTERS OF MANKIND, FLOWED from all parts of the world to ROME, that by the APOSTOLICAL AUTHORITY they either might obtain, or keep ecclesiastical honours,' and puts this question to the Pope, 'Who is there of that whole great City, who received thee as a Pope, without the intervention of some price, or hopes of some price;' 'these' saith he, 'are rather PASTORS of DEVILS, than of sheep.". Century 13. Matthew Paris speaking of the miserable state of the Church of England, saith, 'then Simony was committed without shame.'" Century 14. Marsilius of Padua, saith, 'That men ignorant of the holy Scriptures, undisciplined, and notoriously criminal, were placed in the highest thrones of the church by Simony: That they who have visited the church of Rome, may see plainly, and they who were never there, may learn from an infinite number of men of credit, that it is become a receptacle of all rogues and trickers, for all wares both spiritual and temporal. For what is there but a concourse of simoniacks from all places.'” (t) 66 66 (r) Defense of the Apology, Part 6, p. 536, &c., ed. 1609. (s) Vid. Platina de Vitis Pontif. pp. 75, 79, 88, 103, 125, 126, 137, 139, 143, 147, 149, &c. &c. fol. ed. Colon. 1562. (t) Whitby's Sermons, No. 11, Appendix, 8vo. Prideaux, (supposed to be the learned Bishop of Worcester,) numbers amongstthe Popes "38 USURPING NIMRODS; 40 LUXURIOUS SODOMITES; 40 EGYPTIAN MAGITIANS, 41 DEVOURING ABADDONS; 20 INCURABLE BABYLONIANS." (u) Prideaux was a staunch churchman. A few extracts from him will shew the reader his opinion more in detail. 66 66 We have seen that he acknowledges no certainty is to be had" as to the Personal Succession of the early Bishops of Rome; and, in the close of Section 3, he asks, “Whether that SUCCESSION may conduce to the Pope's Supremacy, which FAULTERETH and FAILETH in the FIRST FOUNDATION ?"-Dr. Hook keeps hold of Rome up to Vitalianus. Now it is somewhat ominous that Vitalianus is the very Pope in whose reign, as Prideaux remarks, the number of the Beast, 666, was completed. His words are "THEODORUS a Greek, and one Hadrian an African, are sent hither into ENGLAND by him to bring in the LATIN Service, being the year 666, JUST THE NUMBER of the BEAST; of which the word λατεινος and εκκλεσια ιταλικα (by Baleus reckoning) give a shrewd account." This Theodore was made Archbishop of Canterbury, and brought into England the service of the beast, if PRIDEAUX and Bale (both Bishops) were right. Through him Dr. Hook traces his spiritual descent! "Here about the year 666 (the number of the Apocalypticall Beast) Phocas the Parricide, that slew his master Mauritius; Boniface (Pope) the purchaser of Supremacy, of that Villain by Simony; and Mahomet the grand Imposter, break forth together." (v) "Boniface VII.," Baronius saith, was rather a THIEF, a MURTHERER, and a TRAITOR to his country, than a Pope." (w) His inquiries at the end of section 7, are such as the following, "Whether Morozias and her Daughter's Pope-making discovereth not the skirt of the Whore of Babylon? Whether Bastards, Bribers, and Atheists, may be acknowledged for Christ's Vicars, or St. Peter's Successors? Whether Boniface the VII., robbing the Church treasury, and purchasing with it afterwards the Popedom which he had forfeited, include not in it Sacrilege and Symony?" (x) Again: "Now comes Hildebrand, the Hetrurian (A.D. 1075) under the name of Gregory the VII., without any election of Emperours or Clergy, but only by his own intrusion. He had poisoned some six or seven Popes, by Brazutus before he could get the Popedom himself." (y) In concluding section 8, "In the compass of this period are found, besides a knot of conjurers, and poisoners, a crew of Devilish Rebels abusing Religion to varnish their damnable designs." Maximilian, (A.D. 1510.) the Emperor, was wont to say, "O eternal God, if thou shouldest not watch over us, how ill would it go with the world which we govern? I a miserable hunter, and that drunkard and wicked (Pope) Julius.” (z) Dante's splendid Poetry shall relieve this tedious and disgusting detail about these Apostolical Successors. Dante, who belonged to the Church of Rome, unceremoniously places some of the Popes in hell, suffering the torments of the damned, for leading others into sin and to hell: "Ah! why delude a tortur'd soul !"* he cry'd, But if a strong desire my doom to know, Led your advent'rous feet so far below, Know, late I reign'd o'er Rome in mitred pride : Orsini claims my blood-illustrious name ! Till Boniface forsakes the hallow'd throne. I fondly thought my proud successor come, Your salutation caus'd the sad mistake: (And view with straining eye the nether deep) "Soon haughty Boniface his vigil ends, As Jason gain'd of old the Syrian Lord, He ceased-my fervent zeal o'ercame my fear, In scorn, I question'd, " Say, when JESUS grac'd Follow my footsteps, was his sole request. "This was the spirit of Pope Nicholas the third, of the family of Orsini, a great Simonist.He addresses Dante in this extraordinary manner, thinking him the spirit of Boniface the eighth, sent to take his place." Boyd's Note. Or from his station when Iscariot fell, To buy the empty seat for sums of gold ?— And how THY WOLVES destroy'd the hallow'd fold! Inferno. Canto 19. "This unsophisticated word alone The first Disciples spread from zone to zone; Proud of the saintly cowl, with haughty mien Would show his visage to the wond'ring crowd, And crimes, like locusts, spread a living cloud." Paradiso Canto 29, Boyd's Translation. R SECTION XII. POPISH ORDINATIONS OF ENGLISH BISHOPS BEFORE THE REFORMATION. In this Section we shall shew that Episcopal ordinations in the ENGLISH CHURCH came through the sink of iniquity, PARTLY exhibited in the preceding Sections. These discoveries are forced upon us by the arrogant and exclusive pretensions of high church Episcopalians. An attempt is sometimes made to refer to the British Churches, as though the present Episcopal ordinations derived from them. The British Bishops, as exhibited by the venerable Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of Britain, were such men as never were surpassed since the days of the Apostles. Their simple manners, deep piety, and Apostolical labours, deserve our highest admiration. The constitutiou of their Ministry was, in my opinion, the most perfectly scriptural and Apostolical of any that ever came under my observation. What was called the Monastery, was a College of Men of God. They were ruled by a Company of Seniors, Elders, or Presbyters. One, as the Chief, was head over the rest; but he was no Bishop. Bede expressly says, that Columba, the Abbot, who was the head over the whole, was a Monk and a Presbyter, but no Bishop." (a) The assembly of Elders, with the Abbot at their head, ruled the whole, and made the Bishops. Speaking of their proceedings in the case of the celebrated Bishop Aidan, Bede says, "Thus MAKING him BISHOP, THEY sent him forth to preach." (b) The Bishops, when made, were subject to the same authority. The Bishops, indeed, were the immediate Pastors of a certain place or town; and the Seniors or Presbyters were the Sanhedrim, Senate, Council, or Governors of the whole. But then all this is in full proof that Bishops amongst them were no superior order to Presbyters. All orders among them were properly Presbyterian; for though the Bishop had power to ordain, and did usually ordain, in his district, yet his own ordination was ONLY PRESBYTERIAN; and therefore he could communicate nothing more than he had received. Bp. Lloyd ineffectually endeavoured to disprove this. These men of God had laboured 20 years, and with great success, before ever the Monk Augustin set foot in Britain. It is a mysterious Providence that that ambitious, persecuting, and corrupting church, (for such it even then was,) should have been allowed to oppress and scatter a (a) Bede's Church History of Great Britain, Book 3, chap. 4, Dr. Stapleton's Translation. (b) B. 3, chap. 5. |