the Euangelicall law hath no other end but euerlasting life and the soule of man for his matter and naturall subiect It ought wholly to apply it selfe about the direction of the inward motions of the conscience but no wayes in any outward force or violence And therefore iudgeth only of meanes necessarie to saluation conformably to the essential spiritual causes of Christian religion that is persuasiuely only and directiuely in preaching of the word administration of Sacraments and if need require exclusion of Communion with the Church by vertue of censures the spirituall armes of the Church which in ancient times it was a great crime to exercise without mature counsell and Aristocratical moderation of the Priestly order as we haue spoken Sect. 5. And so much the nature of Aristocraticall gouernment did require and euer since that hath beene discontinued the learned know what disturbance of Ecclesiasticall discipline hath ensued Now this doctrine is grounded partly vpon the definition of the Church deliuered Sect. 3. partly vpon many strong and euident Oracles of the Scripture Doth not our Lord distinctly auerre to Pilate Iohn 18.36 that his Kingdome is not of this world And Luc. 9.58 The foxes haue holes and the birds of heauen nests but the sonne of man hath not whereon to lay his head As though hee would say That the Church as from God hath neither territorie nor vse of sword of prison or of any corporall punishment for the soule which is the only and proper subiect of Euangelicall law is only moued by an inward not by an outward beginning but the right of the materiall sword necessarily followeth the territorie as they effect the cause Hence was it that the Lord did answerâ— to one of the people that desired him to bid his brother to diuide with him their fathers inheritance Luc. 12.14 Man who made me a Iudge or a diuider ouer you As though hee had said That the Church which hath for her subiect the soules of men not earthly Dominions ought not to iudge of earthly inheritances and possessions For walking in the flesh yet doe wee not warre after the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnall but mightie through God to cast downe holds casting downe the imaginations and euery high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God and bringing into captiuitie euery thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.3 Where is to be noted that by the materiall sword the bodies may bee compelled yea killed but by no such meanes the thoughts to be captiuated to the obedience of Christ for that is only effected by the wholesome food of the Word and Sacraments And to this the witnesse of Paul Philip 3.20 Our Politeuma that is Christian gouernment is wholly in heauen from whence wee looke for the Sauiour Iesus Christ our Lord And so indeede would our Lord haue it that Church men should not meddle in violent and temporall matters Will you haue also the testimonie of Saint Bernard They shall neuer shew saith he when euer any of the Apostles hath sitten as a Iudge of men diuider of bounds or distributer of grounds Finally I reade that the Apostles did stand before the Iudges to bee iudged but not that they did sit iudging others Therefore your power reaches no further then to sinnes not to possessions because for those not for these you did receiue the keyes of the Kingdome of heauen to shut out offendors only not possessors I pray thee which power and dignitie dost thou esteeme greater to remit sinnes or to diuide possessions But there is no comparison therein These earthly and inferior things haue their iudges by themselues the Kings and Princes of the earth Why doe yee inuade other mens liberties Against those diuine oracles though more cleare then noone-light two obiections principally are made The first that Ananias and Saphira his wife were punished with death by Saint Peter because of their lie to the holy Ghost Act. 5. The second that the Apostle seemeth to teach Christians whilest they liued vnder Heathen Princes and Magistrates that they might choose Iudges among themselues in their ciuill businesses 1. Cor. 6.4 If then yee haue iudgements of things pertaining to this life set them vp which are least esteemed in the Church We answere to the first that such a great action of Saint Peter was altogether miraculous extraordinarie and wholly by the inspiration of the holy Ghost And therefore not appliable to ordinarie right nor can no more be drawne into argument in either then these words Ierem. 1.10 Behold this day haue I set thee ouer Nations and Kingdomes to plucke vp to roote out to destroy and to threâ— downe Or that place of the two swords Luc. 22.38 seeing both places must be vnderstood Allegorically and spiritually but that from an Allegoricall and misticall sence there can no forcible argument bee drawne the very children know it Neither is there any reason that the authoritie of Saint Bernard should breed any scruple in any mans minde lib. 4. cap. 4 ad Eugen. Put vp thy sword into thy sheath The sword therefore is also thine to bee perhaps vnsheathed at thy direction though not with thine owne hand For both spirituall and materiall swords belong to the Church But the one to be drawne for the Church and the other by the Church That by the hand of the Priest this of the Souldior though indeede by the Priests apointment but by the Emperors commaundement For indeede these words doe but shew That the Church hath right to giue the signe that is to say to teach and perswade when the Ciuill Prince ought to draw his sword for the glorie of God Whereof wee will speake in the Section following And truly when Church-men did excell in holinesse of life Christian Princes to remoue all suspition of iniustice from their consultations and enterprises did vse and that very iustly the counsell of Clergy-men both in peace and in warre But as iustly againe haue they left to take it since Churchmen gaue occasion to suspect that they affected that temporall Monarchie whereof Eugubinus Bozius Garrerius and the very Cardinalls Bellarmine and Baronius haue written most laborious bookes Which opinion euen though it were true yet wisedome and reason should haue taught those authors at least in those most vnlucky dayes to abstaine from such manner of writing The second argument deceiues ab ignoratione Elenshi through vnskilfulnesse of arguing for howbeit those testimonies of holy Scripture aboue commended conclude manifestly that the Church by diuine right hath neither territorie right of sword nor contentious Court yet they doe not denie but by humane right and graunt of Princes shee may very well haue it Now for this place in question the Apostle doth not speake of the diuine right but of the humane and arbitrarie right as when by a mutuall agreement of the parties priuate arbiters are chosen friendly to decide differences and controuersies without troublesome going
will be a long time hereafter For vnlesse it be in a generall Councel it is not to be hoped that you may euer haue a constant resolution of so many so learned Doctors of your own aboue all so little interessed in your case but rather which being able to claim more then you as being Church-men theselues disclaim honestly willingly that which is not theirs the more therfore to be beleeued It is no more Luther that speakes in Bohemia Caluin in Geneua Henry 8. in England Iames the sixt in Scotland you cannot impute this to any particular quarrell or heresie They are not priuate men of another Countrie that speake in their owne sence and of which you might say they may ouershoot themselues thogh of your owne profession as the two aboue mentioned It is not one Blackwel your Archpriest one VVarmington one Sheldon your Priests of whome you might say the two former were prisoners the last a Runne-away VViddrington at least was free that so learnedly confutes Bellarmine by Bellarmine himselfe and is your own stil yea most passionate as the fashion is of all those that haue forsaken vs therefore the more worthy to be credited by you Though it be a great wonder how he hath beene able to reserue still so much reason and honesty to make a stop there since it is not the good hap of such as fall once from the steepe rocke of the truth to graspe any where but rather alwaies to tumble from an error to an heresie till they be legges and lims all broken ouerwhelmed in the bottome or rather in the bottomlesse pit yet it is not hee that speakes It is not the King himselfe of whome you might say he speakes in his owne cause though no otherwise then a good Father commending naturall duety to his belooued Children And I pray you who shal loose most or be punished at last either the godly father for admonishing his rebellious children or they for denying him his due It is not that so powerfully fulminoÌ„â— in vanos illos fulminatores et vacua fulmina Capitolij learned Andrewes or any other of our graue men of whome you might say they speake to please the King They are free and franke Frenchmen that speake in Fraunce it selfe the mother of all fraunchise and freedome free not onely in their bodies but without preiudice in their mindes For of those Frenchmen they are not that part which being neerer in faith to vs heere you might perhaps nick-name Puritans open and opposite enemies to the Pope No such matter They are your owne deere Brethren rather then our commoÌ„ friends the same sheep of one pretended fold with your selues the Popes most obedient and gentle children who rather by too gracious charitable a granting then by a restraining maner rather giue a new far stretched power to your common father then abridge him of any of his old It is I say whole France that speakes by her Sorbonne that whole society agreeing together as one man speaks also by one man their Sindick learned Speaker Richeâ— very wel known though not named The Sorbonne of Paris I say so famous through all Christendome which being an ancient coÌ„pany of the most graue learned French doctors in Diuinity both canonicall and ciuill law is as it were a continual standing councell in France allowed by the Pope at least represents it as long as there is none else and to their oracles in that respect all France in a time of neede yea verte often many forraine Countries haue had their refuge For eueÌ„ when at the first this very same book came forth without a name as a child exposd to fortun that it might be the more free to any to oppose alleadge what they would what they could against it Then indeede the Nuncio perceiuing his master so thoroughly let blood not onely in his Cefalica or Basilica that is in his headship ouer the church or royaltie ouer Princes but euen in his Arteria magna wherein consists the life and the spirit of all his being runs in a great heate to diuers Bishops and Cardinals and gathering as many as he could to accompany one the greatest indeed among them all willing nilling as one that truly hath euer bin very moderate but yet hath so neere an interest in the Pope both by oth by hope he may wel haue to be a Pope himselfe one day is sure he is more worthy of the place then the place as now it is of him sends him in al the hast to complaine to the Counsel and demand the suppression of this booke But that right worthy of that name Henry de Bourbon most worthily the first Prince of the bloud hauing thoroughly perused it before hand vndertakes brauely the defence thereof in the behalfe of our yong Lewes his Lord neere kinsman ouerthrows the reasons without reason of the Bishops Cardinall all giuing by authoritie of the whole Counsell more authoritie to the booke then it had before For eâ—en that other eye of France Charles de Bourbon Earle of Soissons taking then first notice of the booke therfore not able to speake much to it but vpon the assurance of his nephews sufficiencie caused it purposely to be translated to vnderstand it better and finding it also most iust equitable and well grounded it was publikely printed in French whereas it was before but in Latin Then was Sorbonne also consulted as they vse in such cases which gaue freely their opinion in fauor of the book as knowing ful wel from whence it came beginning the as it were to auow it as their own WherupoÌ„ the Nuncioes crew yet not yeelding but continuing to gather it selfe together three or foure daies to aduise of some means for their redresse as soon as that famous high Court of Parliament of Paris the right arme of our Kings in some sort Protectors of the kingdom in a nonage had notice of it they sent immediately the kings Atturny general to bid theÌ„ vpon pain of the Kings displeasure to separate theÌ„selues leaue off such coÌ„uenticles which were not only without but against the Kings authority of the Church about such things as were allowed by his Maiesties most honourable priuâ— Counsell by the Sorbonne and by themselues them three representing as it were the three Estates that is to say the whole kingdome And now that which that most Christian Fraunce saith is nothing new or of her own selfe but Serenissime Venice hath said as much vpon mature consultation of al her Diuines and saith so still Catholike Spain it selfe thinking no lesse which yet hath spoken sometimes as far as any of the rest if not further as their owne manifold Councils held at Toledo most learnedly cited in that Royall Apology for the Oath of Allegiance do manifestly iterate and testifie Fraunce Spaine and Venice the three Charites the three minions of the Pope that yet sticke
most strictly to him and neuerthelesse two of them at least doe but hold by a bare and verie small threed As the third also would stand in the like case but that beeing so neere and terryfying a neighbour of all sides vnto the Pope he holds him by the throat as they say being able to starue him to death with all the Consistorie whensoeuer he will but restraine the transportation of corne out of Sicily and other his dominions round about whereby he commandeth more then he is commaunded not perhaps more then hated if they durst shew it and neuer giues their holy Ghost leaue to sing any other song but that which hee sends him ready prickt from Madrid Now then if these men when they haue done al their vtmost power yea in the stretching of their loue filial duty enlarged kindnes beyoÌ„d that which they can wel warraÌ„t yet can they assigne vnto their father the Pope no more then a generall care of soules with a ministeriall direction onely for order and execution of Canons ouer particular Churches no power at all ouer the vniuersall Church in grosse much lesse ouer a generall Councell much lesse or in the same degree ouer the bodies of men by violence or any temporall punishment but by meere counsell persuasion onely And if not so much as ouer priuate bodies least of all ouer Kings and ciuill Princes which rather they allow and openly acknowledge to haue right and authoritie to commaund both Church and Church-men in some cases to which Princes all men aswell Ecclesiasticall as Ciuill must be most humble and faithfull subiects as being in so much as they be Lords of the territorie established by God Protectors and Defendors of the Church and of both Diuine and Naturall lawes with attribution of the materiall Sword to themselues only priuatiuely and exclusiuely from all others within their owne dominions What stop then any more deere brethren but that you shold gladly yeeld your naturall dutie and allegiance to your naturall king since ye are bouÌ„d to yeeld it euen to the froward 1. Pet. 2.18 That you should willingly giue him but that simple pawne of your loyaltie your oath the simplest that could euer be imagined vpon that great straight and necessitie whereunto the State was brought by that portentuous mischiefe which did once so nearely and daungerously threaten kingdome and vs all as you your selues haue bene most vndoubting eye-witnesses You shall not be Catholikes neuerthelesse and you know how little or nothing besides that is required at your hands your consciences are no waies pressed your thoughts are most free and your words thank God for it and your gracious King may freely expresse them In so much that euerie day some of you God forbid I should say all dispute as peremptorily speake as odiously decide as vnchristianly inueigh as publikely against vs and our Religion here in the midst of London to our selues and one to another to our owne faces as thogh they were in the verie middle of Rome or Seuil very farre from the pittilesse fiers of those hot Countries where they burn without remission not only such as speak the least word I doe not say against God for they let them alone but against the Pope for that is the greater sinne yea euen against those they can by any meanes discouer to haue had at any time any thought or bee able afterwards to haue it against him Onely all you may complaine of is that yee haue not as free and as publike exerâ—ise as we of the rites of your Religion And yet in some sort haue yee it by hooke and by crooke or by a soueraigne transcendency of grace so much haue euer all Magistrates of our Religion abhorred extreame execution of the lawes but being forced thereunto by violent attempts For shame therefore be contented Enioy peaceably that liberty which you may buy so cheape and rather loue the certaine quietnesse of your present estate then the incertitude of another which sure cannot be but troublesome Force not by an vnnatural rebelliouâ— wilfulnesse in so iust in so lawfull a matter your naturall and most gracious King to be most vnvnwillingly and with a great griefe to hâ—s heart more sharp against you then the sweet inclination and meeknes of his royall nature will beare I conclude with an addition to your further encouragement of some decrees d cided and set downe two hundred yeres agoe by the verie same Sorbonne against that false doctrine and such as seemed then to broach it a new whom they neuer failed to condemne and caused them publikely to aske pardon and make satisfaction as Frier Iohn Sarazin Iohn Tanquarell Florentin Iacob Thomas de Blanzy and sundrie others at sundry times did Which decrees yet now of late they haue caused againe to bee printed by their owne Printer Felix de Blanuile in S. Victors streete in Paris and bound together with this present booke with this title Of the power and supremacie of the Pope Against the Sectaries of this age Repeating once more the diffinition of the Church as it is set downe in the title page of this booke to point as it were with the finger that both sprung together out of one the same fountaine Whereby you may see how carefull they haue euer beene to dash the young ones of Babilon against the right rocke of the truth The decrees are these after a long rehearsall of the cause and ceremonies of Sarrazins recantation in presence of the Rector of the Vniuersity and whole scores of Doctors there named one by one as witnesses THat all powers of Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction other then that of the Pope are from Christ himselfe in as much as concerneth primary institution and collation but from the Pope and from the Church for limitation and ministeriall dispensation onely That those powers are of diuine right and immediatly ordeined by God That we finde in the Scripture that Christ hath founded his church and expresly ordained other powers differing from that of the Pope That whensoeuer any matters bee ordained in a Councel the whole authoritie which giueth force to the decrees doth reside not in the Pope onely and alone but principally in the holy Ghost and the Catholike Church That by the text of the Scripture and doctrine of the Apostles wee see directly that authoritie of iurisdiction was conferred vpon the Apostles and Disciples when Christ did send them forth That the power of Iurisdiction of inferiour Prelates either Bishops or Curates is immediatly from God according to the doctrine of the Gospell and the Apostles That there is some power that is the power of the Church which of right and incertaine cases can decree against the Pope That any man liuing of whatsoeuer title authority dignity or preeminence hee may be euen though hee were a Pope if onely he haue the vse of reason may commit Simony Finally most heartily intreating you to take in the best part of this my louing