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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	build_v	church_n	peter_n	2,152	5	7.8262	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50274	The works of the famous Nicholas Machiavel, citizen and secretary of Florence written originally in Italian, and from thence newly and faithfully translated into English.; Works. English. 1680	Machiavelli, Niccolò, 1469-1527.; Neville, Henry, 1620-1694.	1680 (1680)	Wing M129; ESTC R13145	904,161	562

and be Baptized every one of you in the name of Iesus Christ for the remission of Sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for this promise is to you and to your Children and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call Next to judge infallibly of Divine Truth and to forgive Sins as Christ did Then to be the Head of all Ecclesiastical persons and causes in the world to be so far above Kings and Princes as to Judge Depose and deprive them and to have an absolu●e jurisdiction over all the Affairs in Christendom in Ordine ad Spiritualia yet all this the Canonists allow him and he makes no scruple to assume whilst it is plain that in the whole New Testament there is no description made of such an Officer to be at any time in the Church except it be in the Prophecy of the Apocalyps or in one of St. Paul's Epistles where he says who it is that shall sit in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God Christ tells us his Kingdom is not of this world and if any will be the greatest amongst his Disciples that he must be servant to the rest which shews that his followers were to be great in sanctity and humility and not in worldly power The Apostle Paul writing to the Christians of those times almost in every Epistle commands them to be obedient to the higher Powers or Magistrates set over them and St. Peter himself from whom this extravagant Empire is pretended to be derived in his firs● Epistle bids us submit our selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King or c. and this is enjoyn'd although it is plain that they who govern'd the world in those days were both Heathen Tyrants and Usurpers and in this submission there is no exception or proviso for Ecclesiastical immunity The practice as well as Precepts of these Holy men shews plainly that they had no intention to leave Successors who should deprive Hereditary Princes from their right of Reigning for differing in Religion who without all doubt are by the appointment of the Apostle and by the principles of Christianity to be obeyed and submitted to in things wherein the fundamental Laws of the Government give them power though they were Iews or Gentiles If I should tell you by what Texts in Scripture the Popes claim the Powers before mentioned it would stir up your laughter and prove too light for so serious a matter yet because possibly you may never have heard so much of this Subject before I shall instance in a few They tell you therefore that the Jurisdiction they pretend over the Church and the power of pardoning Sins comes from Christ to St. Peter and from him to them Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church I will give thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on Earth c. From these two Texts ridiculously applyed comes this great Tree which hath with its Branches over-spread the whole Earth and kill'd all the good and wholsom Plants growing upon it The first Text will never by any man of sence be understood to say more than that the Preaching Suffering and Ministry of Peter was like to be a great foundation and Pillar of the Doctrine of Christ the other Text as also another spoken by our Saviour to all his Apostles whose sins ye remit they are remitted and whose sins ye retain they are retained are by all the Primitive fathers interpreted in this manner wheresoever you shall effectually Preach the Gospel you shall carry with you Grace and Remission of Sins to them which shall follow your instructions but the people who shall not have these joyful Tidings communicated by you to them shall remain in darkness and in their Sins But if any will contest that by some of these last Texts that Evangelical Excommunication which was afterwards brought into the Church by the Apostles was here praesignified by our great Master how unlike were those censures to those now thundered out as he calls it by the Pope these were for edification and not destruction to afflict the flesh for the salvation of the Soul that Apostolical ordinance was pronounced for some notorious Scandal or Apostacy from the Faith and first decreed by the Church that is the whole Congregation present and then denounced by the Pastor and reached only to debar such person from partaking of the Communion or fellowship of that Church till repentance should readmit him but was followed by no other prosecution or chastisement as is now practised But suppose all these Texts had been as they would have them how does this make for the Successors of St. Peter or the rest or how can this prove the Bishops of Rome to have right to such succession But I make haste from this subject and shall urge but one Text more which is The spiritual man judgeth all men but is himself judged of none from whence is inferred by the Canonists that first the Pope is the Spiritual man and then that he is to be Judge of all the world and last that he is never to be liable to any judgment himself whereas it is obvious to the meanest understanding St. Paul in this Text means to distinguish between a person inspired with the Spirit of God and one remaining in the state of Nature which latter he says cannot judge of those Heavenly gifts and graces as he explains himself when he says The Natural man cannot discern the things of the Spirit because they are foolishness unto him To take my leave of this matter wholly out of the way of my Studies I shall beg of you Zenobio and of Guilio and the rest of our Society to read over carefully the new Tes●ament and then to see what ground there is for Purgatory by which all the wealth and greatness hath accrew'd to these men what colour for the Idolatrous worship of Saints and their Images and particularly for speaking in their hymns and prayers to a piece of wood the Cross I mean S●lve Lignum c. and then fac nos dignos beneficiorum Christi as you may read in that Office what colour or rather what excuse for that horrid unchristian and barbarous Engine called the inquisition brought in by the command and authority of the Pope the Inventor of which Peter a Dominican Fryer having been slain amongst the Albigesi as he well deserved is now Cannoniz'd for a Saint and stil'd San Pietro Martine In the dreadfull Prisons of this Inquisition many faithful and pious Christians to say nothing of honest Moral Moors or Mahometans are tormented and famish'd or if they out-live their sufferings burnt publickly to death and that only for differing in Religion from the Pope without having any crime or the least misdemeanor proved or

a solemn counsel where the publick administration was debated those to whom the Government at that time belonged advised that there should be no Balia for the future that the way of imborsation should be laid aside and the Magistrats be chosen by lots as in the former Squittini's or elections To obviate this humour Cosimo had two ways either to possess himself forcibly of the Government by the power of his party and depose his Enemies or to let things go which way they would and attend till time should make his friends discern that they did not take the Government and authority so much from him as from themselves Of the two he made choice of the last knowing that according to that constitution the purses being full of his friends he could without any danger reassume his Authority when he pleas'd The City being thus reduc'd to its old way of creation of Magistrats by lots they thought they had perfectly recover'd their liberty and that for the future elections were to be made not according to the influence of the Nobility but the inclination of the People So that sometimes the friend of one Grandee was rejected and sometimes of another and those whose houses were formerly full of Clients and their presents had now scarce housholdstuff left or servant to attend them those who were formerly their inferiors were now become their equals and their equals advanced to be their Superiours they were not regarded nor respected but rather derided and abus'd all People taking the freedom to talk of them and their Government as they pleas'd even in the streets and high ways without any contradiction so that it was not long after they discovered that as he had told them it was not so much Cosimo as themselves which were degraded However Cosimo took no notice but in all propositions that would please the People he was the first who concurr'd But that which was most terrible to the Nobility and made Cosimo look about him was the receiving of the Catastro of the year 1427 by which the impositions were to be laid by order of Law and not by the capriccio's of particular Men. This Law being reviv'd and Magistrats already chosen to put in execution the Nobility assembled and went to Cosimo to beg of him that he would be a means to rescue them out of the jaws of the people and restore the State to a condition that might make him powerful and them honorable To which Cosimo replyed he would do it with all his heart provided it might be done legally by the consent of the people and without any force of which he would not endure to hear Then they endeavoured in the Counsels to prevail for a new Balia but they could not obtain it whereupon they returned to Cosimo and press'd him with all expressions of humility that he would consent to a Parliament but Cosimo resolved to make them fully sensible of their error absolutely refused it and because Donati Cochi being Gonfaloniere di Giustitia at that time presum'd to call a Parliament without his consent Cosimo made him so ridiculous and contemptible in the Senate he was not able to continue there but as a distracted Man was sent home again to his house Nevertheless lest things should run too far to be recovered Luca Pitti a bold and tenacious Man being made Gonfaloniere di Giustitia ●e thought it a convenient time to have the Government to him that if any thing miscarried in that enterprize it might be imputed to Luca. And accordingly Luca in the very beginning of his office urged the People many times to the restauration of the Balia threatning those of the Counsels with opprobrious and insolent language and not long after he executed what he had threatned for in August 1453 in the vigil of San. Lownzo having filled the Palace with armed Men he called the people together in the Piazza and constrained them by force to consent to what they had voluntarily refused Having repossess'd themselves of the state created a new Balia and changed the Magistrats according to the pleasure of a few that the biginning of their Government might be as terrible as it was forcible they confin'd Girolamo Machiavelli and some others and deprived many of their honors Girolamo not being exact in observing his bounds was proscrib'd and wandring up and down Italy to excite the several Princes against his own Country by the Treachery of one of the Senators in Lunigiana he was apprehended brought back to Florence and executed in Prison This Government which lasted eight years was very violent and insupportable for Cosimo being grown old weary of business and infirm in his body could not be so sedulous as formerly so that the City was become a prey to a few particular Citizens who in requital of his good service to the State made Luca Pitti a Knight and he in return of their kindness appointed that whereas before they were called Priori dell Arti now that they might at least retain the Title though they lost the possession they should be be called Priori della liberta He ordered likewise that whereas formerly the Gonfalonieri sat on the right hand of the Retori they should sit in the midst of them hereafter and that God might have his share in the revolution he caused solemn services and processions to be performed by way of thanks for the honors to which they were restored Luca was richly presented both by Cosimo and the Senate after whom the whole City came in flocks so that it was beleived he had given him that day to the value of 20000 Ducats by which means he grew into such reputation that not Cosimo but he was looked upon as the Governor of City and he arrived at that point of vanity to begin two stately and magnificent houses one in Florence the other at Rucina not above a miles distance from the City but that in Florence was greater and more splendid than the House of any other private Citizen whatsoever for the finishing of which he baulk'd no extraordinary way for not only the Citizens and better sort presented him and furnish'd him with what was necessary about it but the Common people gave him all of them their assistance besides all that were banish'd or guilty of Murder Felony or any other thing which expos'd them to publick punishment had Sanctuary at that house provided they would give him their labour The rest of his Brethren though they built not such houses they were no less rapacious than he so that though Florence had no Wars abroad to destroy it it had Citizens at home in its own bowels which would not suffer it to prosper In the mean time as we have said before the Wars happen'd in the Kingdom of Naples and the Pope had difference with the Malatesti in Romagna concerning Rimino and Cesana which they had taken from him and desired to recover so that betwixt the thoughts of that and the

which he had disobliged were among others the Cardinals of St. Peter ad Vincula Collonno St. George and Ascanius The rest if any of them were advanced to the Papacy might well be afraid of him except the Spanish Cardinals and the Cardinal of Roan The Spaniards by reason of their obligations and alliance and the other by reason of his interest in the Kingdom of France Wherefore above all things the Duke should have made a Spanish Cardinal Pope and if that could not have been done he should rather have consented to the Election of Roan than St. Peter ad Vincula for 't is weakness to believe that among great persons new obligations can obliterate old injuries and disgusts So that in the Election of this Iulius XI Duke Valentine committed and Error that was the cause of his utter destruction CHAP. VIII Of such as have arriv'd at their Dominion by wicked and injustifiable means NOw because there are two ways from a private person to become a Prince which ways are not altogether to be attributed either to fortune or management I think it not convenient to pretermit them though of one of them I may speak more largely where occasion is offered to treat more particularly of Republicks One of the ways is when one is advanced to the Soveraignty by any illegal nefarious means The other when a Citizen by the favour and partiality of his Fellow-Citizens is made Prince of his Country I shall speak of the first in this Chapter and justifie what I say by two Examples one Ancient the other Modern without entring farther into the merits of the cause as judging them sufficient for any man who is necessitated to follow them Agathocles the Sicilian not only from a private but from a vile and abject Condition was made King of Syracuse and being but the Son of a Potter he continued the dissoluteness of his life thorow all the degrees of his fortune Nevertheless his vices were accompanied with such courage and activity that he applyed himself to the Wars by which and his great industry he came at length to the Pretor of Syracuse Being settled in that Dignity and having concluded to make himself Prince and hold that by violence without obligation to any body which was conferred upon him by consent he settled an intelligence with Amilcar the Carthaginian who was then at the head of an Army in Sicily and calling the People and Senate of Syracuse together one morning as if he had been to consult them in some matter of importance to the State upon a signal appointed he caus'd his Soldiers to kill all the Senators and the most wealthy of the People after whose death he usurped and possessed the Dominion of that City without any obstruction and though afterwards he lost two great Battels to the Carthaginians and at length was besieg'd yet he was not only able to defend that City but leaving part of his forces for the security of that with the rest he transported into Africk and ordered things so that in a short time he reliev'd Syracuse and reduced the Carthaginians into such extream necessity that they were glad to make peace with him and contenting themselves with Africk leave Sicily to Agathocles He then who examines the Exploits and Conduct of Agathocles will find little or nothing that may be attributed to fortune seeing he rose not as is said before by the favour of any man but by the steps and gradations of War with a thousand difficulties and dangers having gotten that Government which he maintained afterwards with as many noble Atchievements Nevertheless it cannot be called Virtue in him to kill his fellow-Citizens betray his Friends to be without faith without pity or Religion these are ways may get a Man Empire but no glory nor reputation Yet if the Wisdom of Agathocles be considered his dexterity in encountring and overcoming of dangers his Courage in supporting and surmounting his misfortunes I do not see why he should be held inferiour to the best Captains of his time But his unbounded cruelty and barbarous inhumanity added to a million of other Vices will not permit that he be numbred amongst the most Fxcellent Men. So then that which he performed cannot justly be attributed to either Fortune or Virtue for he did all himself without either the one or the other In our days under the Papacy of Alexander VI. Oliverotto da Fermo being left young many years since by his Parents was brought up by his Unckle by the Mothers side call'd Iohn Togliani and in his youth listed a Soldier under Paulo Vitelli that having improved himself by his Discipline he might be capable of some Eminent Command Paulo being dead he served under Vitellezzo his Brother and in short time by the acuteness of his parts and the briskness of his Courage became one of the best Officers in his Army But thinking it beneath him to continue in any Man's Service he conspir'd with some of his fellow-Citizens of Fermo to whom the servitude of their Country was more agreeable than its liberty by the help of Vitellesco to seize upon Fermo In order to which he writ a Letter to his Unckle Iohn Fogliano importing That having been absent many years he had thoughts of visiting him and Fermo and taking some little diversion in the place where he was born and because the design of his Service had been only the gaining of Honour That his fellow-Citizens might see his time had not been ill spent he desired admission for a hundred Horse of his Friends and his Equipage and beg'd of him that he would take care they might be honourably received which would redound not only to his Honour but his Unckles who had had the bringing him up Iohn was not wanting in any Office to his Nephew and having caus'd him to be nobly received he lodged him in his own House where he continued some days preparing in the mean time what was necessary to the Execution of his wicked design he made a great Entertainment to which he invited Iohn Fogliani and all the chief Citizens in the Town About the end of the treatment when they were entertaining one another as is usual at such times Oliverotto very subtilly promoted certain grave discourses about the greatness of Pope Alexander and Cesar his Son and of their Designs Iohn and the rest replying freely to what was said Oliverotto smil'd and told them those were points to be argued more privately and thereupon removing into a chamber his Unckle and the rest of his fellow-Citizens followed They were scarce sate down before Soldiers which were conceal'd about the room came forth and kill'd all of them and the Unckle among the rest After the Murder was committed Oliverotto mounted on Horseback rode about and rummaged the whole Town having besieged the chief Magistrate in his Palace so that for fear all people submitted and he establish'd a Government of which he made himself Head Having put such to death