Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	bishop_n	church_n	rome_n	17,242	5	7.2290	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03705	The felicitie of man, or, his summum bonum. Written by Sr, R: Barckley, Kt; Discourse of the felicitie of man	Barckley, Richard, Sir, 1578?-1661.; Heywood, Thomas, d. 1641.	1631 (1631)	STC 1383; ESTC S100783	425,707	675

this fearefull dreame he asked 〈◊〉 friend of his whether he knew in all his dom●…on 〈◊〉 man called Phocas He answered that there was a 〈◊〉 man of that name in his army in Illyria And desirous to know the cause why hee enquired so 〈◊〉 for such a man the Emperour told him his dreame You 〈◊〉 not quoth the other feare any such matter in him for besides that hee is a man of meane estate and 〈◊〉 condition hee is also taken for a cow●…d Hee will bee quoth the Emperour the more cruell for that It cha●…ced that this pho●… was advanced from one deg●… to another untill hee became the principall man of the whole army at such time as the people of Constantinople other places were in gre●… mislike with the Emperour for his covetousnes By which 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of Illyria chose ph●…cas for their generall to condust them to Constantinople against their Emperour where according to his drea●…e he killed the Emperou●… his wife his five children and was his 〈◊〉 in the Empire And afterward being 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 for so horrible a murder Phocas sent to the Bishop of Rome that if he would ab●…olve him of that crime hee would give him the Supremacy over all other Bishops and make him head of the Church which the Bishop did and here began his authoritie over other Bishops But this high title added to the large possessions great riches of that Church hath wrought that effect as all men know and was notably presaged by some supernaturall power as it seemeth in a prodigious sort For at the time that Constantine the great if it bee true that some authours report gave to Sylvester the first then Bishop of Rome and to his Successors the City of Rome with the Emperours Palace called Lateran and divers other Cities and Provinces in Italie there was seene an hand without any body writing upon the wall of the Lateran much people being present reading it these words Hodie venenum E●…lesie infusurus est Some say a voyce was heard from heaven This day he will powre poyson into the Church Sithence which time the Popes have usurped such soveraignty over the Emperours that they pronounce themselves to bee greater than the Emperours and so much greater as the Sunne is greater than the Moone that is sixe thousand sixe hundred fortie and five times and somwhat more pretending also a title to the Empire in the vacancie saying That the Emperour holdeth the Imperial crown of men but the Pope holdeth of God as though they knew not that all power cōmeth from God And what was it but the love and desire of riches that made the Popes kindle the fire of Purgatorie knowing that money cannot be coined without fire and a furnace They that thinke externall goods saith Aristotle to be the cause of happinesse deceive themselves no lesse than if they supposed cunning playing on the Herpe came from the instrument and not from the art For as a body is not said to bee perfect because it is richly arrayed but rather because it is well proportioned and healthfull so the mind well instructed is the cause that both her selfe and the body are happy Which cannot be said of a man because he is rich in gold and silver It is not possible saith Plato that a man should bee good indeed and very rich both at one time but he may wel be happy good both together And to say that a rich man is happy because he is rich is foolish and childish and unhappy are they that beleeve it Beleeve me saith Seneca thou canst not be rich and happy And this propertie is joyned to the riches and possessions of this world that seldome it happeneth to men long to enjoy those goods which with much travel they have gotten The labour to get them is long but their use short And he that taketh greatest pains to gather them hath oftentimes least use and pleasure of them And hee it is that thinketh himselfe most happy by having them whose body is charged with vice and heart laden with cares They bring pride to those that have them covetousnesse to get them care to keepe them and finne to enjoy them And those goods that are gotten by shift are for the most part lost with shame For it falleth out by daily experience that what the wicked father getteth with care and sorrow the unthrifty sonne wasteth with pleasure and negligence And the wicked children inher it the worst of the fathers that is Riches and are dis-inherited of the best which are Vertnes Riches saith one and honestie seldome dwell together under one roofe And yet what is more cōmonly said He is an honest man for he is worth five hundred pounds or a thousand pounds as though it were a strong argument to prove a man honest because hee is rich Which by the opinion of these and other wise and learned men and by daily experience falleth out for the most part cleane contrary I have great possessions saith Menander all men call me rich but no man calleth me happy but hee that is rich Men said Thales are by nature inclined to vertue but riches allure them to vice and in stead of happinesse they bring care and sorrow And as they that are sicke of the dropsie the more they drinke the thirstier they are so the more men abound in riches the more they desire to have Povertie is the nurse of vertues and riches of vices Democritus was wont to say to him that desireth not riches a little wil seeme much for the desire of small matters maketh men rich Which agreeth with the Poet Qui nibil affectat mirum omnia possidet ille He that covets nothing possesseth all things For no man ought to esteeme himselfe happy for that he hath more than others or that for the same hee is esteemed more worthy of honour though hee bee lifted up with a wind of vaine glorie by men of little vertue for his power and patrimonie if he look throughly into the matter he shall find himselfe the slave of his own riches For little availeth it to happinesse to have large territories great store of land and sumptuous houses richly furnished and to have his minde oppressed with cares and his desires corrupted with coverousnesse●… which bringeth infamy to the owner and little goodnes to the necessitie of life Socrates to one that said It were a great thing if a man might have all things that he desired answered But it were much greater not to desire at all He that will make himselfe rich must not adde more money to that he hath but must decrease and diminish his desire of having and thinke that it is all one to have and not to desire For it is no paine to lacke but to him that hath a desire to have And this among other evils is incident to rich men who having gotten reputation or honour by their riches

table and 〈◊〉 which when hee had read hee layd the table upon his bed and would not open it untill he might doe 〈◊〉 with greater 〈◊〉 For this purpose hee 〈◊〉 the Duke of Guise to dinner with divers other noble-men and gentlemen of the 〈◊〉 and alliance of the Guises But in the meanetime one that liked not the Cardinall having intelligence of this present found the 〈◊〉 to steale it secretly out of the case and to put in another table which he had prepared for the purpose and shut up the case againe so cunningly that what was done could not be perceived and layd it upon the bed where he found it When the day was come to celebrate this feast and the Cardinall and his guests were set at the table hee caused the Popes letter to bee openly reade When they heard of the present they could no longer forbeare the fight of it nor would 〈◊〉 any more 〈◊〉 untill it were brought in place Then by the Cardinals commandement this holy thing was brought with great solemnity to the table every man expecting with a kind of reverence what manner of thing that should be that was sanctified by the holy hands of so stately a 〈◊〉 and sacred person and made by so good a workeman The table was taken out of the case in thesight of the Cardinall and all his guests wherein was painted in place of our Lady and her child the Cardinall of Lorreyne starke naked the Queene mother the yong Queene of Scots and the old Duchesse of Gui●… naked also hanging about the Cardinals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 legges 〈◊〉 betweene his legges When the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his guests saw how their exoec●…tion was 〈◊〉 what a confusion there was among them every that are sent from Rome by the Pope●… 〈◊〉 world are obeyed of the Angels and Divels they are not so dangerous thankes be to God among men as they have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so much regarded It 〈◊〉 to be appropriate to that 〈◊〉 city of Rome fith●…e the Popes have beene in so great authority that great 〈◊〉 should be there wrought by Bu●…s if it be lawfull to allude to their name P●…lus lovi●…s repo●…eth of a great pestilonce in Rome in Pope Hadrians time which was like to have consumed all the people if a Grecian called Demetrius had not undertaken to stay it He caused a wilde Bull to be taken and after hee had cut off one of his hornes in the middest whispered a charme in his right ●…are the Bul became presently so tame that he tied a little string to the whole home and lead him to the Amphitheater where he sacrificed him whereupon the rage of the disease beganne immediatly to asswage But this may seeme strange that this Necromancer a stranger and an instrument of Sathan imployed his naturall Bull to the safegard of the people of Rome and the Popes that call themselves the Vicars of Christ and take upon them to protect his people imploy their unnaturall Buls to the destruction and subversion of whole kingdomes and countries arming and exciting Emperours and Kings against their subj●…s and subjects against their Princes But the Gospell thankes be to God where it is professed hath so charmed that savage beast and abated his force and fury that children deride him which was wont to be dreadfull to mig●… Princes and terrible to all the world The old Ro●… had a certaine kind of soothsayers in great estimation among them called 〈◊〉 that had invented a Science to divine of things ●…o come by the ●…lying and voyces of birds But Cato having espied the vanitie and illusion of them and their Science would say that hee marvelled how those soothsayers when they chanced to meete together in the streetes could forbeare to laugh one upon another And may not wee likewise thinke it a hard matter for the Pope and his Cardinals to ●…orbeare to smile one upon another when consultation is had among them to send their Buls abroad which they know to be nothing but vanity illusion But their greatnesse is greatly decayd which was foreseen of Luther who seemed by this verse pronounced in his death bed to prophes●…e of the Popes fall whose credit and authority we see plainely to bee in declination Pestis eram vivens moriens 〈◊〉 mors ero Papa Oh Pope I am thy plague whilest I have breath And dying I will be thy fatall death Which prediction was not in vaine For he hath given him such a deadly wound that all his Iesuits and Seminaries with the rest of his Cloyster-men will never be able to heale When Frederike Duke of Saxony had desired Erasmus to tell him plainely whether Luther did erre in the matter then in controversie and Erasmus had answered him that Luther was of a good opinion why then quoth the Duke be they so spitefull against my ●…illy Monke wherein hath bee offended that they so persecute him O noble prince sayd Erasmus he hath committed two very great finnes bee hath taken away the crown from the Pope Bishops the belly from the Monkes Which bringeth to my 〈◊〉 a jest of a merry fellow who hearing a Monke say that the way to obtaine forgivenesse of mens fine was by giving of almes and especially to the Monkes he gave them almes and fed them more plentifully than before and when there happened any talke of offences against God he would say that the Monkes had eaten up all his sinnes CHAP. III. Of divers that came to be Popes by Necromancy Benedictus the ninth Sylvester the second Boniface the eighth Contention betwixt the Augustin ●…riars and other Orders Of Pope Gregory the seventh The incomparable pride of sundry Popes illustrated by history Of Pope Ioan Pride punished in Herod and derided by Philip king of Macedon Of Calanino Simon Magus and Cynops three notable Magicians Tritemius a learned Abb●…t Albertus Magnus Pope Gregory the seventh An epistle writ from Beelzebub to the Clergie The Earle of Mascon Spanish Magdalen The fickleprophet Mahomet Salmoxes Of a Pilgrim whocounter feiting sanctitie became Monarch of many kingdomes A prodigious Child borne in Babylon The storte of Nicolana Dambrie BUt to returne from whence we digressed the ambition of the heathens that lived after the world and knew not God is not so much to be marvelled at if wee look into the lives of some Christians that forbeare not any unlawfull meanes to aspire to the highest places of honor and especially of them in whose 〈◊〉 pect●… all knowledge lyeth hidden that prosesse by title all humility calling themselves the servants of the servants of God but indeede aspire and take upon them to bee the master of the masters of the world Wherof though their owne histories may affoord many examples yet for brevities sake we will make choice of a few Alexander the sixth a very ambitious man mistrusting by like the favour or power of the holy Ghost by whose helpe wee must beleeve that the Popes are

principalitie saith Aristotle is to make no one man great And in truth they are to be taken for unprofitable members that by abusing the lenitie and bounty of their Prince couet to augment their estate by the sweat of the Common-wealth Worthy of blame saith one are some Princes for the ●…aults they commit but much greater is their offence in dissembling the offences of their fauorites and priuate seruants Many examples Princes may finde to warne them to take heed how to magnifie their seruants with too much wealth and authoritie which hath ostentimes beene dangerous to them and their estate and odious and scandalous to their people as this of Cleander who was brought to Rome amongst other captiues when the Emperour Marcus Aurelius triumphed ouer the Argonautes and was openly sold in the Market place and bought by a Clarke of the Kitchin to sweepe the Larder at Court This slaue Cleander being a young man behaued himselfe so well in sweeping the house and other his Masters seruice that not many yeeres after his Master made him free and aduanced him to his office of Clarke of the Kitchin and married him to his daughter Now when Cleander saw his estate thus amended hee endeuoured to obtaine the fauour of the Emperour which when he had gotten by his diligent and carefull seruice the Emperour being dead hee was so fauoured of Comodus that hee made him Captaine of his guard and Lord great Chamberlaine of his chamber and aduanced him to such dignitie and honour that all matters were dispatched at his will and pleasure all offices must bee obtained by his meanes He grew so ambitious and thrust himselfe in such wise to entermeddle with the affaires of the estate that the Emperour firmed nothing if Cleander did not signe and allow the same He did so insinuate himselfe into Comodus favour by flattery that never any servant of his obtained the like grace Hee fained to wish nothing that Comodus wished not nor to allow any thing that he said not He was not ashamed to affirme that he did not thinke or dreame but that which Comodus did thinke or dreame With these and the like lies flatteries he wanne the favour of Comodus and governed the whole Empire obtained the custody of the common treasure and of all the money and jewels of the Emperour by meanes wherof he grew so exceeding rich and proud that not contented to use these high dignities estates as a subject or servant he practised to kill the Emperour that he might put the Crowne upon his owne head but his practice being discovered Comodus caused his head to be cut off and carried to Rome upon a pole to the great liking of the people his children also servants friends were executed their bodies drawne by boyes thorow Rome were cast into sinkes filthy places It hath beene alwayes dangerous saith Tacitus when the name of a private man is advanced above or neere the Kings name this was the miserable end overthrow of Cleander of his children his house his riches honor wherof may be drawn examples warnings to serve divers purposes for besides that Princes may be warned to beware how they exalt any one to over-high estate authority private men also ought to take heed that they be not overcome with the dāgerous humour of ambition and greedy desire of riches seeing in this the like exāples they may behold as in a glasse the wavering inconstancy of fortune and variable events of the miserable estate and uncertaine accidents of this life where no man possesseth any thing with suretie 〈◊〉 as some be lifted up from a base estate to honour so others are dejected from high dignitie to base and poore estate as was apparant in Cleander who of a Slave was made a Free-man of a Freeman a Steward of a Steward a Praetor and then a Great Chamberlaine and as it were Monarch of the world and afterwards in one day and in one houre hee and all his were utterly destroyed The particular loue saith one which Princes shew to one more then to another breedeth many times much envie in their Realme and when a Prince sheweth not to equals his fauour indifferently he putteth fire into his Common-wealth The like example may be taken of Plautianus an especiall favorite of the Emperour Seuerus This Plutianus was a poore Gentleman when he came first to Rome from whence he was banished by the good Emperour Marcus Aurelius for his evill conditions but afterward he obtained such grace of Seuerus that he read no letter but he must see it signed no commission that he liked not nor gave any reward that he craved not In the Senate hee was placed in the most honourable estate When hee came forth of Rome all the Gentlemen did accompany him When hee came out of his house all Embassadours did attend on him In time of Warre all Captaines sued unto him and so many honours were given him that it was never seene in Rome that any man without the title of an Emperour enjoyed so great a portiō of the Empire scuerus gave Plautianus the confiscate goods of all condemned persons within the Empire whereby he grew so rich covetous that he caused an infinite number of men to suffer death not for their demerits but that he might possesse their goods wherewith he grew so proud and stately that when he passed thorow the streets he had a naked sword borne before him and no man might behold him in the face but cast downe their eyes to the ground and besides all this he found such favour with Seuerus that he married his daughter with Seuerus the Emperour his eldest sonne so as beholding himselfe thus advanced and honoured it seemed to him but a small matter to be Commander of the whole world But at length this heaping of honour upon honour dignitie upon dignitie without end or measure wrought his owne destruction for perceiving the Emperour to withdraw his favour from him suspecting that he would also take away his life he practised to kill the Emperour and his sonne Bassianus that he might not onely prevent the suspected intent of his owne death but also succeed him in the Empire but the same being discovered to the Emperour in the presence of his sonne they trained him into his chamber where Bassianus slew him with his dagger This was the end of Plautianus through his immoderate desire of riches and honour and the good fortune of the Emperour that escaped narrowly his owne death and his sonnes by the exceeding favour and authoritie and countenance hee gave to his servant and subject by which example the Emperour seuerus was warned never after to give the like favour and grace to any person alledging that hee knew not whom to trust seeing his servant Plautianus whom he so greatly loved and favoured had deceived him It behooveth Princes to foresee that no man exceed