vntil the thirtieth day I cannot see how this can serue to giue vnto the Pope power of deposing Princes For if Theodosius would not haue followed the counsell of Ambrose there had beene no harme done But this good Emperour did of his owne accord yeeld vnto it After him followeth Gregory the first at the end of whose Epistles is found a priuiledge graunted to the Abbey of S. Medard which hath this clause for the burthen of the Song If any King Prelate Iudge or secular person what soeuer shall violate the Decrees of this Apostolicall authority and of our commandement be he of what dignity or greatnes soeuer he may be let him be depriued of his honour I might say that this is onely an imprecation against Kings and not a Decree of deposition But we neede not busie our selues about the sense seeing that the Epistle is false It is a priuiledge indeed vnto which the name of Gregory is put to winne the greater credite and authority The falshood of it appeareth first in the Barbarisme of the style for men did neuer call neyther at Rome nor in Italy farmes or possessions by the name of Mansos It is a word which is found in the Chapter of Charles the great and of Lewes which sheweth that this priuiledge was first composed in France and not written at Rome Which thing also appeareth in this that he vseth these wordes Tusiacum Mortinetum fiscos regios To call the lands of the Kings Demaines Fiscos regios is a Barbarisme that may easily befall some French monke but at Rome this would not haue beene vnderstood and you espye the French vaine in these wordes very often repeated Dominus Medardus Monsieur S. Medard Adde hereunto that this priuiledge is absurd and vniust for it forbiddes to depose the Abbot of S. Medard howsoeuer attainted with crime vnlesse it be after the Popes pleasure known and after a Councel assembled wherein there shall bee found a dousen witnesses besides the accusers Now to breake this goodly priueledge is thought to bee a crime for which a King ought to loose his Kingdome The cheef poynt is that the humor of this Gregorie the first who called himselfe seruant of seruants doth very much disagree with these so arrogant terms which cut after the stile of an earthly Monarch For writing to Mauricius the Emperor in his third booke and sixt Epistle But I the vnworthy seruant of your goodnesse Ego autem indignus pietatis tuae seruus Ego vero haec dominis meis loquens quid sum nisi puluis vermis And a little after Now I speaking these things to you my Lords what am I but dust and a very worme And the King of great Britayne hath wisely obserued in his first booke that the Emperour Mauricius had commaunded this Gregory to publish a law which Gregory himselfe condemned as vniust and yet to obey his Master he published it I sayth he as one subiect to your commaundement haue sent these same lawes into diuers Countries and because they do not agree with God Almighty I haue by these my letters signified it to my Lords and Masters How well this Gregory knew to keepe his rancke and could not finde the way to draw this temporal sword which yet stucke fast in the scabbard For an vpshot of falshoods so at the end of this goodly priuiledge the subscriptions of the Bishops of Alexandria and Carthage who neuer knew the Abbey of S. Medard especially the Bishop of Alexandria who neuer saw Gregory and who beside that signeth his name very low among the thronge of ordinary witnesses albeit he neuer thought himselfe inferiour in any thing to the Bishop of Rome After all signeth King Theodoret as inferiour to all the Bishops After this Gregory wee are brought downe to Gregory the second the great puller downe of Images If we may beleeue Cedrenus and Zonaras great adorers of Images this Gregory went about to hinder the Italians from paying their tributes to Leo Isauricus who had demolished Images But Platina who hath most carefully searched out the story of Popes witnesseth the contrary and sayth in the life of this Gregory that vpon order giuen from the Emperour for the breaking downe of Images The people of Italy were so much moued Qua cohortatione adeo animati sunt Italiae populivt Paulum abfuerit quin sibi alium Imperatorē deligerent Quo minus a id fieret authoritate sua obstare Gregorius amicusest that it wanted but little but that they had chosen themselues another Emperour but Gregory employed his authority to hinder that matter Nay further he neuer for all that declared Leo fallen from the Empire he did not translate his Scepter to another he did not dispense with his subiects for their Oath of Alleageance And yet the Emperour at that time did onely hold a third part of Italy which was a very small portion of the Empire so that his tributes of Italy were vnto him of very little value As for Pope Zacharie when they report in the yeare 750 to haue taken from Childeriche the Kingdome of Fraunce to giue vnto Pipin and likewise Pope Leo the third whom men say to haue translated the Empire of the Greekes to the French by giuing the Empire to Charlemaine I could conuince all this of falshood and shew that the practise and custome of Popes is to giue vnto some one that thing which he cannot take from him Or after hauing incyted some one to inuade the possessions of his neighbour to vaunt afterward and to reproach him that what he got by rapine he now holdeth by his Holinesse liberality or as if in the Sacring of the Emperour because he hath put the Crowne on his head he should say that he hath giuen him the Empire as if in the sacring of a King he that hath inaugurated him by performing the Ceremony should bragge that he hath giuen him the Kingdome By this reason the Bishop of Ostias who hath had for a long time the right of consecrating the Pope should haue bin aboue the Popes and the Bishop of Millan should giue the Kingdome of Italy to the Emperour because from him he is to receiue a Crowne of Iron but this belongeth to another discourse neyther is the proofe of it necessary to this purpose For had these Bishops done much worse then this yet could not their example serue for a rule vnlesse it be shewed where and when God gaue them this power For is it credible that the Bishops of Rome could haue had in their hands this power neare eight hundred yeares together without enploying it or that they suffered this temporall sworde to hang rusting on a pinne without euer making vse of it vntill that after many ages this Zachary bethought himselfe of putting it to seruice in an action which the Church of Rome it selfe confesseth to bevniust Seeing that the Canon Alius before aleadged sayth that Childericke was not deposed for any
cryme but because Pipin was more capable of gouernement then he How many Emperours and Kings vnfit to gouerne were there before this Childericke whose Crownes the Popes neuer touched But this Pope flattered Pipin to the end to be succoured by him against the Lumbards who kept him in seruitude Now to shut vp this whole matter seeing that the Pope doth challenge to himselfe this power ouer Kings who is it that hath giuen it vnto him Is it from the vnwritten worde Is it a custome authorised by the time or suffered by Princes or slid it along by the fauour and sleepinesse of an age that liued in darkenesse Or if God hath giuen him this power let him produce his Title let him shew the clauses of this Donation 2. Againe If Christ left a Successour or Lieftenant here on earth it is certayne that he can exercise no other charge then that which Iesus Christ did being in the world Now he did neuer degrade Kings nor translate Empyres Nay how is it like he would haue done that seeing that he could not be intreated to become a Iudge betweene priuate men in a Controuersie that was of ciuill nature He that teacheth vs to yeelde tribute to Caesar is it likely that hee would haue left a Lieftenant that should make Caesar himselfe tributary 3. If it be so that S. Peter or any other Apostle had this power ouer Kingdomes where dooth it appeare that euer he exercised it And to what end serueth an authority without the execution Or where did this power of the Bishops ouer the temporality of Kings lie couring all this while that it should need to be rouzed vp some eleuen hundred yeares after Iesus Christ 4 Moreouer It is God that giueth Kings and Princes their power as Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar though an Infidel Dan. 2.37 Thou O King art a King of Kings because the God of heauen hath giuen thee a Kingdome and power and strength and glory And the Apostle Rom. 13.1 hath tolde vs that all powers are ordayned of God Now that which God giueth man cannot take away Let the Pope take away if it please him that which himselfe hath giuen let him take his Cardinals redde hattes Archbishops pals if euer he gaue any without money Let him giue out against them that holde Benefices from him that their Benefices are deuolted vnto him by lapse but let him abstaine from the Crowes of Kings let him not touch the Lords annoynted 5. Adde hereunto those passages which the King of great Britaine hath learnedly obserued in his Apology by which he proueth that God willeth that his pleople yeelde obedience to Kings euen to Infidels So in the 27. of Ieremie Submit your neckes vnder the yoake of the King of Babell and serue him and his people and cap. 29. Seeke the peace of the Citie whether I haue carried you and pray for it for in her peace you shall haue peace This was farre from mouing them to reuolt Thus did the Israelites obey Pharaoh And euen then when the Kings of Iuda were Idolaters as Ahaz and Manasse yet did the High Priests neuer for all that incite the people to Rebellion The Emperour Nero was a prodigious monster for all kinde of wickednesse notwithstanding S. Paul would haue men to obey him for conscience sake Rom. 13.1 Timoth. 1. and for feare of offending God But wee now a dayes stand vpon better termes for if wee ought to obey a Prince that is a Pagan euen for conscience sake in Ciuill causes how much more one that is truely a Christian And if a Tygre that hath climed to the top of the Empire how much more a Prince that is wise and mercifull who preserueth the liues of those that desire his death And if we may not obey any man that leadeth and commaundeth a mutiny and treason how much lesse ought we to obey the Pope whose Empire is founded vpon the ruines of the Gospell and who being prodigall of the blood of those who are his draweth persecution vpon them to the end that they for him may loose goods and life yea and life eternall Now if any man vnwilling to enter this list shal say that this is a matter of pollicy and that we prye into matters of State such a one by his tergiuersation wil more ouerthrow the Popes power then if hee had expresly fought against it For if this power be a point without the compasse of Religion it followeth thereupon that it is not sounded vpon the word of God And if God had spoken of it in his worde it were a point of Religion to beleeue it The Pope then is to blame for making such bragges of his keyes in this case if it be nothing but a matter of pollicy and such as hath no sparke of Diuinity in it which thing Pope Clement the fift doth couertly confesse in the extrauagant Meruit Meruit Charissimi filij nostri Philippi regis Francorum c. where he declareth that he doth not vnderstand that the extrauagant Vnam Sanctam of Boniface the eight which giueth to the Pope soueraigne power ouer the Temporalties of Kingdomes as well as ouer the Spiritualtie could bring any preiudice to the Kingdome of France to make it more subiect to the Church of Rome then before it was but reintegrateth the said Kingdome into the same estate that it was before the abouesaid definition of Boniface and that in acknowledgement of the merites of King Philip the faire albeit hee had somewhat rudely accorded matters with Boniface Let the Reader weigh and consider this point aduisedly For in this extrauagant which Bellarmine dooth approue and commend Pope Boniface foundeth his pretensions ouer the Temporalties of Princes vppon many passages of the word of God He meaneth then that his right is by the lawe of God where against King Philip hedoth maintaine that in temporal things he is subiect to no man Within a while after Clement the fift passed it so in fauor of the King and exempted him from the rigour of this Bull the Pope then made bolde to dispense with the law of God or if on the other side it be nothing else but an humane positiue law then Boniface dealt very wickedly in seeking to ground it vppon the holy Scripture But why shall Fraunce alone be exempted from this yoake and other Kingdomes shall be enforced to beare it Could Philips merites dispense with him for obeying the word of God produced by Boniface These Popes make a Religion of waxe depending vpon the conditions of the times and the traine of their affaires and make it a prop of their Dominion they stretch it and shorten it like a stirrup leather fitting not their wils to Religion but Religion to their will Now if Philip had bin Master of Rome and absolutecommander in Italy the Bishops of Rome would haue thrown themselues on their knees before him as did Pope Adrian in the second Counsell of Nice 2. Act. and would haue called
and stirre vp the mildest spirits and was desirous by pardoning the wicked to make them become good and though he could not find cause in them why to pardon he fouÌ„d it in himselfe for though they no way deserued mercy yet he shewed himself worthy of his greatnesse in doing good to those of so euill demerite He considered that God whom hee represents sendeth raine vpon the Bryers and Thistles as well as on fruit Trees and makes the Sunne to rise alike to the good and to the euill or else it may be that his clemency was accompanied and assisted with a neglect of his enemies esteeming many of them not worthy of his wrath But for the better preuenting of such conspiracies in future times the Parliament together with the King framed a forme of Oath to be administred to all his Maiesties subiects which is to this effect That they acknowledge IAMES the first King of great Britaine for their lawfull King and that the Pope cannot by any right whatsoeuer depose him from his Kingdomes nor discharge his subiects of their obedience to him nor giue them licence to beare Armes against him Also that notwithstanding any Declaration or Sentence of ExcoÌ„munication made or granted or to be made or granted against the said King his Successors they wil beare faith and true alleageance to him his heyrs Successors him and theÌ„ wil defend to the vttermost of their power against all attempts conspiracies whatsoeuer And that they wil reueale al treasons and trayterous Conspiracies which they shall know or heare of against him or any of them And that they do abhor detest and abiure this damnable position that Princes which be excommunicated by the Pope may be deposed or murdered by their subiects And that they beleeue and in conscience are resclued that the Pope hath no power to absolue them of this Oath or any part thereof And renounce all pardons and dispensations to the contrary And that without any Equiuocation mentall Euasion or secret Reseruation whatsoeuer they doe sincerely acknowledge and sweare all these things and doe make this acknowledgement heartely willingly and truely So helpe them God This Oath being offered to those of the Romish Church diuers of them tooke it without difficulty and amongst the rest Blackwell the Arch-Priest who then was and still remaines in England These things being come to the knowledge of the Bishop of Rome Paul the fift that raignes at this present he dispatches presently for England a breue or as they terme it letters Apostolique bearing date the two twentieth of September 1606. by which he declares That this Oath cannot be taken with good conscience exhorting them rather to vndergoe all cruell torments whatsoeuer yea Death it selfe rather then to offend the Maiestie of God by such an Oath and to imitate the constancy and fortitude of the other English Martyrs willing them to haue their loynes girt about with verity and to haue the Brest-plate of righteousnes and to take the shield of faith That God that hath begunne this good worke might finish it in them who wil not leaue them Orphants c. And finally willeth them exactly to put in practise that which is commaunded in the Letters of Clement the eight his Predecessor written to Mr. George Black well the Arch-priest of England by which Letters all Princes of any Religion contrary to their owne are excluded from the kingdome of England These Letters being come into England were not receiued by those of the Romish Church with such respect as the Pope expected for many iudged them ridiculous as exhorting them to suffer Martyrdome for ill doing since none can be a Martyr but for hauing done well As also for that they declare that this Oath is contrary to the Catholique faith without telling why or wherefore as likewise for that the exhortations of holy Scripture to shun vice and to perseuere in the profession of the Gospell and to resist the Diuell are in this Papall breue drawne to a contrary sense to kindle sedition and to incite subiects to disobedience And aboue all for that these Letters ingaging the subiects to reuolt doe necessarily plucke vpon them persecution and the iust anger of their natural Prince who being vnwilling to require any caution of them in any thing contrary to their beliefe demaundeth no more of them but fidelity and ciuill obedience For these considerations some part of the Priests and Friers of England said that these Letters of the Pope were shufled in by their Aduersaries and forged by the Heretiques for so they of their goodnes are pleased to tearme vs to kindle the anger of the King against them which was already prouoked by the plot of the Powder-mine which onely fell out to ruine the vndertakers By reason whereof the same Pope being aduertised that through these doubts whether they were true or fained the Authority of his Letters were infringed hee writ others more expresly bearing date the three and twentieth of August 1607. In which he seemeth to wonder that they any way suspect the truth of the Apostolique letters Non solum motu proprio exceâ—â—a nostra scientia verum etiam post longam grauem deliberationem that vnder that pretence they might exempt themselues from his commaunds and therefore declareth vnto them that those letters were written not onely vpon his proper motion and of his certaine knowledge but also after long and weighty deliberation and therfore again inioyneth them fully to obserue them for such is his will and pleasure To these letters giuing the Alarums to rebellion for their greater confirmation were added the letters of Cardinall Bellarmine to George Blackewell the Arch-Priest In which after he had put him in minde of their auncient acquaintance hee greatly blameth him for taking the Oath the which vnder colour of modifications hath no other aime or drift but to transferre the authority of the Pope the head of the Church to a Successor of HENRY the eight by the examples of his Predecessors he exhorreth him constantly to defend the primacy of the Pope whom he calleth the head of the faith But he sheweth neyther what wordes or clauses in this Oath are contrary to the faith of the Romish Church nor wherefore this Arch-Priest should rather chuse to die then to obliege himselfe by Oath to be loyall to his King in things meerly ciuill and which no way meddle with the Primacy of the Pope and yet this is the onely thing whereof question is made and whereof proose is expected These letters both of the Pope and Cardinall being fallen into the handes of his Maiestie might wel haue kindled the anger of a very patient Prince and haue armed and stirred him vp against those with whom these Papall letters were of more power then eyther their faith to their King or their obedience to God For what Prince can permit in his Kingdome subiects that acknowledge him not or that to retaine
his fellowes where he saith that the rebellion of a Clergie man against his King cannot be treason in that he is not subiect to the King which agreeth with that which is written by the Iesuite Saunders in his second booke of his visible Monarchie whereof the King of great Britaine in his first booke cyteth many passages Now whereas the Iesuites of France did make a booke intituled * In the pag. 70. of the Edition of the bigger print 1595. you shall finde these wordes The Pope pretendeth nothing ouer Souerainty but to correct as a father as a Iudge such as are pernitious to the Church For then he may not alone but he is bound to shew himselfe their Superior Security wold make thee peruerse froward but thou must be kept down be made to confes that thou hast neyther reason nor conscience For it is fit that Princes shold be often held in and curbed by feare of their temporalities The defence of the truth against the pleading of Anthony Arnold In which they maintaine at large that the Pope may as Iudge depriue Princes of their temporalties This is wholly to be imputed to the times for then it was fit to speake in that manner but now they reserue those Maximes for fitter seasons Diuinity is to be applyed as occasions serue and wee are now in an age that if wee would know how wee were to teach and moue the people we must first looke into the Aâ—minake and accommodate our selues to the affaires of the Common wealth and therefore it is to be hoped that such * The which are produced in the Chapter following passages of Bellarmine that do make the liues and Crownes of Kings subiect to the Pope will be mended in the next Edition And as for the troubles and seditions which these Fathers haue stirred in Polonia which hath cost Demetrius his life and as for the causes which haue moned the Venetians to banish them out of their estate this a thing wholly to be imputed to the Climate or to the strange humors of the Country which is farre differing from Fraunce All this being considered it is to be hoped that the King of great Britaine following the counsell of Doctor Coeffeteau will take them to be neare about his person The other Reasons which are brought to recommend them seeme not to me of any great weight It is said that they carefully instruct youth if it be so how commeth it to passe that since they haue vndertaken to teach learning is so much decayed I would willingly that one could shew mee in Fraunce any of their Disciples that were of exact and exquisite learning or whom haue they in their society that may bee compared with those that were the Schollers of Turnebus or of Cuias Who are yet as many of them as are left the very lights and ornaments of the Court where is now the Vniuersitie of Paris which had wont to haue in it thirty thousand schollers but hath declined towards barbarisme euer since this kinde of people haue vndertaken to teach by their abridgements and Epitomies the which haue beene framed and composed by a rable of Pedants that teach all by rote in stead of drawing their instructions from the Fountaines of the Greeke and in stead ofâ—etling their iudgements by the course of auncient Philosophy And as for humane learning Scaliger Casaubon Passerate Lipsius and diuers like vnto them were they brought vp in their schooles Or indeede whom haue they brought vp comparable to them But Coeffeteau saith that the most Christian King is serued by them dealeth well with them and taketh them neere vnto his person our condition is too low and our vnderstanding too weake to search out the Counsels of so great a King whom God hath endued with an incomparable wisedome but yet I thinke that this serues not to iustifie them for who can tell whether his Maiesty doth this onely to put in practise that rule of the Gospell which is To doe well to those that hate vs Or whether he endeauoureth by his goodnes to master and ouercome their wickednesse and so by that meanes to binde them to fidelity Or who can tell whether his Maiestie herein imitateth the example of God who imployeth the wicked spirits for such causes and to such purposes as are best knowne to his diuine wisedome Or who knoweth whether in this he doth like Vlisses who for auoyding of tempests would keepe the winds with him shut vp in a leather bagge This great King whose paines and industry procureth our generall repose whose vigilancy makes vs to sleepe securely who bereaueth himselfe of himselfe and bestoweth himselfe on the publique and who maketh peace to flourish vnder the shaddow of his victories Long may hee enioy that quiet and repose which he hath broght euen to those that hate him Let his Counsels be euer blessed with happy successe his life with safety his subiects with fidelity his Crowne with glory and his Kingdome with prosperity CHAP. V. Of the power of the Pope ouer the temporalities of Kings and that he cannot take from Kings their Crownes nor free subiects from the Oath of fidelity And thereupon the reasons of Bellarmine are examined THe King of great Britaine in his Apology complayneth of two Breues or letters Apostolique of Clement the eight sent into England a little before the death of the late Queene ELIZABETH which were produced at the arrainment of Garnet the Iesuite by which the said Pope excludeth him from the succession of the Kingdome by a generall debarring of all such as were not of the Romane Religion This thing being so notoriously vniust and so publique yet notwithstanding Coeffeteau saith that there hath beene a wrong interpretation made of this Popes intentions and that it hath beene some particular mens drift to put it into his Maiesties head that he went about to hinder his establishment in the Kingdome These are insurious speeches to say that the King of great Britaine hath beene circumuented and that men haue only made him beleeue things but that he hath not seene any such Breues but speaketh this onely vpon trust There likewise turning to the side of Kings against the consent of the whole Romish Church he speaks thus It is a thing without doubt Fol. 6. pag. 2. that if the Pope would inuade Kingdoms and giue them in prey to whom he pleaseth deuesting the right possessors of them he well deserueth that Princes should stand stiffe against his viosence and should ioyntly runne vpon him as vpon a robber and spoiler of their inheritances And a litle after The Popes pretend nothing ouer the temporalties of Kings are contented only to make their authority appear ouer the crimes of men which he bindeth or looseth without stretching of it tyranically to dispose of their possessions otherwise then such as are fallen vnto him what causes here moued Coeffeteau thus to fauour Kings and to pare the Popes nayles so neare
I will not enquire But I well know that in other times and in other places he would for these wordes haue beene sent to the Inquisition For he opposeth himselfe against all the actions of Popes and the iudgement of the whole Romish Church The examples fallen out in England shall be most pertinent to this purpose and such as shall represent vnto his Maiestie of England how farre the Pope had set footing vpon the temporalties of his predecessors and how much dishonoured their Crowne Pag. 117 Cum Rex Archiepiscopus in partem sesessissent bisque descendissent his equos ascendissent his habenaÌ„ Archiepiscopi Rex tenuit cum equum ascenderet Mathew Paris a Monke of the order of S. Bennet at S. Albans in England and a diligent Historian witnesseth that in the yeare 1170. HENRY the second being reconciled to THOMAS BECKET Archbishop of Canterbury he twice helde the bridle whiles the said Archbishop got to horse what submission then should he haue yeelded to the Pope himselfe seeing that one of his Prelates and the King subiects would mit that his King and Master should make him so seruile a submission The same Authour testifieth Pag. 125. Carnem suam nudamdisciplinae virgarum supponens a singules viris religiosis quorum multitudo magna conuenerat ictus ternos vel quinos accepit that the aforesaid HENRY was scourged by way of penance vpon his bare flesh by a company of Monks some of which gaue him three stripes others fiue The Pope not content therewith amerced him to keepe two hundred souldiers in pay for the warres of Palestina and to suffer that his subiects of what quality or condition soeuer might thenceforward euoke their suites out of his Courts and appeale to Rome Of which punishment Michauel in the first booke of his storie of Florence dedicated to Pope Clement the seuenth speaketh in this manner Le quali coscfurono da Enrico accettate sattomessesi a quel giudico vn tanto Rè che hoggi vn huomo priuato sivergognarebbe a sottomettersi which things Henry yeelded vnto and he so great a King submitted himselfe to that censure which a priuate man now a dayes would be ashamed to vndergoe And further addeth that the Citizens of Rome scornefully vsed and curbed that very Pope who did thus domineere in England and would not suffer him to dwell in their Citie and thereupon he taketh vp this exclamation tanto le cose che patono sono piu discoste che d'appresso temute that things did appeare more to be feared farre off then neere at hand After this HENRY succeeded RICHARD whom the Pope sent into the Leuant and he being dead his brother IOHN came to the Crowne Matt Paris pag 215. This IOHN complayned that the Pope drew more money out of England then out of any Countrey on this side of the Aples Pag. 223. Papa ex consilio Cardinalium Episcoporum aliorum virorum prudentium senteÌ„tialiter definiuit vt Rex Anglorum a solio deponeretur Ad huius quoque sententiae executionem scripsit Dominus Papa potentâ—ssimo Regi Francorum Philippo quatenus in remissionem omnium suorum peccaminum hunc laborem assumeret c. and because hee therein withstood Pope Innocent the third who couered his tyranny vnder a title of The liberties of the Church he was by the said Pope in the yeare 1212 declared to be fallen from the Crowne and his Kingdome giuen in perpetual title to Philippus Augustus the French King and his successors with condition that he should conquer him graunting him thereupon remission of all his sinnes and causing the Croisade to be preached against the sayde King IOHN of England by meanes whereof he was brought into that perplexity that he was constrayned to vndergo all the conditions which Pandulphus the Popes Legate imposed vpon him as namely that King IOHN to obtaine remission of his sinnes should render vp his Crowne into the Legates handes and should giue vp his Kingdomes of England Ireland to the Pope that he should yeelde faith and homage to the Pope as holding his said Kingdoms in fee from the Church as parts of the Popes Demaines and of the patrimony of S. Peter * Saluis per omnia denarijs beati Petri Ecclesiae Romanae mille marcas Estrelin gorum percipiat annuatim The same Peters tribute was afterward brought into Poland as Albert ' Krantz writeth Hist Vandal li. 8. c. 2. and in acknowledgement hereof hee should pay yearely to the Pope a thousand Markes in money to be payd at two seuerall times besides the Peter-pence which were paide by the pole All which was executed accordingly and the homage solemnly and formally done the King himselfe tendered the money in all submission which the Legate †Pandulphus autem pecuniam quam in arram subiectionis Rex contulerat sub pede suo conculcauit trod vnder his feete in token to Lordly dominion following the custome which the Pope began then to put in practise ouer the Emperours of Germany to wit * Imperator genu flectit demuÌ„ ad Pontificis pedes peruenit illos in reuerentiam Saluatoris deuotè osculator Iterum genu flectns aurimassam ad pedes Pontificis offert c. that they should be bound to come and take the Crowne at his handes and after three lowly curtesies on the knee and kissing of the Popes feete the Emperour was to lay downe at the Popes feete sitting in his Throne a masse of golde thanking his Holinesse humbly vpon his knee as it is at large set downe in their holy Ceremonies Lib 1. Sect. 5. cap. 3. The like is reported by Polydore Virgill in the fifteenth booke of his Storie and by Blondus Decad. 2. lib. 6. Howbeit the abouesaid King IOHN bare this yoake very impatiently His Barons also hated him for hauing enthralled his Kingdome and England was so farre exhausted by cruel exactions that the said King IOHN out of extreame dispaire resolued to cast himselfe and his Kingdome into the hands of the Mahumetans and to that effect hee sent Ambassadors to Morocco in Barbary to Amiral Murmelin King of Barbary and of Granada to make him offer of his Kingdome but the Barbarian would not accept it Whereupon the Pope made his yoake more greeuous vpon the King and his land the Oath of subiection was renued and ingrossed in writing the instruments which before were onely sealed on waxe were now sealed on golde and in stead of one thousand Markes the King was condemned to pay * According to Pope Innocents Letters reported by Math. Paris Ann. 1214 pag. 239. twelue thousand Markes Since that time the Popes haue called the Kings of England their vassals and England their Demaines Vpon which consideration Ann. 1216 the Pope sent letters of inhibition to Philip Augustus and Lewes his sonne being then at Lyons to forbid them to passe ouer into England but Philip answered the Popes Nuncio in these
terms England neyther is nor euer shall be the patrimony of S. Peter Math. Paris p. 270. Anno 1216 A King cannot giue his Kingdome without the consent of his Barons And thereupon all the French Nobility cryed out that they would fight to the death in that quarrell IOHN being dead Math. Paris pag. 425. Rex inclinato ad genua eius capite vsque ad interior a regni deduxit officiosè his sonne and successor HENRY the third did homage to the Pope and payed the accustomed tribute Shortly after the Pope sent into England a new Legate one Otho a Cardinall before whom the King bowed himselfe soâ—low as to touch the Legates knees with his head which Cardinall behaued himselfe more like a King then a Legate This Cardinall being desirous to haue entred into Scotland the King would not receiue him Non me memini Legatum in terra mea vidisse nec opus esse Pag 530. Rex in ampliori regia Westmonasterij pransurus Legatum â—uem inuitanerat in eminentiori loco mensae scilicet in Regali sede quae in Medio mensae crat non sine muliorum obliquantibus oculis collocauit saying that he had neuer seene Legate in his Kingdome neyther had he neede of them But in England he was his owne caruer cutting and paring away at his pleasure euen so farre as that he presumed to sit at table in the Chaire of State aboue the king as hee did at a feast which king Henry the third made at Westminster as Matth. Paris witnesseth which Authour also Ann. 1241. speaking of his Legates returne saith that according to the account then made he carried away more money with him then he left in all the kingdome besides hauing rifled and spoyled it like a Vine brouzed and troden downe by wilde Boares yea all the Historians of England doe complaine of the pillages and exactions of Rome which sucked the Englishmen to the very blood And as I vnderstand Cardinall Bellarmine hath lately made a booke against the king of England Bellarm. in his new booke pa. 19. Rex AngloruÌ„ duplici iure subiectus Papae vno communi omnib ' Christianis ratione Apostolicae potestatis quae in omnes extenditur iuxta illud Psal 44. Constitues eos principes super omnem terram altero proprio ratione recti Dominij c. wherein he maintayneth that the Pope is direct Lord of England and Ireland and that these kingdomes are the Churches fee Farmes and the King the Popes vassall or feudatary Things which I thought good to represent at large to the end that his Maiesty of England may know and acknowledge how much the Crowne which God hath giuen him is beholding to the purity of the Gospell the preaching whereof hath broken that yoake and hath made libertie to spring forth together with the truth dissipating at once both superstition and tyranny Iesus Christ saith Ioh. 8. You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free which saying may after a sort bee applyed to this purpose for there our Lord speaketh of the seruitude of sinne and here we speake of the slauery vnder the man of sinne there our Lord speaketh of the freedome and deliuerance from the bondage of the father of lies here we speake of being enfranchized from the thraldome of the sonne of perdition and indeede that temporall seruitude of the Crowne of England came from the spirituall bondage of the conscience For the Popes laid this subiection vpon men as a meanes and condition of obtayning remission of sinnes Then England enioyed the happy golden age in which euery man for his money might enter into Paradise but Iesus Christ ouerthrew this bancke of money-changers set vp in the Temple and detecting the abuses sheered asunder those inuisible chains of Custome and Opinion which held mens soules ensnared in and vniust seruitude Certainely then the doctrine of the Gospell is the setling and establishment of Thrones and that which exalteth raiseth Kings seeing that it doth not subiect their Crownes to any man liuing and further stoppeth vp all wayes and accesse to rebellion and disloyaltie Now out of that which aboue hath beene said it is euident that Coeffeteau telling the king of great Britaine that the Pope doth neyther expose kingdomes as a prey nor pretend any thing vpon the temporalties of kings thought the king a stranger at his owne home and one that knew not his Genealogie nor the story of his owne house or else deemed him blinde and bereft of sense when hee complayneth in his Apologie that Bellarm. writing against him dooth importunately inculcate this position that the Pope may depose kings in that he may excommunicate them It must needes be then if we beleeue Coeffeteau that the king of great Britainecy ther did not read or else vnderstood not the booke of his Aduersary If we would seeke out examples of the like cases besides these of England we might fill a iust volume How many Germane Emperours haue beene degraded from their Empire by excommunications and Papall fulminations and their Imperiall Diadem giuen in prey to him that could catch it Did not Pope Iulius the second Anno 1511. take from king Iohn of Nauarre his kingdome and giue it to Ferdinand king of Castile This Bull of Alexander is found in the beginning of Francisco Lopez de Gomara his Story of the â—ndies Did not Pope Alexander the sixt Anno 1492. diuide the Indies betweene the Portugals and the Spaniards allotting the west Indies to the Spaniards and the East to the Portugals whereat Atabalippa the poore king of Peru asked who the Pope was that gaue that which did not belong vnto him To omit the confusions and hurly-burlies of later times which of fresh memory haue blasted and singed our kings with the lightnings of excommunications and almost burnt them to powder and haue made the people to rise in rebellion against their soueraigne Prince the soares doe yet bleede neyther is the wound yet soundly cured Now if experience be not strong enough to enforce the certainty of Papall vsurpations ouer kings let vs heare the Popes themselues speake Clementina Pastoralis de sententia reiudicata Nos tam ex superioritate quam ad imperium non est dubium nos habere quam ex potestate in quam vacante imperio Imperatori succedimus In ipsa vrbe vtriusque potestatis Monarchiam Romanis Pontisicibus declararet and let vs learne what their intent is rather from their owne mouthes then from the fearefull and doubtfull termes of this Iacobin Clement the fift being in the Councell of Vienna speaketh thus We aswell by that Superiority which wee haue ouer the Empire as by the power whereunto we succeed the Empire being vacant c. As it is contayned in the Clementine Pastoralis And in the Chapter Fundamenta de Electione in 6 Pope Nicholas the third sayth that Constantine hath graunted to the Bishoppes of Rome both the one
of bindeing and loosing in the mouth of the Pastors are inlocutorie Decrees which God doth ratifie in heauen till that himselfe in the last day pronounce the Definitiue sentence They be the keyes which depend vpon the word of God and are annexed to the Gospell Keyes which open the Kingdome of heauen that is open to the penitent sinner an entrance into the Church which in an hundred places in the Gospell is called the Kingdome of heauen Keyes which the Pope hath not at all seeing he hath not that whereupon they depend to wit the true benefites of Iesus Christ contayned in the Gospell and if he had them yet can they not serue his turne seeing he hath changed the lockes and hath made other gates to enter into the kingdome of God Being then sufficiently cleared in this point touching the Popes pretences and Coeffeteaus intention it were nor amisse a little to heare their reasons Euery man knoweth that in the yeare 1301. Nicholas Giles Pope Boniface the eight wrote very arrogant letters to Philip the faire contayning these words I will that thou know that thou art subiect to me in temporall things they that maintaine the contrary we hold them madmen we know also how this vigilant and couragious King handled the Pope This Pope hath made an authenticke Bull which is amongst the extrauagants and beginneth with V nam Sanctam wherein he reproueth the Popes Souerainty both ouer the Spiritualty and Temporalty by certaine passages of Scripture brought in by such an extrauagant by as that we should thinke it ridiculous were it not the Pope that speaketh it who hath all law in the Chest of his breast Licet Romanus Pontifex qui iura omnia in scrinio pectoris sui censetur habere In hac Ecclesia eiusque potostate duos esse gladios spiritualeÌ„ videlicet temporale Euangelicis dictis instruimur Nam dicentibê° Apostolis Ecce gladij duo hic in Ecclesia scilicet cum Apostoli loquerentur non respondit Dominê° nimis esse sed satis Certe qui in potestate Petri temporalem gladâ—um esse negat male verbum attendit Domini dicentis Conuerte gladium tuuÌ„ in vaginam Cum dicat Apostolus non est potestas nisi a Deo quae autem sunt a Deo ordinata sunt non autem ordinata essent nisi gladius esset subgladio De Ecclesiastica potestate verificatur vaticiniuÌ„ Ieremiae Ecce constitui te hodie super gentes regna Si suprema potestas deuiat a solo Deo non ab homine potest iudicari testante Apostolo Spiritalis homo iudicat omnia c. Nisi duo sicut Manichaeus fin gat esse principia quod falsum haereticum iudicamus quia testante Moyse non in principijs sed in principio coelum Deus creauit terram as himselfe saith cap. Licet De Constitutionibus in 6. These then be his Texts and Quotations I beseech the Reader to lend his attention 1. The Apostles said to Iesus Christ Here are two Swordes and Iesus Christ did not answere that is too much but that is enough Therefore the Pope hath the Spirituall and the Temporall Sword 2. Iesus Christ said to S. Peter Put vp thy sword into thy sheath 3. S. Paul Rom. 13. sayth that there is no power but is ordained of God It must needes then be that the Temporall sword be subiect to the spirituall 4. God sending the Prophet Ieremy to preach and prophesie to diuers people and nations saith vnto him cap. 1. I haue set thee this day ouer people and Nations This is a prophesie if wee beleeue this Bontface which giueth to the Pope power ouer the Temporalty of Kings 5 S. Paul 1 Cor. 2.15 speaking of all the faithfull whom he calleth spirituall to oppose them to the Carnall man of whom he speaketh in the former verse he saith that the spiritual man iudgeth and discerneth all things and he is not iudged of any This spirituall man is the Pope the soueraigne Iudge and who cannot be iudged 6. Iesus Christ said to S. Peter Whatsoeuer thou shalt binde in earth shall be bound in heauen Therefore the Pope is cheefe ouer the Temporaltie 7. He addeth that to acknowledge two Soueraigne powers is to be a Manichee 8. That there can be but one beginning and one cheefe Soueraigne because Moses saith in the beginning of Genesis not In the beginnings but in the Beginning God created the heauen and the earth By all these Scientificall Demonstrations hee proueth that the Pope is cheefe ouer the Temporaltie as well as ouer the Spiritualty and thereuppon admiring himselfe in his own plumes he concludeth by a new Article of faith We declare affirm define and pronounce that it is altogether necessary to saluation to be subiect to the Bishop of Rome I would refute each of these reasons were it not that I am perswaded that the Pope did but mocke when he thus spake and had no meaning to be beleeued For surely Shamgars goade or Gedeons bottels may as well prooue the Popes Empire ouer Kings as any of the former places And indeede Bellarmine who commendeth this Bull in generall as holy and good hath beene ashamed to produce these goodly reasons in speciall and by retaile it is confutation enough for them onely to haue proposed them For to dispute by Scripture against them were to vnsheath the sword of the Gospell against a filthy dung-hil Such reasons be fit to be proposed but with the sword in hand for they are not receiued farther then he that proposeth them is feared And to very good purpose the King doth here apply the Fable that when the Lyon would haue the Asses eares to be hornes the other beasts were bound to beleeue it So these fooleries must passe for verities because his Holinesse will haue it so Such a like May-game do we find in Bellarmine and in all their late Diuines who willing to cloake this their foule fact haue inuented new termes to expresse the same thing They say that the Pope as Pope hath not this power ouer the Temporalty directly but indirectly and so farre forth as it is auaileable for the spirituall good But a King dispoyled of his Throne cannot take a few distinctions for a sufficient payment for what is it to him whether he be deposed directly or indirectly seeing that he looseth his Kingdome be it in what sort soeuer it is as if a man should comfort one vpon the scaffold going to his execution telling him thou shalt not be beheaded with a sword but with a Fauchin And indeed who doth not see that this distinction is but a meere contradiction For that which is in it selfe euill being done by a direct course cannot be done iustly by an indirect course If a subiect be forbidden to wrong his Prince directly shall it be lawfull for him to hurt him indirectly Surely that which I ought not to take away directly I may not filtch away indirectly and by wrongfull dealing
seeing that the thing can no wayes belong to mee in what sort soeuer Furthermore Bellarmine by this distinction hath no meaning to contradict the Popes whom we haue produced who speake of Kings as of their subiects and terme themselues Soueraignes in temporall affaires so that this commeth all to one It bootes not to dispute of the excellency of the spirituall power aboue the Ciuil by comparing as did Innocent the third the Pope to the Sunne and the Emperour to the Moone for albeit this were so yet doth not the excellency of one thing aboue another necessarily import that one must therefore gouerne another for if I say that the faculty of Diuinity is more noble and more excellent then the care and custody of the Kings Treasure must it needes therefore follow that Diuines and Clergy men must sway the Kings Exchequer And as litle to the purpose is it to alleadge that the temporall power is subiect to the spirituall for the question is not whether it be simply subiect vnto it but whether it be subiect to it in temporall things and with what punishments the Pastor of the Church may punish the Magistrate when he forgetteth his duety Foüiller en sa bourse to wit whether by depriuing him of his estates or by fingering his purse this is the point of the question which Bellarmine was to proue and not to suppose For what authority soeuer God hath giuen to faithfull Pastors ouer the Magistrates as they are Christians yet doe they not let for all that to be subiect to the Magistrates as they are Citizens and make a part of the Common-wealth A king that is sicke is for the time subiect to the gouernement of his Physitians and yet they neuertheles remaine his subiects As then the Temporall gouernement doth not impose spirituall punishments so the spirituall gouernement cannot impose temporall punishments vnlesse it be sometimes by miracle as S. Peter did vpon Ananias and Sapphira for ordinary power he hath none to doe it neyther doth the word of God giue him any Now if the Pope by vertue of his keyes of which he so much boasteth could dispossesse a King of his Kingdome for any fault whether it be true or pretended it should thence follow that he hath a greater power ouer Kings then oner priuate and particular men from whom he cannot by way of Penance plucke away their lands or houses to giue them to their neighbours for if it were so the Pope should be the direct Lord of all the lands and possessions of Christendome And seeing it is generally confessed that the Heathen Emperours were not subiect to the Bishops in temporall matters can it stand with reason that Princes by being become Christians should become lesse Soueraignes then they were before and that the faith of Iesus Christ should diminish their Empire I am not ignorant that the Prince ought so to administer temporall things that the spirituall administration be not thereby impeached I know also that if Princes offend God it belongeth to the Pastors not to be silent but to oppose themselues against that euil by al those wayes means which God hath permitted which are courses ful of all respect and farre from any rebellion and sedition The faithfull Pastor that shall least of all flatter the Magistrate in his vices is the man that shall carefully retaine the people in their obedience towards the Magistrate and shall keepe that golden meane which is betweene flattery and sedition As he must not be a dumbe dogge so must he not be a furious beast that had neede to be tyed vp And to the end that you may know that these two kindes of subiection doe not iustle or shoulder each other as incompatible I say that the Princes and the Pastors in a State are as the will and vnderstanding in the soule of a man The will commandeth the vnderstanding with an absolute commaund which the Greekes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Lord-like inioyning it to study or to learne this or that thing But the vnderstanding on the other side leadeth on the will by suggestion without commaund the one is done by authority the other by perswasion So Princes command Pastors Pastors sollicite and intreate Princes The respect which Princes owe vnto them is not to their persons but to their charge and calling and to the word or message which they bring for they be not the candle it selfe but onely the Candlesticke on which it is set Ioh. 1. ver 8. sent as our Sauiour saith of S. Iohn not to be the light but to beare witnesse of the light Howbeit this comparison taken from the vnderstanding and the will doth halt in more then one point for the will cannot constraine the vnderstanding but Princes may compell Pastors to obey their lawes and to punish them corporally when they doe amisse Againe the vnderstanding is to guide the will in al things but the Prince in an infinite of businesse may do well enough without the helpe and counsell of his Clergy especially in affaires that are temporall and meerely ciuill Againe the will doth neuer teach the vnderstanding for it consisteth wholly in motion and action but many Princes haue reformed their Pastors and brought them back to their dueties as did Constantine who in the Councell of Nice stifeled and smothered vp all quarrels among the Bishops by casting their diffamatorie libels into the fire as did Dauid who erected new orders in the Temple and as did Salomon who deposed Abiathar from the Priesthood being attainted of conspiracy against him And likewise Ezechias and Ichosaphat who clensed the Temple and set vp the purity of Gods seruice againe In this sense a Synodall Epistle written to Lewes the Courteous calleth him Rectorem Ecclesiae gouernor of the Church And Lewes his young sonne being at Pauia tooke an account of the liues of the Bishops and of their diligence in their charge as Sigonius witnesseth in the yeare 855. The same Authour saith in his seuenth booke that Adrian conferred vpon Charlemaigne the honour of gouerneing the Church and of choosing the Bishoppe of Rome not that he might change the doctrine of the Church at his pleasure but only to hold a strait hand for the execution of the things which were enioyned by the word of God But Bellarmine addeth for a second reason That if the Church that is to say the Pope had not the power to dispose of temporall things it could neuer attaine to perfection but should want necessary power to arriue at her intended end For saith he wicked Princes might without feare of punishment intertaine heretickes to the ouerthrow of Religion This is a reason without reason and full of impiety for it accuseth the Church which was in the Apostles times of imperfection which then had no power at all ouer the Temporalty all things being then in the handes of Infidels Add hereunto that Kings might vse the same reason and say that their power could not
be perfect vnlesse they had the meanes to dispose of spirituall things for that otherwise wicked Bishops might without feare of punishment be vitious mutinous Necromancers and firebrands of sedition against Princes of all which enormities the Sea of the Bishop of Rome can alone furnish a multitude of examples yea after Baronius Coeffeteau himselfe doth confesse Coeffeteau in his booke entituled A Refutation of falshoods fol. 68. pag. 1. that many monsters haue sitten vpon that seate The Churches perfection doth not consist in a strength able by force to defend it selfe but in the purity of prescribing the wholsome meanes of saluation No otherwise then the perfection of Philosophy dooth not consist in hauing a strong house or a good sword able to represse those that should hinder her from being taught and professed but rather in the certainty perspicuity and sufficiency of her Demonstrations God who hath neuer suffered that his Church should be extinguished by false teachers which infect the soules will not permit that it shall be abolished by wicked Princes which offer violence to the bodies for whatsoeuer necessity any man can alleadge why he should plucke the Crowne from a lawfull Princes head yet can there be no necessity of doing any thing contrary to the will of God as there is no necessity that doth binde a man to bee disloyall there can be no dispensing with the law of God God sayth by the mouth of his Apostle Rom. 13.1 That euery person ought to be subiect to superior powers for there is no power but of God Where it is cleare that he speaketh of Princes and temporall Lords because he addeth that they beare the sword as being the Ministers of God ordeyned for iustice And a little after he commaundeth to pay them tribute and customes Now at the time when the Apostle spake this neyther the Bishoppe of Rome nor any other did eyther carry the sword or receiue any tribute Who is he then that can dispense with so precise a commaundement Or what thing can be more necessary then to obey God And note moreouer that if the Pope be the Iudge of this case of necessity for which Princes ought to be dispossest it will bee easie for him at any time to say that it is necessary that this or that King be degraded to the end to make himselfe by that means King of Kings and disposer of their Crownes Howbeit let vs a little weigh and consider what this necessity may be which carrieth on the Pope to plucke from a King his Scepter and to giue his Crowne to another Bellarmine alleadgeth but one to wit if it be necessary to saluation As in case a King be an Hereticke an Infidell or a persecutor of the Church or a fauourer and vpholder of errour But he would faine hide and conceale from vs that the Pope doth aswell intrude himselfe to dispossesse Kings that are of his Religion and no way in fault So in the Decrees of the Romish Church in the 15. Cause Quaest. 6. in the Canon which beginneth Alius Romanus Pontifex Zacharias scil Regem Fran corum non tam pro suis iniquitatibus quà m pro coquod tantae potestati erat inutilis à regno deposuit c. And the Canonists who haue made the Glosse dispute vpoÌ„ that place whether a man ought to pay his debts to one excommunicated Probabiliter dici potest quod excommunicato non sit soluendii cum nemo debeat participate cum en Lib. 5 cap. 7. §. Tertia Non licet Christianis tolerare Regem infidâ—leÌ„ aut hereticum c. the Pope speaketh in this manner Zachary the Bishop of Rome hath deposed the French King not so much for his iniquities as for that he is not fit for nor capable of so great a power and hath set vp Pippin the faher of Charles Emperour in his place and hath discharged all the French-men from their Oath of fidelity 〈◊〉 Iulius the second could not accuse Lewes the twelfth nor Iohn King of Nauarre of heresie nor yet Sixtus the fift the late king Henry the third who notwithstanding were by the Popes thundering Bulles declared to haue beene fallen from their kingdomes I freely indeede confesse that in an Electiue kingdome when question is made of choosing a new king they to whom that charge belongeth ought in no wise to chuse a king that is an Infidell or an Idolater But it is one thing to speake of a king who is chosen by his subiects and another of a king who is a lawfull inheritour and who is beholding to his birth for his Crowne and to whom ouer and aboue his subiects haue taken the Oath of Alleageance And therefore the Argument which Bellarmine draweth from the one to the other to proue that Subiects are at no hand to endure a king that is an Heretick or an Infidel doth not follow vpon good consequence It auayleth not to say that the danger is like both in the one and the other for it may so fall out that two things may be alike dangerous whereof the one may be bad and the other not as for example for a man to receiue in his body the shot of an harquebuse from one that did aime to hit him from another that did it by chance is alike dangerous but not alike wicked And indeede euen in humane pollicy and without any relation to the commandements of God it is not expedient that subiects should shake off the yoake of their Prince which is of a different Religion for this were the next way to estrange Princes and Monarches from Christian Religion and to make them to haue it in detestation as that which counselleth and perswadeth to rebellion and maketh piety the cause of mutiny Moreouer the question here is not of the danger but of the duety nor yet what may arriue but what ought to be done we must not do euill that good may come of it Many things are lawfull which are not expedient but there is nothing expedient which is not lawfull When we haue done what we ought to doe then God will doe what pleaseth him and he will doe nothing but for the good of his Church which he cherisheth as the apple of his eye he hath bought it too deare that he should be of the minde to destroy it Now if this rule of the Cardinall be necessary that it is not permitted to Christians to suffer a King that is an Hereticke or an Infidell Saint Paul was very much mistaken in giuing commaundement to obey Nero an Infidell and a persecutor and the Christians then did not as they ought to haue done in that they did not stabbe him or make a myne of powder vnder his house Bellarmine answereth that they might iustly haue done it but that they wanted forces that is to say Lib. 5. de Rom. Pontif. cap. 7. §. Quod si Christiani olim non deposuerunt Neronem c. Id fuit quia deeraÌ„t vires
weake in the mouth of a Iesuite who holdeth that a Pope Bellar. l. 2. de Rom. Pont. c. 29 be he neuer so wicked and a destroyer of the Church cannot be deposed no not by a general Councell and yet there is greater apparant danger in this then in the former That which Bellarmine addeth seemeth to haue beene written by him being asleepe and is nothing else but a quippe to make men laugh He proueth that a faithfull people may free themselues from the yoake of a Prince that is an Infidell that is to say may rebell against him and that by the example of the beleeuing wife which by the iudgement of the Apostle 1. Cor. 7. is not bound to abide with an husband that is an Infidell when hee will not dwell with her Whereunto I answere first that Similitudes are no proofes Secondly this Similitude being rightly taken doth not hurt vs for as a beleeuing wife is not bound to follow her husband when he forsaketh her and wil no longer co-habite with her so I will freely confesse that subiects are not bound to acknowledge a King that abandoneth his subiects and will no longer be King ouer them but renounceth his Realme and this is all that may be drawne from this Comparison Thirdly this Similitude is aduantageous vnto vs for if we admit the Comparison betweene the condition of a wife and of subiects then will it definitiuely determine our Controuersie and make vs gain the cause For as while an husband that is an Infidell will abide with his beleeuing wife she may not forsake him nor shake off her yoake so while a King that is an Infidell will retayne his soueraignty ouer beleeuing subiects they may not abandone him nor rebell against him The wordes of the Apostle are directly to this purpose If any woman haue an vnbeleeuing husband and he consent to dwell with her let her not forsake him All that which Bellarmine addeth is nothing else but as his manner is suppositions without proofes We graunt him that Princes who against their promise doe warre against the true fayth deserue to be depriued of their Kingdome but wee denye that this power of depriuing them is in the Pope VVe must reserue that iudgement to God seeing it is he that hath established them and that as Tertullian sayth they are inferiour to GOD alone Tertul. ad Scapulam in Apolog. cap. 30. A quo sunt secundi post quem primi Cap. 30. Cum dixit Petro Amas me Pasce oues meas idem dixit caeteris As touching these wordes spoken to S. PETER Feed my sheepe to omit for the present that which S. AVSTIN sayth in his booke of the Christian combate that Iesus Christ saying to S. Peter Feede my lambes spake the same to the rest as all the auncients with one accord doe say that the power of binding and loosing was giuen to the Apostles and to the whole Church in the person of S. Peter to omit this because I will treat of it in his proper place I onely say that albeit this had beene spoken to the Pope yet might he not for all that chastise Princes with depriuation of their estates or by raising a commotion among his subiects or by imposing fines and amercements vpon his countreyes This is to enterprete the word Feede too licentiously we had neede of new Grammer for this new Diuinity for the word Feede which in times past signified to teach and to guide dooth now a dayes signifie to blast whole kingdomes with the lightning of excommunications to ouerthrow great Monarches and to sucke and draw out the very substance of the poore people Beare with our simplicity herein for so great an abuse in wordes maketh vs to feare a greater in the matter it selfe To speake barbarously were an euill somewhat tollerable were it not that Barbarismes doe sometymes passe into Heresies and incongruities in wordes into incongruity in fayth Thus the Bishop of Rome calleth himselfe the Pylot and Steer-man of S. Peters Shippe but he imployeth that barke to trafficke his owne gayne and S. Peters nets to fish for Princes Crownes and to entramell whole States and Common-weales His keyes now a dayes serue onely to open Cofers His power of loosing only to loose the bonds of fidelity through a mutinous piety and a factious Religion which maketh it self Iudge ouer the consciences of kings which euen hateth their Religion because it hateth their rule gouernment and maketh that to be a good subiect to be a good Christian are things that cannot subsist together Bellarmines reasons hauing beene very feeble the examples which he produceth in the Chapter following are lesse currant He sayeth that Osias king of Iuda was dryuen out of the Temple by the High Priest and depryued of his kingdome The text of Scripture is direct to the contrary It is said 2. King 15.2 that Osias began to raigne in the sixteenth yeare of his age and hee raigned fifty two yeates so that he liued threescore and eyght years whence it appeareth that he was King euen vntill his death In the fift verse Iotham his son during the time of his fathers separation because of his leprosie he is not called King but gouernor of his house And ver 7. the beginning of the raigne of Iotham is reckoned only from the death of Osias his father The example of Athalia driuen from the Kingdome by Iehoiada the high Priest is as little to the 2. King 11. purpose For wee speake here of lawfull Princes deposed and he brings vs an example of a woman thâ—t vsurped anothers Kingdome by force and tyranny in which case euery man is allowed to employ himselfe to expel the vsurper and to preserue the Kingdome to the lawfull King The example of S. Ambose Bishoppe of Millan who would not receiue the Emperour Theodosius to the communion by reason of that great slaughter which his souldiers at his commaundement committed at Thessalonica maketh expresly against the Bishop of Rome For would the Pope now a dayes indure that a Bishoppe of Millan or Colleyne should intrude himselfe to excommunicate Emperours and to declare them to be fallen from their Empire without his permission Did Ambrose this by the counsaile or commaundement of the Bishop of Rome And were it so that Ambrose had beene that the Pope now sayth himselfe to be where will Bellarmine finde that Ambrose did degrade the Emperour or that he dispensed with his subiects for the Oath of fidelity Let a man read his three and thirtieth Epistle and he shall see with how great humilty he submitteth himselfe to an Arrian Emperour so farre from preaching any reuolt of his subiects from him that indeede hee willingly offered to dye and to suffer persecution if such were the will of the Emperour As touching the law which Theodosius imposed vpon himselfe by the Counsell of S. Ambrose which was that from thence forward he would stay the execution of any sentence of death
Churches and Orders haue fortie yeares Prescription This ought also moreouer to be added which is a thing that doth greatly redound to the weakening of the power of kings And that is that al Fee-farms and lands of the most noble Tenure assoone as they enter into the Possession of Ecclesiasticall persons they become exempted from all charges and payments as well in regard of their persons as of their goods being no longer bound to that personall seruice which the possessour formerly owed vnto the Prince Whence it came to passe that our auncient kings were able within lesse circuite of Countrey to leuie Armies of an hundred thousand men whereas now a dayes within a farre larger extent fewer troupes are gathered because there is a third part of the lands of Fraunce which contribute nothing to publique necessities And yet notwithstanding naturall reason requireth that they who enioy the fruite and benefite of peace should contribute toward the warre that those that liue at case should cherish and releeue them that fight for their conseruation Wherefore then whiles the Nobility and the third State do oppose themselues to the inuasion of strangers whiles the King doth fortifie his Frontiere Townes doth intertaine Garisons dooth appoint Officers as well for ciuill gouernement as for discipline of warre why should not Ecclesiasticall persons who by these meanes doe quietly enioy the fat and best of the Kingdome why should not they I say contribute to the publicke necessity why should their increase be a deminution to their Princes forces who watcheth ouer them for their quiet Furthermore no man can be ignorant but that this is a thing greatly threatning the dammage and impouerishing of the Kingdome that a third part of Fraunce should be tributary to a stranger vnder a title of Annates Dates Dispensations Absolutions and cases of marriage Against all which biting extortion our auncient Kings prouided by the Pragmaticke Sanction being angryed and agreeued to see the faire pence of the Kingdome to passe ouer the Alpes vnder a Religious kinde of pillage and to enter into the purses of those who made a mocke at our simplicity But aboue all this is that which is most pernitious to Kings and their estates that so many persons are exempted from iustice and from the arme of the secular power For by this meanes if a Clerke doe himselfe vndertake or doe abet another to attempt against the life of his Prince if he coyne false money set fire on a towne or entertaine secret intelligence with strangers or if hee infect the common people by the example of his lewde manners The Prince for all this cannot lay handes on him without leaue from his Bishop and hee shall not dare to touch him vntil he be first degraded in such sort that the King hath in his kingdome an infinite number of persons who are Lords of the fairest and best choyce of his Countrey and who are not his subiects but do acknowledge another for their Superiour out of the kingdome This is verily one of the boldest wiles and the subtilest sleights of the mystery of iniquity to haue found out a meanes whereby to make a king by sufferance to giue way to another to establish an estate within his owne estate and in the end to thanke him for it too and to thinke himselfe beholding to him for the same Who will then maruell hereupon if the king of great Britaine whom God hath freed from so heauy a yoake doe looke with compassion vpon those other kingdomes who yet do groane vnder this burthen and as standing safe on the shoare giueth aduise and counsell to his brethren whom he seeth weather-beaten with these surges and carryed away with the current of an olde inueterate custome Now here I protest againe as heretofore I haue done that I doe not speake of the persons but of the rules and orders of the Church of Rome I know that in this great body of the Clergy there is a great number that would willingly dye for the seruice of their king in whom their Priestly character of shauing hath not made them forget that they are borne subiects In whose spirits nature hath more force then their habites and the loue of their Countrey more then the Maximes of Italy but they are beholden to their owne good dispositions for this and not to the rules of the Church Some to colour this abuse say that Clerkes are exempted from the power of Princes not by Gods law but onely by mans positiue law whereunto I say that first they contradict not onely Bellarmine himselfe who in his booke of the exemption of Clerkes Ecclesiae Ecclesiasticaeque personae ac res ipsaâ—um non solum iure humano quinim mo diuino a secularium personarum exactionibus sint immunes hee doth exempt them by Gods diuine Law but also Pope Boniface the eight who speaketh in this maner in the Title De Censibus in Sexto The Churches and Ecclesiasticall persons their goods let them be exempt from the exactions of secular persons not onely by mans lawe but also by Gods Diuine law Secondly I say that it little importeth Princes vnder what title men take away their dues seeing that they are eyther way alike riffeled and despoyled And it goeth against the heart of him that hath been robbed to pay himselfe with a distruction certaine it is that if this be graunted that the exemptions of Clerkes is founded onely vpon mans lawes yet if a Prince should goe about to clippe the priuiledges of Church-men and should continue on to draw those rights and dues vppon their lands which he had vpon them whiles they were yet in the hands of secular men such a Prince I say shall be neuer a whit the more excused nay rather he shall be cursed and banned as blacke as a coale and shall be ground to powder with hote excommunications as a persecutor and diminisher of the liberty of the Church And if any Iesuite should come to suffer death in any such quarrel he should be put in the Kalendar of Saints and Martirs as was Thomas of Canterbury who suffered only for this very subiect And indeede it is a thing very easie for vs to prooue that Clerkes haue exempted themselues from Taxes and Subsidies and Contributions and from subiection to the secular sword not onely without all law both of God and man but directly contrary to Gods Diuine law For S. Paul Rom. 13. will haue euery soule subiect to the higher powers He that will exempt Clerkes from this rule saith by a consequent that they haue no soule Now if they be subiect then doe they owe Tribute for S. Paul addeth that this subiection consisteth in paying of tribute For this cause sayth he you pay tribute because they are the Ministers of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wheruppon Saint Chrysostome in his Commentary on that place speaketh roundly to the purpose The Apostle sayth he enioyneth this to all euen to Priests
out of the auncient Councels authorising these exemptions may serue indeede to exhort Clerkes to addresse themselues to their Bishops to compose their differents in Ecclesiasticall matters But now a dayes to exempt Church-lands from paying taxe and Subsidy nor to take from the Magistrate the power of punishing any Clerke that is a wicked man and attaynted of some cryme which is punishable by the law Secondly I say that Clerkes cannot be iudged by the validity of their owne exemptions seeing they are made altogether in fauour of them and to their owne profite And being Iudges and parties they will take heed I trow of condemning themselues I say further for I mayntaine this truth That Princes cannot free Clergy men from their ciuill subiection and obedience seeing that God himselfe hath subiected them thereunto So a father cannot free his children from that due obedience which they owe vnto him Neyther can he by any damnable induldence and facility toward his children loose those bands of nature which God moreouer alloweth and authorizeth in his word That good indeed or that good turne is iniurious that byndeth a man to doe ill or that exempteth him from well doing And not to speake but of Magistrates only I say that God hauing commanded the Israelites to subdue the Cananites and Amorrhites and to make them their seruants They should haue offended God if they had let them goe free and at liberty I leaue this also to any mans iudgement whether a Prince may take any Donations by the which both himselfe and his Successors may loose the third part of their Dominion If any man be an angryed with his money he may giue it away and make hauocke of it if he please but he cannot binde his posterity to the like humour Neyther can his personall liberalities make vniuerfall Lawes Especially when by experienâ—e it is knowne to be true that those persons on whom the good deedes haue beene done doe waxe the worse by them and the benefites extended towards them corrupt in their owne bosomes For not to speake of those manyfold vices which haue thronged in at this gate by troupes Clergy-men are become very ill acknowledgers of those good deedes which Princes haue conferred on them For now they maintayne that these immunities belong vnto them by Gods law and by Diuine right and that they holde all this from God and not from man and that the Pope hauing exempted Clergy-men from the subiection of Princes they are no more their subiects neyther are Princes any longer their superiours This doctrine is constantly vpheld in Rome and mayntayned by all the Doctors that are of any marke in that Church But about all by the lesuites diuers of whose testimomes touching this point we haue heretofore produced Out auncient Kings neuer heard of any such propositions in their dayes And without doubt that which now-a dayes is called in our law Le droit de Regale and L'appell comme d'abus and likewise the Inhibition of the Annates by the pragmatical Sanction of which there remayneth no more now-a-dayes then the bare name these are the reliques of the auncient power of our Kings by the which they did dispose of Ecclesiasticall mens goods as well as of Secular persons But now-a-dayes after a lamentable manner of speaking and iniuri ous to our Kings these things are called Priuiledges of the Gallicane Church As if for a man not to be robbed or riffeled were a priuiledge vnto him Or as if it were a speciall grace graunted by the Pope that a man should haue power to be Master in his owne house Non est Priuilegium sed prauilegium And yet this priuiledge is not obserued And hereupon I beseech the Reader to consider how handsomely Cardinall Bellarmine doth carry himselfe in this poynt who in the eight and twentieth chapter of his booke of Clerkes § Secunda to the end to gratifie Princes with something he will that Clerkes should conforme themselues to ciuill lawes in certaine menial small things as in the buying of any Merchandize or not to go abroad in the night without a Lanthorne But within a short space after he plucketh backe all that which before he had giuen willing them to be subiects indeede Fol. 128. Obligatione non coactiua sed solum directiua by Obligation of direction not of coertion That is to say that they may be commanded but not constrained to yeeld obedience they shall obey as farre as themselues list and this is not to be a subiect in any regard That law is no lawe that onely hath reference to their discretion for whom it is enacted A law that wants his annexed punishment is ridiculous and should bee called an entreatie or good counsaile rather then a command And farther obserue that the matters wherein he maketh the clergie subiect to the law are trifles and things of no moment But to be vigilant for the safetie of his soueraigne or to mayntaine the peace of the Countrey or to shunne priuate intelligence with forrayners or to be punished for robbing or rauishing or for treason are matters wherein hee doth not subiect them to the power of Kings So he dazels the eyes of Princes with Schoole-distinctions of Directiue and Coactiue flatly denying the while that Princes haue superiority ouer their Clergy Lib. de exemp Cler. cap. 1. And he maytaines that Kingdomes are not held by a Diuine right § Ad confirmationem that is are not immediately appoynted by God nor established by Gods ordinance directly crossing the Apostle Saint Paul saying That there is no power but of God Rom. 13. and the powers that be are ordained of God By this meanes taking from subiects all religious regard due to Princes whom in a wicked disdayne he calles Prophane persons toward the end of the second Chapter of his booke of the exemption of the Clergy in these wordes * Quis dicere audeatius esse profane homini in ea quae sancta sanctorum id est sanctissima dici meruerunt Is there any that dares auerre that â—â—â—rophane man hath any power ouer matters that deserâ—â— to be stiled Sancta sanctorum that is most holy He giues also this title to Ecclesiasticall goods so that if the mony of a Kingdome be swept away vnder colour of Indulgences If sinnes be leuyed vpon the Curtyzans of Rome If any of the common people doe robbe their children to enrich the Fryers this wealth and these possessions are the holy of holies things most holy O grosse abuse and open mockery O enmity with God himselfe Thus is our simplicity seduced These then are the men that to shake off the yoake of Kings call them Prophane persons Kings who are the annointed of the Lord Gods image vpon earth the noursing fathers of the Church the Princes of the people of God of whom the very Angels speake not without reuerence Well may their glory be aduanced and the kingdome of the sonne of God established in
the vsurpation of the Gothes out of a base coueteous humour for it makes not whether their proceedings were tainted with auarice or no some one in the prosecution of his right may mingle his particular vices Now if this custome be not then are the Popes and Councels worthy of blame that haue adiudged them both iust and necessary as Adrian the first Leo the eigth and others which vnrequested did voluntarily referre this choyce to the Kings of Italy and to the Emperors And indeed Sigonius Anno 963. saith that Leo the eigth was of opinion Non sine causa AdrianuÌ„ 1. Ca rolo magno tribuisse vt Ecclesiam ordimaret Pontisicemlegeret Labertate populo â—eddita Romanos in dies deteriores effectos that Adrian the first had cause to referre the honour of gouerning the Church and chusing the Pope vnto Charlemaine and that when liberty was giuen to the popular Assembly for the election of the Pope things greweuery day from bad to worse It is heere more remarkable that Coeffeteau doth a little after contradict himselfe for after hauing condemned this electiue custome as as an vniust vsurpation of the Emperours a little after he saith that the Emperour did not vsurpe this right Fol. 18. pag. 2. but receaued it from the Pope If then the Emperours did not vsurpe this power he doth vniustly call it vsurpation And if the Popes gaue this authority the fault was onely in the Popes And if it be a Right as Coeffeteau cals it it can be neyther wrong nor iniustice not vsurpation The feare of the Lombards should haue beene no motiue to the Popes to iniure their own See to pâ—ssesse the Emperours of that which appertained not vnto them Touching that which he addes Fol. 19. p. â— that Lewes the sonne of Charles disclaymed this right I haue already disproued it as vntrue The Canon Ego Lodouicus in the 63. Distinction is of the same touch and as true as the Donation of Constantine It is also vntrue which he saith that the Popes acknowledged Lewes for a benefactor of this See and that they should thinke themselues obliged to him and other Princes which haue bestowed on them the temporalities which they possesse For first the Popes would not acknowledge any such obligation to this Lewes nor to his predecessors notwithstanding all their gifts vnto them hauing forged the Donation of Constantine to obliterate the memory of this benefite and cast an immaginary Conduit-pipe that might from others of farther distance deriue this bountie vnto them Besides their abusing and thundring their stormes vppon our Kings and robbing their Kingdomes is their faire acknowledgement of this good turne like him that hauing gathered the fruite and refreshed himselfe in the shadow of a tree doth with his bil-booke lop off the boughs and branches for recompence Moreouer we denie notwithstanding any thing Coeffeteau sayth that the Popes held their temporal possessions of Pipin or Charles or of Lewes or of any King or Emperour I am not ignorant that these Princes haue exceeded in their liberalities to the Bishop of Rome which they haue performed to their hinderance but they euer did as Princes vnto subiects reserue the Soueraignty ouer the Donce To examine the matter by auncienter proofes and better Sigonius in the History of the yeare 687. saith that the Exarches sent Iudges vnto Rome to administer iustice vnto the people Platina hath the fame in the life of Sergius the second who was the first that chaunged his name after his election because he was formerly called Hogs-snout In the diuision betweene the children of Lewes le Debonaire Lotharius the eldest sonne had for his part the City of Rome with Italy c. Platina in the life of Eugenius the second saith that †Sigonius p. 116 Lotharius in Italiam veniens Magistratum delegit qui populo Romano ius diceret Lotharius comming into Italy established Magistrates at Rome to iudge the people of the Citie Aboue all we haue expresse testimony of Sigonius in the seuenth booke of the History of the Kingdome of Italy Ann. 973. * Pontifex RomaÌ„ Rauennamque ditiones reliquas tenebat authoritate magis quam imeprio quod ci uitates Pontificem vt Reip. Principem Regem verò vi summum Dowinum intue entur atque ei tributa obsequiaque praeberent Then sayth he the Bishop of Rome helde the City of Rome and Rauenna rather by anothers authority then their owne commaund Because these Cities acknowledged the Bishop as a Prince in the Common wealth but did euer looke toward the King as their soueraigne Lord payde him tribute and to him yeelded their obedience And yet it was a long while after ere the Emperours came to Rome to take their Crownes which they held not of the Pope who had onely a hand in the Ceremony but of the people of Rome So that all that which the Pope dooth at this day holde in the nature of a soueraigne Prince is a meere vsurpation ouer the Empire and he cannot exhibite his titles nor shew vs the beginning of his Princely Soueraignty Coeffeteau goes on and condemnes the Emperor Otho for deposing Iohn the thirteenth for his irregular life and Henry the third for deposing three Popes in a short time and saith that in this proceeding he shewed a zeale but no knowledge Whereunto I answerre that this Iohn being maintayned by an Army and a very potent faction he could not be expulsed but by the power of the Emperour nor is it zeale without knowledge to apply vnto an extreame malady the onely and most necessary medicine that can possibly the prouided Our Doctor doth further adde that Constantine did shew much more Religion when in the Councell of Nice he acknowledged that it belonged not to him to iudge of the faults of Bishops But these were but words of his gratious respect vnto them such as the same Prince vsed when he said that if he should finde a Clergy-man offending with a woman he would couer him with his cloake but before in the sixt Chapter we saw that the lawes of Constantine did not priuiledge the offences of the Clergy from the ciuill authority no not the lawes of Iustinian which were made more then two hundred yeares after And indeede Theodoret lib. 1. cap. 19. alleageth an Epistle of Constantine to Nâ—comedians in which speaking generally of all sorts of men he saith that * Si quis audacter inconsulteque ad memoriam aut landem pestium illarum exarserit illias statim audacia ministri Dei hâ—e mea executione coercebitur If any one will rashly and inconsiderately maintaine those pestilent assertions speaking of the Arrians his audatiousnes shall be instantly curbed by the Emperours execution who is Gods Minister I doe plainely confesse that they caused them to be very often deposed by a Synode but yet they ceased not to haue soueraigne authority ouer the Bishops before their deposition or to haue power
of inflicting corporall punishment vpon them but of this we haue spoken at large before Thence doth Coeffeteau proceede to the Example of Henry the fourth which he saith cannot be alleadged because the times were then troublesome but the example suits very well to our purpose for that the Popes were the onely instruments of raising those troubles to exempt themselues from the Emperours subiection and to subiect the Emperours to themselues euen in seruices more seruile then seuuitude it selfe stirring vp the sonne to seeke the life and Crowne of Henry his father who died being depriued of his Imperiall dignity by his sonne the Popes instrument therein who vouchsafed not his father so much fauour See Helmoldus in the Chronicles of Sclauonia Naucl. 39. genera Baronius de vitis Pontificum and many others as to cause his body to be buried Fredericke Barbarossa being come soone after into Italy to be Crowned Emperour the Pope enforced him to hold his stirrope when he tooke horse But this Emperour little-skil'd in these seruices putting himselfe forward to hold the left in stead of the right stirrop was adiudged to practise the same submission the day following and howbeit he performed it very mannerly yet in conclusion the Pope sought to pull his Crowne from him And in the same degree of pride did Alexander the third treade vpon the said Frederickes necke vpon the staires of S. Markes Church in Venice the History is reported by many writers and alleadged by the King of great Britaine in his confutation of Bellarmine about the end of the booke and it is paynted at Venice in the hall of del Scrutinio del grand Constiglio the Maps and Tables thereof are reckoned vp and expounded by Girolam Bardi in a booke expresly written of that argument In the sequel of his discourse Coeffeteau fals into that wretchlesse negligence that he accuseth the King of mistaking the History not alleadging so much as one passage for his confutation And sure it is not Platina that doth alone record the deposition of these three Popes by Henry the fourth for Stella a Venetian Monke who hath written the liues of the Popes hath the same in these wordes Henricus Caesar habita Synodo Benedictum praedictum Syluestrum hunc Gregorium abdicare se Pontificatu coegit His Maiesty of England alleadgeth to the same purpose the example of Philip le bel K. of France that wrote with liberty enough vnto Boniface the eight who first inuented the Iubile Platina Stella in these wordes Let your great folleship vnderstand that in in temporall matters we are not subiect to any man c. And he it was that surprised the aforesaid Pope at Anagnia and committed him to prison at Rome where for griefe hee died An. 1303. To the example of Lewes the ninth King of Fraunce that established the law called Pragmatica sanctio against the pillaging and merchandizing of the Court of Rome he ioyneth the example of Lewes the eleauenth who being vrged by Pius the second to repeale that Sanction remitted his Legates to the faculty of the Diuines of Sorbone Iohannes Maierius libra de schismat Concil who made it good against the Pope with whom Iohannes Romanus the Kings Aduocate was ioyned that opposed them so farre with his conclusions that the Court appealed to the next Councell as indeeede they did The said King saith farther that the facultie of Sorbone came to maintaine this point that if the Pope should offer violence to our King the French Church had authority to establish a Patriarch and seuer themselues from the See of Rome And that Gerson Chaunceller of the Vniuersitie of Paris was so farre from defending this pretended temporall power of the Popes that he wrote a booke De auferibilitate Papae ab Ecclesia that is Of the possibility of forsaking the Pope and remoueing him from the Church How much more did hee beleeue then that the temporall power of Kings might be free from the insulting of Papall authority To this doth Coeffeteau make no other answere but that these contentions were onely for temporall matters and that Philip or Lewes or the faculty of Sorbonne or the Kings Aduocate desired not to preiudice the Popes authority in any regard as he is head of the Church so that here he answeres well to the King of Englands question whose ayme is onely vnto matters temporall and to the vsurpation of Popes ouer Monarches Touching the title of Head of the Church which is an abuse more intollerable hee reserues that for an after-discourse Now if so be the dissention betweene Philip and the See of Rome continued not many yeares as Coeffeteau obserueth Fol. 22 pag 2 it was because the Pope gaue way vnto him and Benedict the eleuenth was very glad to giue Philip absolution Platina Stella which he graunted of his owne accord because the other might haue beene well without it That we may close vp this point the King of great Britaine drawes many examples out of Matthew Paris and out of the Records of his Kingdom to this purpose as William Gifford whom King Henry the first inuested with his Bishopricke and Rodulphus whom the same King inuested with the Archbishopricke of Canterbury by his Ring and Crosier-staffe and Thurstan nominated to the Archbishopricke of Yorke depriued by the King of his temporalties for corrupting with bribes the Popes agents in the Councell of Rhemes The said King alleadgeth many examples of Abbots Bishops and Deanes in England that haue eyther against the Popes will yeelded obedience to their Soueraignes or haue beene degraded censured and imprisoned by their Princes for their disobedience in adhaering to the Popes And which is more considerable these are late examples such as haue happened while the Papacy domineered most How stood the case then when the Bishoppe of Rome had nothing to doe in England with matters eyther temporall or spirituall The Kingdome of Fraunce doth furnish vs with examples of more pregnancy The Synode of Fraunce is of speciall note to this purpose which is to be found in the third Tome of the Councels of the Colleyn Edition pag. 39. where Carolomanus qualifying himselfe as Duke and Prince of Fraunce vseth this speach By the aduise of my Clergie and others of principall esteeme of the Realme Ordinauimus Episcopos We haue ordayned Bishops in the Cities and haue established Boniface Archbishop ouer them The Councell of Maurice holden vnder Charlemaine Anno 813. beginneth thus Carolo Augusto verae religionis rectori ac defensori sanctae Dei Ecclesie and the first Councell of Mayence vnder Lewes le Debonaire Ludouico verae relligionis serenissimo rectori And these I trow should haue been accounted irreligious Titles now-a-dayes And here let it be principally noted that Coeffeteau trusts more to his heeles then to his hands for he buckles onely with the first of these examples and all his answere is that Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury opposed this
assembled according to the vsuall forme and there was good order kept in the first Sessions So Menas and Euticheus Patriarches of Constantinople sate Presidents in the fift Councell of Constantinople albeit Vigilius Bishop of Rome were in the same Towne which doubtlesse was the cause why he refused to be present at the Councell All which notwithstanding after the close and conclusion of the Councell he approued the Acts. Read carefully the second Councell of Nice and you shal see that in reckoning vp the Bishops who were assisting thereat hee who hath translated the Acts of the Councell hath oftentimes placed to gratifie the Pope the Deputies of Rome the first yet notwithstanding the whole action of the councell doth plainely shew that they were not Presidents at all they speake almost neuer a word and they giue in their opinions sometimes amongst the rest But Tharasius Patriarch of Constantinople speaketh to euery matter gouerneth the whole action pronounceth the conclusions and is cheefe President in the Councell And to come vp a little higher the most famous Councell that euer was was the first Councell of Nice in which surely the Bishop of Rome was not President but if we will beleeue the testimony of Athanasius who was there present Hosius Bishop of Corduba in Spaine sate in the first place His testimony is reported by Theodoret in the second booke of his story and fifteenth chapter where he saith that there was no Councell helde wherein Hosius was not President And this hee speaketh agreeable to that which the same Athanasius saith in his Epistle to them that liue in the desert The first speaker was Eustachius Bishop of Antioch who sate at the Emperours right hand Which hath made some men to thinke that he was President but it appeareth not throughout the whole action that the deputies of Rome did any thing In the Tomes of the Councels though made for the Popes greatest aduantage yet Hosius subscribeth the first and the deputies of Rome vnder him And least any man should say that he was the Bishop of Romes Legate he subscribeth apart in these wordes Hosius Episcopus Cordubensis Ita credo Then the deputies of Rome subscribe apart Victor Vincentius Presbyteri vrbis Romae pro venerabili Papa Syluestro subscripsimus For if they had beene all three deputies for the Bishop of Rome they would thus haue subscribed Hosius Victor Vincentius pro Syluestro c. And Hosius should rather haue taken this title then to be qualified only Bishop of Corduba c. Whosoeuer hath neuer so little looked into the stories knoweth that the Bishops of Constantinople considering that the dignity of the sea of Rome came for that Rome had for a long time beene the seate of the Empire and seeing that the Empire was now translated to Constantinople haue laboured to haue themselues to be credited and preferred before the Bishop of Rome Euen so farre forth that Iohn the Bishoppe of Constantinople whom Greekes call S. Iohn the Almosner began vnder the Emperour Mauritius about the yeare sixe hundred to call himselfe the first and chiefe Bishop and Oecumenicall Bishop that is to say Vniuersall Whereupon Gregory the first Bishop of Rome doth not complaine that Iohn did set footing vpon the Sea of Rome or that he did him any wrong by vsurping that which belonged to the Bishop of Rome but saith that this was a new Title and That he which will be called vniuersal Bishop is the forerunner of Antichrist because that in the Pride of his heart he preferreth himselfe before others Now the intent of this Iohn was not to haue denyed the others to haue beene Bishops also but he said that he was the first and aboue the rest And indeede this Iohns successors continued this title and are so called in Zonaras and Cedrenus And further in the second Councel of Nice the second Action there is an Epistle of Adrian Bishop of Rome wherein he calleth n = a Dilecto fratri Tharasio generali Patriarchae Tharasius Bishop of Constantinople vniuersall Patriarch Howbeit Gregory in his Epistles thinketh that he who will be vniuersall Bishop doth by consequent ruine the Bishopricke of others and seeketh if not directly yet at leastwise by consequence to be the onely Bishop the Bishopricke of others after that being nothing else but a bare name without substance as is the charge of Bishops vnder the Papacy Thus hath God pluckt out of the mouth of Gregory the condemnation of his Successors for this good man was not aware that in so speaking he called Boniface the third his Successour the forerunner of Antichrist to whom the Emperour Phocas gaue the title of vniuersall Supremacy within a while after the death of Gregory And yet for all this the Bishops of Constantinople would neuer acknowledge themselues inferiors to the Bishop of Rome no nor those of Antioch and Alexandria vntil that the Turkes and Saracens hauing ouerthrowne all the rest the Bishop of Rome onely finding in our Kings soft spirits and that they were litle seene and versed in Diuinity drew from them huge liberalities perswading them to whatsoeuer he would euen to subiect their Crownes vnto him and to pill and rifle their Kingdomes and to take vpon him n = b Gregor in Registro l. 4. Epist 32. Epist. 24. Epist 36. Epist 38. li. 6. Ep. 30. Ad Mauricium c. those Titles of which we shall speake anone He that wil see how much the Pope hath exalted himselfe let him compare the foure first Councels where all thinges are passed by common voices with the Councell of Florence in which they gaue power and authority to the Pope to make new articles of faith And with the latter Lateran Councell in which all is referred to the will of Pope Leo the tenth who there is called the diuine Maiestie the corner stone laid in Sion the Lyon of Iuda the King and Prince of all the world whom all the Kinges of the earth ought to adore To such Councels the Pope doth willingly affoord his personall presence because he doth there rule and domineere with absolute authority but in the ancient Councels he refused to bee present because there hee should haue found Bishops as stout and as strong and as ambitious as himselfe Adde hereunto that in the generall Councels they vsed the Church of Rome and her Bishop no otherwise then they did their particular Churches So in the sixe generall Councels re-assembled at the Pallace Pope Honorius is condemned for an Hereticke And the thirteenth Canon doth by name condemne the Church of Rome because it disalowed the marriage of Priests And further in the 55. Canon the Church of Rome is expresly forbidde to fast any more the Satterdy and the Sunday vpon payne of incurring the rigour of the Canon of the Apostles which saith This is the 65. Canon of the Apostles If a Clerke be found fasting on the Satterday or the Sunday one onely excepted let
vnto him in the Conclaue presently after his election for so soone as hee is named Pope by the Cardinals shut vp in the Conclaue he is stript out of his ordinary habites and there are others giuen him amongst other things redde hose and redde shoes hauing a Crosse of golde a redde girdle with buckles of golde a redde bonet and a rochet And thus being armed at all points with his redde cloake and triple Crowne See this Ceremony described in the first booke of the Ceremonies Sect. 1. cap. 6. glittering with Diamonds they lift him vp as a sacred body and set him on the Altar there the Cardinals kisse his hands and feete This is vulgarly called among the Italians Adoratione which is the more to be noted because they set him vpon the Altar which is the place where they place their Masse-god and it is the place appointed for diuine adoration So that this manner of adoration cannot be taken for ciuill adoration By this also it is euident that forasmuch as Kings are more mighty and powerfull then Popes in ciuill causes if this were a ciuil worship then coÌ„sequently they ought the rather to be worshipped But they are so farre from being worshipped as that themselues are enforced to worship the Popes And if a King should call himselfe God it should little auaile him to alleadge places of the old Testament where Princes are called Gods for that would no way serue his turne but that among Christians he would be accounted a blasphemer for now the Pope taketh this Title vpon himself exclusiuely shutting out al other Princes because with him it carrieth a religious sense and that importeth adoration Againe Princes in respect that they are called Gods doe not arrogate to themselues a liberty of being free 〈…〉 reprehension or of being iudged of any man as doth the Pope in the Canon Satis dist 96. the words whereof are these It is euidently shewed that the Pope can neyther be bound nor vnbound by any secular power Satis euidenter ostenditur à seculari potestate nec solui prorsus nec ligari pontificem quem constat à pio principe Constantino quem longè superê memorauimê Deum appellatum cum nec posse Deum ab hominibus iuiudicari manifestum sit because we know he hath beene called God by that religious Prince Constantine before mentioned and God cannot be iudged by man He excludeth Princes from the Title of Gods to reserue it to himselfe and approuing the saying of Constantine that called him God hee inferreth thereupon that the Pope cannot be iudged of any man But let vs note by the way that Constantine said in the Councell of Nice speaking to all the Bishops there present You are Gods but he neuer spake this particularly to the Bishop of Rome In consequence also of this Title the Pope calleth his Decrees and Canons Oracles Oracle signifieth the answer of God Extra de Maioritate obed Titulo 33. cap. Per tuas Rom. 3.2 11.4 With like modesty hee termeth his Decretall Epistles Canonicall Scriptures Dist. 19. in the Canon In Canonicis the inscription whereof is this Inter Canonicas Scripturas Decretales Epistolae connumerantur The Decretall Epistles are numbred among the Canonicall Scriptures Hee boasteth himselfe to haue all power in heauen and vpon earth in the last Councell of Lateran Sess 9. and 10. and attributeth it vnto himselfe in his booke of sacred Ceremonies Sect. 7 Cap. 6. according to which power Innocent the third in his Bull Adliberandam In retributionem iustorum salutis aeternae pollicemur augmentum which is at the end of the second Councell of Lateran giueth vnto Pilgrims that came from beyond the Seas an encrease of glory aboue the rest Among all these I finde none so odious as that Title which he taketh of being the Spouse of the vniuersall Church which belongeth particularly to Iesus Christ as S. Paul sayth 2. Cor. 11. For I haue married you vnto one man to present you as a chaste Virgin vnto Christ Extrauag de immunitate Eccles Tit. 22. Capite Quoniam in 6 And yet this is the quality which the Pope taketh vnto himselfe in more then thirty places in his Decrees and Decretals and in the last Councell of Lateran And to the end you may know his bookes in what sense he is called the Spouse of the Church Bellarmine who wrote at Rome § Ac ne fortè l. 1. de Rom. Pont. c. 9. sayth that the Pope is the Spouse of the Church etiam Christo excluso Christ being excluded And albeit Christ were not excluded yet in matter of marriage we are not accustomed to accept of a Deputy Whosoeuer would here heape vp places in which both the Pope and his flatterers attribute vnto him that he is aboue the law and aboue all right and that he may dispense against the Apostles nay against the Gospell it selfe that likewise he hath power to dispense with oathes made vnto God and a thousand things of the like nature whereby he setteth himselfe aboue God might well of these things compose a great volume and grieue the heart of the godly Reader who is touched with a zeale of Gods house But this shall suffice to shew that Coeffeteau wrongeth the Pope much in saying that he is called God onely in that sense that Princes are that is to say for ciuill considerations for in all that is abouesaid there is no one thing spoken of ciuill respect all is built vpon consideration of Religion I should haue said against Religion And as little grace hath hee in defending the Popes triple crowne when he is driuen to say that the title of Maiesty is very fit to bee giuen to the holy things For certainly S. Peter was farre more holy then the Pope and consequently ought to haue had the greater Maiesty and yet neyther Peter nor any other Prelate many ages after him did euer weare three crownes or adorned their heads with Diamonds This lustre well becommeth worldly Maiesty but not spirituall holinesse which ought to shine in vertues and not in pretious stones and to appeare rather in Martyrdome then in pompe and to edifie mens hearts in stead of dazeling their eyes yet all the Maiesty of Kings was neuer comparable to this worldlinesse neuer did any of them thinke it fit to weare three Crownes The onely name of this Head-tire teacheth vs what to iudge for in Italy it is called It regno The Kingdome and the booke of holy Ceremonies doth ordinarily so call it to shew that the Pope weareth that Crowne as a King and not as a Bishop or Pastor of the Church The marke of the Bishopricke in the Church of Rome is the Pastorall staffe which they call the Crosier But the Pope carrieth none such as Innocent the third teacheth vs in his first booke of the mysteries of the Masse cap. 42. Because saith he S. Peter sent his Crosier to Eucharius Bishop of Treuers
the Bishops of the world We graunt then willingly that the auncient Bishops of Rome before the corruption of Doctrine and vsurpation of the Monarchie in the Church were successors of S. Peter in the Bishoppricke of Rome onely euen as the Bishop of Corinth was successor to S. Paul but withall we adde this that through the corruption of Doctrine which hath by little little crept into the Church of Rome euery age hauing added and contributed thereunto hee is now wholy and iustly falne from that succession For he may not in no wise be called Peters successor who oppugneth the Doctrine preached by S. Peter and who in the Chaire of verity doth establish a lie The Turke may not bee called successor to the Emperour of Greece albeit he be seated in his place seeing that he is rather his subuerter I would haue one shew me that euer S. Peter preached any other purgatory then the bloud of Iesus Christ or any other satisfaction to the iustice of God then his obedience any other sacrifice propitiatory then his death That euer he gaue pardons for an hundred thousand yeares or drew soules out of Purgatory with buls and indulgences that he euer degraded Emperours that he tooke away from the people the reading of the holy Scriptures or the Communion of the Cup or that he commaunded the worshipping of Images and publique Seruice to bee said in an vnknowne tongue or that he euer constrayned other Bishops to take from him letters of Inuestiture and to pay vnto him Annates Or that euer S. Peter was called God on earth the Spouse of the Church and caused himselfe to be worshipped or that euer he sung Masse or commaunded the Host to be adored or that euer he left off preaching the Gospell or quitted the Crosier-staffe to take vnto him a triple Diaderne If I say they can shew me that S. Peter euer did these things then though the Pope were Bishop but of one Village alone I will willingly acknowledge him for S. Peters Successor but still in the Bishopricke only and not in the Apostleship which ended in his person and is not deriued vnto his Successors in particular Churches THus doth the confession of the King of Englands faith remain firme and vnshaken against which Coeffeteau hath armed himselfe with humane testimonies being vtterly destitute of any authority out of the booke of God For as they that are ready to drowne catch hold on any thing so these men in a desperate cause embrace all defences but least of all those that be good Againe whatsoeuer this Doctor alleadgeth out of the Fathers is found to be eyther false or clipt or vtterly counterfeit This payment is not currant especially to such a Prince who hath consecrated his penne to the defence of the truth But this is not to be imputed to Coeffeteaus disability but to the vnlawfulnesse of the cause vnto which we haue in such sort satisfied as whosoeuer shall examine my worke he shall finde an answere to Bellarmines booke also which he hath not long since made against the said booke of the King of great Britaine with more weakenesse and lesse dexterity then Coeffeteau hath done There remayneth the last part of his Maiesties booke wherein with a straine of admirable wit assisted by the spirit of God hee openeth the booke closed with seuen seales and piercing into the secrets of sacred Prophesies he findeth in the seat of Rome the full accomplishment of the Apocalyps When hate and bitternesse shall be extinguished through time Posterity shall admire both the worke and the person and looking backe into ages past for the like patterne shall not be able to finde any thing to be compared with it We will not feare then to enter into these darkenesses vnder so great a guide for it is hard eyther to stumble or to stray where so faire a Torch doth light and shine before vs. But we must here take breath a while before we enter into this taske For the sudden death of our King like a great cracke of Thunder benummeth our handes with astonishment and troubleth our spirits with griefe and anguish Let vs then giue place to necessity and leaue to write that we may haue leisure to lament and let Posterity carefully bethinke it selfe of remedies and hold it for a thing most certaine that hee that setteth light by his owne life is master of another mans and that there is nothing so forcible to make vs to contemne our owne liues as this new doctrine which by the murther of Kings openeth the way to the Kingdome of heauen FINIS Faults necessarily to bee corrected The first number noteth the Page the second the Line The letter R. standeth for Reade L. signifieth the line in the same PAGE PAge 13.25 r. Siloe 14.20 r. Enfant 17.19 r. Armies l. 24. r. these 20.15 r. villanies 42.13 for that r. as l. 19. r. State 49.25 r. things that appeare are more feared c. 56. l. vlt. r retorted 62.2 r. infinity of businesses 71.3 for or r. and. 74.2 r. differents 79.24 r. in the Bookes of the Acts and Charters 81.1 r. See and in the margent paulum annixus 82.1 r. whom l. 3 r. giue it l. 20. r. Ostia 84.25 r. deuolued 90.27 r. Ruota 91.4 r. fifth part or fifth penny 95.14 blot out he l. 25. r. Distinction 97.23 for alleadged r. already 99.18 make it 560.100.26 r. no wayes for now adayes 101.24 for take r. make 102 17. r. aboue 104.24 for Sinnes r. Summes 106.25 r Bellisarius 107.20 r. Conon 108.4 r. debonnaire l. 7. for to r. doe 110.1 for penalty r. priuity 119.12 Consiglio l. 17. r. retchlesse 125.7 for which is r. with l. 11. r. Augustin l. 25. for as r. and. in the margent Ponticus verunnius 127.20 r. different 136.24 blot out kinde in the marg r. communia debere 140.9 r messieurs l. 12. r. of for or 147.15 r. receiued them 158.2 r. or no more 160.25 r. Nattiers 161.1 blot out the. 168.4 r. Doctors l. 17. madonna 27. Letanies 169.22 for Fathers r. saluation 173.11 r. the brecz-flies 174.9 r. discourse l. 19. r. she for he 177. l. the last r. Antonine 178 27. r. places for phrases 180.18 r. as not being 182.18 r. lauour l. 20. r. washed 188.18 r. but saith 193.11 r no prescription 197.27 for toward r. ouer vs. 203.20 r. out of the 217.23 for ouer turnes r. powreth out of l. the last r. therefore 221.1 blot out the. 229.28 r. they saw well that if they should breake 261.3 for tongues r. Fire-tongs 281.11 r. commanded 300.1 r. meditation 301.8 for defectiue r. wanting 305.4 r. another 307.22 blot out that l. 23. r. should 308.1 blot out bad 309.25 r. with l. 28. r. istud 349.14 for if r. though 369.28 r. Suppositions