The apology of the Church of England, and an epistle to one Seignior Scipio…

all we, the Ecclesiastical Prelates (saith he) have declined every one into his way, and there is not now one that doth good, no, not one. Albertus Pighius confesseth, that in the very Mass, which they will have to be most sacred, and in which they place the Centre of all the Christian Religion, there may be found Abuses and Errors. And why should Words be multiplied? I omit other Witnesses, for they are almost infinite; many Councils have been held since that time, and Bishops assembled; and the Synod of Basil was expressly called, as they then pretended, for the Reformation of the whole Clergy; but notwithstanding, from that time forward, Errors increased every where, and the Corruptions of the Clergy became twice more than they were before.

all we, the Ecclesiastical Prelates (saith he) have declined every one into his way, and there is not now one that doth good, no, not one. Albertus Pighius confesseth, that in the very Mass, which they will have to be most sacred, and in which they place the Center of all the Christian Religion, there may be found Abuses and Errors. And why should Words be multiplied? I omit other Witnesses, for they are almost infinite; many Councils have been held since that time, and Bishops assembled; and the Synod of Basil was expresly call'd, as they then pretended, for the Reformation of the whole Clergy; but notwithstanding, from that time forward, Errors increased every where, and the Corruptions of the Clergy became twice more than they were before.

17. THE Cardinals who were nominated and chosen by Pope Paul the III. to consider the State of the Church, gave in this Answer, That there were many things faulty in the Church, and especially in the Manners of the Bishops and inferior Clergy; that the Bishops were lazy, and did not teach the People, feed the Flock, or take care of the Vineyard; that they lived in the Courts of Princes, and were rarely resident; that there was sometimes three, and at others, four Bishoprics held in commendam by one Cardinal, which tended very much to the Damage of the Church: for those multiplied Offices (as they ⟨p. 166⟩said) were not compatible or to be held together (nor could be well managed by any one person) and that all the Cloistered Orders should be banished out of the Church. After this, there was a Council at Trent; but did the Bishops from that time begin to feed the Flock? or did they cease from their former Non-residence, or abstain from frequenting the Courts of Princes? did the Cardinals cease from multiplying Bishoprics? or was any care taken that the Church might have no damage by it? were the Conventual Orders diminished? is Religion reformed amongst them? what occasion then was there that so many Bishops should be assembled from very distant places, or should to no purpose deliberate so many years concerning the Reformation of the Church? this in truth is just as if the Pharisees should pretend to restore the Temple of God to its former Sanctity.