As great as was at times the inordinate desire manifested by some for the possession of the chair of papal dominion, so great was at other times the negligence and aversion as regards the promotion of the same cause;[61] for it occasionally happened that the chair stood vacant for a considerable time, in consequence of the contentions and dissensions of the cardinals; so that the whole Roman church was without a head; without which, as the papists themselves assert, it cannot subsist. [61] Where no true foundation is, there is no stability; this is apparent here: for as immoderate as they were in seeking to possess the Roman chair, so immoderate they were also in leaving it vacant. In order to demonstrate this matter, we shall (so as not to intermix all sorts of writers) adduce the various notes of P. J. Twisk, who gives information in regard to this subject from Platina’s Registers of the Popes, and other celebrated papistic authors, in his _Chronicle_, printed _Anno 1617 at Hoorn_; from which we shall briefly extract the following instances, and present them to the reader. We shall, however, omit brief periods of a few days, weeks, or months, and pass on to intervals of more than a year, which, consequently, are not reckoned by months, or still lesser periods. In this we shall begin with the shortest period, and end with the longest. On _page 225, col. 1_, mention is made of pope Martin I. (in the Register the seventy-sixth), that he was carried away a prisoner by Constantine, emperor at Constantinople, and sent into exile, where he died; whereupon the chair stood vacant for over a year. _Ex. Hist. Georg; lib. 4. Platin. fol. 135. Zeg. fol. 224, 225._ _Page 260, col. 2_, the same writer relates of Paul I. (the ninety-fifth in the Register), that he excommunicated Constantine V., who had thrown the images out of the church; and that Constantine, not heeding this, in his turn excommunicated the pope; whereupon the latter died, and the Roman chair was without an occupant, and the church without a head, one year and one month. _Ex. Platinæ Regist. Pap. fol. 166. hist. Georg. lib. 4. Franc. Allars. fol. 54._ After that he makes mention of pope Honorius I. (in the Register the seventy-second), that he, having instituted the exaltations of the Holy Cross, the Saturday processions, which had to be held at Rome, the special prayers in the invocation of the departed saints, etc., was deposed by a certain council at Constantinople; and that, he having died, the chair at Rome was vacant for one year and seven months. See above mentioned _Chronicle, page 218. col. 1. ex hist. Georg. lib. 4. Franc. Ala. Reg. fol. 44. Platin. Succ. Papæ. fol. 130._