A detection of sundrie foule errours, lies, sclaunders, corruptions, and other false dealinges, touching doctrine, and other matters vttered and practized by M.Iewel, in a booke lately by him set foorth entituled, a defence of the apologie. &c. By Thomas Harding doctor of diuinitie.

Iewel. Pag. 43.

VVhere you saie, that Bishoppes onely haue Sentence definitiue in the

Councel, ye seeme vvillingly and vvithout cause to reporte vntruthe.* 1.1 For Pius Secundus * being him selfe a Pope, vvould haue tolde you the con∣trarie. These be his vvordes. Apparet alios quam Episcopos, in Concilijs ha∣buisse vocem decidentem. * It is plaine, that certaine others beside Bi∣shoppes had voice definitiue in the Councelles, Likevvise Iohn Gerson. Etiam ad laicos hoc potest extendi, & plus aliquando, quàm ad multos Clericorum. This (priuiledge of geuing sentence in Councel) maie be extended euen vnto the laie sorte, yea and that oftentimes better then vnto many priestes.

Harding. That in Councelles Bishoppes onely haue sentence definitiue, the obiections of Pius 2. and Gerson answered.

Neither willingly, nor without cause, nor vntruth. Not willingly: For I came to speake of this point, by occasion of your Apologie complaning that you had no audience in the General Councel at Trente. Not without cause: For that being true (as I shal anone proue it to be true) that on••ly Bishoppes haue Sentence definitiue in the Councel, ye being no Bishoppes at al, for geuing Sentēce definitiue, there is no place for you: which greueth you ful sore. For faine would ye once sitte in General Coūcel, as the Masters, and Superintendentes of al Christendome. Not Vntruthe: For it is euident by the auncient practise of the primitiue Churche, that in al Councelles,* 1.2 only Bi∣shoppes haue subscribed definitiuely. The tenour of al General Councelles yet extant, is a cleare witnesse hereof to al that can, or wil peruse them. And though a Nega∣tiue be harde to proue, yet this Negatiue, that none but Bishoppes should subscribe in Councelles, is plainely pro∣ued

in the Auncient great General Councel of Ch••••••¦don. Where it is openly ••••ouch••d, first of the Bishop•••• them selues,* 1.3 thus •• Synodus Episcoporum est, non Cleri•••••• A Synode, or Councel is of Bishoppes, not of the (in••••¦riour) Clergie; or of Priestes, as alwaies you turne the worde. Then of one Martinus Presbyter, a Priest, thus, Non est meum subscribere,* 1.4 Episcoporū tantùm est. It is not my part to subscribe, It belongeth only to Bishoppes.

But M. Iewel wil proue the contrarie, and that others beside Bishoppes had sentence definitiue. But by whom? Forsoth by Aeneas Syluius, and Iohn Gerson, both very late writers, and not yet of two hundred yeres auncientie. Such newe litle worth stuffe, he, that requireth vs to proue al thinges by the writers of the first. 600. yeres, bringeth against the Auncient practise of the primitiue Churche. And yet he belieth his Authours most sham••∣lesly.* 1.5 For first, he saith, that Pius Secundus being him selfe a Pope, telleth vs the contrarie: whiche is vtterly false, For when he wrote that booke, he was Aeneas Syluius Piccolomineus, not Pius Secundus. He was then •• priuate man, not a Pope. And being Pope, he recanted that h•• had done in the pretensed Councel of Basile, and that he had written thereof, and certaine other errours, which before he had published,* 1.6 and written to the dero∣gation of the See Apostolike, and of the Clergie. Neither was this tolde by Aeneas Syluius, as a thing of his owne iudgement, and of his owne vtterance, but as a thing in that Synode said by Cardinalis Arelatensis, whose priuat•• opinion that was, and the same vttered he with that li∣bertie, which is graunted to al menne admitted to Coun∣cels, in whiche they are permitted freely to speake what

they thinke. And therefore in debating of d••ubteful mat∣ters, they speake thinges contrarie one against an other. And this saying of the Cardinal of Arles was in that Coū∣cel controlled and gainesaid by other menne of great ler∣ning and iudgement, as by Panormitanus, Ludouicus, and others there mentioned. So that it is no better auctoritie, then a thing that is spoken in heate of disputation against the truth for the better discussion of the truth.

In alleging then your Doctor, you haue committed fiue vntruthes. First, he neuer wrote any suche booke, as you name, to witte, De Gestis Concilij Constātiensis: but de Gestis Concilij Basiliensis. Secondly, when he wrote it,* 1.7 he was not Pius Secundus Pope, as you saie he was, but Aene∣as Syluius Piccolomineus, a priuate man. Thirdly, it is not the saying of Aeneas him selfe, but of the Cardinal of Arles. Fourthly, you haue added of your owne to his sentence these wordes, in Concilijs, which are not in your Author. Neither spake he that of other Councelles, then of the Apostles Councel mēcioned in the Actes. Fifthly, you cor∣rupte your Doctor by false translation. For Apparet doth not alwaies signifie, it is plaine, as you haue translated it, but it seemeth, or appeareth. And many thinges appeare, that be not plaine, nor true, as this it selfe is one. Of a thing that is plaine, to saie, it appeareth, were preiudicial to the truth. Whether these vntrue partes haue proceded of Rhe¦torical policie, called otherwise lying for aduantage, to make the most of your Author you could, or of mere igno∣rance, for that you neuer saw the place your selfe, but tru∣sted other mennes vntrue eies therein, or els of a certaine dispositiō proper to your humour that nothing can passe your fingers without some false sleight or other: I leaue it to be considered of others.

Notes

• * 1.1

  VVhē he vvrote that, he vvas nei∣ther Pius secundus, nor Pope but a pri∣uate mā. Aeneas Syluius de gestis Cō∣cilij Con∣stāt. lib. 1. False trā∣slatiō. Ap∣paret, in this place signifieth not, it is plaine, but, it ap∣peareth. Iohā. Ger∣son. Quae veritates credendae Corol. 4. The 13. Chapt.
• * 1.2

  Only Bi∣shops at Councels subscribe definitiue¦ly.
• * 1.3

  Act. 1. Pag. 745.
• * 1.4

  bid. Pag. 775.
• * 1.5

  See Rea∣der, hovv many vn¦true par∣tes M••l. plaieth in one pore litle sen∣tence.
• * 1.6

  Bulla re∣cantati∣onis Pij Papa 2. Tom. 4. Concil. pag. 503.
• * 1.7

  Vide Ae∣ne. Syl. de Gestis Cō∣cil. Basil. li. 1. pa. 27