Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	king_n	prince_n	subject_n	3,995	5	6.4954	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01076	A defence of the right of kings Wherein the power of the papacie ouer princes, is refuted; and the Oath of Allegeance iustified. Written for the vse of all English romanists; more especially, for the information of those priests, or Iesuits, which are by proclamation commanded to conforme themselues, or depart the kingdome. By Edvvard Forset, Esquire.	Forset, Edward, 1553?-1630.	1624 (1624)	STC 11189; ESTC S119405	55,644	106

Christian is governe his whole life and carriage by the rules of his Religion but this Disputor must narrow the signification thereof more precisely tying and applying the same onely to the articles of Payth Secondly the Popes authority must vndergoe the like distinction as themselues haue propounded vnto vs that is to say what he may doe as Pope and what he hath accustomed to doe by other acquiered titles or by meere vsurping intrusion Now then to say that euery limiting of the Popes authority whatsoeuer the same be or howsoeuer obtayned or exercised belongeth to the Articles of beleefe I for my part will neuer beleeue it and I do not thinke that any of their owne Secritaries will be so much besotted I will explayne my meaning by instances and cases of the like condition suppose that the Pope would pretend and pleade that the King doth hold of him the Crowne of this Land and therefore as Superior Lord will require homage or trybute and in default of rendering the same will invade his Dominions with sword and force If in this case the King shall for more security of his Imperiall State aske vppon Allegiance the oathes of all or any his Subjects in detestation of that claime may the Catholikes make scruple of conscience concerning such an oath because the same seemeth to limmit and abridge the Popes pretended right and authority making in the meane time no Religion of the limitting lessening and detracting from the Soveraignes Title and pre-eminence perhaps they will say that this is a question of civill right and that the Subject is cleerely bound to maintaine the Prince But how if the Pope pretend withall his Pastorall care and preservation of matters spirituall then I trust in ordine ad spiritualia his temporall attempts must bee supported by his spirituall Children against the King and Country Againe let it be conceiued that the Pope much mooued with indignation at the execution of Iustice ministred in this Kingdome against the Treacherous Conspirators of the Popish faction should vpon that gnawing grudge towards the Iudges of this Land take vpon him by solemne Censure to depriue and displace them from their Iuridiciall offices wherein though he can assume no ordinary or rightfull power yet in ordine ad spiritualia and for the generall releefe and necessity of the Catholike cause hee adventureth as from his pastorall charge to pronounce them from henceforth to be incompetent Iudges commanding all Catholikes also to reckon of them and the iudgements by them giuen Now the question is whither to make a constant asseueration that the Pope hath no such authority be vnto a Catholike conscience a poynt of Faith or Religion because of such limiting bounds disabling the Pope in his supposed sufficiency of his generall function for the good of the Church If the denying or abating of the popes authority over these inferior minifters of Iustice be not accounted cumbersome to the c̄osciences of Catholikes wherein I thinke they will make no doubt why should the abjuring of this papall power ouer our Supreame Magistrate touching the 〈◊〉 and destroying of him be thought so dangerous and damnable or repugnant to their owne Religion will Religion allow him more liberty against the highest then against the meaner Substitutes or if hee haue such a Rule ouer Princes themselues why not also ouer the Subordinate Officers of the Kingdome to command direct authorize or suppresse them to the best auayle and aduancement of the Catholike side that so hee may become more then Monarchiall by an absolute and vnlimited Dominion This Gent. saith that touching the acknowledgement of our Soveraigne to be true King and rightfull Lord over all his Dominions no man sticketh at that But I aske whether if the Pope haue already enwrapped his Majestie within any of his generall sentences or shall declare by any especiall means that he is not to be acknowledged King will not then the Catholikes sticke at that must not they refuse to sweare vnto that clause of recognition also for feare that his Holinesse be questioned and limited in his owne powre and preeminence I will not feare to affirme That the true allegiance and obedience of a naturall subject cannot dwell together in the corrupted heart of a devoted dissembling Papist and therefore no marvell that the heart preposessed with Papacy doth cast such doubts of offending his dearest love especially having plighted faith and vowed his service by all constant endeavors thereunto This contrariety of Masters must needs breed iealousies on both sides for as the Pope forbiddeth Papists to sweare their allegiance and fidellity to the King fearing lest himselfe should thereby be excluded and renounced So the King can never thinke himselfe secure and assured of those subiects who from their acknowledgement of the Popes superiorship over the King and that in such a degree as may indure no limiting dare not be affianced by oath to the safety of the King against the decrees and designes of their Dominus dominancium Then what will they say or do to free his Majestie from feares and ielousies Doth this supple Gent. thinke to make or bring confidence which I hope in Gods goodnesse that the Pope will never attempt any thing in preiudice of his Majestie Surely Sir your hope is too weake a stay for our state to rest or trust vnto For what if the same great important and vrgent cases concerning Christian religion doe fall out wherein yee averr the Popes authority over Princes Then in that case I perceive the best answere wee shall expect from you will be the fooles proverbe non putarem For here againe you feede and foppe vs one with another of your hopes which wee hope will never be betweene our Soveraigne and the Sea Apostolike Is it not more then strange that this so provident coniecturer of future events should hope that that matter will neuer be which long hath beene continually is and I trust perpetually will be seeing that these same great important and vrgent cases concerning Christian Religion haue done and doe dayly fall out betweene our Soveraigne and the Sea of Rome called by him Apostolike Therefore it appeareth that the man hath lost his wits whilest he would obtrude his hopes The true conclusion is that for as much as these great and important cases are in continuall conflict and question betweene the Pope and his Majestie and that consequently the Authority of the Pope lyeth prest in dayly readinesse to represse and suppresse his Majestie vpon all occasions as it concerneth his Royall person for the preservation of his Life State and Dignity to assure himselfe of the vnviolable faithfulnesse of his Subiects so that must needs be accounted a disloyall and vnnaturall part for any subiect to be so seduced by hipocriticall pretences as to adhere to a forraine and fained clericall Primacy against his alleagiance love and duty towards his true Soveraigne Lord and King The Gent. vseth many glorious and plausible speeehes

to haue any iurisdiction power superiority preeminence or authority Ecclesiasticall or Spirituall within this Realme if he digest this then see how one thing draweth on another all our former differences are at once and in this one compounded also for if the Pope being a forraigne Prelate or Potentate be excluded from hauing any Ecclesiasticall power or Spirituall authority within this Realme Then our question of his preheminency or jurisdiction in repressing the exorbitant and pernicious excesse of great men as an Ecclesiasticall Iudge or Supreame Pastor direct or indirect is at an end clearely determined I doubt not but his excellent Majesty of his Princely care to bring home so many lost sheepe and to bosome them againe in his dearest loue will affoord them that fauorable interpretation which this there Aduocate and Orator requireth in their behalfe In the meane space not to loose what we haue got I returne vnto P. R. the like charge of making good of his word touching the Oath of Supremacy in the sence and distinction afore mentioned and therewithall might thinke it not reasonable any further to stricke a yeelding aduersary that by so voluntary an offer cleareth the cause from any further controuersie But remembring the nature and quallity of our adversary and the many winding and intricaking trickes he is vsed vnto in the canvassing of this or the like controversies I feare that this our reconciliation is rather seeming then substanciall and will suddainly vpon a small touch fall a sunder againe to as great a discrepance for howsoeuer he doth so franckly yeeld vnto his Majesty a supremacy of the Church in Ecclesiasticall causes as touching outward preseruation onely let him be but sifted a little in his meanings it will breake from him that he neuer purposed to strengthen the state and authority of our Soueraigne with any such power of absolute defence and protection which shall presently appeare by ministring vnto him some few questions I pray you Sir what Church and what Ecclesiasticall causes doe you consent to be within the Kings Royall preseruation is it incident and appropriate to his Princely Scepter to mayntaine the religion now established in his Dominions by making Lawes for enforcing subjects to an vniforme allowance and profession thereof by punishing Recusants according to Iustice and by employing all his powers to suppresse the oppugners or Conspirators against the same Dareth he to abide by this will he henceforth justifie this preseruation and that by his religious oath which hitherto the impoy-soned pens of these Iesuited spirits haue not spared odiously to tearme a cruell persecution wee haue shaked him already from his attonement with vs in this poynt He will tell vs plainely That the Church and Ecclesiasticall cause which he authorized the Prince to protect and preserue is onely the Catholike Church and Religion and then as if orbs and vrbs were all one that the Catholike is the Romish so that vnlesse the King will turne Leigeman with a kinde of vazilage to the Sea of Rome his right of Supremacy in the outward preseruation of the Church which this man dareth assure vs that all Catholikes in England will easily accord vnto must be denied him as not due and proper to the Title of his Regality Papacy is the pole-starre of all their contemplations It is the Centure whereunto are carried and cleaueth fast all their drifts and disputations And no further shall any Prince hold power especially in Ecclesiasticall causes which are all bosomed vp in the breast of his Holinesse then the same shall serue in a sub-ordination to the advancing and exaltation of that most imperious Romish Hyerarcy Nay their temporall authority also must be kitbed stinted and subjugated by that vntollerable yoake of Popish vsurpation except it should be made plyant ranged and accommodated In ordine ad dominum Papam Then not regarding P. R. his assurance of the voluntary submissions and subscriptions of all Catholikes of England to the Kings Supremacy according to the limitation or interpretation aforesayd we may well assure our selues that no English Papists finding this supremacy of defence and preseruation to tend to the subversion and extirpation of their idolatrous Religion will euer yeelde oath to keepe fayth thereunto Yet hauing closed with him in a full consent vnto this position that euery Prince hath Iure divino the supremacy of outward preseruation of the Church and Ecclesiasticall causes within his Territories and Dominions let it be remembred that he neuer hereafter scandalize the proceedings and execution of Iustice in England against the refractaries and treacherous oppugners of the Religion established in this Realme sith the same is the lawfull and necessary act of a well warranted and acknowledged Supremacy from which our publicke profession of Fayth is to receiue protection and preseruation I cannot but conceiue that this Clearke P. R. wil be shent and receiue some checke for his Doctrine For out of question if his Holinesse and Cardinall Bellarmine haue enkindled their displeasures against Mr. Blackwell the Arch-Priest for allowing the Oath of Alleagiance which contayneth onely an acknowledgment of the hereditary rights of temporall Soueraignity whereunto naturall duty in respect of relation doth bind each subject How much more heynously will it be taken that this Arch-Iesuite as if both their Arches had slipped from them at once should so confidently condiscend to this artickle of Spirituall Supremacy in the sence qualification or moderation before expressed He cannot escape the blame of forgetting or forsaking of his principles neyther can he euer salue his offence by any wily Interpretation or beguiling distinction His direct and indirect his absolute and conditionall his mediate and immediate his simpliciter and secundum quid or quatenus and the like which in all his discoursiue argumenting doth make his way for him through many Obstacles whilst he treadeth out vnto vs his maze of Circuler shifts and manifold euasions can touching this his confession or protestation haue no place or serue him to any stead because knowing aforehand how the case standeth in euery circumstanciall or considerable perticularity he hath to the King of England within his seuerall Dominions adjudged the Supreame gouernment of causes Ecclesiasticall as in the office and care of preseruing the Church with the fayth and Doctrine thereof from all wronges or corruptions Forraigne or Domesticall I encroach not vppon him by inferences and constructions I onely take that which he so fully and clearely gyueth and do challenge him that what he hath deliuered vnto vs for his judgement and resolution and that in high termes and vanting and flaunting of his aduantages therein He will notwithstanding any reprehension or retreite from the Pope or Bellarmine still with the like brauery and constancy mayntaine vnto the end but shall I disclose a secret or rather a wonder vnto the World What if the very same Author who so boldly assumeth and assureth at this time for all Catholikes the Title of Spirituall Supremacy

of the humble acknowledgment of all temporall dueties to his Majestie and iumpeth with the Mittigator in opinion that it is not vnpossible for the Catholikes to conforme in Subiection to the Civill goverment and yet to reserve their consciences to the religion of Rome if this were affirmed of such Countries only where the Prince is of the Romish faith or of this Nation whilest the Pope had some hold and prevalency in the same then perhaps we might come neere to an agreement in this poynt but where the Prince and Pope are of religion so repugnant and opposite where the Pope is quite secluded and expelled frō any power Eccleslasticall or Civill and where the Prince as in the right of the Crowne is the defender and preserver of the faith within his Kingdome there we are taught by experience and directed by reason that the entertayning and professing of Papacy is the renouncing and repressing of regallity I weigh not the allegation that is made of the long continuance for well-neere a thousand yeares of the admission and permission of the Popes Superioritie in this Realme and how the same for all that space stood vn-offensive vnto this state for whilest there was either subiugaiton or coniugation of the two powerfull commands their contrarietyes and repugnances could not be so apparently discovered as they be now manifested by the distinguishment and finall dissevering of them into their proper natures rights and limitations I haue read diligently that great Volume avouched by this Gent. written with much labour to this poore purpose of declaring the Papal pre-eminēce within this Cuntry ever since the first conversion thereof to Christianity vntill the reigne of King Henry the eight The Authors sedulity and devotion may amongst the Birds of the same feather receiue his reward at the least of commendation but I will vndertake with one short answere consisting but of two parts to runne my pen through every line of that huge Bulke blotting and putting out whatsoeuer he hath painted foorth for the best shewe First forbearing to refute their Fables and taking their owne accompt of time which they make of the entry of the Romish Religion into this Land it is euident that the mystery of iniquity and the Antichristian arrogancy of the Romish prelacy was then reuealed and exalted into worldly pompe So as they then sending of Factors into these parts was but to Conquer the simple people of that vninstructed age to the bondage and yoake of Rome ' And therefore no maruaile if they were still held in the same or the like subjection in the succeeding times wherevnto they were at the first surprized by politicall handling and with much simulation of piety trayned one for intromitting and acceptation thereof and I cannot invent a fitter resemblance whereby to represent the cunning carriage of that plot in those dayes then that which Cardinall Bellarmine hath vsed and applyed in this question Which is the crafty composition and commixture of Images set by Iulian the Emperour of himselfe and the panim gods coupled and combined together in his Imperiall banner for as that Emperour vnder the shew of reuerence due to be performed to himselfe though to haue seduced those good Christians to the honoring of Idols so in those darke and vndiscerning times of our fore-fathers by the tempering and ioyning of the Christian Religion and the Antichristian vsurpation their simplicity was abused and they by subtile practises wrought vnto such a credulity as that together with the sweete comforts of Christ they sucked in at once the poyson of Romish Idolatry and the oppression of papacy The second part of my answere is that notwithstanding such encroachment of the popedome vnto this Kingdome wherein by stealing steppes and sundry Hypocriticall passages that had gotten good footing keeping in the meane while both Prince and people in an ignorant devotion and a dread of damnation Yet did the Kings of England from time to time feele themselues and their Soueraigne state to be enthralled and wronged by the ouer-awing and busie intermedling of that vniversall pastorship and therefore omitted not vppon all occasions to make knowne their dislikes and reluctations to vphold the course and force of the ancient Common Law to defend and put in practise the Imperiall prerogatiues of their Crowne and to restrayne the exorbitant ambition of the sea of Rome by prouiding statutes vnder grieuous penalties against the Subjects of this Land that in derogation of the Iustice gouernment and regall rights of the King did make recourse vnto Rome by way of appeale impetration or other pretences contrary to the naturall obligation of their faith and allegiance But it will be sayd how came it to passe then that the Subjects held on their former orders and no whit refrayned from Rome yeelding still to the pope the same their dependency and acknowledgments That shall I also tell you the pope and Councell of Rome knowing right well how fully they had possessed all sorts of people with a blind zeale carried after idle Ceremonies and well pleasing superstitions and remembring that they had so seazed and fastned vpon their Conscience as that euery one held the saluation or damnation of his soule to consist in his obedience or disobedience to the Church of Rome did crosse and avoyde the execution of such states by decreeing and sending foorth their Ecclesiasticall execution of suspending and excommunicating of all Ministers of Iustice or other ministeriall persecutors whatsoeuer that should attempt to enforce or execute any such 〈◊〉 by this meanes of denouncing such terrors to the soule the mightinesse and authority of the pope grew dreadfull and powerfull vntill it pleased the Almighty God by the revelation of his truth and discouery of Popish falshoods to inspire with courage and magnanimity the heart of that Right Noble King H. 8. who finally without any feare of his thunderbots accomplished that worke of freeing this Realme from the grieuous butthen and heauy yoake of the popish Supremacy which diuers of his prodecessors Kings of England had often and much endeauoured and desired to do if their illightnings with grace and enablings with meanes had serued them thereunto Thus it is made cleare that the Popes authority neither at the first landing thereof vppon the Coast of this Kingdome which was not in the purer times but 600 yeares after Christ as themselues confesse when the Church of Rome was falne from sincerity neyther in the continuance and exercise of the same was lawfull allowable or beneficiall but rather intruded offensiue and prejudiciall vnto this state and for his motion of sampling our proceedings to the practise vsed in other Countries ouer Catholike Subjects in this poynt of excluding the Pope for intermedling temporally against Princes shewing that they will be ready to answere as much duty and allegiance to his Majesty as any such Catholike Subjects in any other Kingdome doth or is bound to doe He must know that he must then make