Church-history of the government of bishops and their councils abbreviated including the chief part…

§. 51. Now cometh the Famous Pope John the Twelfth, the Son of Prince Albericus, the Son of the Famous Whore: A Child too. Saith Baronius and Binius, ¹(p. 1060.) Quanquam hiuc Legitima aetas aliaque omnia deessent quae inlegitimo Pontifice requiruntur, tamen accedente postea consensu totius. Cleri, visum est hunc potius esse Tolerandum quam Ecclesiam Schismate aliquo, quod alioquin exortum fuisset, dividendam. He wanted Natural and Moral Endowments; even All Things necessary to a Legitimate Pope, say they: And yet, the After-Consent of the Clergy made him Tolerable, &c. Qu. 1. But, Did that After-consent make him a true Bishop? 2. If not, Where is their Succession? 3. Did God authorize the Clergy, to consent to such a Man? Where? Prove it. 4. If not, Could their Consent make him a Bishop? Is not all Power of God? And, Doth God give it contrary to his Word? 5. Were not those Clergy-Men wicked themselves, that would do so? 6. Did those Doctors presume, that their Readers were such Fools, as not to know, that Forma non recipitur nisi in materiam dispositam? And that Ex quovis ligno non fit Mercurius. An Illiterate Man cannot be a School-Master: He that is no Christian, cannot be a Bishop; nor he that hath not the Qualifications essentially necessary. All the World cannot make a Physician, a Lawyer, a Divine, a true Pastor or Bishop, of an Idiot, an Infant, or a Man that wanteth Essential Dispositions. To say, he wanted all requisite Qualifications, and yet that he was a Bishop, is a Contradiction: Materia Disposita & Forma, being the Constitutive Causes. What if they had made a Bishop of a Turk, an Infidel, a Corps, ⟨p. 326⟩&c? Had it not been a Nullity, and profane Mockery? 7. What else signify all the Canons, that nullify Ordinations for less Faults? But the Image of a Bishop, will make but the Image or Carcass of a Church.

§. 51. Now cometh the Famous Pope Iohn the Twelfth, the Son of Prince Albericus, the Son of the Famous Whore: A Child too. Saith Baronius and Binius, ¹(p. 1060.) Quanquam hiuc Legitima aetas aliaque omnia deessent quae inlegitimo Pontifice requiruntur, tamen accedente postea consensu totius. Cleri, visum est hunc potius esse Tolerandum quam Ecclesiam Schismate aliquo, quod alioquin exortum fuisset, dividendam. He wanted Natural and Moral Endowments; even All Things necessary to a Legitimate Pope, say they: And yet, the After-Consent of the Clergy made him Tolerable, &c. Qu. 1. But, Did that After-consent make him a true Bishop? 2. If not, Where is their Succession? 3. Did God authorize the Clergy, to consent to such a Man? Where? Prove it. 4. If not, Could their Consent make him a Bishop? Is not all Power of God? And, Doth God give it contrary to his Word? 5. Were not those Clergy-Men wicked themselves, that would do so? 6. Did those Doctors presume, that their Readers were such Fools, as not to know, that Forma non recipitur nisi in materiam dispositam? And that Ex quovis ligno non fit Mercurius. An Illiterate Man cannot be a School-Master: He that is no Christian, cannot be a Bishop; nor he that hath not the Qualifications essentially necessary. All the World cannot make a Physician, a Lawyer, a Divine, a true Pastor or Bishop, of an Ideot, an Infant, or a Man that wanteth Essential Dispositions. To say, he wanted all requisite Qualifications, and yet that he was a Bishop, is a Contradiction: Materia Disposita & Forma, being the Constitutive Causes. What if they had made a Bishop of a Turk, an Infidel, a Corps,