truth the new Doctors belye the Gospell and hold it expedient that the humanity of our Sauiour bee on earth but not to gouerne the Church and make a sinfull and partiall man to gouerne it who sheddeth the bloud of them for whom IESVS CHRIST shed his bloud and will not haue men beleeue the truth which teacheth that the corporall presence of CHRIST the most perfect head of all men and his carnall gouernance is taken away from vs into heauen that so they might establish Liuetenants in a charge which no mortall man can or ought to haue after the Ascension of the Generall And as new Pharisies who expected a Messiah triumphing ouer Temporall powers and subduing nations by materiall armes these picture forth a successour with mixt power who is ashamed of the simplicity of the Gospell and is an enemy to the crosse of CHRIST which hee cannot endure but grauen or painted And since the Ascension of our Lord IESVS 1. Cor. 3.16 whom wee know no more according to the flesh these men will haue gouernours that are carried on mens shoulders succeding herein the opinion of the Israelites when Moses was so long in the Mount saying to the Priests Exod. 32.23 make vs Gods to goe before vs for as for this man wee know not what is become of him These are likewise those same which the parable of our Sauiour denoteth Luk. 19.12 saying A certaine noble-man went into a farre country to receiue for himselfe a Kingdome and so to come againe c. but his Citizens sent an Embassadour after him saying wee will not haue this man raigne ouer vs but the Lord being returned saith Vers 27. Bring hither those mine enemies which would not that I should raigne ouer them and slay them before mee So let it bee done to all such as will not continue seruants till the Kings returne who is gone to take possession of the Kingdome of heauen and to prepare a place there for vs that they may know that as the Iewes doe in vaine expect a Messiah triumphing in that manner as they would haue it so with as little ground they haue hoped for another Anti-christ then him whom the Iesuites paint forth with his double sword See more of this in a Treatise I haue made of Catholicke Vnity Chap. of the Church sect 6. Mat. 20.26 Mar. 10.43 Can. Constan seque dist And they in all the succession of the Apostles finding but one key of heauen would get the key of earthly Empire and as our Sauiour had said Thou art Peter these men adde Thou art Constantine Pepin and Lewis And because our Sauiour had forbidden superiority among the Apostles these men insert a Canon in these wordes The Emperour Constantine gaue this priuiledge to the Byshop of the Romane Church to be the head of all Byshops as the King is the head of Iudges And the following Cannons adde that hee gaue him also his Pallace his Crowne and Imperiall Ornaments because it was not (a) Idem habetur ca. 17. fundamenta li. 1. 6. decretal De Electione See the abhominations of this Canō reasonable that the Emperour should reside in the same Cittie where the Pope is and then to shew their thankefulnesse they forged that the Emperour was a leaper against the records of all Histories (b) Euseb 5. libris de vita Constantini Plin. li. 21. cap. 1. Mantuan lib. de patientia c. 30. cap. 1. Nesede vacante cap. extra d e consuet Clem. pastorali can 2. de re iudic And vpon this supposition or forgery they build that the Pope is appointed ouer Kings and Kingdomes and succeedeth the Empire vacant and may transport Empires from one nation to another and depose Emperours hauing the exercise of two swordes Behold how of one absurdity many do arise For first that same Donation is false as the learned (c) Hottom brutum fulmen cap. 12. Crimen falsi Hottoman verifieth by twenty sixe reasons And (d) Bartol Proemio digest nu 14. videte nos sumus in terris Eccl. ideo quod illa donatio valuit Bartoll himselfe saith it is true for no other reason but because hee wrote in the territory of Rome and therefore durst not write the contrary The best proofe against this falshood is that Constantius the sonne of Constantine neuer forsooke Rome and the dominions thereof but deposed Liberius Bishop of Rome who became for this occasion an Arrian and subscribed against Athanasius as Saint Hierome (e) Hieron in cap. Fortunatianus Catalogo scriptorum Ecclesiastic Athanasius in Epistola ad solitarium vitam agētes witnesseth But these Doctors must confesse that the great goods that Popes possesse haue proceeded frō the liberality of the Kings Pepin Charles Lewis Also in the confirmation (f) Ego Ludouicus 63. dist volater l. Geor. 3. that beginneth Ego Ludouicus there is no mention made of Constantine but only of Pepin and Charles the grand-father and father of Lewis Now the reason why this donation was published in the name of Constantine Du. Tillet was for that the Emperour tooke it ill as then that the King gaue away that which hee pretended to belong vnto him So this augmentation of titles hath caused the diuerse enterpretation of the word to feede either as a King in commanding or as a Byshop in preaching Aug. de verbo domini ser 20. tract 10. 124. in Ioan Cyril li. 4. dial de Trinit as Saint Augustine and Saint Cyrill enterprete it But Cardinall Baronius passeth further for he maketh to feed the flocke to be as horses feed on grasse saying against the Signory of Venice Holy Father kill and eate I know the word Feed signifieth three things to command as a King to exercise the Ecclesiasticall Ministery and the last to eate but the distinction is knowne according to the subiect whereto it is applyed As therefore it were impertinent to conclude for a King that hee is to Preach the Law of God and administer the Sacraments because the Lord said to Dauid 1. Kin. 2.11 2. Sam. 5.2 Thou shalt feede my people Israel so as wide from the purpose will the Iesuites cōclude that the Pope is to command ouer the Temporallity of Kings because our Sauiour saith to S. Peter Iohn 21. Feed my sheep for that is meant onely of the feeding for which hee had commission Otherwise it would follow by such equiuocations and abusing of words of many significatiōs that an asse turned out to feed in the third signification should be furnished with a Miter a Crosier staffe But to returne to our discourse with what audaciousnesse do they vaunt that the grounds of the Romish Bishops superiority ouer others is taken frō the law of God or diuine right seeing that it is the gift of the Emperour For if hee gaue it it followeth that hee had it before hee granted it and if the Pope receiued it frō
40. can nemo causa 9. q. 3. Gal. 2. Act. 11. assembled together or separately who dare not say to him why doest thou whatsoeuer seemeth him good Against the practise of S. Peter who receiued the reproofe of S. Paul rendred a reasoÌ„ to the Church of Ierusalem for that he had Preached the Gospell to the Gentiles Wherefore Gregory the Great Bishop of Rome in the yeare of our Lord sixe hundred and foure compared such a (b) Greg. li. 4. Epist 82. ad Iohan. â—eâ—unatore Pa riarch Constantinopolit Idem lib. 6. c. 194. registro ad Mauritiâ— man to Lucifer who said in the 14 of Esay that hee would mount aboue the starres For saith he what else are the Bishops of the Vniuersall Church thy brethren but starres of heauen before whom thou wouldest preferre thy selfe by a high name to wit Bishop of Biâ—hop what other thing sayest thou but that which Lucifer said I will ascend vp to heauen and will exalt my throne aboue the starres of heauen For this great Gregory knew that which Saint Peter from the Lord IESVS had commanded in his Catholike Epistle 1. Pet. 5. Bee yee subiect one to the other and enioineth Pastors to feed their flocks not as hauing domination ouer the Churches 1. Cor. 14.12 and Saint Paul declareth that the Spirits of the Prophets are subiect to the Spirit of the Prophets But these Doctors of nouelty puffe vp the pride of a man and hurt charity saying Can. si Papa dist 40. Let no man presume to reproue him though hee leâ—de infinite companies of soules with him for to suffer eternâ—ll paines with the first slâ—â—e of hell These are the very wordes of the Cannon Because saith Bellarmine Bel. de Pont. l. 4. c. 2. God permitteth not that the Pope should define any thing without reason insomuch that they hold that if the Emp rour the Kings Can. Nemo iudicabit Can. 9. q. 3. the Clergy al the people were together they should not haue the power to iudge such a man 2 The second degree is to set himselfe aboue the CouÌ„cel aboue the clergy in body for seeing God promiseth to be present in the midst of them which are assembled in his name Mat 18.20 Moscon de maiestat milit Eccl. l. 1. c. 1. p. 27 Ioh. Selua li. de Beneficijs part 4. pag. 8. in 28. tract tomo 15. part 1. fol. Iacobatius de Concil lib. 1. art 1. num 36. That man which setteth himselfe aboue this company whereof the holy Ghost is president and moderator exalteth himselfe aboue that which is called God So Mosconius holdeth that the popes opinion must rather bee stucke vnto then to the opinion of all the rest of the world besides contrary thereto And that one may appeale from the Councell to the pope but not from the decree of the pope to the decision of the Councell this is said by Iohannes Selua a Spaniard Baron in paraenet 3 Angels are said to bee of God and his messengers of these same writeth Cardinall Baronius against the Venetians Know yee not that wee shall iudge the Angels Abusing the place which speaketh of all the faithful and not of Church-men onely which faithfull as assistants of the Iudge IESVS shall sit at his right hand in the day of iudgement shall assist at the condemnation which our Sauiour shall pronounce against the wicked and against the euill Angels saying Go yee cursed into euerlasting fire prepared for the Diuell and his Angels 4 The Apostles are also said to bee of God hee which receiueth you receiueth mee Neuerthelesse they exalt this power aboue the Apostles saying that according (a) Cap. pro pasuit 4. li. 3. decreta tit 8. de coÌ„cession praeb gl verbo dispensare c. to the fulnesse of power of right he may dispense aboue the Law yea that hee may dispense (b) Gl. verbo fiat Can. lector 34. dist against the Apostle Item against the Canons of the Apostles (c) Can. Presbyter dist 82. Although saith that Canon according to them same a Priest that is a fornicator ought to bee deposed neuerthelesse not without the authoritie of Syluester Neither can that euasion serue their turne which say that the pope (d) Vide gl cap. authoritatem cau 15. q. 6. dispenseth of the Gospell in interpreting it For first of all who euer heard dispensation called an interpretation of the Text Secondly if it be by way of interpretation why is it rather deferred to the pope then to Sorbonists of Paris who haue better skill then hee But I deny that such interpretation as he giueth by dispensation is lawfull neither yet for the whole Church in body seeing it is God alone that commandeth and the Churches part is to obey to heare the voyce of the Bridegroome and to learne of him in silence and this the Iuris-consults can tell It pertaineth vnto him alone to enterpret the Law which hath the * L. 12. Si Impeâ—tis c. de legibus Si enim in praesenti leges condere soli Imperatori concessum est leges interpretari solodignum Imperio esse oportet Nehem. 8. right to make it The reason is because he that enterpreteth it maketh himselfe aboue the Law for after hee hath giuen his opinion hee will bee followed rather then the Letter which shal no more be enquired after Wherefore Nehemias made the people vnderstand the Scripture not after his owne fantasie but by reading the same that is to say by the Scripture it selfe 5 The Law likewise is of God being written with his owne finger and forbidden to adde to or diminish it as touching the substance and matter neuerthelesse the second commandement is cut off in many Masse-bookes and Popish Psalters Synod Ausburg anno 1548. and that by the decree which the Pope caused to be made in the Synode of Ausburg quite racing out this commandement Thou shalt make thee no grauen image neither any similitude of things that are in heauen aboue c. 6 The Gospell likewise is of God For it is the power of God vnto saluation to euery one that beleeueth Rom. 1.16 Neuerthelesse these seducers hold that against (a) Can. Ideo permittente can 25. q. 1. v. glos capitis proposuit de concess praeb tit 8. lib. 3. decret in verbo dispensare the generall Law the Pope may giue priuiledges They also esteeme it a greater crime and they punish him more seuerely that transgresseth the Popes decree in eating flesh without dispensation in time of Lent then if hee were a theife murtherer and adulterer altogether Wherfore these wordes are inserted in the Canon (b) Cap. Honoratus 74. dist not making account of the commandements of God but euen despising our letters And that becausé they make so great estimation of the Canons and doctrines of the Pope that such as dare voluntarily transgresse the same Can. violatores
Ioh. 6.15 My Kingdome is not of this world they should content themselues with the keyes of heauen without taking by force the keyes of Citties they should auoide it as did our Sauiour Ioh. 18.36 if men would make them Temporall Lords and should not take vpon them a ciuill iurisdiction no more then did our Sauiour who when one said vnto him Luk. 12.13 Maister bid my brother diuide the inheritance with mee answered ô man who made mee a iudge or diuider ouer you Neither yet in criminall matters after his example Ioh. 8.10.11 Woman hath none condemned thee shee said none Lord and IESVS said neither do I condemne thee go and sinne no more So our Sauiour reiected the office of a Temporall Magistrate exercising the charge of a true Spirituall Pastor to inuite sinners to repentance yet without approuing vice But if these men will perswade vs that in processe of time to wit after Constantine the Church should change her course of life and leaue the Ministery to take vpon it command I will stay to beleeue it till they produce some Prophesie of this future change and will beleeue touching this pretended authority that which CHRIST saith of the dwelling places in his fathers house Ioh. 14.2 If it were otherwise I would haue told you And passing further I say that if the Church in her most perfect forme hath had no such superiority we ought to keepe this perfection instituted of God and if heathen Princes haue bene ackowledged three hundred yeares for Superiors of the Church which made a part of their state it were to do iniury to Christian Kings to deferre vnto them lesse honour then the Apostles and the Primitiue Church haue deferred to heathen and Infidell Emperours And the fable of the donation of Constantine serueth to no purpose it being acknowledged false by the most learned Iuris-consults antient and moderne as shall be handled in the ninth Chapter hereafter But though we should agree to them concerning the priuiledges that Princes haue giuen to Church-men Esdras chap. 7. yet we must not thereby conclude that Kings haue lost their authority to reforme the Church and to giue lawes vnto it For seeing it is a case royall to make Lawes in a State ◠placet l. de sacros Eccl. Cas r. li◠6 it pertaineth onely to the King to ordaine them and although hee make them not without taking aduise of the expert in euery Art or Science yet for all that it will not be said that they are statutes or ordinances of the Iuris-consults or Diuines which haue bene called thereunto Whence it followeth that the Kings power is not lessened by the comming of our Sauiour who hath limited the charge of the Apostles and of their lawfull successours to the Preaching of the word and administration of the Sacraments as he had appointed Priests vnder the Law for the vnleauened bread perfumigations and sacrifices And indeed the Emperour Iustinian extendeth no farther the Christian Lyturgie and the office of Bishops Nouel 7. c. 11. de Ecclesiast bonis Cuiac tomo 3. pag. 549. Gal. 1.8 in his seuenth Nouel vpō which Doctor Cuias writeth in the same sense Seeing thē that to make Lawes in a State is a case of Soueraignety that neither the King nor an Apostle neither yet an Angell from heauen can adde to or diminish the substance of Gods Lawes but onely the circumstances which respect comelinesse and the execution of them what inconuenience is there that the ordinary authority be interposed in Lawes Ecclesiasticall Seeing also that the Church is within the State made a part of the same and is subiect to the Soueraigne of the whole territorie being in France and England one of the three Estates of the Kingdome whereof the King is head and Superiour as wel of the Clergy as of the Laity Now that it is not lawfull for any whosoeuer hee bee to adde or diminish the substance of the Law or of the Gospell of God here is the prohibition first as touching the Law Deut. 4.2 Yee shall put nothing vnto the word which I command you neither shall yee take ought therefrom that yee may keepe the commandements of the Lord your God c. And in the Prouerbes Pro. 30.6 Adde nothing vnto his words least thou be found a lyar The like is said in the Gospell Though wee Gal. 1.8 or an Angell from heauen preach vnto you otherwise then wee haue preached vnto you let him be accursed And both of the Law and of the Gospell it is ordeined 1. Cor. 4.6 That yee might learne by vs that no man presume aboue that which is written Reu. 22.18.19 For saith Saint Iohn if any man shall adde c. God shall adde vpon him the plagues written in this booke and if hee diminish c. God shall take away his part out of the booke of life Wherefore Emperours haue maintained them in this possession conformable to their title And beginning in the Constitutions colected in the Code of Iustinian the thirteene first titles are all filled with Lawes for to rule the Church in which first of all the Aduersaries of Royall authority shall obserue De Episcopati audientia that there is one title which attributeth simple audience to Bishops and not iurisdiction for to shew that they haue not any portion of Empire it forbiddeth (a) Lib. 1. Tit. 5. them to reiterate Baptisme to paint or graue on earth the (b) Lib. 1. Tit. 7. image of our Sauiour And in the Nouels the Emperour ordaineth of the punishment of Ecclesiasticall persons (c) Nou. 123. ca. 20. euen by the whip Of the creation and consecration of Byshops That Synods (d) Nou. 123. ca. 10. should bee held euery yeare Forbiddeth to celebrate the mysteries in priuate (e) Nou. 58. houses Item ordaineth that Bishops (f) Nou. 137. c. 6. Nou. 146. vt liceat Hebraeis should speake aloud when they celebrate Baptisme and the Eucharist Ordaineth that the holy Bible should be translated into the vulgar tongue that the people might reade therein their saluation L. Constantinopol 24. C. de sacros Eccles his verbis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yea when the Emperour had translated the seate of his Empire to Constantinople although there was then a Byshop of Rome yet he declared that the Church of Constantinople was the Head that is to say the chiefest of all others To this is referred that in Nou. 83. Menna is called Vniuersalis Patriarcha in fauour of whō the Emperours said hee had granted that priuiledge to the Clergy not to bee conuented but before their Bishops that in certaine cases onely Now the cause why the Emperours translated their seate from Rome was because they held but very little in the West parts Gaule and a good part of Germanie were occupied by the Frankes or Frenchmen Spaine by the Sarazines Gothes and Vandales Italy in horrible confusion
of this man of sinne retaineth still the name of the Church of God it is in regard of that it was when hee first thrust himselfe into it for euery corruption hath his degrees nemo repente fuit turpissimus like as when a house is set on fire so long as the floores roofes and walles do stand it is called a house both in name and effect and when it is al◠burnt to ashes it hath no more but the bare name when we say there is a house burnt therefore no man will bee so vnwise to bee perswaded hee should dwell in it which hath neither walles to defend nor roofe to couer him though all men should tell him it was called the house of such a one no not though some part of the same yet stood because hee could not bee in safety Also there is not any Iudge so vniust will be so rigorous to a husband that accuseth his wife of adultery as to condemne him to liue with her onely because in pleading he calleth her his wife For seeing that adultery is cause of the dissolution of marriage in that the husband giueth the name of wife to her he pleadeth against it is to shew what she was that he might ground his action and depriue her of her matrimoniall couenants This causeth vs boldly to point out such a man and to maintaine that it is necessary to saluation to separate our selues from him and his Church without feare of being thereby separated from the true Church of God I say from such a one of whom we are forewarned not as of an open enemy such as the Turke is who ruinateth frō his first rising and therefore sitteth not in the Church But it is he that is entred as a Fox and raigneth as a Lyon who cōmeth in sheeps cloathing within is a rauening wolfe who hath hornes like the Lambe but vttereth blasphemy out of his mouth to wit I am God I cānot erre I am the spouse of the Church I rule in heauen and in earth Who will doubt then but that wee ought to refuse such a head seeing the Cardinall establisheth him ouer the militant Church etiám Christo secluso Bel. lib. 1. de Pontifi c. 9. CHRIST IESVS excluded or separated frō it although the vnion of him his Church is euer to remaine hath bene frō the foundaion of the world and seeing also the Cardinall createth him Monarch Temporal and Spiritual And for such a separation no Christian is separate from the Church as I haue handled at large in the discourse of Catholick Vnity Chap. 3. of the Church in chap. 7. tit of Schime where may bee obserued among other three significations of the Church first the materiall building secondly the visible assembly of euery Parish and thirdly the inuisible company of all the faithfull which is the Catholicke Church beleeued by faith and not seene with the corporall sences for vniuersall things are not the obiect of the sences and being one of the Articles of faith there is none but God that knoweth who are his seeing it may so fall out that a whole companie of men making profession to serue God may bee composed of hypocrites in euery particular man thereof Chrysostom hom 46. in Mat. Hither is referred these testimonies first of Saint Chrysostome Hee goeth not out of the Church that goeth out bodily but hee that in minde forsaketh the groundes of Ecclesiasticall truth We haue left with them the foundations of walles they haue left with vs the foundations of the Scriptures Hierom. in Psal 33. And Saint Hierome The Church consisteth not in walles but in truth of doctrine there where is the true doctrine there is the true Church And Saint Hillary Hilar. contra Auxentium The loue of walls hath taken you in vaine ye reuerence the Church in houses and buildings doe yee doubt whether Anti-christ shall sit there mountaines forrests lakes gulfes prisons are more safe vnto mee Psal 2.10 Bee wise now therefore ye Kings be learned yee Iudges of the earth serue the Lord in feare and reioyce in trembling And I will let you see an extract of one or two orations pronounced in the Councell of Lateran by the Popes Clerkes and by Moderne Canonist Doctors seene allowed and Printed by the commandement of Pope Leo the tenth as may bee seene in his Bull in the beginning of the said Councel the fift of May 1515. Yea the words of him Oratio Antonij Puccij Clerici Apostoli 3. Non Maiae 1515. sess 10. that spake to the Pope in presence of the whole Councell Although the aspect of your diuine Maiesty by the resplendent glory whereof the weaknesse of my eyes is dazaled Here is God robbed of his Maiesty we must come to the King saying And as the chiefe Byshop Leo by diuine prouidence hath bene en-registred in the royall race of chiefe Bishops Item As before in thee alone the true and lawfull Vicar of CHRIST of God this prophesie to be againe fulfilled All the Kings of the earth shall worship him Psal 71. all nations shall serue him Then vsurping the title of IESVS a iealous God hee saith Before and now the vniuersall body to wit the Church is acknowledged subiect to one onely head namely vnto thee Item Knowing that to thee alone from the Lord hath bene giuen all power in heauen and in earth that thou maist giue law and iudge not onely Spirituall men but also the earthly powers of this world But that which is most admirable is that any truth should proceed out of the blasphemous mouth of this mā in that he acknowledgeth Rome to be Spirituall Babylon in these wordes After we haue examined all the decrees of the Church and that I come to the Citty it selfe which the Prince of Apostles inspired with the holy Ghost calleth Babilō 1. Pet. 5. c. Behold this heauenly Ierusalem diuine Spouse c. clad in mourning c. which seemeth to be full of teares and discheueled prostrate at the most sacred feet of the cheife Bishop Is it so most sweete Bridegroome that thy onely thy faire thy wel-beloued Spouse which cannot say looke not vpon mee for I am browne c. Where are the Pastors of the flocke which rule rather then profile which scatter and not gather which kill in steed of sauing c. Then in the end this excreable flaterer saith to Leo. Make hast arise compasse about Syon our mother thy Spouse embrace her c. Instruct and frame the hearts of the faithfull And the Citty to wit of Rome first of all that iudgement may beginne at the house of the Lord afterward restore the whole earth by the censure of thy discipline into the puritie of the ancient faith hope and charity Is not this to exalt himselfe aboue that which is called God there is diuine Maiestie Royall race spouse and head of the Church that hath all power in heauen and
si quando de rescrip authority it is permitted to resist the same Whence commeth it that if the Pope or his Legats would legitimate a bastard in the Kingdome of France to the end hee might succeed it is another thing when it is to make the marriage (e) Cap. Tuam de ordin cognit of validitie whence he is issued or in some fashion trouble the royall iustice the obtainer of such legitimation c. (f) Guil. Bened 2. part c. Rainutius vers si absq libertis 2. c. in materia nu 47. Phil. Decius Cons 307. Coll. 2. shall bee amerced the abuse reiected by the Kings Officers So by sentence of the Parliament of Tholouse anno 1400. was pronounced that it had bene ill and abusiuely proceeded by the Popes delegates who had absolued Maister Giles de Bellemere Archidiaconus Micapicen without calling the party the Kings Attorney Now William Benedict saith there are three generall cases in France in which notorious abuse may be commited namely when the Pope and Ecclesiasticall persons attempt against the decrees of the anicient Councels against the Kings statutes or against the liberties of the Gallicane Church Seeing then there is appeale from the Pope who is it can endure him to be a Soueraigne no not in spirituall things Note this for it is the argument wherewith Seneca concludeth that the first Kings of the Romans were not Soueraignes Cic. 2. de repub because there was appeale made from them to the people Thus Horace the murderer of his sister was absolued who had bene condemned by King Tullus Hostilius Therefore this pretended Soueraignety Spirituall and Temporall resteth vaine according to the opinion of Saint Gregory and Saint Bernard the practise of the Gallicane Church For to feede the sheepe is meant after another manner Mat. 18.18 and that deliuering of keyes is not excluding the other Apostles seeing that the same promise was made to all otherwise they could not haue executed their charge and besides Peter could not receiue them but in the name of all Ioh. 20.22 according to the opinion of Saint Augustine written into the Canons Which is conformable to the disposition of the ciuill Law Can. quodcunque 24. q. 1. which saith that the deliuery of a key and of a ring by a father to his eldest daughter bringeth to her no priuiledge aboue her fellow heires but is taken as done in common as well for the rest L. cum pater 79. Sect. pater pluribus delegat 2. which decision is obseruable in the Ciuill Law as likewise that which is written in the Law tenth C. de Incendio which speaketh of certaine fishers of men like vnto him that Cardinall Bellarmine figureth forth against whom are these words Let not Fishermen deceiue Mariners in causing a light to be seene in the night in dangerous places as if it were a safe hauen to the end they might aduantage thēselues by the ship-wracke There is therefore no ground for this power in the Law of God nor in the Law of man for as no Prince giueth any priuiledge against himselfe so neuer any King nor Emperour resigned such a right to the Pope which cannot be alienated It remaineth to speake of the Canon Law De Elect. lib. 1. tit 3. Clem. Ne Romani which cannot derogate from the Law of God as saith the Clementine that the Law of the Superiour cannot bee abrogated by the inferiour Neither can it also derogate from the Law of Kings because it is a writing framed for aduantage of them that wrote it Conc. Agathens sub Alaciaco rege anno 506. can 32. Clericū can 11. q. 1. can 3. ibidem l. in fraudem §. quoties de iure fisci without hearing or calling the party interessed and held for priuate in this consideration are obserued therein many falsifications specially one notable one vpon this subiect for in steed of saying Clericus nullum praesumat as the Councell hath it it is written nullus Clericum changing the prohibition made to the Clergy to prescribe it to the Laity Now hee that produceth false proofes is to loose his cause though otherwise it were a good one Lastly this Canon Law I meane that from which are taken the maximes of the Iesuites vpon this subiect is new and but of late for the ancientest part of it which is the Decree was cōpiled by Gratian in the yeare 1093. the Decretals in the yeare 1211. The Sextus by Boniface the eighth in the yeare 1298. and the Clementines in the yeare 1310. Wherefore iudging well the authors of this new power are not grounded on diuine nor humane Law seeing our Sauiour himselfe witnesseth the Sonne of man came not to be serued Math. 20. but to serue and to giue his life a ransome for many neither on the example of the Apostles 1. Cor. 4.1 whose charge consisted in administration not in cōmanding and who said 1. Pet. 2. Psal 2. 72. Let men esteeme of vs as the Ministers of CHRIST and disposers of the secrets of God These men haue set themselues in place of the Maister are (a) V. gl in verbo non consonam Clem. Ne Romani sponsus vester rector est Christus caput Ecclesiae quae est ipsius corpus Hebr. 7. c. stiled Princes of Bishops and King of Kings Though the true King of Kings be risen againe and liueth for euer hauing no heire nor successour in his offices being eternally both King and Priest and Prophet of the Catholicke Church after the order of Melchizedec The flatterers neuerthelesse will substitute a mortall and sinnefull man in his steed and ascribe vnto him power in heauen and in earth and make him Lord of two swords and Soueraigne of all demeans so that he may confiscate or giue them away whence a blasphemous parasite saith (b) Cap. vnam sanctam extra communiā de maioritate Petr. Bertrandus in gl illius exarauag Our Lord should haue bene vndiscreete if hee had not left a man after him hauing the like power as he had as if such a head could bee seperate from his body and this Bridegroome CHRIST being a iealous God could endure any corriuall or as though such a supposition were not directly contrary to the wordes of our Sauiour Ioh. 16. v. 7. 14. v. 16. 15. v. 26. saying Verily I say vnto you it is expedient for you that I goe my way for if I goe not away the Comforter will not come vnto you For he knew that his presence and the exhortation of his carnall mouth so often reiterated hindred them not from sleeping in the garden or from denying him thrice at the words of a silly maide-seruant But hee knew that his holy Spirit the Moderator of the Church working inwardly and accompanying them after his Ascension would make them confesse the Sauiour in the middest of the most cruell torments Against which
Antidote against this moderne poyson For not onely great and learned Captaines as Alexander and Caesar haue attained to the Empires of the world but also Generals of warre haue profitably vsed the Counsell of learned men for to execute great designes To this purpose Pyrrus said hee wanne more Citties by the industry of his Orator Cineas Plutar. in Pyrrhus then hee tooke by force of armes Yea a sillie Scholler following Regilianus profited him to obtaine the Empire by meanes of his declining Rex Regis making allusion to the name of Regilianus Trebel Pollio in Regill for the Souldiers which were in the Campe taking that for good presage proclaimed him Emperour Such men Alphonsus the Phenix of the Spanish Kings vsed calling vnlearned Princes Golden Flecees added that the dumbe were his best Counsellours meaning bookes that flattered not Kings but told them the truth and reprouing the opinion of one of his Predecessors who thought it vnbeseeming a noble and generous minde to haue learning saith It was the voyce of a brute beast rather then a man The want of which register hath caused that the most generous actions of our ancient Gaules haue remained buried in obliuion or haue bene much lessened by the writings of such as enuied their greatnesse For military actions are renowned to posterity according as the penne of hystory hath extolled the same thus are Achilles and Aeneas made famous by Homer and Virgil and Caesar himselfe by his true testimony And contrariwise they that haue had learning for aduersary remaine in opprobry to posterity Thus the iniury that the Vniuersity of the Athenians receiued by the cruel imposition of foureteene children sent to the King of Creta though otherwise he were in such reputation of iustice that antiquity made him a Iudge in the Elizium yet could hee not obtaine against pen and inke weake instruments in apparance Quaesitor Minos vnam mouet but that hee was dishonoured in his bed and his children Icarus and Minotaure the one an example of vanity the other a prodigious monster and himselfe taxed in his person as perishing miserably It is a worke worthy your Maiesty to establish the Kings Colledge the building vp whereof God hath reserued vnto your Maiesty as hee did the building of the Temple to wise Salomon and doubt not my Lord but that there will bee found Regents sufficiently capable honour nourisheth Artes they haue not hitherto appeared because the Muses could not bee heard during the noise of the Trumpet and sound of the Drumme The nurse-children of the Muses shut vp themselues in the caues of Parnassus and come not at the Court vnlesse they bee sent for But my Lord seeing it is a matter of peopling a royall Colledge there should not bee any Doctors not royall or not for the King nor any that haue taken oath of blind vow to any out of the Kingdome for saith the Gospell No man can serue two Maisters And why should the King maintaine at his charge Professours that will corrupt the syncerity of the affections of his subiects by the poyson of the new Canons of which wee haue quoted some By these two meanes euermore profitable for the State the State shall be preserued till it please God to encrease your Maiesty in age and in all sorts of Spirituall and Temporall blessings that you may gouerne the same in person and remoue away the cause of this euill which I hope for by Gods grace so much the more assuredly as your Maiesty is a liuely purtraiture of those great Kings that haue commanded the people of God succeeding as a yong Iosias to a father murthered by the disloyaltie of some of his subiects as a Salomon to triumphing Dauid his father as a Saint Lewis vnder the Regency of his mother God grant that your Maiesty may accomplish the posie of King Lewis the twelth your predecessour Perdam Babylonis nomen That is I will destroy the name of Babylon seeing that they now renew the like attempts as they did then vnder his raigne To the end that as the most high Monarch of heauen and earth would not employ to such a worke the mighty arme of flesh Henry the Great your father no more then hee did that of Dauid whom hee had destinated vnto battels your Maiesty as a Salomon his sonne by the workes of peace may restore the Gallicane Church by the common voyce of which with bended knees hands lifted vp to heauen and heart to God your Maiesty heareth the like blessing as the Queene of Sheba gaue to Salomon 2. Chron. 9.8 Blessed be the Lord thy God which loued thee to set thee on his throne as King to execute iudgement and iustice And let the Prophesy of Nathan in the highest heauen bee ratified in your Maiesty 2. Sam. 7.13.14 I will stablish the throne of his Kingdome for euer I will bee vnto him a father and hee shall bee my sonne Amen Mart. 9.104 Prima tuo gerito pro Ioue bella puer FINIS
who established the Priests in their charge yea Salomon deposed the Priest Abiathar And Nehemias restored the seruice of God caused the Law to be read and enterpreted making the people to vnderstand it by reading And if the Spirit of God taught Nehemiah this forme of enterpreting the Law by the holy Scripture which conteined then but the bookes of Moses and a few others of the old Testament how dare men taxe the Scripture of obscurity now that it is illustrate with the Commentaries of the Gospell of the Sonne of God and with the gloses of the Apostles Euangelists Certaine it is that this forme of enterpreting the Scripture by it selfe wil not be reiected vnlesse it be of such as the Apostle speaketh of 2. Cor. 4.3 If our Gospell be hid it is hid to them that perish in whom the God of this world hath blinded the mindes Now all those Princes were not Priests and therefore did nothing but in the quality of Kings exercising the charges depending of the Crowne True it is that sometimes one and the same man was both King and Priest as Melchizedec but it was in asmuch as he figured the onely King Priest and eternall Prophet of his Church to wit our Sauiour And if Cardinall Bellarmine will at this day bring in a mixt power into the Church either hee will make vs still in expectation of the Messias by such figures or will manifest vnto vs vnder the Gospell that which Pope Nycholas speaketh of in these termes Nichol. Epist 8. Before the comming of CHRIST some haue bene typically Priests and Kings as Melchizedec which the Deuill would imitate in his members Out of which words may be gathered that if there bee found since the publication of the Gospell any person exercising both the functions that hee is a member of the Diuell according to the opinion of Pope Nicholas who fauoureth not in that the Bishops that be Lords Temporall and Spirituall And as Kings fully discharging their office were blessed of God so they tooke not vpon them any thing pertaining to the office of the Priests and Leuites neither intermedled they with making vnleauened cakes sacrificing of Calues or sprinkling of the bloud vpon the Altar for in this case it was permitted the Priests to reproue and God did punish them for it So Azariah the chiefe Priest said to Vzziah 2. Chron. 26.18 It pertaineth not to thee to burne incense vnto the Lord but to the Priests the sons of Aaron that are consecrated for to offer incense And not onely the chiefe Priest but the least hauing charge in the Church may admonish in conscience in godly manner all Kings Emperours after the example of Nathan and Saint Ambrose Bishop of Milan who shut the Temple against the Emperour Theodosius For it is not a case reserued to the Bishop of the first sea to put Kings in minde of their conscience to make knowne vnto them their sinnes it is the Law of God that speaketh and not man whose person or degree is not considerable but his Diuine commission After this manner vnder the Law yea from Adam vntill our Sauiours comming in the flesh Kings haue behaued themselues with the Priests Christ was borne in the yeare of the world 3963. and all the Church for the space of foure thousand yeares CHAP. IIII. That since the comming of our Lord IESVS in the flesh the authority of Kings ouer Ecclesiasticall persons is not diminished THERE is nothing truer then this Proposition of our Sauiour Mat. 5.17 I am not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it Also Ioh. 18.13 My Kingdome is not of this world Whence it followeth that the Iustice which is Patrimoniall to all Princes is not taken away from them ouer one part of their Subiects That IESVS hath not established any other power aboue their Estate for to dispense their seruants of their allegeance due vnto them that hee hath not taken away from them the command that they had in time of the Law ouer the Church to reforme it ouer the Doctors of the Church to assemble them and ouer the chiefe Priest to depose And therefore Saint Paul saith that Kings are established as well to maintaine piety and religion as honesty and pollicy 1. Tim. 2. To the end saith hee that wee may lead a peaceable and quiet life in all godlinesse and honesty For why should the yoake of the Gospell which CHRIST calleth light to all that will vndergoe it bee heauy on the necke of Kings to whom God giueth titles and prerogatiues aboue all other men calling them the CHRISTS Ier. 4.20 or annointed of the Lord And as our Sauiour is called the light of the Gentiles 2. Sam. 21. 1. King 14. 1. Sam. 13 1◠〈…〉 in the song of Simeon so also is the King called the Lampe of Israel and Moses and Dauid Men of God And in the Psalme speaking of this authority I haue said ye are Gods all children of the most High Whence come then those heresies that already take roote in all the society of new Doctors That Kings are rather slaues their Lords that Popes haue degraded many Emperours Bel. de Pont. lib. 1. c. 5. lib. 3. c. 16. lib. 5. c. 8. Emanuel Sa Iesuite in his Aphorismes Printed at Antwerp v. Princeps v. Clericis but neuer any Emperour deposed one Pope That Bishops may depose Kings and abrogate their Lawes That Ecclesiasticall persons dwelling in a Kingdome are not the Princes subiects and cannot bee iudged by them though they iudge Princes Now who is it that seeth not the iugling deceit of the Iesuites throughout the Chapters of this Treatise neither can the Cardinall bring any reason to the contrary and although wee agree in this that Kings are ordained of God for the people yet wee must discouer the fallacy of these Doctors equiuocating in the word for which is applyable both waies to serue and to command So wee agree that Kings are for the people but it is as the soule is created for the body and the head for the members to wit in a superiour degree to command and not to set the feete aboue the head Thirdly if this Doctor will not attribute to himselfe more authority then CHRIST and the Apostles haue done who in this world subiected themselues to it hee will not hold Kings in the ranke of slaues And if it had bene needfull to abase them in this estate the Lord IESVS had power enough to make the proudest stoope But if neither hee nor his Apostles haue enterprised any such thing then when the Church was in her purity it followeth that the perfection of the State Ecclesiasticall dependeth not on the superiority of Magistrates Soueraigne or subalternall And seeing the Apostle commandeth his successours to bee imitators of him 1. Cor. 11 1. Phil. 3.17 as he is of CHRIST they should say one to another as Christ did of himselfe