Barrow - BX1805 .B3 1852

22 INTRODUCTION. from the same shop with the high Hildebrandine Dictates; for the oath in the Decretals is ascribed to Pope Gregory (I suppose Gre- gory VII.) And in the sixth Roman synod, under Gregory VII., there is an oath of like tenor exacted from the bishop of Aquileia, perhaps occasionally, which, in pursuance of that example, might be extended to all' And that before that time such oaths were not imposed appears from hence, that when Pope Paschal II. required them from some great bishops (the bishop of Palermo and the archbishop of Poland), they wondered and boggled at it, as an uncouth novelty; nor does the pope, in favour ofhis demand, allege any ancient precedent, but only proposes some odd reasons for it "You have signified unto me, most dear brother, that the king and his nobles exceedingly wondered that an oath with such a condition should be everywhere offered you by my commissioners, and thatyou should take that oath, which I had written and they tendered to you."' § VI. All Romanists, in consistence with their principles, seem obliged to hold this opinion concerning the pope's universal power: for, seeing many of their standing masters and judges of controver- sies have so expressly from their chair declared and defined it, all the row for many ages consenting to it and countenancing it, not one of them having signified any dissent or dislike of it; and con- sidering that if in any thing theymay require or deserve belief, it is in this point (for in what are they more skilful and credible than about the nature of their own office? " What," saith Bellarmine wisely, "may they be conceived to knowbetter than the authorityof their own see?"4) seeing it has been approved by their most great and famous councils, which they hold universal, and which their adored synod of Trent alleges for such (the Lateran under Pope Innocent III., that of Lyons under Pope Innocent IV., the other Lateran under Pope Leo X.) ; seeing it has been current among their divines of greatest vogue and authority, the great masters of their school; seeing, by so large a consent and concurrence during so long a time, it may pretend (much better than diversother points of great importance) to be confirmedby tradition or prescription, why should it not be admitted for a doctrine of the holy Roman church, "the Mother and Mistress of all churches?" How can they who disavow this notion be true sons of that mother, or faithful scholars of that mistress?how can they acknowledge any au- 1 Greg. Decret., lib. ii. tit. 24, cap. 4. Coned. Rom vi., spud Bin., p. 489. 2 Decret. Greg., lib. i. tit. 6, cap. 4. s Significasti, frater charissime, regem et regni majores admiration permotos, quod passim tibi apocrisiariis nostris tali conditione oblatum fuerit, si sacramentum, quad a nobis scriptum detulerant, jurares. P. Pasch. II., Ep. 4 Ipsis prsecipue debet esse nota sun sedis authoritas.Bell., iv. 3.

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