the Tridentine heresie a Colos 1.29 God the Father did decree by the testimonie of Paul that his only begotten sonne from all eternitie b Heb. 1.10 the Creator of heauen and earth c Colos 1.16 of Angells and men d Heb. 1.3 the brightnesse of his glorie and Character of his person e Heb. 2.16 should take on him not the nature of Angells but of men f Heb. 7.25 wherein he alone without any fellow helpers might fully finish the whole saluation of man God the sonne g Rom. 9.5 God aboue all blessed for euer though Arrius reuiued burst for griefe h 1. Tim. 3.16 reuealed in the flesh approued in the spirit True God true man brought forth without a father By a maide whom God begate without a mother i Heb. 7.3 As he was shadowed out by Melchisedech and therefore k 1. Tim. 2.5 the onely one Mediator betweene God and man in the fulnesse of time fulfilled the decree of his Father reconciling God displeased with man that was lost by his owne accord The meanes whereby saluation is procured to man by the excellencie of his person the sanctitie of his nature obedience of his life and sacrifice of his death did alone deserue eternall saluation not infusing into him so much grace wherby man himselfe might merit saluation to himselfe m Rom. 4.24.25 but imputing the merit of his death which he might lay hold on with a thankefull and holy minde God the holy Ghost proceeding from them both did lay open to the minde of man saluation which the Father decreed the Sonne deserued and sealed it vp in his heart n Ephes 1.14 giuen not as a pledge but as an earnest which Austin obserueth out of the Apostle o Austin in this place because that mony which was borrowed when it is paide againe the pledge is restored but the earnest when the price is paide againe is not restored because it is part of the price which is not to be taken away but is to be supplied as p Aquin. in this place Aquine teacheth out of Austin Therefore the spirit of Christ giuen to man the earnest of heauenly inheritance is not paide backe againe So the Apostle hath set three foundations of mans saluation more sure then heauen and earth 1. The eternall decree of the Father 2. The infinite merit of the Sonne 3. The irreuocable earnest of the spirit So the worke of our saluation is from God alone the knowledge of saluation from the word of God alone hence he is called the word of saluation q Gal. lib. 2. de sanitate tuenda Galen writeth that the cause of many diseases in the body as hereditarie proceedes from corrupt seede and from putrified nourishment The disease of the soule is hereditarie from corrupt seede as Iob saith which is encreased by custome of sinning as with impure nourishment Now as the diseases of the bodies are cured by contraries so the diseases of soules which God being r Pet. 1.23.2.2 dead begetteth againe by immortall seede being againe begotten feedeth them with pure nourishment being sicke diseased healeth them with holesome medicines that is with the pure word of God who is to be accounted the true Father Pastor and Phisition of the soule Yet he vseth men to that purpose as instruments whom he sendeth and moueth that first they preach forgiuenesse and absolution from all their sinnes promised freely by faith in Christ to the penitent and after enioyne two things to him that is forgiuen One that he pay backe againe the dutie of holinesse to the blessed trinitie alone for so vnspeakeable a blessing of saluation The other that he afford all the helpe of charity to man for Gods sake being the liuely Image of God setting before the obedient at the last inward peace vpon the earth and an eternall inheritance in the heauens So the men of God doe raise vp a man that is sorrowfull with the promise direct a man that goeth astray with the commandement comfort him that is fainting with the reward but the men of God doe speake outwardly the spirit of God doth worke inwardly They do beate these things into their eares the spirit doth ingender faith hope and loue in the heart faith which doth apprehend the promise hope which looketh for the reward loue which keepeth the commandement Å¿ Colos 1.12 For God doth not finde man fit but maketh him fit to participate the inheritance of the Saints in light whom he draweth being vnwilling and tooke him resisting out of the power of darkenesse and placed him being thus deliuered in the kingdome of light the kingdome of the sonne of his loue t Ephes 2.1 For hee found man not yet regenerated dead in sinnes not halfe dead but starke dead not like to the man with the palsie who lay sicke on his couch but to Lazarus who lay foure daies stinking in his graue So that euery sinner before he heare the powerfull voice of Christ speaking inwardly to him lyeth putrified and consumed in the graue of his sinnes Whence a sinner riseth and commeth forth as Lazarus for the power of the Lord is in both not the power of the dead u Austin in tracta of Iohn 49. as Austin doth expound Saint Paul So that hee hath neede not of helping grace whereby hee recouereth health but creating grace whereby he is againe brought to life And a sinner is meerely passiue and can bring no more help to his conuersion then Lazarus brought to his rising againe In whom Christ doth not helpe his weake wil but create a new x Galat. 6.15 Ephes 2.10 hence the conuersion of a sinner is called new creation not in respect of the naturall faculties and of morall virtues which sinne only corrupteth but of spirituall graces which sinne hath blotted out as the master of the sentences obserued out of Austin Therefore the image of God imprinted in the soule in respect of the substance is deformed in respect of the qualities is cleane put out y Greg. Nyss de orat Dom. Serm 5. as Gregorie Nyssen teacheth The restoring then of the image blotted out is the rising againe of man being dead This is the nature this is the disposition of the Apostles doctrine it doth depresse man that it may extoll God it doth cast off corrupt nature that it may bring in sauing grace A man therefore must liue in God yea farther by God before he can either will or thinke any good a meere passiue subiect of grace at the first while being as it were made warme by the spirit of Christ hee beginneth to will his owne conuersion and is made a voluntarie instrument of grace by no imbred or infused force of the will but by the power of the seede of grace and of the new life which hee had from God Paul doth thus distinguish betweene a man to be converted and converted He maketh him
imputed I haue made an euerlasting couenant with you neuer to forsake you euer to blesse you and to send my feare into your hearts that you neuer forsake me The imputation of righteousnesse doth necessarily follow the forgiuenes of sinne the grant of life and that eternall life doth likewise follow imputation of righteousnes for he that beleeueth in the sonne of God shall neuer come into condemnation but shall go from death to life and let him surely perswade himselfe that being now iustified by me and now glorified by me that being saued by my grace he shall sit in heauenly places with me and enioy the reall possession of the highest heauens Your sanctification Sanctification is the second part of the new couenant the beginning of your glorification as your coronation hereafter is the full accomplishment For what is grace but glory begun ☜ and what is glory but grace perfected Eternall life therefore which is begun in this world and made perfect in the world to come doth not differ in kinde but in degree Therefore your sanctification is begun in this world so that the relikes of sinnes doe abide in the most holy but couered the inbred corruption did abide in Paul regenerated but weakned it remained in him to try him not to destroy him that corruption is remitted not finished the guilt is released but the act remaineth Sanctification is not therefore perfect but true which inlightneth your mindes to true knowledge and reformeth your wills to the sincere obedience of the Gospell and therefore doth change the whole man both the inward and the outward man into my likenes by the power of my spirit that beholding the same in the Gospell as in a glasse Glorification you may proceed from glory to glory that is from the glory of your sanctification here to the glory of your coronation hereafter And herein behold how ill the Pope and I agree How Christ Antichrist disagree I set before you free remission he a mercenarie I a categoricall and absolute he an imperfect and hypotheticall I an euerlasting he a temporarie I require a sincere sanctification of a sinner in this life but imperfect hee faines a perfect holinesse but a counterfeit Now your Christ Iesus as he is propounded in the free couenant and the new testament is appointed the only foundation of the Church by the Prophets and Apostles vpon whom they are taught to build their good workes as gold siluer and pretious stones as the superficies fit for that golden and pretious foundation but they denie good workes to be the foundation it selfe because your workes be they neuer so glorious cannot endure the weight and burthen of the kingdom of heauen They make Christ alone euen Christ alone apprehended by faith as it were that mightie Atlas that with his shoulders and his power can beare vp heauen being made of God for you wisdome iustice sanctification and redemption and therefore the foundation of the whole building Not that saluation is begun by him and made perfect by you for there is one great stone of the whole building as deepest in the foundation so chiefest in the corner as the ground and beginning so the roofe and accomplishment of saluation Which your Pope hath not only deformed with wood hay and chaffe built vpon it that is with foolish and absurd doctrines differing from the foundation but with wicked and pestilent doctrines ouerthrowing the foundation and by that meanes hath most wickedly taken away the beginning matter forme instrument and end of saluation The causes of saluation For whereas the holy Scripture doth appoint the free mercy of God the efficient cause of righteousnesse the meritorious my obedience both actiue and passiue the formall the imputation thereof by the Holy Ghost the instrumentall faith conceiued out of Gods word founded vpon a free promise the finall the glory of Gods diuine mercy and iustice when as the Pope doth ouerthrow all the foundations of saluation then doth hee take and stop from you all the meanes and lights of comfort While I set before you eternall life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a reward of grace he makes it a stipend for worke that I make a gift hee makes a debt that I make a patrimonie he makes a stipend what I make due to adoption he makes as paid for obedience Hee doth not say it to him that is obedient which is very true but for obedience which is very false that he forsooth might set my gifts to sale and by that meanes depriue me of glory and you of peace From whence it doth arise that the Romane Antichrist let him pretend what he will is a breaker of Gods couenant a corrupter of his will a subuerter of the foundation being full of Satan being busie about this one thing to bring destruction to my Churches and damnation to your soules Is it any maruaile then if he bring destruction to bodies and ouerthrow to Empires Papists as Doggs when as he secretly sends in his runnagate Priests into your Kingdomes who as mad dogs with their infamous libels may rent in sunder the good name and fame of Kings bring them into hatred contempt of others Who as subtle Foxes Foxes do with their cunning sleights alienate the Kings subiects from the faith of their obedience due by my commandement and to be performed by their oath Wolues And as cruell Wolues after they haue taken away the Kings good name by false calumniations and drawne away the Kings subiects from their fealtie and obedience doe spill the Kings blood by what meanes soeuer either by open rebellions or secret conspiracies and defend it to be a deed most lawfull and meritorious They shew their dogs tooth by rayling their fox-like subtletie by equiuocating and their woluish crueltie by conspiring They doe nothing else but deceiue the simple bite them that be sincere and deuoure those that be innocent They pretend faith but they teach periurie They say they reconcile men to Christ but in deed reconcile them to Antichrist in the meane while whom they get to adhere to the Pope they draw from the King For while they build vp spirituall obedience they cast downe the ciuill is not this the qualitie of a Fox They set vpon those that be weakest that they may ouercome the strongest as the Serpent seduced Eue that Eue might seduce Adam so these Serpents set vpon wiues that the wiues may deceiue their husbands they catch after women that they may entangle young men in whom is greater vigor and heat to commit any wicked enterprise So they haue a schoole full of masculine women and feminine men doth not here appeare to you the wilinesse of the serpent Now with what vilanous slanders these curres haue abused Princes both liuing and dead being the excellencies and glories of the earth witnes those infinite libels cast out against Elizabeth Queene of England and Iames King of Great
to be altogether the seruant of sinne because he is ouercome of sinne this free in part because he is made free by the Sonne not appointing him free in part lest he make him sacrilegious nor this altogether a seruant lest he might make him sluggish He doth not therefore take from the vnregenerate all power of willing but all power of well-willing that he may not lift vp the crest of his naturall pride and he granteth to the regenerate some power of well-willing that he may not weaken the strength of spirituall diligence And that God may giue life to the dead and renew and repayre the lost image of God z Ephes 3.10 he doth fasten and imprint the true knowledge of God and our selues into the minde and righteousnesse and holinesse into the will of man he doth enlighten the blinde with the light of his wisdome shining into him he doth couer him being naked with the robe of his righteousnes put vpon him and being vnsauorie he doth season him with the salt of his holinesse infused into him Whereby a 1 Cor 1.30 Christ is said to be made of God to the faithfull man wisdome righteousnes and sanctification Paul makes mention of a twofold righteousnesse and life of a Christian one whereby hee liueth before God thother whereby he liueth before men b Gal 2.20 By faith before God by apprehending of Christ c Gal. 5.6 by loue before men by the practise of holinesse So that good workes are not the cause of iustification but iustification is the cause of good workes as d Aug de Spi li. Austin affirmeth neither do we attaine faith by virtues but virtues by faith as Bede gathereth out of Gregorie One order is in morall matters another in heauenly one in Aristotle another in Paul e Arist 3. ethi There a man must doe iust things iustly before he be iust Here a man must be first iust in another before he can do iust things and iustly in himselfe As Christ is made sinne for vs so wee are made the righteousnes of God in Christ f 2 Cor. 5. vlt. For Christ himselfe most holy was made sinne by the imputation of our sinne we sinners therefore are righteous only by the imputation of the righteousnesse of Christ At g August in Euchirid c. 41. Austin doth expound the Apostle and Anselme Austin He therefore is sinne as wee are righteousnes not ours but wee are Gods not in our selues but in him as he is sinne not his owne but ours not in himselfe but in vs. So Austin So h Ansel in loc Anselme He is sin saith he as we righteousnesse not ours but Gods not in vs but in him as he is sinne not his owne but ours not in himselfe but in vs. Both of them doe acknowledge with vs the imputed righteousnes of Christ with the Apostle howsoeuer the Synode of Trent doe make inherent righteousnesse the forme of iustification and the Rhemists too prophanely scoffe at the imputation of righteousnes which Pighius that arch-papist doth confesse A sinner therefore dead in himselfe liueth righteous in Christ and liueth not to himselfe but to God but yet so liueth that he feeleth in himselfe the fight of the spirit and the flesh which the Apostle acknowledgeth not onely in other Christians but in himselfe for the comfort of others I do not that good I will saith the Apostle but the euill I would not that I do which a bad man did not badly expresse I hate and what I hate against my will must be What I would cast away to beare is greife to me But that the Apostle speaketh of the motions of concupiscence whereto the will doth not consent this of the beastly affections whereto the will is wholy addicted Which notwithstanding by the working of the naturall conscience hee saith he hateth But assoone as a man begins to liue in God sinne begins to dye in man For it hath receiued a deadly wound in the roote in respect of guiltinesse while it be cured by perfect buriall it remaines dead not cut off that we may be humbled not imputed lest we should be cast downe Sin dwelleth in vs as a Iebusite subdued not expelled subdued it taketh feare from vs not expelled it shakes off securitie that to striue with it it is farre more safe than to haue no enemie at all In this fight Gods grace doth helpe vs strengthning vs with a double sacrament of Baptisme and the Lords Supper there the fountaine of regeneration is powred out here the bread of life is set before vs there is a healthfull bathe to wash vs when we are fowle here is a spirituall feast to feede vs when we were faint so that from each we may take strength to resist So the power of God is made perfect in our infirmitie which when out of our owne skarres it stirreth vp in vs a courage to fight so from helpe ministred from thence it puts into vs sure hope that we shall ouercome For it bringeth griefe out of the fall for sinne and stirreth vp strife out of griefe with sinne and out of strife bringeth the victorie of sinne So out of poyson it gets a remedy and out of the sicknesse it getteth health Neither doth it in the meane while depriue vs of inward comfort while wee waite for the eternall tryumph But in the fight it shewes vs the propitiation after the fight which endeth in death it presently openeth the holy place of holyest so that neither peace of conscience is wanting to them being aliue and their soules shall haue rest when they are dead Thus it commeth to passe that these broken relikes of sinne in the sonnes of God by Gods grace do much profit when out of them they make an antidote against pride neither are puft vp with the merits of their owne works Wherby the doctrine of Trent ought to be accounted the more abominable which doth decree that eternall life is to be restored to the faithfull for the merit of workes which the Apostle propoundeth not as the reward of a seruant but the inheritance of a sonne not payed for spirituall obedience but giuen to the spirituall generation as Austin expounds the Apostle the crowne of righteousnesse in respect of Christ who merited a crowne of mercy in respect of vs for whom he merited to be giuen by the iust iudge not for the weight of mans merit but for the force of Gods promise to be rendred according to their workes not for their workes Gregor in 7. Psal peniten as Pope Gregorie distinguisheth out of the Apostle The studie therefore of good workes is to be vrged because God shall iudge according to thy works but merit is to be detested because it shall neuer saue thee for good works For whatsoeuer you do well is of God not of the merit of man but of the blessing of God You doe owe it therefore to God as the creature to the Creator as
of Babylon not the materiall is to be vnderstood which being weakned and shaken by the preaching of the word while as yet the walls were standing fell in mens mindes and was wholy cast downe For who is there but of small vnderstanding to whom the iniquitie of the Church and Court of Rome doth not appeare to whom their impietie is not euident to whom shee seemes not to be the mother of fornication the receptacle of spoiles the queene of pride the shop of sinnes and the sinke of all filthinesse In what accompt the Pope was heretofore A hundred and threescore yeeres since one that was no Heretike as a Lutherane is termed but a Roman-Catholike writ thus of the Pope as it is recited in the catalogue of the witnesses of truth Iupiter is below In heauen is Plutoes place Vpon a brutish animal Bestowed is all grace It is as Iewells in the mire And durt vpon the face And if he were so hatefull when the darknes did couer his filthinesse how much more hatefull doth he seeme to all since the light of the Gospell hath laid him open and naked to the view of all men The third Angell followed them The third Angell Apo 14.10.11 crying with a loud voice If any shall adore the beast and her image and beare her marke in his forehead or in his hand he shall drinke of the wine of his wrath which is mingled with wine in the cup of his wrath And he shall be tormented with fire and brimestone in the sight of the Angells and before the face of the Lambe and the smoke of their torment doth ascend vp for euer This Angell doth threaten eternall destruction not onely to Rome and the beast but to all that loue Rome or adore the beast whether they carrie the marke of the beast either openly in their forhead or closely in their hand An exhortation to Ministers Here I admonish euery man of God euery messenger of God my selfe being the least and last of all Christs seruants that they seeke not after ease to make them idle or after wealth to make them couetous or after pleasures to make them luxurious or after preferment to make them proud but that they haue a continuall care to recouer soules fallen to the beast or preserue them that stand vpright to whom being stampt with the marke of the beast the Angell of God doth denounce so greeuous and endlesse torments There is no doubt but as soone as any of you doe earnestly vndertake this businesse of God and Christ but he shall endure many wrongs not onely from outward enemies but which is more greeuous from false brethren those following the quarrell of Antichrist these couering their owne with the name of Christ so that they can looke for nothing from these but molestation and trouble from those nothing but death and destruction But let him for his comfort heare that voice which Iohn heard from heauen write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord so saith the Spirit that they rest from their labours and their works follow them And if those dead be blessed that liue and die in the Lord .i. in the faith of the Lord how much more happy be they that liue and die for the Lord .i. for the faiih of the Lord We haue three witnesses testifying this happinesse Three witnesses of happinesse 1. The voice from heauen 2. The Scripture in the Church 3. The spirit in the consciences all testifying that the sense of our miserie is short but the sense of our happinesse euerlasting that the life weakned by sicknesse is necessarily to be laid downe and that it is not greatly materiall whether a man die vnder a canopie or in a campe so he die in Christ and for Christ that a momentanie life is here granted to vs but that the reward of a life well spent is immortall And whereas it is appointed that all shall die Gods seruants may rather wish that their life which must necessarily be ended be rather spent in a holy cause then reserued for a naturall end especially against seducing and bloody Antichrist and all his adherents who now if euer are most wrung and grumble threatning fire and sword to the Saints of God The wicked therefore when they fall shall be most greeuously punished in hell for all their impieties and abominations but these that are washed and redeemed with the blood of Christ shall presently from their death in great triumph enioy a place and rest in heauen The sixt Angell Apoc 16.12 For after in the sixt Viol which the sixt Angell powreth out into that great riuer Euphrates there is mention of a great battaile to which those 3. vncleane spirits cōming in the likenes of frogs out of the mouth of the Dragō out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false Prophet doe summon the Kings of the earth against the great day of the Almightie God who shall gather them together into a place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon In which words the malice of Satan and of Antichrist and the Antichristian Synagogue is plainly set downe as likewise of the Iesuites those frogs who croking out of their caues prouoke the Kings of the earth to warre against Christ and the Church but with what successe the place and day doth declare That is the day wherein the right hand of Almightie God shall be great and glorious by the fall of Antichrist The place where the Popish frogs shall be destroyed The place is called in Hebrew the hill of theeues and robbers as Aquinas or a cursed armie prepared to battaile or an armie of destruction which shall both bring destruction and endure it Vnlesse that be better as diuers read Charmagaddon that is a troupe appointed to the slaughter or Gnarmageddon which signifies a craftie kinde of killing so that the sense is that Princes are to be brought into that place by the cunning sleight of Satan and Antichrist where they may vtterly perish Although another farre otherwise and farre better doe take it not for a noune appellatiue but proper Megiddo it was a hilly city in the land of Canaan and because Har in Hebrew is a hill and that was scituated vpon an hill it was called Harmageddon That place was renowned for the slaughter of the Canaanites where where Iabin and Sisera fighting against the people of God were daunted and vanquished vnder the gouernment of Deborah for whom the starres were sayd to fight in their courses as the windes and seas did fight for our Elizabeth of blessed memorie against the Spanish inuincible Armado to whom that distichon of Claudian doth fitly agree O much belou'd of God for whom the seas doe fight And winds conspire to blow to put the foe to flight The seuenth Angell Therefore Harmageddon was the place of this battell that the enemies of the Church with Iabin and Sisera gathered together by God might expect
doth witnes which said my kingdom is not of this world From a possibilitie to a deed the argument is not of force in Christ much lesse in Peter O pleasant madnes of Bellarmine wherby he dreameth that the temporall power in possibilitie as hanging in the ayre is bestowed vpon his Bishop § 204 But marke the mans reason God hath appointed Christ to be heyre of all things How the temporall rule forsooth descendeth vpon the Pope Therfore if he would he could haue cast Tiberius out of his throne and Pilate out of his iudgement seate for he was the heyre of all things Peter could if hee would haue wrested Nero's scepter out of his hands for he was heyre to Christ And the Pope can if he will cast of the Crowne from the head of any King heretike or catholike if he begin to go astray for he is Peters heyre For all comes to this at last that the temporall dominion of the whole world descends from Christ to Peter from Peter to the Pope That the Pope forsooth might haue and exercise power ouer Kings which Christ had but vsed not but might haue vsed if hee had been so pleased A vant with all these foolish quiddities which inferre such dangerous consequences Austin and Maldonate against Bellarmine But if hee had consulted not only with Austin but also with Maldonat on of his owne side hee should haue vnderstood that that place was to be interpreted of the spirituall not temporall inheritance of the world granted to Christ by the Father For what he that refused the iudgement of diuiding a priuate inheritance would he take to him the publike inheritance of the whole world And he that willingly submitted himselfe to the authoritie of Pilate giuen from aboue euen to the death of the Crosse did hee shew himselfe a temporall Lord both ouer Tiberius and the whole world The power of Pilate saith Bellarmine was not ordeyned § 205 but permitted And this is the sense of the place that Pilate could do nothing against Christ if God had not permitted it As that place is also vnderstood this is your houre and power of darknesse Luc 22. but because S. Thomas saith he vpon the 13 to the Romanes vnderstandeth the place of the ordinarie power we do not disagree But that this power did extend it selfe to Christ we thinke that to be done out of Pilates ignorance who not knowing the worthines of Christ iudged him as some priuate Citizen of the country As if in our dayes a Clergie man were brought to the bar of a Secular Iudge vnder the name and habite of a Lay-man hee may be condemned by that power wherewith a Laicke may out of the ignorance of the Iudge yet it doth not follow thereby that Clarkes by law are subiect to the iudgement of Lay-men or that Christ was subiect to the iudgment of Pilate Thus far Bellarmine But Christ said that Pilates power was not permitted § 206 but giuen from aboue The permitted power was that power of darknes whereby God suffred that the Iewes should kill the Lord of Glory wherein they sinned most greiuously And therefore it is called the power of darknesse not giuen from aboue as was Pilates the Iudge which Austin called not an vsurped but an vniust power Which place saith he when I heard it to be expounded by S. Thomas of a lawfull power I do not withstand it Bellarmine contradicteth himselfe It is well that which before you did wickedly affirme being instructed by Thomas you honestly deny The man speakes out of a boate now enclining to this side now to that neither doth he somtime contradict others so much as himselfe But marke how by turning himselfe into all parts he hath found a starting hole to escape by Whereas Pilate did stretch out this power against Christ it was out of Pilates ignorance that knew not the worth of Christ As if a Clerke vnder the habite of a Lay man should bee brought before a lay-Iudge he might by the ignorance of the Iudge be condemned as a Lay-man which notwithstanding the Law doth not allow c. That which he imputes to the ignorance of Pilate Austin imputes it to his feare lest he should offend Caesar in loosing of Christ. But this may be ascribed to his ignorance that he beggeth the question Bellarmine begs the question For he takes it as granted which is in question that a Clerke may not by law be condemned by a secular Iudge though out of the Iudges ignorance he may being attired like a Layman As if he should say that Alexander the 3. being in his pontificalibus might not rightly be iudged by Fredericke the Emperor Alexander 3. but being in his cookes apparell he might by ignorance or that Bishop who bare armes against Richard the first King of England An English Bishop in K Richard the first dayes Odo brother to W. Conqueror could not be hanged in his Bishops attire but being found in a coat-armour hee might by ignorance Or that Odo the brother of William the first a very wicked traytor could not be committed to ward as Bishop of Bayon but as Earle of Kent Or that some trayterous Iesuite imagine some Garâ—et or Oldcorne could not bee hanged in his massing robes but might by ignorance being clad in a Courtiers attire I could wish rather that such Clerkes were vnknowne than knowne But he doth very vntowardly make Christ his innocencie a cloake for a harmefull Clerke that because Christ could not be rightly condemned by Pilate therefore euery Clerke is exempted from the iudgement of a secular Iudge It is as I said a manifest begging of the thing in question For I can better dispute after a contrary manner There was no exempting of the person of Christ from the iudgement of Pilate Therefore there is no exempting of Paul the fift from the iudgment of the Emperor For if Christ the chiefe Bishop was not exempted from the iudgment of the Emperor whose power was from aboue then certainely the Bishop of Rome ought not to be exempted from the iudgement of the Emperors power The actions of Christ are rules for the Pope the actions of Popes are not rules for Christ But whereas the Cardinall brings in his Clearke in § 207 a Lay-mans weede before a secular Iudge hee doth very ill apply it to his purpose For he hauing got this freedome or exemption as is taught he should not say to the Iudge that hee hath power from heauen against him but the contrary you haue no power against me froÌ„ aboue for I am a Clerke but when Christ said not this but the cleane contrary you haue power against me froÌ„ aboue he allowed not the exeÌ„pting of a Clerke vnles the prerogatiue of a Clerke be greater than the prerogatiue of Christ But you haue brought in a very dull-pated Clerke who being endowed with a priuiledge as you call it cannot vtter it that he may be safe from danger being