For which Joseph Stevan ‖ Ioseph Stevan Epist ad Gregor XIII de osculo pedum Papae Iure meritoque in Religionis Ecclesiae infensissimum hostem Fredericum Barbarossam non ut in salem insatuatum quem jubet Christus pedibus proterere sed potius ut horrendam belluam calcibus insultavit who writ at Rome to Gregory the XIII of kissing the Popes feet checks Duarenus saying that Pope Alexander the III. trod the Emperour Frederick under foot not onely as salt which hath lost its savour but as an horrible wild beast And Otho Frisingensis both relates it and commends it * Otho Frising lib. 5. cap. 14. Quod sactum summis liberum est sacerdotibus cum Principum tyrannidem aut violatam fidem aut Ecclesiae imminutam dignitatem vident and saith That the Popes have the power to do so much when they see the tyranny of Princes or that faith is violated or the dignity of the Church imbezelled So though the History were not as it is most undoubtedly true the approving and exalting of the fact in the Court of Rome makes that Court as guilty as if it had been done But it was done and as bad was done by other Popes Pope Celestin the III. gave Constantia a Nunne in marriage to the Emperour Henry the VI. and gave him for her dowry the Kingdome of both the Sicilies upon Platina Uspergensis condition he should expell Tancred who was possess'd of the Kingdome Hence a bloody War between Henry the VI. and Tancred It is ordinary to the Pope to give that which is none of his When the Pope giveth a Kingdome from a Prince that enjoyeth it he commands together the people to resist him making a sport to spill their blood and damn their souls Baronius commends very much that Popes behaviour Annal. Roger. an 1191. Sedebat Dominus Papa in Cathedra Pontificali tenens coronam auream inter pedes suos Imperator inclinato capite recepit coronam imperator similiter de pedibus Domini Papae Dominus autem Papa statim percussit cum pede suo coronam Imperatoris dejecit eam in terram significans quod ipse potestatem ejiciendi eum ab Imperio habet si ille demeruerit in the Crowning of the Emperour Henry the VI. and his Wife thus related in the Annalls of Rogerius The Pope was sitting in his pontifical chair holding an Imperial golden Crown between his feet and the Emperour bowing his head received the Crown and the Empress likewise by the feet of the Pope And the Pope presently hit the Emperours Crown and kick'd it down to the ground thereby signifying that he had power to cast him down from the Empire if he deserved it Baronius having related this amplifieth it with this morality ‖ Baron Tom. 12. Anno 1191. sect 10. Ut fixum menti Caesaris haereret nempe dare custodire conservare auserre si causa exigeret imperium esse in voluntate Romani Pontificis ejusmodi voluit commenere eum exemplo That it might remain fixed in the Emperours mind that it lieth in the Popes pleasure to give keep preserve and take away the Empire if there be cause for it he would admonish him with such an example Could the Devil have set up pride to a higher pin to put the Emperours Crown at his feet as a foot-stool for him to tread upon put the Crown on the Emperours head with his feet as an office too low for his hands and then with his foot kick'd it down as having a quarrell against the Imperiall Crown and together a contempt for it This and the treading upon the Emperours neck were significant ceremonies with a witness And what more effectual course could have been taken to raise rebellion in all the States of Christendome then thus to blast the respect of Majesty For thereby all Nations were taught that their Princes were not Sovereigns but the Popes Vassalls and Liegemen That themselves were not their Kings Subjects but the Popes who could kick down their Crowns when he listed and that when that supreme Head shall command it the Feet that is the inferiour Members of the State must make Foot-balls of the Crowns of Emperours and Kings After Celestin the III. came Innocent the III. as proud but more active then he England hath reason to remember this Pope For he excommunicated King John deposed him absolved his Subjects from their allegiance to him and cast an Interdict upon England which lasted six years All which time no Divine Service was said in the Kingdome but in some priviledged places no Sacrament was administred and no corps buried in Consecrated Ground The Kingdome of England he gave to Philip August of France if he could take it and that by a formal order thus related by Matthew Paris The Pope by the counsell Matth. Paris in vita Reg. Johan Papa ex consilio Cardinalium Episcoporum aliorum vivorum prudentium sententialiter definivit ut Rex a solio deponeretur Ad hujus quoque sententiae executionem scripsit Dominus Papa potentissimo Regi Francorum Philippo quatenus in remissionem peccatorum suorum hunc laborem assumeret of the Cardinalls Bishops and other prudent men gave a definitive sentence that the King should be put down from his Throne For the execution of that Sentence the Pope writ to the most potent King of the French Philip that for the remission of his sins he should take that labour upon him A new way for that King to get the remission of his sins to invade his neighbours estate As in the age of our Fathers Pope Sixtus the V. gave nine years of true indulgence to all the French that would bear Arms against their King Henry the III. Thus the remission of sins purchased by the blood of the Son of God and presented by his Gospell to all that repent and believe is by the Pope given as a reward of Invasion and Rebellion Matthew Paris writes that The Pope having gotten the Kingdome of England to himself to his thinking sent to Philip August to enjoyn him to be reconciled with King John else he would put France to Interdict Philip answered that he feared not his sentence and that it belonged not to the Church of Rome to pronounce a sentence against the King of France It is a long and a sad story how King John was persecuted by Pope Innocent the III. his Barons made to rise against him his Neighbours to fall upon him his Clergy to revile him and his people to despise him till that unlucky King was brought to such an extremity that to buy his peace he gave his Kingdome to the Pope and yet could not get his peace that way The Gold which he laid at the Legats feet in sign of subjection the Legat trod under his feet in scorn yet took it in his hand after so great was his clemency What a cruel tyranny did the
York Squire Hesket Lopez Babington with his associates and how many more All were assisted and prompted by Jesuites as the judicial examinations will justifie And now we speak of Babington and his associates I find two brothers Bellamy's both apprehended for hiding them after they were openly proclaimed traitors in their house neer Harrowhill where they were kept ten dayes and clothed in rustical habits There they were all taken and thence carried to prison where one of the Bellamies strangled himself the other was executed with the conspirators his name Hierome Bellamy From which of the two brothers our Adversary Thomas Bellamy is descended and whether from either or neither himself best knows But it seems by his behaviour that the crime of hiding and disguising traitors runs in the blood For what is his covering of the parricidial doctrine of Jesuites with falfe constructions but hiding and disguising traitors whose doctrine is declared treasonable by sundry Acts of Parliament Let him take warning by the crime and the ill successe of these men of his name and apply to himself that Sentence of Tully which he misapplyeth to the Protestants of Integrity Mirror te Antoni quorum facta imitere corum exitus non pertimescere Since you imitate the actions of men of your name Sir Bellamy I wonder you are not frighted with thinking of their ends The Devil and the Jesuites having been so often disappointed of their attempts against England in the end contrived the foulest plot that ingenious cruelty did in any age imagine the Gunpowder-Treason which shall be to the Worlds end the wonder of succeeding ages and the shame of ours This was the godly product of the English Seminaries abroad and the Roman education It is easie to judge that the plotters of it had been bred long in another Climate then the middle aire of England for it looks like one of the feats of Caesar Borgia Non nostri generis monstrum nec sanguinis Of that attempt to cut off King and Kingdome with one blow none could be capable but such as had many years breathed the same aire where he reigned who wished that the Romans had but one neck that he might cut it off with one stroke But a Jesuite is capable of devising and the Romish zeal of executing any mischief though never so prodigious to promote the Papal interest And they have law for it even the Roman Decree the Oracle of the Pope himself We do not account them for Causa 23. qu. 5. Can. Excommunicatorum Non enim eos homicidas arbitramur quos adversus excommunicatos zelo Catholicae Matris Ecclesiae ardentes aliquos eorum trucidasse configerit murtherers saith his Holinesse who burning with the zeal of our Catholick Mother the Church against exmunicate persons shall happen to kill some of them Now England was lying under many excommnnications when the Gunpowder-Treason was plotted and lyeth under them still for they never were repealed Truly so far we must excuse Campian Garnet Hall Hamond and other Jesuites who have plotted or incouraged rebellions and treasons in England They have done no more then they were commanded or allowed by the Pope And here I must be a suitor to all the conscionable Roman Catholieks who abhorre these wicked wayes to acknowledge ingenuously that the Actors were grounded upon the fundamental Laws of the Court of Rome And that the Pope the Head of their Faith is he that commands by his Canons and Bulls the slaughter of those that displease him the breach of faith the deposing of Kings and the rebellion of the people as I have sufficiently demonstrated before If after that they adhere to the other points of the Roman Religion upon this main ground of the Roman Faith That the Pope cannot erre they blinde themselves wilfully and building their faith upon an unsafe ground they may come short of the end of their faith the salvation of their souls This power of deposing Kings and exposing them to the attempts of their enemies so peremptorily assumed by the Pope and so boldly executed by his zealous agents ought to be grounded upon some proof out of holy Writ In all the passages which I have alledged out of Jesuites books I finde but two of those proofs The one of Bellarmine who proveth Bellarm. lib. cui Titulus Tortus p. 19. Rex Anglorum subjectus est Papae jus omnibus Christiadis communi ratione Apostolicae potestatis juxta illud Ps 4. 4. Constitues eos Principes super omnem terram that the King of England is subject unto the Pope by a right common to all Christians by reason of the Apostolick power according to this Text Psal 44. Thou shalt make them Princes over all the earth In that Psalm which with us is the 45. this promise is made to the Kings Spouse which is the Church the Spouse of Christ our King Instead of thy Fathers house shall be thy children whom thou mayest make Princes over all the earth Answerably to that we learn Rev. 1. 6. That God hath made us Kings and Priests unto God our Father That blessing then to be understood and fulfilled in Gods good time belongs to all the true children of the Church The ingrossing of it to the Pope alone to the exclusion of all Christians is a bold and indeed a ridiculous inclosing of Commons without any warrant Suarez brings a proof of the like validity After that horrid assertion alledged before that after that a Prince is excommunicated he may be dispossess'd or slain by any persons whatsoever He prevents the objection out of Rom. 13. 1. Let every soul Suarez adversus sect Anglic lib. 6. c. 6. sect 24. 〈◊〉 Paulus his verbis Omnis anima potestatibus sublimioribus subdi a sit Rom. 13 nunquam addidit etiam potestatibus excommunicatis vel deprvatis a Papa omnes subditisint be subject to the higher Powers and saith that the Apostle never added Let all be subject also to the Powers excommunicated and deprived by the Pope A recreative proof which would make but a poor enthymema The Apostle addeth not that we must be subject also to the higher Powers deprived by the Turk Ergo if the Great Turk pronounce a sentence of deprivation against a Christian Prince the Subjects of that Prince are free from their allegiance and may dispossess and kill him when they think good But what These proofs are as concluding as those that the Popes themselves bring to prove their power Nicholaus 1. Epist ad Michael Imp. Constant Petro specialiter ostensum est ut ea mactaret manducaret Illi soli jussum est ur rete plenum piscibus ad littus traheret as when Pope Nicholas the I. proveth the Papal power because it was said to Saint Peter Kill and eat and because to him alone was granted that power to draw a Net full of Fishes to Land Likewise Bonifacius the VIII proveth his primacy Bonifac. VIII
Parliament for putting down Monarchy and that you shall be helped with some personal interest to increase your hatred against the Protestants of Integrity for such shall you finde the Kings Majesty his Council his Parliament the pious Fathers of the Church and the wise Judges of the Land Could you not content your self to enjoy quietly your Sovereigns Clemency and forbearance but you must defame in Print all that are not of your gang which are no less then the King and the State From their Justice nothing can secure you but your obscurity But while you take an order that your person may lye undiscovered I will make bold to discover some of your Impostures All I cannot neither is it material for all that I need to do to provide an antidote against your poison is to do two things The one to wipe off the aspersions of Rebellion which you cast upon the holy Doctrine of the Protestant Churches The other to bring to the Bar the true Rebels which will be no recrimination but asserting the Pope in his ancient known possession of being the grand Patron and Architect of Rebellion of subjects against their Sovereignes and the especial directer of high Treason against the Kings of England Before I look to the body of his Book somthing must be said of his Epistle and Prefaces His Epistle is addressed to no less then the Right Reverend Father in God Gilbert Lord Bishop of London and Dean of His Majesties Chappel Royal since deservedly promoted to the highest Dignity of the Church of England A great Honour to his Book How far the great Patron which he chuseth is honoured with that Dedication and the due praises which he payeth unto him is obvious to any ordinary understanding Praise at the best is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but a light gift to a wise man And since praise Seneca Sit tibi tam turpe laudari a turpibus quam si lauderis ob turpia hath its price from the praiser that eminent Prelate is little obliged to this Gentlemans praises who justifies in his Book what he is and what he aimes at It is praising him with a vengeance to take him for a Protector of his mischievous attempt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He hath more obliged our late most Reverend Archbishop Juxon now a glorious Saint in heaven whom he hath not spared to blame though he doth not name him but he points at him with his finger And then tells My Lord of London From all these vanities your Lordships known Innocency and Piety hath alwayes defended you scientifically inferring that Innocency and Piety is inconsistent with the Character which he had given of that great Prelate Could this Epistles be so senseless as to expect thanks from a Bishop of London for raising his commendation upon the disgrace of his Metropolitan What needed he to go so far out of his subject to bring in that malicious exception For the blame of the one adds nothing to the praise of the other Does he not shew his hatred against Protestant Prelates which he could not but express even when he took one of them for his Patron And no wonder that a Jesuite should maligne an Archbishop of Canterbury seeing the Jesuites had no greater enemies then those that sate in that See That which he findes amiss in that rarely accomplished Prelate is commended in him by wise men his laudable curiosity fit for a great Naturalist as he was to keep several sorts of Animals about his house as Aristotle did before him Their Nature and Inclinations he would observe with a judicious eye and speak of them pertinently and delightfully Of these Natural Lectures he was pleased to make me hearer several times and to imploy me to finde him Books of that subject So serious were his Recreations when he would unbend among those whom he honoured with his Discourses and Table after his great Imployments about the Government of Church and State As that great person 's known Piety and Innocency cannot be blasted by such a weak enemy as this Jesuite so it needs not be defended by such a weak Champion as I am His admired Vertue shines in an Orb elevated far above the reach of the barking of envie and if he needed the approbation of any under God he had a Royal Testimony when his late Majesty our glorious Saint and Martyr had so much confidence in his Piety and Innocency and together in his Wisdome and Courage that of all his Divines he chose him for his second when he was to encounter the terrors of a violent and ignominious death And by the excellent use which he made of his godly counsel in the retirement of his last devotions he ended his combates in a victorious death over all his enemies spiritual and temporal and yeilded his great soul unto God with joy and comfort For one thing this Jesuite and his confreres had great reason to hate that godly Prelate That after His Majesty had spoken many divine words upon the Scaffold he put him in minde to make a profession of his Religion which he did and professed before God and the world that he dyed a Protestant according to the Religion established by Law in the Church of England A profession which gave great discontent to the Papists and the Fanaticks for both wish'd that he had dyed a Papist indeed It is known with what calmness of spirit prudence and magnanimity that vertuous Prelate went through the tryals which he was put to after the Kings death for he was as wise as a serpent though as harmless as a dove And among his many Vertues he was a great Master of two which seldome meet together a singular and Moses-like meekness and an invincible constancy They that have known him moderating in the Vniversity and have seen him since acting in the greatest businesses of the Kingdome admire the readiness and solidity of his judgement fitted alike for speculation and action and in both excellent His dexterity and patience overcoming the most difficult affairs His sincerity in declaring himself without Complements and his fidelity in keeping his promises without wavering were very remote from the imputation of vanity which this enemy would fasten upon the reputation of that truly great and good man I cannot leave I cannot part from the mention of him without that reverend and affectionate expression of the Jews when they speak of their vertuous friends departed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let his memory be blessed for so his soul is in heaven for all the good he hath done in earth to so many and to me for one for to his Graces goodness next to God I owe the greatest part of my well-being To return to our Adversary Many things in his Epistle and Preface shew him to be an Adversary indeed to the whole Protestant party and a sworn slave to the Court of Rome But as he takes no pains to prove any thing but that all Protestants are Rebels
use of the Edition of Iena An. 1600 tom 2. omnium operum D. Mart. Lutheri Treatise De Captivitate Babylonica Ecclesiae The first cap. De Sacramento Baptismi Ab omnibus hominum legibus exempti sumus libertate Christiana nobis per Baptismum donata that is We are freed from all humane Laws by the Christian liberty given to us by Baptisme I may confidently affirm that these words are not to be found either in that Chapter or in the whole Treatise And if the Reader will be so inquisitive as to look upon the place he shall find it so There Luther complains of the ceremonies wherewith the Pope hath clogged the Sacrament of Baptisme and maintaineth that neither Bishop nor Pope nor Angel hath power to impose such humane additions upon the conscience of Christians to be obeyed as Laws And yet if they be imposed he will have Christians to bear with them keeping still to themselves that liberty of conscience to remember that such things are wrongfully imposed and taking heed either to justifie the tyranny or to murmure against it This is the sense of the whole discourse of Luther But he saith no where that the Christian liberty given to us by Baptisme exempts us from the Laws of men This is a meer fiction So is his second allegation out of the same book cap. de Matrimonio Scio nullam Remp. Legibus feliciter administrari He makes Luther say I know that no State is happily governed by Lawes but there is not one word of that in the whole Chapter of Matrimony nor in the whole Treatise And Luthers opinion was as farr from that Tenet as the East is from the West and the Pope and his Conclave from Christ and his Apostles Shall we wonder that the Pope alters the words of Scripture making the Text say she shall bruise thy heel in stead of he to transfer the victory of Christ over the Devil unto Christs Mother or that he giveth to Scripture a contrary sense turning Feed my sheep into Depose Kings and dispose of Kingdoms when such men as our Adversary take upon them to forge what words and sense they will and to father them upon whom they please Quid Domini facient audent cum talia fures The third allegation is out of the Chapter de Ordine in the same Treatise the words as our Adversary recites them are these Turpe enim est iniquiter servile Christianum hominem qui liber est aliis quam coelestibus divinis legibus subjectum esse that is It is a foul thing and wickedly servile that a Christian man who is free should be subject to any other but the divine and heavenly laws But this Gentleman or he from whom he hath borrowed these allegations hath basely corrupted and falsified this passage putting legibus in stead of traditionibus which alters the sense altogether and changeth the question for Luther disputeth against imposing unnecessary traditions in Religion as necessary to salvation and would not have a Christian to subject himself in that kind to any tradition but such as are divine and heavenly But this corrupter represents him as refusing subjection to civil laws and temporal powers Can there be a more ungodly and odious imposture And how doth this mans inference follow upon Luther's discourse So that it is most plain saith he that it was not Luther ' s design onely to pull down Monarchy but all other kinds of civil Government and to extirpate all humane laws Certainly that inference depends no more upon Luther's discourse then the new stars of Galilee upon the Aphorisms of Hippocrates It is a good sport to see how incensed this Gentleman is against Luther for exhorting Kings and Princes to fall upon the Pope and his Cardinals and to fulfill the Prophecy of Rev. 17. That the Kings of the earth shall strip the great harlot naked devour her self and burn her with fire Which he exagerates as high treason because he acknowledgeth the Pope for his Sovereign and the King of kings whom none can resist or call to account without incurring the crime of Rebellion For his other allegations against Luther he shall not have the luck to be believed upon his word after I have laid open his infidelity in that kind He that hath leisure or curiosity enough may search the places and examine whether they be true or false neither of which concerns us Yet a judicious view of the affairs of Germany at that time and of the nature of Sovereignty and Subjection in the Empire of which I intend to say something in the next Chapter which will make his hardest expressions to seem less strange It is certain that he writ against King Henry the VIII most slovenly Yet observe that Henry the VIII was not his King That he said nothing against the obedience due to him by his subjects and that he made amends to the King since and cryed Peccavi He was then less to blame then the Jesuite Sander who called Sander lib. de Schismate Anglicano the same King his natural Prince another Mahomet the root of sin and a most impious and sacrilegious Tyrant and Queen Elizabeth Lupam Anglicanam the English wolf-bitch and made them no amends for it This testimony cannot be denied to Luther that he opposed rebellion most vigorously as it may be seen Sleidan lib. 5. ad an 1525. Id. lib. 14. ad an 1542. in his Epistle to the Boors that rose in arms and by his Sermon in the Camp both pregnant for the obedience of subjects to their Princes of which Sleidan giveth a faithfull account a better Author then our Adversary or Cochlaeus Luther's enemy The first and greatest instrument of the Helvetian Reformation was Zuinglius out of whose books the Adversary picks some passages to exhort the Switzers and Germans to defend their Religion against the Emperour If there had been no quarrel of Religion at that time yet he would have exhorted them to stand for their liberties against the Emperour For the Switzers having shaken off the yoke of the Empire two hundred years before It is no marvel that Zuinglius was not carefull to exhort his Countreymen and neighbours to obedience to the Emperour the perpetual underminer of the State which he lived in Observe that the Authours that write of the power of Princes and of the duty of subjects determine it according to the form of the States in which they live and so no wonder that Zuinglius a Switzer acknowledgeth no successive power but conceiveth all Princes to be eligible and deposable by the Commonwealth And that Calvin and Beza living in an Aristocratical State shewed also in their Writings more inclination towards that kind of Government So the German and Italian Writers are for a mixt and much limitted Government The English and French for Monarchy with certain Laws And if the Turks and Muscovites could make Books they would write for the Despotical and unlimitted power Our
have made the Right of Kings known which was opprest before Such a judgement is of great weight coming from a wise King who was truly informed of the businesses of his neighbours Certainly si perito in arte sua credendum est If a skilful Artist must be believed when he speaketh within the compasse of his Art none can decide better what rebellion is and what is not then a great Monarch jealous of the Royal Authority skilled in the duty of Subjects and one that had a long struggling with rebellious spirits This Sentence was pronounced by his Majesty in the year 1615 when France had peace at home and abroad Two years after they had the like testimony of their fidelity from their own King by a Letter of his Majesty written to their Deputies assembled in a Synod at Vitre in these terms Nous avons receu bien volontiers les nouuelles assurances protestations que vous nous auez faites de vostre fidelite obeissance En laquelle persistans comme vous devez que vous auez sait par le passè vous pouuez aussi estre assurez que nous aurons toussours soin de vous maintenir conserver en tous les avantages qui vous ont esté accordez These Letters were printed and published with other Declarations We have received with good satisfaction the new assurances and protestations which you have made unto us of your fidelity and obedience In the which if you persist as you ought and as you have done before you may also be assured that we shall alwayes have a care to maintain and preserve you in all the advantages which have been granted unto you These Letrers bear the Date of May 29. 1617. from Paris Cardinal d'Ossat speaking to Cardinal Aldobrandin Nephew to Clement the VIII about the execrable murther attempted by Iohn Chastel against Henry the IV. of France told him that if Sil y avoit lieu a de tels assassinats ce seroit aux Heretiques a les purchasser executer qu'il a quittez abandonnez qui avoyent a se craindre de luy toutesois ils n'ont rien attenté contre luy ni contre aucun de cinq de nos Roys ses predecesseurs quelque boucherie que leurs Majestez ayent fait desdits Huguenots Card. d'Ossat Epist 8. a Mr. de Velleroy Ian. 25. 1595. pag. 77. such attempts were allowable they were more proper to execute for the Hereticks so he is pleased to call the Protestants whom the King hath left and forsaken and who have reason to stand in fear of him and yet they never attempted any such thing neither against him nor against any of the Kings his predecessors what slaughter soever they have made of the said Hugenots But the greatest testimony of their fidelity is that famous Edict of Nantes which was expressely made to reward them with priviledges for their constant adhering to their King in the long calamities of France Seeing then that the French Protestants were acknowledged good Subjects by their Sovereigne and have deserved by their signal loyalty and long services to the Crowne those few priviledges which they hardly enjoy it is evident how unjust the extraordinary expostulation is That the Roman Catholicks have not the publick allowed exercise of Religion in England as the Protestants have in France There is great reason for that differing dealing The French Protestants have deserved that liberty and more by their constant fidelity and valour having maintained their King with their purses and defended him with their swords so many years against the Jesuitical party who had made a League with strangers to keep him from the Crown and take away his life It is known that the Grandfather of the King now reigning was set upon the Throne by the swords of his Protestant Subjects Let the Jesuitical party of England shew the like service to their Sovereigne whereby they deserve the like recompence What care did they take of the preservation of their Sovereigns lives Queen Elizabeth and King Iames How did they defend their Crowns against the claim and invasion of strangers Did they further or hinder the return of our gracious King now reigning If some few Roman Catholicks have fought for our glorious King and Martyr Charles the I. their whole party fares the better by it now and finds the King a grateful Prince remembring good deeds and forgetting injuries Then the difference of their doctrine in point of Government ought to make a great difference in the allowance of the publick exercise of their Religion The Jesuited Catholicks acknowledge another Sovereigne over their King both for the Spiritual and the Temporal a forreigne power which can dispense them of their Allegiance to him The Protestants acknowledge no Sovereigne above their King and give no jealousie by their doctrine to the Roman Catholick Princes and States under which they live as the Jesuites have done even to Roman Catholicks by whom they have been expelled out of their Dominions as Teachers of a doctrine tending to rebellion Of the troubles that followed who so will give an impartial judgement must look upon the condition of the French Protestants since King Henry IV. bought his peace with the party of the League by the change of his Religion That King seeing himself obliged to provide for the safety of his Protestant subjects by whose armes and long service he had been preserved in his adversities and finally placed upon the Royal Seat gave them some places of strength in several Provinces of the Kingdome for certain years and by an Edict called the Edict of Nantes the free enjoying of their estates and the open exercise of their Religion with some limitation of places Of the priviledges granted them by that Edict there were many infractions especially since the death of Henry the IV. who both by his authority and together by his ancient interest in the Protestant party kept all quiet and preserved them from those wrongs to which the weakest are alwaies obnoxious The term being expired of the grant of those places King Lewis the XIII renewed it for four or five years after which he would have them out of their hands That they were to be restored upon the Kings demand was the opinion of grave Protestants the severest exactors of the obedience of subjects to the Sovereign of my Reverend Father especially who being eminent and respected in the party was a principal means to keep the Protestant Churches on this side Loire in peace and in duty to their King for which his Majesty sent him a considerable summe of money which he refused to take saying that he could be loyal to his King without being bought But the necessity of their keeping those places seemed to be justified by the reason of the first grant which was to preserve them from the violence of their bitter enemies for said they if so many places of safety could not keep us
safe from their insolence what will become of us when we shall lye naked of all defense and exposed to the will of that party which used us before like sheep appointed to the slaughter Upon those terms they were when the Assembly of The Assembly of Rochel was not an Ecclesiastick but a Politick Assembly for those two sorts of Assemblies they were allowed to keep but now the Ecclesiastick only is allowed Rochel being once licenced by their King and since forbidden sate against his will and took order for a defensive war Whereupon my Reverend Father returning from the National Synod of Alais of which he had been President writ a Letter to them which I insert here as very pertinent to my purpose Gentlemen I do not write to you to powr my sorrows into your bosome or to entertain you with my private crosses upon that I need no comforter accounting it a great honour that in the publick affliction of the Church God would have me to march in the front And I would account it a great happiness if all the storm should light on my head so that I were the onely sufferer and the Church of God should enjoy peace and prosperity A more smarting care hath moved me to write to you and forced me to go beyond my nature which was alwayes averse from medling with publick businesses and from moving out of the sphere of my proper calling For seeing the general body of the Church in eminent danger and upon the brink of a dismal precipice it was not possible for me to keep silence Nay I cannot be silent in this urgent necessity without drawing upon me the guilt of insensibility and Cruelty towards the Church of God And I am full of hope that while I deliver my mind to you about publick businesses my domestick affliction will free me from jealousies in your opinion And if I be not believed at least I shall be excused Indeed it doth not become me to take upon me to give counsel to an assembly of persons chosen out of the whole Kingdome to bear the burden of the publick affairs in a time so full of difficulties yet I think it usefull for you to be truly informed what the sense is and what the disposition of our Churches None could have a more particular knowledge of it then he who was lately come from the National Synod in the South of France where he made it his businesse to observe the posture of the affairs of the Protestants by persons that have a particular knowledge of it The question being then whether you ought to separate your Assembly to obey his Majesty or keep together to give order to the affairs of the Churches I am obliged to tell you that the general desire of our Churches is that it may please God to continue our peace in our obedience to his Majesty And that seeing the King resolved to make himself obeyed by the force of his armes they trust that you will do your best to avoid that storm and rather yield unto necessity then to ingage them in a war which most certainly will ruine most part of our Churches and will bring us into a trouble of which we see the beginning but can see no end By obeying the King you shall take away the pretence used by those that set his Majesty on to persecute us and if we must be persecuted all that fear God desire that it may be for the profession of the Gospel and that our persecution may truly be the cross of Christ In one word I can assure you Gentlemen that the greatest and best part of our Churches wisheth for your separation if it may be with the safety of your persons yea that many of the Romane Church desiring the publick peace are continually about us beseeching and exhorting us that we do not by casting our selves headlong involve them in the same ruine Hereupon I need not represent unto you how terribly and generally our poor flocks are frighted and dismayed casting their eyes upon you as persons that may procure their rest and by yielding to the present necessity blow away the storm hanging over their heads Many already have forsaken the land many have forsaken their Religion whence you may judge what dissipation is like to follow if this exasperation go on further No more do I need to recommend unto you to have a tender care of the preservation of our poor Churches knowing that you would chuse death rather then to draw that reproach upon you that you have hastened the persecution of the Church and destroyed that which the zeal of our Fathers have planted and that you have put this State in confusion I am not ignorant that many reasons are alledged to perswade you to continue your Assembly they tell you that the King hath granted it but for that grant of his Majesty you can show no Warrant nor any written Declaration without which all promises are but words in the air for Kings believe they have power to forbid that which they have permitted and to revoke that which they have granted when they judge it expedient for the good of their affairs Neither is there any of you after he hath sent his servant or given him leave to goe to some place that thinks not that he hath power to call him back Sovereign Princes especially are very unwilling to keep their promises when they have been extorted Also great number of grievances and contraventions to the Kings Edicts are represented unto you which complaints to our great grief are too true But that I may not urge that we have given occasion to many of those evils our own selves the difficulty lyeth not in representing our griefs but in finding the remedies Consider then whether the subsistence of your Assembly can heal all these sores whether your sitting can give a shelter to our Churches provide all things necessary for a war where the parties are so unequal raise forces and make a stock to pay them Whether all the good that your sitting can produce can countervail the dissipation of so many Churches which lye open to the wrath of their enemies Whether when they are fallen you can raise them again Whether in the evident division that is amongus you are able to rally the scattered parts of that divided body which if it were well united yet would be too weak to stand upon the defensive Pardon me Gentlemen if I tell you that you shall not find all our Protestants inclined to obey your resolutions and that the fire being kindled all about you shall remain helpless beholders of the ruine which you have drawn on our heads Neither can it be unknown to you that many of the best quality among us and best able to defend us openly blame your actions holding and professing that suffering for this cause is not suffering for the cause of God These making no resistance and opening the gates of their places or joining their
deponi eligi alius Et Recogn lib. de Laicis sect Addo experientiam laudat Navarrum qui non dubitat affirmare nunquam populum ita potestatem suam in Regem transferre quin illam sibi in habitu retineat ut in certis quibusdam casibus etiam actu recipere possit men the Kings power is from the people because the people makes the King And in temporal Common-wealths if the King degenerate into a Tyrant though he be the Head of the Kingdome he may be deposed by the people and another elected And doth he not praise Navarrus for saying that the people never so transferre their power to the King but they retain it in the habit so that in some cases they may resume it Is it for saying that the Common-wealth may take defensive armes against the King and expel him The Jesuite Suarez taught them that doctrine Suarez Defens Fid lib. 6. c. 19. sect 17. Resp ex sola rei natura spectatam prout fuit apud Gentiles nunc est inter Ethnicos habet potestatem se desendendi à Tyranno Rege sect 15. Si Rex legitimus tyrannice gubernat regno nullum aliud sit remedium nisi Regem expellere deponere poterit Resp tota publico communi consensu civitatem procerum Regem deponere The Common-wealth saith he considered in her meer nature and as it was among the Gentiles and as it is now among the Pagans hath the power to defend her self against a Tyrant If a lawful King governe tyrannically and that there be no other remedy for the Kingdome but to expel and depose the King the whole Common-wealth by the publick and common consent of the Cities and the Peers may depose the King Or do the Jesuites inveigh against them for making a formal and aggressive Warre against the King They have no reason for it seeing that the Jesuite Mariana hath set them down the whole course which they have followed The readiest Mariana lib. 6. de Rege cap. 6. pag. 59. 60. Expedita maximé tuta via est si publici conventus facultas detur communi consensu quid statuendum sit deliberare fixum ratumque habere quod communi sententia steterit Monendus in primis Princeps erit atque ad sanitatem revocandus c. Qui si medicinam respuat neque spes ulla sanitatis relinquatur sententia pronuntiata licebit Reip ejus imperium detrectare primum quoniam bellum necessario concitabitur ejus defendendi consilia explicare expedire arma pecunias in belli sumptus imperare populis si res feret neque aliter se Resp tueri possit eodem defensionis jure ac vero potiori authoritate propria Principem publice hostem declaratum ferro perimere and the safest way saith he if the people may meet in a publick Assembly is to deliberate by common consent what is to be done and then to keep inviolably that which is agreed on by common consent The Prince must first be admonish't and exhorted to mend But if he refuse the remedy and there be no hope of his mending the sentence being once pronounced against him it will be lawful for the Common-wealth to refuse to obey him And because a Warre must necessarily follow the counsels how to maintain it must be set down armes must be quickly provided and taxes laid upon the people to bear the expences of the Warre And if it be requisite and the Common-wealth cannot otherwise maintain it self it shall be lawful both by the right of defence and more by the Authority proper to the people to declare publikely the King to be the common enemy and then kill him with the sword Do the Jesuites look with horrour upon that Court of Justice erected to try the King Let them remember that they had Mariana's warrant for it That the Common-wealth from which the Royal Power hath its original may when the case requires Mariana Ibid. Certe à Rep. unde ortum habet regia potestas rebus exigentibus Regem in jus vocari posse si sanitatem respuat Principatu spoliari Neque ita in Principem jura potestatis transtulit ut non sibi majorem reservarit potestatem it bring the King to judgement and if he refuse to mend deprive him of his Sovereignty For the Common-wealth hath not so transferred the right of power unto the Prince but it hath reserved a greater power to it self And why doth our Adversary an earnest defender of the Jesuites exclaim so much against the abominable parricide acted upon our Sacred Sovereigne seeing that the people which made Warre against him held him to be a Tyrant and Lessius lib. 2. de Iustitia Iure cap. 9. dubio 4. scribit Verum Principem qui tyrannus est ratione administrationis non posse à privatis interimi quamdiu manet Princeps primum à Repub. vel comitiis Regni vel alio habente authoritatem esse deponendum hostem declarandum ut in ipsius personam liceat quicquam attentare it is the currant opinion of the Jesuites that a tyrant may be killed by any private man A true Prince saith Lessius who is a tyrant by reason of his administration cannot be killed by a private person as long as he remaineth a Prince but he must first be deposed and declared enemy by the Common-wealth or the Parliament of the Kingdome or some other having Authority that it may be lawful to attempt any Suarez contra Regem Mag. Brit. lib. 6. cap. 4. sect 14. Post sententiam lutam domnino privatur regno ita ut non possit justo titulo illud possidere ergo ex tunc poterit tanquam tyrannus tractari consequenter à quocunquè privato poterit intersici thing against his person And Suarez saith to the same purpose that after the Sentence given against a King he is altogether deprived of his Kingdome so that he can no more possesse it with a just title Wherefore from thenceforth he may be used like a tyrant and killed by any private person Neither ought the Jesuites to find fault with the publick thanksgiving for murthering the King and making of the thirtieth of Ianuary a Thanksgiving Day seeing that the Jesuites of Paris shewed the way for that to the Rebels in England for in the time of the French League they made Solemne Thanksgivings for the murthering of their King as Pope Sixtus the V. did since at Rome with a vehement oration in which he applieth a Prophesie of the Incarnation of the Sonne of God unto that Kings Murther So much the late Rebels of England have learned of you Fathers Jesuites and no reason have you to chide your Scholars for following your doctrine and example how far you are yet before them I will shew before I have done with you For they do not make the crown of their Kings obnoxious to be kickt down by the
and of this among others workes whereas they had laboured as diligently and effectually for it as they So there was striving for the glory of that atchievement and the Friars shewed themselves as much Jesuited as the Jesuites In the height of Olivers Tyranny Thomas White Gentleman a Priest and a right Jesuite in all his principles about obedience set out a Book entituled the Grounds of Obedience and Government Wherein he pag. 122. maintains that If the people by any circumstance be devolved to the State of Anarchy their promise made to their expelled Governour binds no more That the people is remitted by the evil managing or insufficiency of their Governour to the force of Nature to provide for themselves and not bound by any promise made to their Governour pag. 123 124. That the Magistrate by his miscarriages abdicateth himself from being a Magistrate and proveth a Brigand or Robber instead of a Defender That word Defender he writes with a great D. that the Reader may take notice whom he means If the Magistrate saith he have truly deserved to be pag. 133. dispossessed or if he be rationally doubted that he hath deserved it and he be actually out of possession In the former case it is certain the subject hath no Obligation to hazard for his restitution but rather to hinder it For since it is the common good that both the Magistrate and the Subject are to aim at and clearly out of what is exprest it is the common harm to admit again of such a Magistrate every one to his power is bound to resist him The next case is pag. 135. if he be innocent and wrongfully deposed nay let us add One who had governed well and deserved much of the Commonwealth yet is he totally dispossessed And so that it is plain in these circumstances It were better for the Common good to stay as they are then to venture the restoring him because of the publick hazard And not to set down all his words and follow his style which is affectedly intricate and obscure he maintaineth that a dispossessed Prince whether by right or wrong is obliged absolutely to renounce all Right and pag. 136. Claim to Government and if he does not he is worse then an Infidel He tells us That Pope Vrban the VIII published a pag. 151. Decision That after five yeers quiet possession of an Estate the Church was not bound to take notice whether the Title were lawful or no but acknowledge the Possessor in Ecclesiastical businesse That when the peoples good stands on the Possessors side pag. 154. then clearly he begins to gain right and power That when the people think themselves well they manifestly consent to the present Government Besides saith he who can answer they shall be better by the return of the dispossessed party Surely by common presumption the gainer is like to defend them better then he who lost it He comes so far as to conclude That if the old Magistrate offer to return he must be repulsed by force of Arms. His reasoning is this What if an open enemy should come could pag 1â—7 or ought the subjects joyn against him with their new Magistrate If not the whole Publick must perish If they may then their case is the same against their old Magistrate since his right stood upon the common Peace and that transferred from him to his Rival by the Title of quiet possession This was the Philosophy of that contemplative Gentleman when the King lived in exile and Oliver sate on the Throne Having so well deserved of the King he was not long since highly recommended to His Majesty by a man of great Note But the King who hath a Royal Insight into persons and businesses stopt him with this short answer No more of that I know what man he is Father Bret was of M. Whites opinion for the Castle of Jersey being surrendred after that resistance which for the length of standing out and the height of Valour shall be memorable in all ages When the Gentlemen who had defended it were prest to take the Engagement contrary to the Articles of their Rendition That goodly Divine was very earnest with them at St Malo to take it maintaining That they were not to acknowledge any Supreme but the prevailing power When his Majesty cast himself upon the Spaniard the Jesuitical party thought they had him sure enough from ever returning But God disappointed their hopes and deceived our fears by his miraculous mercy For it was the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes that he scaped out of those hands I cannot leave un-observed That in rhe height of the late Tyrannie two heads of the Gun-powder Traytors that were set up upon the House of Lords were taken down not by the high winds but by the same zeal which had plotted that Treason and with the leave of Traytors of another feather We may hear in time that those holy Reliques are shrined up in gold and are working miracles CHAP. III The Doctrine of the Protestant Churches about the Obedience of Subjects to the Higher Powers as it is set down in the Publick Confessions of the several National Churches TO ease the search of those that would know what the Protestant Churches hold in the point of obedience to the Magistrate And that some pickt periods out of private Authors unfaithfully alledged by their Adversaries be not taken for the Doctrine of their party I have set down here their publick Confessions in that point For whether some of those allegations be true or false their word must not be taken for the opinion of their Church before that of the General Confession The Augustan Confession Article XVI sub finem CHristiani necessario debent obedire praesentibus Magistratibus ac legibus nisi quum jubent peccare Tunc enim wagis debent obedire Deo quam hominibus Act. 4. Article XVI sub finem CHristians must necessarily obey the present Magistrates and Laws but when they command to sinne For then they must obey God rather then men Act. 4. The French Confession Article XXXIX DEus gladium in Magistratuum manus tradidit reprimendis ni mirum delictis non modo contra secundam Tabulam sed etiam contra primam commissis Oportet igitur propter illum hujus ordinis authorem non tantum pati ut ii dominentur quos ille nobis praefecit sed etiam omni honore reverentia eos prosequi tanquam ejus Legatos Ministros ad legitimum sanctum munus obeundum ab ipso designaâ—os Article XXXIX GOd hath put the sword in the Magistrates hands to represse offences not onely against the Second Table but also against the First We ought therefore for his sake who is the Author of this order not onely to suffer those to governe whom God hath set over us but also yield to them honour and all respect as to his Lieutenants and Ministers
III. Hic statim ubi Pontificatum iniit Cleri Romani consensu Leonem tertium Imperatorem Constantinopolitanum Imperio simul communione Fidelium privat quod sanctas Imagines è sacris aedibus abrasisset Degree by the consent of the Roman Clergie deprived Leo the III. Emperour of Constantinople both of his Empire and of the Communion of the faithful because he had swept away the holy Images out of the Churches Observe that Platina that writ about the year 1472. at Rome speaks according to the great interest of that time and place which was That an Emperour excommunicated was ipso facto deprived of his Empire Whereas the Popes that lived 700 years before either had not that ambition or wanted the courage to depose Emperours But the Popes that reigned two or three hundred yeers ago made that power of deposing Princes as ancient as they could by their Historians The same must be said of the pretended deposition of Chilperick King of France by Pope Zachary the next Successor of Gregory the III. Cardinal Perron sets forth that example to fright Kings in his Oration before the three States of France and saith that the Pope absolved the people of France from their Allegiance to that King for which he alledgeth the testimony of two new Authors Paulus Aemilius and Du Tillet But Ado Bishop of Vienna in his Chronicle saith That the French by the counsel of Embassadors and of Pope Zachary established Pepin their King And Trithemius in his Abridgement of Annals speaks thus Chilperick King of the French is put out from the Kingdome as incapable to reigne by the common consent of the great persons of the Kingdome Pope Zachary giving them counsel But although the Champions of the Court of Rome ascribe to these ancient Popes that power which they never exercised or pretended to That assertion of theirs is very favourable to my purpose which is to shew that the Roman Court is and delights to be the Troubler of Christendome by that usurpation of deposing Kings and absolving Subjects from their Allegiance For the more they strive for it and labour to root it in Antiquity the more they shew the stirring of Rebellions to be essential and original unto their wicked Throne After Zachary followed Stephen the II. who set on Pepin to expel the Exarchs out of Italy and obtained Platina of him the Exarchat for himself though belonging to the Emperour of Constantinople his true Sovereigne So there was both Rebellion and Robbery in that proceeding Wherein he followed the steps of Gregory the II. who thirty yeers before had robbed the Emperour his Master of the City of Rome and the Roman Dutchy Yet in these Dominions the Emperours of the West which then begun again kept the Imperial power a Platina in vita Eugenii II. Lotharius in Italiam veniens Magistratum delegit qui populo Romano jus diceret Platina affirmeth That when Lothary came into Italy he chose Magistrates to judge the people of Rome For in the partage between the sons of Lewis the Meek Italy and Rome fell to the share of Lothary the eldest But above all the testimony of Sigonius is express who speaking of the posture of Italy in the yeer 973. saith That the Pope kept Rome Ravenna and the Sigonius de Regno Italiae lib. 7. ann 973. Pontifex Romam Ravennam ditiones reliquas tenebat authoritate magis quam imperio quod Civitates Pontificem ut Reip. Principem Regem vero ut summum Dominum intuerentur atque ei tributa obsequiaque praeberent rest of his Territories rather by Authority then Soveraignty because the Cities look'd upon the Pope as a Prince of the Common-wealth but upon the King as their Soveraigne Lord and to him they payd Tribute and yeelded Obedience It appeareth by the Histories of Volaterranus Blondus and Sabellicus that it is but about two hundred yeers since the Pope is absolute Master in Rome And for the Spiritual It was about the year 800. power Sigonius affirmeth That Pope Hadrian the I. yeilded to the Emperour Charlemagne the power of ordering the Church and electing the Pope which was so approved by Pope Leo the VIII eightscore yeers after that a Sigonius de reg Ital. ad an 963. Non sine causa Adrianum I. Carolo magno tribuisse ut Ecclesiam ordinaret Pontificem eligeret Platina in Paschalis I. Paschalis nulla interposita Imperatoris authoritate Pontiséx creatur Hanc ob rem ubi Pontificatum iniit statim Legatos ad Ludovicum misit qui ejus rei culpam omnem in Clerum populum rejicerent quod ab his vi coactus esset pontisicium munus obire Accepta hac satisfactione Ludovicus respondit populo Clero majorum instituta pacta servanda esse caverent ne dein ceps Majestatem lae derent he said that it was not without cause that Hadrian the first had done so Yet Pope Paschalis the I. got into the Roman See without the Emperours Authority and consent as his Predecessor Stephen the IV. had done before him and then sent to Lewis the Meek to purge himself and cast the fault upon the importunity of the Clergie and the people The Emperour accepted the excuse but said withal That the Clergie and the people should no more offend the Emperours Majesty in that sort Let it be then remembred that the Popes power is an usurpation first upon the Emperours of the East and since upon those of the West that it be not found strange that his power having begun by Rebellion and Usurpation is maintained in the following ages by answerable means and liveth by the same elements of which it was composed This also will give an evidence to the judicious Reader of the true cause why the Popes had such a long and pertinacious quarrel with the Emperours and thundred continually upon them with Excommunications created to them enemies and tore the Empire with Factions even that they might strip the Emperour of all his right in Italy make themselves independent both for the Spiritual and the Temporal and raise their greatnesse upon the fall of the Empire So the many examples which I shall bring of excommunicating and deposing of Emperours and absolving their subjects from their Allegiance shall lay a double guilt of rebellion upon the Popes both as commanding rebellion abroad and practising rebellion at home against their lawful Sovereigns The first Pope that offered to excommunicate the King of France was Gregory the IV. who joyned with Sigebert An. 832. the Sonnes of Lewis the meek who had conspired against their Father But the French Bishops threatned to excommunicate him so he desisted The first Pope that attempted to draw his spiritual Sword against the Emperour was that honest man Gregory Anno circiter 1080. the VII called before Hildebrand who excommunicated the Emperour Henry the IV but deposed him before The Empire he translated to Rudolph Platina
in Greg. VII Imperatorem ipsum anathemate notavit privatum prius omni Regia administratione Duke of Suevia But you must understand that though he gave him the Empire he did not deliver it For Rudolph was slain in battel by the Emperour Rome was taken by the Emperour and Gregory died for grief The last words of Rudolph are notable Seeing his hand cut off he Marianus Scotus Sigebertus Vspergensis said to the Bishops that had made him take armes You see my hand which I had lift up to God with an Oath of fidelity to my Sovereigne now punisht for fighting traiterously against him by your instigation It seemes that the Popes command could not cleer his conscience of the crime of rebellion Vrban the II. did also excommunicate and persecute Platira Sigebertus that worthy Emperour Henry the IV. This is that Vrban who made that Vrban II. Causa 15. q. 6. Can. Iuratos Iuratos milites Hugoni Comitine ipsi quandiu excommunicatus est serviant prohibemus goodly Decree That an Oath made to an excommunicated person must not be kept The quarrel which made these Popes excommunicate the Emperour was about collation of Benefices Pope Paschal the II. who succeeded Vrban made that Emperours Sonne to take armes against his Father Aventinus â—ttho Frisengensis And that ungracious Sonne was such an obedient Sonne to his Holinesse that he gave battel to his Father Who being overcome and in his enemies hands was deposed in a Synod held at Mentz by the Popes command to that purpose and the Crowne and other Imperial ornaments were taken violently from him by three Bishops of Mentz of Collen and of Worms and given to his Sonne Henry the V. The old Emperour being soon after dead for grief the Pope would not suffer his Sonne to bury him but he lay five years unburied These are the holy actions of him that cannot erre and hath all right shrined up in the closet of Platina in Paulo II. his breast It is worth relating how that Paschal sped by these wicked acts The new Emperour came to Rome to be crowned by him There the quarrel was renewed about collation of Benefices And because the people Baronius An. Chr. 1111. of Rome rose in a mutiny against him he made a great slaughter of them and took his Holinesse prisoner using Iacobs words I will not let thee go till thou hast given me thy blessing That blessing was the yielding of the Collation of Benefices which Paschal granted Observe that the Roman Church hath altered her belief in that point for they hold now that the body of Christ in the Sacrament cannot be divided and confirmed it by Oath But he revoked that Grant as soon as he was free again although the Oath was taken by the Altar where Paschal dividing the Host between the Emperour and him used these words which Baronius relates Sicubi pars haec vivifici corporis divisa est ita divisus sit à regno Christi qui pactum hoc violare tentaverit As this part of the vivifying body is divided so let him be divided from Christs Kingdome that will go about to break this Covenant But what the Pope absolveth others from their Oath much more himself when he listeth This horrible action of a Son giving battel to his Father and keeping him prisoner till he die through hardnesse and anguish is highly commended by Baronius Why the Son did it in obedience to the Pope who would not pardon his Father no not after his death These are Baronius his words In this action the Son is no more to be condemned Baron loco citato Nihil habes in quo damnes filium magis quam si insanienti surentique pius filius vincula injiciat patri Quis negare potest summum suisse hoc pietatis genus then if a pious Son should bind his Father who is fallen mad And again Who can deny that it was the highest kind of piety to have shewed himself cruel in this case Here is rebellion in the height of a subject against his Sovereigne Here is a most horrible parricide of a Son armed against his Father both commanded by the Pope and at his command executed And both praised and recommended by a Jesuite and a famous Cardinal as a pattern for posterity Calixtus the II. his next Successor but one excommunicated Henry the V. and forced him to compound How the Pope could be so bold abroad being so Frinsingensis Platina weak at home it is a wonder to me for the Romans rebelled against Innocent the II. and created a Magistrate which they called Patritius to whom they deferred the Government whereby they broke his heart and made him die for sorrow And when Pope Lucius the II. went about to put down that new Magistrate he was answered that the Senate would recover that right which the Popes had invaded by the help of Charlemayne Lucius called upon the Emperour Conrad for help who either could not or would not help him Lucius raiseth Souldiers and assaults the Capitol but in that assault he was so bepelted with stones that he died few dayes after And although Pope Eugenius the II. came to some composition with the Romans yet both he and his Successors Anastasius the IV. and Hadrian the IV. were kept under by them and Hadrian was in the end forced to flie from Rome Yet the same Hadrian suffered the Emperour Frederick the I. to hold his Stirrup and quarrelled Helmodi Chron. lib. 1. cap. 81. with him for taking the left instead of the right That brave Emperour was more coursly used yet by the next Pope Alexander the III. who trod upon his neck when he stooped to kiss his Holinesses Foot using these words of the Psalm 91. Thou shalt tread upon the Lion and Adder the young Lion and the Dragon shalt thou trample underfeet And when the Emperour said Non tibi sed Petro This submission I do not to thee but to Peter the Pope treading upon him again said Et mihi Petro Both to me and to Peter Such was that Popes humility So did he obey Saint Peters command Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake The Pope had before excommunicated Frederick and when he came to submit and reconcile himself unto the Pope his Holiness gave him this wellcome This so memorable passage so known and so odious to all the World is left out for shame by Platina and his Commentator Onuphrius And all that Platina saith of that meeting is that Frederick kist the Popes feet in Platina in Alexandro III. the Porch of Saint Mark of Venice and then they went together to the great Altar But it is attested by twenty Historians alledged by Hieronymo Bardo in his Historia Navalis The great Jurisconsult * Duarenus lib. 1. de sacris Ecclesiae Ministeriis cap. 2. Duarenus relateth it with great detestation of so great a pride and tyranny
following Popes exercise over his Son Henry the III. in his long and unfortunate Reign insulting over his weakness and superstition How licentiously did these Wolves tear and raven in England while the publick cry of the oppressed Matth. Paris in vitae Hen. III. people represented unto the King that his Kingdome was become like a Vine whose fence is pulled down and rooted out by the wild Bear These Histories which make the usurpations of the Roman Court to be abhorred yet are set forth by the Jesuite Petra Sancta as examples for all Princes And Petra Sancta Not. in Epist ad Balzac he would have all Kings to imitate King John and Henry the III. of England in their subjection to the Pope He could not have chosen more frequent examples to dehort them from it considering the gulf of miseries which they sunk into by their stooping under the Popes tyranny But they have more reason to follow the example of the next King brave Edward the I. who recovered his own and his Kingdomes liberty by expelling all the Roman Exactours out of England and by his contempt of Rome reigned peaceably and glorious For the Pope who in the Reigns of his Father and Grandfather was thundering continually and cudgelling both King and people never spake a word against this stout King Pope Innocent the III. played with his Spiritual Sword in Germany as well as in England for he excommunicated the Emperour Otho the IV. Platina in Innocent III. Otho iram Pontificis in se concitavit à quo anathemate notatur Imperii titulis privatur and deprived him of the titles of the Empire as Platina speaks warily for Popes cannot take away Kingdomes but onely deny to acknowledge the titles The Emperour Fredericke the II. was worse used by the Popes though much deserving of the Roman See to which he had given the County of Fundi For he was excommunicated and deposed by Pope Honorius the III. and again by Gregory the IX for that Monster Platina of pride and greedinesse when the Emperour was gone on his errand into Palaestina anathematized him raised him enemies in Germany by his preaching Friars Matth. Paris in Vita Hen. III. Reg. Angl. Vspergensis Trithemius and taking advantage of his absence sent an army into Appulia and seised upon the Emperours Lands Twice he shewed himself reconciled with the Emperour and twice again broke with him and excommunicated him but with ill successe to himself For by all these Excommunications and Depositions the Emperour thrived who after a long patience fell upon the Pope made his Interdicts laid upon the Empire to be hissed out and so distressed the Pope by his armies that he died for wrath and sorrow The same Emperour was also excommunicated and Platina Matth. Paris persecuted by Pope Innocent the IV. And when after the Emperours death the armes of his Son prospered in Italy he gave the Kingdome of Sicily to Richard brother to Henry the III. of England Richard not acquainted with the Popes giving of Kingdomes asketh that the Forts and the Treasure and Hostages be given to him Herein wiser if he had stayed there then others who accept that which the Pope cannot deliver I will passe by many Popes that came after who sent their Excommunications no further then the Kingdome of Naples and Sicily and filled Italy with factions that they might fish in troubled waters Let us fix our contemplation a little upon that high pattern of Pontifical vertues Boniface the VIII upon whom Platina bestoweth this Character That Boniface Platina in Bonifacio Bonifacius ille qui Imperatoribus Regibus Principibus Nationibus Populis terrorem potius quam religionem injicere conabatur Quique dare regna auferre pellere homines ac reducere pro arbitrio conabatur aurum undique conquisitum plus quam dici potest sitiens who studied to give terrour rather then religion unto Emperours Kings Princes and Nations and laboured to give and take away Kingdomes drive men away and bring them again according to his pleasure One that was thirsty of goods scraped up from all places more then can be exprest The passages between him and the French King Philip the Fair are known yet perhaps not to all This is the History in short This Pope having a grudge against him about the Collation of Benefices and desiring to pick a quarrel sent to him the Bishop of Pamiers Stella Histoire de France to command him to undertake an expedition to the Holy Land and to threaten him if he refused The Bishop did that errand so malapertly that the King offended committed him to prison The Pope angry demanded the Bishop again and had him and sent this Letter to the King Fear God and keep his Commandements We will have thee to know that thou art our Subject both for the Spiritual and the Temporal That no Collation of Benefices and Prebends belongs to thee And if thou hast the custody of any of them that are vacant we will have thee to reserve the fruits for their Successors And if thou hast granted any Benefices We declare all such Collations null and as far as they are executed de facto We revoke them Those that believe otherwise we hold them for Hereticks These goodly Letters being brought to Paris by a Legate were pluckt from him by the Kings Council and Judges and cast into the fire by the Earle of Artois And to them the King returned this Answer Philip by the Grace of God King of the French to Boniface calling himself Sovereign Pontife but little greeting or rather none at all Let thy most egregious folly know that in temporal things we are subject to no man That the Collation of Churches and Prebends belongs unto us by Royal Right and converting the same to our use during the vacancy That the Collation by us made and to be made shall be valid and that in vertue of the same we will couragiously defend the possessors Those that hold otherwise We hold to be idiots and bereaved of their sense The Pope inraged excommunicates the King but none durst be the publisher or bearer of that Bull. The King assembleth at paris his Knights Barons and Prelates and asketh them of whom they hold their Lordships and the temporal of their Ecclesiastical preferments All answer that they hold them of the King not of the Pope whom they charge with heresie and many crimes The Pope assembleth a General Council as Platina calleth it though it was gathered out of few Platina Countries and by a Decree of that Council depriveth Philip of his Kingdome and giveth it to the Emperour Albert and laboureth to arme Germany and Netherlands against France But that vigorous King sent Nogaret into Italy who by the help of Sciarra Columna whose Family Boniface had cruelly opprest got two hundred horse and surprised the Pope at Anagnia whom they mounted upon a poor jade and brought him prisoner
insurgere Ipsorum unumquemque qui vel minoribus Ecclesiae Ordinibus sit initiatus quodcunque crimen admiserit in laesae Majestatis crimen non posse incidere quippe qui minime sint amplius Regis subditi nec jurisdictioni ejus subjecti Ita Ecclesiasticos per eorum doctrinam a seculari potestate eximi Manus cruentas licere impune Regibus sacro-sanctis afferre Hoc eos libris editis asserere hath that right to put Kings out of the communion of the Church that an excommunicate King is a tyrant and that his subjects may impunedly rise against him That every one of those that have but one of the least Orders of the Church cannot be guilty of Treason what crime soever he commit because Clergy-men are no more the Kings subjects nor under his jurisdiction So that Ecclesiastick persons are by their doctrine exempted from the secular powers and may impunedly fall upon their Kings with their sanguinary hands This they affirm in their published books That grave Iudge spake that upon good ground for the books of the Iesuites insist much upon the exemption of Clerks from Temporal Iurisdictions Whence the Iesuite Emanuel Sa draweth this conclusion That Emanuel Sa in Aphorismis tit Clericus Rebellio Clerici adversus Principem non est crimen lesae Majestatis quia Principi non est subditus the Rebellion of a Clergy-man against the Prince is not Treason because he is not the Princes subject Which words are omitted in the Edition of Paris but they remain in that of Collen and in that of Antwerp For that reason Bellarmine findes great fault with those that slew the Monk who had murdered Henry the III. of France as I alledged before because they had slain sacratum virum a consecracred man A more sacred man in his opinion and more inviolable then the Sacred Majesty of a King The murder of that great Prince the Venerable Harlay represented unto the King and how it was Thuanus ibid. exalted as a holy Act by the Iesuite Guignard who had writ a book in the commendation of the murtherer And puts his Majesty in minde of the Attempt made upon his person by Peter Barriere suborned by the Iesuite Varade He might also have put him in minde of John Chastel Thuanus a Scholar of the Iesuites who hit him in the mouth and struck out one of his teeth intending to have cut his throat In his examination he confess'd that he being guilty of a great crime was kept prisoner by the Iesuites in the chamber of Meditations where after they had long terrified his soul they propounded to him a way to Iessen his torments in hell which he had deserved by his crimes and that was to kill the King which the miserable youth promised and attempted Upon this the Colledge of the Iesuites was searched and many persons seized on among which was found a book in the praise of James Clement the murtherer of Henry the III. written by the Iesuite Guignard as himself confess'd containing many arguments and reasons to prove that it was lawful and just to kill Henry the III. together with many inductions and incitements to make away his Successor who was Henry the IV. then reigning The Theams given to young Scholars were found to be about killing of Tyrants with praises of the attempt and exhortations to it And it was found that after that Paris was reduced to the Kings obedience the Masters of the Forms had forbidden their scholars to pray for the King The yeer before Barriere being examined had confess'd that the Iesuite Varade Rector of the Colledge of the Iesuites had incited and adjured him upon the Sacrament of Confession and the Communion of the Lords Body to kill the King assuring him that Thuanus if he suffered for it he should obtain the Crown of Martyrdome Upon all these evidences Vpon that Pyramide the Iesuites were called Homines norae maleficae superstitionis qui Remp. turbabant quorum instinctu piacularis adolescens dirum facinus instituerat the Jesuites were expelled out of France by Arrest of the Court of Parliament and a Pyramid erected with inscriptions declaring their expulsion and the causes of it for a memorial of perpetual execration to posterity Ten years after they returned from their exile the same men corrupting the youth and working rebellion till in the end they got what they would have even the Kings heart which they keep in their principal house la Flesche after he had been stabbed by Ravaillac a wretch who in his examination and confession shewed sufficiently by whose instructions he was perswaded to that parricidial act for he gave this reason why he did it because the King would make War unto God in as King James defence of the right of Kings much as he prepared warre against the Pope and that the Pope was God which is the plain doctrine of the Jesuites And being inquired whether he had ever confess'd his design to any he named the Jesuite Aubigny and that he had shewed him the Knife Which when Aubigny denied Ravaillac maintained it to him before his Judges To favour the design of killing that great King and prepare the World for it four moneths before he was murdered the Arrest of the Court of Parliament of Paris Note this against John Chastel who had attempted to murder him was censured and forbidden to be read by an Act of the Consistory at Rome and together the History of Thuanus for relating too plainly that horrid action and the part which the Jesuites had in it By the same Consistorial Act a Book of Mariana was censured not that which approveth the murthering of Kings The Court of Rome was not so unkind as to disgrace a work which doth their work but another Book which treats of Coynes Certainly had they disliked that notorious Book condemned to the fire by the Court of Parliament of Paris they would not have forgotten to censure it while they were in hand with Mariana As soon as Henry the IV. was stricken the Colledge of the Jesuites was environed with a Guard the Magistrate and the people looking upon them as the Doctors and Contrivers of high Treason And presently they were sued by the University of Paris as corrupters of the youth and teachers of treasonable doctrine Peter Marteliere a famous Advocate pleaded for the University and maintained that in the Confession of Ravaillac evident marks were found of the Doctrine of the Jesuites The Jesuites were cast and commanded to shut up their Colledge and not to teach Schollars any more The Kings Councell required their expulsion but they had friends about the Queen Regent and were suffered to stay and in time recovered also the liberty to teach Five years before that Kings death it was a famous History how Father Cotton a Iesuite and his Confessor Thuanus Hist lib. 123. ad an 1604. had written in a paper some questions which he had propounded to
a Maid who was said to be possessed with a Devil who told strange things Among other things about which he would be resolved these were some What should be the issue of the conversion of Monsieur de Laval and of the enterprises against Geneva and the continuance of Heresie and of the estate of Madamoiselle Acarie and of the life of the King Which last question is a matter capital by the Lawes for which Tertullian giveth the same reason that an Tertul. Apologet. Qui de salute Principis vel summá Reip. Mathematicos ariolos aruspices Vaticinatores consulit cum co qui responderit capite punitur Cui autem opus est scrutari super Caesaris salute nisi à quo adversus illum aliquid cogitatur aut post illam speratur sustinetur English Lawyer would give because it is imagining the Kings death This paper he had laid in a Book which he had promised to Monsieur Gillot a Councellor of the Great Chamber and through oversight he gave that paper with the Book Two years after this Monsieur de la Force Vice-Roy of Bearn and Navarre by the intelligences which he had from Spain by reason of his neighbourhood unto it was advertised that a Spaniard of such a stature of such a hair and in such apparel departed such a day from Barcelona to go into France with intendment to make away the King by poyson or other means This Spaniard came to Paris and address'd himself to Father Cotton who brought him unto the King and gave great commendations of him A while after came the Letters of Monsieur de la Force giving warning to his Majesty against that Spaniard with the foresaid description The King shewed the Letters to Father Cotton and commanded him to bring back again that Spaniard But Cotton returning a good while after told the King that he could not find the man and that he was gone Not a year before the Kings death Cotton writ unto a Provincial of Spain divers things which the King had revealed unto him in confession Which treachery being discovered Cotton was in disgrace for six moneths and then was forgiven But he did not forgive the King who was stabbed soon after A few dayes after the young King being importuned by him put him off with this gird I will tell you nothing for you will write it into Spain as you did my Fathers Confession Half a year after the Kings death the Court of Parliament seeing evidently that the murther of the King and that of his next Predecessor were the productions of the doctrine of the Iesuites condemned the Book of Bellarmine against Barklay as containing a false and execrable proposition which tends to the overthrowing of the Powers ordained and established by God inciting Subjects to rebellion and withdrawing them from the authority of Princes to plot against their Lives and Kingdoms and trouble the publick peace and tranquillity I have spoken before of the Decree of the Theological Santarellus de Haeresi Schismate Faculty of Paris against the Book of the Iesuite Santarel confirmed by the judgement of the University in May 1626. The same Book had been condemned by the Court of Parliament of Paris Martii 13. of the same year to be burnt And because the Book was printed at Rome by permission of the Superiours and with the approbation of Mutins Vitelescus General of the Iesuites and Master of the Sacred Palace the Iesuites of Paris were sent for by the Court and demanded Whereas their General had approved that Book and declared his opinion that the contents of it were certain and good whether they believed as he did They answered that Since their General lived at Rome he could not but approve that which the Court of Rome approveth What do you believe then said the Court The clean contrary said the Iesuites And what should ye do if you were at Rome As they do at Rome said they To which some of the Court answered What then Have these men one conscience at Rome and another at Paris God keep us from such Confessors The same Court sent for Father Cotton and commanded him to confute the Book of Santarell Cotton being put to a sad dilemma either to offend the Pope his Master and his General and the whole Society or to answer an Indictment of high Treason freed himself by a sudden death being in perfect health before or some of his Society took that pains for him It seems that the Court were more peremptory with him then King Henry the IV. who shewed him once that Book of Mariana which since was condemned to the fire and commanded him to confute it But he gave some ill excuse to the King who press'd him no further about it About the same time that this great Prince was slain by the faction of the Iesuites the Prince of Transylvania was in the same danger by them So much is certified by Letters of the Baron of Zerotin May 2. 1610. that a Iesuite perswaded a Lord of Transylvania in whose house he lived to kill the Prince But the Prince having discover'd the Plot killed the Conspiratours and the Iesuite the Author of the conspiracy This Jesuite was taken tardy and had not the luck of many of his Confreres who frame the plots and look standing out of the reach of the blows the acting of the desperate attempts upon which they have cast others Yet there was a Scottish Jesuite of the Colledge of Clermont in Paris his name Alexander Hayes who was so zealous as to wish openly and that often that King Henry the IV. would passe by his Colledge that he might throw himself down upon him from the window and break his neck But by that crosse caper he might be sure to break his own For these words and for teaching openly that it was good to dissemble and performe obedience in shew for a while he was condemned by Sentence of the Court to perpetual banishment and if ever he returned to be hanged without any other forme of arraignment Now if from their feats in forreign Countries we look to their doings in England what troubles they have stirred and what mischiefs they have plotted continually against this State now above a hundred years We are at a losse in that prodigious heap of iniquity They have afforded matter to large Volumes of History and the labour of the worthy writers need not to be seconded by mine And when the Jesuite Eudemono-Iohannes in his Apologetick for Garnet would excuse or deny the treasons wrought under the pretence of a Catholick zeal the truth of them was asserted by the R. Reverend and Learned Robert Abbot Bishop of In his Antilogia Salisbury out of the publick Acts and Records of Courts and out of the very books of Adversaries Bluâ—t and Watson How many attempts were made against the life of the Blessed Queen Elizabeth And in what treason was there a Jesuite wanting Parry Cullen Williams