manhood in the Eucharist-they deny Him by nullifying the efficacy of his covenant relations-by qualifying, and therefore deposing him from, His threefold office of prophet, priest, and king. f In conjunction with this, let us examine, have the rights of the incarnate God, exercising headship over His church, been ever assumed by the Bishop of Rome? Have the attributes of deity been ever claimed by him, or ascribed to him by his adherents? I. As to titles; he is termed, during his election, "The Vicar of Jesus Christ,' The Key-keeper of the Court of Heaven, and Prince of all Christendom." Cardinal Bellarmine avers," that every title which is in Scripture given to Christ, appertains also to the Pope; and, to guard against misapprehension, he makes a copious enumeration of them"; thus he is styled " Pastor Ovilis Dominici," and "Rector domus Dei," nay, while Christ is termed "Pontifex," (Heb. iii. 1,) the Pope appears to us" as "Pontifex SUMMUS; though Christ be "the foundation," the Pope is joined" with him as "Fundamentum Ecclesiæ;" both the one and the other are" Sponsus Ecclesiæ." Christ is, indeed, (1 Pet. v. 4,) our Chief Shepherd," but the Pope' is "Pastor SOLUS;" Christ is "Head of the church," (Eph. v. 23,) but the Pope stands forth' as Caput FIDEI," like the Redeemer he has a name ascribed to him, "King of kings,” he is* “Monarch of the Earth," "Prince' of the world," in unction, CHRIST." Thus, by assuming the office, titles, and dignity of Christ, the Pope arrogates to himself the Headship of the church, he rules in the church as God, and usurps all authority. II. Acts of Power. Do corresponding acts of power flow from him by virtue of this assumed headship?-We find plenary power ascribed to him, for Stephanus, an archbishop, told Leo X. to his face" in full Council, that "he had power above all power in heaven and in earth;" again, it is assumed by him, for Sixtus V. declared of himself, in the words of Christ, "all power is given to me in heaven and in earth ;" and, agreeable to this, the Pope and God are made to decree with co-equal authority, they have one tribunal, and thus the dominion of God and the Pope are the same; else, what means he in taking power to free men from the laws of God, f "Aulæ cœlestis clavigerum, et omnium Christianorum Principem," Sacrar. Cerem. lib. 1, sec. 1, c. 3. Colon. 1572, fol. 10. "Omnia nomina quæ in Scripturis tribuuntur Christo, eadem omnia tribuuntur Pontifici." Bellarm. de concil. Auctor. lib. 2, c. 17, vol. 1, p. 905. h Bellarm. de concil. Auct. lib. 2, c. 17, p. 905. 1 Laynez in Trent. concil. Brent's Transl. Lond. 1629, p. 611. J Vide Tortura Torti. Lond. 1609, p. 329. Conc. Later. V. sess. 7. Sacrosanct, concil. tom. 14, p. 172. Lut. Par. 1672. m "Ordine Melchisedech, dignitate Aaron, auctoritate Moses, judicatu Samuel, potestate Petrus, unctione Christus." Bellarm. de Pont. Rom. 1. 2, c. 16, p. 576. "Concil. Later. V. sess. 10, tom. 14. p. 269. • Sacr. Cerem. lib. 1, sec. 7, c. 6, fol. 85. "Auctoritate omnipotentis Dei, et beatorum Apostolorum Petri et. Pauli, ac Nostra, providemus." Sacr. Cer. lib. 1, sec. 10, c. 1, fol. 109. "Unum tribunal inter Deum et Papam, unumidemque consistorium." Isid. Moscon. de Majest. Eccl. Venet. 1602, p. 26. Also Trent Hist. p. 72), and Capistranus de Papæ auctor, &c. Venet. 1580, fol. 124. which are to be for ever binding? He has power, says Bellarmine, to dispense with the apostles' commandments, according to the convenience of the church. Bellarmine, indeed, speaks delicately, for the doctrine is broadly laid down in their canon law,' that he may dispense even against an apostle, while Laynez, the Jesuit, fairly avows that he may dispense with every law in a similar manner as Christ; thus, marriages forbidden by God, Lev. xviii. are allowed by Romish decrees"; the clergy are exempted from civil jurisdiction, (contrary to Rom. xiii. 1,) and to patch up the lineal succession, and connect the papal links with Peter's chair, Romanists aver that Clement, though nominated by St. Peter to succeed to the See, was yet set aside by the embryo College of Cardinals, during the entire lives of Linus and Cletus. To pass over the Taxa Cancellariæ," with the crimes and abominations licensed by it, we may observe that the Pope dispenses with the Scriptures; and what means he, again, in making laws to bind the conscience as God's laws? for, he commands faith, and imposes the obligation of creeds under pain of damnation. Hence he was once termed the Fifth Evangelist, the propriety of which appellation is explained by Baronius' at large; and it is declared that his ordinances are to be received as those of God himself, they being the word of God; and, though the blasphemy be monstrous, it has been regularly decreed by his mouth-piece, the Council of Trent, of which he was the head, and approved by him, that all Christendom, (of which he is prince,) should be prohibited from speaking or thinking of the Eucharist, save as defined by that Synod, when, in one point, they themselves confess that their decree is contrary to the ordinance as instituted by God. Thus he tyrannizes over the consciences of men, both by his permissions and his injunctions, falsely attributing to himself the power of God. III. Holy Scripture is blasphemously applied to him. Thus, in the Council of Trent, it was declared that THE POPE's light was come into the world, and that if the world refused to come and be judged by it, it would be justly said that they loved darkness rather than light, blasphemously applying to the Pope that which is descriptive of our Saviour's appearance and ministry. The Sicilian Embassadors once asking pardon of Pope Martin IV., "Etsi potest dispensare in præceptis positivis Apostolorum, non tamen hoc est contra Apostolum, sed juxta Apostolum." de Rom. Pont. 1. 3, c. 15, p. 370. s Decret. Grat. dist. 34, gloss. in verb. fiat. Par. 1585, p. 214. t Trent History, p. 721. u Trid. Concil. sess. 24, can. 3. ▾ Sacr. Cerem. lib. 1, fol. 4. w See the edition published at Paris, 1520. Vide Moulin's Accomplissement des Propheties." Geneva 1631, p. 108. "Dicit Agatho Papa omnibus Episcopis, sic omnes sanctiones Apostolicæ sedis accipiendæ sunt, tanquam ipsius Dei, voce Petri firmatæ." Capistran. fol. 1. a Bellarm. de verb. Dei. lib. 3, c. 10. Par. 145. b Sacr. Cerem. fol. 10. • Concil. Trident. sess. 13, Proœm. d Concil. Trid. sess. 13, cap. 1 and 3. • Trent History, p. 132. used no other terms than these thrice told, "Oh thou Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.' The passage in John iii. 31, declaratory of our Saviour's divinity, and consequent pre-eminence, is descriptive of the Pope, according to Capistranus; a Sicilian bishop, in supplication before Nicholas IV. addressed him in the words of blind Bartimæus to Christ, "Miserere mei fili David." The worship attributed to our Lord by St. Paul (in Phil. ii. 10.) appertains to the Pope,' in the opinion of a celebrated writer; the prophecy of Isaiah, "Behold I lay in Zion a stone," suits the Pope' well, says Bellarmine; as, indeed, do all the titles of Christ; and Sixtus V. ratifies the claim (as before observed,) by declaring for himself and successors, "all power is given to ME in heaven and in earth.” IV. Worship is arrogated by the Pope; for, prostrations and adorations are permitted before him; nay, more, they are exacted. Thus, the senate of Rome was made' by Pope Valentine, in the year 827, to kiss his foot, he being the first pontiff who made that imposition. The necessary ceremony is set forth at length in a treatise dedicated to Gregory XIII. and the personal adoration is admitted" by Bellarmine, while he strives to gloss over its enormity; but to what Mortal (as Bishop Andrewes answered,) is the term adoration applied, save to the Pope? and if to him only, by the very act he becomes exalted above mankind. Again, the Florentine Ambassadors," in 1469, told Pius II. that their city adored his Holiness with Hyperdulia. When the Pope enters a city in Pontificalibus," the order is, that a multitude of children should meet him, (agreeably to Matt. xxi.) to salute him with palms and acclamations; upon the great Popish Jubilee he is borne, like the idols of the Gentiles,' upon the shoulders of his nobles, on a golden throne; and, while he treads upon the cross, breaks open, with a golden hammer, the gates of Paradise, amidst the adoration of the assembled throng. At his election he is placed once and again (δις και τρις το καλον, says an old author,) upon the great altar in St. Peter's Church, while the Cardinals in succession do obeisance before him and salute his toes; and in conclusion, while thus elevated, the senior Cardinal, Paul. Æmil. Gest. Franc. lib. 7, Lutet. 1550, fol. 158; also, Fazel. Hist. Sicil.. post. 1. 8, c. 4. Frank. 1579, p. 453. "Papa superiorem non habet in terris, sed ipsa est super omnes tanquam qui de cœlo venit,' ut dicit Joh. Baptista," Capist, fol. 130. h Fazel ut supra, p. 450. 1 August. Triump. Epist. Dedic. ad Johan XXII. "Quanquam hæc verba in Christum præcipue convenire non ignoramus, eadem tamen non inepte in Christi vicarium quadrare censemus." De Pout. Rom. præf. De Concil. Auct. p. 905. 1 Plessie. Myster. Iniq. Salmur. 1611, p. 153 m De Adoratione Pedum. Jos. Stephan. Valetin. Rom, 1688. n Apolog. p. 167. Colon. 1610. Ad Bellarm. Apolog. Respons. Lond. 1610, p. 289. "Inclyta Florentina Romanæ Ecclesiæ filia, tibique deditissima, per nos oratores suos......sanctitatem tuam hyperduliâ adorat, reverenter tibi genua flectit, affectuosissime tuos pedes osculatur beatos." Antonin. (Archiepisc.) Chronic. vol. 3, p. 595, Lugd. 1587, ་ a Sacr. Cerem. fol. 123. r Vide Beza in 2 Thes. ii. 2. "Illumque sedere faciunt super altare, cui cardinales omnes reverentiam upon his knees before him, proclaims the "Te Deum laudamus.” During their solemn service on Palm Sunday, a person, introduced, by their own account,' to represent the Saviour, performs the same act of adoration to him while seated upon the altar; now, though their learned divines contend that the Pope is to be adored" as the footstool of Christ, it would require a successor of Bellarmine to demonstrate the propriety of the Saviour performing that act of worship to his own footstool. The Pope, then, is exalted above Christ, above all that is called God, or worshipped, he is antichrist. V. The name of God. Having instanced concomimant Papal acts, as affording the truest gloss upon Papal declarations, we may now revert to the primary question, and inquire whether the term "Deus" has been ever applied personally to the Bishop of Rome, fully assured that no necessity exists for concluding the expression to carry only a subordinate meaning. We find, then, a Pope saluted in the last Lateran Council' by the name of God, and told that he had divine authority. Pope Nicholas boasts of having been called by the Emperor a God, justly inferring thence that he could not be judged by man; and Steuchus, the learned librarian of his Holiness, informs us, that Constantine thereby worshipped him as God, and gave him divine honours to the extent of his ability. Stapleton, in dedicating to the Pope his works, designates him as "maximum et plane numen in terris.” Leo X. was addressed" as his Divine Majesty in the Fifth Lateran Council. A book was printed with an inscription to Paul V.a as a Demi-God. Similar inscriptions have been made in honour of Popes upon their entering cities; thus, to Sixtus V., on a triumphal arch at Rome, that he was deservedly thought a God upon earth; again, to Paul III. over the gates of Tolentum," to the most high and mighty God upon earth;" to Alexander VI. as b exhibent per ordinem, pedes, manus et os deosculantes.. .tum surgens a Cardinalibus, super altare ad sedendum constituitur cum mitra, et prior Episcoporum genufluxus incipit, 'Te Deum laudamus.'” Sacr. Cerem. fol. 17. "Ille qui Evangelistam agit, portans librum, præcedit, sequitur Judæus; DEINDE CHRISTUS; faciunt reverentiam altari et Papæ, deinde accedunt ad osculum pedis Papæ unus post alium prout venerunt." Sacr. Cerem. lib. 2, sec. 1, c. 36, fol. 227. uPedes Romani Pontificis osculatur ut summo Pontifici summam exhibeant reverentiam, et eum illius ostendant esse vicarium cujus pedes osculatur mulier illa quæ erat in civitate peccatrix, adorandum est enim scabellium ejus quoniam sanctum est, cujus pedes tenentes mulieres resurgentem a mortuis adoraverunt." Jos. Stephan. de oscul. Ped. p. 46. ▾ Sess. 4, sub Julius II. pp. 109 and 108. w Gratian. Decret. Dist. 96, c. 7, et gloss. Paris 1585, p. 590. "Hoc videlicet factum est, cum eum præclaro illo edicto decoravit, adoravit uti Deum, uti Christum et Petri successorem, divinos honores ei, quoad ejus potuit, contulit, velut vivam Christi imaginem veneratus est." Steuchus de fals. donat. Paris 1578, fol. 277. y Præf. dedic. ad Gregor XIII. z Sess. 9, p. 232, vol. 14. "Divinæ majestatis tuæ conspectus, rutulanti cujus fulgore imbecilles oculi mei caligant.-" 66 Paulo V. Vice-Deo," Vide Bishop Andrewes' "Tortura Torti,” p. 361. bOraclo vocis mundi moderaris habenis, Et merito in terris, crederis esse Deus Vide Junius in Rev. xiii. 1. • Vide Moulin's Accomplissement des Propheties, p. 90, Geneva 1631. d a new God, whose presence brought every blessing in his train. The blasphemy, indeed, is regularly laid down in their canon law, where it is defined, relative to Pope Eugenius, to be heretical to believe that our Lord GOD the Pope could not decree as he has," and this gloss stands restored to all copies by the corrected edition' sent forth by the Pope's own Cardinals. And, finally, as if to supersede all subterfuge relative to the Pope's exaltation, formal definitions have, from time to time been given of the nature of his person; he is "neither man nor God, but both;" "greater than man" though less than God;" "between' both;" he is contrasted' with kings; "not man, but God," as it were an incarnate God, uniting the two natures,* according to the Eulogy of the Jesuits at Madrid; in plain words, he is not a mere man, and therefore it is held" profane sacrilege for any save the Pope himself to put on the papal vestments, and therefore did Mr. Wolf excite the astonishment, (as alluded to by your correspondent,) and elicit the unbelief of his fellow students in the Propaganda College at Rome, by his assertion of having touched the Pope. Well is the consideration of the subject calculated to call forth the aspiration of Beza, O cœlum non sudas cum hæc aspicis! O terra non fatiscis sub hoc onere? Ah! Domine appareas tandem tuis.” 66 d. REVIEW. An Essay to illustrate the Foundation, the Necessity, the Nature, and the Evidences of Christianity, and to connect true Philosophy with the Bible.—By a Layman. Waugh and Innes, Edinburgh, 1827. It is impossible to look back on the state of Literature half a century ago, without being struck with the favourable change which, since that period, has taken place in the bearing of its moral Libertas pia, justitia, et pax aurea, opes quæ Sunt tibi Roma, novus fert Deus iste tibi-Bernard, Corio. hist. de Milan, p. 889, Padoa 1646. Extravag. Joh. xxii. p. 153, Paris 1585. Vide Bishop Downan's treatise de Antichristo, p. 310, Lond. 1620. "Papa stupor mundi non Deus, non homo, sed utrumque." p. 22. Isidor. Moscon. "Summus Pontifex dici potest quasi Deus in terris, Deum hominibus representans, major bomine, minor Deo." Capistran. fol. 23. "Neuter es inter utrumque." Gloss in procm. Clem. Paris 1585. j "Cæsare, magna fuit, nunc Roma est maxima, Sextus Regnat Alexander, ille vir, iste DEUS." Hist. de Milan, p. 889. "Laurea Christiadum quem totus prædicat orbis, Demi-Deumque virum, semivirumque Deum." For this and a multitude of similar authorities the writer would refer to "an Exposition (p. 274) of 2 Thess, ii." by Rev. J. Squire, Lond. 1630; to which treatise he is principally indebted for the information adduced above; the authorities quoted by him, he would add, have been verified, and will be found in the editions referred to, either in Marsh's Divinity Library, or in that of Trinity College. 1 "Non solus purus homo." Gloss in Extrav. Job. 22, p. 130. "Magnum committeret sacrilegium et pœna capitali plectendus esset." Isidor. Moscon. p. 99. |