the Laws quia illas elingues elumbesque gladio defendant because they being speechless and heartless should be defended with their edicts and sword and they with that famous Emperor protest and practise Ferdin Nec me regnante licebit Gunt Has cuiquam nostras impune lacessere leges At â—si quis tumidus praesumpserit obvius i re Supplicium praesens manifestaque poena docebit Non magis invictum bello quam legibus essâ— It lawfull shall not be whilst we do reign That any one should slight our Laws in vain And whosoere shall proudly them oppose Present and publick punishment shall disclose Us both by Laws and Arms to be invincible Which also hath been the Soveraign care of our Albion Princes who by oath protested themselves Protectors of the Laws some of them using all diligence to abbreviate their volumes and purge them from irregularities for which Edward the Confessor is magnified who out of an indigested rapsody and cento of numerous Laws which the Romans Cook 3. rep ep ad Lect. English and Danes had ordained selected the best and compiled them into a compendious systeme some of which William the Conqueror approved disallowed others and added some new and so did Henry the third abolish some decree others Baker and was the first constituted Parliaments for which also the indulgent care of our present Prince is to be extolled who hath proved himself a reall Protector of the Law which when it was totally to be abrogated by the violent part of the last Assembly he through the assignment of the rest Delphico suo gladio dissolved it and routed them the peoples inheritance as well as the Lawyers advancement being by it preserved Ployd Com. Wisbish ca. f. 55. and like another Justinian hath his Highness called together persons of great ability and integrity as are in these Nations to consider how the Laws may be made plain short and less chargeable to the people by whom the Courts of the Upper Bench and Common Pleas are judiciously reformed and the Chancery more accurately regulated and which might have been exactly compleated by the last Parliament if they had left the Government as they found it there being Bills prepared to that purpose to some of which though the Government seemed a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet according to the direction of the Philosopher Lawes are to be conformed according to the condition of the present State Clap. de arc imp f. 66. which is warranted by approved Praesidents Augustus the most râ—nowned of all the Emperors as Tacitus in the name of the Romans relates potentiae securas quae in triumviratu gesserat abolevit deditque jura quae pace principe uteremur being secured by power abolished whatsoever he had enjoyned in his Triumvirate and gave Laws which we should use for the peace of the Common-weal and safety of the Prince And so did William the Conqueror who after the establishment of his royalty Cook 3. Rep. ad Lectorem as Sir Edward Cook introduced some new Laws quae ad regni pacem tuendam efficacissimae viderentur which were efficacious for the settlement of peace in the Kingdome which Laws are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clap. de art Imp. l. 1. c. 10. fundamenta imperii the elements and fundamentals of the Empire and Government and are conversant about assemblies and Parliaments Magistrates and Jurisdiction and concerning Armes and the Exercise of them which as the Philosopher Arist l. 4 Pol. appertain to him is the head and chief of the Commonweal CAP. X. 1. Monarchy was the first Government 2. It is ordained by God and setled by nature 3. It is the best Government THe Government of one was the first Government on earth by man Barc cont Monarch ib. Chrysost as it is the Government in heaven and earth by God for God created Adam alone out of whom all Nations should arise and made not woman of the earth but of man that there should be one head and father of man-kind so as Adam the father of all men had a Monarchical power over them by a general ordinance setled by God in him and therefore as Chrysostom Monarchy is more excellent than other formes because first ordained by God Adam then was the first Monarch and King of his family 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Homer said of Telemachus Homer Odyss α. which Government continued in families untill the reign of Nimrod who first changed the paternall Monarchy into National Though by Herodotus the Egyptians are reported to be the Antients of all mortals Herod l. 2 and that they never lived without a King of whom Menes was the first And that Monarchy was the first Government appeareth also by the Testimony of other approved authors Principio rerum gentium nationumque imperium penes reges erat saith Iustine and Salust Justin l. 1. Catal. lu teuris nomen imperii primum fuit and Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Government of all Countries Cities and Nations first resided in Kings and therefore is it feigned saith he that all the Gods were ruled by one King Pol. l. 1. c. 1. which continued as a custome among all Nations and therefore doth Aristotle adde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Nationâ— also now do In Abrahams time not three ages distant from the flood there were five Kings at one time Gen. 14. in a small part of Asia and Ioshua in the same Country which God gave unto the Israelites subdued 31. Kings and in those days Abimelech forced seventy Kings to his subjection and not many ages after there were thirty two Kings auxiliaries to Benadab King of Syria and it is related Josh 8.12 that in Greece no less than seventy Kings joined their forces to invade the Trojans and that before Caesars expedition into France Caesar câ—m de bell Gall. 10. there were more Kings than Provinces and that in Kent which is but one of the thirty seven Counties in England at one time there reigned four Kings and though the Government of Gods own people varied under the several titles of Patriarchs Captains Iudges and Kings yet in all these the supream power rested still in one person onely which is the same with Monarchy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it being the Government of one alone as the notation of the word declares Which Government of one proceedeth from a natural inclination man hath thereunto or as if the soul of man is a parcell of the divine essence â—velâ—ti Deus in humano corpore habitans so is there an innate propensity in man Seneca to applicate himself to that divine form of Government to which all Nations though rude and barbarous are and have been by it incited which moved the Israelites to desire such a King as the Nations then had and if we survey the present State of Europe we shall finde the Emperors from Julius Caesar
saith he undoubtedly to observe that the Royal Power is not only conferred on you for the Government of the world but especially for the rule and safeguard of the Church And as another Demetrius Comatenu Clap. ib. Solo sacrificandi excepto ministerio reliqua Pontificalia privilegia imperator repraesentat The ministeriall exercise of sacred duties onely excepted the Emperour representeth all other Pontificall priviledges who is to dispose and order the affairs of the Church a relique of which in these corrupted times still remains of which Mr. Herbert Herbert Hen. 8. fo 291. maketh mention that the Emperour must first put on the habit of a Canon of Sancta Maria Dellate in Rome and after that of a Deacon before he can be compleatly invested in his Imperial Dignity And heretofore the Popes when they were installed Pier. de Moulin b. d. l. foy paid to the Emperour as their Soveraign Prince for their investiture twenty pounds in gold and were by the Emperour punished and deposed as subjects to the Emperour As Constantius the Son of Constantine the Great chased Pope Liberius out of Rome and substituted Faelix in his place Whence it is probable the English Maxime as many other dimaned Rex est persona mixta cum sacerdote The King is a mixt person with a Priest in whom is comprised both Jurisdictions as well Ecclesiastical as civil which caused William the Second to urge the said priviledge of the Emperours against Anselm desiring to be an Arch-bishop conspiring to have his Pale from the Pope as Mathew Paris historizeth it Rex Willielmus Secundus allegavit quod nullus Archiepiscopus aut Episcopus Regni sui curiae Romanae aut Papae subessent praecipus cum ipse omnes libertates haberet in Regno suo quas imperator vindicabat in imperio King William alledgeth that no Arch-bishop or Bishop should be subject to the Pope or the Court of Rome especially seeing he should have all the liberties in his Kingdome which the Emperour challenged in his Empire which was to chose Popes and Bishops when he would Yet though the Scepters of Kings and Princes were primitively free by all right and honored with the Supreme authority in all causes whatsoever yet hath the Pope in these later daies blown up with boiling ambition through the lenity and piety of Princes involated on their Rights and Liberties and not only arrogated to himself Ecclesiastical Supremacy but encroached also on the civill Jurisdiction claiming to himself the deposing of Princes and disposing of their Kingdomes Bellar. either in ordine ad bonum spirituale in order or relation to a spiritual good or else in regard of his Pastorall Authority from Christ under which notion he conceiveth all the world to be subject to him Azorius In quo alii sunt actu ut Christiani alii potestate jure ut Pagani In which some are actually subject to him as Christians and others in possibility and right as Pagans and by such subtil relations is he maintained to be Totius orbis Dominus The Lord of all the earth Europ spe And to that purpose doth he take upon him the highest place of honor far above all Princes and Monarchies of the world Pier. de Moulin praef ib. Buck de le foy setting the Emperours at his feet ordaining and declaring that all Kings ought to kiss his feet and that there is no other name under heaven but that of the Pope Thus doth he labour to mancipate the divine liberty of Princes to his humane inventions and usurped Dominion and as Christs Vicar which title he affects would be reputed Lord of all the world whereas Christs Kingdome was not of the world An insufferable tyranny imposed on this Royal freedome of Princes which the Pope from the times of Gregory the seventh hath injuriously usurped and for the space of two hundred and threescore years nothing hath been more frequent with him then the Excommunications of Kings and Emperours and the Oblations and Donations of their Empires and Kingdomes Pier. de Moulin b. d. l f 7◠unless of such who have by might maintained their rights and liberties against his usurpations whence proceeded infinite bloody wars above one hundred battels and the surprizing and sacking innumerable Cities Clap. de arc imp f. 32. from whence proceeded the common Proverb as by Guichardine is observed Caesares timere odisse proprium est Ecclesiae It is proper to the Church to feare and hate all Princes John White in the way to the Church and that truly for the Pope hath excommunicated deposed and murthered forty several Princes And I deem it neither exorbitant nor impertinent to give you a tast of some of his notorious and abominable tyrannies and primarily of that against John King of England whom for maintaining his priviledge in nominating the Arch-bishop of Canterbury to the Monks of that Convent Innocent Third he menaced to excommunicate and interdict his Kingdome and the King in requitall threatned to abolish the Popes authority and to expell the Clergy which they both acted but the Pope not only excommunicated him but conferred his Kingdome on the King of France to conquer it at his own charge and perill by whose invasion he was inforced to renounce his rights and liberties and to subscribe to the Popes tyrannical demands who gave him Absolution upon condition to yeeld himself Vassal to the Pope Math. Par. and his Kingdome fewdary to the Church of Rom and that he should pay yearly a thousand mark in silver as an obligation of his servitude And most presumptuous was the arrogancy of Julius the Second God Hist Hen. 8. f. 1. who was more like to Julius Caesar whose name he assumed then to Peter whose Successor he pretended to be but indeed was like to him in nothing more then in cutting of Malcus his ear of whom the Poet pithily Gunterus Jam nec ferre crucem Domini sed tradere Regna Gaudet Augustus mavult quam praeses haberi To bear the Cross of Christ he doth not now rejoyce But to give earthly Kingdomes is his heavenly choice He deposed the King of Navarre and gave his Kingdome to Ferdinand King of Castile the which he obtained and his Successors as yet retaine who having Spain on the one side and the Pyrenaean Mountains on the other was unequal to the Popes fury and the Spanish force He also vain-gloriously enterprized to crush and suppress Lewis the XII King of France God Hist Hen. 8. to which designe he invited many Princes and more especially Henry the Eight King of England into a confederacy against him but Lewis swifter then opinion marched with all celerity to Ravenna and in one battel defeated him and his Allies Primum Pontificium fulmen à Gallis removit Barr. and boldly assembled a Councel at Pisa against him and rounded his French Crowns with this inscription Perdam Babylonem
promptnesse in handling his Armes and dexterity in charging the Enemy ascended to all the degrees of Martial Dignities and in fine was honoured with the Imprial Ensignes He was a studious propagator of Christian Religion and a strenuous oppugnator of the barbarous Invaders chasing the Vandals out of Africa and forcing the Goths out of Italy If I should muster up all the Auxiliary examples tending to the fortifying of this Assertion Dies me deficeret nox The day would fail me and the night forsake me I will onely adde this serious observation of the Satyrical Poet. Ante potestatem Tulli ignobile regnum Multos saepe viros nullis majoribus ortos Et vixisse pro bos amplis honoribus auctos Horat. l. 1. Serm. 8. Before the power of Tully and his ignoble reign There many often were of an inferiour strain Who vertuously did live and ample honours gain Neither is it absonant to reason that men of the meaner sort exalted by degrees to Offices of Authority should discharge their duty more exactly and judiciously then such as from the cradle have been lifted up unto a Crown and challenge it as their birthright which the Philosopher proveth by a well grounded reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3 Pol. c. 3. That a man cannot rule well that hath not obeyed For how can one prescribe rules of obedience that is ignorant of the praxis no more then a Geneval can rightly compose order and command an Army that is ignorant of the office having not before led a band of men or marched under the discipline of a skilful General unlesse with presumptuous Phaeton he will undertake to rein the fiery horses of the Sun or with the silly sow instruct and order Minerva It was an ancient custome among Princes to nominate their Successors as Moses did Joshua and David Solomon though he had an elder son Alexander bequeathed the Kingdome of Egypt to Ptolomy and Attalus made the Republick of Rome his heir and Prafatagus then King of England made Nero his heir which before the Conquest was very frequent William himself claiming the Kingdome by the nomination of Edward the Confessor as well as by Conquest And afterwards Ban. l. 207. Edward the sixth excluded his two Sisters Mary and Elizabeth and by his Letters Pattents made the Lady Gray Heir of the Crown and Henry the 8th had power granted him by his last Will and Testament in writing and signed with his hand 28. Hen. 8. to make conditions and limitations what he would concerning the inheritance of the Crown which also was a constant practise among the Roman Emperours either by adoption or arrogation to nominate those whom they approved worthy to succeed them in the Empire sometimes whilst they were living to settle it on them but ordinarily to bequeath it after their decease To apply this to our purpose most of them especially the Roman Emperours did nurse and educate those they intended to nominate and arrogate to be their Successors in the Temple of Vertue and School and Field of Mars whom after that they were sufficiently instituted they usually adventured in Martial Employments against hostile Forces as Augustus did Germanicus and Tiberius by which they obtained the Praxis as well as the Theory of the Art Military Such for the most part were advanced to the Imperial Dignity as worthy and able to discharge that Martial Honour who by their Military Vertue Populo Romano nomen urbi aeternam gloriam Cic. pro Murcima orbem terrarum parere huic imperio coegit Procured to the people renown eternal glory to the City and forced the world to their subjection But to supersede this pertinent digression and to pursue our proposition Nature is equal to all and conferreth equal endowments si quis cognoverit uti if any one knew how to use them and commonly men instigated by necessity employ them to the best advantages Pers Magister Artis Venter Plaut Nam ille omnes artes perdocet ubi quem attigit Need is the Mistress of all Arts and Skill Which conjoyned with industry and sedulity commonly produce rare effects Virg. Labor omniai vincit Improbus Hor. Perrupit Acheronta Herculeus Labos Nil mortalibus arduum Herculean Labour will all things overcome And force its way through Styx and Acheron Nothing is hard unto a mortal Wight Neither doth vertue descend but is habitus acquisitus an habit acquired by deliberation and practice For good men doe not by nature produce good men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ar. 1. Pol. c. 4. but frequently the opposite whence proceeded the Proverb Heroicos filios esse pestes Noblemens sons are pestilential sores Camec in hist 1. Ar· polit as Caligula Domititian Commodus the Flagitions sonnes of vertuous Parents which hath been Historically observed in many and more particularly in the unnatural attempt of Darius son of Artaxerxes on whom his Father having setled his Crown he in retaliation conspired his fathers fate which he had acted if not by discovery prevented which degenerous exorbitancy saith Justine proceeded from the parents excessive indulgency Just l. hist 10. Nimia parentum undulgentia corrumpit liberos who should instruct them as the father doth his son in the Comedy Ego te meum dici tantisper volo Dum quod te dignum est facis Ter. Eu. My son so long thou shalt be mine Whilst thou in worthiness dost shine For it is not the glorious stemme of vertuous progenitors doth make men noble unless they doe patrissare in their vertues Nobilitas sola atque unica virtus Jun. Sat. 7. Vertue 's the the sole and true nobility But to decline to the set of this Section Nature distributeth her dole impartially without any exception of King or beggar and Seneca saith the proverb is true Aut Regem aut fatuum nasci oportere Every one must needs be born an Ideot or an Emperour Especially if we consider man as a Citizen of the world De morte Claudii Caesaris and born to rule For Homo animal est audax acutum multiplex atque imprimis imperandi quam parendi cupidus Baccl Man is a bold subtile and wily creature more covetous of command then obedience and will dare to adventure on any thing to accomplish his ambitious designes and say with Caesar Sever. Theb. Si violandum est jus regnandi causa violandum est Heaven and Earth cannot limit his minde but with Alexander he will wish for more worlds to conquer and with the Gyants Caelum ipsum petere stultitia and purchase Royalty at any rate Imperia pretio quolibet constant bene And as mighty men have sprung from mean fortunes so great Commonweals have had their Exordiums from foul foundations Justine extols the Athenians for their native birth Hist l. 2. that they were in eodem solo nati quod incolunt but saith that other Nations à sordidis initiis ad summa crevere
Hor. l. 2. Sat. 7. Quae belluaruptis Cum semel effugit reddit se prava catenis But these vanquished subdued captived do still persist in their obstinacy and daily subject themselves to inevitable hazards and mischiefs how much better and safer were it for them to submit to Gods providence and not to fight against heaven and his Ordinance or kick against the prick How happy would they be to live in peace and unity and under the Soveraign wings of his Highness protection to enjoy the publique blessings of peace plenty liberty and prosperity by which mutual intercourse his Highness may be the more incouraged to make this Commonwealth the most glorious Empire in the Christian world the which through the Omnipotent assistance his Highness with all his nerves both by Sea and Land contendeth to accomplish and perform that which was heretofore proffered to the late King by him and others whereby maugre the might of any forraign force he may render Britain incomparable as well as invincible which indeed in it self it is as the Roman Poet acknowledgeth Tib. El. 4. Invicti Romano Marte Britanni Alb Gent. de armis Ro. Unless that it be betrayed by our selves Per dolos malos aut per malitias malas by wicked treacheries and malitious practises which may by providence and a stable settlement of the State be prevented as now it is As also by an offensive and defensive league with some forraign Nation which is easily obtained because by it advanced according to the Motto of Henry the Eight Cui adhaereo praeest Herb Hâ—n 8. whose part I take prevaileth by which policy he became an honor to his Allies and horror to his enemies comparing Spain and France to a pair of Scales and England to the Tongue which turned either of them it assisted Howsoever England with his wooden brazen walls hath not been unable to withstand them both and to defeat the Spanish invincible Armado which at this present never were more potent and victorious being daily augmented by the care and providence of our Themisthocles CAP. VI. 1. Mans understanding is imperfect especially in spirituall things 2. It is the cause of many sects in Philosophy and more in Theologie 3. Among Philosophers arguments not torments were their moderators 4. Among Christians in the primitive times admonitions not persecutions were the weapons of their warfare 5. The Arrians and other Heretiques first used force to maintain their opinions and afterwards the Pope and his adherents THe object of the mind is verity which is properly attributed to the divine mind as that which is credible to the humane For truth is the adequation of the notions of the mind with the very nature of things and that is said to be true when the mind representeth the expresse image of the very thing which the wife Artifex of the Universe had with him from eternity and therefore cannot be ignorant of any thing But there is so great obscurity in the nature of things and in the minds of men such obliquity and variety that oftentimes they assent to falsities and uncertainties which they conceive to be true and firm and therefore he is said to be happy and wise who can apprehend the causes of things And because sempiternall spirituall and matters of faith are remote from sense therfore is the knowledge of them more uncertain and obscure Scalig. de Sub. Exer. 1. and as it were umbratilis To the intellection of which the sharpnesse of our conceit being directed is as weak as the eye of an Owl to the beholding of the Sun and which the naturall man receiveth or discerneth not 1 Cor. 1.14 and are such as no natural light doth reach unto Which naturall imbecillity hath been the impulsive cause of all the Sects in Philosophie and heresies in Divinity And though never so strange or absurd yet have their authors and founders invented probable arguments or inferred sacred sentences in their defence There are several sects in Philosophy and more in Theologie because more remote from sense The first amounts to the number of ten and the other to ten times more Epiphanius writes against 80. heresies in his time and Augustine against 90. generall Councils have erred The Council of Nice condemned Arrianisme and the Council of Arminium confirmed it Pier. du Moulin in his preface to the Boucl d'le Foy. And the day is not more contrary to the night then the antient Councils are to the new Et fuit hoc omnium aetatum commune malum saith one truly And this hath been the common calamity of all ages heresies and schisms daily sprouting up in the Church and like Africa Perpin aliquid novi semper pariens alwayes bringing forth one new error or another Among Philosophers arguments were their arms who friendly contended to find out the truth So did the Prince of the antient Philosophers deal with Socr. Plato Arist 1. Ethic. c. 6. professing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though they were both his friends De Sub. yet he deemed it more sacred to honour the truth and so the Prince of the modern Philosophers Scaliger protested Amicus Plato amicus Aristoteles sed magis amica veritas Plato was his friend Aristotle his friend but truth his dearest friend Such inquisitors of the truth used no torments to extort it but arguments non bacillinis sed Philosophicis to find it and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was their victory Among Christians also in the primitive time though there were sometimes divisions questions envy and strife of words yet were they through the Apostles admonitions contained in charity And after the Apostles age their Successors did not use armes and violence to propagate and settle the Gospel the weapons of their warfare were not carnal but spiritual who did not contend with Bands of Disciplin'd Souldiers but with aid implored of God not with armes but with the Spirit not by beating but by admonishing and reproving But after the Church was corrupted and disceded from the Apostolical Doctrine and that by divine Authority they could not maintain their novelties arms and all instruments of cruelty were invented for the establishing of their strange Doctrine and became more barbarous and inhumane then ever Nero Domitian Niceph. l. 11. c. 3. Decius and Dioclesian were As the Arrians and the Donatists under the Raign of Valens and tyranny of the Vandals exceeded all the Heathen Persecutors in cruelty and immanity And in these last and worst daies whenas the Bishop of Rome had usurped the pre-eminency and began to lord it over other Christian Churches imposing greater and heavier burthens on Christian consciences as Prayers for the Dead Purgatory Indulgences and other impostorious trumperies Then began the Popes tyranny imperiously to raign over Christendome which did not only infest the priviledges of Princes as hath been asserted but afflict the purest professors of the Gospell Then did his Phalaris Bulls thunder and roar about the
Christian Horizon fire and sword were the arguments he ejaculated against devout consciences The Hussits first come upon the Stage who submissively imploring of Ferdinand the Emperour to be admitted to receive the Sacrament under both Species Ludov. Aurel. Ann. Eccles f. 460. were by Pope Martin interdicted and a sacred war denounced against them wherein Zisca their blind yet quick-sighted Captain who saw as much in military affairs as Homer did in Poetical Layes and became so terrible to the enemy that he supposed a Drum of his skin would fright an Army behaved himself so skilfully and stoutly that he overthrew the Emperors Army and forced him to vail to their conscientious demands and not only to grant them the sacred mysteries under both kinds Id. 46◠but to permit them to possess those goods they had taken out of Popish Churches until they were with the value redeemed with many other reformed immunities Next ensued the Scene of the Lutherans the Hussits Successors who were as one stileth them Id. f. 445. Lutheranorum Antesignani They likewise marched under their Sacred Banners and were confident propugnators and defenders of the Primitive purity and in spite of the Popes thundering power acted their parts so couragiously and piously that they withdrew Denmark Swethland and Norway with the Duke of Saxony Lantsgrave of Hesse and some other Princes of Germany from the Popes Sup emacy whose pious president the Hugonets in France and the Protestants in England with the reformed Netherlands did follow to the Popes perpetual detriment and preparation to his downfal the which he fearing and finding upon this defeat many in all his Jurisdictions to fall from him repaired to his Vulcanian Conclave Europ Spec. f. 112. and there forged the infernal Inquisition which he per antiphrasin calls the Holy House wherein is executed the more then barbarous tortures on mens consciences apprehending any upon the least suspition of any their supposed Heresies of affinity or connivance which Hereticks and the bare reproving sometimes of the Clergy's lives or the having any book or edition prohibited and especially a Bible in the vulgar language discovering men by the pressing of all mens Consciences whom they charge under an high degree of mortal sin Ib. v. 113. and damnation to appeach their neerest and dearest friends and if they know or suspect them to be culpable therein proceeding against the detected with such secrecy and severity as that they never shall have notice of their accusers but shall be urged to reveale their very thoughts and affections The which though he intended to have propagated through all the Catholick Dominious yet was it not onely rejected by Germany and France Europ spe ib. and solely retained in Italy and Spain but also most of the Catholicks within their Precincts who perhaps if need were would die for Religion abhored the very name and mention of the Inquisition as being the greatest slavery the world hath tasted And which inhumane and unnatural violence of planting and propagating of Religion was execrably detested of the vertuous Heathens and is abominated of devout Christians as opposite to pious Principles For if it were aproved and grateful to God why did he send his Son unarmed and indigent of any external power why did he restrain and rebuke Peter endevouring with his drawn Sword to defend his Master why did he send his Disciples as Sheep among the midst of Wolves and naked into all parts of the World as his Father sent him And when did it come into the minde of the Apostles to perswade and allow of any such violence or their Successors in the Primitive Church to practice any such force neither is the distinction of any force that the Christians deposed not Nero Dioclesian Julian and Valens because they were unequal to them in Military power otherwise it was a strange dissimulation in Paul to instruct the Romans to obey the power of Nero if he lawfully having had power might have deposed him Prayers were their armes and admonitions their Inquisitors The Churches Cheif Master prayed for his enemies and Paul his Selected Apostle exhorteth us to pray for all men which is acceptable to God our Saviour who would have all men come to the knowledge of the truth And it is also his admonition instruct with meeknesse those that oppose themselves if God peradventure would give them repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth 2 Tim. 9.25 For they who like lost sheep goe astray may be drawn to the fold and the ranke Tares may become sweet Corn. CAP. VI. 1. Knowing and obstinate Hereticks are after the first or second admonition to be rejected 2. What Excommunication is 3. It was rarely executed in the Primitive Church 4. Qui argumentis convicti persistunt tamem in heresie propugnanda Whit. de sacra script l. 1. c. 2. Grot. de Jur. Bel. pac f. 505 The abuse of it by the Pope and Prelacy hath caused it to be neglected in most reformed Churches and to be utterly abrogated in ours THere are Hereticks Scientes who know themselves to be Hereticks and who convinced by arguments as Whitaker persist in the defence of heresie either for some temporal commodity or desire of vain glory And who being carried away with selfe-love ambition or popular applause build the City of the Devil upon false and new opinions not respecting the truth but their positions because their own inventions whom Augustine onely placeth in his Catalogue of Hereticks Such Hereticks after the first and second admonition are to be avoided and rejected as the Apostle prescribeth 1. Tim. 3 10. who offend not from ignorance and infirmity but from voluntary malice and obstinate industry From the admonishment of such a one we are to abstain and to leave him to himselfe as one condemned by himselfe as the Apostle speaketh and Turtullian interpreteth Elegit sibi in quo damnetur He hath chosen to himselfe his own damnation Excommunication is a separation from the Communion and Congregation of the Church C. 8. and of it is understoood that of Matthew If he shall not hear the Church let him be as an Heathen and a Publican 1. Tim. whose body as the Apostle speaketh is delivered to Satan That is put out of the Church out of which Satan is Lord and Master as among the Jewes greivous offenders aposynagogi fiant were cast out of the Church which was to shun their Communion as the Jewes did the Samaritans Neither doth Anathema the greater and more greivous Excommunication signifie much more of which in the Gospel we have no example onely a general Precept 1 Cor. 13. Whosoever loveth not our Lord Jesus Christ let him be an Anathema which by the Glossary is expounded Esse execrationem extra Communionem honorum usque ad adventum domini To be a vehement spitting out from the Communion of the good until the comming of the Lord and it is rendered by Hesychius 〈◊〉