practises and the Germaines tumults against their said soueraigne Lord. Magnum mundo documentum datum est A great instruction was giuen to the world that no man should rise against his master For the hand of Rodolph beeing cut off shewed a most iust punishment of periurie he feared not to violate his fidelitie sworne to the King and his right hand was punished as if other woundes had not beene sufficient to bring him to his death that by the plague of the rebellious the fault of rebellion might be perceiued thus farre he The sixth Chapter prooveth the same by the testimonie of the Writers from the 12. hundred yeares downeward I Will for conclusion produce Otho Frisingensis Thomas Aquinas Gratianus Philip the faire king of France the Parliament of England in the time of Edward the 1. Vincentius and Aeneas Sylvius that afterward was Pope by the name of Pius Secundus Otho Frising in his epistle dedicatorie before his Chronicle Otho Frisingensis hath an excellent saying in his epistle dedicatorie to Frederick Barbarossa Cum nulla persona mundialis inveniatur quae mundi legibus non subiaceat c. Although no earthly man can be found that is not subiect to the lawes of the world and in respect of subiection liable to correction Kings as it were placed ouer lawes are not restrained by them but reserued to the examination of God according to the words of the King and Prophet Against thee onely haue I sinned Psal 51.5 It becommeth therefore a king both in respect of the noble disposition of his minde and the spirituall illumination of his soule to haue God the king of kings and Lord of lords euer in his minde and by all meanes possible to take heede that he fall not into the hands of God seeing it is as the Apostle saith a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the liuing God It is more fearefull for kings then for any other because kings haue none but God himselfe aboue them whome they neede feare It shall be so much more horrible for them by how much they may offend more freely then other men So farre Otho Thomas Aquinas Aquin. de regimine prin lib. 1. c. 6. if the tractare de regimene principum be his maketh three sorts of kings Kings by election Kings by subordination and Kings by succession For the first he saith that they which did establish may abolish for the second we must haue our recourse to him that did surrogate the subordinate King as the Iewes did to Caesar against Herod for the last his resolution is Recurrendum esse ad omnium regem deum that we must flie to God the King of all kings in whose onely power it is to mollifie the cruell heart of a tyrant And that men may obtaine this at the hands of God they must cease from sinne for wicked Princes by diuine permission are exalted to punish the sinnes of the people tollenda est igitur ouâ—pa vt cesset tyrannorum plagâ— we must therefore remooue our sinnes that God may take away his punishment Thus farre Thomas Gratianus which compiled the decrees is verie peremptorie that the Bishop of Rome ought not to medle with the temporall sword the state of common wealthes or the change of Princes He saith nothing indeede de Regni ordinibus which in his time and a 100. yeares after him neuer dreamed of any such authoritie Cum Petrus qui primus apostolorum à domino fuerat electus materialem gladium exerceret When Peter whom the Lord had first chosen of all the Apostles drewe the materiall sword to defend his Master from the iniuries of the Iewes he was commanded to sheath his sword for all that take the sword Matth. 26.52 shall perish by the sword As if Christ should haue said Hitherto it was lawfull for thee and thine auncestors to persecute Gods enemies with the temporall sword hereafter thou must put vp that sword into his place Caus 23. quest 8. parag 1. and drawe the sword of the spirit which is the word of God to slay the old man whosoeuer beside the Prince and without his authoritie that hath lawfull power and as the Apostle teacheth beareth not the sword in vaine Rom. 13.4 to whom euerie soule must be subiect whosoeuer I say without or beside the Princes authoritie beareth the sword shall perish by the sword Thus farre Gratian. About the yeare a 1300. began a quarrell betweene Boniface 8. and Philippus Pulcher the French king about the collation of benefices prebends and other ecclesiasticall promotions Whereupon the Pope wrote vnto the said king as followeth Boniface Bishop the seruant of Gods seruants to his wel-beloued sonne Philip by Gods grace king of France Greeting and blessing Apostolicall Feare God and keepe his lawe We giue thee to vnderstand that thou art subiect to vs both in spirituall things and temporall and that no gift of benefices or prebends belongeth to thee If thou haue in thy hand any vacant keepe the profits of them to the successors and if thou hast bestowed any we decree the collation voide and recall it how farre soeuer it hath proceeded Whosoeuer beleeueth otherwise we account him a foole Dated at Lateran the fourth of the Calends of December and in the 6. yeare of our Papacie King Philip returned his haughtinesse a correspondent answear viz. Philip by the grace of God King of Fraunce to Boniface bearing himselfe for Pope Philip. Pulcher Salutem modicam siue nullaÌ„ Sciat tua maxima fatuitas Little health or none at all Let thy great fooleship know that in temporall things we are subiect to no man And that the gifts of prebends and ecclesiasticall promotions made and to be made by vs were and shall be lawfull both in time past and in time to come For such collations belong to vs in the right of our crowne wherefore we will manfully defend the possessours of the said dignities and doe iudge them that thinke otherwise fooles and madmen Giuen at Paris the wednesday after Candlemasse 1301. Questionlesse this King that did so scornefully reiect the Popes chalenge pretended from Christ would little regard the claime of the Nobles deriued but from the people The same busie Boniface of whom some write that he came in like a fox craftely raigned like a lyon cruelly and died like a dogge miserably would take vpon him the decision of a controversie between the Kings of England Scotland and commanded King Edward of England either to cease his claime or to send his procurators to the apostolike sea to shewe his right and to receiue such order from the Pope as iustice and equitie would require The Lords and commons then assembled in Parliament at Lincolne sent Boniface this answear in the kings behalfe Whereas our most dread Lord Edward by the grace of God the Noble King of England caused your letters to be read openly before vs touching certaine occurrents of state betweene him and
the King of Scotland we did not a little marvaile at the contents thereof so strange and wonderfull as the like hath neuer beene heard of We knowe most holy father and it is well knowne in this realme and also to other nations that the King of England ought not to make answer for his right before any iudge ecclesiasticall or secular by reason of the free estate of his royall dignitie and custome Parliament at Lincolne quoted by M. Beken-shaw without breach at all times vnviolably obserued Wherefore after treatie had and diligent deliberation this was our resolution that our said king ought not to answer in iudgement nor send procurators or messeÌ„gers to your court seeing that tendeth manifestly to the disinheriting of the right of the crowne the ouerthrowe of the state of the kingdome and the breach of the liberties customes and lawes of our fathers for the keeping whereof we are bound by the dutie of an oath and will by Gods helpe maintaine and defend with all our power and strength c. Dated at Lincolne Ann. Dom. 1301. anno Edvardi primi 29. This was then the resolution of the state of this land if our late sectaries Popish or Puritan bring in any other doctrine we may not leaue the cawsey of truth odience whereon our forefathers walked to their commendation to followe these newe guides in their by-paths of pride disobedience and contempt of authoritie to our destruction Vincentius in his Speculo Historiali hath a notable place to disswade from sedition and periurie lib. 15. cap. 1. Vt pace omnium bonorum dixerim haec sola nouitas ne dicam haeresis nec dum è mundo emerserat That I may speake with the fauour of all good men this meere noueltie if not heresie was not sprung vp in the world that preists should teach subiects that they owe no subiection to wicked kings and albeit they haue giuen an oath of fidelitie vnto them they are not bound to keepe it Nay they that obey an euill Prince are to be held as excommunicated and all such as rebell against him are free from the guilt of the crime of periurie So farre he I will end this chapter with Aeneas Siluius who died in the yeare 1464. Sit tandem finis litium Pius 2. de ortu author imperij cap. 23. Let there be an end of contention and one principall head to determine all temporall matters let the occasion of perpetuall debate be taken away let men acknowledge themselues subiect to their Prince giue reuerence to him whom God hath made his vicegerent on earth As that which God commandeth must be obeyed without contradiction so the temporall commandements of Caesar may not be resisted But let the Kings themselues beware that they oppresse no man vniustly nor giue their people cause to crie to God against them for the earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof he will not forget the crie of the poore and for the sinne of the Prince he translateth the gouernment from one nation to another There is nothing more offensiue to the greatest God the king and creator of heauen and earth then the neglect of iustice and the oppression of the poore as the Psalmist saith The poore shall not alway be forgotten and the patient abiding of the needie shall not perish for euer So farre Siluius The seauenth Chapter sheweth the concord of Papist and Puritan for the deposition of Kings and their discord about the meanes and persons to be imployed in the execution of their designements CHilderick was deposed and Pipine crowned King of France about the yeare 750. The truth of which historie is this Childericke voide of all princely grauitie gaue himselfe ouer to pleasure and wantonnesse leauing the burthen of the state to Pipinus that was his Lord Marshall Who conspired with the Nobles to aduance himselfe by the deposition of the king his master To set a better colour on the matter Pipine sent his Chaplaine to Pope Zacharie to haue his answer to this Question Whether should be King he that bare the name and did nothing or he that gouerned the kingdome The Pope gaue sentence with the Marshall against the King whereupon Childerick was made a shorne Monke and Pipine a crowned king It is a wonder to see how these opposite sectaries do insist vpon this fact of the Frenchmen to iustifie their dangerous doctrine and seditious conspiracies against Princes As Card. Bellarmine de pontif lib. 2. cap. 17. Thomas Harding against the Apologie of the Church of England fol. 181. Franc. Feuardentius in his commentaries on Hester pag. 85. Boucher alias Raynolds de iusta abdicatione Henrici 3. lib. 3. cap. 14. Ficklerus de iure magistratuum fol. 30. Alexander Carerius patauinus de potestate papae lib. 2. cap. 3. D. Mâ—rta de temporali spirituali pontificis potestate lib. 1. cap. 23 and Doleman in his conference touching succession parte 1. cap. 3. pag. 48. And also these Puritans Christopher Goodman in his treatise of obedience pag. 53. George Buchanan de iure Regni apud Scotos p. 47. Danaeus de politia Christiana lib. 3. cap. 6. pag. 221. Brutus Celta de iure magistratuum pag. 286. Phyladelphus dialogo 2. pag. 65. Franc. Hottomanus in his Francogallia cap. 12. and Speculum tyrannidis Philipi Regis pag. 27. The Papists which ascribe this deposing power to the pope endeauour by tooth and naile to disprooue that interest which the Puritans grant the peeres or the people First this example serued Gregorie 7. to excuse his presumptuous practises against Henrie the fourth Quidum Ramanus pontifex A certaine Bishop of Rome deposed a king of France lib de vrit Eccles apud Scard pag. 3. not so much for his ill life as for that he was not fit for gouerment and placed Pipine which was father to Charles the great in his place absoluing all the Frenchmen from the oath of allegeance which they had sworne to their king Thus farre Gregorie in an epistle to one Herimanus that was Bishop of Metz in France Thomas Harding concludeth from this fact a diuine power in the pope Confâ—t of the Apol â— fol. 181. Can you not see saith Harding what strength and power is in the pope which is able with a word to place and displace the mightiest King in Europe with a word I say for I am sure you can shewe vs of no armie that he sent to execute his will Is it in the power of a man thinke you to appoint kingdomes can the Deuill himselfe at his pleasure set vp and depose Kings no surely Much lesse can any member of his do the same Remember you what Christ said when the Iewes obiected that he did cast out deuils in the name of the prince of deuils beware you sinne not against the holy Ghost who confesse that the Pope hath pulled downe and set vp Kings Which thing vndoubtedly he could neuer do
Herod and Pilate reconciled OR THE CONCORD OF PAPIST AND PVRITAN Against Scripture Fathers Councels and other Orthodoxall Writers for the Coercion Deposition and Killing of KINGS Discouered by David Owen Batchelour of Diuinitie and Chaplaine to the right Honourable Lord Vicount HADINGTON Tunc inter se concordant cum in perniciem iusti conspirant non quia se amant sed quia eum qui amandus erat simul oderunt August in Psal 36. concion 2. PRINTED BY CANTRELL LEGGE Printer to the Vniversitie of Cambridge 1610. ⧠TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE SIR IOHN RAMSEY Knight Lord Vicount Hadington one of the most Honourable Gentlemen of the Kings Maiesties bed-chamber my singular good Lord and Master I Did suppose my very good Lord that the sembable opposition of Papist and Puritane against the Protestant concerning the supremacie Ecclesiasticall and Deposition of Kings might haue beene constriued into a fewe sheetes of paper which I finde both tedious and intricate because the opponents though they agree against Kings as Herod and Pilate did against Christ are at diuers irreconciliable iarres among themselues And no maruell quia mendacij multiplex diuortium Liers neuer agree in one tale There are among the Papists three different opinions concerning the Popes power ouer Kings The first opinion which a Alexand. Car. de potest Rom. Pontif. lib. 2. c. 9. Alexander Carerius holdeth is that the Pope hath absolute power ouer all the world both in Ecclesiasticall and Politicall things The second opinion is Bellarmines b Bellar. de Pontif. lib. 5. c. 6. who affirmeth that though the Pope haue not meere temporall power ouer Kings and kingdomes directly yet hath he supreame authoritie to dispose of the Temporalities of all Christians as well Kings as others by an indirect prerogatiue tending to the aduancement of the spirituall good The third is the opinion of c Guliel Barclay cont monarchomacos l. 5. cap. 8. Barclayus who auerreth that the Pope hath spirituall power to excommunicate Kings but no temporall authoritie directly or indirectly to afflict the persons of Kings to transpose their kingdomes to perswade forrainers to make warres or subiects to rebell against them And with him agreeth M. Blackwell d In the letter annexed to his large examination at Lambeth p. 157. in his letter to the Romish Catholiques of England wherein he saith that the keyes Ecclesiasticall doe no way extend themselues by Gods law vnto kingdomes terrene to open or shut to tosse or turmoile any of them they haue no wardes in them to turne or ouerturne Kingdomes or to open any lawfull entrance into such disobedient and doubtfull courses Wheresoeuer most noble Lord any Papist hath laid a stepping-stone in this water of strife any man may plainely trace the Puritanes treading Although they denie an vniuersall absolute power ouer all Kings which the Pope claymeth they contend for a nationall soueraigntie in euery kingdome ouer Kings to dispose of them and their kingdomes Although the Popes saith Christopher Goodman e Treatise of obedience pag. 52. 53. for sundrie enormities haue deposed Kings by vnlawfull authoritie the reason that mooued them so to doe was honest and iust and meete to be receiued and executed by the bodie of euery common-wealth haec ille The Statesmen of the kingdome saith f Polit. Christ l 6. c. 3. p. 156. Lambertus Danaeus may punish their King when he transgresseth the fundamentall lawes of the kingdome yea if he be obstinate they may depriue him of his royall dignitie M. Beza g Theses Genevenses p. 249. in a scholasticall disputation one Iohn Iobert beeing Respondent did determine that the officers of State such as are the 7. Electors in the Empire of the Romanes and the Three States in euery Monarchie haue authoritie to represse tyrannous Princes which if they doe not they shall answer before God for their treacherie against the people Dudley Fenner an English Sectarie iumpeth with them He is a Tyrant by practise saith h Sacra Theologia lib. 5 c. 13. Fenner that dissolueth all or the chiefest compacts of the Common-wealth let them that haue that authoritie as the Peeres of the kingdome or the publike assemblie of all Estates make him away vel pacificè vel cum bello either by peaceable practise or open hostilitie Cardinall Bellarmine giueth this reason for the Popes indirect power ouer Kings * De Pontif l. 5. cap. 7. The Ecclesiasticall Commonwealth must be saith he perfect and of it selfe sufficient to attaine vnto the ende whereunto it was ordained for such are all CommoÌ„wealths that are well instituted Therfore it ought to haue all necessarie power to attaine to the spirituall end but power to dispose of all temporalties is necessarie to the spirituall end for otherwise euill Kings will foster heretikes and ouerthrow religion wherfore the Church hath this power Haec ille Banosus a Puritane in a tractate of Ciuill and Ecclesiasticall Politie hath the very same reason for the power of the Presbiterie i lib. 2. pag 51. If the Church saith he haue not power by forcible meanes to compell all sorts of men to liue in order this absurditie will follow euen vnder a faithfull magistrate that the Church can not defend her selfe with her owne forces What I pray you will become of the Church when the Magistrate is either an Infidel or so negligent as to suffer euill to be done without punishment and those things which are hallowed to be profaned or remooued Should not the Church be vtterly ouerthrowne in these eases if it had not peculiar right to make powerfull resistance Haec ille I appeale my good Lord to the consciences of all good men whether this reason of Bellarmine and Banosus be not a wicked ouerthwarting of the counsell of God and his gratious prouidence towards the Church yea an open bewraying of their vnquiet hearts and seditious disposition Our Sauiour Christ foreseeing and foreshewing that his Disciples the chiefe pillars of the Church should be brought before Kings hated of the world yea and put to death k Matth 10.18 c 24 â— for his names sake teacheth not to resist or rebell but to abide and l Matth. 24.13 endure not with violence to withstand authoritie but m Luk. 21.19 with patience to possesse their soules This is a remedie against Tyrants and there is no other meanes reuealed in the word of God against persecution then n Matth. 10.23 Desertion if they persecute you in one citie flie to an other or o Psal â—0 15 Praier and Patience Happie p Mâ— 5.11.12 are you when men shall doe all manner of euill vnto you for my names sake reioyce and be glad for great is your reward in heauen Let not man therfore resist their power which God ordained but with all meeknes endure persecution in earth that they may be crowned in heauen Lambertus Danaeus a Puritane of the best note doth freely graunt Bellarmines Thesis viz.
of heauen graunt your Lordship many dayes much honour the loue of your Countrie inward peace and euerlasting glorie From Clarehall in Cambridge 12. Octo. 1610. Your Lordships Chaplaine humbly devoted DAVID OVVEN To the dutifull Subiect THe Puritan-Church-Policie and the Iesuiticall societie began together a See Mâ—licâ—kers preface And the preface of Chemnic before his examen against the first part of the Councell of Trent the one in Geneva 1536. and the other in Rome 1537. since their beginning they haue bestirred themselues busily as he that compasseth the b Iob. 1.7 earth or they that coasted c Matth. 23.15 sea land each one in his order The Puritan to breake downe the wall of Sion by disturbing the peace of the reformed Church the Iesuite to build vp the ruines of Babylon by maintaining the abhomination of the deformed Synagogue These though brethren in sedition and headie are head-seuered the one staring to the presbyterie and the other to the Papacie but they are so fast linked behind and tayle-tied together with firebrands betweene them that if they be not quenched by the power of Maiestie they cannot chose when the meanes are fitted to their plot but set the Church on fire and the state in an vprore Their many and long prayers their much vehement preaching and stout opposition against orders established their shewe of austeritie in their conuersation and of singular learning in their profession as the euill fiend transformed into an angel of light brought them first to admiration Whereby they haue not onely robbed widows houses vnder pretence of prayer and ransacked their seduced disciples by shew of deevotion but also battered the courts of Princes by animating the Peeres against Kings and the people against the Peeres for pretended reformation And whereas God hath inseparably annexed to the crowne of earthly maiestie a supreme ecclesiasticall soueraigntie for the protection of pietie and an absolute immunitie from the iudiciall sentence and Martiall violence for the preseruation of policie These sectaries bereaue Kings of both these their Princely prerogatiues 2. Thess 2.3.4 exalting themselues as the sonne of perdition aboue all that is called God Least they might seeme sine ratione insanire to sowe the seedes of sedition without shewe of reason Caedem faciunt scripturarum as the heretikes in Tertullians time were wont to doe in materiam suam they kill the Scripture to serve their turnes and pervert the holy word of the eternall God by strange interpretation and wicked application against the meaning of the Spirit by whom it was penned the doctrine of the Church to whom it was deliuered and the practise of all the Godly as well vnder the Lawe as the Gospel that did beleeue vnderstand and obey it to maintaine their late and lewd opinions I haue in my hand aboue fortie several places of the old and new Testament which both the brethren of the enraged opposite faction doe indifferently quote and seditiously apply in defence of their dangerous opposition and damnable error against the Ecclesiasticall supremacie and the indeleble character of royal invnction Vnto the which places falsly expounded perverted and applyed I haue added the interpretation of the learned Protestants since the time of Martin Luther who began to discouer the nakednesse of the Romish Church 1517. More especially insisting in the a K. Henry 8. K Iames. Th. Cranmer lo. Whitgift Rich. Bancroft Archb. of Cant. Henry Earle of Northampton Robert Earle of Salisbury most mightie Kings the most reuerend Prelats The L. Burleigh L. treasurer of England The L. Els nere L. chancelor of England The L. Stafford The L. Cooke B. Iewell B. Horn B. Pilkington B Elmere B Couper B. Bilson B. Babington B. Andrewes B. Barlowe B. Bridges D Ackworth D. Sarania D. Cosenâ— D. Sutchliffe D. Prvthetâ—h D. Wilkes D. Morton D. Tochen M. Bekinsaw M. Foxe M. Nowell M. Hooker many others honourable Lords loyall Clergie and other worthie men that haue in the Church of England learnedly defended the Princely right against disloyall and vndutifull opponents which by Gods helpe I meane to publish when I haue added the exposition of the Fathers to confute the falshood of the Puritan-popish-faction to confirme the truth of the Protestants Doctrine in each particular quotation I protest in all sinceritie that I neither haue in this treatise nor meane in the other hereafter to be published to detort any thing to make either the cause it selfe or the fauourers of it more odious then their owne words published with the generall approbation of their seuerall fauorites doe truely inferre and necessarily inforce I hope the loyall subiect and Godly affected will accept in good part my endeauour and industrie intended for the glorie of God the honour of the King and the discouerie of the seditious The displeasure of the malecontented-factious which can no more abide the truth then the owles can light or the frantique the Physitian I neither regard nor care for Farewell Errata Pag. 10. l. 15. for subtilly read subtilty p. 17. l. 4. presto for praesto p. 19. l. 25. Sabanianus for Sabinianus p. 34. l. 27. odience for obedience p. 37. l. 13. his for this p. 39. l. 5. as very foole for as very a foole p. 47. l. 1. regnum for regum p. 48. l. 17. Prince for Princes The Table of the Booke The dutie of Prelates Peeres People by Scripture Chap. 1. Pag. 1. Fathers of the first 300 yeares 2 pag. 3 second 300 yeares 3 pag. 8 third 300 yeares cap. 4 pag. 21 fourth 300 yeares 5 pag. 24 fifth 300 yeares 6 pag. 30 Sedition of Puritans Papists Concord in the matter of sedition cap. 7. p. 36 Discord in the manner of sedition cap. 7. p. 36 Danger of their doctrine to Prince cap. 8. p. 43. People cap. 8. p. 43. Puritan-Iesuitisme or the generall consent of the principall Puritans and Iesuits against Kings from the yeare 1536. vntill the yeare 1602. out of the most authentique Authors cap. 8. p. 46 The first Chapter prooveth by the testimomonie of Scripture that Kings are not punishable by man but reserued to the iudgement of God KINGS haue their authoritie from God a Rom. 13.1 and are his Vicegerents in earth b Prov. 8.15 to execute iustice and iudgement for him amongst the sonnes of men c 2. Chron. 19.6 All subiects as well Prelates and Nobles as the inferiour people are forbidden with the tongue to reuile Kings d Exod. 22.28 with the heart to thinke ill of them e Eccl. 10.20 or with the hand to resist them f Rom. 13.2 The great King of heauen doth impart his owne name vnto his Lieftenants the Kings of the earth and calleth them Gods with an ego dixi g Psal 82.6 whose word is Yea and Amen with this onely difference that these Gods shall die like men h Psal 82.7 and fall like other Princes Wherefore Nathan the man of
rather resolued to suffer any death or torture then by his consent to betray the truth or to condemne the guiltlesse He admonisheth freely and reprooueth sharply he offreth his life to the Princes pleasure It was farre from his meaning to reuile the sacred maiestie or to stirre vp any rebellion against this hereticall Emperour which infringed the Canons of the Church without all regard of truth or equitie to serue the humors of the Arrians and to wreck his anger on them all which yeelded not to that heresie Liberius a Bishop of Rome did neither excommunicate nor depose this wicked Emperour Constantius but appeared at his commaund and endured his pleasure to the admiration of the Arrians and the confirmation of the Christians as we finde in Athanasius Trahitur Liberius ad imperatorem c. Liberius was haled to the Emperour when he came to his presence he spake freely Cease said he O Emperour to persecute the Christians goe not about by any meanes to bring hereticall impietie into the Church of God Liberius quo supra apud Athan. We are readie rather to endure any torture then to be called Arrians Compell vs not to become enemies vnto Christ Fight not against him we beseech you that hath bestowed the Empire vpon you Render not impietie to him for his grace persecute them not which beleeue in him least you heare it is hard for thee to kicke against the pricke Act 9.5 Oh would to God you did so heare it that you might as Paul did beleeue it Loe we are at hand and come to your presence before our enemies the Arrians can inuent any thing to enforme against vs we hastened to come at your commande though we were assured of banishment that we might abide our punishment before any crime could be obiected much lesse prooued against vs. Whereby it may appeare that all Christians are as we now be vndeseruedly punished and the crimes laid to their charge not true but fained by sycophancy or deceitfull subtilty Thus spake Liberius euery man admired his resolution but the Emperour for answer commanded him to banishment Thus farre he Pope Liberius had not learned the language of his successor Pius Quinius when he bellowed against our late Queene nor that principle of the Puritanes that the inferior officer may vse force of armes against the cheife Magistrate that shall become a tyrant whereof euery seditious sectarie will be iudge and not onely defend himselfe and his owne people but also any other that shall flie vnto him Poliria Christian l. 6. c. 3. Which opinion Lambertus Danaus auoucheth contrarie to the Law the Gospel and the generall consent of all orthodoxall Fathers Hilarius a Bishop of France Hilarius ad Imperatotē Constant wrote the same time to this same Emperour in most humble manner Benefica natura tua domine beatissime Auguste Your milde nature most blessed Emperour agreeing with your gracious disposition and the mercie which floweth aboundantly from the fountaine of your fatherly godlinesse doe assure vs that we shall obtaine our desire We beseech you not onely with words but also with teares that the catholique Churches be no longer oppressed with greeuous iniuries and endure intollerable persecutions and contumelies and that which is most shamefull euen of our brethren Let your Clemencie prouide c. Surely if it had then beene knowne that the Pope by his absolute power or indirect authoritie could haue punished or deposed kings which the Papists auouch or for the Peeres or the people to haue done it which the Puritanes affirme some of these olde Bishops would haue pressed that point against this hereticall Prince which abused his sword to the blaspheming of Christ the murthering of the Saints the seducing of many thousand soules by strengthening maintaining and establishing the Arrian error But they tooke it to be no Christian mans part to beare armour no not defensiue against his Prince though neuer so wicked cruell or vngodly Holy Athanasius confesseth the power of Kings to be of God and their impietie not to be punished by man Sicut in toto mundo Deus rex est imperator potestatem exeroet in omnibus As God is King and Emperour ouer all the world and exerciseth his power in all creatures so the King and Prince is ouer all earthly men and doth by his absolute power Ad Antioch quest 55. what he will euen as God himselfe haec ille When it was obiected against this reuerend father Athanasius that he had incensed Constans the religious Emperour of the West against Constantius in the bebehalfe of the persecuted Christians Apolog. Athan ad Constant he cleared himselfe from that accusation in an Apologie to the saide Emperour Constantius The Lord saith he is my record and his annointed your brother that I neuer made mention of your Maiestie for any euill before your brother of blessed memorie that religious Emperour Constans I did neuer incite him against you as these Arrians doe slaunder me but whensoeuer I had accesse vnto him I recounted your gracious inclination God knoweth what mention I made of your godly disposition Giue me leaue and pardon most courteous Emperour to speake the truth That seruant of God Constans was not easily drawne to giue eare to any man in this kind I was neuer in such credit with him that I durst speake of any such matter or derogate from one brother before an other or talke reprochfully of one Emperour in the hearing of an other I am not so madde neither haue I forgotten the voice of God which saith Curse not the King in thine heart and backbite not the mightie in the secrets of thy chamber for the birds of the ayre shall tell it and the winged foule shall bewray thee If then the things that be spoken in secret against Princes can not be hid is there any likelihood that I in the Emperours presence and before so many as continually attended his person would say any thing otherwise then well of your Maiestie Thus farre Athanas This is sounder and seemelier doctrine for subiects then that which Henrie Garnet and Robert Tesmond taught some Romish catholike gentlemen of England who imployed Thomas Winter into Spaine in the moneth of December Ann. Dom. 1601. to make request to the Spanish king in the behalfe and names of the English Pope-catholikes L. Cooke in his speach at Garnets arraignment that he would send an armie hither into England for the aduancement of their Catholique cause and to promise that the forces of the Papists here should be readie to doe him seruice against the late Queene The selfe same doctrine of sedition was published in the yeare after viz. ann Dom. 1602. by Gulielmus Bucanus a man of no meane esteeme among the Puritans and that at the earnest request of Beza and Gonlartius the chiefest Ministers of the Chutch of Geneva if the author himselfe belie them not whose words are as followeth Subditis si fit