faulty for hauing obtained of God a royall command in matters of pollicy with what authority will this Cardinall Iesuite maintaine the mixt power which he bringeth into the Church without any commandement or ratification from God Now not onely the Orthodoxall people but also Pagans haue had this instinct of Nature thus farre Cappadoces Iust lib. 38. that being left to their choice by the Romans who had vanquished them they instantly requested them to giue them a King protesting that they were not otherwise able to maintaine themselues and esteeming true that which Herodian saith Herod 4. that as Iupiter hath command ouer all the Gods so in imitation of him it is his pleasure that the Empire of men should be Monarchicall From this sence common to all men it commeth that the warlike Nation of Macedonia hauing bene foyled in warre Iust 7. before they returned againe to the battell went to fetch the cradle wherein their yong King lay and set him in the midst of the Campe supposing that their former mis-fortune proceeded from this that they had not with thē the good augure of the Kings presence And although ambition carry men thus far either to cōmand or not to obey any but men of quality and merite yet we reade that the Sicilians did beare so great a respect to the last will of their deceased King Iust 4. that they disdained not to obey a slaue whom King Anaxillaus had appointed Regent during his sonnes minority And Xerxes flying from Greece in a vessel so full of men of warre that it was impossible for him to saue himselfe without casting away some part of them said vnto them O yee men of Persia Herod 8. let some among you testifie that hee hath care of his King for my safety is in your disposition And then the Nobility which accompanied him hauing adored him cast themselues into the sea till the vessell was vnburthened The third order of reasons is taken from Gods institution practised in Adam Noah Nimrod Moses Ioshuah yea in expresse tearmes for Saul speaking thus to Samuel 1. Sam. 8.22 Ratificatio retrotrahitur mandato aequiparatur Hearken vnto their voyce and make them a King And if with men ratification be equall to a commandement by much stronger reason with God who is not induced to change his purpose by any perswasion nor forced to doe that which displeaseth him by any violence Now that his will was to establish a King appeareth not onely by his decree and counsaile as then hidden and since reuealed but by his will manifested long time afore in these words Deu. 17.14 When thou shalt come to the land which the Lord thy God giueth thee and shalt possesse it and dwell therein if thou say marke that hee forbiddeth them not to say it I will set a King ouer me like as all the Nations that are about me then thou shalt make him King ouer thee whom the Lord thy God shall chose Note these words against the new heresie of our Iesuite who in his third booke Recognitionum quaest de Laicis vpon this false ground that Kings haue not their authority immediately from God but from the people maintaineth that they are Kings no further then it pleaseth the subiects For by this Text it appeareth that God chose Saul 1. Sam. 10.20.24 Also it is written That after Samuel had gathered together all the Tribes to wit for to cast lots that the Tribe of Beniamin was taken and it followeth after Not any among all the people is like vnto him whom the Lord hath chosen And if the Lot gouerned by God alone be not an immediate vocation from God these Doctors with their blasphemy may as well reiect Mathias from the Apostle-ship and make him an Apostle of men as the King of great Brittaine hath iudicially and to purpose obserued out of whose writings I haue borrowed many arguments inserted in this Treatise Seeing then that this high charge is giuen of God where is the man so presumptuously rash that dares blame this order and will depose him whom God hath established It is therefore God which createth degradeth Kings Dan. 4.22 5.18.21 Prou. 21.1 Deut. 2. and none other which holdeth their hearts in his hand for to bow them as hee did the heart of Darius and of Nebuchadnesar or hardeneth them as hee did Pharoahs and the Kings of Syon For it is written Exod. 6.7.8 Wised 6.3 Power is giuen you of the Lord and Principality by the most high And IESVS said to Pilate Ioh. 19.11 Thou couldst haue no power at all against mee except it were giuen thee from aboue Pro. 8.15 Also in the Prouerbs it is said By mee Kings raigne and Princes decree iustice The obedience therefore which is due vnto them is grounded on this Law written with the finger of God Exod. 20.12 Honour thy father and thy mother For the name Father is attributed vnto them not onely because they containe particular persons in their duty but also for the body Ecclesiasticall for they are called Esa 49. Nursing fathers of Gods Church for to containe it within the discipline of the Law are not thēselues children of the same to be vnder the rod and chastised by priuation from their kingdomes Yea rather the Apostle saith to the Romanes Let euery soule bee subiect vnto the higher powers Rom. 13.1.5 for there is no power but of God And hee addeth wherefore yee must be subiect not because of wrath onely that is to say for punishment but also for conscience sake Whence it followeth that the authority of the Prince is of Diuine right seeing it bindeth the soule and conscience which hath onely God for superiour Law-giuer And for to take away all ambiguity from equiuocating Doctors who distribute of powers temporall and spiritual ouer some subiects the Apostle expoūdeth what these powers ordained of God are 1. Pet. 2.13.14 Whether it be to the King as vnto the Superiour he excepteth no persō or vnto Gouernors as vnto thē which are sent of him Therefore vnder the name of powers are cōprehended the kinds of lawfull gouernment namely Monarchicall Democraticall and Aristocraticall And to manifest it more clearely the Apostle designeth these powers saying that the Prince beareth not the sword for nought Rom. 13.3.4 It is then the power of Princes which beare the sword whereof hee speaketh and not of them which beare the Crosier staffe for they are subiect to the temporall Magistrate as it is written 1. Pet. 2.17 Feare God and honour the King comprehending in two words the doctrine of the first and second Table as the Wise-man also doth in his Prouerbes My sonne Pro. 24.21 feare God and the King and meddle not with them that are seditious or according to the naturall translation with men which innouate or transforme themselues Now the reason of this prohibition is that they which are desirous
him was to make warre against God for saith that prodigious murtherer God is the Pope and the Pope is God Further there was found about him a Character with a heart of Cotten hung about his necke hee shewed to the Iesuite D'Aubinie who confessed him and heard his visions of Hosties a knife whereon was grauen a Heart and a Crosse and with what sort of mē were the prisons filled after this fact but with such as were infected with heresies preiudiciable to the State and to the Church I beseech your Maiesty pardon my zeale grounded vpon that I know as one of your faithfull seruants pardon the iust griefe of a subiect passioned against the parricide committed on two of his Kings Giue mee leaue my Lord to shedde true teares for the death of your Royall Father suffer me to lament for my Abimelec Ier. 4.20 of whom I said in my heart I will liue amidst the nations vnder his shadow vnder his Edict by whose benefite seeing I haue permission to speake and write the truth I haue presented it to your owne hands not to renew sorrowes passed but to preuent them that are to come For iudge I beseech you how much it importeth to make apparant vnto your Maiesty that Popes are not Gods that they may erre that they forget themselues against God the King to the end that in discouering the cause of this euill I may leaue vnto your Maiesties wisedome to remedy the same when time and age shall inuite you thereto Meane while till that time of perfect cure doth come these two preseruatiues seeme necessary for the two members which this disease would seize on and corrupt namely Piety and Iustice the Pillars of State For to what end would they cause the prudent Counsell of the Senate to bee despised but because they thinke to ouerthrow the State after the example of Rehoboams new Counsellours What arrogant presumption to censure the Sentences of that great Senate Iudge of the Empire sometime Arbiter of Europe and to what other end do they procure with so great importunity delayes of so holy iudgements And wherefore else hinder they the en-registring of the decrees of the Sorbonne so Canonicall Why do they terrifie and amerce the Preachers that speake the truth Courage ye good and loyall seruants that hide not but vse your Talent Serue God and the King Mat. 15.14 Luk. 19. and you shall enter into the ioy of your Lord For my part which is all I can doe for you I would engraue you in this memorial if your modesty did suffer it and that the hatred to which I expose my selfe were not cōmunicated to you For as for vs 2. Tim. 1.7 God hath not giuen vs the Spirit of feare but of strength and of loue and of a setled mind And if a Souldier for being praised of his Captaine will runne against the points of pikes cast himselfe into the trench and despise the fury of Canons what would a Frenchman Burgesse of the capitall City doe on so high a stage of Europe fighting for the honour of God and the seruice of his King Abeant questus discede timor vitae est auidus quisquis non vult mundo secum pereunte mori Now my Lord letting iustice bee administred as you doe according to her ordinary course your Maiesty shall bee the better serued and shall not incurre enuy in your person not being of age to employ your priuate authority in giuing extraordinary commandements and the Queene shall euer bee better obeyed gouerning herselfe as shee doth by the ancient Lawes of the State and ordinary course of iustice whereas if she let herselfe bee carried away with importunities many inconueniences would ensue For these men get ground of vs and go by degrees hauing bene first refused of all the orders and estates after that receiued with modification and now would driue out them that oppose themselues to their designes And if for the installing of these new Doctors this reason bee found good not to displease him that sendeth them what will not be done vpon this ground must wee renounce the most faithfull confederates of France who haue expelled cast them off neuer to receiue them more into their States and Common-wealthes must wee renew warre against them that acknowledge not this new power and not keepe our faith with them any longer then it shall please that Spirit of discord And if it bee thought vnfit to bring vs to such a misery wherefore do some counsell to repeale the causes Yea rather wee should resist the beginning And because that vnder pretence of maintaining Religion such men slily infect weake soules with maximes against the State The second remedy is taken from the other pillar of the State to wit The Vniuersity Piety that must be aided strengthened in the body of the Vniuersity which is not destitute of learned men as some calumniate This Vniuersity hath bene euer called in France Du Tillet of the liberties of the Church the keeper of the key of Christianity And it was the same that appealed from the Bull of Pope Pius the second and caused their protestations to bee en-registred in the Court of the Chastelet And Maister Iohn de S. Romain the Kings Attorney generall did the same actions as your Maiesty seeth done by your Aduocate generall Maister Sernin a man both learned couragious and incorruptible in iustice and in the seruice of his Prince Out of this Vniuersity King Lewis the twelfth tooke sixe Doctors for Counsellours of Estate It was this Vniuersity that ceased the massaker stirred vp by the Duke of Burgundy proclaimed through the streetes peace good people vnder the raigne of King Charles the sixt Out of this body were taken the sixe Doctors that decided the question now againe brought to be discussed of in Court Whether it be iust to assist the confederates of France against the will of the Pope when Pope Iulius excommunicated Alfonsus Duke of Ferrara whom King Lewis the twelfth assisted by the aduise of the Gallicane Church assembled in Councell at Tours in the month of September Anno. 1510. And although King Henry the Great followed onely the steppes of his Predecessours and the decisions of Catholicke Doctors neuerthelesse wee haue perceiued with an extreme mischiefe the effects of a pernitious doctrine the obstacles they would haue brought against the succour promised to the confederates of the Crowne for remedy whereof it seemeth that the exhortation of the Curates your Maiesties seruants and of the Doctors of Sorbonne will bee very necessary together with the writings of the most learned whom your Maiesty shall please to chuse for although armes bee seemely neere about your Maiesty yet is it no lesse profitable to prepare the affections of the subiects in such sort that armes may bee more for ornament then necessary for the safety of the Prince and that such men may bee employed herein as haue in their mindes an
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
dreamer of dreames such as are the practitioners of the chamber of meditations and shall giue thee a signe or wonder c. saying Let vs goe after other Gods c. That Prophet or dreamer of dreames shall bee slaine because hee hath spoken to turne you away from the Lord your God c. 2. King 11.15.17 So King Ioash and all the people sware to keepe the Law Politicke and Ecclesiasticall And if the obseruation of this Law is prescribed vnto Princes themselues where is that subiect that dare dispense therewith And if the worke-man-ship doe borrow his dignity from the worke-man who is he can accuse it of superfluity or defect Iren. lib. 2. cap. 47. Wee know saith Saint Iraeneus that the Scriptures are perfect for they are indited by the word of God and by his Spirit For these causes the Kings power is limited vnto this onely ordinance which conteineth in two Tables the rules of piety and iustice the most solide and fundamentall pillars of State which at all times those men haue kept inuiolate which in all things else obeyed the Prince So Daniel and his companions refused to prostrate themselues before the image of Nebuchadnesar Dan. 3. And the holy Apostles Peter and Iohn in the execution of their charge Act. 4.19 Ioh. 9.22 said that it is better to obey God then men In like manner the Mid-wiues are praised for that they would not execute the decree of Pharaoh Exo. 1.17.21 and put the Hebrew children to death for that was against the second Table of the Law of God Thou shalt not kill Therefore it is written Mat. 5.21 And because the Midwiues feared God therefore hee made them houses So said that constant Martyr 2. Maccab. 7.30 I will not obey the Kings commandement but I will obey the commandement of the Law that was giuen vnto our fathers by Moses So for obeying man although he was a Prophet rather then God 1. King 13. the man of God was torne in pieces of a Lyon The impiety and wickednesse of Iezabels commandement who had ordeined that the Prophets should bee slaine hindred Abdias from executing it For seeing that the king in his kingdome is as a Father of a family in his house and God will haue vs to loue him more then our owne bloud it sufficeth the king that we render vnto him the seruice that children owe to their most deere parents seeing that the honour due vnto him is comprehended vnder the name of Father and Mother Which is a thing so imprinted in the hearts of good men that the light of Lawyers Papipinian though he were not instructed in the Law of God refused the Emperour Caracalla to excuse the murther that hee had committed in the person of his brother saying that it is not so easy to excuse an homicide as to commit it By which answere he sheweth that they doe falsely call themselues Christians which canonize murtherers and easily approue the Parricides which they haue hardly executed And forasmuch as such bounds are set by him which giueth and taketh away Kingdomes on such conditions as pleaseth him good Princes which haue desired the preseruation of their estates haue not hindred the course of iustice nor bound the hands of the Magistrates established by them when they would execute their charges Haue also taken in good part the admonitions that the Pastors of the Church haue giuen them for the obseruation of piety for as it is said of the great Citty Troy that it could not bee destroyed till first they had lost their Tutelary Gods Peritura Troia perdidit primum Deos. So may wee aswell and with more suerty say that it is a most assured token of the subuersion of a State at hand when Religion is ill obserued and iustice not well administred The Prince then is not aboue the Law of God for it commeth from his Superiour neither aboue the law of nature which cannot bee abolished but with the abolishing of nature it selfe But that which is said in the Ciuill Law L. Princeps de â—â—gibus 〈◊〉 aequo §. 〈…〉 ad Trebel that the Prince is free from the obseruation of the Law is meant from the solemnities of the Law and from constraint which things are denied to euery particular or priuate person l. pen. de lâ—â—â—â—ptis 3 c. de â—estam l. ex imperf de leg 3. in whose mouth onely resteth humble supplication and who are armed onely with a Placet This may also bee vnderstood of the priuiledges granted by Kings which can neuer be extended against the Prince who hath the right to reuoke them when they are abused and may abrogate the lawes of which himselfe is the authour L. digna vox de leg liuing himselfe in the meane time after the lawes so long as they continue for the subiects buying according as the price goeth and exposing his treasury according to the statute And that place of Samuel maketh not to the purpose hoc erit ius Regis which speaketh of the right of rigour which is extreame iniurie and is of the customary right of ill and way-ward and not of good Kings So said the Emperour Theodosius to submit the Empire to the Law is some-thing more then to cause it to be obserued by others L. digna vox de leg for there is no commandement higher then to command the Prince nor any more difficult then to command a mans selfe For this reason good Princes the better to containe their subiects in their duties haue brought themselues to liue according to the Lawes principally according to them which are of the State and fundamentall of their soueraignty as said the Emperour Traian girding the sword on his high Constable Draw it forth saith he for mee if I command according to the Lawes but if I do the contrary employ it against mee But although such subalternall Magistrates are aswell Officers of the Empire as of the Emperour yet it is not therewith permitted them to controule the actions of their Soueraigne especially when they are personall vices which passe not into habitude and which bring not ruine to the whole state and such as Princes render an account of to God alone Tibi soli Psal 51. said Dauid though hee had caused his seruant Vrias to bee slaine and committed adultery with Bathsheba No Officer of the Crowne spake to depose him neither any particular person to bring him to iudgement much lesse strangers in any degree whatsoeuer in another territory who in these times being very liberall of the rights of others abuse that place of Saint Paul Rom. 13. which enioyneth obedience to the Prince for coÌ„science sake to cause the first Table of the Law to be transgressed dispense subiects of their oath of Allegeance due vnto Caesar and so cause the second Table of the Law to bee violated for their hurt being carried away according to the nature of the errour to the vice
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
condemneth for a Hereticke whosoeuer resisteth them Gl. v. multorum can vidua dist 34. For by that account wee must beleeue the glosse which defineth her onely to bee a whore that hath had to do with more then twenty and three thousand men and that he that marrieth such a beast meriteth remission of sinnes Cap. inter opera charitatis de spons lib. 4. decretal Wee ordaine saith the pope that for all such men as shall take common woemen out of the stewes and marry them that same shall profite them for remission of their sinnes And how dare pope Gregory couple that abomination with the merite of the holy passion It pertaitaineth onely to the mother of whoredomes to enhanse her wares so high to giue course to such tresure Now such and the like impostures of the Court of Rome being knowne by the Christian Churches caused men to appeale for some clauses and abuses in such decrees and the King maintained himselfe and his people in the Christian liberty without contradiction till the yeare one thousand one hundred thirty seuen in the raigne of Charles the Yong whose constancy the pope would try about the prouision of the Arch-bishopricke of Bourges as likewise of Phillip his successour Anno one thousand one hundred eighty against whom pope Innocent stirred vp the King of England and caused wars betweene them And as for Lewis the ninth called also Saint Lewis because of his piety and iustice who was king in the yeare one thousand two hundred twenty seuen he gaue peace to the Albigenses perceiuing as Haillā saith that they were hated of the pope principally for that they cried out against the dissolute liues of Church-men hee also tooke away the sale of Offices To this holy Prince Histories ascribe these qualities that hee was a gardian of the Lawes a protectour of the Church the head of the Nobility and Father of the People Hee caused also the Byble to bee published in the French tongue My Lord your Maiesty is descended from this great prince betweene his and your comming to the Crowne is so great a resemblance that your subiects do hope for the same graces vnder your authority name descent age place of Coronation nature instruction regency publication of your Edict of peace all agree Hee beganne to raigne at twelue yeares of age was crowned at Reines remained vnder the regency of his mother though shee was a stranger and a Spaniard For the Regency For Frenchmen are ashamed to referre lesse to the last will of their King then did the Sicilians vnto theirs named Anaxillaus Iustin 4. who gaue for Regent to his sonne a slaue that had bene faithfull vnto him But in case of such a gouernement in whom else can there be found a more tender affection then of the mother or neerer then taken out of the bowels To come againe to our deliuerers aboue whom appeareth most Phillip the fourth surnamed the Faire who in the yeare 1320. had to doe with a a prodigious monster of a man pope Boniface the eighth who wrote to the king in these termes Annales Nicholas Giles Wee will that thou know that thou art our subiect both in Spirituall and in Temporall things To which the King answered beginning thus Sciat fatuitas vestra c. Let your sottishnesse and fond temerity know that in Temporall things we haue none but God for superiour c. And the King not content with this commanded a Lord of Languedoc an Albigeois of the house of Nogaret to seise vpon this pope Which he did and hauing cuffed him on the mouth with his gauntlet cast him into prison where he died leauing behind him this Elogium or praise in diuerse hystories Io. Andr. Bald. c. 1. de feud gl ad 6. Decretal He entred into the Popedome as a Fox raigned as a Lyon and died as a Dog For hee entred into such a phrensie that hee gnawed off his owne hands with rage O that the deceased King your Maiesties father were aliue and that hee saw the letter of that ambitious prelate commented on by a Cardinall Iesuite who durst publish a booke of it would he not haue commanded that arch-hereticke to bee brought to him bound hand and foot and cast into the prison of his palace for to bee condemned and suffer the like execution that the Legates of pope Benedict did before the pallace after they had seene their Bulles torne in peeces the 29 of Iuly Papon Arrest lib. tit 5. Arrest 27. anno 1408 in the raigne of Charles the sixt And what do such men thinke they haue to do with children Yea rather with a flourishing State war-like allied peaceable fortified with money and furniture for the warres With God himselfe protectour of the most desolate widdow and poorest Orphan and therefore of the Regent of the children of his Annointed and of the State which by his grace hath now so long time subsisted I returne to Boniface and passe vnder silence that his Bull was in the presence of the King cast into the fire by the Earle of Artois that his Nuncio's were committed to prison and prohibition made that no man should carry mony to Rome nor prouide any for dispatch of Benefices that the King transferred the popes seate to Auignon which remained there three score and foureteene yeares after that in those times were sixe Anti-popes yea three at one time all three deposed by the Emperour Sigismond especially Iohn the 23 conuicted of horrible crimes So was Clement the seuenth who had sowed vp fiue Cardinals in sackes and cast them into the sea and three more hee beheaded and burnt their bodies to ashes which hee caried euery where with him in chests with Cardinal hats set on the same that it might bee knowne what they were And we must not omit that Iohn the twentieth two was deposed for hauing vnaduisedly excommunicated the Emperour Lewis of Bauiere Since in the raigne of Lewis the eleuenth pope Eugenius found himselfe agrieued at the pragmaticall sanction or confirmation of the decree made in the Councell of Basill for the election of Prelates collation of Benefices c. But the King vsed a Soueraigne remedy and which was ordinary with his predecessors for he forbad that any money should bee carried to Rome neither was that a light punishment for it was found that the Pope drew out of France yearely a million of Gold Suet. in vita Iulij Caesaris which was the tribute that the Romans raised out of all the Gaules Which might very profitably bee employed on Hospitals Colledges and Spittles in France without passing any further Against all these disorders many good Doctors haue exclamed among others Saint Bernard and his schollers Also Sauonarola a great and learned man among the Clergy who was held to haue had the gift of prophesie said to King Charles the eighth that God called him into Italy for to reforme the Church and in deed being
him he had not that preheminence ouer other Bishops before it was giuen to him by the Emperour for as no man can giue that which he hath not so none receiueth that of gift which by right pertaineth to him Thirdly it being but an humane priuiledge it followeth that it is not a right common nor diuine consequently subiect to confirmation and reuocation in case of abuse especially being (a) Guido pp. q. 239. Decius Cons 191. 1 parte Lucas de Penna l. quicunque de omni agro deserto l. 11. c. Can. Intelecto de iureiur gl verbo depereunt in proemio prag sanct l. 1. 2. Cod. Theod. de Epis cler lib. 6. Nouel vt Cler. 83. §. Si tamen coll 6. a domaniall right it could not bee alienated by the Emperour And therefore Popes ought not be vnthankefull towards the Kings that haue aduanced them Phocas gaue thē the name Pepin gaue them the reuenue Constantine granted nothing at first to Bishops but an exemption frō tutelle and gatherings of monies Constantius his sonne added vnto them that they should not bee criminally proceeded against before the Iudges royall that their faults might not bee published And Iustinian extended the priuiledge to all Ecclesiasticall persōs not to with-draw thē from vnder his obedience but that he might do them speedier iustice with lesse scandale Which priuiledges haue bene confirmed by Christian Kings not without exception neither in all sortes of crimes for Princes from whom as from the fountaine all inferiour Iustices are deriued and who are perpetuall moderatours of subalternall iustices doe neuer grant any priuiledge against themselues for these causes haue they excepted certaine cases properly called Cases Royall and improperly called priuiledged Cases for they bee cases excepted from the priuiledge granted to Ecclesiasticall subiects or others of which Iustice is done by the Kings Officers because they very notably concerne the King As when any matter of high treason is in hand or of bearing armes of the Kings safegard infringed of iniury done to one of the Kings Officers performing his Office Item If a Priest in some office for the King behaue himselfe ill and many others For as much therefore as the King is himselfe priuiledged aboue the priuiledge that he granteth it is manifest the error which these men publish for the aduantage of their head that it was a priuiledge granted to the King by the Pope hauing no other ground then the equiuoke of the word Priuiledged Case But since they haue passed further and if Kings and their seruants any longer winke at it they will effect that they teach and already they are about it they attribute to themselues a double power the keyes and the sword heauen and earth Spirituall and Temporall euen to the deposing of Kings and Soueraigne (a) Can. Alius 15. q. 6. Princes dispensing their (b) Can. Engeltrudam cau 3. q. 4. subiects from their obedience and not onely proceeding to excommunicate and anathematize them which is the most rigorous censure cutting off from the communion of charity and faith but also to cut them off out of the world to giue them ouer to the first murtherer that will attempt against them who shall not be iudged (d) Can. Excommunicatorum 23. q. 5. a murtherer by the doctrine of the Popes new Canons Thus after they haue said that whatsoeuer thing Princes ordaine in Ecclesiasticall matters Can. 1. dist 96. they ought to haue no authority they passe vpon their liues and states a doctrine contrary to the discipline of the Apostles and humility of Saint Gregory writing to the Emperour Mauritius Lib. 2. Epist 61. in dict 11. I the vnworthy seruant of your piety c. and he concludeth I haue therefore caused your commandement to bee published but because the same is not comformable to the Law of God I haue therefore aduertised your Maiesty and so haue acquitted my selfe of my duty in obeying the Emperour and yet not being silent in Gods cause And we must not thinke that hee saith one thing and meaneth another for in those daies there was no schoole of equiuocation and speaking in humility he also spake the truth for as saith Saint Augustine Serm. 29. de verbo Apostoli tom 10. When thou liest by humility though peraduenture thou wert not a sinner before yet in lying thou becommest one Now they not onely refuse to bee subiect but also change the censure ordained for a spirituall remedy of the soule into a perpetuall confiscation of goods and mortall bane of mens bodies And the pretended temporall Lord is more rigorous then any other for let the seised doe the best endeuour hee possible can yet the seizure abideth stil and the effect of the proscription to the profite of the vsurper And indeed was it euer spoken of at Rome to cause Nauarre to be restored and to excommunicate the vsurper But with what importunity doe they bring in the Heraulds of such power to make vs allow both the title and the possession against the Kings right From the same ground proceed the vnreuerend behauiours of the members belonging to this mixt authority of some against the Princes of bloud others against Courts of Parliament and by degrees against the Kings Officers And least any more speech should bee made as in time past was by the Emperour Ferdinand and Lewis the twelfth to reforme both the head and members These vpstart busie-bodies haue come to helpe by entertaining our diuisions in religion in steed of quenching them faining that they come to reforme abuses among them replying against others which require a Councell that their opinions haue bene already sufficiently condemned and that there needeth no more Councels as if vniust iudgements against lawfull proceeding were a Law against a third which hath not beene heard nor called If this maxime were true there would haue bene no Councels holden of very many yeares and places of Iustice should be shut vp CHAP. X. That it is one of the most pernicious heresies to despise the King THIS title will not be held a paradox by good men who know that the seruice we render to the King proceedeth from the ordinance of God For though many heathen nations haue performed this duty yet not hauing the knowledge of Gods cōmandement nor an intention to obey the same they haue respected only their owne particular that they might preserue their policies and therefore such vertues meerly moral are not allowable before the throne of Gods iustice For whatsoeuer is not of faith is sin Rom. 14.13 So we may say that the equall diuision of spoile among theeues is not a true execution of iustice but a shadow therof that there society may the longer continue which if contention should arise amōg thē could not long endure And therfore as the final cause is vitious so the meanes wherby they attaine the same ought not to be held lawfull In like maner all