Ú I_TITRODIICTION. infinite power; because great is the Lord, and great is his power, and of his greatness there is no end. ' 1 This is the doctrine which the leading theologue of their sect, their angelical doctor [Thomas Aquinas] affirms, both directly, saying that " in the pope is the top of both powers," and by plain conse- quence, asserting that " when any one is denounced excommunicated for apostasy, his subjects are immediately freed from his dominion, and their oath of allegiance to him." This the same Thomas (or an author passing under his name, in his book touching the Rule of Princes) teaches, affirming that the pope, "as supreme king of all the world, may impose taxes on all Christians, and destroy towns and castles for the preservation of Christianity." 5 This, as Cardinal Zabarella, near three hundred years ago, tells us, is the doctrine "which, for a long time, those who would please popes persuaded them, that they could do all things, whatever they pleased, yea, and things unlawful, and so could do more than God." According to this doctrine, then current at Rome, in the last La- teran great synod, under the pope's nose and in his ear, one bishop styled him " Prince oftheworld ;"5 anotherorator calledhim " King of kings, and monarch of the earth ; "s another great prelate said of him, that " he had all power above all powers, both of heaven and earth."' And the same roused up Pope LeoX. in these brave terms: "Snatch up, therefore, the two-edged sword of divine power com- mitted to thee, and enjoin, command, and charge that an universal 1 Scripsit egregiam summamde potestate ecclesim. Bell. de Script., anno 1301. Error est, non credere pontificem Rom. universalis ecclesise pastorem, Petri successorem, et Christi vicarium, supra temporalia et spiritualia universalem non habere primatum; in quem quandoque multi labuntur, dictse potestatis ignorantia ; qua, cum sit infinita, eo quadmagnus est Dominus, et magna virtus ejus, et magnitudinis ejus no est finis, omnis creatus intelleetus in ejus perscrutatione invenitur deficere.Aug. Triumph. de Potest. Eccl. inprcef. ad-P. Toh. XXII. 2 Thomas in fine Seeun. Sentent. dieit in papa esse apicemutriusque potestatis. Bell., vol. i. Quum quis per sententiam denunciatur propter apostasiam excommuni. catus, ipso facto ejus subditi a dominio, et juramento fidelitatis ejus liberati sunt. Th., ii. Secund. qu. 12, art. 2. 5 S. Thomas (in lib. iii. de Regim. Prins., cap. 10, 19) affirmat summum pontificem jure divino habere spiritualem et temporalem potestatem, ut supremum totius mundi regem, adeo ut etiam taleas omnibus Christianis possit imponere, et civitates ac castra destruere proconservation Christianitatis.Bell., vol. v. ' Qum jura aunt notanda, quia male considerata aunt per multos assentatores, qui voluerunt placerepontificibus, per multa retro tempora, et usque ad hodierna suaserunt eis, quod omnia possent; et sic quod facerent quicquid liberet, etiam illicita, et sic plus quamDeus.Zab. de Schism. [This blasphemous sentiment, which Zabarella ascribes to the flatterers, " assentatores," of the pope, has been sometimes erroneously quoted as the cardinal's own opinion.-En.] 5 Orbis princeps.Epiee. Spal., sess. i. p. 24. e Regum rex, et orbis terrarummonarcha. Del Rio, sess. viii. p. 87. 7 - virum, in quo erat potestas supra omnes potentates, tam coeli, quam term Epise. Patras., sess. x. p. 132.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=