Ioh. 6.15 My Kingdome is not of this world they should content themselues with the keyes of heauen without taking by force the keyes of Citties they should auoide it as did our Sauiour Ioh. 18.36 if men would make them Temporall Lords and should not take vpon them a ciuill iurisdiction no more then did our Sauiour who when one said vnto him Luk. 12.13 Maister bid my brother diuide the inheritance with mee answered ô man who made mee a iudge or diuider ouer you Neither yet in criminall matters after his example Ioh. 8.10.11 Woman hath none condemned thee shee said none Lord and IESVS said neither do I condemne thee go and sinne no more So our Sauiour reiected the office of a Temporall Magistrate exercising the charge of a true Spirituall Pastor to inuite sinners to repentance yet without approuing vice But if these men will perswade vs that in processe of time to wit after Constantine the Church should change her course of life and leaue the Ministery to take vpon it command I will stay to beleeue it till they produce some Prophesie of this future change and will beleeue touching this pretended authority that which CHRIST saith of the dwelling places in his fathers house Ioh. 14.2 If it were otherwise I would haue told you And passing further I say that if the Church in her most perfect forme hath had no such superiority we ought to keepe this perfection instituted of God and if heathen Princes haue bene ackowledged three hundred yeares for Superiors of the Church which made a part of their state it were to do iniury to Christian Kings to deferre vnto them lesse honour then the Apostles and the Primitiue Church haue deferred to heathen and Infidell Emperours And the fable of the donation of Constantine serueth to no purpose it being acknowledged false by the most learned Iuris-consults antient and moderne as shall be handled in the ninth Chapter hereafter But though we should agree to them concerning the priuiledges that Princes haue giuen to Church-men Esdras chap. 7. yet we must not thereby conclude that Kings haue lost their authority to reforme the Church and to giue lawes vnto it For seeing it is a case royall to make Lawes in a State ◠placet l. de sacros Eccl. Cas r. li◠6 it pertaineth onely to the King to ordaine them and although hee make them not without taking aduise of the expert in euery Art or Science yet for all that it will not be said that they are statutes or ordinances of the Iuris-consults or Diuines which haue bene called thereunto Whence it followeth that the Kings power is not lessened by the comming of our Sauiour who hath limited the charge of the Apostles and of their lawfull successours to the Preaching of the word and administration of the Sacraments as he had appointed Priests vnder the Law for the vnleauened bread perfumigations and sacrifices And indeed the Emperour Iustinian extendeth no farther the Christian Lyturgie and the office of Bishops Nouel 7. c. 11. de Ecclesiast bonis Cuiac tomo 3. pag. 549. Gal. 1.8 in his seuenth Nouel vpō which Doctor Cuias writeth in the same sense Seeing thē that to make Lawes in a State is a case of Soueraignety that neither the King nor an Apostle neither yet an Angell from heauen can adde to or diminish the substance of Gods Lawes but onely the circumstances which respect comelinesse and the execution of them what inconuenience is there that the ordinary authority be interposed in Lawes Ecclesiasticall Seeing also that the Church is within the State made a part of the same and is subiect to the Soueraigne of the whole territorie being in France and England one of the three Estates of the Kingdome whereof the King is head and Superiour as wel of the Clergy as of the Laity Now that it is not lawfull for any whosoeuer hee bee to adde or diminish the substance of the Law or of the Gospell of God here is the prohibition first as touching the Law Deut. 4.2 Yee shall put nothing vnto the word which I command you neither shall yee take ought therefrom that yee may keepe the commandements of the Lord your God c. And in the Prouerbes Pro. 30.6 Adde nothing vnto his words least thou be found a lyar The like is said in the Gospell Though wee Gal. 1.8 or an Angell from heauen preach vnto you otherwise then wee haue preached vnto you let him be accursed And both of the Law and of the Gospell it is ordeined 1. Cor. 4.6 That yee might learne by vs that no man presume aboue that which is written Reu. 22.18.19 For saith Saint Iohn if any man shall adde c. God shall adde vpon him the plagues written in this booke and if hee diminish c. God shall take away his part out of the booke of life Wherefore Emperours haue maintained them in this possession conformable to their title And beginning in the Constitutions colected in the Code of Iustinian the thirteene first titles are all filled with Lawes for to rule the Church in which first of all the Aduersaries of Royall authority shall obserue De Episcopati audientia that there is one title which attributeth simple audience to Bishops and not iurisdiction for to shew that they haue not any portion of Empire it forbiddeth (a) Lib. 1. Tit. 5. them to reiterate Baptisme to paint or graue on earth the (b) Lib. 1. Tit. 7. image of our Sauiour And in the Nouels the Emperour ordaineth of the punishment of Ecclesiasticall persons (c) Nou. 123. ca. 20. euen by the whip Of the creation and consecration of Byshops That Synods (d) Nou. 123. ca. 10. should bee held euery yeare Forbiddeth to celebrate the mysteries in priuate (e) Nou. 58. houses Item ordaineth that Bishops (f) Nou. 137. c. 6. Nou. 146. vt liceat Hebraeis should speake aloud when they celebrate Baptisme and the Eucharist Ordaineth that the holy Bible should be translated into the vulgar tongue that the people might reade therein their saluation L. Constantinopol 24. C. de sacros Eccles his verbis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yea when the Emperour had translated the seate of his Empire to Constantinople although there was then a Byshop of Rome yet he declared that the Church of Constantinople was the Head that is to say the chiefest of all others To this is referred that in Nou. 83. Menna is called Vniuersalis Patriarcha in fauour of whō the Emperours said hee had granted that priuiledge to the Clergy not to bee conuented but before their Bishops that in certaine cases onely Now the cause why the Emperours translated their seate from Rome was because they held but very little in the West parts Gaule and a good part of Germanie were occupied by the Frankes or Frenchmen Spaine by the Sarazines Gothes and Vandales Italy in horrible confusion
homage to none but to God of whom he holdeth his Crowne because all other fealty (m) Cap. cū olim ext de priui leg Bald. l. quoties C. de suis legis presupposeth seruitude contrary to such soueraignety and liberty Wherefore the King holdeth not in any fashion whatsoeuer of the Emperour nor of the Romane Empire which neuer any King of France acknowledged since Pharamond the first King of the Frankes or Frenchmen our Kings hauing all the markes of Soueraigne (n) Pan. ca. tua 2. de decimis ca. quae in Ecclesiarum de constitut Bald. l. exemplo C. de probat 1. de off praes proet Clemens 5. extrauag meruit Empire in their Kingdome Which the Pope himselfe confesseth in his Extrauagant saying that Boniface the eight could doe no preiudice to the King who acknowledgeth not any (o) Cap. per venerabilé Qui fili sint legit Superiour Which must be vnderstood contrary to the interpretation of the glose thus that iuris facti the King hath no Superiour seeing that the text beareth these wordes Hee might doe it (p) L. ex facto de vulgari l. sin c. de militari testam Pen. d. loco as being King and Prince for this word Prince is a name authorised of right by law and not an attribute to a violent vsurper to the aduantage of whom the Canonists will neuer confesse that the Pope authoriseth any such action and way * Facti cōtra ius of custome against right these words then he might is expounded the Prince is grounded in it by law or right And as the good Cittizen preferreth the safety of his country before his owne life and the life of them that bee neerest and dearest to him so they hold that wee must obey the King rather then our naturall Father because hee is the (q) Lucan Pater vrbique maritus Plutar. in institut Traiani Luc. de Penna l. quicunque col 3. Cod. de omni agro lib. 11. nemini lib. 12. de Coss husband and father of the country which is the common mother of the inhabitants Whence it followeth that Cardinall Bellarmine establishing another Temporall power then that of the King ouer his kingdome makes the Pope a Temporall (r) Bellar. l. 1. de Pontif cap. 9. adulterer as also he figureth him a Spirituall fornicator making him the Spouse of the Catholike Church Etiam Christo secluso for the King is alone the Father and Husband of his people and CHRIST is the onely Head of his Church Papa secluso Now from this fundamentall reason antient and naturall commeth this decision that if a Prelate be called by his superiour and by the King at one and the same time hee must rather obey (s) Can. Si Episc 18. dist c. de reb 12. q. 2. c. pastoralis ducto argumento ab ordine literae §. cum a. de off deleg the King then the Prelate The same is said of a Byshop holding a Manour in fee of the King hee oweth vnto him obedience rather (t) Gl. cau reprehensibili 23. q. 8. Inn. Panu cap. cum parati de Appellation then vnto the Pope himselfe as the antient Doctors do teach against the new opinion And because the Law is defined to be an ordinance of the (u) Bal. c. 1. de Constitu c. constitut 2. dist Soueraigne it pertaineth onely to the King to make and to abrogate them throughout his kingdome For who is it (x) L. 1. 2. 3. de officio praes vigil hath most interest to watch for all the members but hee which is the head And although the violence of some Popes hath bene such that they haue (y) C. Tibi Domine dist 63. constrained some Kings yea Emperours to beare the yoake that the prophesie of Saint Iohn in the Reuelation might bee accomplished The Popes neuerthelesse haue neuer vsurped nor yet pretended that authority ouer the King of France witnesse the extrauagant (z) Can. Ego Ludouicus 63. dist Meruit Neither maketh that against it which is in the Cannon Ego Lodouicus and that the custome of Kings is to send to the Pope to promise him a friendship of spirituall filiation For that gratification is by reason of his charge of Pastor which euery other Byshop exerciseth with as great power as hee But as for the Pope hee is bound presently after his election to send the articles of his confession to the King who hath the authority to make them bee examined by the Sorbonnists and bee considered (a) Du Till tit of the liberties of the Gallicane Church ca. satagendum 25. q. 1. vinc Sigau tract de factis princ c. 2. Regal cap. 3. whether they be orthodoxall according to that which was practised by the Popes Pelagius and Boniface the eighth in the raignes of Childericke and Phillip the Faire From this Soueraigne power grounded on right humane diuine and ancient it proceedeth that Kings may of their owne authority without the consent of the Pope (b) Bonif. in Bulla inserta in lib. liliol de qua Io. Feral Guliel Bened ca. Rainutius v. vxorem nu 103. detestamentis impose tribute on Ecclesiasticall persons although the Pope pretend (c) Cap. non minus c. aduersus de immunit Eccl. that the King of France alone hath this right which hee calleth priuiledge But if so bee it were a priuiledge yet hee can neuer reuoke it (d) Bald. 1. vectigalia C. de vectigal it being a thing granted to the common-wealth and not to the person Moreouer this imposition is laid by the king not onely on the Tēporality subiects of their owne nature for the (a) Bald. ca. cum venissent de eo qui mittiuit defense of the cōmon-weale but also on the rest of the reuenue Ecclesiasticall as king Lewis the twelfth leuied the tenth of the fruits of Benefices in the time of Alexander the sixt in the yeare 1498. The like did Francis the first in the yeare 1530. in the time of Clement the seuenth Wherefore the glose of (b) Clem. Si beneficiorum Clement saith that the same is ordinarily practised in France Contrariewise the Pope cannot (c) Decretū de annatis statuit sancta synodus v. exigatur impose nor raise subsidies vpon benefices Therefore the glose of the decree of Annats or first fruits reporteth that king Lewis the twelfth and others haue forbidden such raising of subsidies Item king Charles the fifth caused sentence to bee giuen against Pope Benedict the thirteenth for that matter And the kings Attorney generall obtained the like iudgement Anno 1463. in the raigne of (d) Guag l. 9. c. 3. li. 7. cap. 3. Lewis the 11 who had assembled many Prelates Which was also practised in the raigne of Phillip the faire And although according to the Popes opinion no lay-person can dispose of spiritual things (e) Cap. quae in
(e) Cap. Ecclesia l. 2. q. 2. gl c. Clericum 11. q. 1. as the Lord of the same thence it commeth that the Kings Officers cannot bee anathematized by the curses that the Pope thundreth forth And by sentence of Court it hath bene said that in the generall monition (f) Sentence of Court giuen the 17. of Aprill 1507. reported by Iohn Ferrant in his Treatise of the rights of the Kingdome of France the e Register of Chastelet was not comprised for the matters that he knew in the office of Kings Register Wherefore Charles the fift in the yeare 1369 by letters pattents enioyned all Prelates and Officials that they should not make or pronounce any censure or excommunication comming from Rome into the Citties and places of his Dominions And Charles the seuenth by other letters pattents dated the second of September 1440. commanded the same thing to the Court to the Prouost or Gouernour of Paris and other Iudges By these testimonies it doth cleerely appeare that all royall rights and prerogatiues vsed by the King of France at this present belong and are due vnto Kings by right Diuine and common practised by the Patriarches and by the Kings of Ierusalem and in the Primitiue Church and by Constantine Iustinian Charlemaigne and their successours from time to time to this day Consequently that such prerogatiues be absurdly called priuiledges of the Gallicane Church or priuiledged cases for they are not fauours of Rome but gifts of God it is not an affranchisement but a naturall ingenuity of the Christian Church before their was either Pope or Bishop of Rome And thus much may suffice for that which respecteth the Kings title Now wee must speake of the possession which hath bene controuerted in the third race of our Kings but yet not interrupted but alwaies retained by thē who haue maintained the same in act as they were grounded therein by right CHAP. VI. That the first attempts of Popes against the authority Royall began in the third race of our Kings who haue neuerthelesse maintained themselues in their rights vntill this present HISTORIE teacheth vs that Hugh Capet being chosen and acknowledged King by the States and lawes of the kingdome in the yeare 987. required not any approbation of the Pope but went straight to Reines to be crowned and though in those daies Iohn the twelfth hauing attained the Pope-dome by horrible meanes as Hystories report assailed the king Platina others yet could he winne nothing though the King at this new comming to the Crowne would exasperate nothing against him But the Emperour Henry handled him more roughly for he came to Rome deposed him and created Leo the eighth in his place and hauing assembled a Councell he thereby made vse of the rights due to the Emperour according to the Canons Can. Adrianus c. vota can Agatho c. lectis c. in synodo 63. dist But forasmuch as my drift is principally to speake of the possession of the rights of the King I will passe ouer the confusions that the ambition of Popes and Anti-popes did in those times bring into the rest of Christendome from the yeare 1000 of CHRIST and about the raigne of king Phillip the first when the Empire was dismembred from the Crowne of France Of which disorders one of the principall authors was that Gregory the seuenth whom Cardinall Bellarmine calleth Saint though his name at Baptisme which Popes renounce after their election was Hildebrand which the Germaines say signifieth in their language Fire-brand of hell With like fury were moued the Popes his successours Vrbane the second and Paschal for they couered Germany and Italy with bloud and slaughter and thence proceeded the diuisions in States and Common-wealthes So that there were at Rome the Vrsius against the Colonna's at Florence the Medicis against the Strozzi at Genoa the Elisques against the Spinola's In a word the Guelfes for the Pope and the Gibelins for the Emperour Which diuision spread it selfe all ouer Christendome except in France which maintained it selfe in her liberty and in the obedience of her King As also did the wise and mighty Common-wealth of Venice which now of late hath expulsed the proclamers and procurers of this diuision and leuen of ciuill warres stirred vp or entertained and strengthned by the Popes in Christendome euer since these fiue hundreth yeares O that I feare there is the like designes at this present in hand in the Court of Rome But Christians haue patience Heb. 10.37 Yet a very little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry The Lambe shall ouercome There was then in those times for the space of 33. yeares together a horrible slaughter procured by the popes Innocent the third Honorius Celestine Innocent the fourth and Gregory the ninth against the Emperour Fredericke the second During which Mahomet the open enemie of the Church aduanced himselfe in the East Whom the Emperour going about to repulse the pope tooke occasion to make warre against him in Italy to seize vpon Naples other places of Fredericke who was constrained to returne speedily and to leaue Greece as a prey to the Turke and yet the Pope could not bee appeased without giuing him eleuen thousand markes of Gold With like zeale were moued pope Innocent and others his successours who kept prisoner Zemin Ottoman brother of Baiazet the second for which hee receiued yearely forty thousand Ducats And when King Charles the eighth would haue made vse of the prisoner for to make warre against the enemy of Christians pope Alexander the sixt aduertised the Turke thereof and caused Zemin Ottoman to bee poysoned for which hee had two hundred thousand crownes in recompence which were deliuered him by George of Antia the bearer of the aduise Hereby wee may plainely discerne of what spirit these men are and that we must not beleeue all things that comes from the Popes neither imitate their workes although their flatterers say that Popes haue all sorts of lawes within the casket of their owne breast Platina which is a sentence inuented by one of the most ignorant Popes that euer was namely Paul the second who had bene a Merchants Factor and was so great an enemy of learning and learned men that he declared all them to be Heretickes that should pronounce this word Vniuersity or Academy Is it not for this occasion that the Iesuites hate so much the Vniuersity of Paris Io. Auent li. 3. Annal. With like reason Pope Zacharie caused a certaine Germaine Mathematician named Virgil to bee cited to Rome because he iudged him an Hereticke in that he taught that there were Antipodes that is people that inhabited the earth vnderneath our Hemisphere Wee must not then hold the ordinances of Popes as if they were Articles of faith for so should the Creed be much defectuous and yet the Pope would haue all his decrees bee esteemed Articles of faith Can. nulla gl v. dist 19. and
before Rome the walles of the Citty fell downe Then hauing entred the Citty and brought forth his Cannon out of Saint Markes for to plant it against the Castell the breach was made without shooting against it but for all that Sananorola was not beleeued because saith the Historie part of the Coūcel were corrupted with money for that the Cardinall of Saint Malo gouerned the Kings treasurie These delaies called to the Crowne King Lewis the twelfth who sent the Cardinall of Amboyse to Trent to the Emperour Maximilian and to Ferdinand King of Arragon to consult about the reformation of the Church not in the members onely but also in the head Which caused Pope Iulius who had a contrary intention to solicite the King of England to diuert Ferdinand from this purpose by giuing him the inuestiture of the Kingdome of Naples and besides to allie himselfe with the Switzers by meanes of a thousand Florins giuen to each Canton The King notwithstanding lost not courage but assembled the Prelates of his owne Kingdome in the Citty of Tours about an hundred yeares agoe in September last See Du Till in the end of his Chronicle and in the same were giuen Catholicke dicisions against the Pope which stands for Law against such as would at this day perswade Frenchmen that they must not succour their confederates nor make warre otherwise then it pleaseth Rome The King did more with the Emperor for he published a Councel at Pisa which the Pope that hee might auert the same assigned at Saint Iohns of Latran In those times was inuaded the Kingdome of Nauarre by Ferdinand of Arragon against King Iohn de Albret whom the Pope had excommunicated in hatred of the succours hee gaue to the King And at that time Ignatius Loyola a Spaniard being hurt and maimed within Pampelune which the King besieged deuised to erect a society of Iesuites that should vphold from thence-forth both the vsurpations of his Maister and the title vpon which they are grounded to wit the power of the Pope which they extoll aboue the goods life and honour of Kings and for this effect they haue a vow which no other religious men take It is a blind vow which maketh them moue subiects against their Princes Now the Popes continuing their proceedings in the raigne of Francis the Great the King had for enemies the Emperour the King of England the Duke of Milan and others notwithstanding hee letted not to say boldly That if hee were constrained to goe into Italy to get his absolution hee would go so well accompanied that they should send to meete him Since the Popes making vse of religion for to trouble the States of Christendome to hinder from any more speaking of reforming the Head as the Emperour Maximilian King Lewis the twelfth had determined to doe France being very much weakened Pope Sixtus the fifth made a league excommunicated the deceased king then King of Nauarre and my Lord the Prince of Conde who the sixt of Nouember 1585. fixed vp their oppositions with an appeale as in case of abuse and gaue the lie to Sixtus the fifth calling himselfe Pope in that hee termed the King and the Prince Heretickes Which proceedings Gregory the foureteenth continued against King Henry the third and all his seruants whom hee excommunicated by his Nuncio Landriano sent into the Capitall Citty of the Kingdome Here was the time that Frenchmen should haue feared if this scar-crow had bene to bee feared by the seruants of their King The capitall Citties were reuolted such as remained still vnder the name of the King were in many places retained in their duty by force there were few souldiers and no money But an excellent counsell a graue Senate of faithfull seruants to the King The sentences of Tours and of Chaalōs one expers terroris Achilles it is therefore said by sentence of Court that this Bull shall be burnt in the publicke place by the hands of the common executioner decreed against Landriano Nuncio Inhibitions are made that no man shall cary money to Rome or prouide any for the dispatch of Benefices Gregory the foureteenth entituling himselfe Pope declared enemy of the peace of the Catholike vnion of the King and of the State and adherent to the conspiracy of Spaine the fautor of rebels guilty of the most destable parricide committed in the person of King Henry the third Since that King Henry the Great hauing maintained with his authority the liberty of the Gallican Church the fautors of the Popes power contrary to the ordinance of God ceased not till they had murthered him as they had before done his predecessor And immediately after haue published their manifestation touching the pretended Temporall power of the Pope vnder the name of Cardinall Bellarmine Iesuite Which Treatise the Court of Parliament at Paris hauing seene gaue their solemne sentence the most Soueraigne Courts of the great or gilt chamber of the Tournelle and of the Chamber of the Edict or mixt Court being assembled which containeth these words The Court doth prohibite and forbid all persons of what quality or condition soeuer they bee Sentence of Parliament of Paris on the 26. of Nouember 1610. vpon paine of being held guilty of high Treason that they shall not receiue keep communicate Imprint cause to bee Imprinted or expose to sale the said booke containing a false and detestable Proposition tending to the euersion of Soueraigne powers ordained and established of God to the raising of the subiects against their Princes withdrawing of their obedience inducing to attempt against their persons and States and to trouble the rest and quiet of the Common wealth Enioyneth c. Behold how and by what meanes the State-royall hath bene maintained against the proceedings of Popes But if there bee at this day any that would bring into France new matters more pleasing to the aduersaries that is to say to the Iesuites those new counsellours are bound to produce like proofes for their opinions as wee haue done for ours taken out of Historie But it shall be to purpose in a matter of such importance that they present themselues in publicke the halter about their neckes after the manner as in old time the new Law-giuers did that they may presently be cut short in case they perswade not their auditors This course wil assure the Kingdome and deliuer your Maiesty from many importunities CHAP. VII What is the power of Ecclesiasticall persons And that the Pope is not grounded in the pretentions of Cardinall Bellarmine neither on Diuine nor humane law or right AS they that incroach vpon the rights of Kings imitate that Emperour who said if the Law bee to bee broken it must be done for a Kingdome so we haue obserued that another head of the same Common-wealth lead an army into Affrica for to with-draw the enemy out of Italy According to which stratageme wee will passe ouer the Alpes descend vpon the place and examine the power
faulty for hauing obtained of God a royall command in matters of pollicy with what authority will this Cardinall Iesuite maintaine the mixt power which he bringeth into the Church without any commandement or ratification from God Now not onely the Orthodoxall people but also Pagans haue had this instinct of Nature thus farre Cappadoces Iust lib. 38. that being left to their choice by the Romans who had vanquished them they instantly requested them to giue them a King protesting that they were not otherwise able to maintaine themselues and esteeming true that which Herodian saith Herod 4. that as Iupiter hath command ouer all the Gods so in imitation of him it is his pleasure that the Empire of men should be Monarchicall From this sence common to all men it commeth that the warlike Nation of Macedonia hauing bene foyled in warre Iust 7. before they returned againe to the battell went to fetch the cradle wherein their yong King lay and set him in the midst of the Campe supposing that their former mis-fortune proceeded from this that they had not with thē the good augure of the Kings presence And although ambition carry men thus far either to cōmand or not to obey any but men of quality and merite yet we reade that the Sicilians did beare so great a respect to the last will of their deceased King Iust 4. that they disdained not to obey a slaue whom King Anaxillaus had appointed Regent during his sonnes minority And Xerxes flying from Greece in a vessel so full of men of warre that it was impossible for him to saue himselfe without casting away some part of them said vnto them O yee men of Persia Herod 8. let some among you testifie that hee hath care of his King for my safety is in your disposition And then the Nobility which accompanied him hauing adored him cast themselues into the sea till the vessell was vnburthened The third order of reasons is taken from Gods institution practised in Adam Noah Nimrod Moses Ioshuah yea in expresse tearmes for Saul speaking thus to Samuel 1. Sam. 8.22 Ratificatio retrotrahitur mandato aequiparatur Hearken vnto their voyce and make them a King And if with men ratification be equall to a commandement by much stronger reason with God who is not induced to change his purpose by any perswasion nor forced to doe that which displeaseth him by any violence Now that his will was to establish a King appeareth not onely by his decree and counsaile as then hidden and since reuealed but by his will manifested long time afore in these words Deu. 17.14 When thou shalt come to the land which the Lord thy God giueth thee and shalt possesse it and dwell therein if thou say marke that hee forbiddeth them not to say it I will set a King ouer me like as all the Nations that are about me then thou shalt make him King ouer thee whom the Lord thy God shall chose Note these words against the new heresie of our Iesuite who in his third booke Recognitionum quaest de Laicis vpon this false ground that Kings haue not their authority immediately from God but from the people maintaineth that they are Kings no further then it pleaseth the subiects For by this Text it appeareth that God chose Saul 1. Sam. 10.20.24 Also it is written That after Samuel had gathered together all the Tribes to wit for to cast lots that the Tribe of Beniamin was taken and it followeth after Not any among all the people is like vnto him whom the Lord hath chosen And if the Lot gouerned by God alone be not an immediate vocation from God these Doctors with their blasphemy may as well reiect Mathias from the Apostle-ship and make him an Apostle of men as the King of great Brittaine hath iudicially and to purpose obserued out of whose writings I haue borrowed many arguments inserted in this Treatise Seeing then that this high charge is giuen of God where is the man so presumptuously rash that dares blame this order and will depose him whom God hath established It is therefore God which createth degradeth Kings Dan. 4.22 5.18.21 Prou. 21.1 Deut. 2. and none other which holdeth their hearts in his hand for to bow them as hee did the heart of Darius and of Nebuchadnesar or hardeneth them as hee did Pharoahs and the Kings of Syon For it is written Exod. 6.7.8 Wised 6.3 Power is giuen you of the Lord and Principality by the most high And IESVS said to Pilate Ioh. 19.11 Thou couldst haue no power at all against mee except it were giuen thee from aboue Pro. 8.15 Also in the Prouerbs it is said By mee Kings raigne and Princes decree iustice The obedience therefore which is due vnto them is grounded on this Law written with the finger of God Exod. 20.12 Honour thy father and thy mother For the name Father is attributed vnto them not onely because they containe particular persons in their duty but also for the body Ecclesiasticall for they are called Esa 49. Nursing fathers of Gods Church for to containe it within the discipline of the Law are not thēselues children of the same to be vnder the rod and chastised by priuation from their kingdomes Yea rather the Apostle saith to the Romanes Let euery soule bee subiect vnto the higher powers Rom. 13.1.5 for there is no power but of God And hee addeth wherefore yee must be subiect not because of wrath onely that is to say for punishment but also for conscience sake Whence it followeth that the authority of the Prince is of Diuine right seeing it bindeth the soule and conscience which hath onely God for superiour Law-giuer And for to take away all ambiguity from equiuocating Doctors who distribute of powers temporall and spiritual ouer some subiects the Apostle expoūdeth what these powers ordained of God are 1. Pet. 2.13.14 Whether it be to the King as vnto the Superiour he excepteth no persō or vnto Gouernors as vnto thē which are sent of him Therefore vnder the name of powers are cōprehended the kinds of lawfull gouernment namely Monarchicall Democraticall and Aristocraticall And to manifest it more clearely the Apostle designeth these powers saying that the Prince beareth not the sword for nought Rom. 13.3.4 It is then the power of Princes which beare the sword whereof hee speaketh and not of them which beare the Crosier staffe for they are subiect to the temporall Magistrate as it is written 1. Pet. 2.17 Feare God and honour the King comprehending in two words the doctrine of the first and second Table as the Wise-man also doth in his Prouerbes My sonne Pro. 24.21 feare God and the King and meddle not with them that are seditious or according to the naturall translation with men which innouate or transforme themselues Now the reason of this prohibition is that they which are desirous
who established the Priests in their charge yea Salomon deposed the Priest Abiathar And Nehemias restored the seruice of God caused the Law to be read and enterpreted making the people to vnderstand it by reading And if the Spirit of God taught Nehemiah this forme of enterpreting the Law by the holy Scripture which conteined then but the bookes of Moses and a few others of the old Testament how dare men taxe the Scripture of obscurity now that it is illustrate with the Commentaries of the Gospell of the Sonne of God and with the gloses of the Apostles Euangelists Certaine it is that this forme of enterpreting the Scripture by it selfe wil not be reiected vnlesse it be of such as the Apostle speaketh of 2. Cor. 4.3 If our Gospell be hid it is hid to them that perish in whom the God of this world hath blinded the mindes Now all those Princes were not Priests and therefore did nothing but in the quality of Kings exercising the charges depending of the Crowne True it is that sometimes one and the same man was both King and Priest as Melchizedec but it was in asmuch as he figured the onely King Priest and eternall Prophet of his Church to wit our Sauiour And if Cardinall Bellarmine will at this day bring in a mixt power into the Church either hee will make vs still in expectation of the Messias by such figures or will manifest vnto vs vnder the Gospell that which Pope Nycholas speaketh of in these termes Nichol. Epist 8. Before the comming of CHRIST some haue bene typically Priests and Kings as Melchizedec which the Deuill would imitate in his members Out of which words may be gathered that if there bee found since the publication of the Gospell any person exercising both the functions that hee is a member of the Diuell according to the opinion of Pope Nicholas who fauoureth not in that the Bishops that be Lords Temporall and Spirituall And as Kings fully discharging their office were blessed of God so they tooke not vpon them any thing pertaining to the office of the Priests and Leuites neither intermedled they with making vnleauened cakes sacrificing of Calues or sprinkling of the bloud vpon the Altar for in this case it was permitted the Priests to reproue and God did punish them for it So Azariah the chiefe Priest said to Vzziah 2. Chron. 26.18 It pertaineth not to thee to burne incense vnto the Lord but to the Priests the sons of Aaron that are consecrated for to offer incense And not onely the chiefe Priest but the least hauing charge in the Church may admonish in conscience in godly manner all Kings Emperours after the example of Nathan and Saint Ambrose Bishop of Milan who shut the Temple against the Emperour Theodosius For it is not a case reserued to the Bishop of the first sea to put Kings in minde of their conscience to make knowne vnto them their sinnes it is the Law of God that speaketh and not man whose person or degree is not considerable but his Diuine commission After this manner vnder the Law yea from Adam vntill our Sauiours comming in the flesh Kings haue behaued themselues with the Priests Christ was borne in the yeare of the world 3963. and all the Church for the space of foure thousand yeares CHAP. IIII. That since the comming of our Lord IESVS in the flesh the authority of Kings ouer Ecclesiasticall persons is not diminished THERE is nothing truer then this Proposition of our Sauiour Mat. 5.17 I am not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it Also Ioh. 18.13 My Kingdome is not of this world Whence it followeth that the Iustice which is Patrimoniall to all Princes is not taken away from them ouer one part of their Subiects That IESVS hath not established any other power aboue their Estate for to dispense their seruants of their allegeance due vnto them that hee hath not taken away from them the command that they had in time of the Law ouer the Church to reforme it ouer the Doctors of the Church to assemble them and ouer the chiefe Priest to depose And therefore Saint Paul saith that Kings are established as well to maintaine piety and religion as honesty and pollicy 1. Tim. 2. To the end saith hee that wee may lead a peaceable and quiet life in all godlinesse and honesty For why should the yoake of the Gospell which CHRIST calleth light to all that will vndergoe it bee heauy on the necke of Kings to whom God giueth titles and prerogatiues aboue all other men calling them the CHRISTS Ier. 4.20 or annointed of the Lord And as our Sauiour is called the light of the Gentiles 2. Sam. 21. 1. King 14. 1. Sam. 13 1◠〈…〉 in the song of Simeon so also is the King called the Lampe of Israel and Moses and Dauid Men of God And in the Psalme speaking of this authority I haue said ye are Gods all children of the most High Whence come then those heresies that already take roote in all the society of new Doctors That Kings are rather slaues their Lords that Popes haue degraded many Emperours Bel. de Pont. lib. 1. c. 5. lib. 3. c. 16. lib. 5. c. 8. Emanuel Sa Iesuite in his Aphorismes Printed at Antwerp v. Princeps v. Clericis but neuer any Emperour deposed one Pope That Bishops may depose Kings and abrogate their Lawes That Ecclesiasticall persons dwelling in a Kingdome are not the Princes subiects and cannot bee iudged by them though they iudge Princes Now who is it that seeth not the iugling deceit of the Iesuites throughout the Chapters of this Treatise neither can the Cardinall bring any reason to the contrary and although wee agree in this that Kings are ordained of God for the people yet wee must discouer the fallacy of these Doctors equiuocating in the word for which is applyable both waies to serue and to command So wee agree that Kings are for the people but it is as the soule is created for the body and the head for the members to wit in a superiour degree to command and not to set the feete aboue the head Thirdly if this Doctor will not attribute to himselfe more authority then CHRIST and the Apostles haue done who in this world subiected themselues to it hee will not hold Kings in the ranke of slaues And if it had bene needfull to abase them in this estate the Lord IESVS had power enough to make the proudest stoope But if neither hee nor his Apostles haue enterprised any such thing then when the Church was in her purity it followeth that the perfection of the State Ecclesiasticall dependeth not on the superiority of Magistrates Soueraigne or subalternall And seeing the Apostle commandeth his successours to bee imitators of him 1. Cor. 11 1. Phil. 3.17 as he is of CHRIST they should say one to another as Christ did of himselfe
by the vsurpation of the Gothes and Vandales Rome hauing bene in a short time thrice sacked the yeare 414. vnder Honorius by Alaricke in the yeare 459. vnder Martian by Gensericke King of the Vandales and lastly by Totilla King of the Gothes in the time of Iustinian who expelled thē in the yeare 552. But the King of Lombardes dispossessed him and held Italy two hundred yeares after till he was expulsed by Charles the Great During which hurliburlies there remained to the Emperour the Exarchate of Rauenna of which place the Bishop in the yeare 558. would haue attributed to himselfe the name of Vniuersall Byshop because hee alone in Italy acknowledged the Emperour On the contray the Bishop of Constantinople pretended this authority because of the seate of the Empire Which ambition Gregory the great Bishop of Rome a learned and good man blamed in many of his writings saying Greg. 16. Epistol Indict 15. Epist 194. 288. c. That he should be the Anti-christ which would seeme God ouer all men but that hee was his fore-runner which exalted himselfe aboue Priests Whence it followeth that the first degree of Anti-christian ambition was to exalt himselfe aboue his fellow-officers in the Church and that the accomplishment of this mysterie is to exalt himselfe aboue all that is called God 2. Thes 2. or which is adored Notwithstanding Boniface the third successour of Gregory was not of this opinion but receiued the title of Vniuersall Byshop by meanes of Phocas who hauing slaine the Emperour Mauritius and his family vsurped the Empire and made himselfe Lord of Constantinople CHAP. V. The Christian Kings are grounded in title and possession of the rights and authority aboue declared PHARAMOND the first King of French-men beganne to raigne in the yeare foure hundred and seuenteene Three of his successours were Pagans Du Haillan in the end of the raigne of Clouis Clouis was the first Christian he came to the Crowne in the yeare 484 and continued in possession of the Royall authority before spoken of For he assembled a counsell at Orleans in which were many Prelates namely 32. Bishops and caused two Monkes guilty of high Treasō to be executed In the same manner continued his Successours vntill Boniface the third which may bee said to haue bene the first Pope For as touching the name it was before common to other Prelates as Saint Hierome in many of his Epistles calleth Saint Augustine Hier. Epist ad August to 2. and Alipius by the name of Popes as the name of Priests and Bishops were taken in the same signification for said Saint Hierome Hier. Euagrio Vbique fuerit Episcopus siue Romae c. siue Regij eusdem est meriti sacerdotij c. What is the Byshop more then the Priest except the ordination c. Euery Byshop whether hee bee of Rome or of Alexandria hath like merite and the same Priest-hood richesse nor pouerty doe neither exalt nor debase the Byshop c. Notwithstanding after sixe hundred yeares the said Boniface the third then Byshop of Rome together with the name tooke vpon him the effect And as Adam gaue the name according to the nature of the thing and as in truth it was Boniface the third and his successors challenged to themselues the things after the abuse of the name Whence it is obserued by Historians Beda Sigibert c. Durand 4. rational Ado. Onufrius that he was the first that vsed in his Decretals these termes We will we ordaine wee command and enioyne Now that which hath very much aduanced such vsurpations hath bene the confusions of the warres of Italy and the negligence of our last Kings of the first race out of which King Pepin taking occasion to assume the Crowne and to trans-ferre it into his family made himselfe bee crowned by the Pope in the yeare seuen hundred fifty and fiue to the end hee might make vse of the credite that from those times the Pope had in the Christian Churches and that hee might the more oblige him to maintaine his cause he gaue to the Pope the Exarchate of Rauenna and that which hee holdeth in Romania And by this meanes these two Lords obliged themselues each to other without disbursing penny for the least Byshop in France could haue crowned Pepin as valuably as Pope Zacharie and the Exarchate pertained not to the King but to the Emperour Paul Emil. du Tillet others to mittigate whose indignation the King made that donation in the name of Constantine who was dead more then three hundred yeares before Which I report for to shew that the greatnesse of Popes proceedeth from the liberality of our Kings and that they should bee very ingratefull if they did not acknowledge it toward them Moreouer Pepin changed the ceremonies obserued in the Gallicane Church and brought in the Romane ceremonies by the mediation of Renny Arch-bishop of Reines About the same time arose the controuersie about Images which the Greek Churches would not receiue into their Temples Epiphanius Byshop of Salamina tare in peeces a picture set vp in the Temple and Serenus Byshop of Marseille beate downe an image The Emperour Phillipicus surnamed Bardanes maintained himselfe in the right of Kings and in the yeare 713. made a decree concerning Images which dured till Constantine the second who confirmed it in the yeare 782. whereat his mother Irena being prouoked as superstition easily inciteth weake mindes shee assembled a Councell at Constantinople during the Emperours minority for to establish her Images but the people opposed themselues thereunto and chased away the Prelates which afterwards were assembled againe by this woman at Nice but when shee could not install her Images shee put out the eyes of the Emperour her sonne and sent him into exile in which hee died Meane time in the yeare 776. King Charles the Great passed into Italy subdued Didier King of the Lumbardes tooke him prisoner and brought him to Lyons and soone after being requested by Pope Leo to deliuer him from the hand of Campul and Syluester his enemies hee went thither and by the same meanes made himselfe bee crowned Emperour and confirmed to the Pope the donation of King Pepin his father and from that time forth by trans-action betweene the King and the Emperour the Empire was diuided and the westerne part remained to Charlemaigne who approued not the decisions of the Greekish Synode but wrote a booke entituled a Treatise of Charlemaigne against the Greekish Synode touching images which booke is extant to this day But that which serueth to our purpose is that the King by this meanes maintained himselfe in possession to make Lawes for the Church of which there are many in a booke called the Capitularie decrees of Charles the Great And as Pepin his predecessor had done in the Cittie of Bourges so did hee also assemble many Councels in diuers places of his kingdome as at Mayence at Tours at Reines at Chaalons