Had MR. WOODWARD'S remarks come sooner under notice, they should have
received, as well deserving, a quicker reply. It is in one sense rather
annoying that he should have mistaken so widely the publication under
question, and spent so much time in confirming what few, if any, now doubt,
of the Papal origin of the _Consilium Delectorum Cardinalium_. (See
Gibbings' Preface to his _Reprint of the Roman Index Expurgatorius_, p.
xx.) The title of the tract (so to speak) commonly attributed to the same
quarter, but the justice of which is questioned, is, _Consilium quorundam
Episcoporum Bononiae congregatorum, quod de ratione stabiliendae Romanae
Ecclesiae_ Julio III. P.M. _datum est_. _This_ is the _Consilium_ to which
MR. WOODWARD's attention should have been confined; and which he will find
in the same volume of Brown's _Fasciculus_, to which he has referred me on
the real _Consilium_, pp. 644-650. It appears in English also, translated
by Dr. Clagett, in Bishop Gibson's _Preservative_, vol. i. p. 170. edit.
8vo.; and is also included (a point to be noticed) in the single volume
published of Vergerio's _Works_, Tubingen, 1563.[3]
MR. WOODWARD has no doubt frequently met, in Protestant authors, with the
quotation from this supposed Bologna Council (_Consilium_ being taken for
_Concilium_), recommending that as little as possible of the Scriptures
should be suffered to come abroad among the vulgar, that having proved the
grand source of the present calamities. Now the very air of this passage,
and of course of many others rather less disguised, is of itself sufficient
to prove that this Bologna Council is a piece of banter; the workmanship,
in fact, of Peter Paul Vergerio. Would any _real_ adherent of Rome so
express himself? "N.& Q." (Vol. ix., p. 111.) supplies a ready answer, in
the communication from F. C. H. on the so-called Catholic Bible Society.
Would a real adherent of the Papal Church again express himself in the
following _unimpassioned_ manner?
"Nam Apostolorum temporibus (ut verum tibi fateamur, sed silentio opus
est) vel aliquot annis post ipsos Apostolos, nulla vel Papatus, vel
Cardinalatus mentio erat, nec amplissimos illos reditus Episcopatuum et
Sacerdotiorum fuisse constat, nec templa tantis sumptibus extruebantur,
&c.: aestimet ergo tua sanctitas quam male nobiscum ageretur, si nostro
aliquo fato in pristinam paupertatem humilitatem et miseram illam
servitutem ac potestatem alienam redigendi essemus!"
Again:
"Deinde ubi Episcopi Sacerdotum palmas tantum inungunt, jube illos
internam atque externam manum, ad haec caput ipsum et simul totam
faciem perungere. Nam si tantulum illud oleum sanctificandi vim habet,
major certe olei quantitas majorem quoque sanctificandi vim obtinebit."
To be sure! Who can doubt it?
MR. WOODWARD will, I apprehend, readily agree that these sentences come
from no one connected with the Roman Church. And they are quoted in the
hope that Protestants will cease to cite this supposed Bologna Council as
any valid or genuine testimony to Romish proceedings and sentiments.