of them then when father Claude Matthew shewed at Rome the memories and remembrances for the hastning and aduancing of our miseries and troubles and they hauing proceeded so cunningly that of 37. Bulles which they haue obteined they neuer shewed any but those which least seemed to fauour them because they would not discouer the great recompences which they receiue for endeuouring to bring the Papal dignity to this height that there should be nothing either in the spiritualty or temporalty which should not become subordinate vnto it excepting only their Generall for the better effecting whereof their Bulles containe in them absolution from all excommunications which they might incurre a iure vel ab homine to the end that no respect of duty or of any obligation whatsoeuer might retaine and withhold them in setting forward this businesse And as the Iesuites in excuse of themselues alleadge that they were not the first authors of this absolute power Otho Frisingensis hauing obserued that it began vnder Gregorie the 7. vpon occasion of the inuestitures and was continued vnder Gregorie the 9. so are we to admire the sage prouidence of the Almighty who preserued in the schoole of Sorbonne founded about the same time the treasure of the truth contrary vnto that which the Iesuites propose vnto vs as the first and chiefe article of our faith The schoole of Paris hath alwaies taught that the primacie of Saint Peter and his successours Popes of Rome is by the law diuine in honor and reuerence whereof the Church antiquity the Christian Princes haue granted and attributed vnto the holy Sea many great priuiledges prerogatiues which are by the law humane that Iesus Christ immediatly after him and proportionably sending forth his Disciples and Apostles gaue vnto them all equally and indiuidually the power of the keies and that this mission is a reall conferring of power and iurisdiction euen as all the members of a naturall body although they are inequall in dignity doe proceed immediatlie from nature by reason whereof the estate of the Church is Monarchicall tempered with an Aristocraticall gouernement of Bishops and Priests as it were a Senate the most free and perfect estate which that can be imagined Whence it ariseth that the certaine and infallible authority for the resolution of points of religion doth reside in the whole Church and not in the head alone that by reason hereof Councels are necessarie for the gouernment thereof the conclusion of whose decrees and Canons by reason of the plurality of voices the Pope himselfe is bound to obserue without being able to dispence therewithall but in case where the Church being assembled in councell would haue giuen dispensation namely where it concerneth the good of the vniuersall Church and not of particulars which is the solide foundation whereon the liberties of our Church of France are grounded Hence it ariseth likewise that the decrees Buls censures and excommunications of the Popes yea the Bull in coena Domint and the counsell of Trent as farre as they concerne the ciuill gouernment do no way binde nor may be executed before they haue beene first approued receiued and published by the Councell and Aristocraticall order of the Ordinaries of the places which ought to put them in execution and cause them to be obserued that the sacred elections which succeeded the mission and vocation immediatlie made by our Sauiour Christ do appertaine vnto the Church both by the law of God and nature as it appeareth in the 1. and 6. Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles by the counsels of Nise and Basil and by the ordinances of our King S. Lewes and Charles the seuenth That the Pope is the dispensator and Steward and not Lord of benefices that he cannot trouble the ordinaries in their functions nor depriue them of their benefices without lawfull cause and without the Counsell of the Church according vnto that which Saint Gregorie hath written and is inserted in the bodie of the Canon law can ecce dist 99. and S. Bernard lib. 3. de consideratione cap. 4. and Gersson in his booke of the Ecclesiastical power consid 12. and in the treatise which hee hath made concerning the Estates of the Church Contrartwise the Iesuites teach that it suffiseth not to beleeue that the primacie of Saint Peter is by the law of God but that for a more accomplished gouernment of the Church we must acknowledge a Monarchicall vniuersal absolute and infallible power ouer all Christians yea in that which concerneth the temporalty for to giue them lawes and directions yea in Ciuil matters no otherwise then doth the reasonable soule rule the body and affections of man this is the doctrine of Cardinall Bellarmin in his booke de Rom Pontifice of Salmeron in his fourth Tome and the third part the fourth treatise explaining that place of Saint Matthew Dabo tibi claues regni caelorum I will giue thee the keies of the Kingdome of heauen of his commentaries vpon the 13 chapter of the Romains and in the fourth disputation of Ludouicus Molina the 2. treatise de iustitia iure the 29. disputation of Azorius in the second part of his morall institutions the 4. book and 19. chapter and of his 21. booke the 3. and 5. chapter of Gregorius de Valentia in his commentaries of Magallianus in the beginning of his commentaries of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchie to which absolute power their principall and most secret vow the first foundation and motion of their institution and Order being tied we haue small reason to doubt but that this is the common and certaine receiued doctrine of all their society They adde moreouer that Iesus Christ hath giuen the keies with all Ecclesiasticall power to S. Peter alone and to his successors for to distribute the same amongst the Apostles Bishops and Priests according as they shal thinke it fit whence it followeth of necessity that the institution of Bishops and Curats is not by the law diuine and that the Church is a pure soueraignty which ought to depend on the will of the Pope alone whereupon the Iesuits found their great power to the preiudice of Bishops Curats and Prelates taking vpon them more authority ouer the flockes of other men then the Pastors themselues And indeed by the Bulles of Gregory the 13. of the yeere 76. and 84. besides that they are exempted from the iurisdiction of all Ordinaries as well secular as regular all command is attributed vnto them and they are constituted to be as it were superintendents in the Church whence it ariseth that they vsurpe vpon the charges of all Ecclesiasticall persons bee it either in administring the sacraments or in any other function whatsoeuer at this day the Penitentiary of my Lord the Bishop of Paris although it be furnished with three most sufficient doctors in diuinity renowned for their integrity yet is it in a manner forsaken abandoned in respect of the Oratory of the Iesuits and the Catholike
de petit Pont a famous doctor of our Vniuersity Let vs adde consequently vnto this recommendation that of the Popes Honorius the third Innocent the fift Vrban the sixth who haue said that Paris was as the neuer dried source whence the riuer of science did flow which watered continually the Church of God and the instruction of all Christendome And it is fiue hundred yeeres agoe that the Vniuersitie of Paris might boast of this high stile of honor which aduanceth her aboue all the Schooles in the world Studium Parisiense fundamentum ecclesiae What more honorable testimony can there bee then that which is read in the Registers of the Vniuersity that in the yeere three hundred seuenty eight the Church being afflicted with a great Schisme the sacred Colledge of Cardinals Apostolica sede vacante did solemnlie inuite the Vniuersitie of Paris to contribute to the good of the Church for to defend her from intrusion In the yeere foure hundred and ten another Schisme hauing giuen occasion of assembling the Councell of Constance the Doctors of the Vniuersity of Paris and amongst others Mr Iohn Gerson which was Chancellor thereof named the thrice Christian doctor in honour of the thrice Christian King which had sent him by their learning made knowne that the Vniuersitie of Paris was the mother and Nurse of all good and holy institution that shee had conserued the puritie of Theologie mainteined the Episcopall dignitie had alwaies opposed her selfe against strange doctrines nouelties and superstitions Which hath made men to conceiue so reuerent an opinion of the Vniuersitie of Paris that from all the quarters of Europe yea from the Court of Rome it selfe her aduise and resolutions haue been sought for and preferred to that of other Schooles To conclude be it spoken to the praise of the Catholique Church the Vniuersity of Paris hath made the Church of France to florish aboue all particular Churches of the world in token whereof the Popes Clement the sixth and Pius the second would solemnly giue notice of their elections vnto the Vniuersity of Paris and the last of these two witnessed that at the pursuite and authority of the Vniuersitie of Paris he was moued to defend the Councell of Basil So may we say that the tree of this doctrine planted so long since hath produced so good fruit that there is not any one which hath frequented strange nations who will not say but that the deuotion of France and principallie of the City of Paris surpasseth that of all other people which it may bee is more in outward shew but as different from that of ours as the shadow from the substance As the Vniuersity of Paris hath been religiously deuoute so hath shee neuer wanted the respect and obedience towards our Kings her protectors and withall her power hath conserued the royall rights against all vsurpations Our histories doe iustifie that the Vniuersity hath alwaies couragiously opposed her selfe against all attempts vpon the power of Kings against the abuses which are committed contrary to the holy decrees and constitutions of Counsels hath held great authority in the assemblies of the Gallicane Church for to maintaine the liberties of the same witnesse the appeale brought by the Vniuersity of Paris and maintained in this Court against Pope Benedict the cleuenth who would haue leuyed tenths vpon the Clergy of France whence occasion was taken in a diffamatory libell which was then published against the King and the Clergy of his Realme to quarrell particularly with the Vniuersity which appeale the Vniuersity did reiterate in the time of Lewes the eleuenth from the buls decreed coÌ„cerning benefices electiue Vpon this subiect we see so many oppositions framed by the Vniuersity of Paris against the power and faculties of the Legats sent into France as against that of the Cardinall of S. Peter ad vincula and of Cardinall Ballue wherein the Vniuersity did summon Mr Sollicitor generall named then de saint Romain to assist her which made an ancient French author to write that the Vniuersity of Paris was the key of Christendome the most carefull promotresse of the rights of the Gallicane Church Also our Kings haue especially cherished her for it is read that shee accompanied the King returning in triumph from the battaile of Bouines and it is a thing remarkeable that King Philip the Long hauing assembled the estates of his Realme and the Vniuersity all others did sweare fidelity vnto the King as soueraigne onely the Vniuersity did not sweare at all as Mr Giuinner hath obserued in the preface to the Pragmaticke sanction because that by her instruction we learne to breath with the aire of France fidelity towards our Prince and loue to our Countrey and who knoweth not the praise which the Vniuersity of Paris bare away from the mouth of Pope Pius the second hauing vnderstood by the Cardinall Bessarion that shee had hindered her schollers from being inrolled in the troopes of those This was in the time of Char'es the 7. who made the publique weale a pretext of their rebellion Vpon this consideration Dumesnil the King his Atâ—urney generall whose memorie can neuer die said that the Vniuersity of Paris was receiued to pleade in this Court not only in her particular causes concerning her priuiledges but also in causes which concerne the publique estate of this Realme The Vniuersity of Paris is composed of foure facuities the first is of Diumity which beareth away the prize and hath the aduantage aboue all the rest this is that science which treateth of eternall things which lifteth a man vp in spirit vnto the heauens which teacheth the saluation of mankind the reunion of the creature to his Creator To the study of the faculty of Theologie of Paris is attributed the perfect and diuine inuention of the schoole diuinity held in the Romane Church to be the infallible rule whereby to iudge of the mysteries of faith and of religion the subiect for which the learning of this schoole is so much admired The second faculty is of those who handle the knowledge of the Lawes who are to teach that which Aristotle saith is the most diuine thing amongst men that is to giue good counsell in affaires and directions in pollicies The third is of Phisitians which haue care of the health of the body the last of the Arts which laieth open the treasures of humane learning of the tongues and of Philosophy If that our diuinity hath had the honor for puritie the knowledge of the law of not being equalled our Phisicke to surpasse all others the last which is as the seed and nursery of the former hath the testimonie of the most eloquent Italians of our age who confesse that they haue learned of the Masters of the Vniuersity of Paris the purity of the Latine and of the other tongues which yet at this day are not to be found any other where so perfect Now as the estate of the Church Vniuersall is secular so the Vniuersity of
Church of England being destitute of Bishops by their monopoly is depriued of the holy sacrament of confirmation Where it is easie to be knowne whether those of the Sorbonne of Paris who haue alwaies mainteined hierarchical order and the dignity of Bishops haue from the yeer 1554. rightly coniectured of their design which is to withdraw from the ordinaries the obedience and subiection due vnto thē if the Iesuits may be sēt forth as Bishops and Curates and by this fulnesse of power haue more authority then the lawfull pastors the Bishops should be but as Vicars destituable at their pleasur S. Paul saith that the power was giuē him not to destroy but to edifie and made scruple to preach the Gospell where Christ should haue bin already preached ne superalienū fundamentū aedificaret Ro. 15. Rupertus interpreting the words of S. Iohn 4. chap Vt cognouit Christus c. saith that the great Mr. of Humility hath taught all the doctors of the Church of the houshold of faith not to intermeddle with nor pester the charges cures one of another although that he were the sun the light it selfe yet he would not manifest himselfe nor shine there where Saint Iohn had first begun to shewe his borrowed light can it be imagined that it is possible to substitute one in the place of the father of the familie with the same power and authority as hee hath to whom nature hath appointed it or as Gerson saith that the ordinarie Pastors which are accountable and answerable before God for their flocke should not haue the guiding and gouernment thereof to conclude that a stranger should haue more priuacie with the wife then the lawfull spouse This is against the aduise of Saint Gregory Non ego honorem esse puto saith he in quo fratres honorem suum perdere cognosco meus namque honor est honor vniuersalis Ecclesiae meus honor fratrum meorum solidus vigor tune ego vere honoratus sum cum singulus quibusque honor debitus non negatur I doe not thinke any honor to bee done vnto mee in that whereby I know that my brethren loose their honour for my honor is the honor of the vniuersall Church my honour is the soliderigour and courage of my brethren then am I truly honored when euery one in particular hath not his due honor and respect denied him Bern. 3. Consid cap. 5. And S. Bernard saith honorū ac dignitatū gradus ordines quibusque suos seruare positi estis nō inuidere You are apointed to preserue maintain the degrees orders of eueryone in his particular place dignity not to enuy them Moreouer the Iesuits doe teach propose and maintaine that the Pope only is infallible the celebration of Councels is but for decencie onely vt facilius canones recipiantur That the Canons may bee more willingly receiued that the Synodall resolutions doe depend not only of the will of the Pope but that hee may dispence with them change and abrogate them when hee thinketh good that the sacred elections are neither from the law of God or nature and appertaine only to the Pope Cardinall Bellarmine in the first booke De clericis chap. 8. and that hee may dispose of benefices yea to the preiudice of the Patrons and of those vpon whom they are conferred etiam sine causa yea without any cause the proper tearmes of Emmanuel Sa in verbo Papa That the Buls constitutions censures and excommunications yea the Bull in coena Domini and the Councell of Trent in that which concerneth the ciuill Policie doe oblige the French men in conscience although the French Church neuer gaue consent thereunto nor did euer receiue them Azorius in the 5. booke the 3. chap. of his morall institutions If that the councels doe depend entirely of the authority and approbation of the Pope as they mainteine and the author of the Catholike institution perswadeth when as in reckoning vp those which are legitimate hee omitteth those of Constance and of Basil which can bee vpon no other ground but for want of being approued and allowed by the Popes as Mariana his Colleague hath written it followeth and see the mischiefe they runne headlong into that all the liberties of the French Church founded vpon the authoritie of the Councels are schismaticall since there is an higher ascendent then that of the Councels that the appellations which are interposed vpon this foundation are grosse abuses and are abhominable it followeth moreouer that the sacred elections haue not their beginning from the law of God that the Primitiue Church the Church of France haue beene in an error vntill the concordate King Frances betweene the first and Leo the fift that you my Lords doe vsurpe vpon the greatest part of the iurisdiction which you haue and the iustice which you sincerely exercise which the Councell of Trent attributeth to Ecclesiasticall persons As the doctrine of the Iesuits peruerteth the Hierarchicall order of the Church so doth it annihilate the authority of Princes and of politique lawes and drowneth it in the spirituall power and is herein as opposite and contrary to that which our Theologie doth beleeue as white is vnto blacke nor the sensuall appetite to reason and if that calamities past haue not wholy bereft vs of our memorie we may thinke it to be at this time the miraculous hand of God which when wee least thought vpon it seemed to lay open this occasion not only to make vs see but also feele and touch the cause of our sorrowes The Vniuersitie of Paris teacheth that the spirituall power is no lesse separated from the temporall then heauen is from earth The raigne of the sonne of God and of his Vicar our holy father is not of this world the Church ought not to vse beside the Ecclesiasticall censure and that for lawfull causes and in such forme and manner as is prescribed any other meanes but persuasion and not constraint her proceedings which ought to draw vs to eternall beatitude are simply aduise and direction and not force and rigor that it can in no sort appertaine vnto Ecclesiasticall men to meddle in secular affaires all their intermedling ought to be tied vnto the soule and conscience and their iurisdiction vnto those actions which follow and depend on the administration of the sacraments That by the law of God and nature Kings holding amongst men the highest place next and immediately vnder God haue all politique and ciuil power and that they alone haue power ouer all that which concerneth the temporalty and amongst all Princes of the earth our thrice christian Kings to whom it seemeth that God hath communicated the most liuely markes and representation of his image who doe not auow nor acknowledge that they hold of any one but God alone their scepter and their crowne which he hath had in his speciall protection well nigh from the time that the crowne of the Sauiour of the world
their Order they kept close this secret from vs by the which they thought themselues to be dispensed with from all that which was required of them and from that which they promised not being able to be bound without the consent and will of the Generall they being more bound vnto him then vnto God the Church or Pope or to all the world beside They were reestablished in the moneth of Ianuary 1604. and a little before their brethren of Doway had managed the enterprise vpon the person of Duke Maurice and had sent their Purueior named Panne to execute it And a short time after was discouered another designe of their good intentions to wit the conspiracy of the which three of their fathers Tesmond Gerard and Garnet had the managing against the King of England and all the Estates and Magistrates of the country the most prodigious that euer could enter into the heart of man and which surpasseth and confoundeth all the excesse and villany of former times The Estates of England were summoned the place and day appointed and the ouerture prepared the conspirators had found meanes to fill the vault vnder the roome where the assembly should haue beene with such a quantity of gunpowder hidden and couered with wood that with the least artifice frō as far off as they listed they could haue blown vp ouerthrown a whol kingdom at one instāt they themselues haue thus described it and part of those which were guilty haue confessed it It is not the meane to establish the Catholique Religion to fill an Estate with murders and horrible combustion it is rather the way to giue cause vnto heretikes stifly to bend themselues against proceedings so contrary to moderation and mildnes which God hath left as a marke of his light and to make that the Christian verity neuer returne more thither from whence it hath beene expelled and that it come to passe that infidelity and paganisme shall rather succeed heresie then that euer there should be any amendment or restoring of that which is better From this establishing of the spirituall power aboue the temporall proceedeth this other proposition of the doctrine of the Iesuits to wit that Ecclesiasticall men are neither subiects nor vnder the iurisdiction of any Prince but of the Pope alone yea in that which concerneth temporall matters that liuing in the Estate of any one whatsoeuer they are not bound by the lawes nor policies be they fundamentall and most supreme and therefore Bellarmine in his treatise de Clericis from the 28. chapter to the 30. Emmanuel Sa in his Confessionary vpon the word Clericus Gretserus in his writings against the common-wealth of Venice doe concurre together with all the rest of their society that although Ecclesiasticall men should conspire against the Estate or person of the Prince yet they cannot encurre the danger of Treason because he is neither King nor Prince as to them neither are they subiects in respect of him The schoole of Paris on the contrary hath alwaies held and taught that Ecclesiasticall men as naturall subiects of the Princes and common-wealths in the which it hath pleased God they should be borne are bound in the selfe same manner as other men are to obey the lawes of direction and constraint and are exempt only in regard of that which concerneth Gods diuine seruice and the competent maintainance of the Ecclesiasticall Estate and as to this point the Iesuits dispute fallaciously going from the declaration of a very speciall and particular exemption to an entire generall and absolute immunity contrary vnto the doctrine of the Church who teacheth vs that as the feare of God is the beginning of wisdome so the feare of the Magistrate is the beginning of discretion that as this life is the shadow of the life eternall so the lawes of Princes and Kingdomes are a figure of the eternall law so that he that loueth not the figure sheweth that he loueth yet lesse the thing figured This exemption continuing it is not to bee doubted but that Ecclesiasticall men should be as it were so many garrisons of strangers in an Estate and if the Prince or magistrate would constraine them to anie thing for the good of his Estate it ariseth from the same learning that in as much as they are not his subiects he should be a tyrant and an vsurper which might be deposed and killed by any one whosoeuer This was the foundation of the trouble which we haue seene stirred vp against the common-wealth of Venice euer most Catholique and deuoted to the holie Sea which cannot bee attributed to any but the Iesuits whom the Senate of that common-wealth in honor of the Catholique religion had carefully cherished fifty or threescore yeeres in such sort that foure or fiue yeeres before they had bestowed a great Pallace vpon them for their Colledge where they had aboue three hundred schollers children of the best houses of Venice and possessed in this Estate twelue or fifteene thousand crownes a yere reuenues During the Papacie of Pope Clement the Venicians had published an ordinance by the which Ecclesiasticall men were inhibited from acquiring any immoueables this holy father knew it well inough without taking offēce therat And how could he take it in euil part since that in the Estate of Milan there was the like prohibitiō strictly obserued that the Pope that now is vpon his first comming vnto the Popedome had forbidden the house of Loretta to purchase any more immoueables the Iesuits being desirous neuerthelesse to purchase a Pallace of pleasure vpon the riuer of Brent neere vnto the City were hindered by this law so as the gentlewoman which was owner thereof drew backe and said that she had been seduced by her Confessor This nourished in their minds an euill will towards the State so that two Ecclesiasticall men of Vincence being imprisoned for most horrible crimes the Iesuits taking their time gaue aduertisement vnto the Pope that these were enterprises vpon his authority and of those who depended immediately on him that the Venetians had no power to make lawes which should concerne Ecclesiasticall men although they were necessary for their Estate and conseruation without the will and consent of the Pope neither to decree any thing without making him first acquainted therewithall thus doing they tooke from them all soueraigntie they perswaded the excommunication with all earnestnesse whereunto Cardinall Zapata protector of Spaine subscribing for confirmation of their counsell said that this action done for the greatnes of the Church merited a statue of gold dedicated to immortalitie This first breach gaue apprehension of great calamities to ensue so that the Pope naturallie desirous of mild and gentle courses and enclined thereunto by the counsell of the Princes of Christendome and specially of that of our great King was againe exasperated by the Iesuits and by letters which they wrote vnto their Generall who hath no shew of a religious man besides his habite and behaueth
deuotion toward your holinesse towards the holy Sea shee can neuer faile therein the profession of our schoole remaineth alwaies entire and inuiolable to the Christian saith and to the obedience due vnto the holie Sea and as his succession in the Popedome is not farre distant in time from that of Pope Clement the 8. so let it succeed it in representing his mildnesse and prudence that he will be pleased to cast his eie vpon this society which vnder the pretext of the good of the Church doth point at it one particular greatnes to the which in the end it will vnite that of the Church and they alreadie are not farre from it These are the reasons of the opposition which the Vniuersity proposeth against the letters obtained by the Iesuits founded vpon the soueraign authority engrauen from all antiquity in the brasse of the fundamentall lawes of the French monarchy vpon her particular policy vpon your decrees and vpon her holy and constant doctrine which fasteneth the crowne to the head of kings contrary vnto that of the Iesuits who attribute vnto the Pope a like superiority ouer our kings as ouer the least Priests or his most inferiour Officers vicars yea far greater maketh Kings to be but at wil subiect to be deposed killed foūnded moreouer vpon so many miserable examples which gall vs and make vs feele the smart so particularly that there is not any man who loueth the Estate or Religion which hath not had a feeling and apprehension thereof The instruction of youth is not a matter of small importance in ancient time men had a speciall care thereof next immediately after that of Religion children owe their sife vnto their parents but that they liue well they owe that vnto those who instruct them and he doth no lesse profit the Common-wealth who frameth and fashioneth men well affected to the Estate who nourisheth them vnder the hope of honors and dignities with reuerence vnto the lawes of the Country then he who serueth in greater place with duty and fidelity The Vniuersity of Paris hath hereof loyally and worthily acquited and discharged her selfe these 8. hundred yeeres neuer bound her selfe to any thing whatsoeuer but to the honor of God of her King and to the good of the Church Ill doctrine is easily perswaded and that which is false conformable vnto the darkenesse which enuironneth vs in our corruption there is saith the wise man store of gold and pearles but lips that preserue knowledge that is a rare moueable What father is there which had not rather loose his life honor goods and whatsoeuer hee hath else most deare in this world then to nourish one who shall bee a monster to his Country Haue we not had intelligence within these three weekes of the conference held at Toul in Lorraine amongst men impoisoned with this doctrine disclosed by an Hermite wherein after declaration of their euill minde towards all Catholike Princes it was agreed as granted amongst them that the Iesuits had by their doctrine so cleared these maximes that they ought to be held for ratified and confirmed in stead that they ought to be condemned and punished not only in the effects but in the very deepest and most profound thoughts They offer to submit themselues vnto the Orders of the Vniuersity and demand to be incorporated from the yeere 564. they haue done as much and they are yet to beginne they promised to renounce their vowes faculties Priuiledges yea themselues we haue seene our selues cleane frustrated of this expectation and to be the example of their power and attempts contrarie vnto publike Order in the yeere 1591. they promised not to meddle any more with affaires of Estate it was then that they were most busily emploied in them and embraced the world most greedily they know well how to boast of this science since that they haue written in French that their laie brethren could reade lectures therein to the Chancellour and greatest of Spaine God knoweth whether in Spaine if it be true that the sermons were made there they haue forgotten to enter into cōparison with our greatest magistrats there is not any one condition of their reestablishment which they haue not already transgressed and broken by breues and letters obtained by tricks and vpon aduantages it would be a strange follie in vs nay rather a great crime to bee the first alwaies who are surprised and the last to free our selues to be so often abused and mocked by those who beare two hearts in one breast who for to make their doctrine to be receiued are so audacious as to impose and lay imputations vpon the Apostles themselues and to impute vnto them that lewd vice of cosinage and dissimulation which they vse ordinarily for Bellarmine in his treatise concerning the exemption of Ecclesiasticall men chap. 30. saith that Saint Peter and the Apostles haue preached obedience to the politike magistrate that euery soule should bee subiect vnto the Prince only for to establish thēselues to giue the Gospell passage they will promise and sweare to all conditions since that by their owne proper constitutions they can be bound by nothing to the end that they may make those to be receiued which they would impose by reason of the Pope his absolute authority without the which their society cannot subsist France after the death of her King hath placed her hope in the Queene it is shee that giueth her life and nourishment a Princesse whom strangers admire and the subiect honoreth you haue found all the Princes furnished with great vertues tied with the same band of affection to the good and greatnesse of this Estate This magnificent Court of Peeres the Diall of France which hath alwaies shewed his Meridionall line and the Officers of the Crowne ready to doe their duty and to follow the high waie of honour the Nobility and gentry the Townes and people readie to sacrifice themselues for to perform your commands continue on by your bounty and iustice in making it appeare that these were the Counsels of our late King your husband which gouerned his Monarchy and to cause this liuely picture to be adored in his death that the lawes of the Estate of the King your sonne may remaine by your wisdome so ordered that euery one may therein find his goods his life his honor his conscience in safetie and repose so may the Counsell and prudence of the two great eies of this Estate alwaies watch ouer the affaires perseuere in this beliefe that diuision and ciuill warre is the onelie desolation of this great Empire there is nothing which can disturbe it but these extractors and Alchymists which haue found out the meanes to dissolue all piety the most strong naturall bands of affection they easily can doe it with their seedes and dewes of sermons and confessions and by the precepts of their learning by meanes whereof they can peruert the course of nature altering our essence and reaching