the fatherly care I haue not to put any of my Subiects to a needlesse extremitie I might haue bene contented in some sort to haue reformed or interpreted those wordes With his owne Catholicks for either if I had so done they had beene therby fully eased in that businesse or at least if I would not haue condescended to haue altered any thing in the said Oath yet would thereby some appearance or shadow of excuse haue beene left vnto them for refusing the same not as seeming thereby to swarue from their Obedience and Allegiance vnto me but onely being stayed from taking the same vpon the scrupulous tendernesse of their consciences in regard of those particular wordes which the Pope had noted and condemned therein And now let vs heare the wordes of his thunder POPE PAVLVS the fift to the English Catholikes WElbeloued Sonnes Salutation and Apostolical Benediction The tribulations and calamities which yee haue continually susteined for the keeping of the Catholike Faith haue alwaies afflicted vs with great griefe of minde But for as much as we vnderstand that at this time all things are more grieuous our affliction hereby is wonderfully increased For we haue heard how you are compelled by most grieuous punishments set before you to goe to the Churches of Heretikes to frequent their assemblies to be present at their Sermons Truely we doe vndoubtedly beleeue that they which with so great constancie and fortitude haue hitherto indured most cruell persecutions and almost infinite miseries that they may walke without spot in the Law of the Lord will neuer suffer themselues to bee defiled with the communion of those that haue forsaken the diuine Law Yet notwithstanding being compelled by the zeale of our Pastorall Office and by our Fatherly care which we doe continually take sor the saluation of your soules we are inforced to admonish and desire you that by no meanes you come vnto the Churches of the Heretikes or heare their Sermons or communicate with them in their Rites lest you incurre the wrath of God For these things may yee not doe without indamaging the worship of God and your owne saluation As likewise you cannot without most euident and grieuous wronging of Gods Honour binde your selues by the Oath which in like maner we haue heard with very great griefe of our heart is administred vnto you of the tenor vnder written viz. I A.B. doe truely and sincerely acknowlege professe testifie and declare in my conscience before God and the world That our Soueraigne Lord King IAMES is lawfull King of this Realme and of all other his Maiesties Dominions and Countreyes And that the Pope neither of himselfe nor by any authoritie of the Church or Sea oâ— Rome or by any other meanes with any other hath any power or authoritie to depose the King or to dispose of any of his Maiesties Kingdomes or Dominions or to authorize any forraigne Prince to inuade or annoy him or his Countreys or to discarge any of his Subiects of their Allegiance and obedience to his Maiestie or to giue Licence or leaue to any of them to beare Armes raise tumults or to offer any violence or hurt to his Maiesties Royal person State or Gouernment or to any of his Maiesties Subiects within his Maiesties Dominions Also I doe sweare from my heart that notwithstanding any declaration or sentence of Excommunication or depriuation made or granted or to be made or granted by the Pope or his Successors or by any Authoritie deriued or pretended to be deriued from him or his Sea against the said King his Heires or Successors or any Absolution of the said subiects from their Obedience I will beare faith and true Allegiance to his Maiestie his Heires and Successors and him and them will defend to the vttermost of my power against all Conspiracies and Attempts whatsoeuer which shal be made against his or their Persons their Crowne and dignitie by reason or colour of any such Sentence or declaration or otherwise and will doe my best endeuour to disclose and make knowen vnto his Maiestie his Heires and Successors all Treasons and traiterous Conspiracies which I shall know or heare of to be against him or any of them And I doe further sweare That I doe from my heart abhorre detest and abiure as impious and Hereticall this damnable doctrine and Position That Princes which be excommunicated or depriued by the Pope may be deposed or murthered by their Subiects or any other whatsoeuer And I doe beleeue and in conscience am resolued that neither the Pope nor any person whatsoeuer hath power to absolue me of this Oath or any part thereof which I acknowledge by good and full Authoritie to be lawfully ministred vnto me and doe renounce all pardons and dispensations to the contrary And all these things I doe plainely and sincerely acknowledge and sweare according to these expresse wordes by me spoken and according to the plaine and common sence and vnderstanding of the same words without any Equiuocation or mental euasion or secret reseruation whatsoeuer And I doe make this Recognition and acknowledgement heartily willingly and truely vpon the true Faith of a Christian So helpe my GOD. Which things since they are thus it must euidently appeare vnto you by the words themselues That such an Oath cannot be taken without hurting of the Catholique Faith and the Saluation of your Soules seeing it conteines many things which are flat contrary to Faith and Saluation Wherefore wee doe admonish you that you doe vtterly abstaine from taking this and the like Oathes which thing wee doe the more earnestly require of you because we haue experience of the Constancie of your Faith which is tried like Gold in the fire of perpetuall Tribulation Wee doe wel knowe that you will cheerefully vnder-goe all kind of cruell Torments whatsoeuer yea and constantly endure death it selfe rather then you will in any thing offend the Maiestie of God And this our Confidence is confirmed by those things which are dayly reported vnto vs of the singular vertue valour and fortitude which in these last times doeth no lesse shine in your Martyrs then it did in the first beginnings of the Church Stand therefore your Loynes being girt about with Veritie and hauing on the Brest-plate of righteousnesse taking the Shield of Faith bee yee strong in the Lord and in the power of his might And let nothing hinder you Hee which will crowne you and doeth in Heauen beholde your Conflicts will finish the good worke which he hath begun in you You know how he hath promised his Disciples that hee will neuer leaue them Orphanes for hee is faithfull which hath promised Hold fast therefore his correction that is being rooted and grounded in Charitie whatsoeuer ye doe whatsoeuer yee indeuour doe it with one accord in simplicitie of Heart in meekenesse of Spirit without murmuring or doubting For by this doe all men know that wee are the Disciples of Christ if we haue Loue one
the naturall Allegiance and next clearely confirmed by this Oath which doeth nothing but expresse the same so as no man can now hold the faith or procure the saluation of his sould in England that must not abiure and renounce his borne and sworne Allegiance to his naturall Soueraigne And yet it is not sufficient to ratifie the last yeeres Breue by a new one come foorth this yeere but that not onely euery yeere but euery moneth may produce a new monster the great and famous Writer of the Controuersies the late vn-Iesuited Cardinall Bellarmine must adde his talent to this good worke by blowing the bellowes of sedition and sharpening the spur to rebellion by sending such a Letter of his to the Arch-priest here as it is wonder how passion and an ambitious desire of maintaining that Monarchie should charme the wits of so famously learned a man The Copie where of here followeth TO THE VERY REuerend Mr. George Blackwel Arch-priest of the English Robert Bellarmine Cardinall of the holy Church of Rome greeting REuerend Sir and Brother in CHRIST It is almost fourty yeeres since we did see one the other but yet I haue neuer bin vnmindful of our ancient acquaintance neither haue I ceased seeing I could doe you no other good to commend your labouring most painfully in the Lords vineyard in my prayers to GOD. And I doubt not but that I haue liued all this while in your memory and haue had some place in your prayers at the Lords Altar So therefore euen vnto this time wee haue abidden as S. Iohn speaketh in the mutuall loue one of the other not by word or letter but in deede and trueth But a late message which was brought vnto vs within these few dayes of your bonds and imprisonment hath inforced mee to breake off this silence which message although it seemed heauy in regard of the losse which that Church hath receiued by their beeing thus depriued of the comfort of your pastorall function among them yet withall it seemed ioyous because you drewe neere vnto the glory of Martyrdome then the which gift of God there is none more happy That you who haue fed your flocke so many yeeres with the word and doctrine should now feed it more gloriously by the example of your patience But another heauy tidings did not a litle disquiet and almost take away this ioy which immediatly followed of the aduersaries assault and peraduenture of the slip and fall of your Constancy in refusing an vnlawfull Oath Neither truely most deare Brother could that Oath therfore be lawfull because it was offered in sort tempered and modified for you know that those kinde of modifications are nothing else but sleights subtilties of Sathan that the Catholique faith touching the Primacie of the Sea Apostolique might either secretly or openly be shot at for the which faith so many worthy Martyrs euen in that very England it selfe haue resisted vnto blood For most certaine it is that in whatsoeuer wordes the Oath is conceiued by the aduersaries of the faith in that Kingdome it tends to this end that the authoritie of the head of the Church in England may be transferred from the successour of S. Peter to the Successour of K. Henry the eight For that which is pretended of the danger of the Kings life if the high Priest should haue the same power in England which hee hath in all other Christian Kingdomes it is altogether idle as all that haue any vnderstanding may easily perceiue For it was neuer heard of from the Churches infancy vntill this day that euer any Pope did command that any Prince though an Heretike though an Ethnike though a Persecutor should be murdered or did approue of the fact when it was done by any other And why I pray you doeth onely the King of England feare that which none of all other the Princes in Christendome either doeth feare or euer did feare But as I saide these vaine pretexts are but the trappes and stratagemes of Satan Of which kinde I could produce not a fâ—we out of Ancient Stories if I went about to write a bookâ— and not an Epistle One onely for example sake I will call to your memory S. Gregorius Nazianzenus in his first Oration against Iulian the Emperour reporteth That he the more easily to beguile the simple Christians did insert the Images of the false gods into the pictures of the Emperor which the Romanes did vse to bow dawne vnto with a ciuill kind of reuerence so that no man could doe reuerence to the Emperours picture but withall he must adore the Images of the false gods whereupon it came to passe that many were deceiued And if there were any that found out the Emperours craft and refused to worship his picture those were most grieuously punished as men that had contemned the Emperour in his Image Some such like thing me thinkes I see in the Oath that is offered to you which is to so craftily composed that no man can detest Treason against the King and make profession of his Ciuill subiection but he must be constrained perfidiously to denie the Primacie of the Apostolike Sea But the seruants of Christ and especially the chiefe Priests of the Lord ought to be so farre from taking an vnlawfull Oath where they may indamage the Faith that they ought to beware that they giue not the least suspicion of dissimulation that they haue taken it least they might seeme to haue left any example of preuarication to faithfull people Which thing that worthy Eleazar did most notably performe who would neither eate swines flesh nor so much as faine to haue eaten it although hee saw the great torments that did hang ouer his head least as himselfe speaketh in the second booke of the Machabees many yong men might be brought through that similation to preuaricate with the Law Neither did Basil the great by his example which is more fit for our purpose carrie himselfe lesse worthily toward Valens the Emperour For as Theodoret writeth in his Historie when the Deputy of that heretical Emperour did perswade Saint Basill that he would not resist the Emperour for a little subtiltie of a few points of doctrine that most holy and prudent man made answere That it was not to bee indured that the least syllable of Gods word should bee corrupted but rather all kind of torment was to be embraced for the maintenance of the Trueth thereof Now I suppose that there wants not amongst you who say that they are but subtilties of Opinions that are conteined in the Oath that is offred to the Catholikes and that you are not to striue against the Kings Authoritie for such a little matter But there are not wanting also amongst you holy men like vnto Basil the Great which will openly auow that the very least syllable of Gods diuine trueth is not to be corrupted though many torments were to be endured and death it selfe set before you Amongst whom it is meete
vvith the ciuil obedience of subiects to their Soueraigne in meere temporall causes And that it may the better appeare that vvhereas by name he seemeth to condemne the last Oath yet indeed his vvhole Letter runneth vpon nothing but vpon the condemnation of the Oath of Supremacie I haue here thought good to set downe the saide Oath leauing it then to the discretion of euery indifferent reader to iudge whether hee doeth not in substance onely answere to the Oath of Supremacie but that he giueth the child a wrong name I A B. doe vtterly testifie and declare in my Conscience that the Kings Highnesse is the onely Supreame Gouernour of this Realme and all other his Highnesse Dominions and Counties as well in all Spirituall or Ecclesiasticall things or causes as Temporall And that no forraine Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to haue any Iurisdiction Power Superioritie Preeminence or Authoritie Ecclesiasticall or Spirituall within this Realme And therefore I do vtterly renounce and forsake all forreine Iurisdictions Powers Superiorities and authorities and do promise that from hencefoorth I shall beare faith and true Allegiance to the Kings Highnesse his Heires and lawfull Successors and to my power shall assist and defend all iurisdictions Priuiledges Preâ—minences and Authorities graunted or belonging to the Kings Highnesse his Heires and Successours or vnited and annexed to the Imperiall Crowne of the Realme So helpe mee God and by the Contents of this booke And that the iniustice as well as the errour of his grosse mistaking in this point may yet be more clearely discouered I haue also thought good to insert here immediatly after the Oath of Supremacie the contrary Conclusions to all the points and Articles whereof this other late Oath doeth consist whereby it may appeare what vnreasonable and rebellious points hee would driue my Subiects vnto by refusing the whole body of that Oath as it is conceiued For he that shall refuse to take this Oath must of necessitie hold all or some of these propositions following That I King IAMES am not the lawfull King of this Kingdome and of all other my Dominions That the Pope by his owne authoritie may depose me If not by his owne authoritie yet by some other authoritie of the Church or of the Sea of Rome If not by some other authoritie of the Church Sea of Rome yet by other meanes with others helpe he may depose me That the Pope may dispose of my Kingdomes and Dominions That the Pope may giue authoritie to some forren Prince to inuade my Dominions That the Pope may discharge my Subiects of their Allegiance and Obedience to me That the Pope may giue licence to one or more of my Subiects to beare armes against me That the Pope may giue leaue to my Subiects to offer violence to my Person or to my Gouernement or to some of my Subiects That if the Pope shall by sentence excommunicate or depose me my Subiects are not to beare Faith and Allegiance to me If the Pope shall by Sentence excommunicate or depose mee my Subiects are not bound to defend with all their power my Person and Crowne If the Pope shall giue out any Sentence of Excommunication or Depriuation against me my Subiects by reason of that sentence are not bound to reueale all Conspiracies and Treasons against mee which shal come to their hearing and knowledge That it is not hereticall and detestable to hold that Princes being excommunicated by the Pope may be either deposed or killed by their Subiects or any other That the Pope hath power to absolue my Subiects from this Oath or from some part thereof That this Oath is not administred to my Subiects by a full and lawfull authoritie That this Oath is to be taken with Equiuocation mental euasion or secret reseruation and not with the heart and good will sincerely in the true faith of a Christian man These are the true and naturall branches of the body of this Oath The affirmatiue of all which negatiues doe neither concerne in any case the Popes Supremacie in spiritual causes nor yet were euer concluded and defined by any complete generall Councell to belong to the Popes authoritie and their owne schoole Doctors are at irreconciliable oddes and iarres about them And that the world may yet farther see ours and the whole States setting downe of this Oath did not proceed from any new inuention of our owne but as it is warranted by the word of GOD so doeth it take the example from an Oath of Allegiance decreed a thousand yeeres agone which a famous Councel then together with diuers other Councels were so farre from condemning as the Pope now hath done this Oath as I haue thought good to set downe their owne words here in that purpose whereby it may appeare that I craue nothing now of my Subiects in this Oath which was not expresly and carefully commanded then by the Councels to be obeyed without exception of persons Nay not in the very particular point of equiuocation which I in this Oath was so carefull to haue eschewed but you shall here see the said Councels in their Decrees as carefull to prouide for the eschewing of the same so as almost euery point of that Action and this of ours shall be found to haue relation and agreeance one with the other saue only in this that those ould Councels were carefull and strait in commanding the taking of the same whereas by the contrary he that novv vanteth himselfe to bee head of all Councels is as carefull and strait in the prohibition of all men from the taking of this Oath of Allegiance The vvordes of the Councell bee these Heare our Sentence Whosoeuer of vs or of all the people thorowout all Spaine shall goe about by any meanes of conspiracie or practise to violate the Oath of his fidelitie which he hath taken for the preseruation of his Countrey or of the Kings life or who shall attempt to put violent hands vpon the King or to depriue him of his kingly power or that by tyrannicall presumption would vsurpe the Soueraigntie of the Kingdome let him bee accursed in the sight of God the Father and of his Angels and let him be made and declared a stranger from the Catholike Church which he hath prophaned by his periurie an aliant from the company of all Christian people together with all the complices of his impietie because it behooueth all those that bee guiltie of the like offence to vnder-lie the like punishment Which sentence is three seuerall times together and almost in the same wordes repeated in the same Canon After this the Synode desired That this Sentence of theirs now this third time rehearsed might be confirmed by the voyce and consent of all that were present Then the whole Clergie and people answered Whosoeuer shal cary himselfe presumptuously against this your definitiue sentence let them be Anathema maranatha that is let them
deposing of Kings And for the second point he bringeth no proofe to the contrary but Pasce oues meas and Tibi dabo claues regni coelorum and That no Catholike euer doubted of it So as I may truely say of him that he either vnderstandeth not or at least will not seeme to vnderstand my Booke in neuer directly answering the maine question as I haue already sayd and so may I iustly turne ouer vpon himselfe that doome of ignorance which in the beginning of his Booke he rashly pronounceth vpon me saying that I neither vnderstand the Popes Breues his Letter nor the Oath it selfe And as hee delighteth to repeat ouer and ouer I know not how oft and triumpheth in this wrong inference of his That to deny the Popes power to depose Kings 〈◊〉 â—o deny the Popes Primacie and his spirituall power of Excommunication So doeth he vpon that ground of Pasce oues meas giue the Pope so ample a power ouer Kings to throne or dethrone them at his pleasure and yet onely subiecting Christian Kings to that slauerie as I doubt not but in your owne Honours yee will resent you of such indignities the rather since it concernes so many of you as professe the Romish religion farre more then me For since hee accounteth me an heretike like Iulian the Apostate I am consequently extra caulam and none of the Popes flocke and so am in the case of Ethnicke Princes ouer whom he confesseth the Pope hath no power But yee are in the Popes folde and you that great Pastour may leade as sheepe to the slaughter when it shall please him And as the asses eares must be hornes if the Lion list so to interpret it so must ye be remoued as scabbed sheepe from the flocke if so be the Pope thinke you to be though your skinne be indeed neuer so sound Thus hath hee set such a new goodly interpretation vpon the words of CHRIST Pasce oues meas as if it were as much to say as depose Christian Kings and that Quodcunque solueris gaue the Pope power to dispense with all sorts of Othes Vowes Penalties Censurers Lawes euen with the naturall obedience of Subiects to their Souereigne Lords much like to that new coined glosse that his brother Baronius made vpon the words in S. Peters vision Surge Petre occide manduca That is said hee to the Pope Goe kill and confound the Venetians And because I haue in my Booke by citing a place in his controuersies discouered him to be a small friend to Kings hee is much commoued For whereas in his said Controuersies speaking de Clericis hee is so bold as to affirme that Church-men are exempted from the power of earthly Kings and that they ought them no subiection euen in temporall matters but onely virationis and in their owne discretion for the preseruation of peace and good order because I say citing this place of his in my Booke I tell with admiration that he freeth all Church-men from any subiection to Kings euen those that are their borne-Subiects hee is angry with this phrase and sayth it is an addition for breeding enuie vnto him and raising of hatred against him For saith hee although Bellarmine affirmed generally that Church-men were not subiect to earthly Kings yet did he not insert that particular clause though they were borne and dwelling in their dominions as if the words of Church-men and earthly Kings in generall imported not as much for Layicks as well as Church-men are subiect to none but to their naturall Soueraigne And yet doeth he not sticke to confesse that he meant it though it was not fit he saith to be expressed And thus quarrels hee me for reuealing his Printed secret But whose hatred did he feare in this was it not yours Who haue interest but KINGS in the withdrawing of true Subiection from Kings And when the greatest Monarchs amongst you will remember that almost the third part of your Subiects and of your Territories is Church-men and Church-liuings I hope yee will then consider and weigh what a feather hee puls out of your wings when he denudeth you of so many Subiects and their possessions in the Popes fauour nay what bryers and thornes are left within the heart of your Dominions when so populous and potent a partie shall haue their birth education and liuelyhood in your Countries and yet owe you no Subiection nor acknowledge you for their SOVERAIGNES So as where the Church-men of old were content with their tythe of euery mans goods the Pope now will haue little lesse then the third part of euery Kings Subiects and Dominions And as in this place so throughout all the rest of his booke hee doeth nothing but amplifie the Popes power ouer Kings and exaggerate my vnreasonable rigour for pressing this Oath which he will needes haue to bee nothing but a renewed Oath of Supremacie in more subtill and craftie termes onely to robbe the Pope of his Primacie and spirituall power making his temporall power and authoritie ouer Princes to bee one of the chiefe ARTICLES of the Catholike faith But that it may the better appeare vnto you that all my labour and intention in this errand was onely to meddle with that due temporall Obedience which my Subiects owe vnto mee and not to entrap nor inthrall their Consciences as he most falsly affirmes Ye shall first see how farre other Godly and Christian Emperours and Kings were from acknowledging the Popes temporall Supremacie ouer them nay haue created controlled and deposed Popes and next what a number of my Predecessors in this Kingdome haue at al occasions euen in the times of the greatest Greatnesse of Popes resisted and plainely withstood them in this part And first all Christian Emperours were for a long time so farre from acknowledging the Popes Superioritie ouer them as by the contrary the Popes acknowledged themselves for their Vassals reuerencing and obeying the Emperours as their Lords for proofe whereof I remit you to my Apologie And for the creating of Popes the Emperours were in so long and continuall possession thereof as I will vse for my first witnesse a Pope himselfe who in a Synod of an hundreth fifty and three Bishops and Abbots did ordaine That the Emperour CHARLES the Great should haue the Right of choosing the Pope and ordaining the Apostolicall Seate and the dignitie of the Romane Principalitie nay farther hee ordained That all Archbishops and Bishops should receiue their Inuestiture from the Emperour or els be of no auaile And that a Bishop wanting it should not bee consecrate pronouncing an Anathema against all that should disobey this Sentence And that the Emperours assent to the Popes Election was a thing ordinary for a long time Platina and a number of the Popes owne writers beare witnesse And Bellarmine himselfe in his booke of Controuersies cannot get it handsomely denied Nay the Popes were euen forced then to pay a certaine summe of money
obedience any of you may looke for of any of them de facto he plainly forewarneth you of by the example of Gregorie the Great his obedience to the Emperor Mauritius not beeing ashamed to slaunder that great Personages Christian humilitie and obedience to the Emperour with the title of a constrained and forced obedience because hee might or durst doe no otherwise Whereby he not onely wrongs the said Gregorie in particular but euen doeth by that meanes lay on an heauie slaunder and reproach vpon the Christian humilitie and patience of the whole Primitiue Church especially in the time of persecution if the whole glorie of their Martyrdome and Christian patience shall be thus blotted with that vile glosse of their coacted and constrained suffering because they could or durst do no otherwise like the patience and obedience of the Iewes or Turkish slaues in our time cleane contrary to S. Paul and S. Peâ—â—rs doctrine of obedience for conscience sake and as contrarie to Tertullians Apologie for Christians and all the protestations of the ancient Fathers in that case But it was good lucke for the ancient Christians in the dayes of Ethnicke Emperors that this prophane new conceit was yet vnknowen among them otherwise they would haue bin vtterly destroyed and rooted out in that time and no man to haue pitied them as most dangerous members in a Common-wealth who would no longer bee obedient then till they were furnished with sufficient abilitie and power to resist and rebell Thus may ye see how vpon the one part our Cardinall will haue all Kings and Monarchs to be the Popes Vassals and yet will not on the other side allow the meanest of the Pope his vassals to be subiect to any Christian Prince But he not thinking it enough to make the Pope our Superior hath in a late Treatise of his called the Recognition of his bookes of Controuersies made the people and Subiects of euery one of vs our Superiors For hauing taken occasion to reuisite againe his bookes of Controuersies and to correct or explaine what he findeth amisse or mistaketh in them in imitation of S. Augustine his retractions for so hee saith in his Preface he doth in place of retracting any of his former errours or any matter of substance not retract but recant indeed I meane sing ouer againe and obstinatly confirme a number of the grossest of them Among the which the exempting of all Church-men from subiection to any Temporall Prince and the setting vp not onely of the Pope but euen of the People aboue their naturall King are two of his maine points As for the exemption of the Clerickes he is so greedy there to proue that point as he denieth Caesar to haue beene Pauls lawfull Iudge contrary to the expresse Text and Pauls plain Appellation and acknowledging him his Iudge besides his many times claiming to the Roman priuiledges and auowing himselfe a Roman by freedome and therefore of necessitie a Subiect to the Roman Emperour But it is a wonder that these Roman Catholikes who vaunt themselues of the ancientie both of their doctrine and Church and reproch vs so bitterly of our Nouelties should not bee ashamed to make such a new inept glosse as this vpon S. Pauls Text which as it is directly contrary to the Apostles wordes so is it without any warrant either of any ancient Councell or of so much as any one particular Father that euer interpreâ—s that place in this sort Neither was it euer doubted by any Christian in the Primitiue Church that the Apostles or any other degree of Christians were subiect to the Emperour And as for the setting vp of the People aboue their owne naturall King hee bringeth in that principle of Sedition that he may thereby proue that Kings haue not their power and authoritie immediatly from God as the Pope hath his For euery King saith he is made and chosen by his people nay they do but so transferre their power in the Kings person as they doe notwithstanding retaine their habituall power in their owne hands which vpon certaine ocasions they may actually take to themselues againe This I am sure is an excellent ground in Diuiniâ—â—e for all Râ—bels and rebellious people who are hereby allowed to rebell against their Princes and assume libertie vnto themselues when in their discretions they shall thinke it conuenient And amongst his other Testimonies for probation that all Kings are made and created by the People hee alledgeth the Creation of three Kings in the Scripture Saul Dauid Ieroboam and though he be compelled by the expresse words of the Text to confesse that God by his Prophet Samuel anointed both Saul and Dauid yet will he by the post-consent of the people proue that those Kings were not immediatly made by God but mediatly by the people though he repeat thrise that word of Lott by the casting whereof hee confesseth that Saul was chosen And if the Election by Lott be not an immediate Election from God then was not Matthias who was so chosen and made an Apostle immediatly chosen by God and consequently hee that sitteth in the Apostolike Sea cannot for shame claim to be immediatly chosen by God if Matthias that was one of the twelue Apostles supplying Iudas his place was not so chosen But as it were a blasphemous impietie to doubt that Matthias was immediatly chosen by God and yet was hee chosen by the casting of Lots as Saul was so is it well enough knowen to some of you my louing Brethren by what holy Spirit or casting of Lots the Popes vse to bee elected the Colledge of Cardinals his electors hauing beene diuided in two mighty factions euer since long before my time and in place of casting of Lotts great fat pensions beeing cast into some of their greedy mouthes for the election of the Pope according to the partiall humours of Princes But I doe most of all wonder at the weaknesse of his memorie for in this place hee maketh the post consent of the people to bee the thing that made both these Kings notwithstanding of their preceding inauguration and anoyntment by the Prophet at GODS commandement forgetting that in the beginning of this same little booke of his answering one that alledgeth a sentence of S. Cyprian to prooue that the Bishops were iudged by the people in Cyprians time hee there confesseth that by these words the consent of the people to the Bishops election must be onely vnderstood Nor will he there any wayes be mooued to graunt that the peoples power in consenting to or refusing the Election of a Bishop should be so vnderstood as that therby they haue power to elect Bishops And yet do these words of Cyprian seeme to be farre stronger for granting the peoples power to elect Church-men then any words that hee alledgeth out of the Scripture are for the peoples power in electing a King For the very words of Cyprian by himselfe there cited are That
not suffer this incroching Babylonian Monarch to winne still ground vpon vs. And if God hath so mercifully dealt with vs that are his Lieutenants vpon earth as that he hath ioyned his cause with our interest the spirituall libertie of the Gospel with our temporall freedome with what zeale and courage may wee then imbrace this worke for our labours herein being assured to receiue at the last the eternall and inestimable reward of felicitie in the kingdome of Heauen and in the meane time to procure vnto our selues a temporall securitie in our temporall Kingdomes in this world As for so many of you as are already perswaded of that Truth which I professe though differing among your selues in some particular points I think little perswasion should moue you to this holy and wise Resolution Our Greatnes nor our number praised bee God being not so contemptible but that we may shew good example to our neighbors since almost the halfe of all Christian people and of all sorts and degrees are of our profession I meane all gone out of Babylon euen from Kings and free Princes to the meanest sort of people But aboue all my louing Brethren and Cosins keepe fast the vnity of Faith amongst your selues Reiect questions of Genealogies and Aniles fabulas as Paul saith Let not the foolish heate of your Preachers for idle Controuersies or indifferent things teare asunder that mysticall Body whereof yee are a part since the very coat of him whose members wee are was without a seame And let not our diuision breed a slander of our faith and be a word of reproch in the mouthes of our aduersaries who make Vnitie to be one of the speciall notes of the true Church And as for you my louing Brethren and Cosins whome it hath not yet pleased GOD to illuminate with the light of trueth I can but humbly pray with Elizeus that it would please GOD to open your eyes that yee might see what innumerable and inuincible armies of Angels are euer prepared and ready to defend the truth of GOD and with S. Paul I wish that ye were as I am in this case especially that yee would search the Scriptures and ground your Faith vpon your owne certaine knowledge and not vpon the report of others since euery Man must be saf◠by his owne faith But leauing this to GOD his mercifull prouidence in his due time I haue good reason to remember you to maintaine the ancient liberties of your Crownes and Common-wealthes not suffering any vnder GOD to set himselfe vp aboue you and therein to imitate your owne noble predecessors who euen in the dayes of greatest blindnes did diuers times couragiously oppose themselues to the incroaching ambition of Popes Yea some of your Kingdomes haue in all ages maintained and without any interruption enioyed your libertie against the most ambitious Popes And some haue of very late had an euident proofe of the Popes ambitious aspiring ouer your temporall power wherein ye haue constantly maintained and defended your lawfull freedome to your immortall honour And therefore I heartily wish you all to doe in this case the office of godly and iust Kings and earthly Iudges which consisteth not onely in not wronging or inuading the liberties of any other person for to that will I neuer presse to perswade you but also in defending and maintaining these lawfull liberties wherewith GOD hath indued you For ye whom GOD hath ordained to protect your people from iniuries should bee ashamed to suffer your selues to bee wronged by any And thus assuring my selfe that ye will with a setled iudgement free of preiudice weigh the reasons of this my Discourse and accept my plainnesse in good part gracing this my Apologie with your fauours and yet no longer then till it shall be iustly and worthily refuted I end with my earnest prayers to the Almightie for your prosperities and that after your happy temporall Raignes in earth yee may liue and raigne in Heauen with him for euer A CATALOGVE OF the Lyes of Tortus together with a briefe Confutation of them Tortus Edit Politan pag. 9. 1 IN the oath of Allegiance the Popes power to excommunicate euen Hereticall Kings is expresly denied Confutation The point touching the Popes power in excommunicating Kings is neither treated of nor defined in the Oath of Allegiance but was purposely declined See the wordes of the Oath and the Praemonition pag. 9. Tortus p. 10. 2 For all Catholike writers doe collect from the words of Christ Whatsoeuer thou shalt loose vpon earth shall bee loosed in heauen that there appertaineth to the Popes authoritie not only a power to absolue from sinnes but also from penalties censures lawes vowes and oathes Confutation That all Roman-catholike writers do not concurre with this Libeller in thus collecting frō Christs words Mat. 16. To omit other reasons it may appeare by this that many of them do write That what Christ promised there that he did actually exhibite to his disciples Iohn 20. when he said whose sinnes yee remit they shall be remitted thereby restraining this power of loosing formerly promised vnto loosing from sinnes not mentioning any absolution from lawes vowes and oathes in this place So doe Theophylact Anselme Hugo Cardin. Ferus in Mat. 16. So doe the principall Schoolemen Alexand. Hales in Summa part 4. q. 79. memb 5. 6. art 3. Thom. in 4. dist 24. q. 3. art 2. Scotus in 4. dist 19. art 1. Pope Hadrian 6. in 4. dist q. 2. de clauib pag. 302. edit Parsien an 1530. who also alledgeth for this interpretation Augustine and the interlinear Glosse Tortus p. 18. 3 I abhorre all Parricide I detest all conspiracies yet it cannot be denied but occasions of despaire were giuen to the Powder-plotters Confutation That it was not any iust occasion of despaire giuen to the powder-Traitours as this Libeller would beare vs in hand but the instructions which they had from the Iesuites that caused them to attempt this bloody designe See the Praemonition pag. 127. and the booke intituled The proceedings against the late Traitours Tortus p. 26. 4 For not only the Catholiques but also the Caluinist-puritanes detest the taking of this Oath Confutation The Puritanes doe not decline the Oath of Supremacie but daily doe take it neither euer refused it And the same Supremacie is defended by Caluin himselfe Instit lib. 4. cap. 20. Tortus p. 28. 5 First of all the Pope writeth not that he was grieued at the calamities which the Catholiks did suffer for the keeping of the Orthodox faith in the time of the late Queene or in the beginning of King Iames his reigne in England but for the calamities which they suffer at this present time Confutation The onely recitall of the words of the Breue wil sufficiently confute this lye For thus writeth the Pope The tribulations and calamities which ye haue continually susteined for the keeping of the Catholique faith haue alway afflicted vs with
An Apologie for the Oath of ALLEGIANCE FIRST SET FOORTH WITHOVT a name And now acknowledged by the Authour the Right High and Mightie Prince IAMES by the Grace of GOD King of Great Britaine France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. Together with a PREMONITION of his Maiesties to all most Mightie Monarches Kings free Princes and States of Christendome PSAL. 2. Vers 10. Et nunc Reges intelligite Erudimini qui iudicatis terram ROM 14. Vers 13. Non ergo ampliùs inuicem indicemus Sed hoc iudicate magis ne penatâ—s offendiculum fratri vel scandalum ¶ Imprinted at London by Robert Barker Printer to the Kings most Excellent Maiestie April 8. ANNO 1609. Cum priuilegio Regali TO THE MOST SACRED AND Inuincible Prince RODOLPH the II. by GODS Clemencie Elect EMPEROVR of the ROMANES KING OF GERMANIE HVNGARIE BOHEME DALMATIE CROATIE SCLAVONIE c. ARCH-DVKE OF AVSTRIA DVKE OF BVRGVNDIE STIRIA CARINTHIA CARNIOLA and WIRTEMBERG c. Earle of TYROLIS c. AND TO ALL OTHER RIGHT HIGH AND MIGHTY KINGS AND RIGHT EXCELLENT Free PRINCES and STATES of Christendome Our louing BRETHREN COVSINS ALLIES CONFEDERATES and FRIENDS IAMES by the grace of GOD King of GREAT BRITAINE FRANCE and IRELAND Professor Maintainer and DEFENDER OF THE True Christian Catholique and Apostolique FAITH Professed by the auncient and Primitiue Church and sealed with the blood of so many holy Bishops and other faithfull crowned with the glory of Martyrdome WISHETH euerlasting felicitie in CHRIST our Sauiour TO YOV MOST SACRED AND INVINCIBLE EMPEROVR RIGHT HIGH AND MIGHTIE KINGS RIGHT EXCELLENT FREE PRINCES AND STATES MY LOVING BRETHREN AND COVSINS To you I say as of right belongeth doe I consecrate and direct this Warning of mine or rather Preamble to my reprinted Apologie for the Oath of Allegiance For the cause is generall and concerneth the Authoritie and Priuiledge of Kings in generall and all supereminent Temporall powers And if in whatsoeuer Societie or Corporation of men either in Corporations of Cities or in the Corporation of any mechanike craft or handie-worke euery man is carefull to maintain the priuiledges of that Societie whereunto hee is sworne nay they will rather cluster all in one making it a common cause exposing themselues to all sorts of perill then suffer the least breach in their Liberties If those of the baser sort of people I say be so curious and zealous for the preseruation of their common priuiledges and liberties as if the meanest amongst them bee touched in any such poynt they thinke it concerneth them all Then what should we doe in such a case whom GOD hath placed in the highest thrones vpon earth made his Lieutenants Vice-gerents and euen seated vs vpon his owne throne to execute his Iudgements The consideration heereof hath now moued me to expone a Case vnto you which doeth not so neerely touch mee in my particular as it doeth open a breach against our authoritie I speake in the plurall of all Kings and priuiledge in generall And since not onely all rankes and sorts of people in all Nations doe inuiolably obserue this Maxime but euen the Ciuill Law by which the greatest part of Christendome is gouerned doeth giue them an interest qui fouent consimilem causam How much more then haue ye interest in this cause not being similis or par causa to yours but eadem with yours and indeed yee all fouetis or at least fouere debetis eandem causam mecum And since this cause is common to vs all both the ciuill Lawes and the municipall Lawes of all Nations permits and warne them that haue a common interest to concurre in one for the defence of their common cause yea common sence teacheth vs with the Poet Ecquid Ad te pòst paulò ventura pericula sentis Nam tua res agitur paries cùm proximus ardet Awake then while it is time and suffer not by your longer sleepe the strings of your Authoritie to be cut in singulis and one and one to your generall ruine which by your vnited forces would rather make a strong rope for the enemie to hang himselfe in with Achitophel then that hee should euer be able to breake it As for this Apologie of mine it is true that I thought good to set it first out without putting my name vnto it but neuer so as I thought to deny it remembring well mine owne words but taken out of the Scripture in the beginning of the Preface to the Reader in my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that nothing is so hid which shall not bee opened c promising there which with GOD his grace I shall euer performe neuer to doe that in secret which I shall need to be ashamed of when it shall come to be proclaimed in publique In deed I thought it fit for two respects that this my Apologie should first visite the world without hauing my name written in the forehead thereof First because of the matter and next of the persons that I medled with The matter it being a Treatise which I was to write containing reasons discourses in Diuinity for the defence of the Oath of Allegiance and refutation of the condemners therof I thought it not comely for one of my place to put my name to books concerning scholastick Disputations whose calling is to set forth Decrees in the Imparatiue moode for I thinke my selfe as good a man as the Pope by his reuerence for whom these my Answerers make the like excuse for that his Breues are so summary without yeelding any reason vnto them My next reason was the respect of the persons whom with I meddled Wherein although I shortly answered the Popes Breues yet the point I most laboured being the refutation of Bellarmines Letter I was neuer the man I confesse that could thinke a Cardinall a meet match for a King especially hauing many hundreth thousands of my subiects of as good birth as he As for his Church dignitie his Cardinalship I meane I know not how to ranke or value it either by the warrant of God his word or by the ordinance of Emperours or Kings it being indeed onely a new Papall erection tolerated by the sleeping conniuence of our Predecessors I meane still by the plurall of Kings But notwithstanding of this my forbearing to put my name vnto it some Embassadours of some of you my louing Brethren and Cosins whome this cause did neereliest concerne can witnesse that I made Presents of some of those bookes at their first printing vnto them and that auowedly in my owne name As also the English Paragraphist or rather peruerse Pamphleter Parsons since all his desciption must runne vpon a P. hath truely obserued that my Armes are affixed in the frontispice thereof which vseth not to bee in bookes of other mens doing whereby his malice in pretending his ignorance that he might pay me the soundlier is the more inexcusable But now that I find my sparing to put my name vnto it
nay to rage and spewe forth blasphemies against the late Queene of famous memorie A Subiect to raile against his naturall Soueraigne by birth A man to rayle against a Lady by sexe A holy man in outward profession to insult vpon the dead nay to take Radamanthus office ouer his head and to sit downe and play the Iudge in hell And all his quarrell is that either her Successour or any of her Seruants should speake honourably of her Cursed be he that curseth the Anointed of God and destroyed mought he be with the destruction of Korah that hath sinned in the contradiction of Korah Without mought such dogs and swine be cast forth I say out of the spirituall Ierusalem As for my Latine Answerer I haue nothing to say to his person he is not my Subiect he standeth or falleth vnto his owne Lord But sure I am they two haue casten lots vpon my Booke since they could not diuide it the one of them my fugitiue to rayle vpon my late Predecessor but a rope is the fittest answere for such an Historian the other a stranger thinketh he may be boldest both to pay my person and my booke as indeed hee doth which how iustly either in matter or maner we are now to examine But first who should be the true Authour of this booke I can but guesse He calleth himselfe Matthaeus Tortus Cardinal Bellarmins Chaplain A throwen Euangelist indeed full of throward Diuinitie an obscure Authour vtterly vnknowen to me being yet little knowen to the world for any other of his works and therefore must be a very desperate fellow in beginning his apprentisage not only to refute but to raile vppon a King But who will consider the cariage of the whole booke shall find that hee writeth with such authoritie or at the least tam elato stylo so little sparing either Kings in generall or my person in particular and with such a greatnesse Habemus enim exemplaria Breuium illorum in manibus and Decernimus as it shall appeare or at least be very probable that it is the Masters and not the mans labour especially in one place where he quarrelleth mee for casting vp his moralis certitudo and piè credi vnto him hee there grossely forgetting himselfe saith malâ fide nobiscum agit thereby making this Authour to be one person with Bellarmine But let it bee the worke of a Tortus indeed and not of a personated Cardinall yet must it be the Cardinals deede since Master Tortus is the Cardinals man and doeth it in his masters defence The errand then being the Cardinals and done by his owne man it cannot but be accounted as his owne deed especially since the English Answerer doeth foure times promise that Bellarmine or one by his appointment shall sufficiently answere it And now to come to his matter and manner of Answere Surely if there were no more but his vnmannerly manner it is enough to disgrace the whole matter thereof For first to shew his pride in his Printers preface of the Poâ—itan edition of this elegans libellus he must equall the Cardinals greatnesse with mine in euery thing For though he confesseth this Master Tortus to bee an obscure man yet being the Cardinals Chaplaine he is sufficient enough forsooth to answere an English booke that lacketh the name of an Authour as if a personated obscure name for Auhour of a Cardinals booke were a meet match for answering a Kings booke that lacketh the name of an Authour and a Cardinals Chaplaine to meete with the Deane of the Kings Chappell whome Parsons with the Cardinall haue as it seemeth agreed vpon to intitle to bee the Authour of my Apologie And not onely in the Preface but also through the whole Booke doeth he keepe this comparatiue greatnesse He must bee as short in his answere as I am in my booke he must refute all that I haue said against the Popes second Breue with equall breuity and vpon one page almost as I haue done mine and because I haue set downe the substance of the Oath in 14. Articles in iust as many Articles must he set downe that Acte of Parliament of mine wherein the Oath is contained And yet had hee contented himselfe with his owne pride by the demonstration of his owne greatnesse without further wronging of me it had bene the more tolâ—rable But what cause gaue I him to farce his whole booke with iniuries both against my person and booke For whereas in all my Apologie I haue neuer giuen him a foule word and especially neuer gaue him the Lye he by the contrary giueth me nine times the Lye in expresse termes and seuen times chargeth mee with a falshood which phrase is equiualent with a Lye And as for all other words of reproch as nugae conuitia temeritas vanitas impudentia blasphemiae sermonis barbaries cum eadem foelicitate scribendi cauillationes applicatio inepta fingere historias audacia que in hominem sanae mentis cadere non potest vel sensu coÌ„muni caret imperitia leuitas omnem omnino pudorem conscientiam exuisse malâ fide nobiscum agit vt lectoribus per fas nefas imponat of such like reproches I say I doubt if there be a page in all his booke free except where he idlely sets down the Popes Breues and his owne Letter And in case this might onely seeme to touch the vnknowen Authour of the booke whom notwithstanding he knew well enough as I shew before he spareth not my Person with my owne name sometimes saying that Pope Clement thought me to be inclined to their Religion sometimes that I was a Puritane in Scotland and a persecutor of Protestants In one place he concludeth Quia Iacobus non est Catholicus hoc ipso Haereticus est In another place Ex Christiano Caluinistam fecerunt In another place hee saith Neque omnino verum est Iacobum nunquam deseruisse Religionem quam primò susceperat And in another place after that hee hath compared and ranked me with Iulian the Apostate he concludeth Cum Catholicus non sit neque Christianus est If this now be mannerly dealing with a King I leaue it to you to iudge who cannot but resent such indignities done to one of your quality And as for the matter of his booke it well fits indeed the manner thereof for he neuer answereth directly to the maine question in my booke For whereas my Apologie handleth onely two points as I told you before One to proue that the Oath of Allegiance doeth onely meddle with the ciuil and temporal obedience due by Subiects to their naturall Soueraignes The other that this late vsurpation of Popes ouer the temporall power of Princes is against the rule of all Scriptures ancient Councels and Fathers hee neuer improoues the first but by a false inference that the Oath denieth the Popes power of excommunication directly since it denyeth his authoritie in
to the Emperours for their Confirmation And this lasted almost seuen hundreth yeeres after CHRIST witnesse Sigebert and Luitprandus with other Popish Historians And for Emperours deposing of Popes there are likewise diuers examples The Emperour Ottho deposed Pope Iohn the twelfth of that name for diuers crimes and vices especially of lecherie The Emperour Henry the third in a short time deposed three Popes Benedict the ninth Siluester the third and Gregory the sixt as well for the sinne of Auarice as for abusing their extraordinarie authoritie against Kings and Princes And as for Kings that haue denied this temporall Superioritie of Popes First we haue the vnanime testimonie of diuers famous Historiographers for the generall of many Christian Kingdomes As Walthram testifieth That the Bishops of Spaine Scotland England Hungary from ancient institution till this moderne noueltie had their Inuestiture by Kings with peaceable inioying of their temporalities wholly and entirely and whosoeuer saith hee is peaceably solicitous let him peruse the liues of the Ancients and read the Histories and hee shall vnderstand thus much And for verification of this generall assertion we will first begin at the practise of the Kings of France though not named by Walthram in this his enumeration of Kingdomes amongst whom my first witnesse shall be that vulgarly knowen Letter of Philip le Bel King of France to Pope Boniface the viij the beginning whereof after a scornefull salutation is Sciat tua maxima fatuitas nos in temporalibus nemini subesse And likewise after that Lewes the ninth surnamed Sanctus had by a publike instrument called Pragmatica Sanctio forbidden all the exactions of the Popes Court within his Realme Pope Pius the ij in the beginning of Lewes the eleuenth his time greatly misliking this Decree so long before made sent his Legate to the said King Lewes with Letters patents vrging his promise which he had made when he was Dolphin of France to repeale that Sanction if euer hee came to bee King The King referreth the Legate ouer with his Letters-patents to the Councel of Paris where the matter being propounded was impugned by Ioan. Romanus the Kings Atturney with whose opinion the Vniuersitie of Paris concurring an Appeale was made from the attempts of the Pope to the next generall Councell the Cardinall departing with indignation But that the Kings of France and Church therof haue euer stoken to their Gallican immunitie in denying the Pope any temporall power ouer them and in resisting the Popes as oft as euer they prest to meddle with their temporall power euen in the donation of Benefices the Histories are so full of them as the onely examples thereof would make vp a bigge Volume by it selfe And so farre were the Sorbonists for the Kings and French Churches priuiledge in this point as they were wont to maintain That if the Pope fell a quarrelling the King for that cause the Gallican Church might elect a Patriarch of their owne renouncing any obedience to the Pope And Gerson was so farre from giuing the Pope that temporall authoritie ouer Kings who otherwise was a deuoute Roman Catholike as hee wrote a Booke de Auferibilitate Papae not onely from the power ouer Kings but euen ouer the Church And now permitting all further examples of forraigne Kings actions I will onely content mee at this time with some of my owne Predecessors examples of this Kingdom of England that it may thereby the more clearly appeare that euen in those times when the worlde was fullest of darkened blindnesse and ignorance the Kings of England haue oftentimes not only repined but euen strongly resisted and withstoode this temporall vsurpation and encroachment of ambitious Popes And I will first begin at King Henry the first of that name after the Conquest who after he was crowned gaue the Bishopricke of Winchester to William Gifford and forthwith inuested him into all the possessions belonging to the Bishopricke contrarie to the Canons of the new Synod King Henrie also gaue the Archbishopricke of Canterburie to Radulph Bishop of London and gaue him inuestiture by a Ring and a Crosiers staffe Also Pope Calixtus held a Councell at Rhemes whither King Henry had appointed certaine Bishops of England and Normandie to goe Thurstan also elected Archbishop of Yorke got leaue of the King to goe thither giuing his faith that hee would not receiue Consecration of the Pope And comming to the Synode by his liberal gifts as the fashion is wanne the Romanes fauour and by their meanes obtained to bee Consecrate at the Popes hand Which as soone as the King of England knewe hee forbad him to come within his Dominions Moreouer King Edward the first prohibited the Abbot of Waltham and Dean of Pauls to collect a tenth of euery mans goods for a supply to the holy Land which the Pope by three Bulles had committed to their charge and the said Deane of Pauls compering before the King and his Councell promised for the reuerence he did beare vnto the King not to meddle any more in that matter without the Kings good leaue and permission Here I hope a Church-man disobeyed the Pope from obedience to his Prince euen in Church matters but this new Iesuited Diuinitie was not then knowen in the world The same Edward I. impleaded the Deane of the Chappell of Vuluerhampton because the said Deane had against the priuiledges of the Kingdome giuen a Prebend of the same Chappell to one at the Popes command whereupon the said Deane compeered and put himselfe in the Kings will for his offence The said Edward I. depriued also the Bishop of Durham of all his liberties for disobeying a prohibition of the Kings So as it appeareth the Kings in those dayes thought the Church men their SVBIECTS though now wee be taught other Seraphicall doctrine For further proofe whereof Iohn of Ibstocke was committed to the goale by the saide King for hauing a suite in the Court of Rome seauen yeares for the Rectorie of Newchurch And Edward II. following the footsteps of his Father after giuing out a Summons against the Abbot of Walden for citing the Abbot of S. Albons and others in the Court of Rome gaue out letters for his apprehension And likewise because a certaine Prebend of Banbury had drawen one Beuercoat by a Plea to Rome without the Kings Dominions therefore were Letters of Caption sent foorth against the said Prebend And Edward III. following likewise the example of his Predecessors Because a Parson of Liche had summoned the Prior of S. Oswalds before the Pope at Auinion for hauing before the Iudges in England recouered the arrerage of a pension directed a Precept for seasing vpon all the goods both spirituall and Temporall of the said Parson because hee had done this in preiudice of the King and Crowne The saide King also made one Harwoden to bee declared culpable and worthy to bee punished for procuring the Popes Bulles
against a Iudgment that was giuen by the Kings Iudges And likewise Because one entred vpon the Priory of Barnewell by the Popes Bull the said Intrant was committed to the Tower of London there to remaine during the Kings pleasure So as my Predecessours ye see of this Kingdome euen when the Popes triumphed in their greatnes spared not to punish any of their Subiects that would preferre the Popes obedience to theirs euen in Church matters So farre were they then from either acknowledging the Pope for their temporal Superior or yet from doubting that their owne Church-men were not their Subiects And now I will close vp all these examples with an Act of Parliament in King Richard 2. his time whereby it was prohibited That none should procure a Benefice from Rome vnder paine to be put out of the Kings protection And thus may yee see that what those Kings successiuely one to another by foure generations haue acted in priuate the same was also maintained by a publike Law By these few examples now I hope I haue sufficiently cleared my selfe from the imputation that any ambition or desire of Noueltie in mee should haue stirred me either to robbe the Pope of any thing due vnto him or to assume vnto my selfe any further authoritie then that which other Christian Emperours and Kings through the world and my owne Predecessours of England in especiall haue long agone maintained Neither is it enough to say as Parsons doeth in his answere to the Lord Cooke That farre more Kings of this Countrey haue giuen many more examples of acknowledging or not resisting the Popes vsurped Authoritie some perchance lacking the occasion and some the abilitie of resisting them for euen by the ciuill Law in the case of violent intrusion and long and wrongfull possession against mee it is enough if I proue that I haue made lawfull interruption vpon conuenient occasions But the Cardinall thinkes the Oath not onely vnlawfull for the substance thereof but also in regard of the Person whom vnto it is to bee sworne For saith he The King is not a Catholike And in two or three other places of his booke he sticketh not to call me by my name very broadly an Heretike as I haue already tolde But yet before I be publikly declared an Heretike by the Popes owne Law my people ought not to refuse their Obedience vnto me And I trust if I were but a Subiect and accused by the Pope in his Conclaue before his Cardinals he would haue hard prouing me an Heretike if he iudged mee by their owne ancient Orders For first I am no Apostate as the Cardinall would make mee not onely hauing euer been brought vp in that Religion which I presently professe but euen my Father and Grandfather on that side professing the same and so cannot be properly an Heretike by their owne doctrine since I neuer was of their Church And as for the Queene my Mother of worthie memorie although she continued in that Religion wherin she was nourished yet was shee so farre from being superstitious or Iesuited therein that at my Baptisme although I was baptized by a Popish Archbishop shee sent him word to forbeare to vse the spettle in my Baptisme which was obeyed being indeed a filthy and an apish trick rather in scorne then imitation of CHRIST And her owne very words were That shee would not haue a pockie Priest to spet in her childs mouth As also the Font wherin I was Christened was sent from the late Queene heere of famous memorie who was my Godmother and what her Religion was Pius V. was not ignorant And for further proofe that that renowmed Queene my Mother was not superstitious as in all her Letters whereof I receiued many she neuer made mention of Religion nor laboured to perswade me in it so at her last words she cōmanded her Master-houshold a Scottish Gentleman my seruant and yet aliue shee commanded him I say to tell me That although she was of another Religion then that wherein I was brought vp yet she woud not presse me to change except my owne conscience forced mee to it For so that I led a good life and were carefull to doe iustice and gouerne well she doubted not but I would be in a good case with the profession of my owne Religion Thus am I no Apostate nor yet a deborder from that Religion which one part of my Parents professed and an other part gaue me good allowance of Neither can my Baptisme in the rites of their Religion make me an Apostate or Heretike in respect of my present profession since wee all agree in the substance thereof being all baptized In the Name of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost vpon which head there is no variance amongst vs. And now for the point of Heretike I will neuer bee ashamed to render an account of my profession and of that hope that is in me as the Apostle prescribeth I am such a CATHOLIKE CHRISTIAN as beleeueth the three Creeds That of the Apostles that of the Councell of Nice and that of Athanasius the two latter being Paraphrases to the former And I beleeue them in that sense as the ancient Fathers and Councels that made them did vnderstand them To which three Creedes all the Ministers of England doe subscribe at their Ordination And I also acknowledge for Orthodoxe all those other formes of Creeds that either were deuised by Councels or paticular Fathers against such particular Heresies as most reigned in their times I reuerence and admit the foure first generall Councels as Catholike and Orthodoxe And the said foure generall Councels are acknowledged by our Acts of Parliament and receiued for Orthodoxe by our Church As for the Fathers I reuerence them as much and more then the Iesuites doe and as much as themselues euer craued For what euer the Fathers for the first fiue hundreth yeeres did with an vnanime consent agree vpon to be beleeued as a necessary point of saluation I either will beleeue it also or at least will be humbly silent not taking vpon me to condemne the same But for euery priuate Fathers opinion it bindes not my conscience more then Bellarmines euery one of the Fathers vsually contradicting others I wil therefore in that case follow S. Augustines rule in iudging of their opinions as I finde them agree with the Scriptures what I find agreeable thereunto I will gladly imbrace what is otherwise I will with their reuerence reiect As for the Scriptures no man doubteth I will beleeue them But euen for the Apocrypha I hold them in the same account that the Ancients did They are still printed and bound with our Bibles and publikely read in our Churches I reuerence them as the writings of holy and good men but since they are not found in the Canon we account them to be secundae lectionis or ordinis which is Bellarmines owne distinction and therefore not sufficient whereupon alone to ground any article
that you should bee one or rather the Standerd-bearer and Generall to the rest And whatsoeuer hath beene the cause that your Constancie hath quailed whether it bee the suddennesse of your apprehension or the bitternesse of your persecution or the imbecillitie of your old age yet we trust in the goodnesse of God in your owne long continued vertue that it will come to passe that as you seeme in some part to haue imitated the fall of Peter and Marcellinus so you shall happily imitate their valour in recouering your strength and maintaining the truth For if you will diligently weigh the whole matter with your selfe truely you shall see it is no small matter that is called in question by this Oath but one of the principall heads of our faith and foundations of Catholique Religion For heare what your Apostle S. Gregory the Great hath written in his 24. Epistle of his 11. booke Let not the reuerence due to the Apostolique Sea bee troubled by any mans presumption for then the estate of the members doeth remaine entire when the head of the faith is not bruised by any iniury Therefore by S. Gregories testimonie when they are busie about disturbing or diminishing or taking away of the Primacie of the Apostolique Sea then are they busie about cutting off the verie head of the faith and dissoluing of the state of the whole body and of all the members Which selfe same thing S. Leo doth confirme in his third Sermon of his Assumption to the Popedome when he saith Our Lord had a speciall care of Peter prayed properly for Peters faith as though the state of others were more stable when their Princes minde was not to be ouer come Whereupon himselfe in his Epistle to the Bishops of the prouince of Vienna doeth not doubt to affirme that he is not partaker of the diuine Mystery that dare depart from the solidity of Peter who also saith That who thinketh the Primacy to be denied to that Sea he can in no sort lessen the authority of it but by beeing puft vp with the spirit of his own pride doth cast himself headlong into hel These many other of this kind I am very sure are most familiar to you who besides many other bookes haue diligently read ouer the visible Monarchie of your owne Saunders a most diligent writer and one who hath worthily deserued of the Church of England Neither can you be ignorant that these most holy learned men Iohn Bishop of Rochester and Tho. Moore within our memorie for this one most weightie head of doctrine led the way to Martyrdome to many others to the exceeding glory of the English nation But I would put you in remembrance that you should take hart considering the weightines of the cause not to trust too much to your owne iudgement neither be wise aboue that is meete to be wise and if peraduenture your fall haue proceeded not vpon want of consideration but through humane infirmity for feare of punishment and imprisonment yet doe not preferre a temporall liberty to the libertie of the glory of the Sonnes of God neither for escaping a light and momentanie tribulation lose an eternall weight of glory which tribulation it self doth worke in you You haue fought a good fight a long time you haue well neere finished your course so many yeres haue you kept the faith doe not therefore lose the reward of such labours do not depriue your selfe of that crown of righteousnesse which so long agone is prepared for you Doe not make the faces of so many yours both brethren and children ashamed Vpon you at this time are fixed the eyes of all the Church yea also you are made a spectacle to the world to Angels to men Do not so carry your self in this your last acte that you leaue nothing but laments to your friends and ioy to your enemies But rather on the contrary which we assuredly hope for which we continually power forth prayers to God display gloriously the banner of faith and make to reioyce the Church which you haue made heauie so shall you not onely merite pardon at Gods hands but a crowne Farewell Quite you like a man and let your heart be strengthened From Rome the 28. day of September 1607. Your very Reuerendships brother and seruant in Christ Robert Bellarmine Cardinall THE ANSWERE to the Cardinals Letter AND now that I am to enter into the fielde against him by refuting his Letter I must first vse this protestation That no desire of vaine glory by matching with so learned a man maketh mee to vndertake this taske but onely the care conscience I haue that such smooth Circes charmes and guilded pilles as full of exterior eloquence as of in ward vntruthes may not haue that publike passage through the world without an answere whereby my reputation might vniustly be darkened by such cloudy and foggy mists of vntruthes and false imputations the hearts of vnstayed and simple men be mis-led the trueth itselfe smothered But before I come to the particular answere of this Letter I must here desire the world to wonder with me at the committing of so grosse an errour by so learned a man as that hee should haue pained himselfe to haue set downe so elaborate a letter for the refutation of a quite mistaken question For it appeareth that our English Fugitiues of whose inward societie with him he so greatly vaunteth haue so fast hammered in his head the Oath of Supremacie which hath euer bin so great a scarre vnto them as he thinking by his letter to haue refuted the last Oath hath in place thereof onely paid the Oath of Supremacie which was most in his head as a man that being earnestly caried in his thoughts vpon another matter then he is presently in doing will often name the matter or person hee is thinking of in place of the other thing he hath at that time in hand For as the Oath of Supremacie was deuised for putting a difference betweene Papists and them of our profession so was this Oath which he would seeme to impugne ordained for making a difference between the ciuilly obedient Papists the peruerse disciples of the powder-Treason Yet doth all his letter runne vpon an Inuectiue against the Compulsion of Catholiques to deny the authoritie of Saint Peters Successors and in place thereof to acknowledge the Successors of King Henry the eight For in King Henry the eights time was the Oath of Supremacie first made by him were Thomas Moore and Roffensis put to death partly for refusing of it From his time til novv haue al the Princes of this land professing this Religion successiuely in effect maintained the same and in that Oath only is contained the Kings absolute povver to be iudge ouer all persons asvvel Ciuil as Ecclesiastical excluding al forraine povvers and Potentates to be iudges vvithin his Dominions vvheras this last made Oath containeth no such matter onely medling
after such things but for them that were throughly instructed in Gods word they could neuer suffer any syllable thereof to be corrupted Nay if need required they would for the maintenance thereof refuse no kinde of death Indeed the loue of the Emperour ought to be greatly esteemed with pietie but pietie taken away it was pernicious This is the truth of the history Now compare the case of Basill with the Arch-priests Basill was solicited to become an Arrian the Arch-priest not once touched for any article of faith Basill would haue obeyed the Emperour but that the word of GOD for bade him this man is willed to obey because the word of GOD commandeth him Basill highly esteemed the Emperours fauour if it might haue stood with pietie the Archpriest is exhorted to reiect it though it stand with true godlinesse in deed to embrace it But that hee may lay load vpon the Arch-priest it is not sufficient to exhort him to courage and constancie by Eleazars and Basils examples but hee must be vtterty cast downe with the comparing his fall to S. Peters and Marcellinus which two mens cases were the most feareful considering their persons and places that are to be found or read of either in all the books of diuine Scripture or the volumes of Ecclesiasticall histories the one denying the onely true God the other our Lord Sauiour IESVS CHRIST the one sacrificing to idols with the profane heathen the other forswearing his Lord and Master with the hard-hearted Iewes Vnlesse the Cardinall would driue the Archpriest to some horrour of conscience and pit of despaire I know not what hee can meane by this comparison For sure I am all that are not intoxicated with their cup cannot but woonder to heare of an Oath of Allegiance to a naturall Soueraigne to bee likened to an Apostats denying of God and forswearing of his Sauiour But to let passe the Disdiapason of the cases as his ill-fauoured coupling S. Peter the head of their Church with an apostate Pope I maruaile he would remember this example of Marcellinus since his brother Cardinall Baronius and the late edition of the Councels by Binnius seeme to call the credite of the whole history into question saying That it might plainely be refuted and that it is probably to be shewed that the story is but obreptitious but that he would not swarue from the common receiued opinion And if a man might haue leaue to coniecture so would his Cardinalship too if it were not for one or two sentences in that Councell of Sinuessa which serued for his purpose namely that Prima sedes à nemine iudicatur And Iudica causam tuam nostrâ sententià non condemnaberis But to what purpose a great Councel as he termes it of three hundred Bishops and others should meete together who before they met knew they could doe nothing when they were there did nothing but like Cuckowes sing ouer and ouer the same song that Prima sedes à nemine iudicatur and so after three dayes sitting a long time indeed for a great and graue Councell brake so bluntly vp and yet that there should be seuenty two witnesses brought against him and that they should subscribe his excommunication and that at his owne mouth he tooke the Anathema maranatha how these vntoward contradictions shal be made to agree I must send the Cardinall to Venice to Padre Paulo who in his Apologie against the Cardinals oppositions hath handled them very learnedly But from one Pope let vs passe to another for what a principall article of faith and religion this Oath is I haue alreadie sufficiently proued Why he called S. Gregory our Apostle I know not vnlesse perhaps it be for that he sent Augustine the Monke and others with him into England to cōuert vs to the faith of Christ wherein I wish the Popes his successours would follow his patterne For albeit he sent them by diuine reuelation as he said into England vnto King Ethelbert yet when they came they exercised no part of their function but by the Kings leaue and permission So did King Lucius send to Eleutherius his predecessor and hee sent him diuers Bishops who were all placed by the Kings authoritie These conuerted men to the faith and taught them to obey the King And if the Popes in these dayes would but insist in these steps of their forefathers then would they not intertaine Princes fugitiues abroad nor send them home not onely without my leaue but directly against the lawes with plots of treason and doctrine of rebellion to drawe Subiects from their obedience to mee their naturall King nor be so cruell to their owne Mancipia as returning them with these wares put either a State in iealousie of them or them in hazard of their owne liues Now to our Apostle since the Cardinall will haue him so called I perswade my selfe I should doe a good seruice to the Church in this my labour if I could but reape this one fruit of it to moue the Cardinal to deale faithfully with the Fathers and neuer to alledge their opinions against their owne purpose For this letter of Gregorius was written to Iohn Bishop of Palermo in Sicily to whom he granted vsum pallij to be worne in such times in such order as the Priests in the I le of Sicily and his predecessours were wont to vse and withall giueth him a caueat that the reuerence to the Apostolike Sea be not disturbed by the presumption of any for then the state of the members doth remaine sound when the head of the Faith is not bruised by any iniury and the authoritie of the Canons alwayes remaine safe and sound Now let vs examine the words The epistle was written to a Bishop especially to grant him the vse of the Pall a ceremony and matter indifferent As it appeareth the Bishop of Rome tooke it well at his hands that hee would not presume to take it vpon him without leaue from the Apostolique Sea giuing him that admonition which foloweth in the words alledged out of him which doctrine we are so far frō impugning that we altogether approue allow of the same that whatsoeuer ceremonie for order is thought meet by the Christian Magistrat and the Church the same ought inuiolably to bee kept and where the head gouernour in matters of that nature are not obeyed the members of that Church must needs run to hellish confusion But that Gregory by that terme caput fidei held himselfe the head of our faith and the head of all Religion cannot stand with the course of his doctrine and writings For first whē an other would haue had this stile to be called Vniuersalis Episcopus hee sayd I doe confidently auouch that whosoeuer calleth himselfe or desireth to be called Vniuersall Bishop in this aduancing of himselfe is the forerunner of the Antichrist Which notwithstanding was a stile far inferiour to
thinke he doth not meane by his Diuina Dogmata the word of the God of heauen but onely the Canons and Lawes of his Dominus Deus Papa otherwise all his Primacie of the Apostolike Sea would not be so much sticken vpon hauing so slender ground in the word of God And for the great feare he hath that the suddennes of the apprehension the bitternes of the persecution the weaknesse of his age and other such infirmities might haue bene the cause of the Arch-priests fall in this I haue already sufficiently answered him hauing declared as the trueth is and as the said Blackwel himselfe wil yet testifie that he took this Oath freely of himselfe without any inducement therunto either Precebus or Minis But amongst all his citations he must not forget holy Sanderus and his Viâ—ibilis Monarchia whose person and actions I did already a little touch And surely who will with vnpartiall eyes read his bookes they may well thinke that he hath deserued wel of his English Roman-Church but they can neuer thinke but that he deserued very ill of his English Soueraigne and State Witnesse his owne books whereout I haue made choice to set downe here these few sentences following as flowers pickt out of so worthy a garland Elisabeth Queene of England doth exercise the Priestly act of teaching and preaching the Gospel in England with no lesse authority then Christ himself or Moses euer did The supremacy of a woman in Church matters is from no other then from the Deuill And of all things in generall thus he speaketh The King that wil not inthrall himselfe to the Popes authority he ought not to be tolerated but his Subiects ought to giue all diligence that another may be chosen in his place assoone as may be A King that is an Heretike ought to be remoued from the kingdome that he holdeth ouer Christians and the Bishops ought to endeuour to set vp another assoone as possibly they can Wee doe constantly affirme that all Christian Kings are so far vnder Bishops and Priestes in all matters appertaining to faith that if they shall continue in a falt against Christian Religion after one or two admonitions obstinately for that cause they may and ought to be deposed by the Bishops from their temporal authority they hold ouer ChristiaÌ„s Bishops are set ouer temporall kingdomes if those kingdomes do submit themselues to the faith of Christ We doe iustly affirme that all Secular power whether Regall or any other is of Men. The anoynting which is powred vpon the head of the King by the Priest doeth declare that he is inferiour to the Priest It is altogether against the will of CHRIST that Christian Kings should haue supremacie in the Church And whereas for the crowne and conclusion of all his examples he reckoneth his two English martyrs Moore and Roffensis who died for that one most weighty head of doctrine as he alleadgeth refusing the Oath of Supremacie I must tel him that he hath not bene well informed in some materiall points which doe very neerly concerne his two said martyrs For it is cleare and apparantly to be prooued by diuers Records that they were both of them committed to the Tower about a yeere before either of them was called in question vpon their liues for the Popes Supremacie And that partly for their backwardnesse in the point of the establishment of the Kings succession wherunto the whole Realme had subscribed and partly for that one of them to wit Fisher had had his hand in the matter of the holy mayd of Kent he being for his concealement of that false prophets abuse found guiltie of misprision of treason And as these were the principall causes of their imprisonment the King resting secure of his Supremacie as the Realme stood then affected but especially troubled for setling the crowne vpon the issue of his second marriage so was it easily to be conceiued that being thereupon discontented their humors were therby made apt to draw them by degrees to further opposition against the King and his authoritie as indeed it fell out For in the time of their being in prison the Kings lawfull authoritie in cases Ecclesiasticall being published and promulged as wel by a generall decree of the Clergie in their Synode as by an Act of Parliament made thereupon they behaued themselues so peeuishly therein as the old coales of the Kings anger being thereby raked vp of new they were againe brought in question as wel for this one most weighty head of doctrine of the Pope his supremacy as for the matter of the Kings marriage and succession as by the confession of one of themselues euen Thomas Moore is euident For being condemned he vsed these wordes at the barre before the Lords Non ignoro cur me morti adiudicaueritis videlicet ob id quod nunquam voluerim assentiri in negotio matrimonij Regis That is I am not ignorant why you haue adiudged me to death to wit for that I would neuer consent in the busines of the new marriage of the King By which his owne confession it is plaine that this great martyr himselfe tooke the cause of his owne death to be only for his being refractary to the King in this said matter of Marriage and succession which is but a very fleshly cause of martyrdome as I conceiue And as for Roffensis his fellow Martyr who could haue bene content to haue taken the Oath of the Kings Supremacy with a certaine modification which Moore refused as his imprisonment was neither onely nor principally for the cause of Supremacy so died he but a halting and a singular Martyr or witnes for that most waightie head of doctrine the whole Church of England going at that time in one current and streame as it were against him in that argument diuerse of them being of farre greater reputation for learning and sound iudgement then euer he was So as in this point we may wel arme our selues with the Cardinals own reason where hee giueth amongst other notes of the true Church Vniuersalitie for one we hauing the generall and Catholike conclusion of the whole Church of England on our side in this case as appeareth by their booke set out by the whole Conuocation of England called The institution of a Christian man the same matter being likewise very learnedly handled by diuers particular learned men of our Church as by Steuen Gardiner in his booke de vera obedientia with a preface of Bishop Boners adioyned to it De summo absoluto Regis Imperio published by M Bekinsaw De vera differentia Regiae Potestatis Ecclesiasticae Bishop Tonstals Sermon Bishop Longlands Sermon the letter of Tonstall to Cardinall Poole and diuers other both in English and Latine And if the bitternesse of Fishers discontentment had not bene fed with his daily ambitious expectation of the Cardinals hat which came so neere as Calis
before hee lost his head to fil it with I haue great reason to doubt if he would haue constantly perseuered in induring his martyrdome for that one most waightie head of doctrine And surely these two captaines and ringleaders to martyrdome were but ill folowed by the rest of their countrymen for I can neuer reade of any after them being of any great account and that not many that euer sealed that weighty head of doctrine with their blood in England So as the true causes of their first falling in trouble wherof I haue already made mention being rightly considered vpon the one part and vpon the other the scant number of witnesses that with their blood sealed it a point so greatly accounted of by our Cardinal there can but smal glory redound therby to our English nation these onely two Enoch and Elias seruing for witnesses against our Antichristian doctrine And I am sure the Supremacie of Kings may and will euer be better maintained by the word of God which must euer bee the true rule to discerne al weighty heads of doctrine by to be the true and proper office of Christian Kings in their owne dominions then he wil be euer able to maintaine his annihilating Kings their authorities together with his base vnreuerend speeches of them wherewith both his former great Volumes and his late Bookes against Venice are filled In the old Testament Kings were directly Gouernours ouer the Church within their Dominions purged their corruptions reformed their abuses brought the Arke to her resting place the King dancing before it built the Temple dedicated the same assisting in their owne persons to the sanctification thereof made the booke of the Law new-sound to be read to the people renewed the couenant betweene God and his people brused the brasen Serpent in pieces which was set vp by the expresse cōmandement of God and was a figure of Christ destroyed all Idols and false gods made a publike reformation by a Commission of Secular men and Priests mixed for that purpose deposed the hie Priest and set vp another in his place and generally ordered euery thing belonging to the Church-gouerment their Titles and Prerogatiues giuen them by God agreeing to these their actions They are called the Sonnes of the most High nay Gods themselues The Lords anoynted Sitting in Gods throne His seruants The Angels of God According to his hearts desire The light of Israel The nursing fathers of the Church with innumerable such stiles of honor wherwith the old Testament is filled wherof our aduersary can pretend no ignorance And as to the new Testament Euery soule is commaunded to be subiect vnto them euen for conscience sake All men must bee prayed for but especially Kings and those that are in Authority that vnder them we may lead a godly peaceable and an honest life The Magistrate is the minister of God to doe vengeance on him that doth euill reward him that doeth well Ye must obey all higher powers but especially Princes and those that are supereminent Giue euery man his due feare to whom feare belongeth and honour to whome honour Giue vnto Caesar what is Caesars and to God what is Gods Regnum meum non est huius mundi Quis me constituit Iudicem super vos Reges gentium dominantur eorum vos autem non sic If these examples sentences titles and prerogatiues and innumerable other in the old and new Testament do not warrant Christian Kings within their owne dominions to gouerne the Church as well as the rest of their people in being Custod es vtriusque Tabulae not by making new articles of faith which is the Popes office as I saide before but by cōmanding obedience to be giuen to the word of God by reforming the religion according to his prescribed will by assisting the spiritual power with the temporal sword by reforming of corruptions by procuring due obedience to the Church by iudging and cutting off all friuolous questions and Schismes as Constantine did and finally by making decorum to bee obserued in euery thing establishing orders to be obserued in al indifferent things for that purpose which is the only intent of our Oath of Supremacy If this Office of a King I say doe not agree with the power giuen him by Gods word let any indifferent man voyd of passion iudge But how these honourable offices styles and prerogatiues giuen by God to Kings in the old new Testament as I haue now cited can agree with the braue stiles and titles that Bellarmine giueth thē I can hardly conceiue 1. That Kings are rather slaues then Lords 2. That they are not only subiects to Popes to Bishops to Priests but euen to Deacons 3. That an Emperour must content himselfe to drinke not onely after a Bishop but after a Bishops Chaplen 4. That Kings haue not their authority nor office immediatly from God nor his Lawe but onely from the Law of Nations 5. That Popes haue degraded many Emperours but neuer Emperour degraded the Pope nay euen Bishops that are but the Popes vassals may depose Kings and abrogate their lawes 6. That Church-men are so farre aboue Kings as the soule is aboue the body 7. That Kings may be deposed by their people for diuers respects 8. But Popes can by no meanes bee deposed for no flesh hath power to iudge of them 9. That obedience due to the Pope is for conscience sake 10. But the obedience due to Kings is onely for certaine respects of order and policie 11. That these very Church-men that are borne and inhabite in Soueraigne Princes countreys are notwithstanding not their Subiects and cannot be iudged by them although they may iudge them 12. And that the obedience that Churchmen giue to Princes euen in the meanest and meere temporall things is not by way of any necessary subiection but onely out of discretion and for obseruation of good order and custome These contrarieties betweene the booke of God and Bellarmines books haue I heere set in opposition ech to other Vt ex contrarijs iuxta se positis veritas magis elucescere possit And thus farre I dare boldly affirme that whosoeuer will indifferently weigh these irreconciliable contradictions here set downe wil easily confesse that CHRIST is no more contrary to Beliall light to darkenesse and heauen to hell then Bellarmines estimation of Kings is to Gods Now as to the conclusion of his letter which is onely filled with strong and pithy exhortations to perswade and confirme Blackwell to the patient and constant induring of Martyrdome I haue nothing to answere saue by way of regrate that so many good sentences drawen out of the Scripture so well and so handsomely packed vp together should bee so ill and vntruely