earth Bulla Iulij 3. sess Latran Non Decembris 1512. giueth Law to Temporall powers in Temporall things for there is read a Bull in this same Councell whereby Iulius the second forbiddeth faires to bee kept at Lyons and will haue them bee kept in another Citty ad Gebenensem ciuitatem To conclude hee setteth himselfe aboue the Church which he prostrateth disheuelled at his feete and calleth his seate Babylon of which speaketh Saint Peter in his first Catholicke Epistle 1. Pet. 5. And to the end that in the mouth of two witnesses this truth may bee confirmed I will bring forth yet another Parasite that was Generall of the order of Preachers 2. Sess in Orationem Caietani and had for recompence of his blasphemies a Cardinals hat his wordes may bee thus enterpreted speaking of the Church It shall obtaine if you will and command it if you imitate the power perfection and wisedome of God Almighty whose place on earth you ought to hold not onely in honour of dignity but in affection of will Gird your swords for you haue two one which is vnto you common with other Princes of this world the other which belongeth in such sort vnto you that none can haue it but from you c. Set forwards set forwards happily destroy the nations that desire warre seeing you raigne Priest and King c. And speaking of the mercy of the Pope the same will make you most excellent aboue all the Kings of the earth ergo the Popes mercy is diuine it will make you worthy to be worshipped gracious a friend and most-like vnto God And because we suppose many of quality will come to this Synode by the mercy of God and yours c. Magne regnator Deúm tam lentus audis scelera Senec. Tam lentus vides ec quando saeua fulmen emittes manu CHAP. IX That the Pope exalting himselfe aboue Kings in the manner as Cardinall Bellarmine will haue it exalteth himselfe also aboue all that is called God in Temporall things THE Teachers of nouelties submitting peace and war obedience rebelliō of subiects to the wils of Popes remember not what was in the beginning and that which we haue aboue proued For when the Magistrate hath bene a beleeuer hee hath euer bene aboue the Church to reforme it both in head mēbers being the Guardian to whose trust is committed the Law of God whereof hee is to haue a Copie which is cleere in points necessary to saluation and if there be obscurity in any place it is cleered by the reading of the same Neh. 8. according as Nehemiah practised and of this forme of enterpreting we need none other witnesse then Pope Clemēt who saith that we must not take a sense out of the Scriptures Clem. epist 5. ad discipulos Can. relatum dist 37. c. but must take the sense of truth from the Scriptures and he yeeldeth the reason of it because all men may take from them a full and firme rule of truth And if some Christian Emperours would not take knowledge of Ecclesiasticall causes it followeth not but that they had the authority and right to do it Deut. 17. For not onely the Priests and Leuites which did their duty tooke knowledge of thē but also the Iudge established by the Soueraigne Magistrate So when Ruben and Gad Iosh 22. with the halfe Tribe of Manasses had builded an Altar neere Iordan it is said that all Israell gathered together in Sylo to examine the matter sent ten of the principall of euery tribe vnto thē So Gedeō being established Iudge destroyed the Altar of Baal c. Cyrus Esd 1.16 Neh. 1. Darius Artaxerxes ordaine that the Temple shal be builded againe Esdras Nehemias take cōmission from thē In like maner vnder the Gospel Constantine Valentinian Theodosius assemble Councels We will say they bee present in the Councell after the example of Constantine not to make shew of our power but to confirme the faith c. and it is chiefely said that they which were of the Senate made decrees Cyrill Also Saint Cyrill reporteth that the Councell of Ephesus sent to Theodosius and Valentinian for to render them a reason of what was passed touching the condemnation of Nestorius And the Councels of Aix and of Arles Art 3. In praef Conc. Cub wrote to Charlemaigne praying him to confirme their decrees yea they did beseech him by his wisedome Ca. 45. nō in f. praef mag Can. vtinā 96. distinct Also Pope Nicholas writing to the Emperour Michael acknowledgeth that when there was debating concerning the Articles of faith Emperours were wont to be present in Ecclesiasticall Assemblies According to this power of Emperours vnder the Law of Moses the Church hath bene reformed not in the members onely but also in the head Salomon deposed Abiathar and Moses reproued Aaron and Eleazer Constantius also the sonne of Constantine the great deposed Liberius though without cause The Emperour Otho deposed Pope Iohn the twelfth Plat. in vita Greg. 6. Abbas Vesp an 1406. Sigismond deposed three together at one time and Henry the third as many namely Bennet the ninth Siluester the third and Gregory the sixt The French Kings haue also deposed and created many specially Boniface the eight was displaced by Phillip the Faire who translated the seat to Auignon where it continued 74. yeares and there were resident in that place sixe Popes one succeeding the other by the appointment of the King And this right of deposing Popes is treated of by a certaine Chancellour of the Vniuersitie of Paris Gerson one of the most learned Sorbonists of those times in his booke de Auferibilitate Papae That is farre from being absolute Lords in Spirituall and Temporall things For if euen in Spirituall things lawfull Councels haue required the approbation and authorization of Emperours it followeth that the authority and Soueraignety is wholly theirs velitis iubeatis as in the people of Rome so farre is it off that the Pope or his Colledge can determine any thing soueraignely Also the Kings of France and the Gallicane Church haue preserued to themselues appeales as in case of abuse from such decrees yea so often as Rome abuseth her pretended iurisdiction the Lord Chancellour giueth (a) Can. filijs 17. q. 7. can boni principes 96. dist can Tributum 22. q. 8. letters in case of abuse Now wee must know that wee call notorious abuse (b) L. ob qua §. Idem l. 1. §. sciendum de Aedil edicto when the act that is made is voide when it is against the nature of the act or else made by a man that hath no power (c) Inn. Pan. dd Can. Cum olim de causa possessionis to do it so as that not onely by the authority of the Prince but of priuate (d) L. prohibitum l. defensionis doct de iu. fi li. 10. c.
bene of diuine institution hee would haue said first a Pope armed with two swords Temporall and Spirituall secondly Cardinals and so forward from Principallity to Principallity Hierarchicall But contrariwise Saint Peter forbiddeth his true successors all domination saying 1. Pet. 5.2.3.5 Feede the flocke of God c. not as hauing domination ouer Gods heritage but as being ensamples to the flocke which hee so ordaineth that saith he yee submit your selues euery man one to another 2. Cor. 11.5 12.11 Gal. 2.9.11.14 And Saint Paul witnesseth that hee was nothing inferiour to the very chiefe Apostles that Iames Peter and Iohn who were counted to bee pillars had giuen him the right hand of fellowship And indeed when Peter was come to Antiochia he withstood him to his face for hee was to bee reproued in constraining the Gentiles to do like the Iewes And if Saint Peter was reproued by one of his companions by a stronger reason was he bound to render an account to the whole Councell assembled in the capitall Church in which Iames sate Act. 8.14 namely in Ierusalem as wee reade in the Actes Hee also obeyed the other Apostles who sent him with Saint Iohn into Samaria Now note that Saint Paul saith not that Iames whom he nameth first Peter and Iohn were pillars but saith they were counted so noting the opinion of the vulgar for the holy building of the Church is not a iustice set vpon three pillars much lesse vpon one onely fantasy of man for to turne euery way but on twelue pillars that is to say the twelue Apostles as is said in the Reuelation Reuel 21. And Saint Hierome in the middle of the discourse against Iouinian hath these wordes The fiâ—menesse of the Church is equally foundâ—d â—pon all the Apostles Note hee saith equally Who also haue all of them for solide Basis that corner-stone of many refused the stone out of which springeth forth the water of life the stone besides which none can lay any other foâ—ndation 1. Cor. 3. Vpon which also both the doctrine discipline of the Apostles haue bene builded to wit IESVS CHRIST Wee reade also that the Apostles were assembled in the Church of Ierusalem Actes 17. a Church priuiledged aboue all others because that out of it haue come the Prophets and Apostles it was taught by the Maister himselfe sprinkled with his bloud honoured with his passion and marked with his sepulcher and of the same was the Apostle Saint Iames called by the Ancients Clem. Epist 1. the Bishop of the Apostles who remoued not thence though the other Apostles were ambulatory who was a Prince of the bloud royal cousin germane to our Sauiour and was president in the first Councell Act. 17.23 in which hee gaue his opinion last and collected the voices as wee reade in the Actes neuerthelesse hee tooke not vpon him for that any principallity For the letter written by aduice of this company beareth not the title of his name but of the name of all The Apostles and the Elders c. greeting Within the bounds of like modesty haue the holy Byshops of all Christendome contained themselues till the yeare sixe hundred and seuent and for proofe hereof we need but the Canon it selfe taken out of Saint Chrysostome which hath these wordes Whosoeuer desireth Primacy on earth Can. mult §. quicunque dist 4. shall finde confusion in heauen amd shall not bee found in the number of the seruants of God c. This Aristocraticall forme then of gouerning the Church by a common councell of Pastors and Deacons dured a long time in the Church so long as the persecutions banished the ambition of Priests which were in nothing different from Bishops For as for the place of Saint Hierome aboue alleaged Hier. Euagrio hee speaketh as hauing regard to his times wherein already the Bishop was distinguished from the Priest in that hee conferred orders which the simple Priest did not But it was not so from the beginning nor a long time after the Apostles Hier. 3. ad Titum And witnesse Saint Hierome himselfe vpon the Epistle to Titus saying that there was no difference of power and charge the one from the other and that it is by custome and not by truth of diuine disposition that such a degree is inuented And to proue that the Priest and the Bishop were one and the same person in the Church he alleageth the 20 of the Actes Act. 20.17 where it is said that Saint Paul sent from Miletum to Ephesus for the Priests of the Church Item that of the Phillipians where Saint Paul saluteth the Saints which are in Phillipi Phillip 1.1 with the Bishops and Deacons For seeing hee nameth many Bishops hee intendeth to speake of Priests because by the new order of such superiority there is but one Bishop in euery Citty Secondly if there had bene there Priests others then them hee calleth Bishops hee would not haue forgotten them seeing he omitted not Deacons 1. Pet. 5.1 Lastly Saint Peter not onely calleth them Priests or Elders to whom hee wrote but also calleth himselfe a Priest or Elder with them and a companion in the Presbitery Saint Paul also ascribeth ordina ion to the assembly of Priests and enioyneth the Hebrews to obey not one sole Bishop but their ouer-seers And if among the Apostles there had bene some greater then others it would not haue bene said I am of Cephas and I of Apollos for either they would haue reclaimed the greatest or hee that had an inferiour Pastour would haue bene still But this Aristocraticall forme hauing displeased some passed to the great Citties who would attribute to themselues some second prerogatiue aboue Bishops and to haue Patriarches of equall authority namely in Ierusalem Antioch Alexandria and Rome Which the Synode Nic. syn c. 6. held about the yeare 400 of our Sauiour winked at Soone after the Emperours hauing translated their seate to Constantinople by reason of the warres of Italy this dignity was communicated to the Bishop of the place Zeno in l. decreuimus 16. l. priuilegia 17. C. de sacros Eccl. Iust Nou. 123. c. 9. de sacros Episcopis l. 24. Constinopolitana C. de sacros Ecclesijs l. Certissimè 34. C. de Episc aud yea greater by measure as ambition grew Thence came a law of Zeno their Emperour in the yeare 476. another of Anastasius by which the Church of Constantinople is exalted and priuiledged aboue others As Mother of the Orthodoxall Churches And Iustinian ordaineth that all Bishops of what Prouince soeuer they bee should repaire to the Bishop of Constantinople and in the Law 24. That the Church of Constantinople is the head of all others And not onely the said Church is called Mother but the Patriarke of Constantinople is called Oecumenicall that is to say vniuersall and superiour to all others in two diuerse Lawes L. Cum velimus 7. C. de summa trinit
the French King SACRED Maiesty Plin. l. 11. cap. 16. natural History teacheth vs that Bees appeare at their beginning like a little white worme all except him that is to be their King which commeth forth with wings is of yellow colour because he is formed of the most exquisite flowers And if the Monarch of all the world hath giuen such priuiledge to the King of so smal creatures what are we to beleeue of him whom he hath established to command ouer men honoured with the title of Most Christian To confirme which beliefe in the harts of your subiects to destroy the opiniō of the doctors of lies which falsely maintaine that the Kingly power is not absolute that it is an inuention of mē I haue aduentured to frame this little discourse to present it to your Maiesty to the end that by the reading of the same they may learne no more to blaspheme against the powers established of God alone and that they may know that it is not the antiquity and greatnesse of your house the Nobility of the Princes which your Maiesty commandeth the wisedome of your Soueraigne Courts the order Ecclesiasticall the large extent of your Prouinces the strength of your places the affection of your peoples the faithfulnesse of the confederates of your Crowne the experience of your Captaines the vallour of your Nobity the thunders of your Arsenall the greatnesse of your treasury that mainteineth your Crowne But that diuine character grauen by the finger of God in the face of the King Prou. 20.8 who sitting vpon the throne chaseth away all euill with his eyes He hauing giuen to your Maiesty in these tender yeares wings to flye ouer peoples which are but as creeping wormes of the earth in comparison of the degree he hath giuen your Maiesty euery good subiect by the yoake imposed of God to his owne conscience Rom. 13. acknowledgeth himselfe bound as I doe to make a vow to remaine for euer without dispensation from such a duty Your Maiesties most humble most obedient and most faithfull subiect and seruant IOHN BEDE Vltima talis erat quae mea prima fides Propert. 20 20. Errata Page 1. in marg read Hieron p. 2. l. 15. read Micrarchie p. 16. l. 16. for they read the p. 21. l. 11. read Papinian p. 36. l. 4. read depose him p. 38. l. 10. for of read ouer p. 49. l. 17. read Remy p. 89. l. 14. for these read their p. 90. l. 7. read in the Church p. 102 l. 18. for man read name p. 117. l. 19. read Luxemburg p. 121. l. 21. read by a Councell p. 141. l. 2. for out of read not in p. 149. l. 18. read these flattrers p. 163. l. 2. for haue read hauing What other litterall faults occurre I entreat the Reader either himselfe to amend or of curtesie to passe ouer The Right and Prerogatiue of Kings CHAP. I. That the Authority of the Prince is from God THE Ancients doe witnesse that France hath a long time ben free from monsters Heiron contra Vigilant statim initio hauing nothing disordered in her inhabitants nor in their manners whereas on the contrary in Affrica ariseth euer ordinaily some nouelty But if we seeke whence the disproportioned propositions handled in these daies doe proceed wee shal find them to be bred in forraigne parts not fruits of home-grouth Such an one is this same maintained by Cardinall Bellarmine whose actions haue (b) Bellum arma minae that is warre armes and threates Bel. lib. 1. de pont c. 7. de clericis ca. 28. reference to his name that the authority of Kings is but of a humane institution Wherein hee doth like those malefactors who going about to excuse their fact diminish the dignity of the person against whom they offended or like men of warre who first batter downe the defences of a place before they giue the assault For if this Doctor said true the attempt of murthering Kings were not so heinous a crime simply transgressing the lawes of men as indeed it is being committed against the commandement of God The falshood of which doctrine that I may the better shew I will vse foure kind of arguments of which the first is taken from nature created of God and considered in her purity wherein are obserued the traces of respect which all creatures beare vnto man to obay him as a Monarch Which naturall instinct notwithstanding the corruption brought in by sinne remaineth still in some creatures which acknowledge a King of their kinde and follow him Secondly seeing that the excellency of man consisteth in this that he was created after the image of his Creator who will doubt but that Empire or rule formed on the patterne of the Soueraigne God is aboue all other kind of command Thirdly the forme of the reasonable indiuiduall man whose head alone commandeth all the members and who in this regard is called Mycrocosmos that is to say a little world is it not a Michrarchie that is to say a little Kingdome well policied And euery one of our housholds commanded and gouerned by one alone doth it not put vs in minde of this order instituted by God Surely none but such as will haue no lawfull familie at home dare deny it For as the father of a familie is in his house so is the King in his Kingdome and for this cause Princes are called by the Prophet Esa 49.23 The nursing Fathers of Gods Church The second order of Arguments is taken from the cōmon sence of al men against which such Doctors do trespasse for the law of superiority is borne with man and continued from the Creation of the world euen vnto vs. God hauing grauen in mans heart as to acknowledge a God-head for respect of religion so also to submit himselfe to the King to maintaine society according to that which the people of God said 1. Sam. 8.20 Our King shall iudge vs and go out before vs and fight our battailes Also Adam was chiefe head of all the men which liued during the 930 yeares that he liued after his creation The Empire of Noah was diuided betweene three Iaphet raigned in Europe Sem in Asia and Cham in Affrica And Nimrod called the mighty Hunter raigned in Babylon from the yeare 130 after the floud For this effect were Moses and Ioshuah established of God who had all the markes of Soueraignty for though the word King be not in so many letters found why shall wee not call them Princes Dukes and Kings seeing they executed the whole function and bare the markes of such And after the creation of the Iudges God cōdemneth not the forme of Monarchicall command as the Aduersaries of Royalty falsely calumniate seeing that he saith Rom. 13.1 There is no power but from God But hee blameth the lightnesse of his people in the change of the order by him established But if the people bee made so
of the aduerse parties and will see if it was so at the beginning Neuerthelesse before I enter into this discourse I will most humbly entreate your Maiesty to beleeue that in the same I intend not to comprehend the good and holy Bishops and Priests which haue kept themselues in their duty as lawfull successours of the Apostles in fauour of whom it is written Hee which receiueth you receiueth me and whose feete are blessed bringing the glad tydings of the Gospell of peace These wordes wee borrow of purpose that wee may shew on the one side that wee bring nothing of our owne and on the other side that from time to time the truth hath not remained without witnesse and that this gangreene which we cut off had not gotten ouer all the members of whom also good Clergy-men being the successours at this present will not take it ill if wee reproue the actions of some Siluesters Iohns Gregories Bonifaces Iulius Alexanders Sixtus who haue oftentimes set all Christendome on fire and in bloud knowing that such spots respect not them no more then the Apostle-ship receiueth blame by the treason of Iudas For the faithfull Pastours sighed in their time to see such a disorder in Church wherein vice carried away the most part of the world Also from time to time not onely the Kings Officers but the best among the Clergy also haue opposed themselues that they might restraine such vsurpations Although on the other side the Pope set vp new orders depending on him in such sort that they durst Preach none otherwise then hee listed and them that flattered him most were the best Beneficed So disobedience to parents was followed with rebellion against the Magistrate yea against the Prince so farre as to say that it was necessary to saluation to beleeue that the Pope is God on earth To take away which false opinion and to hinder least in consequence of the same any attempt against our Kings I haue reported some actions of Popes which shew that they bee very farre off from that holinesse they pretend This is the onely end of this Treatise and not the desire to blame any of that order would to God they had bene the true successours of the Apostles so much would I haue honoured them in their charge as I detest the vicious But seeing wee are in processe betweene the King and this new power wee must agree vpon a Iudge superiour to them both for to ground their rights And as the King hath here aboue verified his right by the Law and by the Gospell by the Law of Nature the Law of Nations and the Ciuill Law not making vse of the Sentences of his Soueraigne Courts and of his Statutes So also I thinke that euery man of sound iudgement will beleeue that Bellarmine ought not to ground his mixt power vpon the Canon Law for that were to bee iudge in his owne cause to alleage vsurpations for good titles The same iudgemēt must we giue of the allegations of all the domesticke witnesses and pensionaries of the Pope infected with the new maximes of the Canon-law brought in since fiue hundred yeares whose testimonie hee produceth in the beginning of his booke Which may serue for answere in a word against all such depositions of reproachable witnesses And hereby is cleerely manifested that the Pope hath not whereon to ground his pretensions neither in diuine nor humane law or right seeing that his owne is not authenticall to his profite But if hee will be obeyed let him imitate our Sauiour who grounded his authority on an irrefragable proofe saying in Saint Iohn I seeke not the witnesse of men Search the Scriptures for in them yee thinke to haue eternall life and they are they which testifie of me According to which rule Paul Sylas were examined in Berea Act. 17.10.11 for it is said that the men of that place searched the Scriptures daily to see whether those things were so In imitation of whom wee will see if it be so and will conferre the holy Scriptures and the Iesuites imposture together and if hee refuse this tryall wee shall know that he is one of them that Tertullian speaketh of in these words Tert. lib. de resurrect Constraine Heretickes to proue all their questions by the holy Scriptures they cannot subsist And if the King for to proue the authority of his Temporall right contented himselfe with the Law of God which is Spirituall how should the Cardinall dare to accuse it of insufficiency for to sustaine a right which hee pretendeth Ecclesiasticall And if it bee sufficient whence commeth it that till our Sauiours comming in the flesh that is for the space of foure thousand yeares his pretended authority was neuer heard of And after CHRIST till the Emperour Constantine were nothing but horrible persecutions for the space of about three hundred yeares yet there was no speech of dispossessing Augustus nor Nero or their successors Also our Cardinall maketh onely Hildebrand to be the chiefe whose testimonie hee alleageth in the beginning of his booke now hee was Pope in the yeare 1073. Neither will the blasphemous answere of the Iesuites serue who say that the Church had not power enough to make it selfe to bee acknowledged For I pray you could not the Lord IESVS armed with the rod of yron spoken of in the second Psalme haue beaten to peeces such Emperours Saint Peter whose shadow healed the sicke Act. 5. 8. cha 13.11 who confounded Simon Magus strucke with death Ananias and Saphira and Saint Paul who smote Elymas that resisted him with blindnesse would they not haue subiugated the persecutors if it had bene lawfull for them to exalt themselues aboue the powers that beare the sword But contrariwise they knew that it was written Eccles 8.2.4 He answereth not there That shall be the Pope Take heed to the mouth of the King to the word of the oath of God Item Where the word of the King is there is power and who shall say vnto him what dost thou They knew also that from the beginning our Sauiour had beaten downe that presumption saying Mar. 10.43 Whosoeuer will bee great among you shall bee your seruant Againe Mat. 20.26 The Kings of the Nations haue domination ouer them c. Luk. 22.25 but it shall not bee so among you c. Mat. 22.8 Bee not yee called our Maister for one is your Maister to wit CHRIST and all yee are brethren Also when Saint Paul reckoneth vp the Offices of the Church hee saith God hath ordained some in the Church as First Apostles secondly Prophets thirdly Teachers c. And if that power so much spoken of had bene established of God Saint Paul would not haue forgotten it for seeing hee treateth there of the degrees of Pastors it had bene a fit place to speake of it and insteed of putting all the Apostles in one ranke saying first Apostles if that had
si quando de rescrip authority it is permitted to resist the same Whence commeth it that if the Pope or his Legats would legitimate a bastard in the Kingdome of France to the end hee might succeed it is another thing when it is to make the marriage (e) Cap. Tuam de ordin cognit of validitie whence he is issued or in some fashion trouble the royall iustice the obtainer of such legitimation c. (f) Guil. Bened 2. part c. Rainutius vers si absq libertis 2. c. in materia nu 47. Phil. Decius Cons 307. Coll. 2. shall bee amerced the abuse reiected by the Kings Officers So by sentence of the Parliament of Tholouse anno 1400. was pronounced that it had bene ill and abusiuely proceeded by the Popes delegates who had absolued Maister Giles de Bellemere Archidiaconus Micapicen without calling the party the Kings Attorney Now William Benedict saith there are three generall cases in France in which notorious abuse may be commited namely when the Pope and Ecclesiasticall persons attempt against the decrees of the anicient Councels against the Kings statutes or against the liberties of the Gallicane Church Seeing then there is appeale from the Pope who is it can endure him to be a Soueraigne no not in spirituall things Note this for it is the argument wherewith Seneca concludeth that the first Kings of the Romans were not Soueraignes Cic. 2. de repub because there was appeale made from them to the people Thus Horace the murderer of his sister was absolued who had bene condemned by King Tullus Hostilius Therefore this pretended Soueraignety Spirituall and Temporall resteth vaine according to the opinion of Saint Gregory and Saint Bernard the practise of the Gallicane Church For to feede the sheepe is meant after another manner Mat. 18.18 and that deliuering of keyes is not excluding the other Apostles seeing that the same promise was made to all otherwise they could not haue executed their charge and besides Peter could not receiue them but in the name of all Ioh. 20.22 according to the opinion of Saint Augustine written into the Canons Which is conformable to the disposition of the ciuill Law Can. quodcunque 24. q. 1. which saith that the deliuery of a key and of a ring by a father to his eldest daughter bringeth to her no priuiledge aboue her fellow heires but is taken as done in common as well for the rest L. cum pater 79. Sect. pater pluribus delegat 2. which decision is obseruable in the Ciuill Law as likewise that which is written in the Law tenth C. de Incendio which speaketh of certaine fishers of men like vnto him that Cardinall Bellarmine figureth forth against whom are these words Let not Fishermen deceiue Mariners in causing a light to be seene in the night in dangerous places as if it were a safe hauen to the end they might aduantage thēselues by the ship-wracke There is therefore no ground for this power in the Law of God nor in the Law of man for as no Prince giueth any priuiledge against himselfe so neuer any King nor Emperour resigned such a right to the Pope which cannot be alienated It remaineth to speake of the Canon Law De Elect. lib. 1. tit 3. Clem. Ne Romani which cannot derogate from the Law of God as saith the Clementine that the Law of the Superiour cannot bee abrogated by the inferiour Neither can it also derogate from the Law of Kings because it is a writing framed for aduantage of them that wrote it Conc. Agathens sub Alaciaco rege anno 506. can 32. Clericū can 11. q. 1. can 3. ibidem l. in fraudem §. quoties de iure fisci without hearing or calling the party interessed and held for priuate in this consideration are obserued therein many falsifications specially one notable one vpon this subiect for in steed of saying Clericus nullum praesumat as the Councell hath it it is written nullus Clericum changing the prohibition made to the Clergy to prescribe it to the Laity Now hee that produceth false proofes is to loose his cause though otherwise it were a good one Lastly this Canon Law I meane that from which are taken the maximes of the Iesuites vpon this subiect is new and but of late for the ancientest part of it which is the Decree was cōpiled by Gratian in the yeare 1093. the Decretals in the yeare 1211. The Sextus by Boniface the eighth in the yeare 1298. and the Clementines in the yeare 1310. Wherefore iudging well the authors of this new power are not grounded on diuine nor humane Law seeing our Sauiour himselfe witnesseth the Sonne of man came not to be serued Math. 20. but to serue and to giue his life a ransome for many neither on the example of the Apostles 1. Cor. 4.1 whose charge consisted in administration not in cōmanding and who said 1. Pet. 2. Psal 2. 72. Let men esteeme of vs as the Ministers of CHRIST and disposers of the secrets of God These men haue set themselues in place of the Maister are (a) V. gl in verbo non consonam Clem. Ne Romani sponsus vester rector est Christus caput Ecclesiae quae est ipsius corpus Hebr. 7. c. stiled Princes of Bishops and King of Kings Though the true King of Kings be risen againe and liueth for euer hauing no heire nor successour in his offices being eternally both King and Priest and Prophet of the Catholicke Church after the order of Melchizedec The flatterers neuerthelesse will substitute a mortall and sinnefull man in his steed and ascribe vnto him power in heauen and in earth and make him Lord of two swords and Soueraigne of all demeans so that he may confiscate or giue them away whence a blasphemous parasite saith (b) Cap. vnam sanctam extra communiā de maioritate Petr. Bertrandus in gl illius exarauag Our Lord should haue bene vndiscreete if hee had not left a man after him hauing the like power as he had as if such a head could bee seperate from his body and this Bridegroome CHRIST being a iealous God could endure any corriuall or as though such a supposition were not directly contrary to the wordes of our Sauiour Ioh. 16. v. 7. 14. v. 16. 15. v. 26. saying Verily I say vnto you it is expedient for you that I goe my way for if I goe not away the Comforter will not come vnto you For he knew that his presence and the exhortation of his carnall mouth so often reiterated hindred them not from sleeping in the garden or from denying him thrice at the words of a silly maide-seruant But hee knew that his holy Spirit the Moderator of the Church working inwardly and accompanying them after his Ascension would make them confesse the Sauiour in the middest of the most cruell torments Against which