they medled yet onely with the keyes not with the swords and confessed all the power they had or challenged to be meerely purely spirituall for the conduct and benefit of soules nothing at all directly or indirectly temporall And to fortifie all this claime whatsoever it was they were content to found it upon the majestie of their Sea being the peerlesse Imperiall Citie upon the Charters and Patents of Princes upon the pietie and sound faith of their Predecessors upon the generall and just consent of Christendome which had assigned them a prime place among other Patriarches in all Synods and Assemblies But their foreheads were yet too soft to plead any Scriptures for their pretensions or to derive their primacy from divine institution They beganne indeed to lay too violent hands and to put upon the racke those passages Tues Petrus and Dabo tibi claves and this Pasce oves in my Text but it was featfully and with reluctation of conscience with no purpose or with no hope to wring from them those horrible consequences which in succeeding times they were forced to countenance But when once the Prince of darknesse had overwhelmed all Europe with a blacke night of fatall ignorance when he had banished all good letters learning and languages when hee had silenced the Scriptures and hood-winkt the world then his work of darknesse went on apace and the mystery of iniquity was quickly advanced to that formidable height which at this day we see and lament Then began his Vicar at Rome to Pope it in earnest and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to appeare in his colours in his triple Crowne his two keyes in the one hand his two swords in the other and who but He He must now be saluted Head and Spouse of the Church universall a * See M. â—â—dâ—l against Wadesworth cap. 4. p. 77 c Vice-God upon earth his judgement is infallible his jurisdiction infinite and his Monarchy boundlesse inclosing all Churches and Kingdomes all Bishops are but his Curates and all Kings his vassals and in few words all Nations must worship this Idoll For of him was meant that in Ieremie Gens regnum quod non servierit Ier. 27. illi eradicabitur The people or nation that will not serve him must be rooted out And good reason for he is Dominus Deus noster Papa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no more a mortall And the better to set out this Pageant unto the people not onely some shapes and shadowes of old Fathers and Councils but the Scripture it selfe our Lord Christ and S. Peter are brought upon the stage and forced to doe reverence unto the Pope For since Hildebrand and Boniface 8. this Papall Monarchy is no longer a likely opinion or a disputable probleme or an ancient tradition or prescription but t is now an indubitable article of the Creed a fundamentall point of religion nay * Bell. 〈…〉 de R P. Summa rei Christianae the onely necessary truth and Subesse Rom. Pontifici est de necessitate salutis Whosoever beleeves not in Iesus Christ and in the Pope cannot be saved That our poore Forefathers in the times of ignorance should be abused and amased with these holy frauds we wonder not but we pitie them rather For alas though they wanted not eies yet they wanted light to discover these impostures and tromperies But it exceeds all marvell that yet at this day in this age of light and learning these horrible Paradoxes should be still obtruded upon the Christian World and which exceeds all impietie the Scripture it selfe abused to guild this Idoll to colour this monstrous domination of the Pope and so the God of truth the word of truth constrained to countenance a thicke and palpable lie For you know how Baronius Bellarmine and the rest of that bran now plead for this Monarchie not any longer out of the Decretall Epistles or Constantines donation old Knights of the Post that were wont to depose for the Pope but out of the sacred Tables of holy Writ Wherein though there bee not one word or â—â—llable to or fro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nec vola nec vestigiuÌ„ of the Pope or his power â—ave onely as hee is Antichrist yet these men with rare wit and skill have observed many new Mysteries in the New Testament and plainly a thing unknowne to all former generations see the Pope in many passages of the Text which I dare sweare the holy Euangelists and Apostles never saw nor intended They discourse with much learning of S. Peter and of his prerogatives how our Lord appointed him soveraigne Bishop of the Catholique Church and left him his Lieutenant upon earth planting in him a transcendent supereminent power of binding losing feeding c. which power other Bishops have not immediately from Christ but from S. Peter and by his delegation Well grant all this to be as true as it is all false but what followes Iam dic â—osthume de tribus capellis What 's all this to the Pope Why yes S. â—eter was Bishop of Rome and there he died and bequeathed all this soveraignty all these priviledges to the Bishops of Rome his Successors So then they talke much of S. Peter but they meane the Pope Gregory Nazianzene quotes a witty proverbe out of Herodotus which fits our purpose Vestem hanc Histiaeus Orat. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nâ—mero 4. quidèm consuit induit autèm Aristagoras Peter must make this coat but the Pope must weare it As he in the Orator extolled eloquence to the heavens that himselfe might bee advanced with it so here all these praises of S. Peter are intended for the Pope the businesse is his though Peter must beare the name Here is nothing sowne or reaped I wis for Peter unlesse onely this He that lived and died a poore Apostle is after his death crowned a Monarch but the Crowne fits the Popes head better then his and t is therefore set upon him onely by way of ceremony and hee comes in onely as a mute person upon the stage to make roome for the Pope and solemnly to lead him in by the hand And here all the passages betweene Christ and Peter all the words of the one all the actions of the other are examined with a curious scrupulosity and all at length by the helpe of two or three syllogismes make clearly for the Popes advantage I need not tell you what good stuffe these good wits have extracted out of those other words Dabo tibi claves and Oravi pro te Petre not to goe farre my Text is a most memorable example of their singular wit and dexteritie in abusing of Scripture Mirth is unseasonable in discourses of moment and for a Christian to laugh at blasphemy is to approve it it beseemes him much better to lament it with teares of bloud My Text I confesse is very rich and plentifull in the sense and as by and by we shall see will readily offer us much
A SERMON PREACHED AT The Consecration of the right Reverend Father in God Barnaby Potter D D. and L. Bishop of Carlisle At Ely House in Holbourne March 15. 1628. By Christopher Potter D. D. Provost of Queenes Colledge in Oxford Hereunto is added an Advertisement touching the History of the Quarrels of Pope Paul 5 with the Venetians Penned in Italian by F. Paul and done into English by the former Author LONDON Printed for Iohn Clarke and are to be sold at his shop under St. Peters Church in Cornehill 1629. REVERENDO IN Christo Patri Ac Domino D. Barnabae Potter S. Th. D. Episcopo Carleolensi Praesvli Sanctitatis Et Ervditionis Fama Clarissimo Charissimo Patrveli Christophorvs Potter Hanc Concionem Svmmi Amoris Et Observantiae Tenve Pignvs Et Tesseram L. M. Q. D. D. A Sermon preached at the Consecration of the Right Reverend Father in God Barnaby Rotter D. D. and L. Bishop of Carlisle Ioh. 21. v. 17. Iesus said unto him Feed my sheepe THe words perhaps may not unfitly be termed The Consecration of S. Peter into his Apostleship or more properly the renewing of his Commission which by denying his Master he had foully defaced and forfeited The Text in it selfe is very cleare the sense obvious and easie no word no phrase obscure or ambiguous S. Peter had three times denied his Lord and forsworne him which in such a prime Apostle such a confident Professor so great a zelote Though all should denie thee yet will not I was a sin very shamefull damnable and scandelous But our Lord is infinite in compassions and no sinne is unpardonable to a penitent and S. Peter had seriously and sadly repented Hee wept bitterly and I doubt not his heart ble 〈…〉 fast as his eyes Therefore the Lord lookes upon him with mercy not onely pardons his fault but admits him againe into his favour and here by a publique solemne act restores him againe to that degree and dignity from which hee was falne But before his admission his Master thinkes meet to examine him and the more to oblige him to his service he first requires him to give satisfaction for the scandall which hee had given and as hee had thrice renounced him so thrice againe to protest his ardent affection and love unto him Saint Peters fall had taken downe his pride and taught him the vanity and feeblenesle of a strong presumption Hee now answers his Master with no lesse zeale but with more modestie Christ askes him I ovest thou mee more then these A galling question secretly and sweetly taxing his former confidence Peter understands him and humbly replyes Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee I dare say my love is true and sincere I dare not say it is strong and steddie lest a second slip confute and betray me And having thrice repeated this protestation and so often recanted his former denyall our Lord honors him a new with his ancient charge puts him againe in his commission and for his comfort here thrice repeats it If thou lovest me and as thou lovest me Feed my I ambes feed my sheepe feed my sheepe â—â—o I commend to thy care and custody together with the rest of thy brethren that which I have most deare and precious my Sheepe my people my Church and therefore see thou looke well to thy duty be faithfull in thine office with all care and conscience with all diligence and discretion with all wisdome and fidelitie labour effectually to plant and propagate my Gospell to inlarge my Kingdome to win and gather soules unto me helpe to cherish and nourish them by wholsome doctrine by a holy and exemplarie life by good discipline For loe have not I called thee to this charge and art not thou a Pastor and are not they sheepe and my sheepe not thine owne all pressing arguments to move thee to hate and abandon all carnall corrupt affections ambition covetousness vaine-glory tyranny in this holy worke and with a constant cheerfulnesse to attend my service and thy Ministery Iesus said unto him feed my Sheepe Iesus said unto Peter but how To Peter in particular or as Prince of the rest exclusively and privatively to all the other Apostles No the solemnity of this threefold repetition seemes peculiar to Peter as a salve to his threefold abjuration but sure the charge is generall to all the Apostles and their dignity and duty in all regards equall though our Lord here speake onely to Saint Peter yet he meanes it not to S. Peter onely For in the former Chap. the same Commission which here he repeats to Peter as his particular case required he gives promiscuously and indifferently to all the Apostles and to all their lawfull Successours Bishops and Pastors As my Father sent mee so send Ioh 20. 21 23. I you Whos 's soever sinnes ye remit they are remitted whose ye retain And elsewhere in more large and ample termes a little before he left the world Goe into all the world Mat. 28. 19 Mar. 16. 15 teach all Nations Preach the Gospel to every creature delivering the same power and office which here in other words hee delivers to Saint Peter Feed my sheepe This is the plaine and proper and native meaning of the words and thus the ancient Catholike Church for many ages without seruple or question made this and no other construction of my Text. For those worthies of the Primitive times were wont to bring onely learning and a good conscience to the expounding of Scripture laying aside all passion and priuate interest and they were content to take such a sense as the holy Text offered not daring to bring or make a new sense of their owne such as might suit w th their desire or fantasie But the following Ages lost by degrees first conscience then learning and at length all modesty The first Bishops of Rome for many yeares good soules thought more of their Martyrdome then of any Monarchy They truly succeeded Peter in his holinesse in his fidelity in his humility and receiued this precept from Christ our Master plainly as he intended it and with an honest simple mind accordingly applied themselves to feed his sheepe After a while when the warme favour of the times had somewhat kindled their hopes and ambition though they began to nourish great and boundlesse thoughts and had an itching desire to inlarge their fringes yet at first they were reasonably moderate in their pretensions partly out of their owne ingenuity for they lost not all shame at once and partly by reason of that stout and free opposition which upon any attempt or invasion they found in the Easterne and Africane Churches which began quickly to be jealous of Romes growing greatnesse They claimed onely a precedency or a primacy not any supremacy a primacy of order or at most of honour not of power among their Brethren not over them Some contestations they had with Bishops none with Emperors For
excellent matter of Christian meditation and discourse But the collections which they of the Popes side have drawne from hence are such and so frivolous that they are much more capable to move the spleene if the gravitie of the matter permitted then the judgement and are more properly confuted with a smile then with any strength of reason Here is one word in the Text pasce which the Cardinall Bellarmine hath so extended between his teeth that it hath a belly as large and fruitfull as the Trojane horse including whole armies of arguments for the Pope The Pope can desire nothing which this word will not give him He pretends to be a King as well as a Bishop and sayes his temporall power is as wide and broad as his spirituall And t is true sayes Bellarmine for Christ said to S. Peter Pasce id est Regio more impera play the Rex In the ancient Church when any heresie disturbed the publique truth and peace a grave assembly of Bishops was called and the Booke of God fairly laid open in the midst and out of it were all doubts determined Now Scriptures and Councills are needlesse for the Pope claimes to be supreame Iudge of all Controversies And * Lib. 4. de Rom. P. cap. 1. Bellarmine thinkes the claime to be well grounded upon this pasce in my Text. And t is a great wonder the Pope was never thought infallible in his judgement till this last Age since this * Ibid. c. 3. pasce implies that also so clearly And if the Heretiques doe not beleeve that he hath power to make new Articles of Faith and when they cry shame upon Pope Pius the 4. for adding twelve new Articles to the old Apostles Creed t is because they are ignorant and know not what pasce signifies Briefly this one word containes more matter then al the Bible besides it works miracles and makes the Pope omnipotent gives him all power not onely in heaven and earth but where God hath nothing to doe in Purgatorie For if you aske by what authoritie he takes upon him to pardon sinnes and soules after death to give or sell the Saints merits to dispense with oathes to depose Kings and dispose of their kingdomes or if he list to murther them If you looke into the Popes Lexicon you shall find that pasce expressely denotes all this authoritie and inables him to be not only a Prince or a Pastor or a Bishop but even a Butcher Well the repetition of these horrid fantasies shall bee their refutation Iustin Martyr saith well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a grosse errour ever caries its Iustin M. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 owne conviction in its forehead I am sorie I have spent so much of my time and of your patience in moving this dunghill But these weeds and thorns lay in my way and I must needs cleare my passage I dismisle the Popes flatterers with my pitie and my prayers and say no more but this If they had any feare of God any shame of men any reverence to Antiquitie any feeling or care of conscience they would not dare thus profanely and leudly to dally with Scriptures or presume so to colour or cover their doctrine of devils under the name of God Thus farre I have digressed to follow the Theeves that would steale away the sense of my Text for so Gregory Nazianzene wittily sayes of Heretiques that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 3 6. â—ive de Tâ—eol 4. And now that wee have done with the corrupt Glosse we may goe forward by Gods assistance with the Text. It containes as we have said the renewing of Peters commission wherein the parts or points observable are two First the authoritie of it Iesus said unto him Secondly the matter or summary of it Feed my sheepe Our Lord first calls and inables him to his office then directs him in it First he gives him power to execute his charge Iesus said unto him secondly he gives him instructions how to execute it Feed my sheepe Of both these in order very briefly For the first Peter takes not upon himselfe the honor of the Apostleship till he was called by Christ his Lord and God as were the rest of his fellowes In that calling of the Apostles some things were personall and peculiar to themselves others generall concerning all their lawfull Successors Bishops and Pastors The Apostles had an immediate vocation from Christ in person our calling is not of men but t is by men their 's neither of men nor by men They had an universall mission an unlimited jurisdiction an infallible assistance of the Spirit the gift of tongues and miracles All these were priviledges extraordinarie and passed with their persons But the warrant and worke of this Commission generally and equally belongs to all us as well as to all them None may usurpe the charge of a Bishop or a Pastor till Iesus say unto him Feed my sheepe And hence we learne two leslons of great importance and consideration 1. The Author of all lawfull 1 vocation to the holy Ministerie is onely Christ the Lord. Onely Christ exclusively to all men not to the two other Persons in the glorious Trinity which all equally concur to this externall worke God the Father hath placed in the Church a 1 Cor. 12. 28. Apostles Prophets Teachers Pastors c. And God the b Act. 20. 28. holy Ghost ordained the Bishops at Ephesus and elsewhere c Act. 1 3. 2. Separate me Paul and Barnabas for the worke whereunto I have called them For it belongs onely to the d Mat. 9. 38. Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers into his harvest and who should appoint e Mat. 24. 45. Stewards over the House but he who is Master of the House Father of the family This consideration must first helpe to animate our feeblenesse and add unto us an edge and courage against all the difficulties and discouragements which we shall meet in our holy calling Everie good Minister must looke to bee Theologus crucis not Theologus gloriae when hee enters upon this warfare hee may not dreame of an easie or lazie life to passe his time in pompe or pleasure like the glorious Clergie of Rome but he must prepare to play the man and fight it out not onely with absurd and unreasonable men but even with beasts as Paul did at Ephesus yea with devills And therefore he must buckle himselfe to his worke and know that hee must eate his bread if not with the sweating of his browes yet which is much sorer with the beating of his braines Wherefore S. Paul wanting a word able to expresse the grievous paines of our Ministery sets it forth in two both very sore and heavie ones Our calling is a 1 Thess 2. 9 and 2 Thess 3. 8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a labor a travaile a tiring labour a miserable travaile a labour like that of reapers a travaile
the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the dignity not the duty which they affect Some too many pretending to be Physitians of the soule intend indeed to cure their owne povertie or necessitie as if the Church should be a refuge for needy persons or a sanctuary for malefactors Many that cannot thrive in any other course of life when they are driven to their last hopes and extremities at last shift themselves into the coat and calling of Ministers and he that knowes himselfe unfit in any other imployment to serve men yet thinkes himselfe fit enough to serve God in this sacred calling All these intruders and mercenaries shall bee sure to faile of their hopes and shall one day receive other kinde of wages then they did expect Now besides this inward calling which serves onely to settle our owne conscience it is needfull that the Church doe externally call and install us by some publique solemnitie before we may adventure upon the exercise of this holy function After grave and due examination of our life and learning if the Church of God do approve us if by the hands of such as are in authoritie shee ordaine and admit us then may we lawfully and safely enter upon this holy charge not otherwise Now here all our Reformed Churches are aâ—fronted by the Romish faction and proudly challenged just as the Priests of old challenged our Master Christ a Mat. 21. 23. Whence have you authority to teach and who gave you this authority They aske where is our lawfull vocation where our orderly uninterrupted succesion from the Apostles and blush not to affirme which is one of their unwritten traditions b M. 〈◊〉 letters cap. 11. and as true as Lucians true Histories or their Homilies out of the Legend that our Bishops in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths reigne consecrated themselves one another contrary to all Canons of the ancient Church and thence inferre that all our after-ordinations are pure nullities that we have no Ministers no Faith no Gospell no Sacraments Thus of old when Ieremy and Ezechiel went about to repair the ruines of the Church and to purge the worship of God from unsufferable corruptions and abuses the Priests of Israel and Iudah resisted called for their warrant and pretended themselves onely to be the Temple of the Lord and that the Law of God could not depart from them But for answer to our Adversaries we need not say that our first Reformers had an extraordinary calling from God we constantly affirme that those worthy Ministers who in the age of our Fathers first beganne this glorious worke of Reformation had that same ordinary vocation and succession whereof our adversaries vaunt so much But that vocation which the Romish Priests abused to the dishonour of God and the suppressing of his truth our Reformers according to their dutie and conscience used for the reestablishing of pure doctrine Thus Wiclif Hus Luther Zuinglius Oecolampadius Bucer Martyr c. the first purgers of the Church froÌ„ Roman superstition tyranny were al created ordained by the Church of Rome it selfe Priests or Doctors of Divinitie by an ordinary usuall publique vocation and that with a solemne adjuration that they should duly and diligently teach the truth of God in his Church according to his word And thus in our Church of England the consecration of every Bishop hath beene still solemnly and canonically performed by three other Bishops at the least as hath beene confessed by a Cudsemius in vivâ— effigie Sectae Calvinist cap. 11. some Papists and b Fr Mason de Minister Ang proved against the lies and slanders of others out of publique and authenticall records Now then we demand of our Adversaries Hath the Church of Rome any lawfull ordinary vocation or hath shee none If she have none her selfe why is shee so scrupulous to enquire of ours If shee have any our Ministers had the same being all at first called and ordained by her For howsoever the Church of Rome hath adulterated and obscured her Catholique verities with intolerable superadditaments yet hath shee still notwithstanding power to conferre a lawfull vocation It is the consenting judgement both of c Conâ—il Nic. 1. Can. 8. Codex can Eccl. Afâ—ic can 68. Hâ—eron diâ—l adv Luciferian Aug tract 〈◊〉 in Iohan. cont Epist Parm. l. 2. c. 13 Synod 7. act 1. Antiquitie and of the late b Mâ—g Sent. lio 4. dist 25. ibi DD. Sâ—hol Aquiâ— Suppl qu. 38. art 2 â—â—llar de Sacr. in gen l. 1. c. 26 Romane Doctors that heresie it selfe may infect but cannot annull ordinations and that Clerkes ordained by hereticall Bishops are sufficiently in holy Orders and may not bee re-ordained For whosoever bee the instrument the principall Author of our holy charge is Christ the Lord upon him alone originally it depends and from him may be conveyed by polluted hands as the cleare water of a fountaine may passe through a filthy pipe or chanell and though it be vitiated in the passage yet t is not abolished And therefore that wee may retort this crimination upon the Adversarie albeit we confesse our Vocation to bee derived to us by the mediation of the Church of Rome not by her authority yet we both avouch our vocation to be holy and lawfull and challenge theirs to be sacrilegious For in the Romane Priesthood are confusedly intermingled things holy and profane it is partly a Rose partly a Nettle it consists of a double power one sacred to absolve sinners by the Ministery of reconciliation which we embrace and retaine the other impious to sacrifice againe Christ Iesus in the Masse which we reject and abominate So then the Rose we plucke and leave them the Nettle whatsoever they deliver in the name and by the commission of Iesus Christ we humbly receive it and use it to his glorie but for that which is authorized onely by the Popes warrant and institution wee leave it to them who are his servants and love to weare his liveries BUt in this question as in others our Opposers are long since victi triumphati reduced to a perpetuall silence by the learned labours of our Worthies M. Francis c De Minist Anglican Mason for our Church and for the forraigne Churches by the noble d De Eccles cap ult Mornay e De â—egit voÌ„c Minist Sadeel and f De la voca ion des Pâ—steurs Peter Moulin in a just Treatise of this argument But being now upon this discourse of vocation I may not wave this faire occasion to note the rare and exemplary calling Sinè ambitu more majorum of that Reverend man whose Consecration gives occasion to this meeting But because what I now speake of him must be spoken to him neither his modesty nor mine permits mee to say much Onely thus much I cannot forbeare Our deare Soveraigne his gracious Master hath honoured not Him so much as Himselfe and the Age in the freedome of
trechery For conclusion let me bespeak intreat you Reverend Fathers Brethren in the words of a divine Apostle Act. 20. 28. Take heed to your selves and to all the flock wherof the holy Ghost hath made you Bishops to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own bloud 1 Pet. 5. 2. Feed the flock of God which dependeth on you caring for it not by constraint but willingly not for filthie lucre but of a ready mind Not as if ye were Lords over Gods heritage but that you may be ensamples to the flocke And when the Chiefe Shepheard shall appear you shall receive an incorruptible Crowne of glory Soli Deo gloria Pag 4 lin 17. for Soe read Loe. Pa. 24. l. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Advertisement to the Reader touching the History of the Quarrels of Pope Paul 5. with the State of Venice The Translator to the Reader IN a more perfect Copie of that Historie pretended to bee printed at Lions but indeed at Venice M DC XXIV which I have lately seene by the courtesie of my worthie and learned friend M. W. Boswell there is annexed at the end by the same judicious Author of the Historie and wanting in that Copy of Geneva which before I followed a particular and memorable Information touching some essentiall circumstances in the Accommodation of that great Difference Which because it is the life of the whole History and serves much to cleare the Venetian cause from the forgeries of the Court of Rome which was the Authors maine intention I have thought meet here to communicate it with the Reader done out of Italian into English with fidelity as followeth BEing a thing which hath never happened that a Breve of Censures so solemnly published by the Pope and resisted with so great constancy should be abolished without any writing or act done in Rome it hath bred in many persons a curiosity to know the truth of all passages in this businesse and hath given matter to those who in all such contestations would seeme to have the victory and are wont to countenance their Designes with forged writings to use also this same artifice upon this present occasion And therefore they have in this case also counterfaited 4 writings to wit 1. A Breve unto the Card. of Ioyeuse which gives him faculty to take away the Censures 2. An Instrument of Absolution by the said Cardinall dated 21 April 3. An Instrument of the delivery of the Prisoners and 4. A Decree of the Senate for the restitution of the Religious and for releasing the sequestration of the revenewes of such Ecclesiasticks as were gone out of the State Which writings they have not dared to divulge in formall Copies but onely dispersed underhand some abridgments of them with intention it may be that after some time when they may not be so easily detected and confuted as at this present they may be produced and pretended to be true yea and so to be beleeved of necessity as this Policie hath often well succeeded to These men who have many times given colour to many such false writings prejudiciall to divers Princes Now purposing to speake particularly of all those foure false writings we will begin with the first which containes a forged Breve unto the Card. of Ioyeuse giving him power to take away the Censures Whether the Pope hath indeed dispatched such a Breve unto the said Card. prescribing him a form of Absolving from the Excommunication Protestation Reservation and other clauses the summaries whereof are scattered abroad I can neither affirme nor deny Onely I will say that many times at Rome they publish such Breves though they that have interest never saw them which yet are extant and yet the memory doth remaine in the Histories that all the Businesse had passed quite contrary to that which in such Breves is reported Gregory 2. having commantled Alphonsus King of Spaine that leaving the office of the Mozarabes he receive that of Rome Innocentius 3. writeth lib 9. epist 2. that it was accordingly received yet all the Historians of Spaine do agree that the King would never endure any alteration in this office nor admit the Romane In Cap. 1. de postul Praelatorum Innocent 3. in the yeare 1199. saith that the Interdict against France because the K. Philip Augustus had put away his wife Isemberg was observed in that Kingdome Notwithstanding all the French Historians with one voice accord that it was not observed and that the King punished all such of his Clergy as dared to execute the desires or to approve the pretensions of the Pope I will further add that many times when such Bulls have beene published under the name of the Popes they themselves have beene constrained afterwards to deny them or confesse them to have beene extorted Adrian the 2. anno 870. sent a severe Monitorie to Charles the Bald K. of France commanding him to forbeare to seize upon the Kingdome of Lotharius his deceased Nephew and to the same effect writing his Letters to the Prelates and Nobilitie of the Realme The King neverthelesse prosecuting his purposes answered the Pope with freedome and bitternesse Wherefore his Holinesse in his reply to the King first amply commends the Royall vertues wherewith he heard that he was adorned then testifies his great good will towards him and concludes that if hee had formerly received from him any Letters of another tenor or of a more hard or sharp or rough stile hee prayes him to beleeve that he was surprised and that they were stollen from him unawares or when he was sick or happely counterfaited The Lawyers doe all consent that no man can prove himselfe to have Iurisdiction over another by showing a Citation or Decree or Sentence unlesse he can show that the Citation was intimated and the Decree obeyed and the sentence put in execution Be it that the Pope did dispatch this Breve in question unto the Cardinall of Ioyeuse which I neither beleeve nor deny yet seeing it was here never seene either by the Prince or by any publike Minister nor even by any private person of this State so far as that is knowne what ever it contain that cannot bee any prejudice to the Reasons and Rights of this Republique And if any will pretend to found or inferre ought upon this Breve it belongs to him to make proofe that it was received or else presented or finally at least seene or known or brought to some mans notice nothing of which is true in this whereof we speake And if in time to come any Breve be fained or produced of what tenor soever it ought not to prevaile against the faith and testimony of true histories which will beare witnesse to Posterity that no Breve at all passed in this action Wherefore it remaines onely to be considered what the Cardinall hath done or executed Concerning which there is 2 dispersed a certaine Instrument of one