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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A04286	An apologie for the oath of allegiance first set foorth without a name, and now acknowledged by the authour, the Right High and Mightie Prince, Iames, by the grace of God, King of Great Britaine, France and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. ; together with a premonition of His Maiesties, to all most mightie monarches, kings, free princes and states of Christendome.	James I, King of England, 1566-1625.; Paul V, Pope, 1552-1621.; Bellarmino, Roberto Francesco Romolo, Saint, 1542-1621.	1609 (1609)	STC 14401.5; ESTC S1249	109,056	264

before hee lost his head to fil it with I haue great reason to doubt if he would haue constantly perseuered in induring his martyrdome for that one most waightie head of doctrine And surely these two captaines and ringleaders to martyrdome were but ill folowed by the rest of their countrymen for I can neuer reade of any after them being of any great account and that not many that euer sealed that weighty head of doctrine with their blood in England So as the true causes of their first falling in trouble wherof I haue already made mention being rightly considered vpon the one part and vpon the other the scant number of witnesses that with their blood sealed it a point so greatly accounted of by our Cardinal there can but smal glory redound therby to our English nation these onely two Enoch and Elias seruing for witnesses against our Antichristian doctrine And I am sure the Supremacie of Kings may and will euer be better maintained by the word of God which must euer bee the true rule to discerne al weighty heads of doctrine by to be the true and proper office of Christian Kings in their owne dominions then he wil be euer able to maintaine his annihilating Kings their authorities together with his base vnreuerend speeches of them wherewith both his former great Volumes and his late Bookes against Venice are filled In the old Testament Kings were directly Gouernours ouer the Church within their Dominions purged their corruptions reformed their abuses brought the Arke to her resting place the King dancing before it built the Temple dedicated the same assisting in their owne persons to the sanctification thereof made the booke of the Law new-sound to be read to the people renewed the couenant betweene God and his people brused the brasen Serpent in pieces which was set vp by the expresse cōmandement of God and was a figure of Christ destroyed all Idols and false gods made a publike reformation by a Commission of Secular men and Priests mixed for that purpose deposed the hie Priest and set vp another in his place and generally ordered euery thing belonging to the Church-gouerment their Titles and Prerogatiues giuen them by God agreeing to these their actions They are called the Sonnes of the most High nay Gods themselues The Lords anoynted Sitting in Gods throne His seruants The Angels of God According to his hearts desire The light of Israel The nursing fathers of the Church with innumerable such stiles of honor wherwith the old Testament is filled wherof our aduersary can pretend no ignorance And as to the new Testament Euery soule is commaunded to be subiect vnto them euen for conscience sake All men must bee prayed for but especially Kings and those that are in Authority that vnder them we may lead a godly peaceable and an honest life The Magistrate is the minister of God to doe vengeance on him that doth euill reward him that doeth well Ye must obey all higher powers but especially Princes and those that are supereminent Giue euery man his due feare to whom feare belongeth and honour to whome honour Giue vnto Caesar what is Caesars and to God what is Gods Regnum meum non est huius mundi Quis me constituit Iudicem super vos Reges gentium dominantur eorum vos autem non sic If these examples sentences titles and prerogatiues and innumerable other in the old and new Testament do not warrant Christian Kings within their owne dominions to gouerne the Church as well as the rest of their people in being Custod es vtriusque Tabulae not by making new articles of faith which is the Popes office as I saide before but by cōmanding obedience to be giuen to the word of God by reforming the religion according to his prescribed will by assisting the spiritual power with the temporal sword by reforming of corruptions by procuring due obedience to the Church by iudging and cutting off all friuolous questions and Schismes as Constantine did and finally by making decorum to bee obserued in euery thing establishing orders to be obserued in al indifferent things for that purpose which is the only intent of our Oath of Supremacy If this Office of a King I say doe not agree with the power giuen him by Gods word let any indifferent man voyd of passion iudge But how these honourable offices styles and prerogatiues giuen by God to Kings in the old new Testament as I haue now cited can agree with the braue stiles and titles that Bellarmine giueth thē I can hardly conceiue 1. That Kings are rather slaues then Lords 2. That they are not only subiects to Popes to Bishops to Priests but euen to Deacons 3. That an Emperour must content himselfe to drinke not onely after a Bishop but after a Bishops Chaplen 4. That Kings haue not their authority nor office immediatly from God nor his Lawe but onely from the Law of Nations 5. That Popes haue degraded many Emperours but neuer Emperour degraded the Pope nay euen Bishops that are but the Popes vassals may depose Kings and abrogate their lawes 6. That Church-men are so farre aboue Kings as the soule is aboue the body 7. That Kings may be deposed by their people for diuers respects 8. But Popes can by no meanes bee deposed for no flesh hath power to iudge of them 9. That obedience due to the Pope is for conscience sake 10. But the obedience due to Kings is onely for certaine respects of order and policie 11. That these very Church-men that are borne and inhabite in Soueraigne Princes countreys are notwithstanding not their Subiects and cannot be iudged by them although they may iudge them 12. And that the obedience that Churchmen giue to Princes euen in the meanest and meere temporall things is not by way of any necessary subiection but onely out of discretion and for obseruation of good order and custome These contrarieties betweene the booke of God and Bellarmines books haue I heere set in opposition ech to other Vt ex contrarijs iuxta se positis veritas magis elucescere possit And thus farre I dare boldly affirme that whosoeuer will indifferently weigh these irreconciliable contradictions here set downe wil easily confesse that CHRIST is no more contrary to Beliall light to darkenesse and heauen to hell then Bellarmines estimation of Kings is to Gods Now as to the conclusion of his letter which is onely filled with strong and pithy exhortations to perswade and confirme Blackwell to the patient and constant induring of Martyrdome I haue nothing to answere saue by way of regrate that so many good sentences drawen out of the Scripture so well and so handsomely packed vp together should bee so ill and vntruely

curse those that worship Images that haue eyes and see not that haue eares and heare not would much more haue cursed them that worship a piece of a sticke th●t hath not so much as any resemblance or representation of eyes or eares As for Pugatorie and all the trash depending thereupon it is not worth the talking of Bellarmine cannot finde any ground for it in all the Scriptures Onely I would pray him to tell me If that faire greene Meadow that is in Purgatorie haue a brooke running thorow it that in case I come there I may haue hawking vpon it But as for me I am sure there is a Heauen and a Hell praemium poena for the Elect and reprobate How many other roomes there bee I am not on God his counsell Multae sunt mansiones in domo Patris mei saith CHRIST who is the true Purgatorie for our sinnes But how many chambers and anti-chambers the Deuill hath they can best tell that goe to him But in case there were more places for soules to goe to then wee know of yet let vs content vs with that which in his Word hee hath reuealed vnto vs and not inquire further into his secrets Heauen and Hell are there reuealed to be the eternall home of all mankinde let vs indeauour to winne the one and eschew the other and there is an end Now in all this discourse haue I yet left out the maine Article of the Romish faith and that is the Head of the Church or Peters Primacie for who denieth this denieth fidem Catholicam saith Bellarmine That Bishops ought to be in the Church I euer maintained it as an Apostolike institution and so the ordinance of GOD contrary to the Puritanes and likewise to Bellarmine who denies that Bishops haue their Iurisdiction immediatly from God But it is no wonder he takes the Puritanes part since Iesuits are nothing but Puritan-Papists And as I euer maintained the state of Bishops and the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchie for order sake so was I euer an enemy to the confused Anarchie or paritie of the Puritanes as well appeareth in my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heauen is gouerned by order and all the good Angels there nay Hell it selfe could not subsist without some order And the very Deuils are diuided into Legions and haue their chiefetaines how can any societie then vpon earth subsist without order and degrees And therefore I cannot enough wonder with what brasen face this Answerer could say That I was a Puritane in Scotland and an enemy to Protestants I that was persecuted by Puritanes there not from my birth only but euen since foure moneths before my birth I that in the yeere of GOD 84 erected Bishops and depressed all their popular Paritie I then being not 18. yeeres of age I that in my said Booke to my Sonne doe speake tenne times more bitterly of them nor of the Papists hauing in my second Edition therof affixed a long Apologetike Preface onely in odium Puritanorum and I that for the space of sixe yeares before my comming into England laboured nothing so much as to depresse their Paritie and re-erect Bishops againe Nay if the daily Commentaries of my life and actions in Scotland were written as Iulius Caesars were there would scarcely a moneth passe in all my life since my entring into the 13. yeare of my age wherein some accident or other would not conuince the Cardinall of a lye in this point And surely I giue a faire commendation to the Puraitnes in that place of my booke where I affirme that I haue found greater honesty with the high-land and border theeues then with that sort of people But leauing him to his own impudence I returne to my purpose Of Bishops and Church Hierarchie I very well allowe as I saide before and likewise of Rancks and Degrees amongst Bishops Patriarches I know were in the time of the Primitiue Church and I likewise reuerence that institution for order sake and amongst them was a contention for the first place And for my selfe if that were yet the question I would with all my heart giue my consent that the Bishop of Rome should haue the first Seate I being a Westerne King would go with the Patriarch of the West And for his temporall Principalitie ouer the Signory of Rome I doe not quarrell it neither let him in God his Name be Primus Episcopus inter omnes Episcopos and Princeps Episcoporum so it be no other wise but as Peter was Princeps Apostolorum But as I well allow of the Hierarchie of the Church for distinction of Orders for so I vnderstand it so I vtterly denie that there is an earthly Monarch thereof whose word must be a Law and who cannot erre in his Sentence by an infallibilitie of Spirit Because earthly Kingdomes must haue earthly Monarches it doeth not follow that the Church must haue a visible Monarch too for the world hath not ONE earthly temporall Monarch CHRIST is his Churches Monarch and the holy Ghost his Deputie Reges gentium dominantur eorū vos autem non sic CHRIST did not promise before his ascension to leaue Peter with them to direct and instruct them in all things but hee promised to send the holy Ghost vnto them for that end And as for these two before cited places wherby Bellarmine maketh the Pope to triumph ouer Kings I meane Pasce oues and Tibi dabo claues the Cardinall knowes well enough that the same words of Tibi dabo are in another place spoken by Christ in the plural number And he likewise knowes what reason the Ancients doe giue why Christ bade Peter pascere oues and also what a cloude of witnesses there is both of Ancients and euen of late Popish writers yea diuers Cardinals that do all agree that both these speeches vsed to Peter were meant to all the Apostles represented in his person Otherwise how could Paul direct the Church of Corinth to excommunicate the incestuous person cum spiritu suo whereas hee should then haue said cum spiritu Petri And how could all the Apostles haue otherwise vsed all their censures only in Christs Name and neuer a word of his Vicar Peter wee reade did in all the Apostles meetings sit amongst them as one of their number And when chosen men were sent to Anti●chia from that great Apostolike Councell at Ierusalem Acts 15. The text saith It seemed good to the Apostles and Elders with the whole Church to send chosen men but no mention made of the Head therof and so in their Letters no mention is made of Peter but onely of the Apostles Elders and Brethren And it is a wonder why Paul rebuketh the Church of Corinth for making exception of Persons because some followed Paul some Apollos some Cephas if Peter was their visible Head for then those that followed not Peter or Cephas renounced the Catholike faith But it appeareth well that Paul knew

An Apologie for the Oath of ALLEGIANCE FIRST SET FOORTH WITHOVT a name And now acknowledged by the Authour the Right High and Mightie Prince IAMES by the Grace of GOD King of Great Britaine France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. Together with a PREMONITION of his Maiesties to all most Mightie Monarches Kings free Princes and States of Christendome PSAL. 2. Vers 10. Et nunc Reges intelligite Erudimini qui iudicatis terram ROM 14. Vers 13. Non ergo ampliùs inuicem indicemus Sed hoc iudicate magis ne penat●s offendiculum fratri vel scandalum ¶ Imprinted at London by Robert Barker Printer to the Kings most Excellent Maiestie April 8. ANNO 1609. Cum priuilegio Regali TO THE MOST SACRED AND Inuincible Prince RODOLPH the II. by GODS Clemencie Elect EMPEROVR of the ROMANES KING OF GERMANIE HVNGARIE BOHEME DALMATIE CROATIE SCLAVONIE c. ARCH-DVKE OF AVSTRIA DVKE OF BVRGVNDIE STIRIA CARINTHIA CARNIOLA and WIRTEMBERG c. Earle of TYROLIS c. AND TO ALL OTHER RIGHT HIGH AND MIGHTY KINGS AND RIGHT EXCELLENT Free PRINCES and STATES of Christendome Our louing BRETHREN COVSINS ALLIES CONFEDERATES and FRIENDS IAMES by the grace of GOD King of GREAT BRITAINE FRANCE and IRELAND Professor Maintainer and DEFENDER OF THE True Christian Catholique and Apostolique FAITH Professed by the auncient and Primitiue Church and sealed with the blood of so many holy Bishops and other faithfull crowned with the glory of Martyrdome WISHETH euerlasting felicitie in CHRIST our Sauiour TO YOV MOST SACRED AND INVINCIBLE EMPEROVR RIGHT HIGH AND MIGHTIE KINGS RIGHT EXCELLENT FREE PRINCES AND STATES MY LOVING BRETHREN AND COVSINS To you I say as of right belongeth doe I consecrate and direct this Warning of mine or rather Preamble to my reprinted Apologie for the Oath of Allegiance For the cause is generall and concerneth the Authoritie and Priuiledge of Kings in generall and all supereminent Temporall powers And if in whatsoeuer Societie or Corporation of men either in Corporations of Cities or in the Corporation of any mechanike craft or handie-worke euery man is carefull to maintain the priuiledges of that Societie whereunto hee is sworne nay they will rather cluster all in one making it a common cause exposing themselues to all sorts of perill then suffer the least breach in their Liberties If those of the baser sort of people I say be so curious and zealous for the preseruation of their common priuiledges and liberties as if the meanest amongst them bee touched in any such poynt they thinke it concerneth them all Then what should we doe in such a case whom GOD hath placed in the highest thrones vpon earth made his Lieutenants Vice-gerents and euen seated vs vpon his owne throne to execute his Iudgements The consideration heereof hath now moued me to expone a Case vnto you which doeth not so neerely touch mee in my particular as it doeth open a breach against our authoritie I speake in the plurall of all Kings and priuiledge in generall And since not onely all rankes and sorts of people in all Nations doe inuiolably obserue this Maxime but euen the Ciuill Law by which the greatest part of Christendome is gouerned doeth giue them an interest qui fouent consimilem causam How much more then haue ye interest in this cause not being similis or par causa to yours but eadem with yours and indeed yee all fouetis or at least fouere debetis eandem causam mecum And since this cause is common to vs all both the ciuill Lawes and the municipall Lawes of all Nations permits and warne them that haue a common interest to concurre in one for the defence of their common cause yea common sence teacheth vs with the Poet Ecquid Ad te pòst paulò ventura pericula sentis Nam tua res agitur paries cùm proximus ardet Awake then while it is time and suffer not by your longer sleepe the strings of your Authoritie to be cut in singulis and one and one to your generall ruine which by your vnited forces would rather make a strong rope for the enemie to hang himselfe in with Achitophel then that hee should euer be able to breake it As for this Apologie of mine it is true that I thought good to set it first out without putting my name vnto it but neuer so as I thought to deny it remembring well mine owne words but taken out of the Scripture in the beginning of the Preface to the Reader in my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that nothing is so hid which shall not bee opened c promising there which with GOD his grace I shall euer performe neuer to doe that in secret which I shall need to be ashamed of when it shall come to be proclaimed in publique In deed I thought it fit for two respects that this my Apologie should first visite the world without hauing my name written in the forehead thereof First because of the matter and next of the persons that I medled with The matter it being a Treatise which I was to write containing reasons discourses in Diuinity for the defence of the Oath of Allegiance and refutation of the condemners therof I thought it not comely for one of my place to put my name to books concerning scholastick Disputations whose calling is to set forth Decrees in the Imparatiue moode for I thinke my selfe as good a man as the Pope by his reuerence for whom these my Answerers make the like excuse for that his Breues are so summary without yeelding any reason vnto them My next reason was the respect of the persons whom with I meddled Wherein although I shortly answered the Popes Breues yet the point I most laboured being the refutation of Bellarmines Letter I was neuer the man I confesse that could thinke a Cardinall a meet match for a King especially hauing many hundreth thousands of my subiects of as good birth as he As for his Church dignitie his Cardinalship I meane I know not how to ranke or value it either by the warrant of God his word or by the ordinance of Emperours or Kings it being indeed onely a new Papall erection tolerated by the sleeping conniuence of our Predecessors I meane still by the plurall of Kings But notwithstanding of this my forbearing to put my name vnto it some Embassadours of some of you my louing Brethren and Cosins whome this cause did neereliest concerne can witnesse that I made Presents of some of those bookes at their first printing vnto them and that auowedly in my owne name As also the English Paragraphist or rather peruerse Pamphleter Parsons since all his desciption must runne vpon a P. hath truely obserued that my Armes are affixed in the frontispice thereof which vseth not to bee in bookes of other mens doing whereby his malice in pretending his ignorance that he might pay me the soundlier is the more inexcusable But now that I find my sparing to put my name vnto it

against a Iudgment that was giuen by the Kings Iudges And likewise Because one entred vpon the Priory of Barnewell by the Popes Bull the said Intrant was committed to the Tower of London there to remaine during the Kings pleasure So as my Predecessours ye see of this Kingdome euen when the Popes triumphed in their greatnes spared not to punish any of their Subiects that would preferre the Popes obedience to theirs euen in Church matters So farre were they then from either acknowledging the Pope for their temporal Superior or yet from doubting that their owne Church-men were not their Subiects And now I will close vp all these examples with an Act of Parliament in King Richard 2. his time whereby it was prohibited That none should procure a Benefice from Rome vnder paine to be put out of the Kings protection And thus may yee see that what those Kings successiuely one to another by foure generations haue acted in priuate the same was also maintained by a publike Law By these few examples now I hope I haue sufficiently cleared my selfe from the imputation that any ambition or desire of Noueltie in mee should haue stirred me either to robbe the Pope of any thing due vnto him or to assume vnto my selfe any further authoritie then that which other Christian Emperours and Kings through the world and my owne Predecessours of England in especiall haue long agone maintained Neither is it enough to say as Parsons doeth in his answere to the Lord Cooke That farre more Kings of this Countrey haue giuen many more examples of acknowledging or not resisting the Popes vsurped Authoritie some perchance lacking the occasion and some the abilitie of resisting them for euen by the ciuill Law in the case of violent intrusion and long and wrongfull possession against mee it is enough if I proue that I haue made lawfull interruption vpon conuenient occasions But the Cardinall thinkes the Oath not onely vnlawfull for the substance thereof but also in regard of the Person whom vnto it is to bee sworne For saith he The King is not a Catholike And in two or three other places of his booke he sticketh not to call me by my name very broadly an Heretike as I haue already tolde But yet before I be publikly declared an Heretike by the Popes owne Law my people ought not to refuse their Obedience vnto me And I trust if I were but a Subiect and accused by the Pope in his Conclaue before his Cardinals he would haue hard prouing me an Heretike if he iudged mee by their owne ancient Orders For first I am no Apostate as the Cardinall would make mee not onely hauing euer been brought vp in that Religion which I presently professe but euen my Father and Grandfather on that side professing the same and so cannot be properly an Heretike by their owne doctrine since I neuer was of their Church And as for the Queene my Mother of worthie memorie although she continued in that Religion wherin she was nourished yet was shee so farre from being superstitious or Iesuited therein that at my Baptisme although I was baptized by a Popish Archbishop shee sent him word to forbeare to vse the spettle in my Baptisme which was obeyed being indeed a filthy and an apish trick rather in scorne then imitation of CHRIST And her owne very words were That shee would not haue a pockie Priest to spet in her childs mouth As also the Font wherin I was Christened was sent from the late Queene heere of famous memorie who was my Godmother and what her Religion was Pius V. was not ignorant And for further proofe that that renowmed Queene my Mother was not superstitious as in all her Letters whereof I receiued many she neuer made mention of Religion nor laboured to perswade me in it so at her last words she cōmanded her Master-houshold a Scottish Gentleman my seruant and yet aliue shee commanded him I say to tell me That although she was of another Religion then that wherein I was brought vp yet she woud not presse me to change except my owne conscience forced mee to it For so that I led a good life and were carefull to doe iustice and gouerne well she doubted not but I would be in a good case with the profession of my owne Religion Thus am I no Apostate nor yet a deborder from that Religion which one part of my Parents professed and an other part gaue me good allowance of Neither can my Baptisme in the rites of their Religion make me an Apostate or Heretike in respect of my present profession since wee all agree in the substance thereof being all baptized In the Name of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost vpon which head there is no variance amongst vs. And now for the point of Heretike I will neuer bee ashamed to render an account of my profession and of that hope that is in me as the Apostle prescribeth I am such a CATHOLIKE CHRISTIAN as beleeueth the three Creeds That of the Apostles that of the Councell of Nice and that of Athanasius the two latter being Paraphrases to the former And I beleeue them in that sense as the ancient Fathers and Councels that made them did vnderstand them To which three Creedes all the Ministers of England doe subscribe at their Ordination And I also acknowledge for Orthodoxe all those other formes of Creeds that either were deuised by Councels or paticular Fathers against such particular Heresies as most reigned in their times I reuerence and admit the foure first generall Councels as Catholike and Orthodoxe And the said foure generall Councels are acknowledged by our Acts of Parliament and receiued for Orthodoxe by our Church As for the Fathers I reuerence them as much and more then the Iesuites doe and as much as themselues euer craued For what euer the Fathers for the first fiue hundreth yeeres did with an vnanime consent agree vpon to be beleeued as a necessary point of saluation I either will beleeue it also or at least will be humbly silent not taking vpon me to condemne the same But for euery priuate Fathers opinion it bindes not my conscience more then Bellarmines euery one of the Fathers vsually contradicting others I wil therefore in that case follow S. Augustines rule in iudging of their opinions as I finde them agree with the Scriptures what I find agreeable thereunto I will gladly imbrace what is otherwise I will with their reuerence reiect As for the Scriptures no man doubteth I will beleeue them But euen for the Apocrypha I hold them in the same account that the Ancients did They are still printed and bound with our Bibles and publikely read in our Churches I reuerence them as the writings of holy and good men but since they are not found in the Canon we account them to be secundae lectionis or ordinis which is Bellarmines owne distinction and therefore not sufficient whereupon alone to ground any article

obedience any of you may looke for of any of them de facto he plainly forewarneth you of by the example of Gregorie the Great his obedience to the Emperor Mauritius not beeing ashamed to slaunder that great Personages Christian humilitie and obedience to the Emperour with the title of a constrained and forced obedience because hee might or durst doe no otherwise Whereby he not onely wrongs the said Gregorie in particular but euen doeth by that meanes lay on an heauie slaunder and reproach vpon the Christian humilitie and patience of the whole Primitiue Church especially in the time of persecution if the whole glorie of their Martyrdome and Christian patience shall be thus blotted with that vile glosse of their coacted and constrained suffering because they could or durst do no otherwise like the patience and obedience of the Iewes or Turkish slaues in our time cleane contrary to S. Paul and S. Pe●●rs doctrine of obedience for conscience sake and as contrarie to Tertullians Apologie for Christians and all the protestations of the ancient Fathers in that case But it was good lucke for the ancient Christians in the dayes of Ethnicke Emperors that this prophane new conceit was yet vnknowen among them otherwise they would haue bin vtterly destroyed and rooted out in that time and no man to haue pitied them as most dangerous members in a Common-wealth who would no longer bee obedient then till they were furnished with sufficient abilitie and power to resist and rebell Thus may ye see how vpon the one part our Cardinall will haue all Kings and Monarchs to be the Popes Vassals and yet will not on the other side allow the meanest of the Pope his vassals to be subiect to any Christian Prince But he not thinking it enough to make the Pope our Superior hath in a late Treatise of his called the Recognition of his bookes of Controuersies made the people and Subiects of euery one of vs our Superiors For hauing taken occasion to reuisite againe his bookes of Controuersies and to correct or explaine what he findeth amisse or mistaketh in them in imitation of S. Augustine his retractions for so hee saith in his Preface he doth in place of retracting any of his former errours or any matter of substance not retract but recant indeed I meane sing ouer againe and obstinatly confirme a number of the grossest of them Among the which the exempting of all Church-men from subiection to any Temporall Prince and the setting vp not onely of the Pope but euen of the People aboue their naturall King are two of his maine points As for the exemption of the Clerickes he is so greedy there to proue that point as he denieth Caesar to haue beene Pauls lawfull Iudge contrary to the expresse Text and Pauls plain Appellation and acknowledging him his Iudge besides his many times claiming to the Roman priuiledges and auowing himselfe a Roman by freedome and therefore of necessitie a Subiect to the Roman Emperour But it is a wonder that these Roman Catholikes who vaunt themselues of the ancientie both of their doctrine and Church and reproch vs so bitterly of our Nouelties should not bee ashamed to make such a new inept glosse as this vpon S. Pauls Text which as it is directly contrary to the Apostles wordes so is it without any warrant either of any ancient Councell or of so much as any one particular Father that euer interpre●s that place in this sort Neither was it euer doubted by any Christian in the Primitiue Church that the Apostles or any other degree of Christians were subiect to the Emperour And as for the setting vp of the People aboue their owne naturall King hee bringeth in that principle of Sedition that he may thereby proue that Kings haue not their power and authoritie immediatly from God as the Pope hath his For euery King saith he is made and chosen by his people nay they do but so transferre their power in the Kings person as they doe notwithstanding retaine their habituall power in their owne hands which vpon certaine ocasions they may actually take to themselues againe This I am sure is an excellent ground in Diuini●●e for all R●bels and rebellious people who are hereby allowed to rebell against their Princes and assume libertie vnto themselues when in their discretions they shall thinke it conuenient And amongst his other Testimonies for probation that all Kings are made and created by the People hee alledgeth the Creation of three Kings in the Scripture Saul Dauid Ieroboam and though he be compelled by the expresse words of the Text to confesse that God by his Prophet Samuel anointed both Saul and Dauid yet will he by the post-consent of the people proue that those Kings were not immediatly made by God but mediatly by the people though he repeat thrise that word of Lott by the casting whereof hee confesseth that Saul was chosen And if the Election by Lott be not an immediate Election from God then was not Matthias who was so chosen and made an Apostle immediatly chosen by God and consequently hee that sitteth in the Apostolike Sea cannot for shame claim to be immediatly chosen by God if Matthias that was one of the twelue Apostles supplying Iudas his place was not so chosen But as it were a blasphemous impietie to doubt that Matthias was immediatly chosen by God and yet was hee chosen by the casting of Lots as Saul was so is it well enough knowen to some of you my louing Brethren by what holy Spirit or casting of Lots the Popes vse to bee elected the Colledge of Cardinals his electors hauing beene diuided in two mighty factions euer since long before my time and in place of casting of Lotts great fat pensions beeing cast into some of their greedy mouthes for the election of the Pope according to the partiall humours of Princes But I doe most of all wonder at the weaknesse of his memorie for in this place hee maketh the post consent of the people to bee the thing that made both these Kings notwithstanding of their preceding inauguration and anoyntment by the Prophet at GODS commandement forgetting that in the beginning of this same little booke of his answering one that alledgeth a sentence of S. Cyprian to prooue that the Bishops were iudged by the people in Cyprians time hee there confesseth that by these words the consent of the people to the Bishops election must be onely vnderstood Nor will he there any wayes be mooued to graunt that the peoples power in consenting to or refusing the Election of a Bishop should be so vnderstood as that therby they haue power to elect Bishops And yet do these words of Cyprian seeme to be farre stronger for granting the peoples power to elect Church-men then any words that hee alledgeth out of the Scripture are for the peoples power in electing a King For the very words of Cyprian by himselfe there cited are That

that of Caput fidei And when it was offered to himselfe the wordes of S. Gregorie be these refusing that title None of my predecessors Bishops of Rome euer consented to vse this prophane name of vniuersall Bishop None of my predecessors euer tooke vpon him this name of singularity neither consented to vse it We the Bishops of Rome do not seek nor yet accept this glorious title being offered vnto vs. And now I pray you would he that refused to be called vniuersall Bishop be stiled Caput fidei vnles it were in that sense as I haue expressed which sense if he will not admit giue mee leaue to say that of Gregorie which himselfe saith of Lyra Minus cautè locutus est or which hee elswhere saith of Chrysostome Locutus est per excessum To redeeme therefore our Apostle out of his hands to let him remain ours not his in this case it is very true that he saith in that sense he spake it Whē ye go about to disturbe diminish or take away the authoritie or Supremacie of the Church which resteth on the head of the King within his dominions ye cut off the head chiefe gouernor therof disturb the state members of the whole body And for a conclusiō of this point I pray him to think that we are so well perswaded of the good minde of our Apostle S. Gregory to vs that we desire no other thing to bee suggested to the Pope and his Cardinals then our Apostle S. Gregory desired Sabinian to suggest vnto the Emperour and the State in his time His words be these One thing there is of which I would haue you shortly to suggest to your most noble Lord and Master That if I his seruant would haue had my hand in slaying of the Lombards at this day the nation of the Lombards had neither had king nor dukes nor earles and had bin diuided asunder in vtter confusion but because I feare God I dread to haue my hand in the blood of any man And thus hauing answered to S. Gregory I come to another Pope his Apostle S. Leo. And that hee may see I haue not in the former citations quarelled him like a Sophister for contentiō sake but for finding out of the trueth I do grant that the authorities out of Leo are rightly alleadged all three the wordes truely set downe together with his true intent and purpose but withall let mee tell him and I appeale vnto his owne conscience whether I speake not truely that what Tullie said to Hortensius when hee did immoderately praise eloquence that he would haue lift her vp to Heauen that himselfe might haue gone vp with her So his S. Leo lift vp S. Peter with praises to the sky that he being his heire might haue gone vp with him For his S. Leo was a great Orator who by the power of his eloquence redeemed Rome from fire when both Attilas and Gensericus would haue burnt it Some fruits of this rhetorick he bestowed vpon S. Peter saying The Lord did take Peter into the fellowship of the indiuisible vnitie which words being coupled to the sentence alleadged by the Cardinall That hee hath no part in the diuine Mysterie that dare depart from the soliditie of Peter should haue giuen him I thinke such a scarre as hee should neuer haue dared to haue taken any aduātage by the words immediatly preceding for the benefit of the Church of Rome and the head therof since those which immediatly folow are so much derogatory to the diuine Maiestie And againe My writings be strengthened by the authoritie and merit of my Lord most blessed S. Peter We beseech you to keepe the things decreed by vs through the inspiration of God and the Apostle most blessed S. Peter If any thing be well done or decreed by vs If any thing be obtained of Gods mercy by daily praiers it is to be ascribed to S. Peters works and merits whose power doth liue authority excell in his owne Sea He was so plentifully watered of the very fountaine of all graces that whereas he receiued many things alone yet nothing passeth ouer to any other but hee was partaker of it And in a word he was so desirous to extoll S. Peter That a messenger from him was an embassage from S. Peter any thing done in his presence was in S. Peters presence Neither did he vse all this Rhetoricke without purpose for at that time the Patriarch of Constantinople cōtended with him for Primacie And in the Councell of Chalcedon the Bishops sixe hundred and more gaue equall authority to the Patriarch of that Sea and would not admit any priuiledge to the Sea of Rome aboue him but went against him And yet he that gaue so much to Peter tooke nothing from Caesar but gaue him both his Titles and due giuing the power of calling a Councell to the Emperour as it may appeare by these one or two places following of many If it may please your godlinesse to vouchsafe at our supplication to condescend that you wil command a Councell of Bishops to bee holden within Italy and writing vnto the Bishop of Constantinople Because the most clement Emperor carefull of the peace of the Church will haue a Councell to be holden albeit it euidently appeare the matter to be handled doeth in no case stand in need of a Councell And againe Albeit my occasions wil not permit me to be present vpon the day of the Councell of Bishops which your godlinesse hath appointed So as by this it may well appeare that he that gaue so much to Peter gaue also to Caesar his due and prerogatiue But yet he playeth not faire play in this that euen in all these his wrong applied arguments and examples he produceth no other witnesses but the parties themselues bringing euer the Popes sentences for approbation of their owne authoritie Now indeed for one word of his in the middest of his examples I cannot but greatly cōmend him that is that Martyrs ought to indure all sorts of tortures and death before they suffer one syllable to be corrupted of the Law of God Which lesson if hee and all the rest of his owne profession would apply to themselues then would not the Sacrament be administred sub vnâ specie directly contrary to Christes institution the practise of the Apostles and of the whole Primitiue Church for many hundred yeeres then would not the priuate Masses bee in place of the Lordes Supper then would not the words of the Canon of the Masse be opposed to the words of S. Paul and S. Luke as our Aduersary himselfe confesseth and cannot reconcile them nor then would not so many hundreths other traditions of men be set vp in their Church not only as equall but euen preferred to the word of God But sure in this point I fear I haue mistaken him for I

and insnaring them before they were aware my course in this is plaine cleare and void of all obscuritie neuer refusing leaue to any that are required to take this Oath to studie it at leisure and giuing them all the interpretation of it they can craue But the greatest dissimilitude of all is in this that Iulian pressed them to commit idolatrie to idoles and images but as well I as all the Subiects of my profession are so farre from guilt in this point as wee are counted heretiques by you because we will not commit idolatrie So as in the maine point of all is the greatest contrarietie For Iulian persecuted the Christians because they would not commit idolatrie and yee count me a persecutour because I will not admit idolatrie So as to conclude this point this olde sentence may well be applied to Bellarmine in vsing so vnapt a similitude Perdere quos vult Iupiter hos dementat And therefore his vncharitable conclusion doeth not rightly follow That it seemeth vnto him that some such thing should be subtilly or fraudulently included in this Oath as if no man can detest treason against the King or professe ciuill subiection except hee renounce the Primacie of the Apostolike Sea But how hee hath suckt this apprehension out at his fingers ends I cannot imagine for sure I am as I haue oft said hee neuer goeth about to proue it and to answere an improbable imagination is to fight against a vanishing shadow It cannot bee denied indeed that many seruants of CHRIST as wel Priests as others haue endured constantly all sorts of torments and death for the profession of CHRIST and therefore to all such his examples as he bringeth in for verifying the same I neede not to giue him any other answere saue onely to remember him that he playeth the part of a sophister in all these his examples of the constancie of Martyrs euer taking Controuersum pro confesso as if this our case were of the same nature But yet that the Reader may the better discouer not onely how vnaptly his similitudes are applied but likewise how dishonestly hee vseth himselfe in all his citations I haue thought good to set downe the very places themselues cited by him together with a short deduction of the true state of those particular cases whereby how little these examples can touch our case nay by the contrary how rightly their true sense may bee vsed as our owne weapons to be throwen backe vpon him that alleadgeth them shall easily appeare And first for Eleazar If the Arch-priest his ground of refusing the Oath were as good as Eleazars was to forbeare to eate the swines flesh it might not vnfitly be applyed by the Cardinall to his purpose For as Eleazar was a principall Scribe so is he a principall Priest As Eleazars example had a great force in it to animate the yonger Scribes to keepe the Law or in his colourable eating it to haue taught them to dissemble so hath the Arch-priests either to make the inferiour Priests to take the Oath or to refuse it but the ground failing the building cannot stand For what exampl● is there in all the Scripture in which disobedi●nce to the Oath of the King or want of allegiance is allowed If the Cardinal would remember that when the Church maketh a law suppose to forbid flesh on certaine dayes hee that refuseth to obey it incurreth the iust censure of the Church If a man then ought to die rather then to break the least of Gods Ceremoniall Lawes and to pine and starue his bodie rather then to violate the Church his positiue Law will he not giue leaue to a man to redeeme his soule from sinne and to keepe his body from punishment by keeping a Kings politique law and by giuing good example in his person raise vp a good opinion in me of like Allegiance in the inferiours of his Order This application as I take it would haue better fitted this example But let me remember the Cardinall of another Oath inioyned by a King to his people whereby hee indaungered his owne life and hazarded the safety of the whole army when hee made the people sweare in the morning not to taste of any meate vntill night which Oath he exacted so strictly that his eldest sonne and heiere appa●ant Ionathan for breaking of it by tasting a little hony of the top of his rod though he heard not when the King gaue that Oath had wel nigh died for it And shall an Oath giuen vpon so vrgent an occasion as this was for the apparant safety of me and my posterity forbidding my people to drinke so deepely in the bitter cup of Antichristian fornications but that they may keepe so much hony in their hearts as may argue them still espoused to me their Soueraigne in the maine knot of true allegiance shall this law I say by him be condemned to hell for a stratagem of Satan I say no more but GODS lot in the Oath of Sauls and Bellarmines verdict vpon this Oath of ours seeme not to be cast out of one lap Now to his example of Basil which is as hee sayeth so fit for his purpose First I must obserue that if the Cardinall would leaue a common and ordinary tricke of his in all his Citations which is to take what makes for him and leaue out what makes against him and cite the Authours sense as well as his Sentence wee should not bee so much troubled with answering the ancients which he alleadgeth To instance it in this very place if he had continued his allegation one line further hee should haue found this place out of Theodoret of more force to haue moued Blackwel to take the Oath then to haue disswaded him from it For in the very next words it followeth Imperatoris quidem amicitiam magni se péndere cum pietate quâ remotâ perniciosam esse dicere But that it may appeare whether of vs haue greatest right to this place I will in few wordes shew the Authours drift The Emperour Valens being an Arrian at the perswasion of his wife when hee had depriued all the Churches of their Pastours came to Caesarea where S. Basill was then Bishop who as the History reporteth was accounted the Light of the world Before he came he sent his deputy to worke it that S. Basill should hold fellowship with Eudoxius which Eudoxius was Bishop of Constantinople and the principall of the Arrian faction or if he would not that he should put him to banishment Now when the Emperours Deputie came to Cesarea hee sent for Basil intreated him honourably spake pleasingly vnto him desired he would giue way to the time neither that hee would hazard the good of so many Churches tenui exquisitione dogmatis promised him the Emperours fauour and himselfe to be mediatour for his good But S. Basill answered These intising speeches were fit to be vsed to children that vse to gape

after such things but for them that were throughly instructed in Gods word they could neuer suffer any syllable thereof to be corrupted Nay if need required they would for the maintenance thereof refuse no kinde of death Indeed the loue of the Emperour ought to be greatly esteemed with pietie but pietie taken away it was pernicious This is the truth of the history Now compare the case of Basill with the Arch-priests Basill was solicited to become an Arrian the Arch-priest not once touched for any article of faith Basill would haue obeyed the Emperour but that the word of GOD for bade him this man is willed to obey because the word of GOD commandeth him Basill highly esteemed the Emperours fauour if it might haue stood with pietie the Archpriest is exhorted to reiect it though it stand with true godlinesse in deed to embrace it But that hee may lay load vpon the Arch-priest it is not sufficient to exhort him to courage and constancie by Eleazars and Basils examples but hee must be vtterty cast downe with the comparing his fall to S. Peters and Marcellinus which two mens cases were the most feareful considering their persons and places that are to be found or read of either in all the books of diuine Scripture or the volumes of Ecclesiasticall histories the one denying the onely true God the other our Lord Sauiour IESVS CHRIST the one sacrificing to idols with the profane heathen the other forswearing his Lord and Master with the hard-hearted Iewes Vnlesse the Cardinall would driue the Archpriest to some horrour of conscience and pit of despaire I know not what hee can meane by this comparison For sure I am all that are not intoxicated with their cup cannot but woonder to heare of an Oath of Allegiance to a naturall Soueraigne to bee likened to an Apostats denying of God and forswearing of his Sauiour But to let passe the Disdiapason of the cases as his ill-fauoured coupling S. Peter the head of their Church with an apostate Pope I maruaile he would remember this example of Marcellinus since his brother Cardinall Baronius and the late edition of the Councels by Binnius seeme to call the credite of the whole history into question saying That it might plainely be refuted and that it is probably to be shewed that the story is but obreptitious but that he would not swarue from the common receiued opinion And if a man might haue leaue to coniecture so would his Cardinalship too if it were not for one or two sentences in that Councell of Sinuessa which serued for his purpose namely that Prima sedes à nemine iudicatur And Iudica causam tuam nostrâ sententià non condemnaberis But to what purpose a great Councel as he termes it of three hundred Bishops and others should meete together who before they met knew they could doe nothing when they were there did nothing but like Cuckowes sing ouer and ouer the same song that Prima sedes à nemine iudicatur and so after three dayes sitting a long time indeed for a great and graue Councell brake so bluntly vp and yet that there should be seuenty two witnesses brought against him and that they should subscribe his excommunication and that at his owne mouth he tooke the Anathema maranatha how these vntoward contradictions shal be made to agree I must send the Cardinall to Venice to Padre Paulo who in his Apologie against the Cardinals oppositions hath handled them very learnedly But from one Pope let vs passe to another for what a principall article of faith and religion this Oath is I haue alreadie sufficiently proued Why he called S. Gregory our Apostle I know not vnlesse perhaps it be for that he sent Augustine the Monke and others with him into England to cōuert vs to the faith of Christ wherein I wish the Popes his successours would follow his patterne For albeit he sent them by diuine reuelation as he said into England vnto King Ethelbert yet when they came they exercised no part of their function but by the Kings leaue and permission So did King Lucius send to Eleutherius his predecessor and hee sent him diuers Bishops who were all placed by the Kings authoritie These conuerted men to the faith and taught them to obey the King And if the Popes in these dayes would but insist in these steps of their forefathers then would they not intertaine Princes fugitiues abroad nor send them home not onely without my leaue but directly against the lawes with plots of treason and doctrine of rebellion to drawe Subiects from their obedience to mee their naturall King nor be so cruell to their owne Mancipia as returning them with these wares put either a State in iealousie of them or them in hazard of their owne liues Now to our Apostle since the Cardinall will haue him so called I perswade my selfe I should doe a good seruice to the Church in this my labour if I could but reape this one fruit of it to moue the Cardinal to deale faithfully with the Fathers and neuer to alledge their opinions against their owne purpose For this letter of Gregorius was written to Iohn Bishop of Palermo in Sicily to whom he granted vsum pallij to be worne in such times in such order as the Priests in the I le of Sicily and his predecessours were wont to vse and withall giueth him a caueat that the reuerence to the Apostolike Sea be not disturbed by the presumption of any for then the state of the members doth remaine sound when the head of the Faith is not bruised by any iniury and the authoritie of the Canons alwayes remaine safe and sound Now let vs examine the words The epistle was written to a Bishop especially to grant him the vse of the Pall a ceremony and matter indifferent As it appeareth the Bishop of Rome tooke it well at his hands that hee would not presume to take it vpon him without leaue from the Apostolique Sea giuing him that admonition which foloweth in the words alledged out of him which doctrine we are so far frō impugning that we altogether approue allow of the same that whatsoeuer ceremonie for order is thought meet by the Christian Magistrat and the Church the same ought inuiolably to bee kept and where the head gouernour in matters of that nature are not obeyed the members of that Church must needs run to hellish confusion But that Gregory by that terme caput fidei held himselfe the head of our faith and the head of all Religion cannot stand with the course of his doctrine and writings For first whē an other would haue had this stile to be called Vniuersalis Episcopus hee sayd I doe confidently auouch that whosoeuer calleth himselfe or desireth to be called Vniuersall Bishop in this aduancing of himselfe is the forerunner of the Antichrist Which notwithstanding was a stile far inferiour to