the subjection which Bishops Pastors and all Ecclesiasticall Ministers aswell as lay people owe and are to performe to Emperours Kings and Princes in respect of their owne persons this you conceale and doe not affirme Yea you doe directly denie it although S. Chrysostome as here is manifest doth directly affirme it Henceforth therefore wrong not S Chrysostome in this point as you doe nor delude your Reader any longer with these your false Comments and untrue surmises 6. But in my Reply pag. 2. I further cited the text of 1. Tim. 2.1.2 where S. Paul exhorteth Christians to pray chiefly especiall for Kings and all that are in authoritie that under them We may lead a quiet and peaceable life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which you say I English thus in all godlinesse and honestie But you are deceived for although I put these wordes so together in the English yet I make them not all to be the English of those Greeke wordes Everie meane Grecian knoweth that the English of those Greeke wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is no more but in all godlinesse but I added the other wordes and honestie not as being signified by those former Greeke wordes but as being other wordes annexed in the English Text the Greeke whereof I did not then mention which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now all being put together both according to the Greeke and English the Text is as I rightly recited it in all godlinesse and honestie And therefore in all this you doe but Nodum in sirpo quaerere which becommeth you not But why doe you further say that I cite this Text to no purpose I shewed you in my Reply to what end and purpose I cited it namely to declare that Kings and Princes are to respect aswell pietie godlinesse and religion as civill honestie and correspondencie of humane societie For beside that the wordes of the Text doe plainely import somuch can any reasonable man suppose that eyther S. Paul would exhort Christians or that Christians themselves would pray for Kings and Princes for this respect and to this end onely that they should maintayne externall worldly peace civill honestie and humane societie without any respect or regard had at all unto pietie godlinesse and to that Christian religion they held and professed and which they more esteemed then their lives and more then all earthly treasures and worldly happinesse whatsoever Yea to this end and purpose it was that I there also mentioned some speeches of Iustinian Valentinian and Theodosius Emperours testifying and declaring their chiefest care within their Empyres and Dominions to be for and concerning Gods religion whereunto you have not answered But yet for further proofe hereof I alledged in the same my Reply pag. 3. Aug. contr◠Crescon lib ◠cap 51. that cleere testimonie also of S. Augustine where hee sheweth that It is enioyned Kings from God that in their kingdomes they should commaund good things and forbid evill things not onely such things as belong to humane societie but such things also as belong to Gods religion You say the wordes of S. Augustine be these In this Kings as they bee commaunded from heaven doe serve God as they be Kings if in their kingdomes they commaund good prohibite ill not onely what pertaynes to humane societie but also what pertaynes to divine religion Let the wordes bee as you relate them all commeth to one effect as touching that purpose for which I alledged him For what Is it not all one in sence to say that Kings are enjoyned from God and Kings are commaunded from heaven For when you say that Kings are commaunded from heaven I make no doubt but you meane thereby the same thing that I doe when I say it is enjoyned Kings from God when you say againe that Kings doe as they are commaunded from heaven serve God as Kings if in their Kingdomes they commaund good and prohibite ill not onely what pertaynes to humane societie but what also pertaynes to divine Religion Doe not these wordes of yours as clearely and as strongly prove the Kings authoritie in matters Ecclesiasticall and concerning Religion as my wordes doe when I say that it is enioyned Kings from God that in their kingdomes they should commaund good things and forbid evill things not onely such things as belong to humane societie but such things also as belong to Gods religion Yea even your selfe forced by the unresistable evidence of this testimonie of S. Augustine doe at last yeeld and graunt that Kings may commaund in things belonging to religion But then what those things bee which the King may commaund belonging to religion you seeme to say that they be Theft Rape and such like And yet you cite the same S. Augustine affirming that utilissium saluberrimum est c. It is most profitable and expedient that the King make lawes to restraine the free will of man from transgressing in such things as the law of God doth intimate unto us Hereby you may perceive that you needed no better confuter then your selfe For be onely Theft Rape and such like civill offences prohibited by the law of God And be not Idolatrie false worship blasphemie and other offences against God and his religion by the same law of God also prohibited Yea S. Augustine himselfe as you see here distinguisheth betweene things belonging to humane or civill societie and things belonging to divine religion and therefore you must not confound those things which hee hath so directly distinguished Now Theft Rape and such like offences concerne civill or humane societie and bee offences against the second Table of Gods Law but there be also offences that bee done immediatly against God which bee comprised in the first Table of his Law And did you never reade nor heare that the King is Custos utriusque Tabulae The keeper of both the Tables Deut. 17.18.19 Why was the Booke of Gods law at the first institution of Kings in the Common-weale of Israel required to be delivered to the King And why was hee charged to reade therein all the dayes of his life and to keepe all the wordes and ordinances contayned in it if hee were not aswell to see the duties of the first Table of the Law as of the second to bee observed within his kingdome For the Booke of Gods law comprehendeth more then the duties of the second Table And you must observe that this was enjoyned to him not in respect of his private conversation onely as hee was a man but in respect of his Regall and Princely office and function specially For when he was set upon the throne of his Kingdome then it was that he was enjoyned these things as the verie wordes of the Text it selfe doe expressely testifie Wherfore well spake S. Augustine That a King serveth God one way as hee is a man Aug epist 50 and another way as he is a King as hee is a man hee serveth God by living faithfully As hee
mightie through God that is they bee divine and spirituall and not worldly or terrestriall And in respect of this his spirituall kingdome or spirituall supremacie all Emperours Kings Princes and Potentates Psal 72.11 Phil. 2.9.10.11 Math. 28.18 Ephes 1.20.21.22.23 aswell as all Bishops and others of what degree soever must acknowledge their subjection unto him For to him is given all power both in heaven and in earth And hee it is whom God hath set at his right band farre above all principalitie and power might and dominion and everie name that is named not in this world onely but also in that which is to come And hee hath made all things subiect under his feete and hath given him over all things to bee the bead to the church which is his body the fulnesse of him that filleth all in all 1. Cor. 15.25 And Hee must raigne untill he hath put all his enemies under his feete You see then that this spirituall kingdome or spirituall Monarchy and supremacie belongeth onely to Christ Iesus and not to any terrestriall Emperour King Prince Pope or Prelate whatsoever And therefore when you attribute as you doe the spirituall supremacie to the Pope of Rome consider well how great intolerable the offence is For is it not as I said before direct high treason in a subject to intrude and usurpe upon the kingdome of his soveraigne and to exercise his supremacie Royall rights authorities and Prerogatives therein without any warrant or commission from him And is it then any lesse then high treason for the Bishop of Rome to doe the same in the spirituall kingdome of CHRIST IESVS If you say that the Bishop of Rome is but onely the Vicar or Vice-roy or Deputie unto Christ in that his kingdome I demaund who constituted or appointed him to bet so For is not he still a traytor to his King that entreth upon his kingdome possesseth and enjoyeth it under colour and pretence that hee is appointed by his soveraigne to bee the Vice-roy or Lord deputie of the kingdome when revera whatsoever he pretendeth hee neyther hath nor can shew any Letters-Patents Warrant or Commission from his King for the same Such is the case of the Bishop of Rome For neyther the Pope nor all his partakers doe or be able to shew any warrant or commission from Christ in that behalfe They have beene long seeking out such a warrant and commission but they could never yet nor ever will be able to finde it If then this be high treason against Christ in the Pope do your selfe judge what offence it is in you or others that take part with him therein and bee his adherents followers and maintayners The second question you demaund of mee is whether the whole Church being but one there be any moe heads of it then one I answer that the whole Church 1. Cor. 12.12 13.14 c. Ephes 1.22.23 Ephes 4.15 Coloss 1.8 Coloss 2.10 being as S. Paul calleth it The body of Ghrist This one body can have no moe then one head and that one head is CHRIST IESVS as the same S. Paul againe expressely teacheth and affirmeth And therefore this head is not the Pope of Rome as you verie strangely dreame your selfe incline to this that there should be but one Head to this one Body How then can you admit any moe heads unto it then this one which is Christ Iesus For if you make CHRIST IESVS to be one head and the Pope to be another head you make this one body to have two heads and so make it a Monster As for your distinction of a Vitall head and a Ministeriall head it is before removed and taken away in my first Booke pag 94. 95. 96. 97. whereto you have not answered And whereas you say that the Church Militant consisting both of Iewes and Gentiles is but Vnum ovile One sheepefould and that this one Sheepefould Ioh. 10.16 there is but unus Pastor on pastor or one sheepheard it is true but this unus pastor one sheepheard is not Ioh. 10.11.14 as you still fondly fancie the Bishop of Rome but CHRIST IESVS onely as appeareth in the same Chapter And in this respect he is also called Magnus pastor ovium The great sheepheard of the Sheepe Heb. 13.20 Yea the chiefe or supreme Pastor over all the severall Pastors of all the severall flockes in the world 1. Pet. 5.2 3 4. For thus S. Peter speaketh to them all Feede the flocke of God which dependeth upon you caring for it not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre of a readie minde not as though yee were Lords over Gods heritage but that yee may be examples to the flocke And when the chiefe Sheepheard shall appeare yee shall receive an incorruptible crowne of glory Here you see that S. Peter sheweth very plainely that not himselfe though hee were an Apostle much lesse the Bishop of Rome or any other Bishop was to have this high and transcendent name of Chiefe or supreme Pastor over all the rest of the severall Pastors For to CHRIST IESVS onely hee attributeth and appropriateth this tittle as being his peculiar and prerogative in asmuch as it is Christ Iesus onely and not the Bishop of Rome nor any other man mortall whosoever that can give this incorruptible crowne of glorie he there speaketh of Not the Pope then nor any other but CHRIST IESVS onely appeareth to bee the chiefe or supreme Pastor or which commeth all to one reckoning the Vniversall Bishop over all the severall Bishops and severall Pastors dispersed in the world Your owne translation in this Text of 1. Pet. 5.4 is Princeps Pastorum the Prince of Pastors which likewise still sheweth that not the Pope but CHRIST IESVS onely is the supreme Pastor or the Prince of the severall Pastors dispersed on the face of the Earth And therefore was it also decreed in the Councell of Carthage 3. ca. 26. that Primae sedis Episcopus non appelletur Princeps sacerdotum vel summus sacerdos aut aliquid huiusmodi sed tantum primae sedis Episcopus The Bishop of the first Sea may not bee called the Prince of Priests or the the chiefe Priest or any such like but onely Bishop of the first Sea And Gratian addeth further as touching the title of Vniversall Bishop Distinct. 99. prim sed Neyther let the Bishop of Rome be so called Now then to come to answere you also touching Nero and other Heathen persecuting Emperours and Kings It is true that they have the same Civill sword power and authoritie committed to them from God which the Christian Emperours and the Christian Kings have and to the same end namely 1. Pet. 2.13.14 Rom. 13.3.4 for the punishment of evill doers and for the prayse of them that doe well But if they punish good and godly men and well-doers as Nero did when hee put S. Peter and S. Paul to death and as the other
office and function of the Ecclesiasticall Ministers As for that your other reason whereby you would disswade me because these are points of great difficultie surpasse a Lawyers abilitie as you speake although I arrogate nothing to my selfe yet why should you say that it surpasseth a Lawyers abilitie to deale in these things when as you your selfe being a Lawyer doe neverthelesse intermedle in them Or why should it surpasse or exceede a Lawyers talent or a Lawyers abilitie in mee more then in you Indeede if a man be nothing else but a meere Lawyer in respect of that his meere worldly calling he is not fitte to deale in matters concerning God and his religion But if hee bee a Christian Lawyer exercised in the Booke of God and well grounded in the points of his faith and religion as all Lawyers and other lay-men ought to be then in respect of that his divine and Christian calling hee may meddle with points of Divinitie and Christianitie Eatenus Quatenus so farre forth as is before shewed and as is in my first Booke more at large declared And yet there is also a more speciall reason why I should bee permitted to intermeddle herein because being not onely a Lawyer but a Iudge also in the Common-weale it well becommeth mee and is my dutie as I conceive it for that reason so much as in me lyeth to seeke to have the Lawes and Statutes of the Realme especially in these most high and most important points aswell as in other that bee inferiour points unto them to be observed of all his Majesties Subjectes within this kingdome Neyther are there any such great doubts or difficulties in these points as you would perswade yea they bee verie cleare plaine open and evident points and such as any man though but of meane understanding may easily and readily conceive and apprehend For first the verie name of a Subject if there were no more may serve to teach any man that the King whose Subject hee is hath of due right a Regall and Temporall Supremacie not onely over him but over all the rest of his Subjects within his owne Dominions and secondly the verie name of a Christian may serve to teach a man to beleeve and to professe no other religion but that which Christ himselfe taught eyther by himselfe or by his Apostles as also to acknowledge no other to bee the spirituall King head and Monarch of the whole Christian Church but the same CHRIST IESVS onely 4. Now then you are come at last to the matter it selfe Where first of all you affirme and confesse two Supremacies the one spirituall the other temporall The spirituall Supremacie or spirituall Monarchie which indeede rightly Iob. 18.36.57 1 Cor. 15.25 Ephes 1.20.21.22.23 and properly belongeth unto CHRIST IESVS you attribute unto the Pope of Rome But by what right Namely as being his Deputie Vicar or Attorney as you call him But can you shew any letter of Attorney or any Letters Patents Commission or Warrant from him or from his word to prove the same You have sought long but could never yet finde or shew any such warrant although you have pretended divers which prove no such matter If then it bee high treason in a subject to take upon him to bee a Vice-roy or Lord-Deputie in a terrestriall kingdome without a warrant or Commission from his King Is it not likewise as grand as high a treason in the Bishop of Rome to take upon him to bee Vice-roy or Deputie unto Christ in his spirituall kingdome without any warrant or commission from him But as in the point of the spirituall supremacie hee thus intolerably wrongeth Christ Iesus himselfe his Crowne and dignitie so doth hee also intolerable wrong to Emperours Kings and Princes and to their Crownes and dignities in respect of their Civill and Temporall supremacie authoritie rightly aunciently belonging to them over Persons Ecclesiasticall and in causes also Ecclesiasticall within their severall Dominions And this to men that bee not extreamely wilfull perverse and froward I have very sufficiently and abundantly proved in my first and second Bookes whereunto you neyther in your first Answer nor yet in your second which is your Rejoynder have alledged any thing that is of force or weight sufficient to refell or confute any one Argument I brought in that behalfe And herein I refuse not the judgement of any equall and judicious person whosoever Howbeit in that your Reioynder to prove the Popes supremacie you cite one Text of Scripture namely Deut. 17. The wordes whereof because you doe not fully set them downe I will here recite that the Reader may the better perceive how well or ill they fitte your purpose Deut. 17.8.9 10 11.12.13 the wordes be these If there arise a matter to hard for thee in judgement betweene bloud and bloud betweene plea and plea and betweene stroke and stroke being matter of controversie within thy Gates then shalt thou arise and get unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose And thou shalt come unto the Priests Levites and unto the Iudge that shall be in those dayes and enquire and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgement and thou shalt doe according to the sentence which they of that place which the Lord shall choose shall shew thee according to the sentence of the Law which they shall teach thee thou shalt doe Thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee to the right hand nor to the left And the man that will doe presumptuously and will not bearken unto the Priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God or unto the Iudge even that man shall die and thou shalt put away the evill from Israel and the people shall heare and feare and doe no more presumptuously Here for the honour of the Priest you say that hee is in this case to bee obeyed upon penaltie of death and why doe you not say asmuch for the honour of the Iudge that is of the civill Magistrate For the wordes of the Text doe shew that disobedience aswell to the one as to the other was punishable with death But you will say peradventure as the Iesuites did that the Latin translation called S. Ieromes was in times past Ex decreto Iudicis morietur home ille By the decree of the Iudge shall that man die that obeyeth not the Priest In his Booke against the Iesuites part 3. pag. 33. 34 35. To whom that reverend and learned Bishop Doctor Bilson answereth that it was a corrupt translation and that the verie same translation not long sithence was not Ex decreto Iudicis but decreto Iudicis hee that obeyeth not the commaundement of the Priest and the decree of the Iudge that man shall die This was saith he the text of the Bible which you call S. Ieromes Nich. de Lyâ—… in Deut. 17. not much more then two hundred yeares since when
is a King hee serveth God in setting forth lawes to commaund that which is good and to remove the contrarie So that Kings as Kings serve God in doing that for his service which none but Kings can doe Yea that Kings may punish Idolatrie blasphemie sacriledge schisme heresie and all the offences against the first Table aswell as Thefts Rapes Murthers Adulteries and other offences against the second Table of his law Aug. cont 2. Gaudentis epist li. 2. c. 11 S. Augustine yet further directly sheweth against the Donatists saying Cry thus if you dare let murthers be punished let adulteries be punished let other degrees of lust and sinne be punished onely sacriledges that is wronging of Gods truth and his Church we will not have to be punished by Princes lawes Againe Aug. contr epist Parmen lib. cap. 7. Galat. 5.19.20.21 he speaketh thus Will the Donatists though they were convinced of a sacrilegous schisme say that it belongeth not to the Princes power to correct or punish these things Is it because such powers doe not extend to corrupt false religion The workes of the flesh S. Paul reckoneth to be these Adulterie fornication uncleannesse wantonnesse idolatrie witchbraft hatred debate emulation wrath contentious seditious Cont. Epistol â—armen libr. cap. 7. heresies envie murthers drunkennesse gluttonie and such like What thinke these men saith S. Augustine May the crime of idolatrie bee iustly revenged by the Magistrate or may witches be rightly punished by the rigor of Princes lawes and yet will they not acknowledge that heretikes and sâ—bismatickes may be repressed by the same when S. Paul rehearseth them al ogether with the other fruites of iniquitie Wâ—ll they reply that earthly powers are not to meddle with such matters â—o what end then doth he beare the sword Luke 14.23 which is called Gods minister serving to punish malefactors Christ saith in the Gospell Goe out into the high wayes and hedges and compell them to come in Aug. cont 2. Gaud. Epist. lib 2 cap. 17. Epistol So. â—ont 2. Gaud. epist lib. 2. cap 17. epistol 48. that mine house may be filled Wee take wayes saith S Augustine for heresies and hedges for schismes because wayes in this place signifie the diversenesse and hedges the perversenesse of opinions If then those that be found in the high wayes and hedges that is in heresies and schismes must be compelled to come in let them not mislike that they be forced For this commanding by Princely power occasioneth many to be saved who though they be violently brought to the feast of the great housholder and compelled to come in yet being there they finde cause to rejoyce that they did enter though at first against their wills But here you tel me though somewhat unseasonably that you cited in your Answere a Decree or Canon made in the first Councell of Nyce declaring evidently that the Bishop of Rome whom you unjustly and untruely call the supreame Pastor of the whole Militant Church had the Supreamacie in that time that unto this pregnant proofe produced by you I onely reply as Maskers doe with Mumme Why what needed any reply at all unto it For I had answered it before in my first Booke cap. 1. pag. 12. Where I affirmed and shewed it to bee a forged and counterfeyte Canon by diverse Councels as namely by the sixth Councell of Carthago cap. 3. by the Affrican Councell cap. 92. 101. 105. and by the Milevitane Councell cap. 22. Yea the verie fifth and sixth Canons which bee confessed to bee undoubtedly true Canons of the Councell of Nyce doe themselves sufficiently declare that other Canon which you and other Papists also alledge to bee false and forged And not onely those Councels but the Decrees of other Councels also decreeing against the supremacie of the Bishop of Rome as is shewed in the same my first booke c. 1. p. 16. 17. 18. do therby likewise consequently declare that Canon of the Councell of Nice which you speake of to be a new forged thing But if you desire yet further proofe thereof against the objections and allegations that Papists make in this case then reade that Booke of jurisdiction Regall Episcopall Papall made by that worthy learned and reverend Bishop Doctor Carleton cap. 5. pag. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. And reade also for the same purpose The Catholicke Appeale for the Protestants made by that reverend worthy and learned Bishop Doctor Morton lib. 4. cap. 8. pag. 467 468 469. 470. 471. 472. 473. 474. 475. 476. and there shall you see this Canon so fully maintayned to bee forged against the adversaries as that it is now a shame for you or any other Papist to cite or produce it for a witnesse of the Popes supremacie But upon such false and forged testimonies it is that the Popes supremacie is chiefely founded Howbeit I hope by this time you perceive that howsoever the Pope and Poperie have beene heretofore long maskers in the world and gone disguised yet at last they have beene discovered and made knowne to bee such as they bee indeede and that it had beene much better for you to have beene mute or mum then by this your provocation to have occasioned the shame and ignominie of the Pope and Popish Church in the point of forgerie to be thus displayed and layd open as also you may here see that I have no way wronged S. Augustine or wrested him to a wrong construction as you calumniate when I alledged him to prove the Kings authoritie aswell in matters Ecclesiasticall and concerning Religion as in matters Civill and Temporall Which that you and everie man else may yet the better and the more fully perceive I have here thought it good to set downe his owne verie wordes in Latine Aug. contra Crescon lib. 3. cap 51. and they be these In hoc enim Reges sicut eis divinitus praecipitur Deo serviunt in quantum Reges sunt si in suo regno bona iubeant mala prohibeant non solum quae pertinent ad humanam societatem verumetiam quae ad divinam religionem For in this saith he doe Kings as is commaunded them from God serve as they be Kings if in their kingdomes they commaund good things and forbid euill things not onely those things which belong to humane societie but those things also which belong to Gods Religion Can any thing be more plainely or more directly spoken for proofe of this point 7. Here then you may withall perceive the truth of that distinction which I used in my Reply cap. 1. pag. 4. For whereas you in your Answer amplifying the Sacerdotall or spirituall power had said that how much the foule in perfection exceeds the bodie the eternall blisse the temporall felicitie the divine lawes the humane lawes By so much did the spirituall authoritie exceede the temporall Thereunto I replyed and sayed that whilest you thus spake you should have remembred
Lord And yet Manoah was of the tribe of Dan. Of David that was no Priest the Scripture saith Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And againe David built there an Altar unto the Lord and offered burnt offerings 1. Sam. 10. and peace-offerings and the Lord was appeased towards the Land And likewise of Salomon The King went to Gibeon to sacrifice there 1. King 3. a thousand burnt offerings did Salomon offer upon the Altar Thrise a yeare did Salomon offer burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the Altar 1. King 9. which he built to the Lord and he burnt incense upon the Altar that was before the Lord. Nothing is oftner in the Scriptures then these kinde of speeches By the which no more is meant but that either they brought these things to be offered or else they caused the Priests to offer them For in their owne Persones they could not sacrifice them because they were no Priests In that sence the Scripture saith of Saul That he offered burnt offerings at Gilgal before Samuel came not that Saul offered it with his owne hands 1. Sam. 13. as you before did fondly imagine and said Hee was deposed for aspiring to the spirituall function 1. Sam. 14. v. 3.18 But he commaunded the Priest to doe it who was then present in the host with the Arke of God as the next chapter doth witnesse in two speciall Places And as for the reproofe that Samuel gave to King Saul it was saith he for distrusting and disobeying God For when God first advanced Saul to the Kingdome he charged him by the Mouth of Samuel to goe to Gilgal and there to stay seaven Dayes 1. Sam. 10. before he ventured to doe any Sacrifice till the Prophet were sent to shew him what he should doe 1 Sam 13. But seeing his enemies gathered to fight against him on the one side and his people â—hâ—inking from him on the other side because Samuel came not he began to suspect that Samuel had beguiled him and therefore upon his owne head against the commandement of God willed the Priest to goe foreward with his Sacrifices and to consult God what he should doe This secret distruct and presumption against the charge which God had given him was the thing that God tooke in so evill part And since he would not submitte himselfe to be ruled by God and expect his leasure God reiected him as unfitte to governe the People Neither did Samuel challenge him for invading the Priests Office but for not staying the time that God prefixed him before the Prophet should come So farre he whom I thus recite the more at large for your better satisfaction in this Point But yet moreover that worthy In his Booke of iurisdiction Regall Episcopall Papall pag. 31. 32. 33. c. learned and reverend Bishop also D. Carleton amongst other arguments which he bringeth to prove Moses to be a Ciuill Magistrate and a Prince but not a Priest alledgeth that Text of Exodus 4.16 where Moses is said to be as a God to Aaron and Aaron as a Mouth to Moses The word there used is Elohim and the same that is also used in Psal 82. and is never applyed throughout the whole Scriptures when it is given to men but to such as were Kings Princes Iudges and other Civil Magistrate and at no time to Priests vnles they were themselves the chiefe Magistrates or received Authority from the Chiefe Magistrate Give you an instance in the holy Scripture to the Contrary if you can or else confesse the truth of it And here you may also observe one reason among the rest which Christ himselfe giveth why they be called Gods in that Psalm 82. Psal 82.6 For in that Psalme it is that these words are written I have said ye are Gods which be the words that Christ citeth in the Gospell of S. Iohn Ioh. 10.34.35 and saith thereupon thus If hee called them Gods unto whom the word of God was given c. So that this appeareth to be one reason why Kings Princes and Civill Magistrates Deut. 17.18 19 Iosh 1.8 2 King 11.12 be called Gods namely because they have the word of God given or committed to them although not to preach it as Bishops Pastors and Doctors doe yet by way of speciall commission to keepe it to establish it by Authority to commaund obedience to it to punish the Violaters of it and to encourage countenance protect and defend the Professors and Practisers of it For it is certaine that all that Psalme whence Christ tooke those words is wholy and entirely understood of Kings Princes and such like Civill Magistrates not of Priests Bishops or other Ecclesiasticall Ministers as any man may perceave that will reade that Psalme Seeing then this word Elohim is given to Moses and that comparatively and in respect of Aaron the Priest it must be graunted that Moses was a Civil Magistrate and as a King or Prince in respect of him and others But neither Priest nor high Priest as you surmise And as for that Text before mentioned of Psalm 99. vers 6. how much soever you and others stand vpon it yet give me leave here once more to tell you that being well considered you may in your owne iudgment easily perceave that you can enforce nothing thereout to prove Moses to be a Priest properly so called although Aaron was for the purpose and intention of those words is no more but this to shew that not onely Moses a Civill Magistrate but Aaron also a Chiefe Priest amongst the other Priests and Samuel likewise a Prophet amongst others that called upon the name of the Lord were all heard of him when they prayed Now because all those when they prayed called vpon the name of the Lord were heard and obtained their requests is that any argument that therefore they were all Priests properly so called No man I thinke will be so absurd as to make such an inference 9. I therefore now come to Ioshuah the Successor of Moses he aswell as Moses did as a Prince or King commaund the Priests Levites and all Israell and dealt in matters also Ecclesiasticall aswell as Temporall as I have shewed in my Reply pag. 6. hereunto you in your Reioynder answere nothing that is of any weight or moment Your best answer is That what Iosuah did in matters Ecclesiasticall he did it by the direction and advise of Eleasar the Priest which if it be graunted maketh nothing to the Question For the Question is not by whose direction or advise but by whose Authority those things were done It is not denyed but that Priests might as was fitte they should give their best direction and advise vnto their Kings and Princes But this derogateth nothing from that Authority which Kings and Princes have and beare within their owne dominions Yea how impertinent weake and feeble this your answere is you might have perceived
had the supremacie because hee as you say deposed King Benhadad and put Hazael in his place Howbeit you are therin much deceived For it is not reade in like sort that Elias deposed the one King and put the other in his place Dan. 4.12.22.17.25 Luke 2.52 Dan. 2.37 The power to depose Kings belongeth onely unto God who giveth kingdomes to whomsoever hee pleaseth But what the Prophet Elias did concerning Hazael to bee king over Syria and concerning Iehu also to bee King over Israel hee had a speciall and direct commaundement for it from God himselfe For the Lord said thus unto Elias Goe returne on thy way 1. King 19.15 to the wildernesse of Damascus and when thou commest annoynt Hazael to bee King over Syria And Iehu the sonne of Nimshi shalt thou annoynt to be King over Israel So that it was God and not Elias that put downe the one King and raysed up the other As for Elias and Elisha 2. King 9.1.2.3 c. and other Prophets they were but the publishers and declarers of Gods will and pleasure in all such cases and not the deposers of any Kings Touching that you say of Queene Athalia there was good reason for her to bee deposed For shee was a meere usurper and Ioas was the true and rightfull heyre For Behold saith the Text the Kings sonne must raigne 2. Chr. 23.3 as the Lord hath said of the sonnes of David Neyther was it Iehoida the Priest alone but the rest of the rulers and people also that according to their duties both to God and the King by an unanimous consent deposed that wicked usurper Athalia and put Ioas in the kingdome to whom the right of it appertayned For the words of the Text are 2. Chron. 23.11 Then they brought out the Kings sonne and put upon him the Crowne and gave him the testimonie and made him King and Iehoida and his sonnes annoynted him and said God save the King And concerning King Vzziah otherwise called Ozias whom you also mention it is true that he went into the Temple of the Lord to burne Incense upon th' Altar of incēse that Azariah the Priest went in after him with him fourescore Priests of the Lord which withstood Eziah said unto him It pertayneth not to thee Vziah 2. Chron. 26.16.17.18.19.20 to burne Incense unto the Lord but to the Priests the sons of Aaron that are consecrated to offer incense Goe thou forth of the sanctuarie for thou hast transgressed c. And for this his presuming to burne incense he was stricken with a leprosie which when Azariah the chiefe Priest and the other Priests saw and beheld they caused him hastily to depart from thence and hee was even compelled to goe out because the Lord had smitten him So that hee was not compelled to goe out of the Temple by reason of any force weapons or violence offered to his person by Azariah or any other of the Priests but because the Lord had smitten him viz. with a leaprosie And therefore even your owne translation which you call S. Hieromes hath it thus Sed ipse perterritus acceleravit egredi eo qued sensisset illico plagam Domini That hee made hast himselfe to goe out as being terrified with the present sence of the Lords blow upon him It is true that Azarias the Priest and the other Priests with him withstood the King But how by words onely as namely by telling him of his sinne advising him to goe out of the Temple and using divine threats and such other lawfull and allowable courses as became Priests to use but not by swords and weapons force of armes or such like externall power coactive And thus doth S. Chrysostome also himselfe testifie even in this verie case and therefore bringeth in the Priest saying thus unto God Chrysost de verbis Esaiae vidi Dominū homil 4. I have done saith hee my dutie to warne and reprove him I can goe no further Nam sacerdotis est tantùm arguere c. For it is the Priests office onely to reprove and freely to admonish and not saith he to assaile with armes not to use targets not to handle speares not to bend bowes not to cast darts but onely to reprove and freely to admonish c. But if it had beene so that Azariah and the rest of the Priests with him had forcibly and by bodily and externall violence expelled and thrust the King out of the Temple which neverthelesse you see S. Chrysostome expressely denieth to have beene done yet were this no proofe that therefore they expelled deposed or deprived him of his kingdome Yea this king Vziah otherwise called Ozias notwithstanding whatsoever these Priests did against him and notwithstanding his leaprosie wherewith hee was stricken was neverthelesse not deposed nor deprived of his kingdome For although he was a leaper unto the day of his death and dwelt as a leaper in an house apart from others according to the law yet during the time of that his leaprosie 2. Chron. 26.21.23 did hee continue King of Iudah and all that while was Iotham his son over all the kings house and iudged the people of the land as a regent or curator like a Lord Protector or Lieutenant to his father Neyther is it said that Iotham his sonne raigned in his stead or governed as a king in his owne right untill after the death of that his Father Ioseph antiq lib. 9. cap. 11 2. Chron. 26 1.3 And this appeareth to bee evidently true by computation of time for Vzziah lived but sixtie eight yeares in all as Iosephus witnesseth and hee was sixteene yeares olde when hee began to raigne and hee raigned fiftie two yeares as the Scripture it selfe testifieth So that from the time hee began to be a King hee continued a King unto his dying day But what meane you by all this For if hereby you would proove it lawfull for the Bishop of Rome to depose Kings you see that the former precedents and examples of those Prophets and Priests which you produce doe warrant no such matter admitting that the Bishop of Rome were the chiefe or high Priest in the Christian Church which hee is not as I have now and often said and shewed before Yea they rather declare the cleane contrarie to that detestable Romish and rebellious position But if I will needes still urge that Salomon as a King did depose Abiathar the high Priest and put Zadocke in his place It may bee answered say you that this act of Solomons was error facti and consequently not warrantable de Iure It seemeth by this your manner of answering that you care not much what you answer so that you make any answer at all bee it never so grosse absurde or unsound For first this your distinction of de facto and de Iure in this and the like cases I have refelled and confuted before in my Reply pag. 13. pag. 86.
of Germanie are abused by the Pope whom hee leadeth and handleth like bruite beasts both for spoile and slaughter at his owne pleasure This Poperie saith hee is lively described by S. Peter 2. Pet. 2. where bee saith They despise Rulers or Governours by Rulers signifying secular Princes Now the Popish Cleargie have by their owne authoritie exempted themselves from tributes subiection and all charges of the Common-weale contrarie to the doctrine of Peter and Paul Yea so farre is the Pope from acknowledging the soveraignetie of Princes over him that hee will scarce admitte them to kisse his feete Calvine likewise writeth thus The word of God Calvin Instit. lib. 4. cap. 2. sect 22. saith hee teacheth us to obey all Princes who are established in there thrones be it by what meanes soever Yea though they doe nothing lesse then the office of Kings yet must they bee obeyed and though the King be never so wicked and indeede unworthy the name of a King yet must subiects acknowledge the image of Divine power in his publike authoritie and as touching obedience they must reverence and honour him aswell as if hee were the godlyest King in the world Nebuchadnezzar was a mightie invader and subduer of other Nations yet God saith by his Prophet that he had given those lands and countries unto him Ezech. 29. Dan. 2. Neyther would he have any rebellion or resistance to be offered but contrarywise commaunded obedience to be performed unto him Iere. 27. And therefore we must never suffer these seditious conceites to possesse our mindes as to thinke an evill King must be so dealt withall as hee deserveth but we are directly charged to obey the King though he bee a savage Tyrant and never so bad Beza confess cap. 5. sect 45 Beza also speaketh in like sort Private men amongst whom I account inferiour Magistrates in respect of their King have no other remedie saith hee against Tyrants to whom they are subiect but amendment of their lives prayers and teares which God in his good time will not despise And if it so fall out that wee cannot obey the commandement of the King but that wee must offend God the King of kings Then must wee rather obey God then man Yet so as that wee remember that it is one thing not to obey and another thing Ibidem to resist and to betake ourselves to Armes which wee may not doe Againe hee saith The impudencie of our Adversaries is herein most notorious that they who contrarie to the word of God have openly subiected Kings and kingdomes to their authoritie and be themselves the most rebellious sect under heaven yet dare netwithstanding to obiect the guilt of that crime unto us These being the doctrines and positions of Luther Calvine Beza and other Protestants concerning Kings and kingdomes let the equall Reader Iudge what and how great the wrong is you doe unto them and whether also that is or can possibly be true which you write both in your Answer and againe in your Reioynder namely That Kings and Princes may more confidently build the safetie of their persons Act. 17.7 Ioh. 18.36 Ephes 1.21.22.23 Ephes 4.15.16 Coloss 1.17.18 and estates upon the loyaltie of their Catholicke subiects then upon any Protestant subiects Why more confidently I pray you For is this a good reason which you bring viz. because although Papists give the spirituall supremacie headship and Monarchie over the whole Church upon earth unto the Pope which indeed they should not do in asmuch as it is a Regall right and Prerogative properly belonging unto Christ Iesus yet doe they acknowledge in Kings a supremacie in Temporall matters yea this reason if you did well observe it maketh rather much against you For it sheweth that Papists bee revera neyther so good Christians nor yet so good subiects Colos 2.19 as Protestants bee Not so good Christians because They bold not the head CHRIST IESVS as S. Paul speaketh but have without any warrant or commission from him errected to themselves another head Monarch and Spirituall King namely the Pope of Rome Not so good subjects because they acknowledge not to belong unto Kings an authoritie over persons Ecclesiasticall and in causes also Ecclesiasticall aswell as Civill and Temporall as Protestants doe For whereas you say that the Protestant Subjects doe take from the King the Temporall supremacie aswell as the Spirituall it is too lewd and loud a slaunder Yea what is there that the Protestants doe more earnestly contend for against the Pope and against his partakers then the Spirituall supremacie or Spirituall kingdome to be given to Christ Iesus And the Civill or Temporall supremacie over persons Ecclesiasticall and in matters Ecclesiasticall aswell as Temporall to bee given unto Kings and Princes within their Dominions But because you yet further object against the Protestants both rebellious doctrines and rebellious practises and affirme that many instances of this kinde may bee reade in the Booke of dangerous Positions For a cleere and full Answer to all that you have said or rather Papists have or can say in that case I referre you unto that Booke which is called An exact Discoverie of Romish Doctrine in the Case of Conspiracie Rebellion and the Reply to him that calleth himselfe the Moderate Answerer thereof In which Bookes so conjoyned in one Volume you may reade and see at large a cleere justification of Luther Calvine Beza and other Protestants in this point and contrarywise the Papists to bee notoriously guiltie therein And this you may also see further debated and shewed in that Booke which is called The true difference betweene Christian subiection and unchristian Rebellion In the third part whereof be refelled the Iesuites reasons and authorities which they alleadge for the Popes depriving of Princes and the bearing of Armes by Subjects against their Soveraignes and where the tyrannies and injuries of Antichrist seeking to exalt himselfe above Kings and Princes bee further discovered and declared c. These things I would not here thus farre have spoken of had not you provoked me thereunto not only by your first beginning but by your continuance still stiffe-standing in these your needlesse cōparisons calumniations But you proceed come next from p. 50. in my Reply to p. 79. where againe you skippe over fourteene leaves more together in the same booke In that pag. 79. It is true that I said That not onely those kings of England before mentioned namely King William Rufus king Henry the First and King Henry the Second and some others thus contended and opposed themselves against the Pope of Rome But King William the Conqueror also who was before all these made the like Kingly opposition For when Hildebrand otherwise called Pope Gregory the Seventh was bold to demand of this King an Oath of fealtie to bee made to him as if the King were to hold the kingdome of him as of his Soveraigne Lord This King would by
no meanes yeeld thereunto but sent him a full negative Answer writing thus unto him Fidelitatem facere nolui nec volo quia nec ego promisi nec antecessores meos antecessoribus tuis id fecisse comperio I neyther would doe nor will doe fealtie because I neyther promised it nor doe I finde that any of my Predecessors have done it to any of your predecessors I have here recited the whole entire sentence not produced onely a part of it as you did verie lamely and imperfectly And now what have you to say against it First concerning that of King William the Conquerour you answer not a word And touching those particulars which I had before alleadged concerning the others Kings namely concerning William Rufus King Henry the First and King Henry the Second and other Kings of England that contended and opposed themselves against the Pope of Rome his encreachments and usurpations your answer is verie idle and impertinent For you answer as if I had affirmed that those Kings had utterly renounced abolished or put downe the Popes supremacie in their times whereas I affirmed onely that they contended and made opposition against him which they might and did doe although they then made not an utter extirpation and abolition of him out of that their kingdome And that they made opposition to him I have shewed and proved in my Reply pag. 75. 76. 78. 79. 80. And verie ignorant are you in the histories of England if you know not so much and verie perverse if knowing so much you will not acknowledge it 13. From thence you come to pag. 81 of my Reply where I write thus But now what meaneth my adversarie to bee so extreamely audacious as to denie the first foure Generall Councels to have beene called by the Emperours Here you say I was pleased to salute you with that language which better fitted an inconsiderative Iester then a deliberate Iudge Why what is the language or what are the words which so much offend you You afterward shew namely because I there used that terme of extreamely audacious But what is it else but extreme audaciousnesse to denie as you then did and still doe so cleere evident and plaine a truth For my part the matter considered I see not but you might have thought that I spake moderately and temperately enough whilst I spake in that sort and gave you no worse language For some others possibly would have said that you had beene therein extreamely and intolerably impudent But you forget as it seemeth or care not to remember what language or words you here utter concerning me which I have more cause to take ill at your hands then you have to bee offended at those other words of mine But to come to those foure Generall Councels I affirmed them which you denied to have beene called by the Emperours The first of them is The first Generall Councell of Nyce That this was called by the Emperour I proved in that my Reply pag. 81.82 by the testimonie of Ruffinus Eusebius Socrates Theodoret Sozomon Zonaras Nicephorus Platina and by the Synodall Epistle of the Nycene Fathers themselves And doth not hee then deserve to bee accounted at least extreamely audacious that will dare to denie this so manifest and palpable truth testified so abundantly and by so many witnesses But whilst among other witnesses for proofe of this point I produced Ruffinus affirming that Constantine apud urbem Nicaeam Episcopale Concilium convocavit Râ—ffin lib. 1. cap. 1. Called the Councell of Bishops together at the Citie of Nyce You say that I there used a little wile which amongst the vulgar sort will bee called Craft or Cousenage because say you I omitted those wordes Ex sacerdotum sententia which bee in Ruffinus and which words if they had beene mentioned would have declared that the Emperour Constantine summoned or called the Councell of Nyce by the advise consent or approbation of the Priests Howbeit first it is not of necessitie that the omission of those wordes must inferre it to bee done with a minde and purpose to defraude deceive and cousen as you verie odiously suggest Yea secondly to shew that I did not craftily or couseningly conceale or omitte those wordes for mine owne advantage as you alleadge behold you shall finde in the verie next page namely pag. 82. that I doe expressely mention them and doe directly affirme Ruffin lib. 1. cap. 1. out of the same Ruffinus that this Councell of Nyce was assembled or called Ex sacerdotum sententia By the advise and consent of the Priests and thereby I also proved that it was not done by the advise consent of the Bishop of Rome alone Now then who is the wily Craftie and Cousening Companion I hope the honest and equall Reader will by this time easily discerne and judge But thirdly I did there further answere as I doe likewise here againe that it maketh nothing to the matter in question at whose suite or request or by whose advise or consent that Councell was summoned For the question was not nor is by whose perswasion or suite or by whose advise or consent but by whose commaunding authoritie it was called Now it is verie apparant by those former testimonies that it was called and assembled by the commandement or commanding authoritie of the Emperour which declareth infallibly the supremacie and authority which the Emperour had in those dayes over all the Bishops and even over the Bishop of Rome himselfe aswell as over the rest whilst hee might and did thus commaund aswell the one as the other to appeare in a Generall Councell I also cited Eusebius Socrates and Theodoret and their wordes to prove likewise that the Emperour Constantine called and assembled that Generall Councell at Nyce But you are pleased not to see or not to acknowledge where those wordes are to bee found in their Authors And yet might you have seene and found them if you had so pleased in their severall Authors as namely in Eusebius de vita Constantini lib. 3 cap. 6. lib 1. cap. 37 in Socrates lib. 1. cap. 8. in the Greeke and cap. 5 in the Latin and in Theodoret lib. 1 cap 7. So that even that also which I cited out of Theodoret is not a famous fiction as you infamously and untruely report it but a verie certaine apparant truth as there you may see And all the rest of the Authors which I there cited doe likewise testifie and prove the same thing for which I there alleadged them Yea this point is so cleere and evident that whilst you thought to confute it you have your selfe further confirmed and confessed it Ruffin lib. 1. cap. 1. For when you purposing to alledge Ruffinus against mee doe cite his wordes thus Tumille Then hee meaning Constantine ex sacerdotum sententia apud urbem Nycaeam Episcopale concilium convocavit By the sentence or consent of the Priests did call the councell of Bishops at the
as not worthy the name of a Councell Yet for all that hee affirmed it not to be no Councell at all simply and absolutely and to all intents and purposes as you would perswade For if it had been no Councell at all or in any sort why was it convocated or assembled as a Councell Or why was Athanasius commaunded by the Emperour to appeare there Or why did the same Athanasius afterward appeale from theÌ„ce to th Emperor yea even Athanasius himselfe affirmeth it to be a councell such a one as it was giveth it expressely the name of a Councell when he saith as you heard before that he and the rest of the Orthodoxe Bishops departed from thence tanquam è Concilio iniuriosorum as from a Councell of iniurious Persons So that a Councell himselfe here acknowledged it to bee though a bad Councell though a Councell of injurious and wicked Persons and a Councell not worthy to bee called a Councell because it thus intended and endeavored the advancement of Arrianisme But what Will you say that the many and sundrie Councels convocated and assembled in times past wherein Arrianisme was established were therefore no Councels at all or in any sort Yea this of Tyrus aswell as those was held to be a Councell though a wicked and impious one not onely by Athanasius but by Socrates also and by Theodoret likewise Socrat. libr. 1. c 20. c. 21 ca. 22. Theodor. lib. 1. c. 28. c. 29 c. 30.31 who in their severall Ecclesiasticall Histories doe often call it expressely by that name of the Councell of Tyrus And even that Christian Emperour also Constantine himselfe wrote unto them by the same name calling them the Councell of Tyrus And it is yet further recorded that by the Emperours commaundement this Councell of Tyrus expressely againe so called was removed from Tyrus to Ierusalem But then you say that the fact whereof Athanasius was accused by the Arrians in that Councell of Tyrus was a meere civill crime belonging to the Temporall Tribunall to wit the killing of Arsenius and cutting of his hand But you are full deceived For it was not onely the killing of Aâ—senius and the cutting of his hand as you alledge but it was further the using of that hand Socrat libr. 1 â—ap 20. so suggested to bee cut of to Magicke and Sorcerie that was layd to his charge Yea sundrie other things also were layd to his charge as namely that hee had deflowred a virgin Theodoret. lib 1. cap. 30. and that one of his Cleargie had beaten downe the Altar overthrowne the Lords Table broken the holy Cuppe and burned the blessed Bible For all which misdemeanours his accusers sought to get him displaced and deposed in that Councell So that it was not a meere Civill crime that was layd to his charge as you suppose but they were mixt offences partly Civill and Temporall and partly Episcopall and Ecclesiasticall And therefore well might it bee called in some respect Negotium Imperatorium Athan. apolog 2. p. 568. a matter Imperiall namely in respect of the accusation of killing of Arsenius and the cutting of his hand if you goe no further but to consider these facts onely singly and apart from the rest For so also did the Emperour Constantine himselfe as it seemeth for a while conceive of it and therefore wrote to Dalmatius the Censor that hee should call before him such as were accused heare the matter and punish the offenders Socra libr. 1. cap. 20. But afterward hee altered his opinion and stopped that course of hearing Athanasius matters before the Censor and would have them to bee heard and determined before the Councell of Bishops which was assembled at Tyrus and which was afterward removed from thence to Ierusalem to consecrate a Temple or Church which the Emperour had builded there The Emperour saith Secrates willed the Bishops assembled at Tyrus to debate together with other matters the contentions raysed about Athanasius to the end all quarells being removed they might afterward cheerefully solemnize the consecration of that Church and dedicate the same unto God So that all the matters layd to Athanaesius his charge being not singly and severally but joyntly together considered and they all tending to the slaunder defamation and deposing of so worthy reverend and renowned a Bishop it appeareth by the event that it was at last in those times held and concluded to bee Negotium Synodale Episcopale a matter meete for a Synode or Councell of Bishops to consider of and to determine And so indeede was it done accordingly Now then when Athanasius went to the Emperour for refuge appealing from this wicked and injurious Councell of Tyrus unto the same Emperour in this his Episcopall Ecclesiasticall cause Is it not thereby verie evident that hee approved of the authoritie of the Emperour in a cause Ecclesiasticall But if yet you make any doubt hereof you may see further in my Reply pag. 68. that as the Apostle Paul appealed to Cesar so Athanasius himselfe saith that by that example of the Apostle hee would likewise appeale to the Emperour of his time and hee saith there further that beyond the Emperour there was in his dayes no appeale to be made to any but to God onely and consequently not to the Pope 16. But you demaund of me certaine questions wherein you would be resolved The first is whether I hold and conclude the spirituall supremacie to be in the King I cannot but wonder at this question of yours For I have often told you in my Reply that it is a Civill and Temporall supremacie over persons Ecclesiasticall and in causes also Ecclesiasticall which I give unto Kings What have wee beene so long disputing about the point of Supremacie And doe you not yet know the state of the question betwixt us S. Paul speaketh of some that would bee Doctors of the Law 1. Tim. 1.6 and yet understand not what they speake nor whereof they affirme Of this sort it seemeth you are by this question propounded But I answere you once more that it is not as you have often said and often mistaken a spirituall but a Civill and Temporall supremacie that I attribute to Emperours Kings and Princes in causes Ecclesiasticall and over Persons Ecclesiasticall And as for the Spirituall supremacie it belongeth rightly and properly to Christ Iesus the onely Spirituall King Head and Monarch of his whole Church For when hee was demaunded touching his kingdome hee answered thus My kingdome is not of this world Ioh. 18 36. thereby declaring that hee was not a worldly or terrestriall King but a spirituall King And therefore also when they would have 〈◊〉 him a terrestriall King Ioh. 6.15 hee would none of it 〈…〉 and departed from them And so likewise testifieth 〈…〉 true and faithfull Apostle speaking of himselfe 〈◊〉 of the rest of the Ecclesiasticall Ministers that the weapons of their warfare â— Cor. 10.4 are not carnall but
Emperours and Kings doe which persecute the true and Orthodoxe Christians This is not the right using but abusing of the sword and authoritie committed to them So that the power and authoritie is the same to both but the difference is in the use or abuse of that Authoritie All the supremacie power and authoritie graunted from God to any Emperours Kings and Princes within their Dominions ought to be imployed for God and not against him in any sort And according hereunto the true Christian Emperours and Kings use their Civill swords and authorities for God and for advancement of his service truth and religion And although Heathen and Infidell Emperours and Kings doe commonly abuse that sword and authoritie which God hath given them against God and against his service servants and religion Ezra 1.2.3 c. Ezra 6.1.2 3 c. Ezra 7.12.13.14.15.16.17 18. c. Dan. 3.28.29 Dan. 6.24.25.26 Yet if any Heathen Emperour or King doe commaund any thing for God or for his service worship or religion as they may doe and sometimes have done as appeareth by the examples of King Cyrus King Darius King Artaxerxes King Nabuchadnezzar and others therein they are no lesse to bee obeyed then if it had beene commaunded by the godlyest best professed Christian King in the world And this you may see further declared in my first Booke Chap. 1. pag 7. and in my Reply pag. 44. 45. Wherefore it is evident that even Pagan and Heathen Kings have the same supremacie power and authoritie within their Kingdomes and Dominions to commaund for God his service religion which Christian Kings and Princes have although they doe not as they should evermore use extend and imploy that their power and authoritie accordingly for God and his religion and consequently the defect is not in respect of any power or authoritie which they want not but in respect of their understandings wils and affections which being depraved and corrupted and not rectified or sanctified nor converted to Christ and Christianitie doe carrie them awry and the wrong way But you propound unto mee yet further another question which is this What if the King of Slavonia or any other king misled by frailtie ignorance or malice should imploy their powers to force their subjectes from the true Religion and thereby subvert and ruinate not onely their owne soules but the soules of their subjects also Might not the King in this case being as you call him a scabbed sheepe all other meanes fayling of his recoverie be compelled by the Bishop of Rome to imbrace Gods true faith and religion and to permitte the same freedome unto his subjects I answer no. For first what right or authoritie from God hath the Bishop of Rome in this case to compell Kings and Princes more thâ—n other Bishops have Yea neyther the Bishop of Rome nor any other Bishop or Ecclesiasticall Minister hath any such power or authoritie included or comprised within those their Ecclesiasticall callings and Ministeries as by worldly power and externall force of Armes to compell a King to the right religion It is true that the Ministers of Christ may exhort perswade the best they can a King erring in his Religion from his error and may doe what their Ecclesiasticall commission graunted them from Christ will warrant them to doe but no further may they goe for then doe they Fines alienos invadere Rom 13.4 Invade other mens bounds S. Bernard speaketh as kings have the temporall sword to commaund and to compell Bishops Pastors and Ministers Ecclesiasticall have not that but another sword to use namely a spirituall sword or sword of the spirit which is the word of God Ephes 6.17 as S. Paul calleth defineth it And therefore these two swords must bee distinguished and not confounded Yea Christ Iesus himselfe whilst hee was here upon earth would not meddle with worldly or temporall matters For when one spake unto him desiring him to bid his brother to devide the inheritance with him Luke 12.13 14. Math 16.19 hee refused and said Man who made mee to be a Iudge or a devider over you If you object that Christ said to Peter Whatsoever thou bindest on earth shal be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou loosest on earth shal be loosed in heaven Remember that hee spake also the same thing plurally to all the Apostles giving to them all alike the same authoritie Math. 18.18 saying thus Quicquid ligaveritis c. Whatsoever yee binde on earth shal be bound in heaven and whatsoever yee loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven You cannot therefore by vertue of those wordes inferre that Peter or his successors had any more authoritie to depose Kings or to compell them in any sort to the right religion or to any thing else then eyther Iames or Iohn or the rest of the Apostles or any of their successors had in the like case For the same authoritie and in the same wordes is as you see graunted aswell to the one as to the other Neyther againe must you forget or omit the former part of those wordes spoken by CHRIST unto Peter which bee these I will give unto thee the keyes of the kingdome of heaven Mat. 16.19 For the subsequent wordes spoken to him of binding and loosing have reference thereunto and are therefore to bee expounded not of things earthly or concerning terrestiall matters or worldly kingdomes but of things concerning another world and kingdome namely concerning the kingdome of heaven And so also doth S. Bernard directly declare saying thus to Eugenius Bishop of Rome Ergo in criminibus non in possessionibus Bernard de considerat ad Eugen. lib. 2. potestas vestra Quoniam propter illa non propter has accepistu claves regni coelorum Your power saith hee concerneth sinnes and not matters of possession because for those and not for these yee have received the keyes of the kingdome of heaven Yea that the keyes of the kingdome of heaven were also graunted equally and alike to all the Apostles I have further shewed very fully and plainely in my first Booke pag. 292. 293. 294. c. And that no part of the power of those keyes no not Excommunication it selfe were it never so justly or lawfully awarded is of any force by Gods law and institution to depose Kings or to disanall the duetie allegeance of subjects I have likewise shewed in the same my first Booke pag. 299. 300. 301. By what right or reason then shall or can the Bishop of Rome who is also revera no Minister of Christ at all but the very apparant grand Antichrist as I have proved at large throughout the third part of my first Booke clayme to have any such externall power coactive or compulsive over Kings But moreover this question here propounded by you was sufficently answered and resolved before by S Chrysostome in the case of king Vzziah otherwise called Ozias where hee putteth this difference
betweene the King and the Priest that Ille cogit Châ—ysosto de verbis Esaiae vidi DominuÌ„ homil 4. hic exhortatur Ille habet arma sensibilia hic arma spiritualia The King compelleth the Priest exhorteth the King hath the sensible weapons the Priest the spirituall weapons And when the Priest or Ecclesiasticall Minister hath gone as far as he can go in his Ecclesiasticall Ministerie he must not go any further to use any externall power coactive or compulsive as he there also teacheth 〈◊〉 21.1 but must in every such case leave men unto God who hath the hearts of all kings aswell as of others in his hands and moveth and turneth them when Chrys de Sacerlotisâ—h 2. and which way sâ—ever he pleaseth Yea S. Chrysoâ—tome saith yet further expressely That it is not lawfull for a Bishop to oure men with so great authoritie as a sheepheard doth his sheepe for it is free for a sheepheard forcibly to binde his sheepe to drive them from their feeding to scare them and to cut them but in the other case the facilitie of the cure consisteth no in him that giveth but onely in him that taketh the medicine This that admirable teacher perceiving said to the Corinthians Not that wee have any Dominion over you under the name of faith but that wee are helpers of your ioy For of all men Christian Bishops must not correct the faults of offenders by force or violence Externall Iudges when they take any transgressing the lawes they shew themselves to be endued with great authoritie and power and doe compell them whether they will or no to change their manners But here saith hee non vim afferre sed suadere tantum oportet atque hac ratione meliorem efficere quem emendandum susceperis You may not use violence but perswasion onely and by this meanes make him better whom you have taken upon you to amend Againe hee saith If any sheepe goe out of the right way Chrysost de Sacerdotio lib. 2. and leaving the plentifull pastures graze on barren and steepe places The sheepheard somewhat exalteth his voyce to reduce the dispersed and stragling sheepe and to force them to the flocke But if any man wander from the right path of the Christian faith The Pastor must use great great paines care and patience Neque enim vis illi inferenda neque terrore ille cogendus verum suedendu tantùm ut de integro ad veritatem redeat For hee may nor be forced or constrained with terror but perswaded onely that so hee may returne againe to the truth If then your late Councell of Lateran under Pope Innocentius the third decreed as you say this externall power coactive to bee in the Bishop of Rome You see it is not to be regarded Because such a decree if any such were is directly contrarie to the testimonie of all former approved antiquitie But yet you must also remember what Platina writeth concerning that Councell Plantina de vita Innocen 3. Venêre multa tum quidem in consultationem nec decerni tamen quicquam apertè potuit Many things saith hee came into consultation in that Councell but nothing could plainely be decided by reason the Pope departing to compose some tumults then suddainely risen died by the way So that this your great Councell of Lateran consulting how to defeate Kings and Princes of their Temporall kingdomes and Dominions but not decreeing or concluding any thing therein as being prevented by the Popes hastened and unexpected death will also doe you no pleasure in this case But now why may not I after so many questions of yours answered propound you also one question which is this What if the Bishop of Rome for maintenance of his worldly pompe pride pleasure and ambition carelesly neglect all right religion and bee so extremely wicked both for life doctrine as that hee careth not to carrie innumerable soules together with his owne by heapes to hell who shall correct restraine represse or punish him For answer whereunto you might say that in former and auncient times The Emperours had the correction and the punishment aswell of the Bishops of Rome as of other Bishops that were offenders within their Dominions But now the case is altered and the world turned topsie turvie and the Bishop of Rome growne to that height and licenciousnesse as that hee will not allow himselfe to be censured or judged by any men mortall be they Emperus Kings Princes Bishops Generall Councels or whosoever they bee But whilst he is thus mounted not onely above other Kings and Princes but even above the Emperours also himselfe What saith Optatus of such a one Optat. libr. 3. pag. 85. Cùm super Imperatorem non sit nisi solus Deus qui fecit Imperatorem certè quise super Imperatorem extollit iam quasi hominum excesserit metas se ut Deum non hominem aestimat Forasmuch as saith he there is none above the Emperour but God onely that made the Emperour Certainely be that exalteth himselfe above the Emperour as one that hath gone beyond the bounds of men esteemeth himselfe not now any longer as a mac but as God And whilest withall hee thus exempteth himselfe from the Lawes censure and judgement of all men upon earth what doth hee else by all this but shew himselfe to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That lawlesse person mentioned by S. Paul in 2. Thess 2.8 And which also sitteth in the Church or temple of God as God 2. Thess 2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12 and is exalted above all those men upon earth that be called Gods in the Scriptures of which sort be Kings and Princes and even above the Emperour also himselfe to whom belongeth that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sebasma mentioned in the same place of 2. Thessal 2.4 in asmuch as hee is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sebastos that is Augustus as the Scripture also it selfe expressely calleth him Act. 25.21.25 But lastly It is well knowne that by Gods owne institutution the power of the Civill and Temporall sword rightly properly belongeth to Emperours â—om 13.1.2 â— 4.5.6 Kings and Princes and not to Bishops Pastors or other Ecclesiasticall Ministers therefore may Kings and Princes lawfully commaund compell and punish all Bishops Pastors and Ecclesiasticall Ministers whatsoever if they offend aswell as lay-Persons by authoritie of that their sword committed to them from God But Bishops on the other side may not by that their Ecclesiasticall office and function use that temporall sword nor any temporall externall power coactive thereunto incident or belonging against any King or other Person for any cause whatsoever because that sword is not committed to them from God Yea this opinion concerning compelling of Kings savoureth more of treason then of reason and therefore is utterly to bee detested and abhorred 17. But then you say further that whatsoever I alledged to invest our King with the supremacie the same might be alledged by any
dominanturijs vos autem non sic Luke 22.24 25.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quis eorum Maior The kings of Nations beare dominion over them but yee may not doe so one over another For of this was the question or contention and therefore of this must the answere bee accordingly understood These words then doe cleerely declare that there should bee no Ecclesiasticall King or Ecclesiasticall Monarch amongst them to rule or raigne over all the rest although terrestriall Kings and Monarches did and are well allowed to raigne and rule over the people of those Nations whereof they be Kings But againe hath not S. Gregorie himselfe told us long agone not onely how needelesse and superfluous but how pernicious also and dangerous it was to the whole Church to admitte of one to bee an universall Bishop or an Ecclesiasticall Monarch to rule Gregorie and raigne over all the rest For then saith he if hee which is the Ecclesiasticall Monarch or the universall Bishop doe fall the whole and universall Church falleth with him And what Gregory thus spake and as it were prophecied so long since was afterward found true and came to passe accordingly to the lamentable woe of the whole Church in the succeeding times by that meanes Yea the same S. Gregory hath yet further certified us how pernicious and dangerous this was and would bee not onely to the whole Church but even to himselfe also that would take upon him to be the Ecclesiasticall Monarch or supreme and universall Bishop over all Gregory For saith hee what wilt thou answer unto Christ who is the true head of the universall Church in that day of iudgement when by this name of universall Bishop thou seekest to subiugate all the members of his Body unto thy selfe Whom dost thou imitate herein save onely him who in contempt of those legions of Angels which were his fellowes sought to mount aloft to the top of singularitie where hee might bee subiect to none and all others might be subiect unto him As for the having of Bishops of Dioceses and Provinces it no more proveth that therefore there may or must be one universall Bishop or Ecclesiasticall Monarch over all then that because there be divers Kings in divers and severall Kingdomes therefore there should be one universall King over all the Kings and kingdomes in the world And besides there were Bishops of Dioceses and Provinces in the times both of Pelagius and Gregorie Bishops of Rome whom neverthelesse they tooke no exception against nor disallowed But him that would take upon him to be an Ecclesiasticall Monarch or a supreme and universall Bishop over the whole Church him they would not endure but vehemently impugned and detested him and that not without verie apparant just and good cause as here you see But moreover did you never reade Iohn Gerson de Auferibilitate Papae What he affirmed in some cases may generally and absolutely be affirmed namely That the Pope may bee utterly abolished and taken cleane away that without any lesse or hurt at all to Christendome yea to the great and ample good not onely of Christendome but of all the world beside if the matter be well weighed and rightly and throughly considered 18. But touching this point of supremacie you seeme at last in words to appeale to the judgement of the Primitive Church I would you would doe as you say and stand to the judgement of it in verie deede For I have proved which you have not disproved nor ever will bee able to disprove That for the space of eight hundred yeares and more after Christ even the Bishops of Rome themselves aswell as other Bishops were subject to the Emperours And that the Christian Emperours had also authoritie in matters Ecclesiasticall aswell as Civill and temporall within their Dominions and nothing doe you or can you alledge against it but what hath beene many and sundrie times sufficiently abundantly answered confuted by the Protestants As for that Catalogue of Emperours Kings and Princes which you affirme to have beene exemplarily punished in this world by violent and miserable deathes for oppugning and striving against the Monarchie and supremacie of the Bishop of Rome you onely say suppose it but doe not prove it And it is an overbold part in you to enter into Gods secret counsels and to affirme that to be the cause which you know not nor be able to prove For there might be and so no doubt there were other just causes of their punishments As for the oppugning of the Popes supremacie that could not be the cause of those or of any other punishments in asmuch as the grosse wrongs and utter unlawfulnesse of it hath before plentifully appeared and that neyther the Pope nor all his partakers be able to shew any commission or warrant from God for the approbation of it Yea how could the oppugning or contending against the Popes Monarchie and supremacie be any cause of punishment when in the holy Scriptures themselves it appeareth as in my first Booke I have shewed at large that Papall Rome is the whore of Babylon and that the Pope of Rome the head and ruler of that adulterate and Popish Church is the verie grand Antichrist Doe not therefore deceive your selfe nor others any longer by mistaking the cause which is you know a fallacie à causa non ut causa Yet you further say that I am argued by the wisest in this Enterprize to have discovered in consideratively much arrogancie of witt in not well weighing the mayne importance of this difficultie farre surmounting the talent of a Lawyer But first there is no such difficultie in it Reges Gentium dominaâ—tur as you speake of and this I have formerly declared Secondly why doth it surmount or exceede a Lawyers talent and abilitie more in mee then in you Wherefore if I bee as you say I am censured or argued by the wisest of much arrogancie because being a Lawyer I meddle in this matter Must not those wisest in all justice and equitie condemne you likewise of much arrogancie for the same cause For you have hitherto in your writings affirmed your selfe to be a Lawyer if all this while you neverthelesse be not a Lawyer you have done your selfe a great deale of discredite and dishonour in affirming it Neyther can any man then tell how to beleeve you in any thing you speake or write So that herein you gull not mee but your selfe and others It would therefore best become you to unmaske your selfe and to discover your selfe plainely For you must thinke howsoever you would conceale your selfe that you are sufficiently knowne and goe not invisible But thirdly who are those whom you call and account the wisest For there bee some that be wise in their owne conceite and some that be Antichristianly wise and some that bee worldly wise 1. Cor. 3.19 whose wisedome is as S. Paul affirmeth it foolishnesse with God For hath not God saith hee made the wisedome of this world 1. Cor. 1.20 foolishnesse The world accounteth the wisedome of God to bee foolishnesse But hee saith that the foolishnesse of God is wiser then men and the weakenesse of God 1. Cor. 1.25 stronger then men The wisest men then doubtlesse bee those that humbly submit all their learning and wisedome to Gods word and wisedome and that bee divinely and Christianly wise as for the rest they must as the same S. Paul teaceth them 1. Cor 3.18 become fooles that they may bee wise Whatsoever therefore you say I beleeve that which Christ Iesus himselfe hath spoken to bee true and that it will ever bee found verified Luke 7.35 videlicet That wisedome is iustified of all her Children But lastly what arrogancie eyther of wit or learning doe I shew or discover when I neyther brag nor boast of eyther and when I further franckly and freely confesse in all my Bookes that such matter as is therein contayned I have learned of others and so attribute nothing to my selfe The wit and learning I have how small slender or meane soever you or others esteeme it I thanke God for it and doe humbly pray him to give mee the Grace to use and imploy it to his honour and glorie and not to mine owne Yea how weake or meane soever it bee in respect of it selfe yet such is the strength of the cause which I defend and the strength of the Almightie who hath enabled mee in it and to whom I give all the thankes and the glorie Psal 4.13 as that it now appeareth I hope to everie understanding equall and judicious Person to bee undoubtedly victorious and triumphant Hereafter therefore I shall not neede to write any more in it which is now made thus manifest cleere apparant and invincible So that everie man that will speake truely may sâ—â— of it that Magna est veritas praevalet God open our eyes if it bee his will and inlighten all our understandings that wee may all see and know his truth acknowledge reverence embrace and professe it and walke in the wayes of it evermore AMEN FINIS
Iudge in Spaine or Hungarie or other kingdomes to prove the supremacie to bee likewise in their kings And why not For it is a thing of right belonging to all Kings to have the supremacie within their severall Dominions and to use and extend that their power and authoritie for God and for the advancement of his true service and right religion aswell as for the advancement of Civill Iustice and externall peace amongst their subjects And what hurt were it to any if all the Kings in Christendome yea if all the kings in the world did this or rather how great ample unspeakeable a benefite would thereby accrew and come not onely to all Christendome but to the whole world If all the Kings in Christendome or in the whole world did extend their authoritie 2 Thess 2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12 Rev. 17 1.2.3.4 c. Revel 18.4 for the maintenance and advancement of Popery which is indeede the adulterate corrupt and false Religion it being as the holy Scripture it selfe hath notified and declared it to be the Religion of the grand Antichrist and of the whore of Babylon which all Gods people be commaunded to forsake even Papists themselves out of the error of their judgement would thinke it to bee well done How much more in true judgement ought you and they to thinke it to be well done if they did all imploy their Civill sword power and authoritie for the advancement of that which is indeed the most auncient true Christian Catholicke and Apostolicke Religion But you have yet still a conceite that it is requisite necessarie to have a Pope of Rome as a supreme Pastor or a supreme Iudge to decide and determine all heresies errors doubts questions and controversies concerning faith and religion that arise in the Church and so to preserve peace and unitie in it by his infallible and unerrable judgement Howbeit first why should the Bishop of Rome be this supreme Pastor or supreme Iudge more then the Bishop of Antioch Constantinople Alexandria Ierusalem or any other Bishop For where hath God constituted the one to bee so more then the other Secondly how doe you prove the Bishop of Rome to have an infallible an unerrable judgement more then other Bishops have Yea even in the Preface of my first Booke pag. 14.15 16. and againe in the second part of that same my first Booke Chap. 1. pag. 54.55 I have proved that the Bishop of Rome may erre even in matters of faith aswell as any other Bishop and the same doth also before appeare in this Booke likewise Thirdly if the supremacie and Monarchie of the Bishop of Rome have this vertue in it to keepe and maintayne peace and unitie in the Church and to decide and determine certainely truely and infallibly all doubts questions and controversies in Religion Why doth hee not decide and determine all those questions controversies that so it might experimentally appeare to have that vertue in it or what neede is there then of Generall Councels yea of any Councels at all For the use and end of Synods and Councels is to decide and determine questions and controversies that doe arise and spread themselves to the disquiet and trouble of the Church all which bee superfluous if the certaine truth in everie question may be had immediately from his mouth But indeede this institution of Synods or Councels is a divine institution and therefore must stand although that humane invention of the Popes supremacie needelesly erected for the same use and end doe utterly fall and be disanulled And what necessitie is there of him For even Generall Conncels were summoned and convocated in times past by the Emperours and may be still at this day convocated by the unanimous consent and authoritie of the severall Kings and Princes of the severall Nations Neyther is the judgement of one man as namely of the Bishop of Rome or of any other so strong or powerfull to pull out errors that be rooted in mens mindes Conc. Affric cap. 138. epist â—ad CelestinuÌ„ as is the judgement and consent of many in a Synod or Councell Vnlesse there be any that thinketh God inspireth one particular person with righteousnesse forsaketh a number of priests assembled together in a Councell which the Councell of Affrica held to be verie absurd and repugnant to Christ his promise so long as they meete together in his name and for advancement of his truth And here you may observe a difference betweene the wisedome of God and the wisedome of Men For in the Apostles times there arose at Antioch a great question which was whether Circumcision were necessarie to salvation Act. 15 1.2 3.4 5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12 13. c. what doe they in this case Doe they choose and appoint some one man as chiefe to whom they will referre the deciding and determining of this question No such matter And yet if they would have had the controversie decided and determined by One who was fitter to have beene that one then S. Paul whom they had amongst them But they take no such course but send Paul and Barnabas and certaine others to Ierusalem What to doe Was it to desire the judgement only of some one man there as namely of S. Peter or of any one other No. But to have the matter decided by a Synod or Councell of the Apostles Elders and others therein to be assembled for that purpose and in which Synod or Councell it was determined accordingly If then in those times of the Apostles when there was so great abundance of the gifts of God and when as controversies might without danger of error have beene referred unto one onely The rule of One above all the rest was not held meete and convenient Now when the gifts are lesse and the danger of error more Can is be thought a wisedome consonant to the wisedome of the holy Ghost to erect and constitute as the seduced world hath done One man namely the Bishop or Pope of Rome to be the Iudge and that a verie sure and infallible one as they account him for the deciding and determining of all doubts questions and controversies that arise throughout the whole world concerning Faith and Religion and upon whom as being in their opinions the Monarch and head of the whole and universall Church upon Earth they doe though overboldly and dangerously relye and depend It is true that the regiment or governement of the Church is Monarchiall but that is not in respect of the Pope but in respect of CHRIST IESVS who is indeede the right true and sole Monarch and head of his whole Church But in respect of the Bishops and Pastors that be rulers or governours under Christ it is as the Protestants have rightly taught and defended against the Papists not Monarchiall but Aristocraticall Yea Christ Iesus himselfe told his Apostles and in them all Bishops their successors when they contended for a Majoritie or Monarchy among themselves that Reges gentium