25. Laurentius Valla, Marsilius Patavinus, Franciscus Petrarcha, Hieronymus Savonarola, Abbas Joachimus, Baptista Mantuanus, and before them all, St. Bernard, have very often grievously complained of the Tyranny and Persian Pride of the Bishops of Rome, and have not obscurely hinted (whether true or falsely, I will not inquire) that the Pope was Antichrist; not to mention a number of others, who, because they have freely and ingenuously reprehended the Vices of the Popes, will perhaps be numbered by them amongst their Enemies; but all these I have named, lived either at Rome it self, or under the eyes of these most Holy Fathers, and were intimately acquainted with their way of living, and did never depart from their Catholic Faith. Neither can any man object that these were Lutherans or Zwinglians, for they lived not only some few years, but some entire Ages before the Names of these Men were heard of in the World; and they saw also even then, that Errors were crept into the Church, and desired they might be amended. And where was the Wonder if the Church fell into some Errors in those times, in which neither the Bishop of Rome, who alone had ⟨p. 76⟩the chiefest Management of Affairs, or almost any other Persons either did; or indeed understood what was their Duty; for it is not credible, that in that time, in which they were so idle and drowsy, the Devil was perpetually a sleep or idle too. For what kind of men they were, and with what fidelity they took care of the House of God; tho we are silent, they may be pleased to hear their own St. Bernard. Those Bishops (saith he) to whom the Church of God is now committed, are not Teachers, but Seducers; not Pastors, but Impostors; not Prelates, but Pilates. Thus St. Bernard wrote then of him that called himself the Great Pontiff, and of the Bishops, who then sate at the Helm. He was no Heretic, he was no Lutheran, he never forsook their Church, and yet he never stuck at calling those Bishops they then had, Seducers, Impostors, Pilates. And now when the People were openly seduced, and Christians imposed upon, and Pilate mounted the Tribunal and adjudged Christ and his Members to the Fire and Sword; O good God! in what condition was the Church then? And now of so many and such gross Errors, what one Error have they reformed to this day? yea, what one Error have they at any time acknowledged and confessed.
25. Laurentius Valla, Marsilius Patavinus, Franciscus Petrarcha, Hieronymus Savanarola, Abbas Joachimus, Baptista Mantuanus, and before them all, St. Bernard, have very often grievously complain'd of the Tyranny and Persian Pride of the Bishops of Rome, and have not obscurely hinted (whether true or falsly, I will not inquire) that the Pope was Antichrist; not to mention a number of others, who, because they have freely and ingenuously reprehended the Vices of the Popes, will perhaps be numbred by them amongst their Enemies; but all these I have named, lived either at Rome it self, or under the eyes of these most Holy Fathers, and were intimately acquainted with their way of living, and did never depart from their Catholick Faith. Neither can any man object that these were Lutherans or Zuinglians, for they lived not only some few years, but some intire Ages before the Names of these Men were heard of in the World; and they saw also even then, that Errors were crept into the Church, and desired they might be amended. And where was the Wonder if the Church fell into some Errors in those times, in which neither the Bishop of Rome, who alone had ⟨p. 76⟩the chiefest Management of Affairs, or almost any other Persons either did; or indeed understood what was their Duty; for it is not credible, that in that time, in which they were so idle and drowsie, the Devil was perpetually a sleep or idle too. For what kind of men they were, and with what fidelity they took care of the House of God; tho we are silent, they may be pleased to hear their own St. Bernard. Those Bishops (saith he) to whom the Church of God is now committed, are not Teachers, but Seducers; not Pastors, but Impostors; not Prelates, but Pilates. Thus St. Bernard wrote then of him that call'd himself the Great Pontiff, and of the Bishops, who then sate at the Helm. He was no Heretick, he was no Lutheran, he never forsook their Church, and yet he never stuck at calling those Bishops they then had, Seducers, Impostors, Pilates. And now when the People were openly seduced, and Christians imposed upon, and Pilate mounted the Tribunal and adjudged Christ and his Members to the Fire and Sword; O good God! in what condition was the Church then? And now of so many and such gross Errors, what one Error have they reformed to this day? yea, what one Error have they at any time acknowledged and confessed.
