Pope ouer his own family then why the Pope of Rome should bee a father of all christian congregations an absolute Iudge of Scripture or master ouer mens faith Saint Paul commands children to obey their fathers in all things for that is well pleasing vnto the Lord which is as much as if he had said in obeying them you obey the Lord. Again he commands seruants to bee obedient vnto them that are their masters according to the flesh in all things not with eye-seruice as men pleasers but with singlenesse of heart fearing God Both these precepts are conceiued in tearms as generall as any precept for obedience to spirituall gouernours In the precept concerning wiues obedience to their husbands the note of vniuersality is omitted for he saith wiues submit your selues vnto your husbands as it is comely in the Lord not in all things had the Apostle made any mention of obedience vnto spirituall gouernours or were there any hope to comprehend Pastors vnder the name of fathers or masters it would quickely bee inferred the note of vniuersality was purposely added by our Apostle in these latter precepts that men might know absolute obedience without limitation or examination was due vnto the Pope 17 But the holy men of God whose mouthes alwayes spake out of the abundance of their hearts as the spirit gaue them vtterance and were not curious to cast their words in such exact scholastique mouldes as men addicted to artificiall meditations hauing their braines more exercised then their hearts in Gods word vsually doe euen where they seeme to speake most vniuersally for the former are to bee vniuersally vnderstood onely in that subiect or matter which for the present they mind most As when our Apostle commands seruants and children to obey the one their masters the other their parents in all thinges the meaning is as if hee had said yee that are christian seruants be ye most willing to yeeld all obedience that is due vnto masters yee that are Christian children to yeeld all obedience vnto your parents which is conuenient for any children to yeelde to theirs So that the vniuersall note doth rather inioine a totality of heartinesse and cheerefulnesse a perfection of sincerity in performing that obedience which other children ought to their fathers or seruants to their masters then any way extend the obiect of christian childrens or seruants obedience to more particulars then others were bound vnto at the least hee doth not extend the obiect of their obedience to any particulars which might preiudice the sincerity of their obedience due vnto other commanders whilest hee enioyneth seruants to obey their masters in all things he reserues their allegiance intire vnto Princes and higher powers Such must bee obeyed both by masters and seruants by fathers and sonnes Much more doth God when hee inioynes obedience in most ample forme vnto Kings or spirituall gouernors reserue obedience due to himselfe most intire and absolute 18 Yet intire and absolute it cannot be vnlesse it depend immediatly absolutely vpon his lawes vnlesse it be exempt from the vncontrolleable disposall or infallible direction of other authorities Nor can Christ be said our supreme Lord vnlesse our obedience to him and those lawes which hee hath left vs doe limit and restrain all other obedience due vnto any authority deriued from him or his lawes more then a Prince could bee said to bee that seruants supreame Lord or Soueraigne which were bound absolutely to obey his Master in all points without examination whether his designements were not contrary to the publike lawes and statutes of his Prince and Country Wherfore as the oath of Allegeance vnto Princes doth restraine the former precepts Seruants obey your Masters in all things that is in all things that are not repugnant to publike lawes nor preiudiciall to the Crowne and dignity of your Soueraigne so must that solemne vow of fidelity made vnto Christ in Baptisme and our dayly acknowledgement of him for our Soueraigne Lord restraine all precepts in ioyning performance of obedience to any power on earth and set these immoueable bounds and limits to them Obey thy King and Gouernour in all things that is in all things that are not repugnant to the lawes and ordinances of the Great King thy supreame Lord and Gouernour Whilest thou obeyest him thou doest well in disobeying them as well as that seruant that takes Armes against his Master in the Kings defence whilest thou disobeyest him all other obedience is rebellion Yee are bought with a price saith our Apostle bee not yee the seruants of men Seruice according to the flesh hee elsewhere approues he strictly inioynes for that is freedome in respect of this seruitude of minde and conscience in being wholly at any other mans disposition 19 Nor is it more difficult for Christs seruants to discern when gouernours sollicite them to disloyalty against him then for seruants according to the flesh to know when their masters seduce them vnto rebellion so Christian men would feare God as much as naturall men doe earthly Princes Such as feare God are sure of a better expositor of his lawes for fundamental points then seruants can haue for their Princes The transgression of both are easie to discern in the beginning of reuolts or apostasies but the latter more difficult when traitors or vsurpers are grown strong and can pretend faire titles vnto soueraigneties or coine false pedegrees yet is it not impossible for sober and obseruant spirits in such a case to foresee what party to follow vnto such the signes of the time and carriage of the seuerall causes will bewray who haue the true title But this difficulty is none in our spirituall obedience challenged by the Church of Rome for that Church in words confesseth Christ to be the true King and supreame Lord no vsurper which is as much as to say the Pope is an vsurper and a rebell that dares in deeds and substance chalenge the soueraignety from him as you heard in the former dispute by making claime to this vnlimited vnreserued obedience Vpon what grounds especially wee are now to examine by these rules hitherto discussed CHAP. II. The authority of the Sanhedrim not so vniuersall or absolute amongst the Iewes as the Papists make it but was to bee limited by the former Rules 1 ONe especiall place on which they stand is from that Law in Deuteronomy If there arise a matter too hard for thee in iudgement betweene bloud bloud betweene plea and plea betweene plague and plague in the matters of controuersie within thy gates then shalt thou arise and goe vp vnto the place which the Lord thy God shall chuse And thou shalt come vnto the Priestes of the Leuites and to the Iudge that shall be in those daies and aske and they shall shew thee the sentence of iudgement and thou shalt do according to that thing which they of that place which the Lord hath chosen shew thee and thou shalt obserue
elsewhere vpon carelesnesse rather then any intention of harme as I am perswaded by the Latine sacramentum Whether vpon set purpose of some more learned in that Councell presuming to gull the simple and illitterate by their cunning as Chemnitius probably thinkes or whether the mysterie of iniquitie as is more probable wrought vnawares in the braines of the ignorant which were the maior part and as some haue related did ouersway the learned vncapable of such impudency as should giue countenance to this ignominious decree partly from the equiuocation of the Latine dispensatores partly from the synominall signification which the vulgar hath made of mysterium and sacramentum the beetle-heads haue hammered out an interpretation of Saint Pauls words before cited so scurrilously contrarie to his meaning that the blacke Dogge which is said to haue appeared vnto Cardinall Crescentius might hee haue spoken in the Councell could scarce haue vttered it without blushing For the Apostle meant such dispensatores or Stewards as our Sauiour speakes of in the foure and twentieth of Saint Matthew such as should giue their fellow seruants their inst portions without purloyning such as daily expected their Masters returne to cal them vnto a strict account of their stewardship For so it is expressely added Moreouer or as much as belongs vnto our office it is required of Stewards that they be all sound faithfull Not to dispute of the Churches authoritie in disposing of Sacraments nor to exagitate the impietie of this decree be the one for the present supposed as great the other as little as they list to make it onely this I would demaund of any that is so himselfe whether he can imagine any men sober or in their right mindes would not assoone haue vrged that text The foole hath said in his heart there is no God for establishing Atheisme or Saint Peters checke vnto Simon Magus to prooue Simonie lawfull as deriue the Churches authoritie for detayning the least part of the word of life much lesse the cup of saluation from these wordes Let a man so thinke of vs as of the Ministers of Christ and disposers of the secrets of God What secrets of the Gospell before hid but now to be published to all the World of which the same Apostle elsewhere had said Anccessitie is laid vpon me and wee vnto mee if I preach it not Of the vse or necessitie of the Lords cup not a word in this place not a syllable for the Lord had sent him not to administer this Sacrament but to preach the Gospell of which the Doctrine of the Lords Supper was a part indeed but where expressely and directly he deliuers that doth hee intimate by any circumstance that either it had beene was or might bee otherwise administred then according to the patterne prescribed by our Sauiour at the first institution Rather his often repetition of these coniunctiues This bread and this cuppe eating and drinking the bodie and bloud c. Argue he neuer thought the one should be receiued without the other that this prohibition of the cup was a particular branch of the Mysterie of iniquitie not to breake out till latter ages hid from his eyes that had seene the Mysterie it selfe begin to worke As often as yee shall eat this bread saith the Apostle and drinke this cup yee shew the Lords death till hee come Wherefore whosoeuer shall eate this bread and drinke the cuppe of the Lord vnworthily shall bee guiltie of the bodie and bloud of the Lord. Let a man therefore examine himselfe and so let him eate of this bread and drinke of this cup. For he that eateth and drinketh vnworthily eateth and drinketh his owne damnation because hee discerneth not the Lords bodie Yet vnto the Trent Councell Saint Paul in the former place where hee had no such occasion as not speaking one word either of the Doctrine necessitie or vse of the Sacraments seemes to intimate and that not obscurely the Churches authoritie in dispensing them as the Trent Fathers haue done What then might euery Minister of Christ euerie distributer of Gods secrets haue vsed the like authoritie before the Church representatiue did at least by tacite consent approue the practise This place doubtlesse proues either altogether nothing or thus much for the Apostles wordes are indefinite for their litterall sence equally appliable to euerie faithfull Minister or priuate dispenser of such secrets not appropriate to the intire publique bodie Ecclesiastique or the capitall or Cardinall partes thereof Of the Corinthians to whom he wrote one said I am Pauls another I am Apollos the third I am of Cephas all boasting in the personal excellencies of their first Parents in Christ as the Papists now doe in Saint Peters and his successours Catholique Primacie To asswage these carnall humours in his children their Father that great Doctour of the Gentiles seekes more in this then in any other place of all his Epistles to debase himselfe and diminish others high esteeme either of his owne worth or of his calling Who is Paul then and who is Apollos but the Ministers by whom ye beleeued and as the Lord gaue to euerie man I haue planted Apollos watered but God gaue the increase So then neither is he that planteth any thing neither hee that watereth but God that giueth the encrease And he that planteth and hee that watereth are one and euery man shall receiue his wages according to his labour For wee together are Gods labourers ye are Gods husbandrie and Gods building And after a serious incitement of master builders to fidelitie with the like admonition to Gods husbandrie or building not to reioyce in men he concludes as he had begun Let euery man esteeme vs such as I haue said Ministers of Christ and disposers of the mysteries of God Of whom were they so to esteeme Of Saint Paul himselfe and euery faithfull Minister Doth he then intimate here any such prerogatiue aboue the meanest of his brethren as the Romish Cleargie vsurpes ouer the whole Christian World any authoritie to prohibit either the dispensors of Gods mysteries from administring or men so carnally minded as were these to whom he wrote from communicating Christs bloud aswell as his bodie So the Trent Fathers thinke and as if for their wilfull deniall of the Lords cup vnto the people the Lord had giuen them the cup of giddinesse to cast them into a Babilonish slumber whilest they consulted about this decree and their Scribes through retchlessenesse had written what their rauing Masters in their sickly or drunken dreames had vttered wee finde in the same Decree another place of Saint Paul immediately annexed though as disproportionable to the former as it is placed in their discourse as a mans head to an horses necke both as vnsutable to their intended conclusion as a super addition of finnes or feathers would be to such a monstrous Hippocentaurique combination The place is Saint Pauls conclusion of that discourse
which the authority of the Pope cannot with probability be deriued 1. IS it then probable our Sauiors praiers for Saint Peter did collate any authority vpon him either oecumenicall for extent or souereigne for others dependence on it or absolutely and perpetually infallible for time without integritie of life or other condition besides such cathedrall consultation as is required in the Pope to support it Rather the proper effect they aymed at was an extraordinary assistance in the practise of such points as already had been or afterwards should be reuealed vnto him Our Sauiour while he vttered them did cleerely foresee all his followers should be sifted by Sathan he that professed greatest loue and resolution more then all the rest in such fearefull sort that without this promised supportance his faith had vtterly fayled which though afterwards it proued much stronger by this shaking yet whether stronger then was any of his fellowes is vncertaine most vnfit to be disputed Howsoeuer no circumstance in that place prognosticates or aboods such extraordinary future strength rather all suppose for the present a peculiar necessity of his Masters prayers for him as foreseeing his tripping to vse the mildest censure would be so dangerous as the memoriall of his recouery might be a perpetuall incouragement to all back sliders against distrust of Gods mercies No man so sit to raise vp such as are fallen or wallow in the filth of sinne as he that hath firmely apprehended grace from aboue or rather is so apprehended by it and yet can withall out of a sincere and humble acknowledgement of his relapses stoop lower then others in spirituall graces his inferiors and as it were let himselfe into the pit of despaire wherein sinners lie linking their present frailty in his owne forepassed infirmities It much disagrees with my temper euer to exaggerate the sinnes of Gods Saints yea I thinke the deniall of Christ was lesse sinfull in Saint Peter then the like would be in many others that haue receiued lesse grace because the temptation was aboue measure extraordinary permitted no doubt to this end that he might be a more faithfull comforter of his brethren whose faith was feeble crazed or decayed He that hopes with fruite to reprehend or exhort men much daunted or ashamed at the fowlenesse of their offences must as farre as truth will suffer him acknowledge himselfe to be a sharer in his owne reproofes to haue been sometimes tainted with the originall of their present griefe for so the parties grieued will be lesse iealous and conceit the medicine better Thus the royall host in the Poet cheeres vp his Princely guest amated at the mention of his infamous ancestors Ne perge queri casusque priorum Annumerare tibi Nostro quoque sanguine multum Errauit pietas nec culpa nepotibus obstet Tu modo dissimilis rebus mereare secundis Excusare tuas Did Parents shame their children staine sweet Prince thy case were mine For Piety sometimes her course did alter from our line The blemish though did not descend Let vertue be thy guide So shall thy same thy Parents faults though fowle and monstrous hide 2. By these and like circumstances may our Sauiors words But I haue prayed for thee that thy faith faile not Therefore when thou art conuerted strengthen thy brethren be construed most appositely to his meaning What was it then Peter was to strengthen in others That which had been defectiue in himselfe Was that his charity his faith or both Wee reade sayth Bellarmine Peters charity did faile that his faith did faile wee neuer read In vaine then doth Bellarmine in vaine do all his fellowes labour to proue our Sauiour should in these words ratifie a perpetually indeficient puritie of Roman faith for Peter was to repaire in others what had been impaired in himselfe to preuent if it were possible the like fall in such as did or to themselues did seeme to stand to conuert restore and strengthen such as in like or worse sort had denyed their Redeemer With much greater probability might the Romanists seeke to establish a perpetuall indeficient Christian charity in Peters successors had Peters loue or charity only failed But the bad liues and manners of the Roman Clergie would giue too manifest euidence against them in this attempt In this respect haue these stout challengers taken vpon them the defence of a neuer failing faith because not so easily confuted For it is a matter very hard I must confesse to prooue that faith can neuer faile which may deny Christ so formally and constantly as Peters did without defect The best is that by their owne confession this place can proue the acts or exercises of Romane faith to be no better then S. Peters was in this deniall of Christ His offence they grant was foule but his faith without defect So may Popes be monstrously luxurious in their liues but alwaies infallible in their Doctrine Reader consult with thine owne heart and giue sentence as in the sight of God of the whole frame of their Religion by the foundation and of the foundation such as they willingly acknowledge faith to be of all true Religion and euerie Christian vertue by Bellarmines testimonie If Peter became as they pretend the fundamentall rocke by confessing that Religion doubtles which hath no better ground of infallibilitie then Peters faith not secured from a threefold deniall of Christ our Confession was first planted by the Spirit of error and of Antichrist 3 Not to dispute any longer what it was but who they were Saint Peter was to strengthen all without exceptions This iustly may seeme impossible seeing the exercise of his Ministerie could not extend to all Nations much lesse vnto all ages Yet these wordes bequeath no hereditarie royall iurisdiction ouer all persons but rather inioyne personall acts of penetencie vnto Saint Peter for his former personall offence He had found extraordinarie mercie at his Lord and Masters hands and was to communicate the like vnto his fellow seruants more guiltie of his offence Christ after his faith had failed did conuert and strengthen him against the like temptation and he conuerted was commanded to conuert and strengthen others Whom Not such as by conuersion might become his brethren or rather his children in Christ but rather such as were hewen out of the same roke and could truly call Abraham their father Sira their Mother ioinct professors with him of Moses Law and the Prophets more then his brethren and associates in denying him of whom Moses and all the Prophets bare testimonie 4 To subtract all matter of calumniation from men too much disposed to cauill without any probable cause or iust occasion notwithstanding his threefold deniall of Christ I denie not a triple or quadruple prerogatiue in Peter in respect of Christs other Apostles yet consisting not in any authoritie more infallible in it selfe or more soueraigne for superioritie ouer such as were to depend vpon him as
they had ensnared their soules and set their consciences vpon the Racke by admitting a possibility of contradiction betwixt two doctrines both firmely belieued without any euidence of their consonancie or bothes conspiring to the same end The speedier and higher this edification in Christ had beene the sooner it might haue ruinated that foundation which God by Moses and the Prophets had reared in Israel vnlesse this new worke had been orderly squared well proportioned closely layed and strongly caemented vnto the former In secular schooles hee is held an vnwise answerer that will admit Socraticall intertogations for albeit there appeare no difficultie in any one proposed apart yet in the processe a respondent may bee easily brought to grant conclusions from which he knowes not what consequences may bee drawne because their consonancy with the probleme whose defence hee vndertakes is not so euident nor immediate as vpon a sodaine may bee fully examined And not examining the consonancy of euery other proposition with the principles of that faculty whereto the probleme belongs the best answerer liuing may bee made either grant what hee should not or deny what should bee granted Now Christs doctrine was to Mosaicall and Propheticall as the conclusion to the premisses or as the corollarie of greatest vse vnto the speculatiue theoreme Suppose then a Iew well skilled in Moses and the Prophets should instantly vpon the first hearing of our Sauiours sermons or sight of his miracles haue admitted him for such an infallible teacher vpon tearmes as absolute and irreuocable as the Iesuite would haue the Pope acknowledged by all Christians a good disputant might easily haue staggered him by these or like Socraticall demands Doe you stedfastly belieue Moses writings for Gods word God forbid I should doubt of this Doe yee belieue this new doctrine confirmed by miracles as firmely What if I doe Doe you know as certainely whether both agree as well as one part of Moses writings with another What if I doe not vntill you bee fully resolued in this your beliefe in both cannot be sound for in case they should disagree the one must needes be false and if choice were giuen you whether in sooth would you disclaime Here a wise man that as the wise King speakes had eyes in his head and would not be led by a blind saith would haue paused a while and thought with himselfe This is a point that should bee looked to for if these new doctrines should proue incompatible as for any iust examination hitherto made they may I cannot see whether deserues more credence Whiles I consider Moses writings call to mind those mighty wonders our fathers told vs with like continuall experiments of their diuine truth nothing can seeme more certaine then they againe whiles I behold these new miracles me thinkes his authority that workes them should bee as great as Moses was yet if they should happen to disagree the one must bee better belieued then the other or else for ought I see there can bee no certainety of either for if this mans possibly may bee why might not Moses doctrine likewise be false or if our fathers were deceiued by his signes and wonders why may not we bee so serued by this mans miracles But if vpon iust trial they shal be found fully to agree in euery point as I trust they doe then doubtlesse both are from God and I shall stedfastly belieue this new doctrine to be diuine if such as Moses had foretold withal more euidently acknowledge then before I could that Moses spake by the spirit of the all seeing euerliuing God if this Iesus of Nazareth be in all points like to him and so qualified as hee foretold the great Prophet should bee But in the interim till the triall bee made it is best to lay sure hold on Moses and the Prophets For prior tempore potior iure their writings doubtlesse were from God because hitherto they could not bee destroyed time and they shall trie whether Iesus and his doctrine be so or no whether he be that great Prophet that should come or we are yet to looke for some other 4 Thus when Iohn Baptist sent his Disciples to our Sauior with this very question Art thou hee that should come or shall we looke for another The answere hee returned againe whether for confirmation of Iohns owne faith or as the most interpreters thinke of his Disciples was this and no more Goe and shew Iohn what things yee haue seene and heard that the blind see the halt goe the leapers are clensed the deafe heare the dead rise againe and the Gospel is preached to the poore and blessed is hee that shall not be offended in mee These or other of their fellow Disciples had enformed their Master Iohn before of Christs healing the Centurions seruant by his word or command though absent of his raising the widows sonne from death to life of the rumors spread abroad of him throughout all Iudea and the regions round about and vpon this report as Saint Luke tels vs did Iohn make the former solemne demand But some will yet demand how could he or his Disciples bee confirmed by the answere giuen them wherein is little more then formerly both had heard for the raising vp of the widdowes sonne which especially occasioned their comming was the greatest of all in this Catalogue and yet as great as this some of the ancient Prophets had done how could it then proue him to be the Messias Had he told them as much in plain terms they might haue beleeued him because this great worke did witnesse him to be a Prophet and therefore one that could not lie But by this answere how could they gather more then the people vpon the astonishment of that accident had said for when the dead man sate vp and spake feare saith the Euangelist came on them all and they glorified God saying A great Prophet is raised vp among vs and God hath visited his people 5 Yet this obiection at least the solution confirms the truth of my former assertion that by his miracles alone considered they were not bound absolutely to belieue hee was the Messias but by comparing them with other circumstances or presupposed truths especially the Scriptures receiued and approued prophesies of the Messias though no one for the greatnesse of power manifested in it could of it selfe yet the frequency of them at that time and the condition of the parties on whom they were wrought might absolutely confirme Iohn and his Disciples because such they were in these and euery respect as the Euangelicall Prophet had foretold Messias should worke for this reason our Sauiour deliuers his answere in the Prophets owne words as elsewhere he himselfe did read them then best interpreted by the signes of the time that Iohn might see by the euent he was in the man of whom Isaiah speakes He whom the Lord had annointed to preach the Gospel to the poore whom
be dicto audiens to heare him with patience reuerence and attention not to contradict or neglect his commands but vpon such euident reasons as the inferiour party dare aduenture to trie the cause instantly with him before the supream Iudge The acts of obedience which are absolutely due from the flocke to spirituall magistrates or Christs messengers and precedent to the condition interposed or inserted are the vnpartiall examinations of their owne hearts and consciences the full renouncing of all worldly desires earthly pleasure carnall lustes or concupiscenses because these vnâ—enounced haue a command ouer our soules and detaine them from performing seruice best acceptable vnto God or yeelding that sincere obedience which is absolutely due vnto his sacred word For this end and purpose the flocke stand absolutely bound to enter into their owne hearts and soules to make diligent search and strict enquirie what rebellious affection or vnruly desire is harbored there as often as their ouerseers shal in Christs name charge them so to doe otherwise their neglect or contempt will be in that dreadfull day a witnesse of their rebellion in this life a barre to keepe sinne in and shut grace out 13 But if any man out of the sincerity of a good conscience and stedfast resolution of a faithfull heart which hath habitually renounced the world flesh and Diuell that it may be alwaies ready to serue Christ shall refuse his Pastors commandement though threatning hell paines to his disobedience in some particulars hee doth yet better obserue the former precept by this his deniall then others doe by performance of absolute blind obedience without strict vnpartiall examination of their consciences for he doth herein obey God whom to obey with heart and mind thus freed from the dominion of Sathan and the worlde is the very end and scope the finall seruice whereunto all performance of obedience vnto spirituall gouernours is but as a trayning of Christs faithfull Souldiers And in these acts of obedience is that saying of our Sauiour most generally and absolutely true Hee that heareth you heareth mee he that despâ—seth you despiseth me That precept of denying our selues and renouncing all is the foundation of all the rest concerning obedience without performance of this neither can our vndertaking any other acts be sincere nor our refusall lawfully admonished safe our best obedience not hereon grounded is non christian our disobedience vnchristian and rebellious For which cause we are absolutely bound vnto habituall performance of this ere wee can bee admitted as lawfull auditors of Christs other precepts All other our resolutions or deliberate intendments whether for performance of any action commended for good and honest or for maintaining any doctrine proposed by lawfull pastors for true and orthodoxall must bee limitted by their proportion or disproportion to the end of obedience enioyned vnto spiritual commanders which as wee said before was to obey God in all Those acts then must bee vndertaken which vpon examination appeare not preiudiciall to that oath of absolute obedience which wee haue taken vnto our supreame Lord these omitted which out of this generall resolution of renouncing all and denying our selues and this vnpartiall examination of our soules in particular doubts may seeme to derogate from that absolute loialty which we owe to Christ No minister may expect obedience but vpon these conditions he that sincerely obeieth in the forementioned fundamentall act of renouncing all and denying himselfe yet disobeyes in other particulars vpon such grounds and motiues as wee haue said doth perfectly fulfill that precept if any such there were obey your spirituall ouerseers in all things 14 Bee our bond of duty to such gouernours whether by ordinary subiection to their calling or voluntary submission of our iudgements to their personall worth neuer so great yet seeing they command onely in Christs name and for the adunacement of his kingdome to imagine spirituall obedience should bee due to such iniunctions as vpon sober and deliberate examination seeme to crosse the end they propose would argue such spirituall madnesse as if a man should aduenture to kill by all probabilitie of present occurrence his father or mother because he had formerly vowed without consideration of any homicide much lesse paâ—â—icide thence likely to follow to kill the first liue creature hee met In such a case as Philo acutely obserues a man should not forsweare himselfe or breake his vow yet ouerthrow the very end and vse of all vowes which were instituted as bridles to make vs refraine all occasions or prouocations to euill not as halters to lead or draw vs to such vnnaturall villanies 15 These rules hitherto mentioned ritely obserued there is no greater difficulty in restraining vniuersall precepts of obedience to the Church then in limitting generall commandements of kings to their Deputies or Vice-gerents Now if a King should charge his subiects to obey his Lieutenant in all that hee should command any reasonable man would take the meaning to bee this That hee should bee obeyed in all things that belong vnto the King seruice because this is the end of his appointment and the proper subiect of this precept No man in this case would bee so mad as to take the Princes word for his warrant if by his Lieutenant and he should be put into some seruice which here more then suspitious to bee traiterous or apparently tending to the Kings destruction If a Iesuite should see the Popes agent or nuncio whom he were bound to obey by the Popes iniunction deliuered in most ample termes tampering with the Popes open enemies either consorting with vs in our Liturgie or communicating with vs in our Sacraments receiuing pension from forrainers or secretly conferring with such of their Counsellors as had more wit then himselfe could hee dispence with his oath of absolute allegeance to the Pope vpon these or like euasions This is suspitious indeed but how shall I know whether the Popes Agent in doing this doe disobey his Holinesse If he say no must I not belieue him must I not obey him and doe as hee doth whom the Pope commands mee to obey in all things The Iesuites are not so simple in the Popes cause as they would make all other in Gods they could tell how to limit such commands though deliuered in most vniuersall and ample termes This is the matter then which so vexeth their denoute hearts and sets them beside themselues with furious zeale in this argument that any Christian should be as wary and circumspect lest hee should proue disloyalâ— vnto the Creator and Redeemer of mankind as they are lest they should disobey the aduancer and supporter of their order 16 But to come nearer the point instance in some precepts of obedience deliuered in most generall forme Might the literall or Logicke note of vniuersality carry away such absolute soueraignety as they contend for farre greater reason there is why euery father or minister should be an absolute