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 [Page 2] by Cardinall Bellarmine (whose actions haueBellum, 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 [Page 3] 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 [Page 5] 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 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 [Page 6] 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 [Page 7] 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 [Page 8] 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, [Page 9] 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 [Page 10] 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 [Page 11] 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 [Page 12] men which innouate or transforme them­selues. Now the reason of this pro­hibition is, that they which are desi­rous of nouelty, which trouble the present state, which transforme thē ­selues, Iesuita omnis homo, as the pro­uerbe is, and do that which our Saui­our blameth in the Gospell, compasse sea and land to make a proselite, these I say are not fit men to instruct our children in the feare of God and seruice of the King.

The fourth meanes to conuince this new opinion is taken from the practise of the orthodoxall: (for by such workes we may know the work­men;) whereby we shall see, that no particular faithfull persons haue euer resisted the King, otherwise then by patience; witnesses of this are the Is­raelites captiue in Aegypt, and the answere and behauiour of the Iewes, when Petronius would bring the Em­perours Image into their Temple. So that Zedechias, Eze. 17.16. the last king of the house of Dauid, was punished of God, for not keeping his oath of a [Page 13] tributarie King. As for the example of Constantine against Maxentius, it cannot bee drawne into any conse­quence, for it was a fact of one Soue­raigne against another Soueraigne. And as touching the subalternal Ma­gistrates, called the officers of the Crowne, though the defensiue right bee grounded on the law of nature, constant and vnchangeable, yet they neuer came to that point, but in case of all extremity. So Dauid is said by Abigall, 1. Sam. 25.28. that he fought the battels of the Lord, hee fortified himselfe with men and armes, enquired if the Inhabi­tants of Keilah would deliuer him to Saul; 1. Sam. 23.11. for there can none other thing be gathered there-from, but that hee would haue opposed the walles of the Citty against his enemy, if hee had bene the stronger in the Citty. With like modesty did the Priests be­haue themselues towards King Ioram, against whom they resisted, and shut the gates of Libnah, onely for that he would haue forced them commit idolatry, for it is written, that hee had [Page 14] not onely forsaken the Lord God of his fa­thers, 2. Chron. 21.10.11. but caused the inhabitants of Ie­rusalem to commit fornication, and compelled Iudah thereto. Examples far from attempting against the person and state of Kings, whose seruants they were: the Hebrews in the time of Pharoah, the Apostles in the time of Nero, the first Christians vnder Iulian the Apostata; our Sauiour himselfe, the patterne for all the faithfull to imitate, was enregistred from the wombe of the holy Virgin, payed tribute, answered before Pi­late, and his Apostles before Nero, ap­pealed vnto Caesar, without shunning the Royall iurisdiction. And if it had bene lawfull to attempt against the life of naturall Princes, among so many constant Martyrs which haue suffered persecutiō, would there not haue bene found some, that would haue tryed this meanes for the deli­uerance of their brethren? Was there not zeale enough in the Apo­stles to stirre vp their Disciples there­to? or eloquence enough in the Euan­gelists [Page 15] to perswade vnto murders? Let then these new Doctors be con­founded with shame, by the doctrine which euen they teach whom they call Heretikes,Art. 39. & 40. of the confession of the Re­formed Churches of France, Printed in the end of the booke of the Psalmes. who in the midst of fires and massakers haue published their confession, in the two last Arti­cles, of which are contained these words. For this cause he (to wit God) hath put the sword into the Magistrats hand, that he may represse the sinnes com­mitted, not onely against the second Ta­ble of Gods commandements; but also against the first: wee must therefore for his sake not onely endure that Superiours rule ouer vs, but also honour and esteeme of them in all reuerence, holding them for his Liefetenants and Officers, to whom he hath giuen in commission to execute a lawfull and an holy function. We there­fore hold that wee must obey their lawes and statutes, pay tributs, imposts, and other duties, and beare the yoke of sub­iection with a good and free-will; al­though they were Infidels, This condition ought not to be calū ­niated; for it is better to obey God then men, as is trea­ted in the next Chapter. so that the Soueraigne Empire of God, remaine in his entire. May it therefore please your [Page 16] Maiesty to iudge, that if your Prote­stant subiects haue beene so firme in their duty towards your Prede­cessours, of whom they haue bene so seuerely entreated, that in the midst of torments they haue blessed the King; What your Maiesty may ex­pect of them, being at this day their Benefactor and Protector, and by this degree to acknowledge what your Maiesty is to beleeue concer­ning their Religion towards their Creator and eternall Redeemer. And according to the doctrine of contra­ries your Maiesty may clerely see that they ingratefull of benefits receiued from the Kings your Predecessors, which attempt daily by word, wri­ting and by damnable effects, against the state & person of the Soueraigne, armed with such a power as he is: that those same without doubt haue be­fore-time enterprised very far against the seruice of their Soueraigne King, whose Administrators they haue too longtime bene, without rendring ac­count.

CHAP. II. Wherein the Authority of the Prince consisteth.

FORASMVCH as in this last age of the world the malice of men is so great, that they dispute the cleerest princi­ples, bring in new Maximes and call into question things most assured: We must deale with them as our Sa­uiour did with the Pharisies,Mat. 19.4.8. to con­uince whose errour in matter of di­uorce, he sendeth them backe to that which was practised in the begin­ning: teaching vs by his example to seeke out the truth in Antiquity, and in her originall. So doing, for the question in hand, wee shall finde that God the Creator of heauen & earth, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; Gen. 1. Mat. 28. Apoc. 19. re­seruing to himselfe the Empire ouer Spirits, for to sound the thoughts, dispose the wils, and giue law to his creatures, hath constituted vnder him a dignity, depending of his onely [Page 18] grace, which hee hath established on earth, for to put in excution his ordi­nances,1. Tim. 2.2. To the end that wee may lead a peaceable and quiet life in all godlinesse and honesty. To the obseruation of which ordinances, this Soueraigne power is so much the more obliged, for that the Prince sinneth not by transgression onely, but also by ex­ample, whereunto subiects vsually conforme themselues. For this cause is he commanded to obserue the Law in these words,Deut. 17. Hee shall write for him a Copie of this Law in a booke, and after, He shall take heed to all the words of this Law, and to these statutes for to do them. Now this commandement is giuen to the King, not as to a pri­uate person, to whom it sufficeth to subiect himselfe to it, but as to a king, for to reduce others to obedience thereto. By vertue whereof he ought to chastise those Ecclesiasticall per­sons that bee corrupters of true Reli­gion,Deut. 13. according as it is written. When there shall arise in the midst of thee any Prophet or dreamer of dreames (such as [Page 19] are the practitioners of the chamber of meditations) and shall giue thee a signe or wonder, &c. saying, Let vs goe after other Gods, &c. That Prophet or dreamer of dreames shall bee slaine, be­cause hee hath spoken to turne you away from the Lord your God, &c. 2. King. 11.15.17. So King Ioash and all the people sware, to keepe the Law Politicke and Ecclesi­asticall. And if the obseruation of this Law is prescribed vnto Princes themselues, where is that subiect that dare dispense therewith? And if the worke-man-ship doe borrow his dignity from the worke-man, who is he can accuse it of superfluity or de­fect?Iren. lib. 2. cap. 47. Wee know (saith Saint Iraeneus) that the Scriptures are perfect, for they are indited by the word of God, and by his Spirit. For these causes the Kings power is limited vnto this onely or­dinance, which conteineth in two Tables the rules of piety and iustice: the most solide and fundamentall pil­lars of State, which at all times, those men haue kept inuiolate, which in all things else obeyed the Prince. So [Page 20] Daniel and his companions refused to prostrate themselues before the image of Nebuchadnesar. Dan. 3. And the holy Apostles Peter and Iohn, in the execution of their charge,Act. 4.19. Ioh. 9.22. said, that it is better to obey God then men. In like manner, the Mid-wiues are praised for that they would not execute the decree of Pharaoh, Exo. 1.17.21. and put the He­brew children to death, for that was against the second Table of the Law of God, Thou shalt not kill, Therefore it is written:Mat. 5.21. And because the Mid­wiues feared God, therefore hee made them houses: So said that constant Martyr,2. Maccab. 7.30. I will not obey the Kings com­mandement, but I will obey the comman­dement of the Law that was giuen vnto our fathers by Moses. So for obey­ing man (although he was a Prophet) rather then God,1. King. 13. the man of God was torne in pieces of a Lyon. The impiety and wickednesse of Iezabels commandement, who had ordeined that the Prophets should bee slaine, hindred Abdias from executing it. For seeing that the king in his king­dome, [Page 21] is as a Father of a family in his house, and God will haue vs to loue him more then our owne bloud: it sufficeth the king that we render vn­to him the seruice that children owe to their most deere parents, seeing that the honour due vnto him is comprehended vnder the name of Father and Mother. Which is a thing so imprinted in the hearts of good men, that the light of Lawyers, Papi­pinian, though he were not instructed in the Law of God, refused the Em­perour Caracalla to excuse the mur­ther that hee had committed in the person of his brother, saying, that it is not so easy to excuse an homicide, as to commit it. By which answere he sheweth, that they doe falsely call themselues Christians, which cano­nize murtherers, and easily approue the Parricides which they haue hard­ly executed. And forasmuch as such bounds are set by him, which giueth and taketh away Kingdomes, on such conditions as pleaseth him, good Princes which haue desired the pre­seruation [Page 22] of their estates, haue not hindred the course of iustice, nor bound the hands of the Magistrates established by them, when they would execute their charges; Haue also taken in good part the admo­nitions, that the Pastors of the Church haue giuen them for the ob­seruation of piety: for as it is said of the great Citty Troy, that it could not bee destroyed till first they had lost their Tutelary Gods.Peritura Troia per­didit pri­mum Deos. So may wee aswell and with more suerty say, that it is a most assured token of the sub­uersion of a State at hand, when Re­ligion is ill obserued, and iustice not well administred. The Prince then is not aboue the Law of God, for it commeth from his Superiour: nei­ther aboue the law of nature, which cannot bee abolished but with the abolishing of nature it selfe. But that which is said in the Ciuill Law,L. Princeps de [...]gibus [...] aequo §. [...] ad Trebel. that the Prince is free from the obserua­tion of the Law, is meant from the so­lemnities of the Law, and from con­straint, which things are denied to [Page 23] euery particular or priuate person,l. pen. de l­ [...]ptis. 3 c. de [...]estam l. ex imperf. de leg. 3. in whose mouth onely resteth humble supplication, and who are armed onely with a Placet. This may also bee vnderstood of the priuiledges granted by Kings, which can neuer be extended against the Prince, who hath the right to reuoke them when they are abused, and may abrogate the lawes of which himselfe is the authour;L. digna vox de leg. liuing himselfe in the meane time after the lawes, so long as they continue for the subiects; buying ac­cording as the price goeth, and ex­posing his treasury according to the statute. And that place of Samuel maketh not to the purpose, hoc erit ius Regis, which speaketh of the right of rigour, which is extreame iniurie: and is of the customary right of ill and way-ward, and not of good Kings. So said the Emperour The­odosius, to submit the Empire to the Law, is some-thing more then to cause it to be obserued by others;L. digna vox de leg. for there is no commandement higher then to command the Prince, nor [Page 24] any more difficult, then to command a mans selfe. For this reason good Princes, the better to containe their subiects in their duties, haue brought themselues to liue according to the Lawes, principally according to them which are of the State, and fundamentall of their soueraignty; as said the Emperour Traian, girding the sword on his high Constable, Draw it forth (saith he) for mee, if I command according to the Lawes: but if I do the contrary, employ it against mee. But although such subalternall Ma­gistrates, are aswell Officers of the Empire, as of the Emperour, yet it is not therewith permitted them to controule the actions of their Soue­raigne; especially when they are per­sonall vices, which passe not into ha­bitude, and which bring not ruine to the whole state; and such as Princes render an account of to God alone. Tibi soli, Psal. 51. said Dauid, though hee had caused his seruant Ʋrias to bee slaine, and committed adultery with Bath­sheba: No Officer of the Crowne [Page 25] spake to depose him, neither any par­ticular person to bring him to iudge­ment, much lesse strangers, in any de­gree whatsoeuer in another territo­ry, who in these times, being very liberall of the rights of others, abuse that place of Saint Paul, Rom. 13. which en­ioyneth obedience to the Prince for cōscience sake, to cause the first Table of the Law to be transgressed, & dis­pense subiects of their oath of Al­legeance due vnto Caesar, and so cause the second Table of the Law to bee violated for their hurt: being carried away, according to the nature of the errour, to the vice of two extremi­ties, the meane of which consisteth in fiue royall prerogatiues. The first is a power to make Lawes,L. 55. v. C. de leg. Tit. c. de ve [...]stig. without the cōsent of any subiect necessary there­to: & consequently to coine mony, to giue it value, to stamp his armes vpon it, & to impose taxes according to the necessity of the State: Secondly, to make peace or warre, be it to succour his allies, or to reuenge an iniury,L. vt Armo­rum Auth. de armis l. 1. ad l. Iul. de Ambitu l. ius gladij de reg. iu. Doct. in l. 3. de iurisd. omnium. whosoeuer haue committed it: Third­ly, [Page 26] to create Magistrates, and to esta­blish or suppresse them: Fourthly, to take knowledge of, and to iudge ap­peales definitiuely. And lastly, to haue power of life and death ouer all sorts of inhabitants in his kingdome, ouer all persons resident within his Dominions, and generally to dispose according to the lawes of their goods, life, & reputation. Of which points whosoeuer pretēdeth himselfe to be exempt, resisteth the ordinance of God, and are guilty of high Trea­son, what pretext soeuer they bring.

CHAP. III. That Ecclesiasticall persons were subiect to Princes, before the comming of our Lord IESVS CHRIST.

THAT is not new which is frō the beginning of the world, 1. Ioh. 2.7. 2. Ioh. 5. saith Saint Iohn. Teneaut Sa. Iesuite in his A­phorismes Printed at Antwerp. v. Princeps v. Clericis. Wherefore we cannot sufficiently detest the new opi­nion of the Iesuits, who teach that Ec­clesiastical [Page 27] persons cānot be condem­ned for high Treason, because they are not the Kings subiects. To conuince which heresie, & to hinder that none (following this doctrine) doe any more attēpt against our Kings, let vs lead these Pharisies to that which was at the beginning. We haue no Hysto­rian more antient then Moses, who from the creation of the world vntill his death in the yeare of the world 1493. telleth vs of no other superi­our power, but of the Prince, ouer all the inhabitants of his Territory. And accordingly hereunto,Exod. 20. to the 25. Chapter. the Law was giuen of God to Moses the Duke and King of the people, and not vnto Aaron: acording as it is written,Ex. 24.7.8. that Moses tooke the booke of the Couenant, and read it in the hearing of the people, &c. Tooke the bloud of the couenant and sprinkled it vpon the people. And whē the chiefe Priest with all the visible Church had committed idola­try about the golden Calfe, Moses reproued him, saying to Aaron. Ex. 32.21. What did this people vnto thee, that thou hast [Page 28] brought so great a sinne vpon them. To which reproofe Aaron answered him not, that he could not erre, nor his Church, nor that hee iudged the whole world, and was not to be iud­ged of any: but acknowledged him­selfe to be in the State, and conse­quently the Princes subiect, asketh him pardon, saying: Let not the wrath of my Lord waxe fierce: The like re­prehension Eleazer the chiefe Priest, did take in good part, when Moses said vnto him,Leuit. 20. Yee should haue eaten it in the holy place as I had commanded. In the same manner also as touching the iurisdiction, for it was wholly in the hands of Moses, Exod. 18.13. &c. as being the Prince of the people; iudging in person, as in times past the Kings of France haue done, or ordeining Iudges to take knowledge of causes, which respect either the Church, or processe be­tweene man, and man: Afterwards also there was references & appeales in cases of difficulty, which returned to Ierusalem. 2. Chron. 19.8. Deut. 17.8. And to himselfe was gi­uen of God, the direction of the [Page 29] seruice and order Ecclesiasticall, and not to the Priests. Against which truth, it will not serue the turne to say, that Moses was of the family of Leui, for seeing hee reproued the chiefe Priests themselues, it was not in quality of a Leuite, who had bene inferiour to the least of the Priests, if hee had not further had the qua­lity of Duke. So Dauid a man after Gods owne heart (who tooke not vpon him aboue his charge) hauing named Salomon his son for successor, gathered a Councell,1. Chro. 23 numbred and distributed to the Priests, their char­ges and offices, described in that place, which consisted not in com­manding but in their administring before the Lord: For to purifie all ho­ly things, for the shew-bread, and for the fine flower, for the meate offering, and for the vnleueaned cakes, and to offer burnt-offerings, 2. Chro. 6. &c. Salomon likewise dedi­cated the Temple, and consecrated it to God, in presence of all the Church: And himselfe conceiued prayer and blessed the people, the Priests being [Page 30] present. Iosaphat also hauing broken downe the groues and banished the seruice of images,2. Chron. 19.3.8.11. Hee established in Ierusalem (namely) for the iudgement of the Lord, Amariah the Priest, and Zebadiah a ruler of the house of Iuda, for all the Kings affaires: 2. Chron. 17.6. and in the third yeare of his raigne he sent of his princi­pall Gouernours, and the Leuites with them, for to teach the people. And of Iosias it is written:2. King. 23. And the King stood by the pillar, and made a couenant before the Lord, &c. and it is added, then the King commanded Helkijah the high Priest, &c. Who said not that the King had nothing to do to command him in matters which concerned the seruice of God, but fulfilled the Kings commandement: Likewise it is said of King Ezechias, 2. Chro. 29 Hee opened the dores of the house of the Lord, in the first yeare, and in the first moneth of his raigne, and repaired them, &c. called for the Priests and Leuites, and said vnto them. Heere me yee Leuites, sanctifie now your selues, and sanctifie the house of the Lord. Againe, Now I purpose to make a [Page 31] couenant with the Lord God of Israel, &c. Then he said to the Priests, the sonnes of Aaron, that they should offer vpon the Altar: he appointed the Leuites in the house of the Lord, &c. Then He­zekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering vpon the Altar. Also he saith, Now yee haue consecrate your selues to the Lord come neere and offer the sacri­fices and praises, &c. Againe,2. King. 18.4. Hee tooke away the high places, brake the images, & cut downe the groues, and brake in peeces the brasen serpent that Moses had made. And he gathered together the whole Church, and wrote letters to Ephraim, and Manasses,2. Chro. 30 that they should come to Ierusalem to celebrate the Passeouer, &c. For the King (marke it) and his principall Officers with all the congrega­tion had held a counsell in Ierusalem, to celebrate the Passeouer in the second moneth: 2. Chron. 31.3. 2. Chro. 35 1. King. 2.27. Nehe. 8.8.13. the Postes therefore went (note it) by commission from the King. Also hee prouided for the sacrifices as did Iosias, who established the Priests in their charge; yea Salomon deposed the Priest Abiathar. And Nehemias re­stored [Page 32] 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 [Page 33] 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 [Page 34] 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 Ʋzziah, 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 [Page 35] 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 [Page 36] 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 [Page 37] 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 [Page 38] 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,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 [Page 39] 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 [Page 40] 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 [Page 41] 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 [Page 42] 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 [Page 43] 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 Lib. 1. Tit. 5. them to rei­terate Baptisme: to paint or graue on earth the Lib. 1. Tit. 7. image of our Sauiour, And in the Nouels the Emperour ordai­neth, of the punishment of Ecclesiasticall persons Nou. 123. ca. 20. euen by the whip. Of the cre­ation and consecration of Byshops, That Synods Nou. 123. ca. 10. should bee held euery yeare. Forbiddeth to celebrate the mysteries in priuate Nou. 58. houses. Item ordaineth, that Bishops 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 [Page 44] 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 Ʋni­uersalis 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 Ʋandales; Italy in horrible confusion, 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 [Page 45] Gensericke King of the Ʋandales, 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 [Page 46] 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. [Page 47] 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. Vbi (que) 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 [Page 48] 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 [Page 49] 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 [Page 50] 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 [Page 51] 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, at Arles, and the sixt most famous of all at Francfort, in which he himselfe was present in person, and there condem­ned the errour of Felician, and the Councell of Nice, falsely called the [Page 52] seuenth generall Councell.Sigeb. in the yeare 773. Now in this place it is worth the obseruing, that the election of Byshops and Arch-bishops, yea of the Bishop of Rome, was subiect to the confirmation of the Emperour, & for want of inue­stiture made by him, they should not haue bene consecrate, as the Canons do witnesse,Can. Vota. can. Aga­tho. 63. dist. where wee read the con­firmation of Saint Ambrose by the Emperour Ʋalentinian. From this ancient prerogatiue, common to the Emperours, it commeth, that Charle­magine hauing parted the Empire, and agreed with the Emperour of the East, assembled a Councell at Rome, that hee might make passe a new title in his person, and an acknowledge­ment by the Clergy, touching this authority to confirme Byshops, which from all antiquity belonged to the Emperours his predecessors. Whence it is manifest that the Popes haue ab­surdly termed this declaration and acknowledgement a priuiledge and fauour of Rome, or gratification to King Charles the Great; for it is a [Page 53] right and prerogatiue, common, antient and Diuine. And at that time was made the Cannon Hadrianus, Can. Hadri­anus. Can. in Synodo. 63. distinct. and after th [...] which beginneth In Sy­nodo: which truth is farre from the doctrine of the Cardinall Iesuite, who would faine perswade the peo­ple, that the authority of Empe­rours and Kings is grounded on the good liking and fauour of the Pope, and that they cannot vse the same lon­ger then it pleaseth him.

Now a while after crept in the question, that so much troubleth the world, about the interpretation of these wordes of our Sauiour. This is my body.

For the cleering of which point, and to know the meanes whereby a Christian man Communi­cates in the merite of the death and Passion of our Lord and Sa­uiour; King Charles the Balde, who beganne to raigne in the yeare eight hundred fourty and one, went not out of his owne kingdome to seeke the vnderstanding of those wordes [Page 54] of the Gospell in the Court of Rome, but consulted with one of the most learnedst Clegy-men of his subiects named Bertram a Priest, whose dis­course wee haue yet, worthy to bee preserued; for by it wee may learne that the opinion pretended to be new in these daies, was as then esteemed most ancient. And if it would please the Disciples of Loyola, to referre themselues to this good Priest, there would be no more disputing in France about the Sacramental words, neither should wee debate so much about hoc est, yea if they were sent for the peace of the Church. Thus wee haue shew­ed, how our Kings haue maintained their right and authority during the two first races; in which time was preached none other doctrine then that of the ancient Canons, which haue these words, It is a generall pacti­on Can. quae contra 8. dist. 93. & in summa 94. dist. c. qui culpa­tur 23. q. 3. textus & gl. cap. Si Episc. 18. dist. of humane society to obey the Prince. Which was confirmed by the exam­ple of the King of Israel, who com­manded Hilkijah the high Priest, and by the testimony of Saint Hierome, [Page 55] saying: Wee must Cap. principibus 23. q. 5. be faithful to Prin­ces and Superiour powers, otherwise none can hope for reward at Gods hands. Now among other Kings, the Canonists themselues say, that the King of France is the Cardin. Clem. 1. pr. de immu­nit. Eccl. King of Kings, that he shineth among others as the morning starre Bard. ca. 1. §. 1. de prohi. feud. alien. Idem. Consil. 415. part. 1. Notwithstanding the great extent of countries that the King of Spaine pos­sesseth at this present, by the meanes in history declared. For yet at this day he is your Maiesties Leige-man, both for Maiorca, Petrus Iac. in pract. sub. rubr. de success. reg­num vers. item nō ad­uertunt. De Grassalio 1. iure. li. 1. Regaliar. a Fiefe of Ma­galon, a Church of Gaule Narbonnois; and for the Earledome of Flanders, which belongsGaguin. li. 4. & 5. c. 1. Bald. Anth. statu­imus, v. iuxta hoc. C. de Episc. & Cler. to the iurisdiction of the Parliament of Paris, and is chiefest of the three Earledomes numbred among the Peeredomes of France. Neither can the Kings renun­ciation being prisoner make to the contrary, forasmuch as the feare of being still detained, hindred it to bee a full consent, and maketh the preten­ded ratification; for the Kings chil­dren were then prisoners in Spaine, Ita (que) semper suberat metus causa. Imo [Page 56] per filios pater plerum (que) magis torque­tur; and theCardin. consilio 137. incipiens Redemptor. Mar. soz. consilio 53. example of the King of Cyprus serueth well to this pur­pose. Secondly, the King of Spaine cā ­not preuaile with this consent, be­cause the right and iurisdiction there­of being a royallLucas de Penna l. quicun (que) 11. lib. Cod. de omni a­gro de sero. demaine belon­ging to the Crowne, cannot be aliena­ted. This royall dignity so high ad­uanced in euery kingdome was the cause that the Canonists made no difficulty (as in these daies the Iesu­ites do) to acknowledge the King for the Ʋicar of IESVS CHRIST in his owne Felinus ca. cum non liceat de praescr. Bal. cap. signifi­cantibus de off. delegati. Kingdome, yea they entituled him corporall God, and Gods Bald. de loco & pro­hibit feud. alien. & de pace Con­stantiae. delegate vpon earth, these are their termes. We haue had also many kings in such re­putation with the Clergy, that no Prelate aduentured to approue parri­cides, or to absolue their subiects from their obedience, but haue Ca­nonized them, and inrolled them in heauen. Such do Hystories report to bee king Dagobert, Charles the Great, and Saint Lewis; vnto which number, mauger the enemies of the State, wee [Page 57] will adde Henry the Great, your Ma­iestes father, an excellent and most va­liant Prince and Martyr. In like num­ber is acknowledged in this king­dome certaine markes and testimo­nies of a speciall fauour of God granted to our Kings; the gift of hea­ling the Kings-euil, the oyle of vncti­on, the Flower-deluces, and the Ori­flambe or holy-standerd of France, whereas all antiquity, fabulous or true, haue giuen but one Palladium to great Troy, but one Buckler to stately Rome, and but one signe of the Crosse in heauen for a presage of victory to the good Emperour Constantine. Which prerogatiues acknowledged by Popes, caused Innocent the fourth to grant tenne daies of indulgenceThom. 4. sent. q. 19. art 3. in sol. vlt. arg. gl. in. v. tenere­tur in pro­em. prag. sanct. to them that should pray for the King, and Clement added an hundred more. Now for asmuch as the King of France is so absolute, thence it cōmeth that his kingdome is not reckoned a­mong the Fiefes▪ for he doth homage to none but to God of whom he hol­deth his Crowne: & because all other [Page 58] fealtyCap. 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 Soue­raignePan. 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 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 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 cō ­tra ius. of custome against right; these words [Page 59] 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 Lucan Pater vr­bi (que) mari­tus. Plutar. in institut. Traiani. Luc. de Penna. l. quicun (que) 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 TemporallBellar. 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 Can. Si Episc. 18. dist. c. de reb. 12. q. 2. c. pastoralis ducto argu­mento ab ordine lite­rae §. cum. a. de off. de­leg. the [Page 60] King then the Prelate. The same is said of a Byshop holding a Manour in fee of the King, hee oweth vnto him obedience ratherGl. 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 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 itL. 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 haueC. 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 extrauagantCan. 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 [Page 61] 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 consideredDu 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,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 pretendCap. 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,Bald. 1. vectigalia C. de vecti­gal. it being a thing granted [Page 62] 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 theBald. ca. cum ve­nissent de eo qui mit­tiuit. defense of the cō ­mon-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 ofClem. Si benefici­orum. Clement saith, that the same is ordi­narily practised in France. Contrarie­wise the Pope cannotDecretū 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 ofGuag. l. 9. c. 3. & li. 7. cap. 3. Lewis the 11 [Page 63] 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,Cap. quae in Ecclesia­rum ca. Ec­clesiae de constit. c. 2. quanto de iudicijs. no though it be in fauour of the Church, so farre is hee fromCap. si quis 17. cap. de iure pa­tron. gran­ting them the right to possesse them: yet notwithstanding the king may do both the one and the other, as is con­fessed in theGuag. lib. 7. c. 3. Councell of Basill, in the title of Annates. Also after the opi­on of Gaguin, this right to conferre Benefices is a prerogatiue so royall, that there is not any thing in a king­dome that doth more belong vnto the king. And that not by vertue of his being annointed, for notwithstanding the same, he remaineth still a meere lay-personCap. tua de decimis. according to the do­ctrine of the Canons. Wherefore the kings consent is requisiteSpecul. tit. de legat. Sect. nunc ca. dilectus 3. de praeb. can. cum in­ter de con­suetud. tit. de Annatis. Sect. Item quod dicta in prag. sanct. in the elections of Prelates, before they bee consecrated: According whereunto, the kings Attorney ought to bee cal­led in the election of the Abbot of of Mans, but if any did the contrary [Page 64] theCan. Hadrianus c [...]en synodo can. hinc est 16. q. 1. Guag. lib. 4. cap. 1. King might punish him. Vpon this right, common, antient, and Di­uine, proper to al Kings, are grounded the sentences of the Courts of Par­liament. Moreouer besides the con­ference of benefices, the king may hold andPanor. in repetite Sect. quia v. 10. col. 3. cap. extir­pand. de praehendis possesse them, and indeed hee the hath Canonry of S. Hillarie at Poitiers, of Saint Martin at Tours, Angers, and Mans. And although the King receiue not any order, the Gl. cap. Valentinia­nus 63. dist. Canonists neuerthelesse doe hold that the most Christian king, may ex­ercise the office of a Subdeane, & that Charls the 8. did vse the same whilst the Pope celebrated. Also the king pre­cedeth all hisPan. c. verum de soco com­pet. Innoc. c. Nouerunt de senten­tia excom­mun. prelates, as Panormitā and Innocent do hold, yea the prelates do owe vnto him liege homage, which C. minus & ibi Pan. de iuretur idem super. c. ve [...]ens in secundo notab. dicens Regem esse fundatum de iure communi. importeth fealty towards him, & against all without exception: And to shew that it is in quality of Byshops that they submit themselues, in ma­king their oath, they haue theGl. v. corporali c. vt circa de Elect. lib. 6. secundum Pan. c. laudabilem de frigidis. stole [Page 65] about their neck, their hand vpon the stomacke, and the booke of the Gos­pell before them. But Lay-men render homage kneeling, and their hands ioyned together. Also theyCan. si in morte 23. q. 8. ought to assist the King in his warres, and so by sentence giuen, it hath bene iud­gedIo. Gall. anni 1280. in fin. fol. 116. c. ex multa de voto. ibi (que) Panor. against the Byshop of Limo­ges. And they may bee depriued of their liuings forGuid. q. 39. Bened. c. Rainutius 2. decis. num. 459. Guag. lib. 6. c. 4. fellony: further it appertaineth to the King alone Aufrer. in repet. Clem. 1. in 4. reg. fal. 2. de off. or­din. Guido q. 62. v. cir­ca. Bened. v. vxorem 2. decis. num. 445. Fract. arest. art. 211. to giue pardon to them in case of crime, and to reforme the Church, C. 1. Ne sede va­cante Bart. 5. part. cath. consider 17. assembling for this effect his Prin­cesCygaut. tr. de factis princ. in regali. and Prelates, without requi­ring therein the Popes authority, as reporteth Vinc. Cygaut, saying: that he had receiued letters and commande­ment from the King to reforme the Franciscan Friars, & so is it practised or­dinarilyCap. Filijs 17. q. 7. in cases of notorious abuse. And finally, the King is alone Lord of all the TerritoryL. pupillus §. Teritorium de verb. sinif. l. 3. c. donatur lib. Cui. ad 53. C. de deretur. l. Nulli C. de episc. & Cler. of his kingdome [Page 66] Now territory is defined in the Ciuill Law, a space of land which boundeth the extent of euery Citty. So called because the Magistrate of the same giueth terrour, and can expell whom he plea­seth, out of his iurisdiction. Hence it commeth that if a Byshop take any one out of the enclosure of his Court, such taking shall beBal. & flor. l. sicuti §. Aristo Si seco, vindi. voide, and therefore they are toCan. ro­mana Sect. contrahen­tes de foro compet. l. 6. Can Episco­pus in casus posit. D. fo­ro compet. l. qui seruus Sect. Idem de Aedil. Ed. craue aide of the Iudges royall. Whereby may be gathered the mallice and fol­ly of those men that entitle a Byshop my Lord of Paris, my Lord of Char­tres, &c. For there is none but the king Lord of those places: yet true it is, that in some Prouinces, there are ByshopsCan Episcopus. Ne clerici vel mo. l. 6. Lords of the Territory, as is the Byshop of Rome, and some Byshops of Germany, against whom maketh the saying of Pope Nicholas in his eighth Epistle, that they which are both Kings and Priests vnder the Gospell, are members of the Diuell. Now whatsoeuer the Prelates pretend Can. cū Episcopus de off. or­din. lib. 6. Cui in [...] de Episco­and. it is certaine that they haue neither Territory nor iurisdiction, by disposi­tion [Page 67] of Law, neither any portion of Empire pure or mixt, such as is iuris­diction, witnesse the title De Episcopa­li audientia, different from the title De iurisdictione omnium Iudicum; vpon which the learned Cuias writing saith: Episcopi iurisdictionem non habent, nec fo­rum, nec apparitionem, nec executionem: And therefore there wholly remai­neth to Kings all markes of Soue­raignety. Yea, as the DoctorsCarol. de Grassa­lio è nouo iure. lib. 2. Regal. alle­gat can. propter & gl. v. ducibꝰ 33. dist. & gl. Adigere de iure pat [...] ▪ Ca­nonists do obserue, (of whom wee borrow that which followeth) the King alone and none other is Gods Vicar and Lieutenant generall in his Kingdome, & habet vim Apostoli, and they hold that hee hath authority to excommunicate. And as touching his person and the persons of his sub­iects, the Pope hath no powerExtra­uag. Meruit & in bulla ad aeternam Io. 2. Ex­trauag. fre­quentes in fin. de iudi­cijs. to excommunicate or curse them, as the Popes Clement the fifth, and Iohn the twentieth two themselues doe confesse: of which Cygaut Cygaut. tract. de factis princ. c. sententiae excommun. in fin. pre­tendeth to render a reason taken out of Hostiensis. And forasmuch as the family enioyeth the same rightsCap. Ec­clesia. l. 2. q. 2. gl. c. Cle­ricum 11. q. 1. as [Page 68] 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,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 [Page 69] 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 [Page 71] 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 [Page 72] 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, [Page 73] 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, [Page 74] 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 Ʋniuersity 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 Ʋirgil to bee cited to Rome, because he iudged him an Hereticke, in that he taught that there were An­tipodes, that is, people that inhabited [Page 75] 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 condemneth for a Hereticke whosoe­uer resisteth them.Gl. v. mul­torum can. vidua dist. 34. For by that ac­count, wee must beleeue the glosse which defineth her onely to bee a whore, that hath had to do with more then twenty and three thousand men; and that he that marrieth such a beast, meriteth remission of sinnes.Cap. inter opera cha­ritatis de spons. lib. 4. decretal. Wee ordaine (saith the pope) that for all such men as shall take common woemen out of the stewes, and marry them; that same shall profite them for remission of their sinnes, And how dare pope Gre­gory couple that abomination with the merite of the holy passion? It pertai­taineth onely to the mother of whore­domes, to enhanse her wares so high, & to giue course to such tresure. Now such and the like impostures of the Court of Rome, being knowne by the [Page 76] Christian Churches, caused men to appeale for some clauses and abuses in such decrees, and the King maintained himselfe and his people in the Christi­an liberty, without contradiction, till the yeare one thousand one hundred thirty seuen, in the raigne of Charles the Yong, whose constancy the pope would try, about the prouision of the Arch-bishopricke of Bourges: as like­wise of Phillip his successour, Anno one thousand one hundred eighty, against whom, pope Innocent stirred vp the King of England, and caused wars betweene them: And as for Lewis the ninth called also Saint Lewis because of his piety and iustice, who was king in the yeare one thousand two hundred twenty seuen, he gaue peace to the Albigenses, perceiuing (as Haillā saith) that they were hated of the pope, principally for that they cried out against the dissolute liues of Church-men: hee also tooke away the sale of Offices. To this holy Prince Histories ascribe these qualities, that hee was a gardian of the Lawes, a pro­tectour [Page 77] of the Church, the head of the Nobility, and Father of the People: Hee caused also the Byble to bee pub­lished in the French tongue. My Lord, your Maiesty is descended from this great prince, betweene his and your comming to the Crowne is so great a resemblance, that your sub­iects do hope for the same graces vn­der your authority, name, descent, age, place of Coronation, nature, in­struction, regency, publication of your Edict of peace, all agree: Hee be­ganne to raigne at twelue yeares of age, was crowned at Reines, remained vnder the regency of his mother, though shee was a stranger, and a Spa­niard. For the Regency. For Frenchmen are ashamed to referre lesse to the last will of their King, then did the Sicilians vnto theirs named Anaxillaus, Iustin. 4. who gaue for Regent to his sonne a slaue, that had bene faithfull vnto him: But in case of such a gouernement in whom else can there be found a more tender affection, then of the mother? or nee­rer, then taken out of the bowels? [Page 78] To come againe to our deliuerers, aboue whom appeareth most Phillip the fourth, surnamed the Faire, who in the yeare 1320. had to doe with a a prodigious monster of a man, pope Boniface the eighth, who wrote to the king in these termes.Annales Nicholas Giles. Wee will that thou know, that thou art our subiect, both in Spirituall and in Temporall things. To which the King answered, beginning thus:Sciat fatui­tas vestra, &c. Let your sottishnesse and fond te­merity know, that in Temporall things, we haue none but God for superiour, &c. And the King not content with this, commanded a Lord of Languedoc, an Albigeois, of the house of Nogaret, to seise vpon this pope: Which he did, and hauing cuffed him on the mouth with his gauntlet, cast him into prison, where he died, leauing behind him this Elogium or praise in diuerse hy­stories,Io. Andr. & Bald. c. 1. de feud. gl. ad 6. De­cretal. He entred into the Popedome as a Fox, raigned as a Lyon, and died as a Dog: For hee entred into such a phrensie, that hee gnawed off his owne hands with rage. O that the deceased King your Maiesties father were aliue, and [Page 79] that hee saw the letter of that ambiti­ous prelate, commented on by a Car­dinall Iesuite, who durst publish a booke of it; would he not haue com­manded that arch-hereticke to bee brought to him bound hand and foot, and cast into the prison of his palace, for to bee condemned and suffer the like execution, that the Legates of pope Benedict did before the pallace, after they had seene their Bulles torne in peeces, the 29 of Iuly,Papon. Ar­rest. lib. tit. 5. Arrest. 27. anno 1408 in the raigne of Charles the sixt, And what? do such men thinke they haue to do with children? Yea rather with a flourishing State, war-like, allied, peaceable, fortified with money and furniture for the warres? With God himselfe, protectour of the most de­solate widdow, and poorest Orphan? and therefore of the Regent of the children of his Annointed, and of the State, which by his grace hath now so long time subsisted: I returne to Boniface, and passe vnder silence that his Bull was in the presence of the King cast into the fire, by the [Page 80] Earle of Artois, that his Nuncio's were committed to prison, and prohibition made, that no man should carry mony to Rome, nor prouide any for dispatch of Benefices: that the King transfer­red the popes seate to Auignon, which remained there three score and foure­teene yeares after; that in those times were sixe Anti-popes, yea three at one time, all three deposed by the Empe­rour Sigismond: especially Iohn the 23 conuicted of horrible crimes, So was Clement the seuenth, who had sowed vp fiue Cardinals in sackes and cast them into the sea: and three more hee beheaded, and burnt their bodies to ashes, which hee caried euery where with him in chests, with Cardinal hats set on the same, that it might bee knowne what they were. And we must not omit, that Iohn the twentieth two was deposed for hauing vnaduisedly excommunicated the Emperour Le­wis of Bauiere. Since in the raigne of Lewis the eleuenth, pope Eugenius found himselfe agrieued at the prag­maticall sanction or confirmation of [Page 81] the decree made in the Councell of Basill for the election of Prelates, collation of Benefices, &c. But the King vsed a Soueraigne remedy, and which was ordinary with his prede­cessors: for he forbad that any money should bee carried to Rome, neither was that a light punishment, for it was found that the Pope drew out of France yearely a million of Gold,Suet. in vi­ta Iulij Cae­saris. which was the tribute that the Romans raised out of all the Gaules. Which might very profitably bee employed on Hospitals, Colledges, and Spittles in France, without passing any further. Against all these disorders many good Doctors haue exclamed, among others Saint Bernard and his schollers. Also Sauonarola a great and learned man among the Clergy, who was held to haue had the gift of prophesie, said to King Charles the eighth, that God called him into Italy for to reforme the Church: and in deed being before Rome, the walles of the Citty fell downe. Then hauing entred the Citty and brought forth his Cannon out of [Page 82] 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, [Page 83] 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 [Page 84] 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 [Page 85] 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 scar­crow 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 [Page 86] 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 [Page 87] 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 [Page 88] 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 [Page 89] examine the power 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, [Page 90] 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 [Page 91] 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 [Page 92] 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 [Page 93] 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 [Page 94] 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, [Page 95] 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 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, [Page 96] 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 [Page 97] 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 fi [...]menesse of the Church is equally found [...]d [...]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 fo [...]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 [Page 98] 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. §. quicun (que) dist. 4. shall finde confusion in heauen, amd shall not bee found in the number of the ser­uants [Page 99] 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 [Page 100] 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 [Page 101] 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 [Page 102] 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. Con. Oecum. 5. Yea the Patriarke of Rome Hadrianus greeted Tharasius Pa­triarke of Constantinople with the name of Vniuersall Patriarke, as also that name was granted vnto him by the Councell held in the yeare sixe hundred.Nic. 2. Ac. 2. Notwithstanding many ho­ly Bishops were a grieued at this title. So Gregory the Great,Greg. 4. Epist. 118. 19. & 7. li. 3. 74. 79. 80. Bishop of Rome writeth to Mauritius Emperour of Constantinople, letters worthy to bee reade of Princes, obserued of By­shops, and grauen in letters of gold in Churches, wherein among other things he saith,Idem lib. 16. Ep. 30. Paul. Diac. lib. 18. in Phoc. that such a man agreeth onely to Anti-christ, or his fore-runner. Notwithstanding soone after, the successour of great Gregory succeeded him not in opinion, receiuing from Phocas, the murtherer of Mauritius and vsurper of the Empire, the name of Vniuersall Byshop, in the yeare of our Lord 607, and of the world 4558. And at the same time, to wit, anno 613. [Page 103] Mahomet declared himselfe Prophet and Captaine of the Arabians. So am­bition as a secret enemy sate within the Church: and the open enemy, to wit Mahomet, made warre vpon it without, according to the Prophesie of Daniell. Whence tragicall effects haue followed, whereof we haue quo­ted some, in all Christendome: all through want of hauing kept the mo­desty of the Apostles and the Christi­an charity recommended by the holy Doctors of the Church, and written in the Canons:Can. 1. sedis dist. 99. & duobus seq. Let not the Bishop of the first seate be called Prince of Bishops, or chiefe Priest or the like, but simply Bishop of the first seate, and let not the Romane Bishop bee called Ʋniuersall Bishop. The reason is in the two Canons follow­ing. For such names puffe vp vanity, and hurt charity. The conclusion of this Chapter shall bee, that as vnder the Law, the offices of Priests and Le­uites was limited to perfumigations, vnleauened cakes, sacrifices, and in­terpretation of the Law of God: In like manner vnder the Gospell, our [Page 104] Lord gaue none other commission to to his Apostles and their lawfull suc­cessours, but to Preach the Gospell & administer the Sacraments to such as they found fit to receiue them, & to refuse them to the prophane, & to shut the out of the Temple: & not to con­fiscate, proscribe, or giue away the goods of other men, or entermeddle with affaires of State,L. repetita 41. in l. pla­cet & au­then. se (que) c. de Episco­pis & cleri­cis l. consu­ta. 23. c. de testamentis. against the Cō ­stitution of iustinian; Clerici ne militent, Let not Clergy-men medle with pub­lick actiōs; For (saith the Emperor) it is a shameful thing, for a Church-mā to shew himselfe skilfull in affaires of the Pallace.

CHAP. VIII. That Cardinall Bellarmine & other Ie­suites, set the Pope aboue that which is called God in Spirituall things.

THe name were a small matter, if this Primacy in order were not degenerated into Primacy in degree, & that which went side by side as cō ­panion were not set aboue as Maister, imitating that euil seruant,Mat. 24. who seeing his Maister frō home defer his cōming [Page 105] would make good cheere to the Mai­sters cost, beat & out-rage his fellows. Which S. Bernard found fault withall in his time, writing to Pope Eugenius. Know that thou art not Lord of Byshops, but one of them, Bern. Ep. ad Eugen. and that the Church of Rome it [...] Mother, but not Lady. Not­withstanding there be some Court-do­ctors at this day, which would teach the Gall ca [...]e Church to speak big & in steed of saying Mother, make her bee called Madam [...]; & would make vs for­get to say Abba Father, speaking to God▪ & Abimelec, my father the King, speaking of the Prince. But let our Churches remēber what was at the be­ginning, & that Salomō: knew as much as such men. Item that the Church of Rome hath no more priuiledge aboue the Gallicane Church thē that of [...]eru­salē aboue the Gentiles: & therfore she might cōtent herselfe with the name of sister, as did the Iewish speaking of the Church of the Gentils in these words. We haue a little sister & she hath no brests, Cant. 8.8. saith she in the Cāticles. Notwithstan­ding the Romish Church passing further [Page 106] calleth her selfe,Cap. Anti­qui. lib. 5. decret. tit. 33. de pri­uilegijs & excessibus. Mother, and Mistresse of all the faithfull, not considering that shee attributes to herselfe the quali­ties that Saint Iohn giueth to spirituall Babilon, which speaketh thus in the Reuelation, Reu. 18.7. I sit being Queene, and am no widdow, and shall see no mourning. But all particular and visible Churches are sisters of bloud, begotten of one same incorruptible seed, brought vp in the same Catholicke family, mem­bers of one and the same head, bran­ches of the same Vine, co-heires of the same succession, children of the Mistresse Sara, and not of the ser­uant Agar. Bern. Epist. 20. Wherefore the same Saint Bernard not being able any longer to endure that pride, crieth out. Already long ago, against the doctrine of Saint Pe­ter, yee haue enterprised domination ouer the Clergy, and against the doctrine of Saint Paul, yee beare rule ouer the faith of the whole world; but at this present yee adde something more, attempting aboue Religion: what remaineth more, but that yee command the Angels?

And in another place, They go ador­ned [Page 107] with the goods of the Lord, Bern. cant. serm. 33. without doing him honour: thence is that glittering of a Harlot, that apparel of Stage-players, that Royall furniture, gold on bridles, Take heed least they that say, they are the Sun, and Kings the Moone (duo Lumi­naria) bee not de­signed by S. Bernard. saddles, spurres, &c. That same is the Antichrist, which wil falsely call himselfe not onely the day but the mid-day, and will exalt himselfe, aboue that which is called God, or that is worshipped, whom the Lord IESVS will consume with the Spirit of his mouth, and destroy by the brightnesse of his comming: For it is he which is the true and Eternall mid-day, the Spouse & Aduocate of his Church: God aboue all blessed for euer and euer, Amen. Cap. solitae 1. decretal. tit. 33. de Maiori­tate.

Now that which moued this holy man to giue this name to the ambiti­ous, is that which is written in the E­pistle to the Thessalonians. That day shall not come, Thess. 2.3.4.8. except there come a depar­ting first, and that that man of sinne bee reueiled, that sonne of perdition, which opposeth himselfe, and exalteth himselfe against all that is called God, or that is worshipped: so that heedeth sit as God in the Temple of God, behauing himselfe as if hee were God. Out of which truth [Page 108] it followeth that Cardinall Bellarmine by his writings figureth forth that mā of sin, for there is nothing in heauen nor in earth, which he submitteth not to him.

1 First of all, all Bishops conside­dered eitherCan. si Papa. dist. 40. can. ne­mo causa. 9. q. 3. Gal. 2. Act. 11. assembled together, or separately, who dare not say to him, why doest thou, whatsoeuer seemeth him good? Against the practise of S. Peter, who receiued the reproofe of S. Paul, & rendred a reasō to the Church of Ierusalem, for that he had Preached the Gospell to the Gentiles. Where­fore Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, in the yeare of our Lord sixe hundred and foure, compared such aGreg. li. 4. Epist. 82. ad Iohan. [...]e [...]unatore Pa riarch. Constanti­nopolit. Idem. lib. 6. c. 194. & registro ad Mauriti [...]. man to Lucifer, who said in the 14 of Esay, that hee would mount aboue the starres, For (saith he) what else are the Bishops of the Ʋniuersall Church, thy brethren, but starres of hea­uen, before whom thou wouldest preferre thy selfe by a high name (to wit, Bishop of Bi [...]hop) what other thing sayest thou, but (that which Lucifer said) I will ascend vp to heauen, and will exalt my throne [Page 109] aboue the starres of heauen. For this great Gregory knew that which Saint Peter from the Lord IESVS had commanded in his Catholike Epi­stle,1. Pet. 5. Bee yee subiect one to the other, and enioineth Pastors to feed their flocks, not as hauing domination ouer the Chur­ches: 1. Cor. 14.12. and Saint Paul declareth, that the Spirits of the Prophets, are subiect to the Spirit of the Prophets. But these Do­ctors of nouelty puffe vp the pride of a man and hurt charity, saying:Can. si. Pa­pa dist. 40. Let no man presume to reproue him, though hee le [...]de infinite companies of soules with him, for to suffer etern [...]ll paines, with the first sl [...]e of hell. These are the very wordes of the Cannon. Because, saith Bellarmine. Bel. de Pont. l. 4. c. 2. God permitteth not that the Pope should define any thing without reason: insomuch that they hold, that if the Emp rour, the Kings, Can. Nemo iudicabit Can. 9. q. 3. the Clergy, & al the people were together, they should not haue the power to iudge such a man.

2 The second degree is to set himselfe aboue the Coūcel, & aboue the clergy in body: for seeing God promiseth to be [Page 110] present in the midst of them which are assembled in his name.Mat 18.20 Moscon. de maiestat. milit. Eccl. l. 1. c. 1. p. 27 Ioh. Selua li. de Benefi­cijs part. 4. pag. 8. in 28. tract. tomo. 15. part. 1. fol. Iacobatius. de Concil. lib. 1. art. 1. num. 36. That man which setteth himselfe aboue this company, whereof the holy Ghost is president and moderator, exalteth himselfe aboue that which is called God. So Mosconius holdeth that the popes opinion must rather bee stucke vnto, then to the opinion of all the rest of the world besides, contrary thereto. And that one may appeale from the Councell to the pope, but not from the decree of the pope to the decision of the Councell, this is said by Iohannes Selua a Spaniard.

Baron. in paraenet.3 Angels are said to bee of God, and his messengers: of these same writeth Cardinall. Baronius against the Venetians. Know yee not that wee shall iudge the Angels? Abusing the place, which speaketh of all the faithful (and not of Church-men onely) which faithfull, as assistants of the Iudge IE­SVS, shall sit at his right hand in the day of iudgement, shall assist at the condemnation, which our Sauiour shall pronounce against the wicked, [Page 111] and against the euill Angels, saying: Go yee cursed into euerlasting fire, prepa­red for the Diuell and his Angels.

4 The Apostles are also said to bee of God, hee which receiueth you▪ recei­ueth mee; Neuerthelesse they exalt this power aboue the Apostles, saying, that accordingCap. pro pasuit. 4. li. 3. decreta. tit. 8. de cō ­cession. praeb. & gl. verbo. dis­pensare, &c. to the fulnesse of power, of right he may dispense aboue the Law, yea that hee may dispenseGl. ver­bo fiat. Can. lector. 34. dist. against the Apostle: Item against the Canons of the ApostlesCan. Presbyter dist. 82. Although (saith that Canon) according to them same, a Priest that is a fornicator ought to bee deposed, neuerthelesse not without the authoritie of Syluester. Neither can that euasion serue their turne, which say, that the popeVide & gl. cap. au­thoritatem cau. 15. q. 6. dispenseth of the Gospell in interpreting it. For first of all, who euer heard dispensation called an in­terpretation of the Text? Secondly, if it be by way of interpretation, why is it rather deferred to the pope, then to Sorbonists of Paris, who haue better skill then hee. But I deny that such interpretation as he giueth by dispen­sation is lawfull, neither yet for the [Page 112] whole Church in body, seeing it is God alone that commandeth, and the Churches part is to obey, to heare the voyce of the Bridegroome, and to learne of him in silence: and this the Iuris-consults can tell, It pertaineth vnto him alone to enterpret the Law, which hath the L. 12. Si Impe [...]tis c. de legibus Si enim in praesenti le­ges condere soli Impe­ratori con­cessum est, & leges in­terpretari solodignum Imperio esse oportet. Nehem. 8. right to make it. The reason is, because he that enterpreteth it, maketh himselfe aboue the Law: for after hee hath giuen his opinion, hee will bee followed rather then the Letter, which shal no more be enqui­red after. Wherefore Nehemias made the people vnderstand the Scripture, not after his owne fantasie, but by rea­ding the same, that is to say, by the Scripture it selfe.

5 The Law likewise is of God, being written with his owne finger, and forbidden to adde to, or diminish it, as touching the substance and mat­ter: neuerthelesse the second com­mandement is cut off in many Masse-bookes and Popish Psalters,Synod. Aus­burg. anno. 1548. and that by the decree which the Pope caused to be made in the Synode of Ausburg [Page 113] quite racing out this commandement. Thou shalt make thee no grauen image, neither any similitude of things that are in heauen aboue, &c.

6 The Gospell likewise is of God, For it is the power of God vnto saluation to euery one that beleeueth: Rom. 1.16. Neuerthe­lesse these seducers hold that against Can. Ideo per­mittente can. 25. q. 1. v. glos. capi­tis proposu­it de con­cess. praeb. tit. 8. lib. 3. decret. in verbo dis­pensare. the generall Law the Pope may giue priuiledges. They also esteeme it a greater crime, and they punish him more seuerely, that transgresseth the Popes decree in eating flesh without dispensation in time of Lent, then if hee were a theife, murtherer, and adulterer altogether. Wherfore these wordes are inserted in the Canon Cap. Ho­noratus 74. dist. not making account of the commande­ments of God, but euen despising our let­ters: And that becausé they make so great estimation of the Canons and doctrines of the Pope, that such as dare voluntarily transgresse the same, Can. viola­tores Cano­num 25. q. 1. in deed or word: are said by the Pope to be damned, and to blaspheme against the Holy Ghost. Although hee take leaue to himselfe to transgresse the Law and [Page 114] the Gospell of God; and to shew it, these blasphemous words are in the Canon,Can. sors nō est causa 26. q. 2. Before that the Gospell was ex­planed many things were permitted, which in time of a more perfect discipline haue bene altogether banished: for the marriage of Priests, or of cousin germans, is not forbidden neither by the Law, nor by the authority of the Gospell, nor of the Apo­stles: Notwithstanding by the discipline of the Church, it is wholy forbidden. O what perfection to transgresse the Law and the Gospell! is not this to fulfill that which is foretold should come?1. Tim. 4. In the last times some shall depart from the faith, giuing heed to spirits of errour and doctrines of diuels, teaching lies through hypocrisie, and hauing their consciences seared with an hot yron, forbid­ding to marry, and commanding to ab­staine from meates, which God hath crea­ted to be vsed with thankes-giuing of them which beleeue and know the truth: for eue­ry creature of God is good, and nothing to bee refused, being taken with thankes-gi­uing. For it is sanctified by the word of God, and prayer. If thou be put in minde of [Page 115] these things, thou shalt bee a faithfull ser­uant of IESVS CHRIST, &c. And that which S. Ignatius wrote to the Phila­delphians [...]. If any man confesse not these things, but saith that the generation of children, and lawfull marriage is polluti­on, or that certaine meates are execrable, that same man hath for familiar the Apostata Dragon. Of the same opini­on is Saint Augustine, blaming them Ad Ian. Epist. 119. c. 19.20. that do so depriue themselues of the vse of meates, that they esteeme such im­pure as vse them. The like opinion hath he concerning mariage, and alleageth for ground of his saying, that place of S. Paul. Now the reason may be taken from this, thatGen. 2. God hath instituted marriage. That Aaron the chiefe Priest was not the lesse apt for the sacrifices: that his sonnes succeeded him in the Priest-hood: That God saith, It is not good for man to bee alone: That our Lord honored mariage with his presence in Cana of Galilee: That he wold be borne vnder the veile of marriage, although the holy Virgin remained without the company of man: In a word, in [Page 116] the state of Holinesse Adam and Eue were conioined by mariage.Gen. 2.24.

7 The Sacraments are also of God, called his body and bloud, the vse of which in matter and forme as hee hath prescribed ought to bee practised in the Church. Such men neuerthelesse teach that the Church (that is to say the Pope) hath power to change in them whatsoeuer it thinketh meete, Conc. Tri­dent sess. 21. c. 1. &c. 22. act. 23. although our Lord haue instituted it vnder two kindes. And by this authority they haue added & cut off from the forme,Con. Const. sess. 13. matter, and number of Sacraments. And forasmuch as the Hoste among the Romish Catholickes, is said to bee of God,Monluc. li. de relig. ad Regin. ma­trem. De Monluc Bishop of Valen­tia, complaineth by writing to the Queene mother, that the Pope going forth of the Citty, made the same bee carried vpon a little curtall among his carriage and the Courtesans, and then come backe to meete the Pope accompanied with the pompe of the Court of Rome.

This same Hoste was much more despised by Hildebrand, Gregory the [Page 117] seuenth, whom Bellarmine calleth Saint,The Ab­bot of Ves­purg in the life of the Emperour Henry 3. Benno Car­dinall in the life of Hildebrād. for hee caused Pope Victor the second to bee impoisoned in the wine of the Eucharist. The same Pope cast into the fire the consecrated Hoste, in presence of many Cardinals, be­cause it gaue him no answere tou­ching the euent of the warre that hee made against the Emperour Henry the fourth. As for Gregory the ninth,Baleus li. 5. of the liues of Popes. hee refused the Gospell, and in stead there­of substituted a Legend, compiled by a Monke named Cyrill. It is noto­rious the base account that Boniface the eighth had of the same Hoste,Platina. be­ing prisoner of the Gibelins in the Cit­ty of Agnania. Another caused the Emperour Henry the seuenth, surna­med of Luxemburke, to bee poisoned, and that in the consecrated bread, gi­uen him by a Monke at Florence. Pope Iulius the second, after hee had lost the battel neere to Rauenna, against the Earle of Foix, cast the conse­crated Hoste away, and made it be tro­den vnder feete, as the history of his time reporteth.

[Page 118]8 The Church is of God, for it is the body of CHRIST, & is the onely spouse of her onely head: God hauing giuen to this head the solide Lordship [...] of all the inheritance,Act. 3.16. as it is written: for IESVS is both of the triumphant and militant Church, yea of euery particular Church,Epes. 1.22. Rom. 8.9. & of the least indiuiduall Christian, both the head and saluation incommunicably to any other, according as it written for the whole;2. Cor. 11.2 It is he whom the Father hath appointed head of his Church, both of the militant, visible and particular, I haue prepared you for one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to CHRIST, speaking to the Church of Corinth; & to euery Christan he saith, CHRIST is the head of euery man. 1. Cor. 11.3. Cap. quoiā lib. 3. decre­tal. de Eccl. in 6. cap. v­nico extra­uag. Nes. de vacante. Neuerthelesse these men with audacious boldnesse speake thus: Not being willing to neglect our iustice, and the iustice of the Church our Spouse. And Bellarmine passeth farther, saying: that the Pope is the head of the Church, CHRIST exclu­ded, etiam Christo secluso; Bellar. li. 1. de Pon. c. 9. which is against the Gospel, I am with you al­way, [Page 119] vntill the end of the world; and con­trary to the glosse of the Canon, where it is said that CHRIST is al­waies the gouernour and head of his body which is the Church, Gl. v. non. consonam Clem. Ne Romani l. 1. de Elect. tit. 3. and although the Vicar faile, yet hee doth neuer faile it.

And how should hee faile in the guidance of his Spouse, since hee tooke vpon him our nature, seeing he guided her foure thousand yeares before, as being her onely Bride­grome for euer, as saith Origen, Orig. Cant. hom. 2. Think not that the Church hath bene called Spouse onely from the comming of Christ in the flesh, shee was so from the creation of Mankind; and from the beginning of the world. Why then doth Bellarmine put IESVS apart and in default? shall hee bee lesse the Spouse of his body, since his Incarnation, then hee was before the same? Moreouer these same blasphemers attribute to the mā of sinne, the things that pertaine per­sonally and soly to our Lord IESVS CHRIST, excluding all others: for be­hold how a Bishop of the Councell of Lateran speaketh, directing his speach [Page 120] to the Church, and comforting it, and promising deliuerance from Pope Leo the tenth:Oratio per Simonem Begnium Episcopum Modrusien in sess. 6. Lateran Concilij. Weepe not daughter Syon, for heere commeth the Lyon of the Tribe of Iuda, the roote of Dauid, God hath raised thee vp a Sauiour, who shall saue thee from the hands of them that wast thee, and shall deliuer the people of God from the hand of persecutors. O Lyon most holy, wee haue expected thee for Sa­uiour, we haue hoped that thou shouldest come to deliuer vs, wee sigh after thee for the calamities and things that haue bene ill done, wee cry vnto thee, that thou maist finish our miseries, reioycing in the hope of future victory: and abusing the wordes of the Psalme, which speaketh to God.Psal. 34. Fight for vs against our aduer­saries, take the sword and the buckler, rise vp to helpe vs, iudge our persecutors, and deliuer the Tabernacle of thy Spouse, which the hands of the wicked haue pol­luted.

Gl. can. Non nos be­atū dist. 40.Thus high exalted, they say that this man sinneth not, not that he hath licence giuen him to sin, but because such infirmity of sinne is taken away [Page 121] from him, and that Saint Peter hath transported ouer vnto him his inno­cency and his merites;Gl. verbo quis enim d. can. nou. nos dist. 40. that it is a great sacriledge to dispute of his power, and that the crimes hee committeth are excused, as the theft of the He­brewes, the man-slaughter of Sampson, and the adulterie of Iacob, &c. thence it commeth that they call his decrees,Per tuas tit. 32. ex­trac de ma­ioritate & obedientia. Oracles and Diuine answeres: his de­crees are numbred, among the holy and Canonicall Scriptures.

Which new proposition is wholly contrary to the ancient disposition of the Canons,In Canoni­cis dist. 19. taken out of Saint Augu­stine, which saith,Can. qui ne­friat & duobus se (que) dist. 9. c. Ego solis dist. 10. that we must distin­guish of the authority of the Canons (that is to say of the old & new Testament) from the writings of men, how holy or lear­ned soeuer they be, which may be corrected by one more skifull, or by the Councell; but the holy Scripture cannot. And yet the Pope challengeth like autho­rity to his letters, as to the Canonicall Scripture. With like boldnesse pro­ceedeth that which is said in the Ca­non, that the Sheepe ought not presume [Page 122] to reproue the Pastor, Can. Oues cau. 6. q. 1. nor the people accuse their Bishop: Notwithstanding Saint Paul admitteth the witnesse of two or three of the flocke.Can. sors nō est cau. 26. q. 2. By these de­creees the writings of Popes are iud­ged more perfect then the Law of God, or then the Gospell. Wherefore against the saying of our Sauiour, My yoake is easy, Math. 11. and my burden light: these men say, that the Popes yoake must Can. In memoriam distinc. 19. be borne, though it be heauy.

And forasmuch as the succession of Saint Peter seemeth burdensome to the Pope, his flatterers attribute to him the Vicar-ship of the sonne of God, excluding all other Bishops and Patriarches,Cap. quanto li. 1. decre­tal. tit. 7. de translatio­ne Episcopi vide gl. v. veri dei cap. vnico de iureiur. gl. v. vica­rium in Cle­ment. saying: That hee executeth not on earth the function of a meere man, but of a true God: They say further, that the Pope is able to change the nature of things: that hee hath his authority heauenly: that of nothing hee maketh something: that his will sufficeth for all reason: that none may bee so bold as to say vnto him, why dost thou so? that hee can dispense aboue the Law; that of iniustice, he can make iustice; that he hath fulnesse [Page 123] of power. And for his abhominations, are quoted the texts of the Canon-Law. And else-where it is said, That euery creature is subiect to him, Can. omnes dist. 22. cap. vnico. Ne sede vacan­te in extra. c. 1. de con­stit. c. 2. de translat. c. fundahmen­ta 17. de Elect. in 6. Clem. dudū gl. in verbo vndecun (que) de iudicjs in Clem. c. 1. that he hath the rights of Empire, heauen­ly and earthly, beeing Gods Vicar, to whom the fulnesse of heauen and earth appertaineth.

From this ambition proceedeth that which is of the interpretation of the word Pope, as who should say Gl. ver­bo Papa in proemio Clement. Papae, by admiration; so they say hee is wonderfull, which is the name that the Prophet Esay giueth to IESVS alone,Esay 9. His name shall bee wonderfull; and hee also calleth him­selfe, the wonder and astonishment of the world. In consequence of which ima­ginary All-mightinesse, hee shutteth heauen, openeth hell, deposeth Kings and Princes as it pleaseth him. So he falsely boasteth of hauing dispossessed King Childericke the third, the Pre­decessour of Pepin. Not Can. A­lius 15. q. 6. gl. v. iudi­cio can. duo dist. 99. so much for his sinnes, as because (saith hee) hee was vnprofitable for such a gouerne­ment. As falsely doe they say, that [Page 124] hee translated the Empire of theL. gl. v. diuinitus c. semper dist. 69. & alibi Can. venerabile extra de Elect. East into the West, that he can dis­pense souldiers and subiects of the oath of fidelity due toCan. nos sanctorum Can. iuratos milites c. 15. q. 6. their Soue­raignes. To bee short, hee weareth a triple Crowne to represent the Trini­tyCan. sa­tis 69. dist. Can. cuncta per mundu. Can si Papa dist. 20. Can. Nemo iudicabit Can. 9. q. 3. Sect. 4. de ceremon c. 6. & lib. 1. tit. 7. for he calleth himselfe God: and to shew that it is not in the sence, that other men are called Gods, this is ad­ded, That he cannot bee bound nor loosed by secular power, nor of all the Clergy to­gether, because being God he cannot be iudged of men.

To testifie this all-mightinesse, hee blesseth a sword on Christmasse night, which hee giueth to some Prince his fauourite. But he neuer sendeth them the Law, or Gospell of God; & it is to bee thought, considering the exploits of armes haue bene done in Bohemia and in the country of Ʋaux, that the blessed swordes of the two last mid­nights haue bene distributed to the Generals of those sacred warres. And as our Sauiour called God his Fa­ther,Ioh. 17. Mat. 19.16. Holy Father: so these men giue the superlatiue to the Pope, Most holy [Page 125] Father: Yea in abstracto, Your Holinesse, Diuine Maiesty, Our Lord, Ʋice-God. And what would our Sauiour say to this, who said, when hee was in the world. Why calst thou me good, there is none good but God. Whereby he would teach the man hee spake to, that hee should first confesse him to bee God, before he gaue him the title of good.

But what should wee say, if in the Kings chamber of presence some great man did cause himselfe to be sti­led Your Maiesty, Would he be ex­cused of crime by such as haue autho­rity? And who is it perceiueth not by this, the mystery and name of blas­phemy foretold of by Saint Iohn, Reuel. 13. which should bee written vpon the forehead of such a head? For where­as the chiefe Priest did weare vpon his Miter this inscription,Exod. 28. Holinesse to the Lord: This man of sinne will be enti­tuled, Holinesse of the Prelate of Rome.

Now seeing these Tiara's, and or­naments more stately, do publish abo­mination against the honour of the most High. Let vs be rather of those [Page 126] lesser vtensiles, of which Zachary spea­keth, on which is grauen openly, Ho­linesse pertaineth to the Lord, Zechar. 14. excluding all creatures.

9 Yet this is not all, for Kings also must be submitted vnto him. Where­fore they say, that the spirituall and temporall sword are in his disposition, the one for to execute it personally by excommunications and Anathema's, the other to cause it be borne by his subiects,Lib. Extra­uag. com­munium c. Vnam san­ctam de maiori & obedientia. See al that is alleaged by the glose of the chap­ter. Nouit ver­bo iurisdictionem li. 2. decretal. tit. 1. de iu­dicijs. Emperours, Kings, and Princes, and bee drawne forth or sheathed ad nutum vel patientiam Pon­tificis, according as the Pope will suffer it, or make signe with the head; for saith hee, Wee declare and define, that it is necessary to saluation in all things and in all places, for all creatures to bee vnder the Bishop of Rome.

How? is there any Article necessa­ry to Saluation omitted in the Apo­stles Creed? And neuerthelesse hence it is, hath crept in the adoration of him, reiected by Saint Peter, who said to the CenturionAct. 10.26. rise vp, for I am [Page 127] a man also as thou art, and by Saint Paul and Barnabas, who rent their garments, seeing that the inhabitants of Lystra in Lycaonia, would haue giuen them an honour due to God aloneAct. 14. Wee are men as yee are. And by the Angell who saith to Saint Iohn, Reuel. 19.10. See thou doe it not, I am thy fellow seruant: Worship God. And it serueth not to say, that there is two kindes of worship, and that men kisse the hands, and garments, and bow the knee be­fore Princes, for this kinde of wor­ship is ciuill, by reason of the ho­mage due vnto them. But Kings, or Emperours doe not owe worship to the Pope; for why more to a strange Bishop then to their owne Pastours, which administer the Sacraments vn­to them? Yea, why to either of them both, seeing that ciuilly Kings and Emperours are greater then they all? And as for religious worship, that is alone referred to God, euen by the Angels themselues.

Now to take away all equiuocation, these new Doctors haue sufficiently [Page 128] expounded themselues, one of the Popes Clerkes saying in an oration hee made to Leo the tenth, incerted in the ninth Councel of Lateran, in these wordes: Your feete haue receiued volun­tary kisses, from them whose terrible hurts were feared; that as before, so againe is fulfilled in you (the onely true and lawfull Ʋicar of CHRIST, and of God) this Prophesie. All the Kings of the earth shall worship him, and all nations shall serue him. As if the Prophesies, concer­ning our Lord IESVS onely, should haue any other accomplishment then in his person, or that religious wor­ship ought to be conferred to man: see­ing we know that the humanity euen of our Sauiour is not adored of Chri­stians, but in as much as it is one same person with the God-head. Where­fore the Creede of Ephesus, translated out of Greeke into Latine, by the Ie­suite Peltanus, hath these expresse termes:Symbol. Ephes. Wee confesse that IESVS CHRIST our Lord ought to be worship­ped wholly, yea with his body, but that he ought not to bee worshipped according to [Page 129] his body. For the Arrians for this oc­casion, were called idolaters by Atha­nasius, Cyrill, and Theoderet, for that they worshipped a God which they said was created. So saith Ireneus. Iren. de in­carnat. cap. 25. CHRIST hath worshipped with vs, yet he must be also worshipped, for euery knee ought to bow before him, but that is in re­gard of one of the natures. And Saint Augustine giueth an example of it,Aug. de verbo diu. sermo 58. of the Kings Crowne, being on the ground, or vpon his head. Now if re­ligious worship, ought to bee denied to all other humanity, then to that which is personally vnited with the God-head; who is hee dares chal­lenge it, but the God-man IESVS CHRIST? Vnlesse it bee that man of sinne, of whom it is written, that hee should sit as God in the Temple of God, 2. Thess. 2. behauing himselfe as if he were God. This is hee of whom Saint Hierome saith,Hier. ad 11. c. Zachar. that the sword is vpon his right eye, and hee boasteth that he seeth more cleerely in matter of the Sacraments, then all the Prophets, that haue gone before him. For who is it vaunteth to see more cleere­ly, [Page 130] but they which take away the cup, (as superfluous) from the lay-people: change the forme and matter of the Sacraments,Can. Roma­nus de con­secrat. dist. 4. c. praeter in fine dist. 32. and adde vnto them twice so much, as the sonne of God hath ordained, suffering Baptisme to bee performed by a silly nurce, keeper, or midwife, and approuing that which is conferred by a Pagan; but the Sa­craments that hee hath ordained, are reserued to the highest in dignity among his Prelates, and although this man, armed with two swords, sitteth in the Temple of God, yet the faith­full are not bound to submit them­selues vnto him: but as soone as they perceiue the abuse, they ought to imi­tate holy men in the like occurrence, namely Moses and Iosias, of whom one brake in peeces the Golden Calfe, the other the brazen Serpent. So the Prince and Magistrate may destroy idols, and reforme abuses, that they may saue the bodies and soules of ido­laters. The same did our Sauiour, driuing the money-changers out of the Temple. And if the tirranny, and [Page 131] violence, or hardnesse of the Aposta­sie bee such, that one cannot bee in it without transgressing the Law of God, and that admonition will not serue the turne, the examples of Elias, Micheas, Isay, and Ieremie, vnder the Law, and of the Apostles who turned to the Gentiles, and the testimonies of the Doctors of the Church, do shew what must be done.

So cryeth Ieremy, Iere. 51.9. Wee would haue cured Babell, but shee could not be healed, forsake her, and let vs go euery man to his owne country. And wee need not feare the being schismatickes for such a se­paration: for they are schismatickes which are the cause of separating. Se­condly, in that the synagogue of this man of sinne retaineth still the name of the Church of God, it is in regard of that it was, when hee first thrust himselfe into it, for euery corruption hath his degrees, nemo repente fuit tur­pissimus; like as when a house is set on fire, so long as the floores, roofes, and walles do stand, it is called a house, both in name and effect, and when it [Page 132] is al [...] burnt to ashes, it hath no more but the bare name, when we say there is a house burnt: therefore no man will bee so vnwise to bee perswaded hee should dwell in it, which hath neither walles to defend, nor roofe to couer him, though all men should tell him it was called the house of such a one; no, not though some part of the same yet stood, because hee could not bee in safety. Also there is not any Iudge so vniust, will be so rigorous to a husband, that accuseth his wife of adultery, as to condemne him to liue with her, onely because in pleading he calleth her his wife. For seeing that adultery is cause of the dissolution of marriage, in that the husband gi­ueth the name of wife to her he plea­deth against, it is to shew what she was that he might ground his action, and depriue her of her matrimoniall co­uenants.

This causeth vs boldly to point out such a man, and to maintaine, that it is necessary to saluation, to separate our selues from him and his Church, with­out [Page 133] feare of being thereby separated from the true Church of God. I say from such a one of whom we are fore­warned, not as of an open enemy, such as the Turke is, who ruinateth frō his first rising, and therefore sitteth not in the Church. But it is he that is entred as a Fox, and raigneth as a Lyon: who cōmeth in sheeps cloathing, & within is a rauening wolfe: who hath hornes like the Lambe, but vttereth blasphe­my out of his mouth, to wit, I am God, I cānot erre, I am the spouse of the Church, I rule in heauen and in earth.

Who will doubt then, but that wee ought to refuse such a head, seeing the Cardinall establisheth him ouer the militant Church etiám Christo secluso, Bel. lib. 1. de Pontifi c. 9. CHRIST IESVS excluded or separa­ted frō it: although the vnion of him & his Church is euer to remaine, & hath bene frō the foundaion of the world: and seeing also the Cardinall createth him Monarch Temporal and Spiritual.

And for such a separation, no Christian is separate from the Church, as I haue handled at large in [Page 134] the discourse of Catholick Vnity; Chap. 3. of the Church, & in chap. 7. tit. of Schime. where may bee obserued (among other) three significations of the Church: first, the materiall building: secondly, the visible assembly of euery Parish; and thirdly, the inuisible company of all the faithfull, which is the Catho­licke Church, beleeued by faith, and not seene with the corporall sences: for vniuersall things are not the ob­iect of the sences, and being one of the Articles of faith, there is none but God, that knoweth who are his: see­ing it may so fall out, that a whole companie of men, making profession to serue God, may bee composed of hypocrites in euery particular man thereof.

Chrysostom. hom. 46. in Mat.Hither is referred these testimonies, first of Saint Chrysostome: Hee goeth not out of the Church, that goeth out bo­dily: but hee that in minde forsaketh the groundes of Ecclesiasticall truth. We haue left with them the foundations of walles, they haue left with vs the foundations of the Scriptures. Hierom. in Psal. 33.

And Saint Hierome, The Church [Page 135] consisteth not in walles, but in truth of do­ctrine; there where is the true doctrine, there is the true Church.

And Saint Hillary, Hilar. con­tra Auxen­tium. The loue of walls hath taken you, in vaine ye reuerence the Church in houses and buildings, doe yee doubt whether Anti-christ shall sit there? mountaines, forrests, lakes, gulfes, prisons are more safe vnto mee. Psal. 2.10. Bee wise now therefore ye Kings, be learned yee Iudges of the earth, serue the Lord in feare, and reioyce in trembling.

And I will let you see an extract of one or two orations pronounced in the Councell of Lateran, by the Popes Clerkes, and by Moderne Canonist Doctors, seene, allowed and Printed by the commandement of Pope Leo the tenth, as may bee seene in his Bull in the beginning of the said Councel, the fift of May 1515. Yea the words of him,Oratio An­tonij Puccij Clerici A­postoli 3. Non Maiae 1515. sess. 10. that spake to the Pope in presence of the whole Councell. Al­though the aspect of your diuine Maiesty, by the resplendent glory whereof the weak­nesse of my eyes is dazaled. Here is God robbed of his Maiesty; we must come [Page 136] to the King saying; And as the chiefe Byshop Leo by diuine prouidence hath bene en-registred in the royall race of chiefe Bishops.

Item. As before, in thee alone the true and lawfull Ʋicar of CHRIST & of God, this prophesie to be againe fulfilled. All the Kings of the earth shall wor­ship him, Psal. 71. & all nations shall serue him.

Then vsurping the title of IESVS, a iealous God, hee saith: Before and now the vniuersall body (to wit, the Church) is acknowledged subiect to one onely head, namely vnto thee.

Item. Knowing that to thee alone from the Lord hath bene giuen all power in hea­uen and in earth, that thou maist giue law and iudge, not onely Spirituall men, but al­so the earthly powers of this world.

But that which is most admirable is, that any truth should proceed out of the blasphemous mouth of this mā, in that he acknowledgeth Rome to be Spirituall Babylon, in these wordes. After we haue examined all the decrees of the Church, and that I come to the Citty it selfe, which the Prince of Apostles in­spired [Page 137] with the holy Ghost calleth Babilō,1. Pet. 5. &c. Behold this heauenly Ierusalem, di­uine Spouse, &c. clad in mourning, &c. which seemeth to be full of teares and dis­cheueled, prostrate at the most sacred feet of the cheife Bishop. Is it so, most sweete Bridegroome, that thy onely, thy faire, thy wel-beloued Spouse, which cannot say, looke not vpon mee, for I am browne? &c. Where are the Pastors of the flocke, which rule rather then profile, which scatter and not gather, which kill in steed of sauing? &c. Then in the end this excreable flaterer saith to Leo. Make hast, arise, compasse about Syon, our mother thy Spouse, embrace her, &c. Instruct and frame the hearts of the faithfull: And the Citty (to wit of Rome) first of all, that iudgement may beginne at the house of the Lord, afterward restore the whole earth by the censure of thy discipline, into the puri­tie of the ancient faith, hope, and cha­rity.

Is not this to exalt himselfe aboue that which is called God, there is diuine Maiestie, Royall race, spouse [Page 138] and head of the Church, that hath all power in heauen and 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. [Page 139] 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.

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 [Page 141] 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, [Page 142] Ʋalentinian, 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; [Page 143] 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 [Page 144] 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 giuethCan. 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 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 powerInn. Pan. & dd Can. Cum olim de causa posses­sionis. to do it, so as that not onely by the authority of the Prince, but of priuateL. prohi­bitum l. de­fensionis & doct. de iu. fi. li. 10. &c. 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 [Page 145] another thing, when it is to make the marriageCap. Tu­am de or­din. cognit. of validitie whence he is issued) or in some fashion trouble the royall iustice, the obtainer of such legitimation &c.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 [Page 146] 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. quod­cun (que) 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, [Page 147] 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 thē ­selues 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 [Page 148] 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 [Page 149] 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 areV. 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,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 [Page 150] 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: Ʋeri­ly 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 truth the new Doctors belye the Gospell, and hold it expedient that the humanity of our Sauiour bee on earth, but not to gouerne the Church: and make a sin­full and partiall man to gouerne it, [Page 151] who sheddeth the bloud of them for whom IESVS CHRIST shed his bloud; and will not haue men beleeue the truth which teacheth, that the cor­porall presence of CHRIST, the most perfect head of all men, and his carnall gouernance, is taken away from vs in­to heauen; that so they might establish Liuetenants in a charge, which no mortall man can, or ought to haue, af­ter the Ascension of the Generall. And as new Pharisies, who expected a Messiah triumphing ouer Tempo­rall powers, and subduing nations by materiall armes: these picture forth a successour with mixt power, who is ashamed of the simplicity of the Gos­pell, and is an enemy to the crosse of CHRIST, which hee cannot endure, but grauen or painted.

And since the Ascension of our Lord IESVS,1. Cor. 3.16. whom wee know no more according to the flesh, these men will haue gouernours that are carried on mens shoulders, succeding herein the opinion of the Israelites, when Mo­ses was so long in the Mount, saying: [Page 152] to the Priests,Exod. 32.23. make vs Gods to goe be­fore vs, for as for this man wee know not what is become of him.

These are likewise those same, which the parable of our Sauiour de­noteth,Luk. 19.12. saying: A certaine noble-man, went into a farre country, to receiue for himselfe a Kingdome, and so to come againe, &c. but his Citizens sent an Em­bassadour after him saying, wee will not haue this man raigne ouer vs, but the Lord being returned saith:Vers. 27. Bring hi­ther those mine enemies, which would not that I should raigne ouer them, and slay them before mee. So let it bee done to all such as will not continue seruants till the Kings returne, who is gone to take possession of the Kingdome of heauen, and to prepare a place there for vs; that they may know, that as the Iewes doe in vaine expect a Mes­siah, triumphing in that manner as they would haue it: so with as little ground they haue hoped for another Anti-christ then him whom the Ie­suites paint forth with his double sword.

See more of this in a Treatise I haue made of Catholicke Ʋnity. Chap. of the Church sect. 6. Mat. 20.26 Mar. 10.43 Can. Con­stan. & se (que) dist. And they in all the succession of the Apo­stles finding but one key of heauen, would get the key of earthly Empire; and as our Sauiour had said, Thou art Peter, these men adde, Thou art Constantine, Pepin and Lewis. And because our Sauiour had forbidden superiority among the Apostles, these men insert a Canon in these wordes.

The Emperour Constantine gaue this priuiledge to the Byshop of the Ro­mane Church, to be the head of all By­shops, as the King is the head of Iudges. And the following Cannons adde, that hee gaue him also his Pallace, his Crowne, and Imperiall Ornaments, because it was notIdem habetur ca. 17. funda­menta li. 1. 6. decretal. De Electio­ne See the abhomi­nations of this Canō reasonable that the Emperour should reside in the same Cittie, where the Pope is; and then to shew their thanke­fulnesse, they forged that the Empe­rour was a leaper, against the records of all Histories.Euseb. 5. libris de vita Con­stantini Plin. li. 21. cap. 1. Man­tuan lib. de patientia c. 30. cap. 1. Nesede va­cante, cap. extra d e consuet. Clem. pasto­rali can. 2. de re iudic. And vpon this supposition, or forgery they build, [Page 154] that the Pope is appointed ouer Kings and Kingdomes, and succeedeth the Empire vacant, and may transport Empires from one nation to another, and depose Emperours, hauing the exercise of two swordes. Behold how of one absurdity many do arise.

For first, that same Donation is false, as the learnedHottom. brutum fulmen cap. 12. Crimen. falsi. Hottoman verifieth by twenty sixe reasons. AndBartol. Proemio di­gest. nu. 14. videte nos sumus in terris Eccl. & ideo quod illa donatio va­luit. Bartoll himselfe saith it is true, for no other reason but because hee wrote in the territory of Rome, and therefore durst not write the contrary. The best proofe against this falshood is, that Constantius the sonne of Constantine neuer forsooke Rome and the domini­ons thereof, but deposed Liberius Bi­shop of Rome, who became for this occasion an Arrian, and subscribed against Athanasius, as Saint Hierome Hieron. in cap. For­tunatianus, Catalogo scriptorum Ecclesiastic. & Athana­sius in Epi­stola ad soli­tarium vi­tam agētes. witnesseth.

But these Doctors must confesse that the great goods that Popes pos­sesse haue proceeded frō the liberality of the Kings, Pepin, Charles, & Lewis. Also in the confirmationEgo Lu­douicus 63. dist. volater l. Geor. 3. that be­ginneth, [Page 155] Ego Ludouicus, there is no mention made of Constantine, but on­ly of Pepin and Charles, the grand-fa­ther and father of Lewis.

Now the reason why this donation was published in the name of Constan­tine, Du. Tillet. was for that the Emperour tooke it ill as then, that the King gaue away that which hee pretended to belong vnto him. So this augmentation of titles, hath caused the diuerse enter­pretation of the word to feede, either as a King in commanding, or as a By­shop in preaching,Aug. de verbo do­mini ser. 20. & tract. 10. & 124. in Io­an. Cyril. li. 4. dial. de Trinit. as Saint Augustine and Saint Cyrill enterprete it.

But Cardinall Baronius passeth fur­ther, for he maketh to feed the flocke, to be as horses feed on grasse, saying: against the Signory of Venice, Holy Father kill and eate.

I know the word Feed signifieth three things, to command as a King, to exercise the Ecclesiasticall Ministery, and the last to eate: but the distinction is knowne, according to the subiect whereto it is applyed. As therefore it were impertinent to conclude for a [Page 156] King, that hee is to Preach the Law of God and administer the Sacraments, because the Lord said to Dauid, 1. Kin. 2.11. 2. Sam. 5.2 Thou shalt feede my people Israel, so as wide from the purpose will the Iesuites cō ­clude, that the Pope is to command ouer the Temporallity of Kings, be­cause our Sauiour saith to S. Peter: Iohn 21. Feed my sheep: for that is meant onely of the feeding, for which hee had commissi­on. Otherwise it would follow by such equiuocations and abusing of words of many significatiōs, that an asse, tur­ned out to feed in the third significa­tion, should be furnished with a Miter & a Crosier staffe. But to returne to our discourse: with what audaciousnesse do they vaunt, that the grounds of the Romish Bishops superiority ouer others, is taken frō the law of God, or diuine right, seeing that it is the gift of the Emperour. For if hee gaue it, it followeth that hee had it before hee granted it, and if the Pope receiued it frō him, he had not that preheminence ouer other Bishops, before it was gi­uen to him by the Emperour: for as no [Page 157] man can giue that which he hath not, so none receiueth that of gift, which by right pertaineth to him.

Thirdly, it being but an humane priuiledge, it followeth that it is not a right, common, nor diuine; conse­quently, subiect to confirmation and reuocation, in case of abuse, especi­ally beingGuido pp. q. 239. Decius Cons. 191. 1 parte. Lu­cas de Pen­na l. qui­cunque de omni agro deserto l. 11. &c. Can. Intelecto de iureiur gl. verbo, de­pereunt, in proemio prag. sanct. l. 1. & 2. Cod. Theod. de Epis. & cler. lib. 6. Nouel. vt Cler. 83. §. Si tamen coll. 6. a domaniall right, it could not bee alienated by the Empe­rour.

And therefore Popes ought not be vnthankefull towards the Kings that haue aduanced them: Phocas gaue thē the name, & Pepin gaue them the reue­nue. Constantine granted nothing at first to Bishops but an exemption frō tutelle and gatherings of monies, & Constantius his sonne added vnto them that they should not bee criminally proceeded against before the Iudges royall, that their faults might not bee published. And Iustinian extended the priuiledge to all Ecclesiasticall persōs, not to with-draw thē from vnder his obedience, but that he might do them speedier iustice, & with lesse scandale.

Which priuiledges haue bene con­firmed by Christian Kings, not with­out exception, neither in all sortes of crimes, for Princes, from whom as from the fountaine, all inferiour Iusti­ces are deriued, and who are perpetu­all moderatours of subalternall iusti­ces, doe neuer grant any priuiledge against themselues: for these causes haue they excepted certaine cases, properly called Cases Royall, and im­properly called priuiledged Cases: for they bee cases excepted from the pri­uiledge, granted to Ecclesiasticall sub­iects or others, of which Iustice is done by the Kings Officers, because they very notably concerne the King. As when any matter of high treason is in hand, or of bearing armes, of the Kings safegard infringed, of iniury done to one of the Kings Officers per­forming his Office: Item If a Priest in some office for the King behaue him­selfe ill, and many others.

For as much therefore as the King is himselfe priuiledged aboue the priuiledge that he granteth: it is mani­fest [Page 159] the error which these men publish for the aduantage of their head, that it was a priuiledge granted to the King by the Pope, hauing no other ground then the equiuoke of the word Priui­ledged Case.

But since, they haue passed further, and if Kings and their seruants any longer winke at it, they will effect that they teach; and already they are about it; they attribute to themselues a dou­ble power, the keyes, and the sword, heauen and earth, Spirituall and Tem­porall, euen to the deposing of Kings and SoueraigneCan. A­lius 15. q. 6. Princes, dispensing theirCan. En­geltrudam cau. 3. q. 4. subiects from their obedi­ence; and not onely proceeding to ex­communicate and anathematize them (which is the most rigorous cen­sure, cutting off from the communion of charity and faith) but also to cut them off, out of the world, to giue them ouer to the first murtherer that will attempt against them, who shall not be iudgedCan. Ex­communi­catorum 23. q. 5. a murtherer by the doctrine of the Popes new Canons.

Thus after they haue said, that what­soeuer [Page 160] thing Princes ordaine in Ecclesia­sticall matters, Can. 1. dist. 96. they ought to haue no au­thority: they passe vpon their liues and states, a doctrine contrary to the dis­cipline of the Apostles, and humility of Saint Gregory, writing to the Em­perour Mauritius, Lib. 2. E­pist. 61. in dict. 11. I the vnworthy ser­uant of your piety, &c. and he conclu­deth, I haue therefore caused your com­mandement to bee published: but because the same is not comformable to the Law of God, I haue therefore aduertised your Maiesty, and so haue acquitted my selfe of my duty, in obeying the Emperour, and yet not being silent in Gods cause. And we must not thinke that hee saith one thing and meaneth another, for in those daies there was no schoole of equiuocation, and speaking in humi­lity, he also spake the truth; for as saith Saint Augustine, Serm. 29. de verbo Apostoli tom. 10. When thou liest by hu­mility, though peraduenture thou wert not a sinner before, yet in lying thou becommest one.

Now they not onely refuse to bee subiect, but also change the censure ordained for a spirituall remedy of the [Page 161] soule, into a perpetuall confiscation of goods, and mortall bane of mens bodies. And the pretended temporall Lord is more rigorous then any other; for let the seised doe the best endeuour hee possible can, yet the sei­zure abideth stil, and the effect of the proscription to the profite of the vsurper. And indeed, was it euer spo­ken of at Rome, to cause Nauarre to be restored, and to excommunicate the vsurper?

But with what importunity doe they bring in the Heraulds of such power, to make vs allow both the ti­tle and the possession, against the Kings right? From the same ground proceed the vnreuerend behauiours of the members belonging to this mixt authority, of some against the Princes of bloud, others against Courts of Parliament, and by degrees against the Kings Officers.

And least any more speech should bee made (as in time past was by the Emperour Ferdinand and Lewis the twelfth) to reforme both the head and [Page 162] members: These vpstart busie-bodies, haue come to helpe, by entertaining our diuisions in religion, in steed of quenching them; faining that they come to reforme abuses among them, replying against others which re­quire a Councell, that their opinions haue bene already sufficiently con­demned, and that there needeth no more Councels, as if vniust iudge­ments against lawfull proceeding, were a Law against a third which hath not beene heard nor called. If this maxime were true, there would haue bene no Councels holden of very ma­ny yeares, and places of Iustice should be shut vp.

CHAP. X. That it is one of the most pernicious here­sies, to despise the King.

THIS title will not be held a pa­radox by good men, who know that the seruice we render to the King, proceedeth from the ordinance of God. For though many heathen na­tions [Page 163] haue performed this duty, yet not hauing the knowledge of Gods cōmandement, nor an intention to o­bey the same, they haue respected only their owne particular, that they might preserue their policies; and therefore such vertues meerly, moral, are not al­lowable before the throne of Gods iu­stice; For whatsoeuer is not of faith is sin. Rom. 14.13.

So we may say that the equall diui­sion of spoile among theeues, is not a true execution of iustice, but a sha­dow therof, that there society may the longer continue, which if contention should arise amōg thē could not long endure. And therfore as the final cause is vitious, so the meanes wherby they attaine the same, ought not to be held lawfull: In like maner, all friendship & cōbinations practised among mē, that is not done with consideration of the ordinance of God, is a conspiracy, pri­uate complotment and confederacie, and not a legall society nor religious charity,1. Cor. 13.5. which seeketh not her owne par­ticular profite, but executeth her ef­fects outwards. For there is no vnion, [Page 164] neither in faith, nor in charity, sauing in IESVS CHRIST alone, who is the center and perpetuall end of all good; to which purpose saith Saint Paul, 1. Cor. 10.31. whether yee eate or drinke, or what­soeuer yee do, do all to the glory of God: And S. Peter recommending subiecti­on towards the Prince, referreth it to his vse:1. Pet. 2.13.14. &c. Be yee subiect for the Lords sake.

Now as the morall vertues of the heathen are sinnes before God, in as much as they are not done, with ha­uing regard to his commandement, which they know not: So the contēpt of the King, who hath right ouer the subiect by the law of God, ariseth onely in the minde of him that con­temneth the authour of the Law: And by the same reason it necessarily fol­loweth that such a man hath first vio­lated his faith towards God, before he faile in the seruice of the King; for so long as hee remaineth faithfull in the first Table, hee will not passe to the transgression of the second; which is not well obserued, but in the conside­ration of the first, of which it is a se­quele [Page 165] and necessary dependancy.

Wherefore wee see ordinarily that idolaters do easily rebell, yea boldly attempt against the person of their King: on the contrarie, Religous soules serue them, though they bee froward, yea Infidels, as wee haue no­ted some examples; but after the trans­gression of the honour due to God, the contempt of the King followeth soone after.

Thus is Samuel comforted by God: They haue not cast thee away, 1. Sam. 8.7.8. but they haue cast mee away, that I should not raigne ouer them: And as they haue for­saken mee, seruing strange Gods, euen so they forsake thee. And Zedechias being tributary King, before he came to despise the King, hardened him­selfe against God.2. Chron. 36.12.13. Zedechias did euill in the sight of the Lord his God, and humbled not himselfe for Ieremi­ah the Prophet speaking in the name of the Lord, and also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezar, which had caused him to sweare by the name of God.

Also in another place, the Holy Ghost interpreteth rebellion to be an euill as dangerous as to goe to sorce­rers and witches, Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and transgression is wicked­nesse and idolatry. 1. Sam. 15.

Thence it commeth, that of late, some of them that labour to weaken the authority of the King, and haue fostered rebellion in this Kingdome of France, haue also questioned the Pythonisse woman possessed, and ex­amined the Diuell: Wherefore wee need not wonder if they that like not the right way directing to Holy Abba Father which art in heauen, swerue frō the obedience of our Abimelec, that is to say, our Father the King, which is on earth.

And as the Iesuites substitute to God our Holy Father, another God on earth, whom they call Most holy Father, and separate IESVS CHRIST from his Body & Spouse the Church, for to create vnto him a Vicar and Liuetenant generall in all his King­domes,Bel. lib. 1. de Pontif. cap. 9. etiam Christo secluso: So these [Page 167] same Spirits will at this present erect a Monarke aboue Kings, which are the fathers and husbands of their people and country: to the end they should not enioy their Soueraigneties, but so long as they shall please him.

Thus hauing begunne with diso­bedience towards God they end with rebellion against the King his Liue­tenant on earth. Wherefore none will euer defend the Kings rights and pre­rogatiues as they ought, except hee first beginne with the Lawes of God: and if hee bee a preuaricator in the first Table he will easiy be perswaded to lay such grounds as ouerthrow the Kings right: for hee that granteth the greater, will not sticke to giue the lesser.

This is the cunning deuise Ierobo­am vsed, who as it is written, retained the people to himselfe,1. King. 12.26.27. &c. and hindred them from returning to the house of Da­uid, in causing them commit idolatry. And for as much as the Article of confes­sion of the reformed Churches, aboue rehearsed, conteyneth a sub­mission [Page 168] of all the inhabitants of the Kingdome, without excepting the Ministers; and in as much as the Mo­derne Clergy-men, whē a Priest is cō ­uerted to their Religion, make him re­nounce among other things, that pre­tēded priuiledge of Clericature: Last­ly, for as much as the honour which we owe vnto the King is for conscience sake, Rom. 13. as saith S. Paul, and for Gods sake, as S. Peter speaketh.1. Pet. 2.13

It followeth, that the Cardinall Ie­suite maintaineth a formall heresie,Bellar. li. 3. recognit. de Laicis. in making some Christians subiect to the King, not for conscience sake, but for seruile feare, obeying for no other cause but for that they are not the strongest, and for feare of punish­ment, not for loue of God. For if the conscience be bound by the Law of God, to the obedience of the King, who is the subiect capable to attempt against the lawes, rights, or prerogatiues of the King, but hee that falsifieth his faith vnto God?

Of this Saint Iude, writing to his [Page 169] beloued, of the common saluation, saith: that certaine men crept in, Iud. v. 3.4. which were before of old ordained to this con­demnation, men without piety, turning the grace of God into wantonnes, & renouncing the onely Dominator IESVS CHRIST our God and Lord.

Then he passeth to the second Ta­ble, affirming that such men breake it in consequence of that former renun­ciation; And likewise these dreamers, de­file their flesh, and despise Gouernment, Vers. 8. and speake euill of authorities. And propoundeth a terrible example for them that curse Soueraigne Princes: Yet Michael the Arch-angell, when hee stroue and disputed with the Diuell about the body of Moses,Vers. 9. durst not (marke) blame him with cursed speaking, but said onely, the Lord rebuke thee Satan. And in the 11. verse speaking of Core, that gainesaied Moses with these words. Is it a small thing that thou hast brought vs out of a land, Num. 16.13. which floweth with milke & hony, &c. except thou make thy selfe Lord and ruler ouer vs? pronounceth a woe against such like men, For (saith hee) [Page 170] they perish in following the gainesaying of Core. And note, that this Core and his fellowes Dathan and Abiram, Num. 16.2. and two hundred and fifty were of the princi­pall men of the Synagogue, to shew that it is not of late yeares that these Doctors of the Synagogue resist the King, and that God hath chastized them.

Now if this holy Angell of God, who had expresse charge to doe that which hee did, and being therein thwarted by the Diuel, durst not curse him, but left the whole iudgement thereof to God, in consideration that the euill Spirit is called in Scripture, the Power of the aire, Prince of darkenes and of the world.

What Holinesse can they imagine to be in a man transported with passi­on, to thunder out against the Lords annointed, against Princes and all Principallity, wrapping vp together withut knowledge of cause, the old and the yong, the quicke and dead, the guilty and the innocent? Yea rather such men as dispise dignities are [Page 171] doubtlesse without piety, ordeined of old to condemnation, hauing renoun­ced the onely Lord & ruler CHRIST IESVS; the respect of whom should haue hindred them from passing so farre: for it is written;1. Pet. 2.13 Bee yee subiect to all manner ordinance of man for the Lords sake.

Neither is it to purpose to say that S. Iude speaketh against them of his time; for the Epistle is Catholicke, di­rected to the whole Church, and spea­keth of a reall vice which destroyeth and peruerteth the person whosoeuer he bee, that is spotted therewith. Thence it commeth; that they which exalt a sinnefull man aboue that which is called God, do also exalt him aboue that which is called King, comparing this man to the Sunne, and the King to the Moone; and by this reason the spendor of the King should bee bor­rowed from that Sun so often Eclyp­sed, abolished, and become hereticke,C. sollicitae 6. de Maio­rit. & obe­entia Can. si Papa dist. 40. as the Canon confesseth, and the de­posings from his office of Byshop doth iustifie.

Neuerthelesse, that chapter saith, that looke how great the difference is be­tweene the Sun & the Moone, so great is it betweeene Popes and Kings: is not this to intitle himselfe the mid day,Serm. 33. Cant. Cant. wherof S. Bernard speaketh as aboue is shewed?

And what neede there any more, seeing that is the argument of Cardi­nall Baronius against the Ʋenetians: for that hee might set himselfe ouer them, hee setteth himselfe aboue the Angels: blaming the Signory in these wordes;Baron. in his admo­nition a­gainst the Venetians, Pag. 47. The Ʋenetians doing the con­trary, are as monsters and prodigies of the Diuell; adding this for a strong rea­son, Know yee not that wee shall iudge the Angels? And what man of consci­ence, or faithfull seruant to his Prince can endure such presumption? who would not inuite all his countrymen to giue heed to that which is fore­told of this man exalted aboue all that is called God,2. Thess. 2 blaming dignities, and enterprising to dispossesse Kings? And seeing it is cleerely verified that our Sauiour CHRIST had not a foote of land in propriety,Luk. 9.58. to rest his head on, [Page 173] and that his Apostles said to the poore, Siluer and gold haue I none; Act. 3.6. said to the places where they came, Peace bee in this house, and denounced not warre: shooke the dust of their feete, but inuaded not Kingdomes: How then dare these men appeare, who in these daies proclaime thēselues Lords of two swords, Spirituall and Tempo­ral, with power to confiscate the earth, open hell, and shut heauen, hauing no other reason then the will of a sinfull man, full of passions, which maketh more account of Temporall goods then of Spirituall, saying in his Bull in May, anno 1515. read and authori­zed in the Councell of Lateran. 10. ses­sion, conceiued in these words: Least Cathedrall Churches, being destitute of Tēporall goods, (without which Spirituall goods cannot subsist) &c. As if Mammō, the riches of iniquity, were the sup­port of Christ, & of his sauing graces.

Yea rather such a man calling him­selfe Lord Spirituall and Temporall, aboue Principallities, declareth him­selfe to bee the true successour of [Page 174] Symon Magus, Act. 8. who made himselfe be called the great power of God: And ta­keth his Lieutenancy not from Iesus Christ, whose Kingdom is not of this world; but he hath it frō the Tempter, who vaunteth to giue Kingdomes; for he is called in Scripture,Ephes. 2.2. Ioh. 12.31. & 14.30. Heb. 2.14. Mat. 12.29. Reu. 13.14. 2. Cor. 4.4. Prince of the aire, Prince of this world, Emperour of death, is compared to a strong man armed, is worshipped of Infidels, as being God on earth, or the God of this world. By ver­tue of which qualities, he saith to our Sauiour to whō he shewed the king­domes of the world, when hee temp­ted him,Luk. 4.6.7. All this power will I giue thee, and the glory of those Kingdomes: for that is deliuered to mee; and to whom­soeuer I will, I giue it.

Now wee are assured that the God of peace, by whom onely Kings doe raigne, will finish this worke, will destroy that pride by the Spirit of his mouth,2. Thess. 2. will abolish that power by the brightnesse of his comming, will maintaine the authority of Kings and powers ordained by him, will pre­serue the Widdow and the Orphants [Page 175] of his Annointed, amidst the flames of this furnace,Dan. 3. as hee did the compa­nions of Daniell.

It is not the first time that such pre­sumption hath bene reformed in the Church, it being the cause of the re­iection of the Iewes in the first com­ming of our Sauiour: and now is the subiect of the plagues reueiled in the Apocalypse. And as the threatnings of the Prophet Zachary, who prophe­sied of both these disorders, haue bene executed on the Pharisies, whō he calleth the Pride of Iordan, Zach. 11.5. who in steed of feeding their flockes, expose them to slaughter, and yet are not held guilty; and they that sell them say, Bles­sed be the Lord, for I am enriched, and their owne shepeheards spare them not.

By reason of which abuse it is ad­ded,Vers. 3.6. that there shall bee a voyce of the howling of the Shepeheards, because their magnificence is destroyed. And behold (saith the Lord) I will deliuer the w [...] euery man into his neighbours hand, a [...] into the hand of his King; and they shall smite the land, and I will not deliuer them [Page 176] out of their hand. So (my Lord) doubt not but that in the second cōming of our Lord and Sauiour, which is at hand, and wherein the pride of Ba­bylon and the foolish sheepeheard of whom this Prophet speaketh, which exalteth himselfe by a Cardinall Iesu­ite, aboue that which is called God; This God, strong and iealous will put into the hand of his King his Annoin­ted, and Lieutenant, and of his Offi­cers, meanes to bridle this arrogant presumption, and for certainety of this truth I haue aduentured to pre­sent to your Maiesty the text of the Prophet, who foretelleth the creation and ruine of this second foolish Shep­heard, as Saint Hierome interpreteth it, here are the words: I will raise vp a Shepheard in the Land, which shall not looke for the sheepe that are lost, nor seeke the tender lambes, nor heale them that are hurt, nor beare them that stand still: but shall eate the flesh of the fat, and teare [...]eir clawes in peeces. Woe be to the Idoll [...]hepeheard, that leaueth the flocke, the sword is vpon his arme (see here the [Page 177] Temporall sword) and vpon his right eye: his arme shall bee dried vp for cer­taine, and his right eye shall bee vtterly darkened. For, if for the first mans offence in hauing tasted the forbid­den fruite, and beleeued the saying of the Serpent, Yee shall bee as Gods, Gen. 3. knowing good and euill; the father of all mercy spared not the innocency of his deerely beloued sonne our suerty, but saith by the same Prophet, Arise, Zach. 13.7. ô sword, vpon my Sheepheard, and vpon the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of Hoasts.

What torments attend the Apostasy of a re-lapsed man without promise of restoring, which doth not simply be­leeue himselfe to be God, but exalteth himselfe aboue all that beare that name! O sword which didst not spare the good Shepeheard for the offences of others; awake, rise vp against the foolish Shepheard, destroy that man of sinne for his owne transgression, who in the Maisters absence behaueth himselfe not as a fellow seruant, but as Maister;Math. 24. to the end that in this last [Page 178] time, as sometime did his predecessour Herod, who gaue not glory to God, when the people cryed the voyce of God, ctA. 12.12. and not of men; he may learne to his condemnation, that it is the most High, Dan. 4.25. the euerlasting God blessed for euer, and none other, beareth rule ouer the Kingdome of men, and giueth it to whom soeuer he will.