might not be aliened or made worse by the Possessor yet so that she left a gap open for herself and her Favorites to prey upon it which was after shut by King James and with great care secured by King Charls All this while grew up a Faction in Church and State which became the ruine of both For not only in the Church the Publique Liturgy Communion or Religion was vilified and defamed but the Governors reviled with all opprobrious names of Tyrannical Antichristian c. It is true the Majesty of the King was not so openly reviled yet was it insensibly daily undermined by them in which they were much assisted by a company of half-headed Lawyers who in all Assemblies distilled this doctrine into ignorant men That the Law was above the King and that they had Property against him in their estates and goods Whereby not only Citizens and Great places became generally inclined to this new doctrine of the Teachers and Lawyers but the Country-Gentleman thought himself independent from the King both in his life and estate the Yeoman cared not for the Gentleman and as little regarded the King so that the veneration of the Royal Name became every day more contemptible and despised all honor and reverence due to the King Church was converted unto these Patriots of their Countries Liberty and New Lights Nor could the Church relieve the Crown although the Governors were well-affected towards it being by all the Faction more hated than the King became despised until in the end the chief Governors both of Church and State not only became Victims to the rage and lust of seditious men but the Revenues of both a prey to their avarice And now what is left for this miserable Nation to expect having forfeited all Piety and Allegiance to Gods Church and his Anointed but after all this consumption of the Blood and Publique and Private Revenue of the Nation and having lost all Reputation and Commerce abroad for the future to be Turk-like governed by armed and hungry Soldiers without any probable hope of Redemption Object It may be it will be here objected That though poor and contemptible Princes be rarely long obeyed especially where their Subjects are opulent yet had the Church never so great veneration both for power and piety as when in the Primitive times it was poor whereas afterward when it became rich and mighty it did degenerate into many vices and heresies and lost much of estimation and piety which it had in its poverty Answ I grant that God did by his grace and power originally by a company of poor men and Fishermen against all the greatness of worldly power miraculously plant a Church and that those poor men sent by God were supernaturally inspired by his grace which not their poverty was the cause of their piety and sanctity and that they were so highly honored by primitive Christians yet sure when God hath supernaturally planted his Church it cannot be in reason expected he should preserve it always by miracle And sure those are very ungrateful men not to contribute ordinary means for the preservation of what God hath extraordinarily planted Nor is there any thing more vain then to imagine that men are better for being poor or that according to the ordinary course of things they will not be by men in general esteemed vile and contemptible who are so Nil habet infaelix paupertas durius in se Juveual Quâm quod ridiculos homines facit CHAP. VI. Of the Fathers power 1. UNumquodque resolvitur in id ex quo componitur Dust shall return to the Introduction earth as it was and the Spirit to God who gave it Eccle. 12. 7. It is not the good will and pleasure of the All-prepotent God that only the individuals of one age should see the greatness of his Majesty and power therefore he was pleased to create man as well as other Creatures in this inferior or be in a * If Adam had not been created in a Mortal State the Sacrament of the Tree of life had been a vain institution mortal state yet he endewed him generativa facultate that though he does dye in his person yet he should live in his posterity and as one generation passeth away so another commeth but the earth abideth for ever Eccle. 1. 4. 2. There is nothing more evident then that in perfect Creatures of The power of Parents alike over their Children which man is the most perfect that God is the prime and efficient cause or God working by naturall causes the Sun is the efficient cause and Male and Female the Instrumental Sol per hominem generat hominem See Harvey de generatione Animalium Cap. 33. Man and Woman therefore being the means whereby God does renew the species of Mankind and all Creatures having power over themselves in all things wherein they are not restrained by some natural or humane Law and every Child being alike part of either of his Parents the Power of Father and Mother is alike over their Children and so by consequence the subjection and obedience of every Child is alike due to Father and Mother And to honor thy Father and thy Mother is the First precept of the second Table of the Decalogue 3. Man and Wife being but one person and the Husband being the Why in Matrimony the power is in the Father head of the Wife and the Wife being in the power of the Husband the Husband hath the power and command as well of the Children as of the Mother yet the piety and observance of Children to their Mother is as much due as to their Father 4. Grotius cap. 5. art 2. de jure belli pacis out of Arist pol. 1. cap ult Grotius his opinion of the Fathers power eth 5. cap. 10. distinguisheth the Fathers power over Children into three times viz. 1. The time of their imperfect judgment 2. The time of their perfect judgment 3. The time when they are out of the Fathers family In the first all the actions of the Children are under the command of the Parents In the second time whenas judgment is matured by age and are of the family they are subject as part of the family In the third when he is matured by age and out of the family the Son is in all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his own right Yet he says and truly parag 5. The Fathers power so follows the Fathers person that it can never be pulled off nor transferred to any other for the Fathers power arising from generation is due to him by the Law of Nature and so always the same if not aliened by the act of God And therefore * Confuted Quando Ubi make no alteration in the Fathers power for it is the same when the Son is an Infant and when adult when he is part of the family and when not 5. Where the Law of Nature gives a
this Popes Letter but pleaded the Fundamental Laws and Customs of the Land Consuetudo regni mei est à patre meo instituta ut nullius praeter licentiam Regis appelletur Papae qui consuetudines regni mei tollit potestatem quoque coronam Regis violat It is a Custom of my Kingdom instituted by my Father that no man may appeal to the Pope without the Kings licence He that takes away the Customs of my Kingdom doth violate the Power and Crown of the King And these Laws were no other then the Laws of the Confessor viz. the old Saxon Laws but also in the execution of these things the Bishops of England adhered to the King and Laws and denied their suffrage to their Primate as you may read in the Bishop of Derry's Vindication of the Church of England p. 63 64. 14. After pag. 65. he instances out of Sir Hen Spelman conc an 78. Legations as rare as Appeals before the Conquest that Gregory Bishop of Ostium the Popes Legate did confess that he was the first Roman Priest that was sent into these parts of Britain from the time of Austin and that those Legates were no other then ordinary Messengers or Ambassadors sent from one Neighbour to another Such a thing as Legantine Court or a Nuntio's Court was not known in the British world and long after 15. See Speed in the Life of Stephen para 4. where Stephen having The Pope and all the English Hierarchy conspire with Stephen against Maud the undoubted Heir of Henry the first entred his Government in the year of our Lord 1135. the 2. of December and was crowned at Westminster the 26. of the same moneth being S Stephen's day by William Corbel the Archbishop of Canterbury who with the rest of the Bishops doing him homage and knowing now he would yield to any conditions for performance whereof his brother the Bishop of Winchester did there engage himself for a Pledge they all took their Oath of Allegiance conditionally traiterously I might say to obey him as their King so long as he should preserve their Liberties and the vigor of Discipline And that the Lay-Barons made use also of this policy appeareth by Robert Earl of Gloucester who sware to be true Liegeman to the King as long as the King would preserve to him his dignity and keep all covenants c. And having buried the body of Henry the First he went to Oxford where he acknowledged he attained the Crown by Election only and that the Pope Innocentius confirmed the same 16. The next contest which after Anselm happened between the King The second contest between the King and Pope and from what cause and the Pope was caused by Tho. Becket Archbishop of Canterbury For Stephen the Usurper having made a Law whereby the Temporal Judges might not meddle with Ecclesiastical persons Henry the Second upon many disorders committed by the Clergy did repeal this Law and restored the antient Laws of this Realm commonly called Avitae leges whereby the persons of Priests were not exempted from being judged by the Temporal Judges And though the Archbishop sware to observe the Laws restored by the King yet was he absolved by Pope Alexander 3. Nor could the Archbishop ever after be brought to conform to the Laws called Avitae leges which was the cause of his assassination and of great trouble to the King and Realm And whether this man did deserve to be canonized for his stubborn disobedience to the Laws of his Country which no ways concerned Faith but only Civil and Temporal obedience and those not new neither but a restitution of the antient Laws let any man judge 17. The first occasion of the quarrel between King John and Innocent The quarrel between King John and the Pope the Third was Hubert the Archbishop of Canterbury being dead the Monks of S. Augustine in that City elected without any licence of the King one Rainold and took an oath of him to go to Rome and take his investiture from the Pope The King incensed hereat caused John Gray to be chosen and desired the Pope to ratifie this last choice The Pope notwithstanding confirms the former The King hereupon grows angry and divers of the Monks against their own act refuse to accept him The Pope although Rainold were chosen by the Monks and confirmed by the Pope adviseth the Monks to choose Stephen Langton the Monks do so the King is highly exasperated and forbids all Appeals to Rome and did alleadge that he had Bishops Prelates Nobles and Magistrates of his own who could according to the Laws of the Land decide and determine all Controversies which should arise in Church or Commonweal The Pope insisted upon the election of the Cardinal Stephen Langton was Cardinal of Chirsogone and required the King not only to give him the quiet possession of the See but also to recall all such Monks as were exiled and to restore them to their Goods which were seised on by the King for the last choice and for default to interdict him and the whole Realm The King is so far from obeying that he seised upon the Lands and Goods of those Bishops to whom the Pope had forsooth given the power of Interdiction The Pope constant in his resolutions by Pandulphus and Durant interdicts the King and Kingdom and gives it the French King King John driven into a great strait gives his Crown and Kingdom to the Pope he good man had before given it to the French King Philip the second sirnamed Augustus and his son Lewis had gotten such footing in England that he would not be gotten out The Pope interdicts both father and son but his curses took not such place that they would give over what they had gotten by the first grant nor did these troubles end until the English Nation uniting themselves under Henry 3. did by plain force drive Lewis out of England to such an insufferable height was the Papacy grown in those days 18. Although the stubborn Barons made Henry 3. swear to observe The Bishops in H. 2 his reign conspire against him the Ordinances made in the Mad Parliament at Oxford and the Archbishop of Canterbury and nine other Bishops did denounce a Curse against all those who either by direction arms or otherwise should withstand the Ordinance of the Twelve Peers which gave the exercise of all Regality to them yet did the Pope absolve him from it very easily Addit Matth. Paris 990. 19. How zealous the most noble Prince Edward the first was in the Contests between the Pope and Ed. 2. cause of Christianity and how observant of the Papal power is evident by his victorious Voyage into Holy Land But he afterwards became hated by the Churchmen both in respect of the Statute of Mortmain made in the fourth year of his Reign and also because that by the advice of William Marchyan his chiefest Treasurer he seised into his hands the
JUSTICE VINDICATED From the False FUCUS put upon it BY THOMAS WHITE Gent. Mr THOMAS HOBBS AND HVGO GROTIVS AS ALSO ELEMENTS OF Power Subjection Wherein is demonstrated the Cause of all Humane Christian and Legal SOCIETY And as a previous Introduction to these is shewed The Method by which Men must necessarily attain ARTS SCIENCES By ROGER COKE LONDON Printed by Tho. Newcomb for G. Bedell and T. Collins at the Middle-Temple-Gate Fleetstreet 1660. To the Kings most Excellent Majesty CHARLES II. By the Grace of GOD KING of GREAT BRITAIN FRANCE and IRELAND Defender of the Faith IF it were not unbecoming confidence Most Eminent of Kings in Hugo Grotius who at most did owe Your Illustrious Uncle Lewis the Thirteenth but a topical and temporary obedience to dedicate his Book De Jure Belli Pacis to him founded upon such feigned and inconsistible principles because written for Justice Then will it not ill become a natural Subject of Your Majesties who by all divine and humane laws owes an indelible character of obedience to Your Majesty to implore Your patronage of Justice founded upon the true and genuine causes Nor is there any attribute of Justice which Grotius there ascribes to Your Uncle but is as properly or more due to Your Majesty For if Lewis were just because above any thing which might be spoken he did honor the memory of the great King his Father by imitating him how just then is Your Majesty when as not all the storms of adverse fortune in Your Father or Self could ever any ways shake the constant veneration You have always paid his Saintlike memory by imitating him whereas prosperity did almost ever fill the sails of Your Uncle and his great Father If he were just because he did instruct his Brother by all means but most by his own example then is not Your Majesty less just who by all means but most by Your own Example hath so well instructed Your Brethren that they in all respects answer the dignity of their high extraction and whose eminent Virtues have attained such a height of perfection that they are justly celebrated all over Christendom with admiration If he were just because he did adorn his Sisters with highest matrimonies yet certainly it was rather the felicity of his fortune then acts of his justice that he was by the marriage of his Sisters allied to all the greatest Hereditary Princes of Christendom how just then is your Majesty who hath so adorned Justice and Piety that as being by nature wedded to these though born one of the greatest Princes of the Western world You have preferred them before the enjoyment of Three Kingdoms If he were just because he did call back the almost buried Laws and opposed himself to a Generation making haste into worse Who then can express Your justice who hath recalled our buried and almost forgotten Laws and who with most manifest danger yet by Providence miraculously preserved for your Subjects deliverance did oppose your self against the Tyranny of the most perverse generation of men that ever pretended to be Christians If he were not only just but also clement whenas he took from his Subjects who by ignorance of his goodnes had transgressed the bounds of their duty nothing but the liberty of sinning nor did force their consciences differing from him in Religion Let the world then judge and admire your justice and clemency who of your own accord does refer the most perpetrated villany committed in the sight of the sun upon the person of your Royal Father not by your Subjects ignorant of his and your goodness but by those who had known his clemency and goodness and in the worst of their wickedness needed not have despaired of his favor to those of your Subjects neither convened nor elected by your authority And are so far from taking any thing from your peccant Subjects more then liberty of sinnng that you admit of a restitution to those of your Subjects who by such undue means had invaded the sacred patrimony of Gods Church and your Crown And though these things were committed upon pretence of Religion yet so tender is your Majesty that you will force no mans conscience not of these men And if it were justice and mercy in your glorious Uncle in the prosperity of his fortune to relieve oppressed people and Princes by his authority then was it no ways less justice and mercy in your Majesty that in the adversity of your fortune you did by all means endevour by your authority to relieve the oppressed and distressed Princes and people of Christendom To You therefore Great Sir being the Fountain and Centre of Justice in these your rightful Dominions in the lowest posture of humility do these Observations and Elements presume to offer themselves though not upon any confidence of themselves or Author but because wâ—â—ten for and in defence of Justice To You Sir who by an indifferent administration of just received and known Laws and moderating the severity of them Your Majesty being their Moderator as well as Arbitrator where it becomes impossible for your Subjects to fulfil them or inconvenient to Your self or Subjects in rigor to execute them if it be not your Subjects fault shall not less under God confer peace and happiness to all sorts of them then the Sun by its effluence does diffuse life and light to all the various creatures of the Universe This is it which in time will reduce your wandring Subjects to the secure and known paths of their Allegiance out of which they have gone astray This is it which will secure you from the imputation of Tyranny and convince your adversaries that it is not your fault in governing but theirs in disobeying if hereafter they bring upon themselves the miseries and calamities of another Civil war And this is that which will evidence to the world that then your adversaries became enemies to your Royal Father and Self when they first trod under foot the established and received Laws of their Country and that it is and always was the desire of Usurpers who having no just title but new Oppression to introduce more new Inventions of their own in place of the old Laws This is it which after your Majesties gracious Act of Oblivion for crimes past will so settle the minds of your Subjects that in the known ways of their ancestors they may expect favor and protection from your Majesty This is it which will so genuinely and equally support your Majesties Title that as it is so derived from the loins of innumerable Royal Ancestors as no man can shew where it began and so clear that in the world no man presumes to stand in competition with You so is it supported by received Laws of that continuance that they have lost their first original I presume not Sir to say this of mine own head to advise your Majesty much less have any diffidence of your Majesties governing your Subjects
are often violated by Men and that God created Adam an universal Monarch or King over all his other Creatures is clearly said Gen. 1. 27 28. And God created man in his own image in the image of God created he him male and female created he them And God blessed them and God said unto them Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth And that this supreme power was given to Adam not as Father Husband or Master of a Family is manifest for he was neither Father Husband nor Master of a Family there being no Man or Woman in the world at that time 9. The Scripture does not only command Wives to be subject Adam had Dominion over Eve and not as Husband only to their Husbands but the Apostle gives reasons wherefore viz. That the man is not of the woman but the woman of the man Neither was the man created for the woman but the woman for the man 1. Cor. 11 8 9. Nor does he prove this subjection to be only due from the end of the womans creation and her being a part of Man but from Mans being first created and to whom God had first given Dominion over all Creatures before the Woman was made 1 Tim. 2. 13. 10. Although God gave to Adam only of Dominion over all Creatures yet was it not intended that he alone should so enjoy that his Dominion Adam had Dominion over his Children and not as Father only that others of his own kind should be wholly deprived of the use and benefit of them without which they could not possibly subsist When therefore that Cain and Abel were born although the Dominion of all the Creatures continued still in Adam yet had Cain and Abel property in the Fruit of the Ground and of Sheep But this property could not be given Gen. 4. 3. 4. to them by Adam as Father for the Fathers power arising from generation and the person being only generated the Fathers power extends no further The property therefore that Cain and Abel had in the Fruits of the Ground and Cattel was given them by Adam as King or Monarch 11. Not only the Scriptures and all Writers many times express different The state of Man before the flood and after Adams death was not Anarchy but in Society and under Monarchy Hereditary Gen. 23. 6. things equivocally by one word but also the same thing equivocally in different words As a Chief Governor is often called not only King but Prince Duke Sultan Pharoah Ptolomy Cham c. Paterfamilias signifies the Master of a Family whether he hath a son or daughter in it or not Our Saviour as the highest attribute of power begins the Lords prayer with Our Father So the Scriptures by Patriarch Prince and King understand the same thing The Patriarch Abraham is called a Prince of God or a mighty Prince A Prince sure he was that could give battel and overthrow four Kings at once Gen. 26. 16. And the King and Prince David is called by S. Peter the Patriarch David Act. 2. 29. And Patriarchs as well as Kings are called Christi Domini And that the Patriarchs mentioned in Gen. 5. were not only men endued with the ordinary power of Parents but Princes in their generations is manifest otherwise it had been a vain thing for the Scripture to have mentioned a Genealogie of the Patriarchs from Seth to Noah if every Father had had the same power with them Besides Cain who was elder then Seth had a wife and children yet was none of Gen. 4. 17. the Patriarchs and the reason was because God for the murder of his Gen. 5. 12. brother Abel made him a vagabond and fugitive upon the earth And as this Patriarchal or Regal power was with the Patriarchs before the Flood so was it hereditary where God did not interpose For from Seth to Noah only the First-born had it or are mentioned for Patriarchs in Scripture God no doubt by this great example teaching men that where he does not interpose this Patriarchal or Regal power is hereditary and descends only to the Eldest Son and Heir General 12. If as Grotius affirmeth the state of Man had been Jure naturali in The state of Man immediatly after the flood was not Anarchy but Society by the testimony of Scripture a parity or promiscuous condition immediately after the Flood and that this Jus naturale be immutable by God himself and that this Dominion which is now in use the will of Man brought in and that not the will of the party commanding but in subjection It had been a very vain curse in Noah or rather of God by Noah to have cursed Chanaan and made him a servant of servants to his brethren or that God should bless both Sem and Japheth and make Chanaan a servant to them both And let a man see the generations of Sem Ham and Japheth where the Grandchildren of Japheth by Javan divided the Isles of the Gentiles not in a promiscuous condition but Gen. 10. 5. after their tongue kindred and in their nation And so Nimrod the Grandchild of Ham by Chus became a mighty Hunter in the earth c. And the beginning of his Kingdom was Babel Erech Acad and Calneth in the land of Sinar There is great division among Writers about Nimrod whether he were the same with Belus and Ninus or not And as the posterity of Japheth did not inhabit the earth in a parity and equal condition so did not the posterity of Ham but in their kindreds tongues countries and nations Verse 20. And so did the posterity of Sem v. 31. And Gen. 11. gives the genealogie of Sem to Abram which came to pass in less then three hundred years after the Flood And in Abrahams time Pharaoh ruled in Egypt cap. 12. and Amraphel was King of Sinar Arioch King of Elazar Chodorlaomer King of Elam and Thidal King of the Nations and Bera King of Sodom Birsa Gen. 14. 1 2 3. King of Gomorrha Sinab King of Adma Semeber King of Seboiim and the King of Bela. There is no reason that I understand why men should affirm Nimrod to be Annot. the first Monarch after the Flood from Gen. 10. 8. He began to be a mighty one upon the earth and that the beginning of his kingdom was Babel Erech Accad and Calneth Which proves it no more then if a man should say That David was a mighty one upon the earth and the beginning of his kingdom was Judah and Jerusalem that therefore there was never any King before him 13. We begin with Diodorus Siculus who after that in the first Part The state of Man most antiently was never Anarchy but Monarchy by the authority of the most antient of Vulgar Histories of his first Book
where the person of the buyer is not to be considered whether greater or lesser richer or poorer but an equal value or price is and to be taken by the vendor for such a commodity be the buyer rich or poor Distributative Justice consists he says in Geometrical proportion and is Distributative referred to the dignities and merits of men so that here men ought to respect the person and the quality of him to whom any thing is attributed or given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more to him who is more worthy and less to him who is less worthy 37. It is true indeed That if in Promutation a man sets such a value Corrective Justice examined upon such a thing and does not respect the person or quality of any buyer that then such vendor does equally to all sellers and in exchanging observes Arithmetical proportion But if it be true as it is that he says That he is a Eth. l. 5. c. 2 3. just man that keeps the Laws and that there be no Law which sets a price upon what thing the seller exchanges or sells to another then it cannot be a sin of Injustice for any vendor not to observe this Arithmetical Rule which Aristotle propounds in Promutation 38. Nor is it less true That if a Prince in conferring honor or otherwise Distributative Justice examined rewarding a man for any merit or great service done to him or his Countrey gives more honor or reward to such a man then to another deserving less then such a Prince does a prudent action and observes Geometrical proportion in it but what is this to Justice For if there be no Law commanding such a thing then cannot the not doing of it be a sin of Injustice nor is it properly a sin of injustice not to reward or repay benefits but of ingratitude Grotius Lib. 1. Para. 8. disputes against the opinion of Aristotle That Grotius his opinion of Justice Justice is properly distinguished into Arithmetical and Geometrical proportion but Paragraph 9. where he should declare what Justice is he onely confounds Jus Lex Justitia and instead of setting down what Justice is which he neither does here nor any where else that I know of he forsooth divides Jus into Jus naturale voluntarium which may signifie either of them or both together hum drum Community and Property the Law of God immutable by God himself and yet mutable by the will of Man In the Dedication of this Jus Belli Pacis he makes Lewis the Thirteenth to be just because he does by imitating him honor the memory of his Father yet do I think there were scarce ever two men more unlike and just because he does by his example instruct his Brother and just because he gave his Sisters great Portions just because he inflicts no great punishment upon his rebellious Subjects sure never man took Mercy for Justice before and just because he allows his Subjects Liberty of Conscience CHAP. II. Of Obedience 1. OBedience is the accepting of the Law or Command of him who Obedience what by right commands when I by no act of my will put any obsticle whereby such Law or Command may be executed or received 2. Obedience differs from Justice as a part differs from the whole Obedience How Obedience differs from Justice is implyed in Justice Patience is onely necessary to Obedience but Agency to Justice Every just man must be an obedient man but the converse do not always hold That every obedient man is a just man As a Prince commands such a man to be a Justice of Peace c. in such a Town or Division he is received by them of the Town or Division This is an act of Obedience in them of such a Town or Division not of Justice because they are Patients onely and not Agents 3. Disobedience is the refusing to accept the Law or Command of How Disobedience differs from Injustice him who by right commands Injustice is the counterfeiting Obedience to Laws and yet abusing them to the prejudice of another As he who by right commands me to do such a thing if I refuse to do it This is a Sin of Disobedience If I undertake to do it and instead of upright doing of it I abuse it to the prejudice of any man this is a Sin of Injustice 4. Obedience is not only a virtue in it self but also the first and only The Excellency of Obedience Introduction to all virtues Theological and Moral For not only in Moral virtues I must subject my will to the rule and precept of him who by right commands but also in Theological virtues my will must be the patient and admit of Gods grace as the prime and efficient cause before it be possible that I should be qualified to do any virtuous action either Theologicall or Moral and God being all good and a lover of Man and hating nothing Philanthropos that he hath made freely offers this his grace to all men and it is mans fault and stubbornness that he refuses to admit of this grace of God without which nothing can be good nothing can be just or virtuous without which no man can reasonably hope for any Temporal happiness in this world or eternal Beatitude in the world to come 5. It is not alwaies the doing or abstaining from what is commanded Gods Grace only is the true and efficient cause of virtue in men or forbidden which is virtue but only the ingenuous and upright doing or abstaining from that which is commanded or forbidden as it is commanded or forbidden by him who by right may command or forbid I say that Ingenuity integrity and abstraction from all affections of profit pleasure love hate feare c. are essential to all virtues for if the doing or forbearing any action proceeds from any of these causes then is not that action virtuous but profitable pleasant lovely hateful fearful c. Jehu did what God commanded him in executing Gods judgements upon Ahabs posterity but not doing uprightly what God commanded him in that formality as God commanded him but if ye be mine and will hearken to my voice take ye the heads of your Masters Sons and come to me to Jezreel to morrow 2 Kings 10. 6. by this time and then instead of pittying so great a calamity upon so many young Princes insulting over them he in derision saies to the people Ye be righteous behold I conspired against my Master and slew him but who slew all Vers 9. these hence it was that God said I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the Hosea 1. 4. house of Jehu say Interpreters But it was a virtue in David to forbear the killing of Saul whenas he could have done it and was promised by God to be King after him and in Jehodajah to preserve Joash although by danger of his life It was not virtue in Amnon to abstain
that simple and blind obedience should be alwaies given to their Laws as if there were neither Laws of God or any to whom they were given intellectual or reasonable creatures And though no man ought to censure much less to reproach the actions of his superior yet are no mens actions so censured as great mens and so much the more by how much the greater they are for Omne animi vitium tanto conspectius in se Iuvenal Crimen habet quanto major qui peccat habetur And if Sabinianus were so malitious a detractor from the works of St. Gregory if Bonifacius the eight used such undue means for the attaining the Papacy if Gregory the seaventh were so wicked as the Council of Brixia makes him if Alexander the sixt were so wicked a man as Platina makes him if so many decrees of the antecedent Popes have been abrogated by the subsequent Popes if Marcellinus burned Incense to Idols if Liberius consented to the Arrians and gave his suffrage to the condemnation of St. Athanasius if Honorius were condemned for a Monothalite by the sixth general Council if John 22. were condemned by the Divines of Paris for teaching that the soules of the just shall not see God untill the general resurrection then is it not possible but that either contradictions are no contradictions but the same things or the Popes have not alwaies been infallible But it is more then time to return to the question 1. That St. Paul did preach the Gospel here in England is affirmed by By whom Christian Faith was first preached and a Church planted in Britain Lib. 2. cap. 40. Theodo lib. 9. de curandis Graecorum affectibus Paulum è priori captivitate Roma dimissum Britannis aliis in Occidente Evangelium predicasse And Nicephorus saies that Simon Zelotes Doctrinam Evangelii ad Occidentalium oceanum insulasque Britannicas perfert But that ever a Christian Church was planted in this Island before that at the request of King Lucius in the reign of Commodus and not of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus as Beda saies Elutherius sent Fugatius and Damianus I do no where find for not only the superstition of the Druides was publickly professed but after that a Christian Church was planted Lucius converted the three Archiflamines of London York and Carleton into Archbishopricks and the other Flamines Platina in vita St. Eleutherii into Bishopricks Yet that ever after the Bishop of Rome did claim any power or jurisdiction of these British Churches I no where find nay the contrary is very probable for they not only adhered in the observation of Easter to the Eastern Church from St. Johns observation thereof at Ephesus and not according to the determination of Pius Anicetus and Soter Bishops Beda lib. 2. cap. 2. of Rome but also the British Bishops when Augustine was sent by St. Gregory to preach and convert the English Saxons to Christianity did refuse to acknowledg any superiority from him nor by any perswasion or command of him would or could leave their ancient usages without consent of their fellowes as a man may see in Beda Nor were these Bishops in those daies Lib. 2. cap. 2. ever esteemed nay not by Beda himself as much a reverencer as he was of the Church of Rome Hereticks or Schismaticks and out of the Pall of the Lib. 2. cap. 2. Church c. but right Catholick and godly men 2. That the English Saxons after they had driven the antient Britains The conversion of the English Saxons by the Pope Gregory the great not only out of all that part of Britain which is now called England some into Britaigne in France called Britania Aremorica from whence it is supposed that Country took its denomination others into Wales but also Christianity it self and themselves continued Pagan untill they first received the Faith by the preaching of Augustine and Miletus sent by Gregory the great is consonant to all the Histories of the Church nor does to me appear any colour of Reason or Authority to the contrary 3. But that St. Gregory did not at that time arrogate to himself the Neither St. Gregory nor any of his predecessors did assume the title of head of the Church Title either of universal Bishop head of the Catholick Church or any superiority over Temporal Princes is as clear as if it were written with a sun-beam For in the contest between St. Gregory and John Jejunator Bishop of Constantinople about superiority universal Bishop and head of the Church Gregory says in his Epistle to Mauritius Nullus Romanorum Pontificum hoc singularitatis nomen assumpsit nullus Praedecessorum meorum hoc tam profano vocabulo uti consensit None of all the Bishop◠of Rome ever took upon him this name of singularity viz. of Universal Bishop none of my Predecessors would ever use this prophane stile Et universa Ecclesia corruit quando is qui appellatur universalis cadit The whole Church falleth when he which is called Universal Bishop falleth Et nos hunc honorem oblatum nolumus recipere We would not accept of this honor offered unto us Epist 80. And in his Epistle to John claiming to himself this title he says Tu quid Christo universalis ecclesiae capiti in extremi judicii dicturus es examine qui cuncta ejus membra tibimet conaris Universalis appellatione supponere What answer wilt thou make to Christ the Head of the universal Church at the trial of the last Judgment which thus by the name of Universal Bishop seekest to make all his members subject unto thee And unto Anastasius Bishop of Antioch he writes Ut de honoris vestri injuria taceam si unus episcopus lib. 6. ep 188. vocatur universalis universa ecclesia corruit si unus universus cadit Not to speak of the injury done to your honor if one Bishop be called universal then if that one universal Bishop goes down the whole Church falleth And afterward Vos eandem causam nullam dicere non debetis quia si hanc aequanimiter portamus universae ecclesiae fidem corrumpimus Ye ought not to say it is a business of no importance for if we patiently abide these things we destroy the faith of the whole Church And comparing the pride of this Name with the pride of Antichrist he says Nunquid non cum se Antichristus veniens Deum dixerit frivolum valde erit sed tamen nimis perniciosum Si quantitatem vocis attendimus duae sunt syllabae si pondus lib. 6. ep 194. iniquitatis universa pernicies And lib. 4. ep 33. he says In isto scelesto vocabulo consentire nihil aliud est quam fidem perdere To consent to this wicked Name is nothing else but to lose the Faith This and much more you may read in lib. 4. ep 80. ep 99. and in S. Gregory's epist to Eulogius Patriarch of Alexandria Howbeit Boniface the
Heathen let him be unworthy to enjoy any benefit of Christian folk unless he speedily redeem him home again because he had sold him from home And if he cannot do this let him distribute that price altogether on Gods grace and free another Captive with another ransom and set him free And this let him fulfill three years as his Confessor shall appoint And if he hath not means by which he may redeem the Captive let him increase his punishment into seven years penance and alwaies lament 46. If any shall grievously offend by manifold sinning and desires at length to leave and correct these things let him often go to the Monastery and there alwaies serve God and man as he shall be taught or let him depart a great way from his country and alwaies repent whilst he lives and help his soul at least her eon earth with all profound amendment which he may find as shall be taught him Of Satisfaction 1. In this kind of confession the help of some Divine does very much conduce to the expiation of sin not less then the counsel of some learned Physitian to the curing of a disease 2. Oftentimes men sin by concupiscence and sometimes through the instigation of the Devil and that is most terrible that men bound to God so often against God as they lose their dignity 3. And to amend this there is need of severe penance but alwaies according to the manner of the order and sin as is ordained in the Canons and every one ought with all his strength and endeavour and also with trouble from the bottom of his heart to go about this Some may undergo the penance of one year some of more but alwaies after the manner of the sin some of one moneth others of more some of one week others of more weeks and some of one day others of more and some all the daies of their life 4. It behoves a Physitian who will heal grievous wounds to make use of exquisite medicines But there are none so grievous wounds as these sins for these wounds lead men to eternal death unless by confession repentance or satisfaction they make themselves whole 5. Therefore both man and woman may be Physitians who should heal these wounds First the wound is to be inquired into by good counsel then the ulcerated matter which does inwardly putrifie is to be let out that is he purge himself through confession 6. Every man who will blot out his sins by confession embraces found doctrine not less then he who takes a healthful potion from the Physitian a deadly disease 7. No Physitian can rightly cure any disease or wound until the venemous matter which putrifies inwardly be drawn out Neither can any man rightly teach penance who refuses to confess nor can without confession of sins pronounce absolution like as he cannot well be made sound who hath drunk any deadly thing unless the venemous force be expelled 8. Confession being finished any man may by penance easily obtain Gods mercy if he does this from the bottom of his heart and moreover deplore that he seduced by the Devil committed these sins 9. A prudent amendment does very much benefit this confession as the cure of a sickness a good Physitian Concerning the works of any one the Confessor may enquire by the Canons and moderate according to the power and wealth of them confessing as he believs the contrition and carefulness of any ones heart 10. That is great penance when a Laick must lay down his arms and make pilgrimage far and neer barefoot who must not lie two nights in one place who fasts much and watches who daies and nights prays earnestly and who willingly wearies himself and who is so untrimmed that no iron hath touched his hair or nails 11. Who neither comes into warm bath nor soft bed nor tastes flesh nor drink which may make him drunk who comes not into a Church but yet zealously seeks holy places and confesses his sins and asks intercession who kisses no body yet bitterly deplores his sins 12. He is propitious to himself who in this manner prejudgeth himself And indeed this man is happy although in nothing he is more unwatchful then that he might fully correct himself Neither was there ever in the world any so grievous a sinner but he might appease God if he ardently went this way 13. There are many waies to appease God for sins and alms do very much conduce to the forgiveness of them 14. He who hath means sufficient let him build a Church to the praise of God and if he hath more besides let him give land to it and bring in young men who may perform holy service for him and therefore daily minister to God and let him repair Gods Church for his means and High-waies let him make Bridges over unpassable waters and dirty places let him distribute for Gods sake that which he has and with as much diligence as he can let him carefully relieve the poor widows orphans and strangers let him manumiss his own servant let him redeem servants from other men to be set free especially the poor man taken in war let him feed and clothe men in want and allow them houseroom and firing and bath and bedding and in his necessity in all places let him make intercession in singing Masses and Psalms and let him in his devotion towards his Lord God very much chastise himself by abstaining from meat and drink and all other bodily desires 15. And he who hath less means let him set himself all he can that in his devotion towards God he paies tithes of all he possesseth that he examine himself as often as he can and often with alms visit Churches and salute Holy places with lights and give his house meat and protection to them that need and also fire and some nourishment and bed and bath and take care to clothe and feed the poor as much as he can 16. For Gods love let him visit the sorrowful and sick and bury the dead often in secret lie prostrate upon his knees and often lie prostrate and stretched out upon the ground let him fast watch and pray night and day diligently He who hath not means sufficient to perform all these things let him endeavour to do as much as he is able Let him wear out his body against lust if ever by delicacie or lust he hath pleased the devil Now let him by fasting correct that sin which before he had committed by gluttony and let him often watch and labor if at any time he were wonted to the contrary and given to ease when he ought not or had at other times beyond measure watched in vain Let him afflict himself with cold and frozen baths for that heat whereof he sinned by lust If he hath any where offended another unjustly let him diligently make amends and if another hath offended him let him be appeased as much as in him lies against those sins which grew up