into the ballance or disputation they giue the Pope authority as Supreame spirituall Princesse ouer all Princes 4 When the first is in question of Priesthood and Magistracy then enters the Sea yea Deluge of Canonists and ouerflowes all and carries vp their Arke that is the Romane Church that is the Pope fifteene cubites aboue the highest hils whether Kings or Emperours And this makes the Glosser vpon that Canon where Priesthood is said to exceede the Layetie as much as the Sunne the Moone so diligent to calculate those proportions and to repent his first account as too low and reforme iâ— by later calculations and after much perplexity to say That since he cannot attaine to it he will leaue it to the Astronomers so that they must tell vs how much the Pope exceedes a Prince which were a fit work for their Iesuite Clauius who hath expressed in one summe how many granes of Sand would fill all the place within the concaue of the firmament if that number will seeme to them enough for â—his comparison But to all these Rhapsoders and fragmentarâ— compilers of Canons which haue onely amâ—ss'd and shoueld together whatsoeuer the Popes themselues or their creatures haue testified in their owne cause Amandus Polanus applies a round and pregnant and proportionall answere by presenting against them the Edicts and Rescripts of Emperours to the contrary as an equiualent prooâ—e at least 5 And for the matter it selfe wherein the Ecclesiastique and Ciuill estate are vnder and aboue one another with vs it is euident and liquid enough since no Prince was euer more indulgent to the Clergie by encouragements and reall aduâ—ncing nor more frequent in accepting the foode of the worde and Sacrament at their hands in which he acknowledges their superiority nor the Clergy of any Church more inclinable to preserue their iust limits which are to attribute to the king so much as the good kings of Israel and the Emperours in the Primitiue Church had 6 It is intire man that God hath care of and not the soule alone therefore his first worke was the body and the last worke shall bee the glorification thereof He hath not deliuered vs ouer to a Prince onely as to a Physitian and to a Lawyer to looke to our bodies and estates and to the Priest onely as to a Confessor to looke to and examine our â—oules but the Priest must aswel endeuour that we liue verâ—uously and innocently in this life for society here as the Prince by his lawes keepes vs in the way to heauen for thus they accomplish a Regale Sacerdotium when both doe both â—or we are sheepe to them both and they in diuers relations sheepe to one another 7 Accordingly they say that the subiect of the Canon law is Homo dirigibilis in Deum BouuÌ„ Commune so that that Court which is forum spirituale considers the publique tranquility And on the other side Charles the great to establish a meane course between those two extreame Councels of which one had vtterly destroyed the vse of Images in Churchesâ— the other had induced their adoration takes it to belong to his care and function not onely to call a Synode to determine herein but to write the booke of that important and intricate point to Adrian then Pope which Steuchius saith remaines yet to be seene in Bibliotheca Palatina and vrges and presses that booke for the Popes aduantage And in the preface of that booke the Emperour hath these wordes In sinu Regni Ecclesiae gubernacula suscepimus and to proceede that not only he to whom the Church is committed ad regendum in those stormy times but they also which are Enutriti ab vberibus must ioine with him in that care and therefore he addes That he vndertooke this worke Cum Conhibentia Sacerdotum in regno suo neither would this Emperour of so pious affections towards that Sea expressed in pro fuse liberalities haue vsurped any part of Iurisdiction which had not orderly deuolued to him and which he had not knowne to haue beene duely executed by his predecessors 8 Whose authoritie in disposing of Church matters and directâ—on in matters of Doctrine together with the Bishops appeares abundantly and euidently out of their owne Lawes and out of their Rescripts to Popes and the Epistles of the Popes to them For we see by the Imperial Law the Authoritie of the Prince and the Priest made equall when it is decreed That no man may remoue a body out of a Monument in the Church without a Decree of the Priest or Commandement of the Prince And yet there appeares much difference in degrees of absolutenesse of power betweene these limitations of a Decree and a Commandement And Leo the first writing to the Emperour Martianus reioyses that he found In Christianiss mo Principe Sacerdot alem affectum And in his Epistle to Leo the Emperour vsing this preface for feare least hee should seeme to diminish him in that comparison Christiana vtor libertate he saith I exhort you to a fellowshippe with the Prophets and Apostles because you are to be numbred inter Christi praedicatores Hee addes that kings are instituted not onely ad mundi regimen but chiefly ad Ecclesiae presidium and â—herefore he praies God to keepe in him still Animum eius Apostolicum Sacerdotalem 9 So for his diligence in the Church gouernement Simplicius the Pope salutes the Emperour Zeno. Eâ—ultamus voâ—iâ— in esse animum Sacerdotis principis For which respect his successor Felix the third writing to thesame Emperour salutes him wiâ—h his stile Dilectissimo fratri Zenoni which is a stile so peculiar to those which are constituted in the highest Ecclesiastique dignities as Bishoppes and Patriarches that if the Pope should write to any of them by the name of Sons which is his ordinary stile to secular princes it vitiates the whole Diplome and makes it false 10 And a Synodicall letter from a whole Councell to a King of France acknowledges this Priestly care in the king thus Quia Sacerdotalimentis affectu you haue commaunded your Priests to gather together c. which right of general superintendencie ouer the whole Church Anastasius the Emperour dissembled not when writing to the Senate of Rome to compose dissentions there hee called Hormisda the pope Papam Almae vrbis Romae but in the Inscription of the Letter amongst his owne Titles he writes Pontifex inclitus 11 Gregory himselfe though his times to some tastes seeme a little brackish and deflected from vpright obedience to princes saith of the Emperoursâ— That no man can rightly gouerne earthly matters except he know also how to handle Diuine And in the weakest estate and most dangerous fitt that euer secular Magistrate suffered and endured Gregory the seuenth denied not that these two dignities were as the two eyes of the body which gouernd the bodie of the Church
be confer'd and that no woman after a second marriage might be Diaconissa which was to make a law of Bigamy 17 Yea they commanded and instructed in matter of Faith for so Iustinian saies of himselfe we are forward to teach what is the right â—aith of Christians and we Anathematize Apollinarius So also Honorius and Theodosius inflict the punishment of death vpon any Catholique Minister for then neither that name was abhorred by Priests nor they exempt from criminall lawes which shold re-baptize any man and yet this was a meere spirituall offence And so Valentinian and his Co-emperours pronounce marriage betweene Iewes and Christians to be adultery And Iustinian interprets how a Testator shall bee vnderstood when he appoints Christ or an Angell or a Saint to be his heyre 18 Nor deale they onely with temporall punishments vpon Ecclesiastâ—que persons which is farder then is affoorded them now but they inflict also spirituall censures for Gratian and his Co-emperours pronounce against Heretiques that is Impugners of the Nicene councell That they shall be vtterly secluded from the threshold of the Church And in the next law which is against Nestorians they say If the offenders be Laymen Anathematizentur if Clergie men Eijciantur ab Ecclesijs And another of their lawes doth not only inflict temporal ignominious punishmeÌ„t vpon Clergy men but Ecclesiastique censures also in these words If a Clergy man be guilty of fals witnes in a pecuniary causeâ— let him be suspended three yeares and in a criminall let him be depriued And another susspends for three yeares euen Sanctissimos venerabiles Episcopos if they doe but looke vpon players at Tables and that law authorizes him vnder whose power that offender is if he appeare penitent to abbreuiate his punishment and of Bishoppes which will not forsake women it pronounces thus Abiiciantur Episcopatibus And in the matter of establishing and ordering Sanctuaries one of the writers of the Romane parte hath presented ciuill constitutions enow to teach vs that that was within the care and Iurisdiction of secular Princes 19 And when an Emperour had created a Bishop of Antioch contrary to the forme prescrib'd in the Nicene Councell of an intire obseruation whereof the christian Church was extremly zealous the Pope proceedes not by anullings and vociferations but writes thus to the Emperour We may not dissallow that which you haue done holily and religiously out of a loue to peace and quietnes by which we see that Canons of Councels though they were Directions yet they were not Obligations vpon Princes for their gouernement By all which it appeares that those Christian and Orthodoxe Emperors iustifying their inherent right by these frequent and vn-interrupted matters of fact apprehended not this vast and incomprehensible distance betweene secular and ecclesiastique power but that they were compatible enough and conduced and concurred to one perfection and harmony of the whole state 20 And it is related by an Author of great estimation in the Romane profession that Gregory the seuenth was author of a new scisme diuiding and tearing priesthood and principality And it is euident that Bertram a priest vnder Carolus Caluus almost eight hundred yeares since writing of that Diuine and abstruse mysterie De corpore Domini submits his opinion to the iudgement of the King and his Counsaile as competent Iudges of that question and Cochlaeus saith that Luthers doctrine was condemned for hereticall by an edict of the Emperours with the common assent of the Princes and the States And the holy Ghost had well intimated the concurrence of their two powers in Deuter. if those wordes which are in the Text Nolens obedire sacerdotis Imperio Decreto Iudici moriatur were not chaunged by the vulgate edition into Ex Decreto and thereby only the priest made Iudge of the controuersies and the Magistrate onely executioner of his Sentences 21 For certainely these two functions are not in their nature so distinct and Diametrically oppoâ—ed but that they may meete in one matter yea sometimes in one man and one man may doe both for amongst the Gentiles it was so for the most part and sometimes amongst the Israelites And in late times Maximilian the first a Catholique Emperour thought it belonged to the Empire to haue also the Papacy vnited to it and therfore when Iulius the second lay desperately sicke he endeuoured to bring to execution that which he had often meditated and consulâ—ed and receiued as approued from some great persons of dignity in that Church which was to bee elected Pope in the next Conclaue and to restore the Papacy as he thought or pretended to the Emperiall Crowne 22 And if a Lay-man be elected Pope he need not presently be made Priest but he may if hee will stay in Subdiaconatu And to that degree they seeme to admit the Emperour when he comes to be crowned at Rome for at the Communion he administers to the Pope in the place of Subdeacon And this in the Primitiue Church was not as themselues confesse Ordo Sacer though of late it be growne to be such a perplexed case whether it were or no that of those commissioners which two Popes made to suruay the Decretals one company expunged the other re-assumed one place in that book which denies this to haue beene amongst holy Orders 23 The Emperour also puts on a Surplis and is admitted as a Canonick not only of Saint Peters Church but of Saint Iohn Laterane to which particular Churches of which the Pope is Parson as he is Bishoppe of Rome Metropolitane of Italy patriarch of the West and pope of the world all those blessings and priuiledges which are ordinarily spoken of the Catholique Church are said by some to bee irremoueably annexed and appropriate hereupon some of their owne lawyers say That all kings are clergie men and that therefore it is sacriledge â—o dispute of the authority of a King 24 But howsoeuer these two functions since the establing of Christianity haue for the most part beene preserued distinct and ought so to be yet they are at most but so distinct as our Body and Soule and though our Soule can contemplate God of herself yet she can produce no exterior act without the body Nothing in the world is more spirituall and delicate and tender then the conscience of a man yet by good consent of Diuines otherwise diuersly perswaded in Religion the ciuill lawes of Princes doe binde our consciences and shall the persons of any men or their temporal goods be thought to be of so sublimed and spirituall a nature that the ciuill constitutions of Princes cannot worke vpon them Nor doe we therfore decline the comparison so much vrged by the Romanes that the Clergie exceede the Laiety as much as the body the soule when it is so conditioned and qualified as the authors thereof intended it
how farre it extended Aquinas who vnderstood it well hath well express'd That they are bound to Obey only in those things which may belong to their Regular conuersation And this vse and office that obedience which is exhibited in our Colledges fulfils and â—atisfies without any of these vnnatural childish stupid mimique often scandalous and sometimes rebellâ—ous singulâ—rities 22 Any resolution which is but new borne in vs must bee abandon'd and forsaken when that obedience which is borne with vs is requir'd at our hands In expressing of which trueth Saint Bernard goes so exceeding farre as to say That Christ gaue ouer his purpose of Preaching at the increpation Mulieris vnius fabri pauperis And because his Mother chid him when shee found him in the Temple from twelue yeeres to thirtie we find not sayes hee That hee taught or wrought any thing though this abstinence were contrarie to his determination So earnest is that deuoute father to illustrate our Blessed Sauiours obedience to a iurisdicton which was Naturally Superiour to him And therefore this submission by our owne Election to another Superiour cannot derogate from the Prince nor infirme his Title to our Alleageance or obedience 23 Another obedience derogatorie to Princes they haue imagined connaturall and congenite with our Christianitie as this is with our Humanitie and conducing to our Wel-being and ouâ— euerlastingnesse as this doeth to our Being and temporall tranquilitie which is An obedience to the Romane Church and to him who must bee esteem'd certainely the Head thereof though sometimes he be no member thereof 24 Certainely the inestimable benefits which wee receiue from the Church who feedes vs with the Word and Sacraments deserues from vs an humble acknowledgement and obedient confidence in her yea it is spirituall Treason not to obey her And as in temporall Monarchies the light of nature instructs euery man generally what is Treason that is what violates or wounds or impeaches the Maiestie of the State and yet he submits himselfe willingly to the Declaration and Constitutions by which somethings are made to his vnderstanding Treason which by the generall light he apprehended not to be so dangerous before So in this case of spirituall Treason which is Heresie or Schisme though originarily and fundamentally the Scriptures of God informe vs what our subiection to the Church ought to be yet we are also willing to submit our selues to the lawes and decrees of the Catholique Church her selfe what obedience is due to her He therefore that can produce out of eyther of these Authentique sorts of Records Scripture or Church that is Text or Glosse any law by which it is made either High Treason Heresie not to beleeue that in my baptisme I haue implied a confession That the Bishop of Rome is so monarch of the Church that he may depose Princes or petit Treason that is Schisme to adhere to my naturall Soueraigne against a Bull of that Bishop shall drawe me into his mercy and I will aske Pardon where none is graunted at the Inquisition 25 Else it is most reasonable and that is euer most religious to relie vpon this That obedience to Princes is taught by Nature and affirm'd and illustrated by Scriptures If the question be how much this obedience must be I must say all till it be proued either that Peaceable and religious being be not all the ends for which we are placed in this world or that the authority of Kings exercised by the Kings of Israell and the Christian Emperours is not enough to performe these endes For to say that a King cannot prouide for meanes of saluation of soules because he cannot preach nor administer the Sacraments hath as much weakenesse as to say hee cannot prouide for the health of a City because he cannot giue physicke 26 Till then I shal be deterr'd from declining to this second obedience by the contemplation of many inconueniencies and impieties resulting from thence first by the vastnes of that Iurisdiction For since they haue taught vs to say so we may say Dominus non esset discretus vt cum reuerentia eius loquar if he had laid the cure of the whole Church and the iudgement of all matters emergent of fact and faith vpon one man which he hath done if Pesantius say true That the Pope is Iure Diuino directly Lord of all the World which booke is dedicated to the present Pope who by allowing it may iustly be thought to fauour that opinion 27 How much it is that they would entitle him to appeares by their expunction of a Sentence in Roselli a Catholique though a Lawyer That it is hereticall to say that the vniuersall temporall administration is or may be in the Pope vpon which booke mine eye fals often because you haue beene so lauish and prodigall in those expunctions that a man might well make a good Catechisme and an Orthodox Institution of Religion out of those places which you haue cast away And by this one place we see what you would haue For if the vniuersall administration of temporall matters be in the Pope what neede is there of Kings You would soone forget kings or remember them to their ruine and looke that kings should do to you as condemned men are said to haue done to the kings of Persia to thanke them that they were pleased to remember them And Azorius will not pardon their modesty that say that the Pope in dealing with temporall matterâ— vses but a spirituall power though this in effect worke as dangerously but he vseth saies he Absolutely and simply a temporall Iurisdiction 28 And what can impeach this Vniuersall Iurisdiction since al matter and subiect of Iurisdiction that is all men may by their Rules be vnder him by another way that is by entring into Religion for first Tannerus the Iesuit saies If Princes had their authority immediately from God yet the Pope might restraine that authority of theirs that it should fall onely vpon Lay-men For saies another He may take from the Emperour all his Iurisdiction therefore any part thereof And as many as will saies Bellarmine may without the consent of their Prince yea though he resist it thus deuest their Allegeance as they might resist their parents if they should hynder them 29 And in contemplation of this Vniuersall Iurisdiction which might be if it be not in the Pope the Iesuite whom we first named breakes out into this congratulation If at this instant all the Princes and all their subiects would enter into Religion and transferre all that they had into the Church would it not bee a most acceptable spectacle to God and Angels and Men Or as he saies before if their estates were so transferr'd to the Church though not their persons could not Ecclesiastique Princes rule and gouerne all these lay men as well as they doe some others already But because as hee doubts in that
Canons were receaued before which euer had anie strength here hath disused them pronounced against so many of them as can fall within this question that is Such as bee derogatorie to the Crowne For if these lawes bee not borne aliue but haue their quickning by others acceptation the same power that giues them life may by desertion withdraw their strength and leaue them inualid 33 And thus much seemed needfull to be said in the first part of this chapter that you might see how putrid and corrupt a thing it is which is offered to you vnder the reuerend name of Canons And that though this Cannon law be declined and extenuated when we vrge it yet euery Sentence thereof is equall'd to Diuine Scripture and produced as a definition of the Church when it may worke their ends vpon your consciences which for diuers reasons issuing out of their owne rules should now be deliuered from that yoake THE SECOND PART FOr the second place in this Chapter I reserued the consideration and suruay of those Canons which are Ordinarily vsurped for defence of this temporall Iurisdiction In which my purpose is not to amasse all those Canons which incline toward that point of which condition those which exexempt the Clergy from secular Iurisdiction and very many other are but onely such as belong more directly to this point to which the Oath stretches That is whether the Pope may depose a Soueraine Prince and so we shall discern whether your consciences may so safely relie vpon any resolution to be had out of the Canons that you may incurre the dangers of the law for refusall thereof 2 Of which Canons though I will preâ—ermit none which I haue found to haue beene vrged in any of their Authours I will first present those Fower which are alwaies produced with much confidence and triumph Though one Catholique Author which might be aliue at the making of the Clementines for he liued and flourished about 1350 and Clement the fift died not much before 1320. haue drawen these foure Canons into iust suspition for thus he saies of them The Pastors of the Church putting their Hooke into another mans Haruest haue made foure Decretals which God knowes whether they be iust or no But I doe not beleeue yet I recall it if it be erroneous that any of them is agreeable to Law but I rather beleeue that they were put forth against the libertie of the empire 3 The fiâ—st is a letter of Innocent the third who was Pope about 1199. to the Duke of Caringia the occasion of which Letter was this Henry the son of Frederic the first of the house of Sueuia succeeding his Father in the Empire had obtained of the Princes of Germany to whom the Election belonged to chuse as Successoâ— to him his sonne Henry but hee being too young to gouerneâ— when his father died they tooke thereby occasion though against their Oath to leaue him being also dâ—sirous â—o change the stocke and chuse an Emperour of some other race By this meanes was Duke Berâ—holdus by some of the Prâ—nces elected but resign'd againe to Philip brother to the dead Emperour in whom the greatest number consented But some of the other Princes had called home out of England Otho of the house of Saxony and elected him Here upon arose such a schisme as rent that country into very many parts And then Innocent the third an actiue and busie Pope for it was he which so much infested our King Iohn sent his Legate into those parts vpon pretence of composing those differences And being in displeasure with the house of Sueuia for the Kingdome of Sicily which was in their possession but pretended to by the Church his Legate disallowed the election of Philip and confirmed Otho But some of the Princes ill satisfied with the Legates proceeding herein complained thereof to the Pope in aunswere whereof the Pope writes to one of them this Letter In which handling his Right of confirming the elected Emperor though he speake diuers things derogatorie to the dignity of Princes discoursiuely and occasionally yet is not this letter such a Decree as being pronounced Cathedrally in a matter of faith after due consultation should binde posteritie but onely a direction to that person how he ought to behaue himselfe in that businesse 4 The Letter may be thus abridged VVe acknowledge the right of the Election to be in the Princes especially because they haue it from the Apostolicke Sea which transferred the Empire vnto them But because we must consecrate the Person elected we must also examine his fitnesse Our Legate therefore did no Acte concerning the Election but the person elected Wee therefore repute OTHO Emperour For if the Electors would neuer agree should the Apostolicke Sea alwayes be without a defender We haue therfore thought it fit to warâ—e the Princes to adhere to him For there are notorious impediments against the other as publicke Excommunication persecuting the Church and manifest periurie Therefore wee commaund you to depart from him notwithstanding any Oath made to him as Emperour 5 And is there any matter of Faith in this Decretall Or any part thereof Is it not all grounded vpon matter of fact which is the Translation oâ— the Empire which is yet vnder disputationâ— Doe not many Catholicke writers denie the verie act of Transferring by the Pope And saye That the people being now abandoned and forsaken by the Easterne Emperours had by the law of Naâ—ure and Nations a power in themselues to choose a King And doe not those which are more liberall in confessing the Translation denie that the Popes Consecration or Coronation or Vnction inâ—uses any power into the Emperor or works any fartâ—er then wâ—en a Bishop doeth the same ceremonies to a King Is it not iustly said that iâ— the Emperour must stay for his Authoritie till the Pope doe these acts he is in worse condiâ—ion by this increase of his Dominions then he was before For before he was Emperour and had a little of Italy added to him there was no doubâ— but that he had full iurisdiction in his owne Dominions before these Ceremonies and now hee must stay for them 6 And may not the Popes question in this leâ—ter be well retorted thus If the Pope will not crowne the Emperour at all shall the Empire euer lacke a head For the Pope may well be presumed to be slacke in that office because he pretends to be Emperour during the vacancie But besides that an ouer earnest maintaining of this that the Emperour had no iurisdiction in Italy before these Ceremonies would diminish and mutilate the patrimonie of the Church of which a great part was confeâ—red and giuen by Pipin beâ—ore any of these ceremonies were giuen bâ— the pope the glosser vpon the Clementines is liquid round in this point when he sayes That these ceremonies and the taking of an Oath are nothing and that now Resipiscente mundo the world being
as mischeuous doctrine that the power of excommunication is got by prescription And so saies another great Patron of that greatnesse the Priests obeyed the Kings of Israel but contrarily our Priests doe prescribe ouer the temporall power And Sayr proceedes further and saies that though Panormitane be of opinion That one can prescribe in no more then that which he hath put in practise yet if hee haue so exercised any one act of Iurisdiction as excoÌ„munication is as that he had a will to doe all he prescribes in all And there is no doubt but that when Pius the fift excommunicated he had a good will to Depose also 99 From this also haue proceeded all those enormous deiections of Princes which they cast and deriue vpon al Kings when they speake them of the Emperour for though the later writers are broder with the Emperour and chose rather to exemply in him then in any other Soueraigne Prince vpon this aduantage that they can more easily proue a Supremacy ouer him by reason of the pretended translation of the Empire yet it is a slippery way and conueyance of that power ouer all other Princes since in common intendment and ordinary acceptation no man can be exempt from that to which the Emperour is subiect And of the Emperour they say That not onely he may be guilty of â—reason to the Pope but if a subiect of the Pope offend the Emperour the treason is done to the Pope Yea if it be the Emperours subiect and the iniury done to the Emperour yet this is treason to the Pope So that the Emperour doth but beare his person for in his presence hee must descend and in a Councell his â—eate must be no higher then the Popes footstoole nor any State he hunge ouer his head 100 And from hence also hath growne that Distinction Superstitious on one part Seditious on the other of Mediate and Immediate institution of the two powers for Ecclâ—siastique authority is not so immediate from God that he hath appointed any such certaine Hierarchy which may vpon no occasion suffer any alteration or interuption Nor is secular authority so mediate or dependant vpon men as that it may at any time be extinguished but must euer reside in some forme or other And Bellarmine himselfe confesses That as Aaron was made Priest ouer the Iewes and Peter ouer the Christian Church immediately from God so also some Kings haue beene made so immediately without humane election or any such concurrence So that Regal Digniâ—y hath had as great a dignification in this point from God as Sacerdotall and to neither hath God giuen any necessary obligation of perpetuall enduring in that certaine forme So that that which Bellarmine in another place sayes to be a speciall obseruation wee acknowledge to bee so which is That in the Pope are three things His place his person and the vnion of them the first is onely from Christ the second from those that elect him and the third from Christ by mediation of a humane act And as wee confesse all this in the Pope so hath he no reason to denie it to be also in kings he addes further That the Cardinals are truly said To create the Pope and to be the cause why such a man is Pope and why he hath that power but yet they doe not giue him that power as in generation a father is a cause of the vnion of the body and soule which yet is infused onely from God And in all this we agree with Bellarmine and we adde that all this is common to all supreame secular or Ecclesiastique Magistrates 101 And yet in Hereditary kings there is lesse concurrence or assistance of humane meanes then either in elected kings or in the Pope himselfe for in such secular states as are prouided by election without all controuersie the supreame power in euery vacancy resides in some subiect and inheres in some body which as a Bridge vnites the defunct and the succeeding Prince And how can this be denied to be in the Colledge of Cardinals If as one saies the dominion temporall be then in them and that they in such a vacancy may absolue any whom the Pope might absolue If therefore in all the cases reserued to himselfe as namely in deposing Princes and absoluing subiects he proceed not as he is Pope but as he is spiritual Prince as Bellarmine saies and wee shall haue occasion hereafter to examine If that Colledge may absolue subiects as he might this supreamacy and spirituall Principality resides in them and is transfer'd from them to the Successor 102 Certainely all power is from God And as if a companie of Sauages should consent and concurre to a ciuill maner of liuing Magistracie Superioritie would necessarily and naturally and Diuinely grow out of this consent for Magistracie and Superioritie is so naturall and so immediate from God that Adam was created a Magistrate and he deriu'd Magistracie by generation vpon the eldest Children and as the Schoolemen say if the world had continued in the first Innocency yet there should haue beene Magistracie And into what maner and forme soeuer they had digested and concocted this Magistracie yet the power it-selfe was Immediately from God So also if this Companie thus growen to a Common-wealth should receiue further light and passe through vnderstanding the Law written in all hearts and in the Booke of creatures and by relation of some instructers arriue to a sauing knowledge and Faith in our blessed Sauiours Passion they should also bee a Church and amongst themselues would arise vp lawfull Ministers for Ecclesiastique function though not deriued from any other mother Church though different from all the diuers Hierarchies established in other Churches and in this State both Authorities might bee truely said to bee from God To which purpose Aquinas sayes expressâ—ly and truely That Priesthood that is all Church function before the Law giuen by Moses was as it pleasd men and that by such determination of men it was euer deriued vpon the eldest Sonne And we haue also in the same point Bellarmines voice and confession That in that place of S. Paul to the Ephesians which is thought by many to be so pregnant for the proofe of a certaine Hierarchie The Apostle did not so delineate a certaine and constant Hierarchie but onely reckoned vp those gifts which Christ gaue diuersly for the building vp of the body of the Church 103 To conclude therefore this point of the distinction of Mediate and Immediate Authoritie a Councell of Paris vnder Gregorie the fourth and Lodouicke and Lotharius Emperours which were times and persons obnoxious enough to that Sea hath one expresse Chapter Quod Regnum non ab hominibus sed a Deo detur There it is said Let no King thinke that the Kingdome was preseru'd for him by his Progenitors but he must beleeue that it was giuen him by
concoxions enow from the Church to nourish a conscience to such a strength as Martyrdome requires For that which their great Doctor Franciscus a Victoria pronounces against his direct Authoritie we may as safely say against that the indirect This is the strongest prooâ—e that can be against him This Authority is not proued to be in the Pope by any meanes and therefore he hath it not To which purpose he had directly said before of the direct Authoritie It is manifestly false although they say that it is manifestly true And I beleeue it to be a meere deuise only to flatter the Popes And it is altogether fained without probability Reason Witnesse Scripture Father or Diuine Onely some Glossers of the law poore in fortune and learning haue bestowed this authority vpon them And therefore as that Ermit which was fed in the Desert by an Angell receaued from the Angell withered grapes when hee said his prayers after the due time and ripe grapes when he obserued the iust time but wilde sower grapes when he preuented the time so must that hasty and vnseasonable obedience to the Church to die for her Doctrine before she her selfe knowes what it is haue but a sower and vnpleasant reward CHAP. X. That the Canons can giue them no warrant to aduenture these dangers for this refusall And that the reuerend name of Canons is falsly and cautelously insinuated and stolne vpon the whole body of the Canon law with a briefe Consideration vpon all the bookes thereof and a particular suruay of all those Canons which are ordinarily cyted by those Authours which maintaine this temporall Iurisdiction in the Pope TO this spirituall Prince of whom we spoke in the former Chapter the huge and vast bookes of the Canon law serue for his Guarde For they are great bodies loaded with diuers weapons of Excommunications Anathems and Interdicts but are seldome drawen to any presse or close fight And as with temporall Princes the danger is come very neere his person if the remedie lie in his guard so is also this spirituall Prince brought to a neere exigent if his title to depose Princes must be defended by the Canons For in this spirituall warre which the Reformed Churches vnder the conduct of the Holy Ghost haue vndertaken against Rome not to destroy her but to reduce her to that obedience from which at first she vnaduisedly strayed but now stubbornly rebels against it the Canon law serues rather to stoppe a breach into which men vse to cast as wel straw and Feathers as Timber and Stone then to maintaine a fight and battell 2 This I speake not to diminish the Reuerence or slacken the obligation which belongs to the ancient Canons and Decrees of the Church but that the name may not deceiue vs For as the heretiques Vrsalius and Valens got together a company at Nice because they would establish their Heresies vnder the name of a Nicene Councell which had euer so much reputation that all was readily receiued which was truely offered vnder that name so is most pestilent and infectious doctrine conuayed to vs vnder the reuerend name of Ecclesiastique Canons 3 The body of the Canon law which was called Codex Canonum which contained the Decrees of certaine auncient Councels was vsually produced in after Councels for their direction and by the intreaty of popes admitted and incorporated into the body of the Romane and Imperiall law and euer in all causes wherein they had giuen any Decision it was iudg'd according to them after the Emperours had by such admittance giuen them that strength 4 And if the body of that law were but growen and swelled if this were a Grauidnes Pregnancy which she had conceiued of General Councels lawfully called and lawfully proceeded in and so she had brought forth children louing and profitable to the publique and not onely to the Mother for how many Canons are made onely in fauour of the Canons all Christian Princes would be as inclinable to gâ—ue her strength and dignity by incorporating her into their lawes and authorising her thereby as some of the Emperours were And had the Bishops of Rome maintained that purity and integrity of Doctrine and that compatiblenesse with Princes which gaue them authority at first when the Emperours conceiued so well of that Church as they bound their faith to the faith thereof which they might boldly doe at that time perchance Princes would not haue refused that the adiections of those later Popes should haue beene admitted as parts of the Canon law nor should the Church haue beene pestred and poisoned with these tumors excrescenges with which it abounds at this time and swelles daily with new additions 5 In which if there bee any thinge which bindes our faith and deriues vppon vs a Title to Martyrdome if we die in defence thereof as there are many things deriued from Scriptures and Obligatory Councels the strength of that band rises so much from the nature of the thing or from the goodnesse of the soile from which it was transplanted to that place that though we might be Martyrs if we defended it in that respect yet wee should loose that benefit though it be an euident and Christian truth if we defend it vpon that reason That it is by approbation of the â—ope inserted into the body of the Canon law which is a Satyr and Miscellany of diuers and ill digested Ingredients 6 The first part whereof which is the Decretum compiled by Gratian which hath beene in vse aboue foure hundred yeares is so diseased and corrupt a member thereof that all the Medicines which the learned Archbishop Augustinus applied to it and all that the seuerall Commissioners first by Pius the fift then by Gregory the thirteenth haue practised vpon it haue not brought it to any state of perfect health nor any degree of conualescence 7 But though that Bishop say That Gratian is not worthy of many words though in his dispraise yet because he tels vs That the ignorant admire him though the Learned laugh at him And because hee is accounted so great a part of the Canon Law as euen the Decretall Epistles of the Popes are call'd Extra in respect of him as being out of the Canon Law it shall not be amisse to make some deeper impressions of him 8 Thus farre therefore the Catholicke Archbishop charges him To haue beene so indiscreete and precipitate that he neuer stood vpon Authoritie of Bookes but tooke all as if they had beene written with the finger of God as certainely as Moses Tables And hee is so well confirm'd in the opinion of his negligence that he sayes He did not onely neuer Iudge and waigh but neuer see the Councels nor the Registers of Popes nor the workes of the Fathers And therefore sayes hee There is onely one remedy left which is Vna litura And in another place That there can bee no vse at all made
the Metropolitane of England should Excommunicate him And yet by there Doctors it is auerr'd that Iure Diuino and Iure Comâ—muni Antiquo A Bishop may Excommunicate a King as Ambrose did Theodosius and that excepting onely infallibilitie of iudgement in matter of Faith a Bishop might Iure Diuino doe all those things in his Diocesse which the Pope might doe in the whole Church For so Bellarmine himselfe concludes arguing from the Popes Authoritie in all the world to a Bishop in his Diocesse If thereâ—ore an Oath had beene lawfull for defending the King against All enemies though a Bishop Excommunicate him And the Pope haue onely by positiue lawes withdrawne from the Bishops some of the exercise of their iurisdiction and reserued to himselfe the power of excommunicating Princes it is as lawfull to defend him aâ—ter a Popes excommunication now as it was after a Bishops when a Bishop might excommunicate and no man euer said that a Bishop might haue deposed a King 16 All which they quarrell at in the oath is that any thing should be pronounced or any limits set to which the Popes power might not extend but they might as well say that his spirituall power were limited or shortned and so the Catholique faith impugned if one should denie him to haue power ouer the winde and sea since to tame and commaund these in ordine ad spiritualia would aduance the conuersion of the Indies and impaire the Turks greatnesse and haue furthered his fatherly spirituall care of this Kingdome in 88. 17 All the substance of the oath is virtually comprehended in the first proposition That king Iames is lawfull King of all these Dominions The rest are but declarations and branches naturally and necessarily proceeding from that rooâ—e And as that Catholique which hath sworne or assented that Paul the fift is Pope canonically elected hath implicitely confessed that no man can deuest or despoile him of that spirituall iuâ—isdiction which God hath deposed in him nor of those temporall estates which by iust title his predecessours possessed or pretended too so that Subiect which sweares king Iames to bee his true and lawfull King obliges himselfe therein to all obedience by which hee may still preserue him in tâ—at state which is to resist all which shâ—ll vpon any occasion be his enemies 18 For if a king be a king vpon this condition that the Pope may vpon such cause as seemes iust to him depose him the king is no more a Soueraigne then if his people might depose him or if a Neighbour king might depose him For though it may seeme more reasonable and conuenient that the Pope who may bee presumed more equall and dispassioned then the people and more disinteressed then the neighbour Princes should be the Iudge and Magistrate to depose a Prince enormously transgressing the wayes in which his duâ—y bound to him to walke though I say the king might hope for better Iustice at his hand then anothers yet he is no Soueraigne if any person whatsoeuer may make him none For it is as much against the nature of Soueraignty that it may at any time be iustly taken away as that it shall cerâ—ainly bee taken away And therefore a King whom the Pope may depose is but a Depositarieâ— and Guardian of the Souerainty â—o whose trust it is committed vpon condition as the Dictators were Depositaries of it for a certaine time And Princes in this case shall bee so much worse then Dictators as Tenants at will are worse then they which haue certaine leases 19 And thereâ—ore that suspition and doubt which a learned Lawyer conceiued that the Kings of France and Spaine lacked somewhat of Souerainty because they had a dependance and relation to the Pope would haue had much reason and probability in it though he meant this onely of spirituall matters concerning religion if that authority which those Kings seeme to be subiect to were any other then such as by assenting to the Ecclesiastique Canons or confirming the immunities of the Ecclesiastique state they had voluntarily brought upon themselues and the better to discharge their duetyes to their Church and to their ciuill state had chosen this way as fittest to gouerne their Church as other waies by Iudges and other Magistrates to administer ciuill Iuâ—stice 20 So thereâ—ore his Maiesties predecessors in this Kingdome were not the lesse Soueraigne and absoluteâ— by those acts of Iurisdiction which the Popes exercised here For though some kings in a mis-deuout zeale and contemplation of the next life neglected the office of gouernement to which God had called them by attending which function duely they might more haue aduanced their saluation then by Monastique retirings of which publique care and preseruing those which were committed to their charge and preferring them before their owne happinesseâ— Moses and St. Paul were couragious examples Though I say they spent all their time vpon their owne future happinesse and so making themselues almost Clergy men and doing their duties gaue the Clergie men way and opportunity to enter vpon their office and deale with matter of State And though some oâ—her of our kings oppressed with temporall and personall necessities haue seemed to diminish themselues by accepting conditions at the Popes hands or of his Legates And some others out of their wisedome auoiding dangers of raw and immature innouâ—tions haue digested some indignities and vsurpations and by the examples of some kingdomes about them haue continued that forme of Church Gouernment which they could not resist without tumult at home and scandall abroadâ— yet all this extinguished no part of their Souerainty which Souerainty without all question they had before the other entred into the kingdome intirely and Souerainty can neither be deuested nor deuided 21 As therefore Saint Paul suffered Circumcision as long as toleration thereof aduanced the propagation and growth of the Church when a seuere and rigid inhibition thereof would haue auerted many tender and scrupulous consciences which could not so instantly passe from a commandement of a necessity in taking Circumcision to a necessity in leauing it But when as certaine men came downe and taught that circumcision was necessary to saluation and so ouerthrewe the whole Gospell because the necessity of both could not consist together then Circumcision was vtterly abolished So as long as the Romane Religion though it were corrupted with many sicknesses was not in this point become so infectious and contagious as that it would vtterly destroy and abolish the Souerainâ—y of Princes the kings of England succourd relieued and cherished it and attended an opportunity when God would enable them to medecine and recouer her but to be so indulgent to her now is impossible to them because as euery thing is iealous of his owne being so are kings most oâ— any and kings can haue no assurance of being so if they admit professors of that Religion which teache that the Pope may at any time Depose them
of Spaine which they call so super-eminently Catholicke and of whose King the Cardinall which writes against Baronius saies that he is the only Prince who bends all the sinewes of his power and all the thoughts of his minde not only to oppresse barbarous enemies of Christianity but to containe christian Kings in their duetie This Kingdome I say hath by all meanes which it can expressed how weary it is of that iurisdiction which the Pope exerciseth there in these points which we complaine of though the Popes haue euer beene most readie to recompence these temporall detriments to those kings as the Donations of the Indyes and of the Kingdome of Nauarre and of England testifie at full 9 And yet if we consider what all sorts of persons in that Nation haue done against this temporall power wee cannot doubt but that they trauaile of the same childe which our Kingdome and diuers others haue brought forth which is their libertie from this weakning and impouerishing thraldome For first for Booke-men and Writers a great Idolatrer of this temporall Iurisdiction in the Pope Confesses That many of the principall Authours of the Spanish nation concurre in this opinion that these exemptions and immunities of the Clergie so much debated are not Iuris diuini And it is easie to obserue what the Collection and resultanse vpon this conclusion will be Since if they bee enioyd by the fauour of Princes though a conueniencie and a kind of right grounded in the law of nature haue moued Princes to graunt themâ— yet all graunts of Princes are mortall and haue a naturall frailtie in them and vpoâ— iust cause are subiect to Reuocation 10 And for the Sword-men by that hostile Act vpon Rome it-selfe by Charles Bourbon which was done at least by the conniuencie of Charles the fift and by that preparation made against the same place by the expresse commaundement of Philip the second vnder the Duke of Aluaes conduct and by many other associations and Leagues against the Pope It appeares how iealous and watchfull they are vpon this Temporall iurisdiction and how they oppose themselues against any farther groweth thereof For whâ—n in the differences about the Kingdome of Portugall the Pope made offers to Phâ—lip the second to interpose himselfe for the setling of all pretences to that Crowne the King though with sweete and dilatorie answers refusd that offer because sayes the Author of that Storie he would not by this example acknowledge him to be the Iudge of Kingdomes And after this when the King had proceeded farther therein and Antonie was proclaimed and that a Legate came into Spaine and offred there in the name of the Pope to be a Iudge betweene all pretenders though Philip did not doubt the Legates inclination to his part because he came into his Countrey to make the offer and though he had more vse of such a seruice then then before yet he abstaind from vsing him therein because hee thought that the Pope vnder colour of doing the Office of a common father went about to make himselfe absolute Iudge of Kingdomes and besides the extraordinarie Authority which he endeuoured to draw to his Sea would oblige the Kings of Spaine to his house as the same Author expresses that Kings iealousies 11 And for the politique gouernement of that State euen in that Kingdome which they pretend to hold of the Church which is Sicily they exercise a stronger Iurisdiction and more derogatorie to the Pope then this which our King claimes And though Parsonsâ— who is no longer a subiect and Sonne of the Church of Rome then as that Church is an enemy to England for in the differences betweene her and Spaine he abandons â—er aâ—erre in one place that this iurisdiction is by Indult Dispensation from the Pope yet a more credible man then he and a natiue Subiect to the King of Spaine hath vtterly annuld and destroyed that opinion that any graunt or permission of the Popes hath enabled the Kings of Spaine to that Authoritie which they exercise there And he hath not onely told his brother Cardinall Columna that the matter it-selfe Is a point of the Catholicke faith but in his Epistle to King Philip the third hee extols and magnifies that Booke in which he had deliuered that Doctrine so authentically as if he meant to draw it into the Canon of the Scriptures for do these words import any lesse The Booke issued froÌ„ the very Chaire of S. Peter by the commandement of S. Peter and is confirmed by S. Peter and shal without doubt endure for euer And he addes this Commination speaking to the King Let them which resist these writings take heede least they stumble In hanc Petram and least they bee vtterly trode in pieces Ab ipsa ab alto ruente Petra But of Baronius his detestation of Monarchie and ill behauiour towards all Kings as well as his owne Soueraigne I haue another occasion to speake All which I purpose to euict here was that if Parsons haue spoken so heretically in saying that this is done by vertue of the Popes Indult that remaines true which I said before that that Kingdome of Spaine endeuours by all wayes it can to redeeme it-selfe from these vsurpationâ— and re-inuest it-selfe in her originall Supremacie 12 For as in one of the Greeke States when Nycippus sheepe brought forth a Lyon it was iustly concluded that that pâ—rtended a Tyrannie and change of the State from a peaceable to a bloody Gouernement so since the Spirituall principalitie hath produced a Temporall since this mild and Apostolique sheepe hath brought forth this Lyon which seekes whom hee may deuour as by his first Iurisdiction he would make in this Kingdome a spirituall shambles of your soules by corrupt Doctrines so by the latter he labours to make a Temporall shambles and market of your bodies by selling you for nothing and thrusting you vpon the Ciuill sword which it is a sinne to sheath when the Law commaunds to draw it in so dangerous cases of polluting the Land And though it be pretended by you and for you that the Popes haue laide both a spirituall and temporall Obligation vpon you Because besides their care for instructing your soules they haue also with some charge erected and endowed some Colledges for your Temporall sustentation who come into those parts yet as the wisemen of Persia being set to obserue the first actions of their new King Ochus when they marked that be reachd out his hand at the Table to Bread and to a Knife presumd by that that his time would be plentifull and bloody and faild not in their coniecture So since the Pope reaches out to you with his small Collegiate pittance the Doctrine of the materiall and temporall sword howsoeuer hee may seeme to relieue your miserie and penurie which you drawe vpon your selues yet it is accompanied with the presage of much blood since either his purposes must
That is that the seales and instruments of Gods grace the Sacraments are in the dispensing of the Clergy as temporall blessings are in the Prince and his lawes strictly and properly though concurrently both in both for the execution of the most spirituall function of the priest as it is circumstanced with time and place and such is ordinarily from the Prince â— But we are a litle affraid that by a literall and punctuall acceptation of this comparison we may giue way to that Supremacy which they affect ouer Princes because their Sepulueda saith That the soule doth exercise ouer the body Herile Imperium vt Dominus in seruumâ— and so by this insinuation should the pope doe ouer the prince 25 Howsoeuer in their first institution Popes were meere Soules and purely spirituall yet as the purest Soule becomes stain'd and corrupt with sinne assoone as it touches the body so haue they by entring into secular businesse contracted all the corruptions and deformities thereof and now transferre this originall disease into their successours And as in the second Nicene Councellâ— when the Bishop of Thessalonica aâ—err'd it to be the opinion of Basil Athanasius and Methodius and the Vniuersall Church that Angels and Soules were not meerely incorporeall but had bodiesâ— The Councell in a prudent conâ—iâ—encâ—e foâ—bore to oppose any thing against that asseueration because it facilitated their purpose then of making Pictures and representations of Spirits though Binius now vpon that place say his Assertion was false and iniurious to the Church So though in true Diuinitie the Pope is meerely spiritual yet to enable him to depose Princes they will inuest and organize him with bodily and secular Iurisdiction and auerre that all the Fathers and all the Catholicke Church were euer of that opinion For the Pope will not now be a meere Soule and Spirit but Spiritualis homo qui iudicat omnia a nemine iudicatur For so a late writer stiles him and by that place of Scripture enables him to depose Princes Noâ— will this serue but he must be also spiritâ—alis Princeps of which we shall hereafâ—er haue occasion to speake 26 And as a cunning Artificer can produce greater effects vpon matter conueniently dispos'd thereunto then nature could haue done as a Statuarie can make an Image which the Timber and the Axe could neuer haue efâ—ected without him And as the Magicians in Egypt could make liuing Creatures by applying and suggesting Passiue things to Actiue which would neuer haue met but by their mediation So after this Soule is entred into this Body this spirituall Iurisdiction into this temporall it produces such effects as neither powâ—r alone could worke nor they naturally would vnite and combine themselues to that end if they were not thus compressed and throng'd together like wind in a Caue Such are the thunders of vniust Excommunications and the great Earthquakes of transâ—erâ—ing Kingdomes 27 And these vsurpations of your Priests haue deseru'd that that stygmaticall note should still lâ—e vpon them which your Canons retaine That all euill proceedes from Priests For though Manriqe whom Sixtus the fift employ'd had remooued that glosse yet Faber to whom Gregorie the thirteenth committed the suruey of the Canons reâ—aines it still And if the Text be of better credit then the glosse the Text hath auerred Saint Hieromes words That searching ancient Histories he cannot find that any did rent the Churchâ— and seduce the people from the house of God but those which were placed by God as Priests and Prophets that is Ouerseeâ—s for these are turnd into winding Snares and lay scandals in euery place 28 Euen the Name of King presents vs an argument of pure and absolute and independant Authoriâ—ieâ— for it eâ—presses immediatly and radically his Office of gouerning wherâ—s the name of Bishop hath a metaphoricaâ—l and similitudinarie deriuation and being before Christianitie applied to Officers which had the ouerseeing of others but yet with relation to Superiours to whom they were to giue an account deuolu'd conueniently vpon such Prelates as had the ouerseeing of the inferiour Clergie but yet gaue them no acquitance and discharge of their dueties to the Prince 29 And God hath dignified many races of Kings with many markes and impressions of his power For by such an influence and infusion our kings cure a diâ—ease by touch and so doe the French Kings worke vpon the same infirmitie And it is said that the kings of Spaine cure all Daemoniaque and possessed persons And if it bee thought greater that the Pope cures spirituall Leprosies and lamenesses of sinne his Office therein is but accessorie and subsequent and after an Angel hath troubled our waters and put vs into the Poole that is after we are troubled and anguished for our sinnes and after we haue washed our selues often in the riuer Iordan in our teaâ—es and in our Sauiours blood vpon the Crosse and in the Sacrament then is his Office to distinguish betweene Leaper and Leaper and pronounce who is clensed which all his Priests could doe as well as he if he did not Monopolize our sinnes by reseruations 30 And this is as much as seemes to me needfull to bee said of their auiling Magistracy in respect of Priesthood for for vs priuate men it must content vs to be set one 〈◊〉 higher then dogges for so they say in their Missall cases that if any of the consecrated wine fall downe the Priest or his assistant ought to licke it vp but if they be not prepar'd any Lay-man may be admitted to licke it least the dogge should And of the comparison of these two great functionsâ— Principality and Priesthood I will say no more least the malignity of any mis-interpreter might throw these aspersions which I lay vppon persons vpon the Order And therefore since we haue sufficiently obserued how neare approaches to Priest hood the Christian Emperours haue iustly made and thereby seene the iniustice of the Romane Church in deiecting Princes so farre vnder it we will now descend to the second way by which they debase Princes and derogate from their authority 31 For it is not onely in comparisons with Priesthood that the Romane writers diminish secular dignity but simply and absolutely when they make the Title and Iurisdiction of a king so smoakie a thing that it must euaporate and vanish away by any lightning of the popes Breues or censures except they will all yeeld to build vp his Monarchy and make him heyre to euery kingdome as he pretends to be to the Empire for of that saith a Iesuite now there is no more controuersie And if the electors dissagree in their election then the election belongs to him And whether they agree or no this forme of Election is to continue but so long as the Church shall thinke it expedient And if he had such title to all the rest that Monarchie might in a vaster proportion extend
not onely be enwrapp'd in the bands of ExcoÌ„munication but cast into hell Vinculis Anathemaâ—is And this Iohn the eight at the same time when he alowes him all due attributes desires him to incline his sacredeares to him threatens Charles himself that if he restore not certain things taken from a Nunnerie by a certaine day He should bee Excommunicate till restitution and if being thus lightly touchâ—d he repented not Durioribus verberibus erudieâ—dus erat 73 So that whether this farther punishment were no other then that which is now called excommunicatio Maior or that which is called in the Canons Anathema maranatha the denouncing of which and the absoluing from it was acted with many â—ormalities and solemnities and had many ingredients of burning tapers and diuers others to which none could be subiected without the knowledge of the Arch-Bishoppe it appeares that it now here extends to temporall punishment or forfaitures and confiscations 74 Of which there appeares to me no euidence no discernable impression no iust suspition till Gregory the seuenths time And then as it may well be said of Phalaris his letters that they were al writ for execution and of Brutus his letters that they were all Priuy Seales for money so may wee â—ay of Gregories iudging by the frequency thereoâ— that they were all cholerique excommunications and that with Postscripts worse then the body of the letter which were Confiscations neuer found in his predecessors which should haue beene his precedents 75 And for this large and new addition of Eradication hee first threatned it to the Fench King and then practised it effectually vpon the Emperour To the Bishoppes of France he writes That their King Philip is not to be called King but a Tyrant which by perswasion of the Diuel is become the cause and the head of all mischiefe Therefore saies he all you must endeauour to bow him And thus farre his Pastorall care might binde him And to shew him that he cannot escape the sword of Apostolique animaduâ—rsion and thus farre his iealousie of his spiritual Primacy might excuse him But when he adds Depart from communion with him and obedience to him forbid Diuine Seruice throughout all France and if he repent not we will attempt to take the Kingdome from his possession they are wordes of Babel which no man at that time vnderstood yet he writes in the same tenour to the Earle of Poicton That if the king perseuere both he and all which giue any obedience to him shall be sequestred from the communion of the Church by a Councell to be held at Rome So assuredly and confidently could hee pronounce before hand of a future determination in a Councell there 76 And of his owne seuerity vsed towards the Emperour whom vpon seuere penances hee had resumed â—nto the Church he blushes not to mâ—ke an Historical Narration to the Bishops and Princes of Germany thus He stood three daies before the gate despoiled of all Kingly ornaments miserable and barefooâ—e till all men wondred at the vnaccustomed hardnesse of our minds And some cryed out that this was not the grauity of Apostolique seuerity but almost the cruelty of Tyrannique sauagenesse 77 And when Rodulphus whom he had set vp against the Emperour was dead seeing now as himselfe confesses almost all the Italians enclin'd to admit the Emperour Henry euen they whom he trusted most for so he saies â—ene omnes nostri fideles he protesteth that Rodolphus was made without his consent Ab vltramontâ—nis and that he went to depose him and to call those Bishops to account which adhered to himâ— And then he writes to certaine Prelates to slacken the Election of a new Emperour and giues instruction what kind of person hee would haue to bee elected One which should be obedient humbly deuout and profitable to the Church and that would take an oath to doe any thing which the Pope would commaund him in these wordes Per veram obedientiam and that hee would be made a Knight of Saint Peter and of the Pope 78 But although many watchfull and curious men of our Church and many ingenious of the Romane haue obseâ—ued many enormous vsurpations and odious intemperances in this tempestuous Pope Gregory the seuenth and amongst them almost anatomiz'd euery limme of his Story yet it may bee lawfull for mee to draw into obseruation and short discourse two points thereof perchance not altogether for their vnworthines pretermitted by others Of which the first shall be the forme of the excommunication against Henry because by that it will appeare what authority hee claimed ouer Princes And the other â—haâ—â— be â—is letteâ—â—o a Bishop wâ—o desired to draw from him some reaâ—ons by which he might defend that which the Pope hâ—d done because by that it will appeare vpon what foundations he grounded thâ—s preteâ—ce and authorâ—ty 79 The excoÌ„municaâ—ion is thus deliuered Conâ—tradico ei I denie him the gouernment of al the kingdom of Germany of Italy and I absolue all Christians froÌ„ the band of the oth which they haue made to him or shall make and I forbid any man to serue him as his king for it is fit that he which endeuors to diminish the honor of the Churchâ— should loose his owne honour And because he hath contemned to obey as a Christian participating with excommunicated persons and despising my admonitions and seperating himselfe from the Church I tie him in vinculo Anathematis By which we see that he beginnes with Confiscation And because it had neuer beene heard that the Popes authority extended beyond Excommunication therefore hee makes Deposition a lesse punishment then that and naturally to precede it for he makes this to bee reason enough why he should forfait his dignity because he attempted to dimâ—nish the Dignity of the Church But for his Disobedience to the Chuâ—ch and him he inflicts Excommunication as the greater and gâ—eatest punishment which he could lay vpon him And it is of dangerous câ—nsequence if Excommunication bâ— of so high a nature and of so vast an exâ—ent that wheresoeuer it is iustly inflicted that presupposes Confiscation and Deposition 80 And another dangerous preiudice to the safetâ—e of all Princes ariseth out of this pâ—ecedent which is that hee absolues the Subiects of all Oathes of Alleageance which they shall make after that Denunciation For if his successor that now gouernes shall be pleased to doe the same in England at this time and so giue his partie here such leaue to take the Oath of Alleageance doth he not thereby vtteâ—ly frustrate and annihilate all that which the indulgence of a mercifull Prince and the watchfulnesse of a diligent Parliament haue done for the Princes safety and for distinction betweene trayterous and obedient subiects Yet both this Deposition and this Absolution of subiects and this Interdiction were all heaped and amass'd vpon a Catholique Prince before the excommunication it selfe or any
other fault intimated the dâ—minishing of the honour of that Church and participating with excommunicated persons 81 And now we may discend to the suruay of that letter which he writes to a Bishoppe who desired to haue something written by him wherby he might be help'd and arm'd against such as deâ—yed that by the authority of that Sea he could excommunicate that Prince or absolue his subiects First therefore he saies That there are manie and most certaine Documents in the Scriptures to that purpose of which hee cites 〈◊〉 which are ordinarily offered as Tu es Petrus and Tibi dabo Claues and Quodcunqe ligaueâ—is and then he askes Whether Kings be excepted But Kings are not excepted but this proceeding against Kings is excepted That is it is not included in that Commission as hath beene enough and enough proued by many 82 Then followes that tâ—stimony of Gelasius a Pope That Priest-hood is aboue Principality and that the Bishoppe of Rome is the chiefe Priest If wee allow both Testem Testimonium yet the câ—use is safe he may be â—boue all in some functions yet not in temporall 83 His next authority is Iulius another Pope who expounding the wordes Tibi dabo Claues to certaine Easterne Bishoâ—pes saies Shall not â—e that opens heauen iudge of the earth But this dooth as much destroy all Iudicature and all Magistracy as iustifie the deposing of â—ings 84 After this he cites though not as Gregories words are a priuiledge graunted by Gregory the fiâ—st to a Monasterie and depriuation from secular dignity and excommunications to any that in â—ringe that priuiledge And this priuiledge Bellarmine also produces to proue the Popes soueraignty in tempoâ—all matâ—ers It is the prâ—uiledge of the Monastery of S. Medard which is in Gregories Epistle and it is cyted by this other Gregory it makes deposition the lesser punishment and to precede excommunication for he sayes That Gregory though a milde Doctor did not onely depose but excommunicate the transgressors But both this Pope that cytes it deceiues vs by putting in the word Decreuit as though this had the solemnities of a Popes Decree which presumes an infallibility and Bellarmine deceiues vs by mutilating the sentence and ending at that word Honore priuetur for he that reads the whole sentence shall see that all this Decree of Deposition and Excommunication was no more then a comminatory imprecation to testifie earnestly the Founders affection to haue those priuiledges obserued and deterre men from violating thereof as the vehemence and insolent phrase of the Instrument do intimate by a bitternes vnvsuall in medicinall excommunications For all the curses due to Heretiques and all the torments which Iudas endures are imprecated vpon him it is subscribed not only by Gregory with 30. Bishops but by a King and a Queene no competent Iudges in this Gregories opinioÌ„ of faults punishable by excoÌ„munication 85 And the same Pope in erecting of an Hospitall and endowing it with some immunities vses the same language that the infringers thereof should loose all their power and honour and dignity and after be excoÌ„municate and yet this is neuer produced nor vnderstood to confirme his temporall soueraignty 86 The Donation of Constantine which was not much lesse then 300. yeare beâ—ore this end in like words If any man violate this Donation let him be eternally condemned let him finde Peter and Paul in this life and in the next his enemies and leâ— him perish with the Diuell and al the reprobate burning in Inferno inferiore And wil they from this argue in Constantine a power to open and shut hel gates And will they endanger al those Catholique authors to this eternall damnation which haue violated this Donation of Constantine by publique bookes 87 And â—uch a Commination as this of Gregâ—ry appeares in a Canon of the first Councell at Paris not long before his where it is threatned that whosoâ—uer shall â—eceiue a person suspended from the Communion himself shal be seperated A concordia fratrum and as we hope or trust shall sustaine the wrath of the eternall iudge for â—uer And not to insist long vpon examples of such imprecations about 160 yeare after Gregory Paulus 1. erecting a Monastery in his owne house maâ—es this Constitution If any of the Popes our successors or any mighty or Inferiour person of what dignity soeuer alien any of these things let him know that he is anathematiz'd by Christ and Peter and estrâ—nged from the Kingdome of God and that he shall giue an account thereof to the Saints in the day of iudgement For sayeth hee I desire the Iudge himselfe that hee will cast vppon them the wrath of his power that their life may bee laborious and mournefull and they may die consuming and may bee burnt eternally with Iudas in hell fire in voragine chaoâ— And that they that obserue this Constitution may enioy all blessednes at the right hand of God 88 And when in the behalfe of the Kings of Spaine the same argument is made for them that because there are many Diplomes extant in Sicily by which the Kings Anathematise inâ—ringâ—rs of their Constitutions that therefore they exeâ—cised Spirituall Iurisdiction Baronius saies that this argument is ridiculous because iâ— is hard to finde any instrument of Donations from Princes or from priuate men or from women in which these bitter formes of excommunication are not Which saies he do not containe any sentence of excommunication but Imprecations to deterre other as euery man was at libertie â—o doe when he made any such graunts So that Baronius hath laughed out of countenance this argument vpon Medardus priuiledge which hath beene so oâ—â—en and so solemnly offered and iterated And it appeares hereby that the punishments mentioned in these Constituâ—ions were not such as the makers thereoâ— could inflict but onely such as â—hey wished to fall vpon them that offended and such I doubt not was Gregories Imprecation in his successors interpretations that is that hee wished all Kings to be depriued 89 His next reason why Princes may be deposed by Priests is the diuersity of their Beginning and first Institutionâ— for as before he had said to another Bishop of the same place Regall Dignity was found out and inuented by humane pride but Priests were intituled by the Diuine pietie So here he repeates it with more contumely Who knowes not that Kings had their beginnings from those menâ— who being ignorant of God and prouoked by the prince of the world the Diuell through Pride Rapine Perfidiousnesse Murder and all wickednesse affected a gouernment ouer their equalls by a blind Ambition and intolerable presumption 90 Then he proceeds to the examples of Innocent who excomunicated Arcadius and of Zachary who deposed Childerique The first of which is not to the purpose Except Excommunication presume Deposing which Innocent intended not And the second hath beene abundantly and satisfactorily spoken to by very many
of ours and of their owne authors who determine it roundly Deposuit id est Deponentibus consensit 91 And therefore insisting little vpon these hee makes hast to that wherein he excels which is to reproach and debase the State and Order of Kings For he says That euen Exorcists which is no sacred order are superiour to Princes Nor is his intemperance therefore excessiue because hee subiects men to such as are in the way going towards Priesthood for that will bee still vpon the old ground that priesthood is in an incomprehensible distance and proportion aboue principalitie but his reasons why Exorcists are aboue Princes discouers more malignitie to Princes absolutely which is That since they are aboue the Diuell himselfe much more are they Superiour to those which are subiect to the deuill and members of the deuill Nor could his argument haue any life or force here except he presum'd Kings to be poysoned corrupted by the very place by the order it selfe for otherwise if he meant it onely of vicious Kings why should he institute this comparison of Exorcists and Kings since it ought to bee of Exorcists and vicious men And therefore as he sayes after in this Epâ—stle That he finds in his owne experience that the Papacie either finds good men or makes them good and that if they want goodnesse of their owne they are supplied by their predecessours and so Aut Clari eriguntur aut Erecti illustrantur So he thinkes either that onely members of the deuill come to be Kings or that kings grow to be such when they are kings For so much he intimates euen in this place when hee sayes In Regall dignitie very few are saued and from the beginning of the world til now we find not one King equal in sanctitie to innumerable Religious men What King hath done any miracles To what King haue Churches or Altars beene erected How manâ— Kings are Saints Whereas onely in our Sea there are almost a hundred 92 And thus I thought it fit to runne ouer this Letter becauâ—e here sâ—emes the first fire to haue beene giuen and the first drop of poyson to haue beene instil'd of all those virulencâ—es and combustions with which the later Authours in that Church are inflam'd and swollen vp in this point of auiling Princes Of which ranke this Pope had respect to none but those who were really profitable to him Nor haue I obserued any words of sweetenesse in him towards any of them but onely to our King the Conquerour and to one King of Spaine To ours he sayes VVe account you the onely man amongst Kings that performes his duetie and this he â—ayes because â—e should graunt more to God and Saint Peter and Saint Stephen and be vigilant vpon Saint Peters estate in England that he mâ—ght find him a propitious debter And to the king of Spaine he sayes The present which you sent me is so ample and so magnificent as became a King to giue and Saint Peter to receiue and you show by your present how much you esteeme him 93 And such Princes as these he was loath to loose For he accounted that a losse which now they call the onely perfection that is to enter into a Religious and regular Order For this Gregorie chides an Abbot bitterly for admitting a Prince who might haue beene profitable to his state into the Cloyster For he sayes To doe so is but to seeke their owne ease and now not onely the Shepheards depart from the care of the Church but the Dogges also which he speakes of Princes He tels him That he hath done against the Canons in admitting him and that he is therein an occasion that a hundred thousand persons doe lacke their guide And therefore sayes he Since there are scarce any good Princes to bee found I am grieu'd that so good a Prince is taken away from his mother That is from the Churcâ— as it must necessarily be intended in this Epistle So pliant and seruiceable to his vses would Gregorie make Regall dignitie or else breake it in peeces 94 And where could our later men find better light in this mischeiuous and darke way then in this Gregories Dictates of which these are some That onely the Pope may vse Imperiall Ornaments That all Princes must kisse his feete That onely his Name must be rehearsed in the Church That there is no other Name in the world with many such transcendencies And accordingly he is wel secondâ—d by others which say that he is Superillustris and may not be cald so neither because he is so much aboue all Dignitie that our thought cannot extend to his Maiestie And to preuent all opposition against it Baldus in a choler sayes That he that sayes the contrarie Lyes 95 And vpon what place of Scripture may â—hey not build this supremacy and this obedience to it after a Pope who is heire to an Actiue and Passiue infallibility and can neither deceiue nor be deceiued hath extorted from Samuel so long before the Apostolique Sea was established a testimony That not to obey the Apostolique Sea was the sinne of Idolatrie teste Samuele which he iterates againe and againe in diuers other Epistles 96 From this example and from this libertie proceedes that malignity wherewith the later writers wrest euery thing to â—he disgrace of Principality By this authority Symancha drawes into consequence and vrges as a precedent to be imitated the example of the Scythians who killed their king for admitting some new rytes in diuine worshippe Which sayes Simancha was iustly done for the Subiects of hereticall Princes are deliuered from their Iurisdiction And in like maner Schultingius an Epitomizer of Baronius finding in him out of Strabo that in Egypt the Priests had so much authority ouer the Kings that sometimes by a bare message they would put one King to death and erect another and repeating the same gloriously and triumphantly a second time at last in a Marginall note hee claimes the same authority for the Pope when he notes and sayes thereupon The supreame authority of the Clergy is proued against the Caluinists So that we may easily discerne by these examples which they propose for imitation what authority they ayme at But Schultingius might also haue obserued as a prophecy of the ruine of their vsurpation that as soone as a learned and vnderstanding king Ergamenes came amongst them he tooke away that custome 97 From this libertie Bellarmine also to the danger of any Prince differing in any point from the integrity of the Romane profession hath pronounced That Heretiques are depriued of all â—urisdiction euen before excommunication And that therefore an Emperour cannot call a Councell because that must be done in Nomine Christi and that Princes haue not their precedencies as they are members of the Church for so Ecclesiastique Ministers are aboue them 98 And this hath made a Contry-man of ours deliuer
and come backe or did the Priests find such spirituall comfort in transgressing this Law that they offred to goe out 21 And in all our differences which fell out in this Kingdome betweene our Kings and the Popes when so many capitall Lawes were made against Prouisions and Appeales not to dispute yet wheâ—her de Iure or de facto only or whether by way oâ— Introduction or Declaration doe you finde that the Catholiques then vsed the benefite of those lawes to the procurement of Martyrdome or hath the blood of any men executed by those lawes died your Martyrologes with any Rubriques And yet those times were apt enough to countenance any defender of Ecclesiastique immunity though with diminution of Ciuill and Secular Magistracie as appeares by their celebrating of Becket yeâ— I find not that they affoorded the title of Martyre to any against whom the State proceeded by the Ordinary way and course of law 22 Why therefore shall not the French and Italian and olde English lawes giue occasion of Martyrdome in the same cases as these new lawes shall At least why should Campian and those which were executed before these new statutes be any better Martyres then they since they were as good Catholiques as these and offended the common law of England in the same point as these But if the Breach and violating of the later statutes be the onely or liueliest cause of Martyrdome then of Parsons who euery day of his life doth some act to the breaking thereoâ— it is verie properly said by one of his owne sect That hee is per totam vitam martyr 23 And this may suffice to remember you that you intrude into this emploiment and are not sent and that our Lawes ought to worke vpon your Oath of returning to the annihilation thereof because both the necessitâ—e of the making and continuing â—hereof and the precedents of our owne and other Catholicke Kingdomes giue vs warrant to make seditious Doctrine Treason and your owne Canons and Iâ—dicaâ—â—re giue vs example and if we needed it Authoritie to proceede in that maner CHAP. VI. A comparison of the Obedâ—â—nce due to Princes with the seuerall obediences requir'd and exhibited in the Romane Church First of that blind Obedience and stupiditie which Regular men vowâ— to their Superiours Secondly of thâ—t vsurpeâ— Obedience to which they pretend by reason of our Baptisme wherein we ar said to haue made an implicite surrender of our selues and all that we haue to the Church And thirdly of that Obedience which the Iesuits by a fourth Supernumeraâ—ie vowe make to be dispos'd at the Popes absolute will THere hath not beene a busier disquisition nor subiect to more perplexitie then to finde out the first originall roote and Source which they call Primogenium subiectum that may be so capable of Power and Iurisdiction and so inuested with it immediately from God that it can transferre and propagate it or let it passe and naturally deriâ—e it-selfe into those formes of Gouernement by which mankind is continued and preserued For at the resolution of this all Quâ—stions of Subiection attend their dispatch And because the Clergie of the Roman Church hath with so much fierce earnestnesse and apparance of probablenesse pursued this Assertion That that Monarchall forme and that Hierarchie which they haue was instituted immediately from God Many wise and iealous Aduocates of Secular Authoritie fearing least otherwise they should diminish that Dignitie and so preuaricate and betray the cause haue said the same of Regall power and Iurisdiction And euen in the Romane Church a great Doctor of eminent reputation there agrees as he sayes Cum omnibus sapientibus That this Regall Iurisdiction and Monarchie which word is so odious and detestable to Baronius proceedes from God and by Diuine and naturall Law and not from the State or altogether from man And as we haue it in Euidence â—o we haue it in Confession from them that God â—ath as immediately created some Kings as any Priests And Cassanaeus thinkes this is the highest Secular Authoritie that euer God induced For he denies That old or new Testament haue any mention of Emperour 2 But to mine vnderstanding we iniure and endanger this cause more if wee confesse that that Hierarchie is so Immediately from God as they obtrude it then we get by offering to drawe Regall power within the same Priuiledge I had rather thus farre abstaine from saying so of either that I would pronounce no farther therein then this That God hath Immediately imprinted in mans Nature and Reason to be subiect to a power immediately infus'd from him and that hee hath enlightned our Nature and Reason to digest and prepare such a forme as may bee aptest to doe those things for which that Power is infus'd which are to conserue vs in Peace and in Religion And that since the establishing of the Christian Church he hath testified abundantly that Regall Authoritie by subordination of Bishops is that best and fittest way to those ends 3 So that that which a Iesuite said of the Pope That the Election doth onely present him to God wee say also of a King That whatsoeuer it be that prepares him and makes his Person capable of Regall Iurisdiction that onely presents him to God who then inanimates him with this Supremacy immediately from himselfe according to a secret and tacite couenant which he hath made with mankinde That when they out of rectified Reason which is the Law of Nature haue begot such a forme of Gouernement he will infuse this Soule of power into it 4 The way therefore to finde what Obedience is due to a King is not to seeke out how they which are presum'd to haue transferr'd this power into him had their Authoritie and how much they gaue and how much they retain'd For in this Discouerie none of them euer went farther then to Families In which they say Parents and Masters had Iurisdiction ouer Children and Seruants and these Families concurr'd to the making of Townes and transâ—err'd their power into some Gouernour ouer them all 5 But besides that this will not hold because such Sauadges as neuer rais'd Families or such men as an ouerburdned kingdom should by lot throw out which were peeces of diuers families must haue also a power to frame a forme of Gouernement wheresoeuer they shall reside which could not bee if the onely roote of Iurisdiction were in parents masters This also will infirme and ouerthrow that Assertion that if parents and masters had not this supreme Soueraignty which is requisite in Kings they could not transferre it into Kings and so Kings haue it not from them And if they were Soueraignes they cold not transfer it â—or no Soueraigne can deuest himselfe of his Supremacie 6 Regall authority is not therefore deriued from men so as at that certaine men haue lighted a King at their Candle or transferr'd certaine Degrees of Iurisdiction into him and therefore it is a cloudie and
muddie search to offer to trace to the first roote of Iurisdiction since it growes not in man For though wee may goe a steppe higher then they haue done which rest and determine in Families which is that in euery particular man considered alone there is found a double Iurisdiction of the soule ouer the body and of the reason ouer the appetite yet those will be but examples and illustrations not Rootes and Fountaines from which Regall power doth essentially proceede Sepulueda whom I cited before saies well to this purpose That the soule doth exercise Herile Imperium vpon the body and this can be no example to Kings who cannot animate and informe their Subiects as the soule doth the body But the power of our reason vpon our appetite is as he saies pertinently Regale Imperium and Kings rule subiects so as reason rules that 7 To that forme of Gouernement therof for which rectified reason which is Nature common to all wise men dooth iustly chuse as aptest â—o worke their end God instils such a power as we wish to be in that person and which wee beleeue to be infused by him and therefore obey it as a beame deriued from him without hauing departed with any thing from our selues 8 And as to the end of this power is alwaies one and the same To liue peaceably and religiously so is the power it self though it be diuersly complexioned and of different stature for that naturall light and reason which acknowledges a necessity of a Superiour that we may enioy peace and worshippe God did consent in the common wish and tacite praier to God and doth rest in the common faith and beliefe that God hath powred into that person all such authority as is needefull for that vse Therefore of what complexion soeuer the forme of gouernement be or of what stature soeuer it seeme yet the same authority is in euery Soueraigne State thus farre That there are no Ciuill men which out of rectified Reason haue prouided for their Peaceable and religious Tranquility but are subiect to this regall authority which is a pâ—â—er to vse all those meanes which conduce to those endes 9 For those diffrences which appeare to vs in the diuers â—ormes are noâ— in the essence of the Soueraignty which hath no degrees nor additions nor diminutions but they are onely in those instruments by which this Soueraignty is exercised which are ordinarily called Arcanâ— and Ragion di stâ—to as I noted beforeâ— and as the soule it selfe hath as good vnderstanding in an Idiote and as good a memory in a Lâ—thargique person as in the wisesâ— and liueliest man So hath this Soueraignty in â—â—â—ry state equall vigour though the Organes by which it workes be not in all alike disâ—osed And therefore the gouerneâ—eâ—t amongst the Iewes before Saâ—le was fully a Kingdoâ—e in this accepâ—ation nor did they attend any new addition to this power in their solicitation for a King but because they were a people accustomed to warre they wished such a Soueraigne as might lead their Armies which office their Priestes did not and they grudged that their enemies should be conduced by better persons then they were 10 And so though some ancient Greeke states which are called Regna Laconica because they were shortned and limited to certaine lawes and some States in our time seeme to haue Conditionall and Prouisionall Princes betweene whom and Subiects there are mutuall and reciprocall obligations which if one side breake they fall on the other yet that soueraignty which is a power to doe all things auaileable to the maine endâ—s resides somewhereâ— whichâ— if it be in the hands of one man erects and perfects that Pambasilia of which we speake 11 For God inanimates euery State with one power as euery man with one soule when therefore people concurre in the desire of such a King they cannot contract nor limitte his power no more then parents can condition with God or preclude or withdraw any facultie from that Soule which God hath infused into the boâ—dy which they prepared and presented to him For if such a company of Sauadges or men vvhom an ouerloaded kingdome â—ad auoided as vve spake off before should create a King and reserue to themselues a libertie to reuenge their owne wrongs vpon one another or to doe any act necessary to that end for which a King hath his authority this liberty were swallowed in their first acte and onely the creation of the King were the worke of rectified reason to which God had concurr'd and that reseruation a uoide and impotent act of their appetite 12 If then this giue vs light what and whence the Kings Iurisdiction is we may also discerne by this what our obedience must be for power and subiection are so Relatiue as since the King commaunds in all things conducing to our Peaceable and Religious being wee must obey in all those This therefore is our first Originary naturall and Congenite obedience to obey the Prince This belongs to vs as we are men and is no more changed in vs by being Christians then our Humanity is changed yet hath the Romane Church extolled and magnified three sorts of Obedience to the preiudice of this 13 The first is that which they call Caecam obedientiam which is an inconsiderate vndiscoursed and to vse their owne word an Indiscreete surrendring of themselues which professe any of the rules of Religion to the command of their Prelate and Superior by which like the vncleane beasts They swallow and neuer chaw the cudde But this obedience proceeding out of the will and electioâ— of them who applie themselues to that course of life cannot be of so great authority and obligations as the other which is naturall and borne in vs and therefore farther then it agrees with that it is not out of rectified reason 14 And though it seeme scarce worthy of any further discourse yet I cannot deny my selfe the recreation of suruaying some examples of this blinde and stupid obedience and false humility nor forbeare to shew that by their magnifying thereof and their illations thereupon not only the offices of mutuall society are vncharitably pretermitted but the obedience to Princes preiudic'd and maimed and the liuely and actiue and vigorous contemplation of God clouded and retarded 15 For when a distressed Passenger intreated a Monke to come forth and helpe his Oxe out of the Ditch was it a charitable answere to tell him That he had bin twentie years dead in his graue and could not now come forth Yet it may seeme excusable in them to neglect others if this obedience make them forget themselues as certaine youthes whom their Abbot sent with Figges to an Ermit loosing their way sterued in the Desart rather then they would eate the Figges which they were commanded to deliuer Is it likely that when Mucius a Monke at the commaund of his Abbot who bid him cast his crying sonne into the riuer and
him to be a Saint And so it seemes doth that Catholique Priest who hath lately published a History of English Martyres For that which in the Title he calls Martyrologe in his Aduertisement he calles Sanctiloge And therefore it becomes both our Religion and Discretion to consider thoroughly the circumstances of their History whom we admit to the honour of Martyrdome 7 All Titles to martyrdome seeme to me to be grounded vpon one of these three pretences and claymes The first is to seale with our bloode the profession of some morall Truth which though it be not directly of the body of the Christian faith nor expressed in the Articles thereof yet it is some of those workes which a Christian man is bound to doe The second is to haue maintained with losse of life the Integrity of the Christian faith and not to suffer any part thereof to perish or corrupt The third is to endeuour by the same meanes to preserue the liberties and immunities of the Church 8 By the first way they entitle S. Iohn Baptist because he died for reprehending a fault against a morall Truth and that truth being resisted the Authour of truth is despised And therefore all truth is not matter conuenient for the exercise of this vertue as the conclusions of Artes and Sciences though perfectly and demonstratiuely true are not but it must be such a truth as is conuersant about Christian piety and by which God may be glorified which cannot be except he might be iniured by the denying thereof So the Euangelist when our Sauiour spake of S. Peters Martyrdome saies He signified by what death hee should glorifie God For all Martyredome workes to that end And this first occasion of martyrdome seldome fals out in Christian Countries because in Christ the great Mirrour of all these truthes we see them distinctly and euidently But sometimes with Heathen Princes before they arriue to this rich and pregnant knowledge men which labour their conuersion begin or touch by the way some of these Morall dueties and if they grow odious and suffer for that they are perfect Martyrs dying for a morall Trueth and in the way to Christ. 9 By the second claime which is the Integritie of Catholicke Religion the professors of any Christian Church will make a specious and apparant Title if they suffer persecution in any other Christian Church For the Church of Rome will call the whole totall body and bulke of the points of their profession Integritie of Religion and the Reformed Churches call soundnesse puritie and incorruptnesse integritie The Roman thinkes Integritie hurt by nothing but Maimes and we by Diseases And one will prooue by his death that too little is professed and the other that too much But this aduantage we haue that by confession of our aduersaries all that wee affirme is True and Necessarie and vpon good ground we assure our selues that nothing else is so and we thinke that a propensenesse to die for profession of those points which are not necessarie will not constitute a Martyrdome in such a person especially as is of necessarie vse 10 Amongst other things which our Blessed Sauiour warnes his followers this is one That none of them suffer as a busie body in other mens matters but if he suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but glorifie God And in another place hee cals them blessed If others say all maner of euill of them falsely and for his sake So that the prohibition forbids vs to suffer for those things which doe not certainely appertaine to vs And the instruction ties the reward to these conditions That the imputations be false That they be imputed for Christs sake that is to dishonour him and that we suffer because we are Christians 11 Since therefore some of you at your Executions and in other conferences haue added this to your comfoâ—t and glory of Martyrdome That because the Kings mercie hath beene offred you if you would take the Oath therefore you died for refusing the same Though your Assertion cannot lay that vpon the State who hath two discharges One that you were condemn'd for other Treasons before that offâ—r The other that the Oath hath no such Capitall clause in it yet since as I said you take it vpon your Consciences to bee so Let vs Examine whether your refusall of the Oath bee a iust cause to Die vpon this point of Integritie of Faith by that measure which our Sauiour gaue in his Prohibition and in his Instruction 12 Is it then any of your matters or doeth it belong to you by your Doctrine and by your Example in refusing the Oath to determine against Princes Titles or Subiects Alleageance If this be any of your matters then you are not sent onely to doe Priestly functions And if it be not then you suffer as busie bodies in other mens matters if you suffer for the Oath 13 And then what is imputed to you which is false which is another condition required by Christ if you be called traytors then when after apparant transgressing of such lawes as make you Traytors you confirme to vs a perseuerance in that Trayterous disposition by refusing to sweare Temporall Alleageance Wherein are you lesse subiect to that name then those Priestes which were in Actuall plots since mentall Treason denominates a man as well as mentall heresie You neither can nor will condemne any thing in them but that they did their treason before any Resolution of the Church and haue you any resolution of the Church for this That the King may be deposed when he is excommunicated If you haue you are in a better forwardnesse then they and you may vndertake any thing as soone as you will that is as soone as you can For you haue as good opinions already and as strong authorities That a King of another Religion then Romane is in the state of an excommunicate person before Sentence as you haue for this That an Excommunicate King may be deposed And would you thinke it a iust cause of Martyrdome to auerre that the King is already vnder excommunication 14 And to proceede farther in Christs Instruction are these things said of you for Christs sake Are you if you be called Traytors for refusing the Oath reproued for anie part of his Commandements If it were for exercising your Priestlie functions you might haue some colour since all your Catholique Religion must bee the onely Christian Religion But can that state which labours watchfullie and zealouslie for the promouing of Christs glorie in all other things bee saide to oppose Christ or persecute him in his Members for imputing trayterous inclinations to them who abhorre to confirme their Alleageance by a iust Oath 15 Lastly can you say you suffer as Christians that is as Christ there intended for Christian faith which is principally the matter of Martyrdome Aquinas cites this out of Maximus The Catholique faith is the mother of martyrdome And he explicates
which entitle the Pope to a Direct and Ordinary Iurisdiction ouer Prinâ—es 10 And the same reasons and groundes by which he destroies that opinion will destroy his which is That as Christ was so the Pope is spirituall prince ouer all men and that by vertue of that power he may dispose of all temporall things as hee shall iudge it expedient to his spirituall ends 11 For first against that opinion of Ordinarie Iurisdiction hee argues thus If it were so it would appeare out of the Scriptures or from the Tradition of the Apostles but in the Scriptures there is mention of the keyes of Heauen but none of the Kingdomes of the earth nor doe our Aduersaries offer any Apostolique Tradition Will not you then before you receiue too deepe impression of Bellarmines doctrine as to pay your liues for maintenance thereof tell him That if his opinion were true it would appeare in Scripture or Apostolique trâ—dition And shal poore and lame and â—lacke arguments coniecturally and vnnecessarily deduced from similitudes and comparisons and decency and conueniency binde your iudgements and your liues for reuerence of him who by his example counsels you to cal for better proof wil you so in obeying him disobey him swallow his conclusions yet accuse his fashioÌ„ of prouing them which you do if when he cals for scriptures against others you aâ—cept his positions for his sake without scriptures 12 Another of Bellarmines reasons against Ordinary Iurisdiction is That Regall authority was noâ— necessary nor of vse in Christ to worke his end but sâ—perfluous and vnprofitable And what greater vse or necessity can the Pope haue of this Extraordinarie authority which is a power to work the same effects though not by the same way then Christ had if his ends be the same which Christs were and it appeares that Christ neither had nor forsaw vse of either because he neither exercised nor instistuted either For that is not to the purpoâ—e which Bellarmine saies that Christ might haue exercised that power if he would since the Popes authority is grounded vpon Christs example and limited to that For Christ might haue done many thinges which the Pope cannot do as conuerting all the world at once instituting more sacraments and many such and therefore Bellarmine argued well before that it is enough for him to proue that Christ did not exercise Regall power nor declare himselfe to haue it which Declarion onely and practise must be drawen into Consequence and be the precedent for the Pope to follow 16 The light of which Argument that the Pope hath no power but such as Christ exercised hath brought so many of them to thinke it necessarie to proue That both Christ did exercise Regall autâ—ority in accepting Regall reuerence vpon Palme-Sunday and in his corrections in the temple And his iudgement in the womans case which was taken in Adulterie And that S. Peter vsed also the like power in condemning Ananias and Saphira and Simon Magus 14 In another place Bellarmine saies That S. Paul appealed to Caesar as to his Superiour Iudge not onely de facto but de Iure and that the Apostles were subiects to the Ethnique Emperours in all temporall causes and that the law of Christ depriues no man of his right which he had before And lately in his Recognitions he departs from this opinion and denies that he was his Iudge de Iure If his first opinion be true can these consist together that he which is subiect in temporal causes can at the same time and in the same causes be superiour Or that he ouer whom the Emperour had supreame temporall authority should haue authority ouer the Emperour in temporall causes and what is there in the second opinion that should induce so strong an Obligation vpon a conscience as to die for it Since the first was better grounded for for that he produâ—ed Scriptures and the second is deâ—titute of that helpe and without further searâ—h into it tels vs that neither the Doctrine nor the Doctor are constant enough to build a Marâ—yredome vpon 15 Thus also Bellarmine argues to our aduantage though he doe it to proue a necessity of this power in the Church that euery Common-wealth is sufficiently prouided in it selfe to attaine the end for which it is instituted And as we said before the end of a Christian Common-wealth is not onely Tranquility for that sometimes may be mainâ—ained by vnchristianly meanes but it is the practise of all morall vertue now explicated to vs and obserued by vs in the exercise of Christian Religion and therfore such a Common-wealth hath of it selfe all meanes necessary to those ends without new additions as a man consisting of bodie and soule if he come from Infidelity to the Christian Religion hath no new third essenâ—iall pâ—rt added to him to gouerne that body and soule but onely hath the same soule enlightned with a more expliciâ—e knowledge of her duety 16 Bâ—llarâ—ine also tels vs That in the Apostles time these two powers were seperated and â—o all the Temporall was in the Emperour as all the Ecclesiasticke in the Apostles and that Hierarchie By what way then and at what time came this Authoritie into them if it were once out For to say that it sprong out of Spirituall Authoritie when there was any vse of it were to say that that Authoritie at Christs institution had not all her perfections and maturity and to say that it is no other but the highest act and a kinde of prerogatiue of the spirituall power will not reach homeâ— For you must beleeue and die in this that the Pope as spirituall Prince may not onely dispose of temporall matters but that herein hee vses the temporall sword and temporall iurisdiction 17 But when Bellarmine saies That this supreme authority resides in the Pope yet not as he is Pope And that the Pope and none but he can â—epose Kings and transfer Kingdomes and yet not as Pope I proâ—esse that I know not how to speake thereof with so much earnestnesse as becomes a matter of so great waight For other Princes when they exercise their extraordinarie and Absolute power and prerogatiue and for the publique good put in practise sometimes some of those parts of their power which are spoken of in Samuel which to many men seeme to exceede Regall pâ—weâ— yet they professe to doe these things as they are Kings and not by any other authoritie then that 18 And if there be some things which the Pope cannot doe as Pope but as chiefe spirituall Prince this implies that there are other inferiour spirituall Princes which are Bishops for so Bellarmine saies That Bishops in their Diocesses are Ecclesiastique Princes And haue Bishops any such measure of this spirituall principality that they may do somthings by that which they cannot doe as they are Bishopsâ— 19 All Principalities maintaine their being by these two reward
obeyed though hee commaund contra Societatem yea it is contra Societatem if he be not obeyed because there is a generall contract in humane Societies that Kings must be obeyed how much more must we obey God the Gouernour of all Creatures And do they which alleadge for the Popes Supremacy ouer Princes intend the Pope to be Gouernour of all Creatures Doth he gouerne Sea and Elements or doe they thinke that the will and commandements of God are deriued to vs onely by the way of the Pope or why should not wee thanke them for producing this Canon since it is direct and very strong for Kings and for the Popes it is but common with all other Magistrates who must be obeyed when God speaks in them or when they spâ—ake not against God 21 In the tenth Distinction one Pope by the testimony of two other popes saies That the Ecclesiastique Constitutions must be preferred before the Emperours lawes And the cases mentioned there are the constituting of a Metâ—apolitane the dissoluing of a Mariage vpon entring into Religion to which I say that these cases by consent of the Emperours were vnder their iurisdiction And if you gather a generall rule by this of the force of Canons aboue Ciuill lawes you proceede indirectly accepting the same persons for Parties Iudges and Witnesses and besides it is not safe arguing from the Emperour to another absolute Prince nor from the authority which Canons haue in his Dominions to what they should haue in all 22 In the 21. Distinction A Pope writing to a Bishoppe of Milan telles him That the dignities and preheminences of Churches must be as the Bishoppe of Rome shall ordaine because Christ committed to Peter which hath the keyes of eternall life Iura terreni simul Caelestis imperij But if he meane by his Terrenum Imperium the disposing of the dignities and preheminencies of Churches one aboue another in this world Or if he meane by it That he hath this Terrenum Imperium as he hath the keyes of heauen that is to binde and loose sinnes by spirituall censures and Indulgences of absolâ—tion in which capaciâ—y he may haue authority ouer the highest secular Princes for any thing conteined in this Oath this Canon wil do vs no harme But if hee meane that Christ gaue him both these authorities together and that thereby he hath them as Ordinary Iudge then Bellarmine and all which follow the Diuines opinion of indirect power will forsake him and so may you by their example 73 After another Pope Gelasius writes to Anastasius the Emperour comparing Secular and Ecclesiastique dâ—gnity And he saâ—es You know that you depend vpon their iudgement but this is saies the Glosse in spirituall matters And because this Canon comes no neerer our question then to iustifie in the Pope a power of excommunicating Princes for it assumes no more â—hen Ambrose exercised vpon Theodosius I will stand no longer vpon it 24 And these be the Canons which out of the Distinctions I haue obserued to be scattered amongst their Authours when they teach this doctrine for any that preferres Priest-hood befoâ—e Principality seemes to them â—o conduce to that point Now I will follow Gratian in his other parts where the first is the Canon Nos si incompetenter which is veâ—y ofâ—en vrâ—ed but it is so farre â—rom inâ—luding this power of Deposing that it excludes it â—or allowing the Priest poweâ— to Reprehend and remembring former examples of Excommunication hee addes Nathan in reproouing the King executed that office in which he was Superiour to him but he vsurped not the Kings office in which he was inferiour nor gaue iudgement of death vpon him as Adulterer or murderer 25 In the seuenth Question of the ninth Cause from the Canon Episcopo to the end of that Question there are many sayings which aduance the digniâ—y of the Romane Seate and forbidde al men to hinder Appeals thither or to iudge of the popes Decrees But all these were in spirituall causes and directed to spirituall persons and vnder spirituall punishments Onely in the Canon Fratres the king of Spaine seemes to be threatned but it is with Excommunication onely And all these Canons together are deliuered by one Pope of another In whome saâ—es the Glosse It is a familiar kinde of proofe for one one Pope to produce another for witnesse as God did proue the sinnes of Sodome by Angels And as there is much iniustice in this manner of the Popes proceeding so is there some tincture of blaspemy in the maner of iustifying it by this Comparison 26 The Canon Alius which droppes out of euery penne which hath written of this Subiect is the first wherein I marked any Pope to speake of Deposing In this Gelasius writes to Anastasius a Pope to an Emperour that Pope Zachary his predecessor had deposed the King of France because he was vnfit for so great a power But the Glosser doth the Pope good seruice and keepes him within such a conuenient sense as may make him say true For saies â—e He deposed that is Hee gaue consent to them which did depose which were the States of that Kingdome which he saies out of the Euidence of the history for he is so farre fâ—om coarcting the Popes power that wee may easily deprehend in the Glosse more â—raud and iniquity then arrogance and tyrannie in the Pope For saies he the vnfitnesse of the French King was licentiousnesse not infufficiency to gouerne for then the Pope ought to haue giuen him an assistant To proue wâ—ich he cites two other Canons In which places it appeares That to Bishoppes vnable by reason oâ— age to discharge their functions the Pope assigns Coadiutores and by this the Glosser might euict that he hath the same Ordinary authority to dispose of Kingdomes as of Bishoprickes This Canon therefore doth onely vnfaithfully relate the act of another Pope and not determine nor decree any thing nor binde the conscience 27 In the same Question there is a Canon or two in which our case is thus farre concern'd that they handle the Popes authority in Absoluing and Dispensing from Oathes And the first is câ—ted often and with great courage because besides the word Ab omnibus Iuramentis cuiuscunquemodi obligationibus absoluimus there followes parsue theÌ„ with the spirituall and materiall sword But when we consider the case and the History this power will not extend to our cause For the Pope thereby doth giue liberty to some Bishops to recouer by iust violence such parts of the Church Patrimonie as were taken away from them and doth dispence with such oathes as they had beene forced to take by those which iniuriously infested the Church Yet I denie not but that the glosser vpon this Canon is liberall enough to the Pope for he sayes hee hath power to dispence against the law of Nature against the Apostle 28 After this followes that
solemne and famous Canon of Gregory the seuenth Nos sanctorum Of whom since he had made a new rent in the body of the Church as Authors of his own Religion if he had any professe it is no maruaile that he patched it with a new ragge in the body of the Canon law Thus therefore he saies Insisting vpon the statutes of our predecessors by our Apostolique authority wee absolue from their Oath of Alleageance all which are bound to persons excommunicate And we vtterly forbid them to beare any Alleageance to such till they come to satisfaction But to whom shall these men be subiect in the meane time To such a one as will be content to resigne when so euer the other will aske forgiuenesse Ambition is not an ague it hath no fits nor accesses and remittings nor can any power extinâ—guish it vpon a sodaine warning And if the purpose of Popes in these deposings were but to punish with temporarie punishment why are the Kingdomes which haue been transferred by that colouâ— from Hereticall Princes still with-held from their Catholique Heires 29 But who these predecessors of whom the Pope speaks in this letter were I could neuer find And it appeares by this that this was an Innouation and that he vsed Excommunication to serue his own ends because in another Canon he sayes That many perished by reason of Excommunications and that therefore he being now ouercome with compassion did temper that sentence for a time and withdraw from that band all such as communicated with the excommunicate person except those by whose Counsaile the fault was perpetrated which induced the Excommunication And this sayes the glosse he did because he saw them contemne excommunication and neuer seek Absolution for all those whom he exempts by this Canon were exempt before his time by the law it selfe So that where he sayes Temperamus it is but Temperatum esse ostendimus and hee did but make them afraid who were in no danger and make them beholden to him whom the law it selfe deliuered And of this Canon in speciall words one of their great men sayes That it binds not where it may not be done without great damage of the subiect 30 Of his Successor almost immediate for Victor the third lasted but a little I finde another Canon almost to the same purpose for he wrâ—tes to a Bishop to forbid the Souldiers of an Earle who was excommunicate to serue him though they were sworne to him For sayeâ— heâ— They are not tied by any authority to keepe that alleageance which they haue sworne to a Christian Prince which resists God and his Saints and treads their precepts vnder his feete But in this man as Gregories spirit wrought in him whâ—lst he liued for he was his Messenger to publish the Excommunication against the Emperour in Germany so Gregories ghost speakes now for all this was done to reuenge Gregories quarrell though in his owne particular hee had some interest and reason of bitternesse for he had beene taken and ill vsed by Henry in Germany 31 In the 25 Cause there is a Canon which tasts of much boldnesse What King so euer or Bishop or great person shall suffer the Decrees of Popes to be violated Execrandum Anathema sit But these for in this Cause there are diuers Canons for the obseruing of the Canons are for the most part such imprecations as I noted before Gregory the first â—o haue made for preseruation of the priuiledges of Medardus Monastery and some other of the same name of which kinde also Villagut hath gathered some other examples And at farthest they extend but â—o excommunication and are pronounced by the Popes themselues and are intended of such Canons as are of matters of faith that is such as euen the Popes themselues are bound to obserue as appeares here by Leoâ—he â—he fourths Canon Ideo permittente And here I will receiue you from Gratian and leade you into the Decretals whom they iustly esteeme a little better company 32 To proue the Popes generall right to interpose in all causes which seemes to conduce to the Question in hand they cite often this case falling out in England which is vpon seuerall occasions three or foure times intimated in the Decretals It was thus Alexander the third writes to certaine Bishoppes in England to iudge as his Delegates in a Matrimoniall cause And because the person whose legitimation was thereby in question was an â—eire and the Mother dead and the Pope thought it not fit that after her death her marriage should bee so narrowly looked into since it was not in her life therefore he appoints That possession of the land should bee giuen first and then the principall point of the marriage proceeded in And by this they euict for him a title in temporall matters Accessorily and Consequently But if they consider the times they may iustly suspect vniust proceeding For it was when Alexander the third did so much infest our King Henry the second And it seemes he did but trie by this how much the King would endure at his hands for when he vnderstood that the king tooke it ill then came another Letter related also in the Canons wherein hee confesseth that that matter appertaines to the King and not to the Church And therefore commaundes them to proceede in the matter of the marriage without dealing with the possession of the land 33 Another Canon not much vrged by the defenders of direct Authoritie but by the other faction is a Letter of Innocent the third In which Letter I beleeue the Pope meant to lay downe purposely and determinately how farre his power in Temporall matters extended For it is not likely that vpon a Petition of a priuate Gentleman for Legitimation of his Children who doubted not of his power to doe it the Pope would descend to a long discourse and proofe out of both testaments and reasons of conueniencie that he might doe it and then in the end tell him hee would not except hee meant that this Letter should remaine as euidence to posteritie what the Popes power in Temporall causes was Let vs see therefore what that is which he claimes 34 A Subiect of the King of France who had put away his Wife desires the Pope to legitimate certaine Children which he had by a second wife And it seemes he was encouraged thereunto because the Pope had done that fauour to the King of France before The Pope answers thus By this it seemes that I may graunt your request because I may certainely Legitimate to all spirituall capacities and therefore it is Verisimilius probabilius that I may doe it in Temporall And sayes he It seemes that this may be prooued by a similitude because hee which is assumed to bee a Bishop is exempted thereby from his fathers iurisdiction and a slaue deliuered from bondage by being made a Priest And hee addes In the patrimonie I
not beneficed is so necessarie necessitate Sacramenti that except hee haue such a license the penitent though neuer so contrite and particular in enumeration of his sinnes and exact in satisfactions and performing all penances is vtterly frustrate of any benefite by vertue of this Sacrament So therefore a certaine and naturall euidence of a morall truth such as arises to euery man That to a King is due perpetuall obedience is better authority to induce an assurance and to produce an oath that the contrary is Hereticall then an implicite credite rashly giuen to a litigious Councell not beleeued by all Catholiques and not vnderstood by al that sweare to beleeue it 44 For the other obstacle and hinderance which reâ—ards them from pronouncing that this position is hereticall which is the Canon of the Laterane Councell enough hath beene said of the infirmity and inualidity of that Councell by others Thus much I may be bolde to adde that the Emperour vnder whome that Councell was held neuer accepted it for a Canon neiâ—her in those wordes not in that sense as it is presented in the Canon law from whence it is transplanted into the body of the Councels And the Church was so farre from impâ—gning the Emperours sense and acceptation thereof that Innocent the fourth and diuers other Popes being to make vse thereof cyte the Constitution of the Emperour not any Canon of a Councell in their Directions to the Inquisitors how to proceede against Heretiques They therefore either knew no sâ—ch Canon or suspected and discredited it 45 Thus therefore that pretended Canon saies If a temporall Lord warned by the Church do not purge his land of Heretiques let him be excommunicate by the Metropolitane and Conprouinciall bishopps if he satisfie not within a yeere let it be signified to the Pope that he may denounce his subiects to be absolued from their Alleageance and expose his Land to Catholickes which may without contradiction possesse it the right of the principall Lord which we call Lord Paramount being reserued if hee giue no furtherance thereunto And thus farre without doubt the Canon did not include Principall and Soueraigne Lords because it speakes of such as had Lords aboue them And where it concludes with this clause The same Law being to be obseru'd toward them Qui non â—abent Dominos principales The Imperiall Constitution hath it thus Qui non habent Domos principales 46 And certainely the most naturall and proper accepâ—ation of Domos Principales in this place in the Emperours Lawe is the same as the word Domicilium Principale hath in the Canons which is a Mans chiefe abiding and Residence though vpon occasion he may be in another place or haue some relation and dependance vpon a Prince out of that Territorie And it may giue as much clearenesse to the vnderstanding of this Lawe if wee compare with it the great and solemne Clementine Pastoralis 47 For then Robert being King of Sicily that is such a Principall Lord as this pretended Canon speakes of but yet no Soueraigne for he depended both vpon the Empire and vpon the Church was condemned as a Rebell by the Emperour Henrie the â—euenâ—h And Clement the fiâ—t annâ—lâ—'d and abrogated that Sentence of the Emperours vpon this reason That though the King of Sicily held some Lands of the Empire yet Domicilium suum fouebat in Sicilia which belong'd to the Churcâ— and therefore the Emperors Iurisdiction could not extend to him bâ—cause hâ— had not Imperioâ— Hereupâ—on the Glosse enters iâ—to Disputation how farre a man which hath goods in one Dominion shâ—ll be subiect to the Lawes of that place though his Principale Domicilium as he still câ—ls it be in another So that it seemes the Emperour had this purpose in this Constitution that tâ—ose Domini Principales which were vnder the Iurisdiction and Dependance of the Empireâ— should indure the penaltie of this Law if theâ— transgressed it though they â—ad not there Domos Prinâ—ipales within the limiâ—s of 〈◊〉 â—mpire For at the time when this Constitution was made the Emperours thought iâ— lawâ—full for them to doe so though a hundred yeâ—re aâ—â—er Clement tâ—e fift denied by this Canon thaâ— they had so large a power But this Constitution inâ—erâ—es nothing against Soueraigne Lords whom the Empeâ—our could not binde by any Constitution of his becâ—use they had no dependâ—nce vpon him 48 And as tâ—e Constitution dâ—ffers from tâ—e Canon in such maâ—erâ—all words as ouerthrowes that â—ense which they would extoâ—t out of it which is That Soueraignes are included therein so doeth it in the sense and in the appointing of the Officer who shall expel these fauourers of heretiques For where the Canon saies Let it be tolde to the Pope who may absolue the Subiects and expose the land the Emperour speakes of himselfe we do expose the land So that he takes the authority out of the Popes hand which he would not haue done nor the Pope haue cyted as to his aduantage that lawe by which it was done if either Iure Diuino such a power had resided in him or a Canon of a generall Councell had so freshly inuested him therewith 49 And as it is neither likely that the Emperour would include himselfe in this Law nor possible that he should include others as Soueraine as himselfe at least so doth it appeare by the Ordinary Glosse vpon that constâ—â—ution which hath more authority then all other Expositors that that law is made against such Lords and Subiects as haue relation to one another by feudall law for so it inâ—erpreâ—es Dominum temporalem and Dominum prinâ—cipalem to be when some Earle holdes something of a King which King also must haue a dependency vpon the Empire because otherwise the Imperiall law could not extend to him And yet euen against those principal Lords the law seeme so seuere that the Glosse saies Non legitur in Scholis So that so many proofes hauing beene formerly produced Canonsâ— but that those which are vsually offered now are but ragges torne out of one booke and put into another out of the Extraâ—agants into the Councels and this Imperiall constitution which to the Pope himselfe seemed of more force then his Predecessors Decretall neither concerning Soueraine Lords nor acknowledging this power of absoluing Subiects to be in the Pope but in himselfe no sufficient reason arises out of this imaginary Canon which should make a man affraid to call that Hereticall which is against his naturall reason and against that maine part of Religion which is ciuill obedience 50 For the Romans dealing more seuerâ—ly and more iniuriously with vs then the Greeke Church did with them when they presented to the Emperour vpon a commission to make an Inquisition to that purpose 99â— errours and deuiations in matter of faith in the Romane Church of which some were Orthodoxall truths some no matter of faith but circumstantiall indifferenciesâ— though they called them all errours in