Herod and Pilate reconciled OR THE CONCORD OF PAPIST AND PVRITAN Against Scripture Fathers Councels and other Orthodoxall Writers for the Coercion Deposition and Killing of KINGS Discouered by David Owen Batchelour of Diuinitie and Chaplaine to the right Honourable Lord Vicount HADINGTON Tunc inter se concordant cum in perniciem iusti conspirant non quia se amant sed quia eum qui amandus erat simul oderunt August in Psal 36. concion 2. PRINTED BY CANTRELL LEGGE Printer to the Vniversitie of Cambridge 1610. ⧠TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE SIR IOHN RAMSEY Knight Lord Vicount Hadington one of the most Honourable Gentlemen of the Kings Maiesties bed-chamber my singular good Lord and Master I Did suppose my very good Lord that the sembable opposition of Papist and Puritane against the Protestant concerning the supremacie Ecclesiasticall and Deposition of Kings might haue beene constriued into a fewe sheetes of paper which I finde both tedious and intricate because the opponents though they agree against Kings as Herod and Pilate did against Christ are at diuers irreconciliable iarres among themselues And no maruell quia mendacij multiplex diuortium Liers neuer agree in one tale There are among the Papists three different opinions concerning the Popes power ouer Kings The first opinion which a Alexand. Car. de potest Rom. Pontif. lib. 2. c. 9. Alexander Carerius holdeth is that the Pope hath absolute power ouer all the world both in Ecclesiasticall and Politicall things The second opinion is Bellarmines b Bellar. de Pontif. lib. 5. c. 6. who affirmeth that though the Pope haue not meere temporall power ouer Kings and kingdomes directly yet hath he supreame authoritie to dispose of the Temporalities of all Christians as well Kings as others by an indirect prerogatiue tending to the aduancement of the spirituall good The third is the opinion of c Guliel Barclay cont monarchomacos l. 5. cap. 8. Barclayus who auerreth that the Pope hath spirituall power to excommunicate Kings but no temporall authoritie directly or indirectly to afflict the persons of Kings to transpose their kingdomes to perswade forrainers to make warres or subiects to rebell against them And with him agreeth M. Blackwell d In the letter annexed to his large examination at Lambeth p. 157. in his letter to the Romish Catholiques of England wherein he saith that the keyes Ecclesiasticall doe no way extend themselues by Gods law vnto kingdomes terrene to open or shut to tosse or turmoile any of them they haue no wardes in them to turne or ouerturne Kingdomes or to open any lawfull entrance into such disobedient and doubtfull courses Wheresoeuer most noble Lord any Papist hath laid a stepping-stone in this water of strife any man may plainely trace the Puritanes treading Although they denie an vniuersall absolute power ouer all Kings which the Pope claymeth they contend for a nationall soueraigntie in euery kingdome ouer Kings to dispose of them and their kingdomes Although the Popes saith Christopher Goodman e Treatise of obedience pag. 52. 53. for sundrie enormities haue deposed Kings by vnlawfull authoritie the reason that mooued them so to doe was honest and iust and meete to be receiued and executed by the bodie of euery common-wealth haec ille The Statesmen of the kingdome saith f Polit. Christ l 6. c. 3. p. 156. Lambertus Danaeus may punish their King when he transgresseth the fundamentall lawes of the kingdome yea if he be obstinate they may depriue him of his royall dignitie M. Beza g Theses Genevenses p. 249. in a scholasticall disputation one Iohn Iobert beeing Respondent did determine that the officers of State such as are the 7. Electors in the Empire of the Romanes and the Three States in euery Monarchie haue authoritie to represse tyrannous Princes which if they doe not they shall answer before God for their treacherie against the people Dudley Fenner an English Sectarie iumpeth with them He is a Tyrant by practise saith h Sacra Theologia lib. 5 c. 13. Fenner that dissolueth all or the chiefest compacts of the Common-wealth let them that haue that authoritie as the Peeres of the kingdome or the publike assemblie of all Estates make him away vel pacificè vel cum bello either by peaceable practise or open hostilitie Cardinall Bellarmine giueth this reason for the Popes indirect power ouer Kings * De Pontif l. 5. cap. 7. The Ecclesiasticall Commonwealth must be saith he perfect and of it selfe sufficient to attaine vnto the ende whereunto it was ordained for such are all CommoÌ„wealths that are well instituted Therfore it ought to haue all necessarie power to attaine to the spirituall end but power to dispose of all temporalties is necessarie to the spirituall end for otherwise euill Kings will foster heretikes and ouerthrow religion wherfore the Church hath this power Haec ille Banosus a Puritane in a tractate of Ciuill and Ecclesiasticall Politie hath the very same reason for the power of the Presbiterie i lib. 2. pag 51. If the Church saith he haue not power by forcible meanes to compell all sorts of men to liue in order this absurditie will follow euen vnder a faithfull magistrate that the Church can not defend her selfe with her owne forces What I pray you will become of the Church when the Magistrate is either an Infidel or so negligent as to suffer euill to be done without punishment and those things which are hallowed to be profaned or remooued Should not the Church be vtterly ouerthrowne in these eases if it had not peculiar right to make powerfull resistance Haec ille I appeale my good Lord to the consciences of all good men whether this reason of Bellarmine and Banosus be not a wicked ouerthwarting of the counsell of God and his gratious prouidence towards the Church yea an open bewraying of their vnquiet hearts and seditious disposition Our Sauiour Christ foreseeing and foreshewing that his Disciples the chiefe pillars of the Church should be brought before Kings hated of the world yea and put to death k Matth 10.18 c 24 â— for his names sake teacheth not to resist or rebell but to abide and l Matth. 24.13 endure not with violence to withstand authoritie but m Luk. 21.19 with patience to possesse their soules This is a remedie against Tyrants and there is no other meanes reuealed in the word of God against persecution then n Matth. 10.23 Desertion if they persecute you in one citie flie to an other or o Psal â—0 15 Praier and Patience Happie p Mâ— 5.11.12 are you when men shall doe all manner of euill vnto you for my names sake reioyce and be glad for great is your reward in heauen Let not man therfore resist their power which God ordained but with all meeknes endure persecution in earth that they may be crowned in heauen Lambertus Danaeus a Puritane of the best note doth freely graunt Bellarmines Thesis viz.
rather resolued to suffer any death or torture then by his consent to betray the truth or to condemne the guiltlesse He admonisheth freely and reprooueth sharply he offreth his life to the Princes pleasure It was farre from his meaning to reuile the sacred maiestie or to stirre vp any rebellion against this hereticall Emperour which infringed the Canons of the Church without all regard of truth or equitie to serue the humors of the Arrians and to wreck his anger on them all which yeelded not to that heresie Liberius a Bishop of Rome did neither excommunicate nor depose this wicked Emperour Constantius but appeared at his commaund and endured his pleasure to the admiration of the Arrians and the confirmation of the Christians as we finde in Athanasius Trahitur Liberius ad imperatorem c. Liberius was haled to the Emperour when he came to his presence he spake freely Cease said he O Emperour to persecute the Christians goe not about by any meanes to bring hereticall impietie into the Church of God Liberius quo supra apud Athan. We are readie rather to endure any torture then to be called Arrians Compell vs not to become enemies vnto Christ Fight not against him we beseech you that hath bestowed the Empire vpon you Render not impietie to him for his grace persecute them not which beleeue in him least you heare it is hard for thee to kicke against the pricke Act 9.5 Oh would to God you did so heare it that you might as Paul did beleeue it Loe we are at hand and come to your presence before our enemies the Arrians can inuent any thing to enforme against vs we hastened to come at your commande though we were assured of banishment that we might abide our punishment before any crime could be obiected much lesse prooued against vs. Whereby it may appeare that all Christians are as we now be vndeseruedly punished and the crimes laid to their charge not true but fained by sycophancy or deceitfull subtilty Thus spake Liberius euery man admired his resolution but the Emperour for answer commanded him to banishment Thus farre he Pope Liberius had not learned the language of his successor Pius Quinius when he bellowed against our late Queene nor that principle of the Puritanes that the inferior officer may vse force of armes against the cheife Magistrate that shall become a tyrant whereof euery seditious sectarie will be iudge and not onely defend himselfe and his owne people but also any other that shall flie vnto him Poliria Christian l. 6. c. 3. Which opinion Lambertus Danaus auoucheth contrarie to the Law the Gospel and the generall consent of all orthodoxall Fathers Hilarius a Bishop of France Hilarius ad Imperatotē Constant wrote the same time to this same Emperour in most humble manner Benefica natura tua domine beatissime Auguste Your milde nature most blessed Emperour agreeing with your gracious disposition and the mercie which floweth aboundantly from the fountaine of your fatherly godlinesse doe assure vs that we shall obtaine our desire We beseech you not onely with words but also with teares that the catholique Churches be no longer oppressed with greeuous iniuries and endure intollerable persecutions and contumelies and that which is most shamefull euen of our brethren Let your Clemencie prouide c. Surely if it had then beene knowne that the Pope by his absolute power or indirect authoritie could haue punished or deposed kings which the Papists auouch or for the Peeres or the people to haue done it which the Puritanes affirme some of these olde Bishops would haue pressed that point against this hereticall Prince which abused his sword to the blaspheming of Christ the murthering of the Saints the seducing of many thousand soules by strengthening maintaining and establishing the Arrian error But they tooke it to be no Christian mans part to beare armour no not defensiue against his Prince though neuer so wicked cruell or vngodly Holy Athanasius confesseth the power of Kings to be of God and their impietie not to be punished by man Sicut in toto mundo Deus rex est imperator potestatem exeroet in omnibus As God is King and Emperour ouer all the world and exerciseth his power in all creatures so the King and Prince is ouer all earthly men and doth by his absolute power Ad Antioch quest 55. what he will euen as God himselfe haec ille When it was obiected against this reuerend father Athanasius that he had incensed Constans the religious Emperour of the West against Constantius in the bebehalfe of the persecuted Christians Apolog. Athan ad Constant he cleared himselfe from that accusation in an Apologie to the saide Emperour Constantius The Lord saith he is my record and his annointed your brother that I neuer made mention of your Maiestie for any euill before your brother of blessed memorie that religious Emperour Constans I did neuer incite him against you as these Arrians doe slaunder me but whensoeuer I had accesse vnto him I recounted your gracious inclination God knoweth what mention I made of your godly disposition Giue me leaue and pardon most courteous Emperour to speake the truth That seruant of God Constans was not easily drawne to giue eare to any man in this kind I was neuer in such credit with him that I durst speake of any such matter or derogate from one brother before an other or talke reprochfully of one Emperour in the hearing of an other I am not so madde neither haue I forgotten the voice of God which saith Curse not the King in thine heart and backbite not the mightie in the secrets of thy chamber for the birds of the ayre shall tell it and the winged foule shall bewray thee If then the things that be spoken in secret against Princes can not be hid is there any likelihood that I in the Emperours presence and before so many as continually attended his person would say any thing otherwise then well of your Maiestie Thus farre Athanas This is sounder and seemelier doctrine for subiects then that which Henrie Garnet and Robert Tesmond taught some Romish catholike gentlemen of England who imployed Thomas Winter into Spaine in the moneth of December Ann. Dom. 1601. to make request to the Spanish king in the behalfe and names of the English Pope-catholikes L. Cooke in his speach at Garnets arraignment that he would send an armie hither into England for the aduancement of their Catholique cause and to promise that the forces of the Papists here should be readie to doe him seruice against the late Queene The selfe same doctrine of sedition was published in the yeare after viz. ann Dom. 1602. by Gulielmus Bucanus a man of no meane esteeme among the Puritans and that at the earnest request of Beza and Gonlartius the chiefest Ministers of the Chutch of Geneva if the author himselfe belie them not whose words are as followeth Subditis si fit
practises and the Germaines tumults against their said soueraigne Lord. Magnum mundo documentum datum est A great instruction was giuen to the world that no man should rise against his master For the hand of Rodolph beeing cut off shewed a most iust punishment of periurie he feared not to violate his fidelitie sworne to the King and his right hand was punished as if other woundes had not beene sufficient to bring him to his death that by the plague of the rebellious the fault of rebellion might be perceiued thus farre he The sixth Chapter prooveth the same by the testimonie of the Writers from the 12. hundred yeares downeward I Will for conclusion produce Otho Frisingensis Thomas Aquinas Gratianus Philip the faire king of France the Parliament of England in the time of Edward the 1. Vincentius and Aeneas Sylvius that afterward was Pope by the name of Pius Secundus Otho Frising in his epistle dedicatorie before his Chronicle Otho Frisingensis hath an excellent saying in his epistle dedicatorie to Frederick Barbarossa Cum nulla persona mundialis inveniatur quae mundi legibus non subiaceat c. Although no earthly man can be found that is not subiect to the lawes of the world and in respect of subiection liable to correction Kings as it were placed ouer lawes are not restrained by them but reserued to the examination of God according to the words of the King and Prophet Against thee onely haue I sinned Psal 51.5 It becommeth therefore a king both in respect of the noble disposition of his minde and the spirituall illumination of his soule to haue God the king of kings and Lord of lords euer in his minde and by all meanes possible to take heede that he fall not into the hands of God seeing it is as the Apostle saith a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the liuing God It is more fearefull for kings then for any other because kings haue none but God himselfe aboue them whome they neede feare It shall be so much more horrible for them by how much they may offend more freely then other men So farre Otho Thomas Aquinas Aquin. de regimine prin lib. 1. c. 6. if the tractare de regimene principum be his maketh three sorts of kings Kings by election Kings by subordination and Kings by succession For the first he saith that they which did establish may abolish for the second we must haue our recourse to him that did surrogate the subordinate King as the Iewes did to Caesar against Herod for the last his resolution is Recurrendum esse ad omnium regem deum that we must flie to God the King of all kings in whose onely power it is to mollifie the cruell heart of a tyrant And that men may obtaine this at the hands of God they must cease from sinne for wicked Princes by diuine permission are exalted to punish the sinnes of the people tollenda est igitur ouâ—pa vt cesset tyrannorum plagâ— we must therefore remooue our sinnes that God may take away his punishment Thus farre Thomas Gratianus which compiled the decrees is verie peremptorie that the Bishop of Rome ought not to medle with the temporall sword the state of common wealthes or the change of Princes He saith nothing indeede de Regni ordinibus which in his time and a 100. yeares after him neuer dreamed of any such authoritie Cum Petrus qui primus apostolorum à domino fuerat electus materialem gladium exerceret When Peter whom the Lord had first chosen of all the Apostles drewe the materiall sword to defend his Master from the iniuries of the Iewes he was commanded to sheath his sword for all that take the sword Matth. 26.52 shall perish by the sword As if Christ should haue said Hitherto it was lawfull for thee and thine auncestors to persecute Gods enemies with the temporall sword hereafter thou must put vp that sword into his place Caus 23. quest 8. parag 1. and drawe the sword of the spirit which is the word of God to slay the old man whosoeuer beside the Prince and without his authoritie that hath lawfull power and as the Apostle teacheth beareth not the sword in vaine Rom. 13.4 to whom euerie soule must be subiect whosoeuer I say without or beside the Princes authoritie beareth the sword shall perish by the sword Thus farre Gratian. About the yeare a 1300. began a quarrell betweene Boniface 8. and Philippus Pulcher the French king about the collation of benefices prebends and other ecclesiasticall promotions Whereupon the Pope wrote vnto the said king as followeth Boniface Bishop the seruant of Gods seruants to his wel-beloued sonne Philip by Gods grace king of France Greeting and blessing Apostolicall Feare God and keepe his lawe We giue thee to vnderstand that thou art subiect to vs both in spirituall things and temporall and that no gift of benefices or prebends belongeth to thee If thou haue in thy hand any vacant keepe the profits of them to the successors and if thou hast bestowed any we decree the collation voide and recall it how farre soeuer it hath proceeded Whosoeuer beleeueth otherwise we account him a foole Dated at Lateran the fourth of the Calends of December and in the 6. yeare of our Papacie King Philip returned his haughtinesse a correspondent answear viz. Philip by the grace of God King of Fraunce to Boniface bearing himselfe for Pope Philip. Pulcher Salutem modicam siue nullaÌ„ Sciat tua maxima fatuitas Little health or none at all Let thy great fooleship know that in temporall things we are subiect to no man And that the gifts of prebends and ecclesiasticall promotions made and to be made by vs were and shall be lawfull both in time past and in time to come For such collations belong to vs in the right of our crowne wherefore we will manfully defend the possessours of the said dignities and doe iudge them that thinke otherwise fooles and madmen Giuen at Paris the wednesday after Candlemasse 1301. Questionlesse this King that did so scornefully reiect the Popes chalenge pretended from Christ would little regard the claime of the Nobles deriued but from the people The same busie Boniface of whom some write that he came in like a fox craftely raigned like a lyon cruelly and died like a dogge miserably would take vpon him the decision of a controversie between the Kings of England Scotland and commanded King Edward of England either to cease his claime or to send his procurators to the apostolike sea to shewe his right and to receiue such order from the Pope as iustice and equitie would require The Lords and commons then assembled in Parliament at Lincolne sent Boniface this answear in the kings behalfe Whereas our most dread Lord Edward by the grace of God the Noble King of England caused your letters to be read openly before vs touching certaine occurrents of state betweene him and
profitably and peaceably but by the great power of God c. So farre Harding De Pontif. lib. 2. cap. 17. Cardinall Bellarmine the grand-master of Controuersies cannot indure to heare that this deposition was done by any other then the papall authoritie The Pope saith he Iudicauit licere Frauncis regnum Childerici in Pipinum transferre The Pope gaue iudgement that the Frenchmen might lawfully transfer Childericks kingdome to Pipin and did absolue them from the oath which they had sworne vnto him No man that hath his right wit can denie this to be lawfull For the very euent hath prooued that change to be most fortunate seeing the kingdome of Fraunce was neuer more potent nor religion more flourishing then vnder Pipin and Charles his sonne Thus farre Bellarm. This Cardinals reason from the successe to the approbation of the fact will conclude well for the Turke who hath longer continued more flourished and inlarged his state then the house of Pipin Heare in a word the true succes of Pipins posteritie out of Benuentus Imolensis and Paulus Aemilius Benventus Imolensis The first of that line was Charles the great in whose time the Empire was diuided The second was Ludouicus Pius against whome Lotharius an vnnaturall sonne did conspire who thrust his father to a cloister and placed himselfe in the throne where he sate like a tyrant till he was also deposed The fourth was Ludovicus 2. a man vnfortunate in all his doings The fifth was Ludovicus 3. whome they call Ludovicus nihili or Lewes no-bodie The 6. Paulus Aemilius was Charles the bald a very coward The 7. was Charolus Crassus as very foole Arnulphus the eight of that progenie was eaten with lice The 9. was Ludovicus 4. in whome that race ended Alexander Carerius inferreth the absolute soueraigntie of the Pope ouer all Kings euen to depose them and to transpose the Realmes from the insufficiencie of the Nobles and people Esto quod verùm sit Papam de potestate Pontif. l. 2. cap. 3. num 6. non deposuisse regem Francia Be it true that the Pope did not depose the king of France but gaue consent to the Peeres and people to depose him this is a most manifest proofe of our intent that kings haue one if not many superiours viz. the Barons and people of their kingdome and ouerthroweth their position and conclusion That Kings haue in temporall things no superiour no not the Bishop of Rome But seeing the Barons people could neither iudge nor depriue him because they wanted coactiue power which Vassalls or subiects haue not ouer their soueraigne it followeth necessarily that the Pope by his princely power as superior to the King in temporalties might lawfully depose him Thus farre Carerius D. Marta is as peremptorie for the Pope against the pretended claime of the Peeres or the people Childericus priuatus est regno Franciae obstupiditatem ineptitudinem in administrando Childerick was depriued of the kingdome of France for his stupiditie and vnfitnesse to gouerne They that say he was not depriued by the Pope alone but by them that desired another king doe not answer the reasons alleadged for the Popes soueraigne power in temporalties nay they confirme the Popes power Baldus asketh this question when the Emperour is vnprofitable or madde or a drunkard may the people depose him or assigne him a coadiutor No saith he de temp spir Pontif. potest part 1. cap. 23. nu 15 16 17. the Pope must doe it for the Pope is the crowne and braine of the people And we haue prooued before that God did giue no iurisdiction to the people but to Moses and his successors Wherefore the vassals or Peeres which represent the people haue no power common with the Pope in the deposing of Princes And in that they say that the Frenchmen desired another king it is a great confirmation that the Pope hath right to dispose of kingdomes He vseth to desire who hath not of his owne or cannot of himselfe effect that which he would haue done Thus farre Marta They that plead for the state of the Laitie are as confident against the Pope and clergie Vt paucis dicam saith Iunius hoc fecit Zacharias vt dominus aut vt mandatarius authoritate instructus à domino that I may vse sewe words the Pope deposed Childericke either as his Lord or as a mandatarie hauing authoritie from the Lord but he did it neither way Not as Lord how could he be Lord in France that in those dayes had no Lordship in Rome he did it not as mandatarie for then he ought to haue shewed his authoritie which he neither did nor could shewe Christ would not diuide a priuate inheritance shall Zacharie then presume to depose kings or transpose kingdomes Thus farre Iunius Caeterum quod monachus iste saith Lambertus Danaeus whereas this monke Bellarmine contendeth that Childericke was lawfully deposed by Pope Zacharias a stranger a Priest no Magistrate but in this respect a priuate person though he were Bishop of Rome Resp Danaâ— ad Bellar. l. 2. c. 17. p. â—16 Will he euer be able to prooue or defend his assertion Can Zacharie haue authorie in France being a stranger can he depose the publike Magistrate beeing but a priuate person or transferre that principality to Pipin that he hath no right vnto and commit so many sacriledges and impieties stealing from Childericke and giuing to Pipin another mans right authorising subiects to violate their oaths which they had sworne to their king transposing kingdomes from one man to another whereas it doth onely belong to God to depose kings and dispose of kingdomes thou maist see Bellarmine how many outrages this thy Zacharie hath committed beside that he did thrust his sickle into an other mans haruest and medled with the cobler beyond his last in that beeing but a Priest he tooke vpon him the decision of the right of kingdomes Thus farre Danaeus who is not so violent against the Pope as he is virulent for the deposing power of Peeres or states of the kingdome Danaeus pol. Christian l. 6. c. 3. pag. 414. The kings saith he of Lacedemonia had the Ephori to controll them The states-men of the Romane common-wealth deposed the Emperours which were tyrants and abused their authoritie The French-state hath often dethroned their kings The Nobles of Spaine may doe it by their law And the historie of the Scottish affaires excellently well written by * mulus mulum scabit Buchanan doth report that the states-men of that countrie haue many times depriued the kings of Scotland Finally naturall reason and the practise of all nations doth confirme that the states-men in euery kingdome may depose kings that are peccant So farre he cap. 3. Hottoman in his Franco Gallia hath a long chapter to prooue that this might be done lawfully by the Peeres or the people but in no case by the Pope or the clergie Men cannot saie
faults and licentiousnes of kings saith Mariana whether they raigne by consent of the people de regis inâ—â—â— lib. 1. c. 6. or right of inheritance are to be borne and endured so long as the laws of shamefastnes and honestie whereto all men be bound are not violated for Princes should not rashly be disturbed least the commonwealth fall into greater miserie and calamitie But if the Prince make hauock of the commonwealth and expose the priuate fortunes of his subiects for a pray to other men if he despise law contemne religion this course must be taken against him Let him be admonished and recalled to his dutie if he repent satisfie the Wealepublike and amend his faults there ought as I thinke to be no further proceeding against him But if there be no hope of his amendment the commonwealth may take away his kingdome And because that cannot be done in all likelihoode without warre they may leuie power brandish their blades against their king and exact money of the people for the maintenance of their warre for when there is no other helpe the Peeres of the common wealth hauing proclaimed their king a publike enemy may take away his life Thus farre Mariana The Statesmen of the Kingdome saith Franciscus Fevardentius haue a soueraigne power ouer their Kings In Hester c. 1. pag. 88. for Kings are not absolutely established but stand bound to obserue lawes conditions and compacts to their subiects the which if they violate they are no lawfull Kings but theeues and tyrants punishable by the states Thus farre Feuardentius Inferiour Magistrates saith Iohannes Baptista Ficklerus are the defenders and protectours of the lawes and rightes of the state de iure magist fol. 18. and haue authoritie if need require to correct and punish the supreame King So farre Ficklerus An English fugitiue which was the author of the booke de iusta abdicatione Henrici Tertij affirmeth That all the Maiestie of the kingdome is in the assembly of Statesmen to whom it belongeth to make couenants with God to dispose of the affaires of the kingdome to appoint matters pertaining to warre and peace l b 3. cap 8. to bridle the kingly power and to settle all things that belong to publique gouernment So farre he part 1 c. 4. pag 72. And the most seditious Doleman saith that all humane lawe and order naturall Nationall and positiue doth teach that the commonwealth which gaue Kings their authoritie for the common good may restraine or take the same from them if they abuse it to the common ill so farre Doleman and of this opinion are many other as may appeare by D. Morton by whom they are discouered and refuted How farre this gangrene will extend I knowe not The kings of Christendome are daily crucified as Christ their Lord was betweene two theeues I meane the Papist and Puritan which haue prepared this deadly poyson for Princes whom they in their owne irreligious and traiterous hearts shall condemne for tyrannie I hope neither Peeres nor people will be so fond to beleeue them or wicked to followe them which pretend the reformation of religion and defend the subuersion of Christian states If inferiour officers or the publike assembly of all States will claime this power it standeth them vpon as they wil avoid euerlasting damnation not to deriue a title from Rome Lacedemon or Athens as Calvin doth whom the rest followe but from the hill of Sion and to plead their interest from the law or the gospell August in quest mixt Si mandatum non est praesumptio est ad paenam proficiet non ad praemium quia ad contumeliam pertinet conditoris vt contempto Domino colantur servi spreto Imperatore adorentur Comites If their opposition against Kings be not commanded of God it is presumption against God for it is a contumely against God the creator of all states to despise Lords and honour seruants to contemne the soueraigne Emperour and to reuerence the Peeres of the Empire So farre Augustine My sonne saith Salomon feare God and the King and meddle not with the seditious Prou. 24.21 for their destruction shall come sodainly and who knoweth the end of them The conclusion of all is That Kings haue supreame and absolute authoritie vnder God on earth not because all things are subiect to their pleasure which were plaine tyrannie not Christian soueraigntie but because all persons within their dominions stand bound in lawe allegiance and conscience to obey their pleasure or to abide their punishment And Kings themselues are no way subiect to the controwle censure or punishment of any earthly man but reserued by speciall prerogatiue to the most fearefull and righteous iudgement of God with whome there is no respect of persons He whose seruants they are will beate them with a rod of iron and breake them in peeces like a potters vessell if they abuse that great and soueraigne power which God hath endued them withall to support error to suppresse truth and to oppresse the innocent God of his great mercie graunt vs the spirit of truth to direct vs in all loyaltie that we beeing not seduced by these seditious Sectaries may growe in grace stand fast in obedience embrace loue follow peace and encrease more and more in the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ To whom be all praise power and dominion now and for euer Amen FINIS