two Breues of Paulus the fift cannot giue this assurance to this Conscience First for the generall infirmities to which all Rescripts of Popes are obnoxious And then for certaine insufficiencies in these CHAP. XII That nothing requir'd in this Oath violates the Popes spirituall Iurisdiction And that the clauses of swearing that Doctrine to bee Hereticall is no vsurping vpon his spirituall right either by preiudicating his future definition or offending any former Decree CHAP. XIII That all which his Maiesty requires by this Oath is exhibited to the Kings of Fraunce And not by vertue of any Indult or Concordate but by the inhaerent right of the Crowne CHAP. XIIII Lastly That no pretence eyther of Conuersion at first Assistance in the Conquest or Acceptation of any Surrender from any of our Kings can giue the Pope any more right ouer the Kingdome of England then ouer any other free State whatsoeuer AN ADVERTISEMENT TO the Reader THough I purposed not to speake any thing to the Reader otherwise then by way of Epilogue in the end of the Booke both because I esteemed that to be the fittest place to giue my Reasons why I respited the handling of the two last Chapters till another time and also because I thought not that any man might well and properly be called a Reader till he were come to the end of the Booke yet because both he and I may suffer some disaduantages if he should not be fore-possessed and warned in some things I haue changed my purpose in that point For his owne good therefore in which I am also interessed I must first intreat him that he will be pleased before hee reade to amend with his pen some of the most important errors which are hereafter noted to haue passed in the printing Because in the Reading he will not perchance suspect nor spy them and so he may runne a danger of being either deceiued or scandalized And for my selfe because I haue already receiued some light that some of the Romane profession hauing onely seene the Heads and Grounds handled in this Booke haue traduced me as an impious and profane vnder-valewer of Martyrdome I most humbly beseech him till the reading of the Booke may guide his Reason to beleeue that I haue a iust and Christianly estimation and reuerence of that deuout and acceptable Sacrifice of our lifes for the glory of our blessed Sauiour For as my fortune hath neuer beene so flattering nor abundant as should make this present life sweet and precious to me as I am a Moral man so as I am a Christian I haue beene euer kept awake in a meditation of Martyrdome by being deriued from such a stocke and race as I beleeue no family which is not of farre larger extent and greater branches hath endured and suffered more in their persons and fortunes for obeying the Teachers of Romane Doctrine then it hath done I did not therefore enter into this as a carnall or ouer-indulgent fauourer of this life but out of such reasons as may arise to his knowledge who shall be pleased to read the whole worke In which I haue abstained from handling the two last Chapters vpon diuers reasons whereof one is that these Heads hauing beene caried about many moneths and thereby quarrelled by some and desired by others I was willing to giue the Booke a hasty dispatch that it might cost no man much time either in expecting before it came or in reading when it was come But a more principall reason was that since the two last Chapters depend vpon one another and haue a mutuall Relation I was not willing to vndertake one till I might perseuere through both And from the last chapter it became me to abstaine till I might vnderstand their purposes who were formerly engaged in the same businesse For the first Discouerie giues some title to the place and secludes others without the Discouerers permission And in men tender and iealous of their Honour it is sometimes accounted as much iniurie to assist as to assault When therefore I considered that the most Reuerend and learned Sir Edward Coke Lord chiefe Iustice of the coÌ„mon Pleas whom they which are too narrow to comprehend him may finde arguments enow to loue and admire out of the measure and proportion of his malice who hath written againsâ— him since wee ought to loue hâ—m so much as such men hate him had in this point of Iurisdiction laid so solid foundations raised so strong walls perfited his house vpon so sure a Rocke as the lawes of this Kingdome are And when I saw that as the diuell himselfe is busiest to attempt them who abound in strength of Grace not forbearing our Sauiour himselfe so an ordinary Instrument of his whose continuall libels and Incitatorie bookes haue occasioned more afflictions and drawne more of that bloud which they call Catholique in this Kingdome then all our Acts of Parliament haue done had oppugned his Lordships Booke and iterated and inconculcated those his oppositions I could not know whether his Lordship reserued any farther consideration of that matter to his owne leasures or had honoured any other man with his commandement or allowance to pursue it Till therefore I might know whether any such were embarqued therein as would either accept my Notes and dignifie them with their stile or submit their Notes to my method and the poore apparell of my language or vndertake it entirely or quit it absolutely as a body perfit already by that forme which his Lordship hath giuen it I chose to forbeare the handling thereof at this time One thing more I was willing the Reader should be forewarned of which is that when he findes in the printing of this Booke oftentimes a change of the Character hee must not thinke that all those words or sentences so distinguished are cited from other Authors for I haue done it sometimes onely to draw his eye and vnderstanding more intensly vpon that place and so make deeper impressions thereof And in those places which are cited from other Authors which hee shall know by the Margine I doe not alwayes precisely and superstitiously binde my selfe to the words of the Authors which was impossible to me both because sometimes I collect their sense and expresse their Arguments or their opinions and the Resultance of a whole leafe in two or three lines and some few times I cite some of their Catholique Authors out of their owne fellowes who had vsed the same fashion of collecting their sense without precise binding themselues to All or onely their words This is the comfort which my conscience hath and the assurance which I can giue the Reader that I haue no where made any Author speake more or lesse in sense then hee intended to that purpose for which I cite him If any of their owne fellowes from whom I cite them haue dealt otherwise I cannot be wounded but through their sides So that I hope either mine Innocence or their own fellowes guiltinesse
into the ballance or disputation they giue the Pope authority as Supreame spirituall Princesse ouer all Princes 4 When the first is in question of Priesthood and Magistracy then enters the Sea yea Deluge of Canonists and ouerflowes all and carries vp their Arke that is the Romane Church that is the Pope fifteene cubites aboue the highest hils whether Kings or Emperours And this makes the Glosser vpon that Canon where Priesthood is said to exceede the Layetie as much as the Sunne the Moone so diligent to calculate those proportions and to repent his first account as too low and reforme iâ— by later calculations and after much perplexity to say That since he cannot attaine to it he will leaue it to the Astronomers so that they must tell vs how much the Pope exceedes a Prince which were a fit work for their Iesuite Clauius who hath expressed in one summe how many granes of Sand would fill all the place within the concaue of the firmament if that number will seeme to them enough for â—his comparison But to all these Rhapsoders and fragmentarâ— compilers of Canons which haue onely amâ—ss'd and shoueld together whatsoeuer the Popes themselues or their creatures haue testified in their owne cause Amandus Polanus applies a round and pregnant and proportionall answere by presenting against them the Edicts and Rescripts of Emperours to the contrary as an equiualent prooâ—e at least 5 And for the matter it selfe wherein the Ecclesiastique and Ciuill estate are vnder and aboue one another with vs it is euident and liquid enough since no Prince was euer more indulgent to the Clergie by encouragements and reall aduâ—ncing nor more frequent in accepting the foode of the worde and Sacrament at their hands in which he acknowledges their superiority nor the Clergy of any Church more inclinable to preserue their iust limits which are to attribute to the king so much as the good kings of Israel and the Emperours in the Primitiue Church had 6 It is intire man that God hath care of and not the soule alone therefore his first worke was the body and the last worke shall bee the glorification thereof He hath not deliuered vs ouer to a Prince onely as to a Physitian and to a Lawyer to looke to our bodies and estates and to the Priest onely as to a Confessor to looke to and examine our â—oules but the Priest must aswel endeuour that we liue verâ—uously and innocently in this life for society here as the Prince by his lawes keepes vs in the way to heauen for thus they accomplish a Regale Sacerdotium when both doe both â—or we are sheepe to them both and they in diuers relations sheepe to one another 7 Accordingly they say that the subiect of the Canon law is Homo dirigibilis in Deum BouuÌ„ Commune so that that Court which is forum spirituale considers the publique tranquility And on the other side Charles the great to establish a meane course between those two extreame Councels of which one had vtterly destroyed the vse of Images in Churchesâ— the other had induced their adoration takes it to belong to his care and function not onely to call a Synode to determine herein but to write the booke of that important and intricate point to Adrian then Pope which Steuchius saith remaines yet to be seene in Bibliotheca Palatina and vrges and presses that booke for the Popes aduantage And in the preface of that booke the Emperour hath these wordes In sinu Regni Ecclesiae gubernacula suscepimus and to proceede that not only he to whom the Church is committed ad regendum in those stormy times but they also which are Enutriti ab vberibus must ioine with him in that care and therefore he addes That he vndertooke this worke Cum Conhibentia Sacerdotum in regno suo neither would this Emperour of so pious affections towards that Sea expressed in pro fuse liberalities haue vsurped any part of Iurisdiction which had not orderly deuolued to him and which he had not knowne to haue beene duely executed by his predecessors 8 Whose authoritie in disposing of Church matters and directâ—on in matters of Doctrine together with the Bishops appeares abundantly and euidently out of their owne Lawes and out of their Rescripts to Popes and the Epistles of the Popes to them For we see by the Imperial Law the Authoritie of the Prince and the Priest made equall when it is decreed That no man may remoue a body out of a Monument in the Church without a Decree of the Priest or Commandement of the Prince And yet there appeares much difference in degrees of absolutenesse of power betweene these limitations of a Decree and a Commandement And Leo the first writing to the Emperour Martianus reioyses that he found In Christianiss mo Principe Sacerdot alem affectum And in his Epistle to Leo the Emperour vsing this preface for feare least hee should seeme to diminish him in that comparison Christiana vtor libertate he saith I exhort you to a fellowshippe with the Prophets and Apostles because you are to be numbred inter Christi praedicatores Hee addes that kings are instituted not onely ad mundi regimen but chiefly ad Ecclesiae presidium and â—herefore he praies God to keepe in him still Animum eius Apostolicum Sacerdotalem 9 So for his diligence in the Church gouernement Simplicius the Pope salutes the Emperour Zeno. Eâ—ultamus voâ—iâ— in esse animum Sacerdotis principis For which respect his successor Felix the third writing to thesame Emperour salutes him wiâ—h his stile Dilectissimo fratri Zenoni which is a stile so peculiar to those which are constituted in the highest Ecclesiastique dignities as Bishoppes and Patriarches that if the Pope should write to any of them by the name of Sons which is his ordinary stile to secular princes it vitiates the whole Diplome and makes it false 10 And a Synodicall letter from a whole Councell to a King of France acknowledges this Priestly care in the king thus Quia Sacerdotalimentis affectu you haue commaunded your Priests to gather together c. which right of general superintendencie ouer the whole Church Anastasius the Emperour dissembled not when writing to the Senate of Rome to compose dissentions there hee called Hormisda the pope Papam Almae vrbis Romae but in the Inscription of the Letter amongst his owne Titles he writes Pontifex inclitus 11 Gregory himselfe though his times to some tastes seeme a little brackish and deflected from vpright obedience to princes saith of the Emperoursâ— That no man can rightly gouerne earthly matters except he know also how to handle Diuine And in the weakest estate and most dangerous fitt that euer secular Magistrate suffered and endured Gregory the seuenth denied not that these two dignities were as the two eyes of the body which gouernd the bodie of the Church
God For he which is King of men had not this Kingdome from men but from God And so hee proceedes to apply many places of Scripture to this purpose to the shame and confusion of them who to ouerthrow or subiect secular principalitie detort Scriptures for the aduancement of Ecclesiastique immunitâ—es As in the Septimes that new limme of the body of the Canon Law those priuiledges are proued to be Iure Diuino out of the word of the Psalme Nolite tangere Christos meos which was spoken of all the Children of Israel as they were protected in their passage to the land of Canaan and cannot be appropriated to Priests onely 104 And from this libertie which men of this Religion haue taken to speake slightly and malignantly of the Person and dignitie of Kings a long and inueâ—erate custome hath so wrought vpon them that it hath caried them farther and made them as bold with the word of God himselfe Out of which they can deduce principall and direct Prophecies for euery passage in Saint Francis his storie For the Dreame of Pharoes officer A vine was before me and in the Vine were three branches signifies Saint Francis and the â—hree Orders deriued from him sayes the Booke of Conformities and Sedulius the fresh Apologer thereof So he sayes Christ prophecied of this Order and it is fulfilled in this Order which hee said Feare not little flocke for it is your Fathers pleasure to giue you the Kingdome And of these it is spoken sayes hee The sound of them is gone into all Nations Of these prophanations the examples are too frequent for as they haue fitted all other things spoken of Christ to Saint Francis in the Booke of Conformities so doth Sedulius maintaine the giuing to him the title of Iesus of Nazareth King of the Iewes 105 So also must the Scriptures affoord prophesies for euery ragge and inch of the Sindon which wrapped our Sauiour in the Sepulchre For in that Liturgie or Office as they call it which is appointed by the Pope to be said in the Chappell where this Sindon is preserued all those places of Scripture which speake of Christs body sprinkled with blood are referred and saide to bee intended of this Sindon And therefore saies the Author thereof Since the Pope hath so applyed them this exposition thereof cannot be reprehended 106 By this license they giue all the names of Christ to the Pope yea the name of God himselfe And of Goddesse to our Lady And by this license did Crusius the Iesuit call Ignatius Constitutions the Decalogue because saies Gretzer his fellow Iesuite Metaphorically and instruction of our life is call'd the Decalogue 107 Nor can these blasphemous detorsions bold mis-applications besalued by Sedulius his guiltie excuse that they are somewhat too freely written according to the simplicitie of the age And such as some men would rather wish vnwritten and Circumspect men wish'd vnsaid And some things too rawly somethings too couragiously vttered And these which he so tenderly and calmely passes ouer with light animaduersion are such sayings as these That S. Francâ—s was deified That hee was made one spirit with God That hee saw the secrets of hearts And that he was more then Iohn Baptist and better then the Apostles And that God did obay him at a beck in euery thing 108 Nor will Serarius his elegant euasion serue them in this That some men too indulgent and carefull of their verse or the delicacie of the Latine language may haue gone into these excesses For the fiâ—st place where the Pope is called the Lord our God is in a place barbarous and loose inough which is the glosse vpon an Extrauagant And though Bembus in whose letters written for Leo the 10 our Lady is called Goddesse doe often stray inâ—o prophane elegancies as in another place when he would exprâ—sse an inspiration of the Holy ghost in one he saies he was afflatus Zephiri caelestis aâ—rà And calls Excommunication Interdictionem aquae ignis yet this will neither excuse that Pope which sign'd those Letters nor those to whose câ—re the expurgation of bookes hath beene committed So that none of their piae fraudes with whâ—ch they emplaster this venemous contagious wounding the scriptures of God the phrase of his spirit will acquit or excuse them 109 And if their misâ—applying of Scriptures carried them no further then to simple and childish actions as Saint Francis commanded Massaeus to tumble round like a childe because saies Sedulius it is written Nisi Conuersi fueritis efficiamini sicut paruuli non intrabitis Or if it carried them but to stupid actions as the penitent which confessed to S. Anthony that he had kicked his mother receiuing this answere If thy foote offend thee cut it off went and cut off his foote but S. Anthony honestly set it on againe Or if it carried them but to bolde and confident actions as Saint Anthony when his Host set him a Toade vpon the Table and tolde him that it was written in the Gospell De omni quod tibi apponitur comedes he with the signe of the Crosse made it a Capon ready rosted sillinesse or some such disease might lessen the fault 110 But then is there extreame horrour and abominations therein when God and his Lieuetenants are at once iniur'd which is when places of Scripture are malitiously or ridâ—culously detorted to the auiling of Princes With what soule then could Pope Alexander say treading vppon Fredericke Super aspidem Basiliscum ambulabis of which Acte a Bishoppe in that Church saies that it ought to be commended and that it was lawfully and worthily done And with what conscience could the same seruile Bishopp of Sixtus the fift proue the kissing of the popes feete out of those wordes of Esay Kings and Queenes shall worshippe thee with their faces towards the Earth and licke vp the dust of thy feete how durst hee say that this kissing of the popes feete was established in saint Luke when the sinner kissed Christs feete Because saies he if it were affoorded Christâ— belongs it not to his Church which is bone of his bone And out of Deuteronomy hee thinkes this reuerence is euidenly enough demonstrated because it is saide of God the saints of God are said to be humbled at his feete So that whatsoeuer is applyed to the Church or to God by this detorsion is giuen to the pope But this Bishoppe is so transported with this rage of detorting scriptures that rather then not mis-applie them hee will apply them to his owne Condemnation For thus hee concludes his Epistle with the wordes of the Apostle Gaudeo siue per veritatem siue per occasionem Romanae Ecclesiae dignitatem extolli so that it is all one to him whether scriptures bee faithfully applyed or
apparition And some of their saddest Diuines haue eased them thus much in any such perplexitie that to worship the diuell himselfe in such a forme with opinion that it were God is not Idolatry not onely for these inconueniences but euen for a generall infamy and suspition that these apparitions which begot Purgatorie haue in them the more moderate sort of Catholiques haue declined from any great approuing of them 7 Yea Serarius though of that order that hath lost all ingenuity confesses from Baronius and Villa Vincentius that in these legends in their Histories there are vaine and vitious relations and that the pictures of those Saints are but Symbolicall And Sedulius acknowledges that that storie in the booke of Conformities that S. Francis was seene to goe out of the wound in Christs side with a banner and a great Armie is but figuratiue Of which sayes he there are many so highly mysterious that it is not fit to discouer and explicate them to the wicked So that these Mirabilarij Mythologistes of that Church wil solemnly reserue these their Arcana Ecclesiae to themselues and shall without any enuie from vs. 8 And yet I denie not but that in sober antiquitie and in the grauest Fathers there are some impressions which occasioned this error of purifying soules after this life As Bellarmine sayes truly that for the most part lies haue their foundation vpon some truth For it was very long in the Church of God before the state of the soule after our death was cleare and constant and vniforme the Fathers being diuided in their opinions whether our soules enioyed perfect happinesse presently or expected and attended it till the generall iudgement And the phrase and language in which sometimes they spoke of the last consummation of our happinesse in the re-vnion of the body and soule being obscure and various gaue occasion of doubting that they reserued and adiourn'd all our happinesse till that time And that which they meant of that perfect and consummate happinesse not to bee enioyed till then hath beene mis-vnderstood or detorted to the soule alone And by such irresolution in some and perplexity in collating their opinions and misapplying their words haue been imprinted indelible characters of Purgatorie and of prayer for the dead of whose condition in the next worlde they were not tâ—roughly assured 9 If any of the Fathers haue strayed farther then so to speak doubtfully of some such thing as Purgatorie Wee will not say as you doe Let vs excuse it or extenuate it or denie it by some deuise or faine some other conuenient sense when it is opposed in Disputation Nor dare we obtrude a contrarie exposition as you doe when you make Pope Telesphorus instituting the Quinquagâ—sima for the Clergy by his worde Statuimus to meane Abrogamus Or when Pope Innocent writes to Decentius a Bishop that it is not reade that in all Italie France Spaine Affrique and the Ilands there was Alius Apostolus praeâ—er Petrum to make him meane by Alius Contrarius which the glosse vpon the glosse in the Margine mis-likes because no Apostle was contrarie to Peter and therefore makes the Pope to meane that there was no other Apostle in those places then Peter or such as he sent We dare not correct so boldly as to make Bertram who for 800. yeares together had said Visibiliter now to say Inuisibiliter Wee dare not hope to scape with such a small insertion as Non which you haue intruded to the destruction of Didacus Stellaes sense in his Commentarie vppon Saint Luke and in Eucherius his Commentarie vppon Genesis Wee dare not steale out that little particle to alter the whole intention of him that hath it as Bellarmine hath done out of a sentence cited by Gratian out of Leo by which Mariage is no Sacrament if Non be admitted Wee will not be so vnnaturall to the Fathers as Bellarmine makes the Pope to be when being pressed by Nilus to followe in the question of the Primacie the opinion of the Fathers sayes that the Pope hath no Fathers in the Church but that they are all his Sonnes Nor can wee exceede Bellarmine in dis-esteeming the Fathers who hath called in question some bookes of almost euerie one of them as Clement Anicetus Cyprian Tertullian Ambrose Augustine Hierome Damasus Damascen Basil Iustine Nyssene Honorius Eusebius Chrysostome and others And when Damascene cites out of Palladius That a dead scull beeing asked whether our Prayers did them any good in hell aunswered that it brought them some ease and relaxation Bellarmine sayes This is false and Apocryphall and that there is no such thing in Paladius So ill a Patrone is hee of Damascenes credite heerein Nor doth hee onely indefinitely say of the Fathers That it is euident that some of the chiefest of them haue grieuously erred but as of Tertullian who imputes Montanisme to Pope Zephirine hee sayes There is no faith at all to be giuen to him And in another place somewhat more sharply Wee doe not reckon Tertullian amongst the Catholiques So doth he to very many of the other Fathers boldly impute such errours as would vitiate any Author not to haue but obserued them and for touching whereof the Centuriators are by him accounted prophane and blasphemous So also doth Medina say That Hierome Ambrose Augustine Sedulius Primasius Chrysostome Theodoret Oecumenius Theophilact and others were of the same opinion as Aerius was and the Waldenses and Wickliffe 10 But as Gratian preferred Hierome before a Councell because hee had Scripture on his side And as your Expurgatorie Index which I cite so often because no booke of equall authoritie doth shew so well your corrupt doctrine that is what you cannot endure to heare and your indirect practise to make Authors speake your words addes to one Author in the Margine Wee must giue no credit to these words of Eusebius and after This opinion of Iustin and of Epiphanius is not true So if for the defence of Purgatorie in the full sense of the Trent Councell you obtrude any Father which yet I professe that I haue neuer seene if that Father be destitute of the support of Scripture you must allow vs some of that libertie which you take since we are more modest in the vse thereof then you are 11 For we need not euen by your frequent examples binde our selues to that seruility which your Azorius subiects himselfe vnto who disputing of the immolation of Iepthes daughter confessing That it is not euident that she was killed nor likely nor that she could be comprehended in that vow any more then any vncleane thing which might haue met him and That the contrarie is more Analogall to the other places of Scripture and that the Rabbines Lyra and some other Catholiques denie her death yet saies he because we are bound that is by the oath of the Trent
in the place of being the particular Assistant in the Conclaue for since they affoord a particular Tutelar Angell to euerie Colledge and Corporation And to the race of Flyes and of Fleas and of Ants since they allowe such an Angell to euery Infidell Kingdome yea to Antichrist yea to Hell it selfe it were verie vnequall to denie one to this place This Angell I say would be glad of the roome and become a Suiter to the holy Ghost to name him in the next Conclaue For he should not onely enlarge his Diocesse and haue all the lower world vnder him but hee shall haue those two principall Seraphins which euer attend the Pope Michael and Gabriel for that Gabriel is the second Victorellus produces two very equall witnesses The Romane Litanie and Tassoes Hierusalem And all the particular Angels of all spirituall Societies And because also as he saies he is Temporall Lord all the Archangels and Principalities which gouerne particular estates â—hall concur to his Guard and assistance 4 As Nero had an officer A voluptatibus So it seemes haue the Popes A titulis And flatterers haue alwaies a Complacencie and Delight in themselues if they can bestow a stile and Title vpon a great Prince because therein they think they contribute somthing to his greatnesse since Ceremonie is a maine part of Greatnesse and Title a great part of that And now they had obserued that all the chiefe Titles of the Pope had been attributed to others and were in their Naâ—ure and vse communicable For all the Apostles and all the Disciples of Christ are called Vicarij Christi And this name will not serue his turne if it were peculiar to himselfe For as his Victoria teaches vs This Vicariate doth not enable him to doe all thinges which are not expresly forbidden him as some doe thinke but onely such things as are expresly graunted vnto him and therefore his claime by that Title will be too strict And the name of Vniuersall Bishop was giuen to Cyprian when hee was stiled Totius orbis Praeses And in that sense it may iustly bee giuen For as a Physician or Chyrurgion which hath taken into his Cure any one part of a mans body either corrupted or in danger of being so may iustly be said to looke to and preserue the body of such a man So that Bishop which gouernes well one Church is therein a Bishop of the whole Church benefits the whole mystical body therof by reason of the strong relation indissoluble coÌ„nexion of all the parts with one another and to the head 5 And for that stile of Pontifex Maximus which either is not due to the Pope or else is so sublime and transcendant a name as Bellarmine could bring it within no Rule nor Predicament when hee makes vp the Canon of the Popes fifteene Titles by all and euery one of which hee sayes his Primacie is euidently collected They saw it giuen to Atâ—anaâ—ius in Ruffinus And the name of Pope was so communicated that not onely euery Bishop was called a Pope but Cyprian The Pope Quem Christiani suum Papam vocant In the estimation of which name they haue often fluctuated and waâ—uered For almost for nine hundred yeeres they affoorded it to all Then they restrain'd it to the Bishops of Rome to which purpose Biel vpon the Canon of the Masse cites diuers Canons though farre from the matter 6 And euer since the Reformation of the Church was couragiously begun and prosperously and blessedly prosecuted they hauing beene call'd Papists for their implicite relying vpon the Pope lest their owne Argument against vs That to bee denominate from any person is a marke of Heresie should be retorted vpon themselues they haue in all Dedications and publike Acts as much as they can forborne and declin'd that name Pope and still vsurped Summus Pontifex and Pontifex Maximus And yet being stil vrged and followed and hauing no escape but that the name of â—apists stickes to them and by their Rules imprints some markes of Heresie though Bellarmine a little ashamed of the name Papist say That onely the Lutherans and a few neighbour Countreyes call them so Yet that late Carmelite that hath defended Lypsius sayes confidently We are Papists we confesse it and we glory in that Name 7 And this name of Pope they are the rather content to take to him againeâ— because they thinke that we grudge him that name For so that Councellour of the Parliament of Burdeaux which in his Historie of the progresse and decay of Heresie hath taken occasion to speake of the affaires of England in which because no man should doubt of the trueth therof he proâ—esses to follow Sanders and Ribadeneâ—ra by whome a Morall man may as well be instructed for matter of Fact as a Christian might be by Arrius or Mahomet for his Faith sayes That Henrie the â—ight made it Felonie to call the holy Father Pope or to reade that name in any Booke and not to blot it out 8 Hauing therefore found such easinesse and flexibility in all olde Names they haue prouided him now of this name spirituall Prince in a larger sense then that great Prince whom they call Praeste-gian assumes it for that name signifies Apostolique and Christs Vicegerent in his owne kingdomes or then Christ himself euer assumed or the Holy Ghost by the Prophet Esay reckoning vp his most glorious titles euer attributed to him and yet in that place of Esay both his eternall Kingdome by his filiation and his euerlasting Kingdome of glory inchoated in his resurrection and his Kingdome of grace in our consciences are euidently to bee discerned For though there be mention oâ— Principality yet it is said Principatus super humerum eius which your Doctor expounds of carying the Crosse and that he shall be Princeps pacis which is Intrinsicall â—aies the same Expositor belonges to the Conscience But this Doctrine which must so settle and affirme a Catholique conscience that it must binde him to die and entitle him to Martyrdome hath no touch nor tincture of either of these Principalities of Patience or of Peace buâ— all therein is Anger and Warre not onely with that sword of two edges of the Word and Censures which is his but with two swords which now we shall see how he claimes 9 The Pope represents Christ to vs saies Bellarmine as he was whilst he liued amongst men nor can we attribute to the Pope any other office then Christ hadâ— as he was a mortall man And in tâ—is Capacitie saies he Christ neither had the execution nor the power of any temporall Kingdome And that therefore if the Pope as a King can take from any King the execution of his place he is greater then Christ and if he cannot then he hath no Regall power Thus hee disputes against those
of Spaine which they call so super-eminently Catholicke and of whose King the Cardinall which writes against Baronius saies that he is the only Prince who bends all the sinewes of his power and all the thoughts of his minde not only to oppresse barbarous enemies of Christianity but to containe christian Kings in their duetie This Kingdome I say hath by all meanes which it can expressed how weary it is of that iurisdiction which the Pope exerciseth there in these points which we complaine of though the Popes haue euer beene most readie to recompence these temporall detriments to those kings as the Donations of the Indyes and of the Kingdome of Nauarre and of England testifie at full 9 And yet if we consider what all sorts of persons in that Nation haue done against this temporall power wee cannot doubt but that they trauaile of the same childe which our Kingdome and diuers others haue brought forth which is their libertie from this weakning and impouerishing thraldome For first for Booke-men and Writers a great Idolatrer of this temporall Iurisdiction in the Pope Confesses That many of the principall Authours of the Spanish nation concurre in this opinion that these exemptions and immunities of the Clergie so much debated are not Iuris diuini And it is easie to obserue what the Collection and resultanse vpon this conclusion will be Since if they bee enioyd by the fauour of Princes though a conueniencie and a kind of right grounded in the law of nature haue moued Princes to graunt themâ— yet all graunts of Princes are mortall and haue a naturall frailtie in them and vpoâ— iust cause are subiect to Reuocation 10 And for the Sword-men by that hostile Act vpon Rome it-selfe by Charles Bourbon which was done at least by the conniuencie of Charles the fift and by that preparation made against the same place by the expresse commaundement of Philip the second vnder the Duke of Aluaes conduct and by many other associations and Leagues against the Pope It appeares how iealous and watchfull they are vpon this Temporall iurisdiction and how they oppose themselues against any farther groweth thereof For whâ—n in the differences about the Kingdome of Portugall the Pope made offers to Phâ—lip the second to interpose himselfe for the setling of all pretences to that Crowne the King though with sweete and dilatorie answers refusd that offer because sayes the Author of that Storie he would not by this example acknowledge him to be the Iudge of Kingdomes And after this when the King had proceeded farther therein and Antonie was proclaimed and that a Legate came into Spaine and offred there in the name of the Pope to be a Iudge betweene all pretenders though Philip did not doubt the Legates inclination to his part because he came into his Countrey to make the offer and though he had more vse of such a seruice then then before yet he abstaind from vsing him therein because hee thought that the Pope vnder colour of doing the Office of a common father went about to make himselfe absolute Iudge of Kingdomes and besides the extraordinarie Authority which he endeuoured to draw to his Sea would oblige the Kings of Spaine to his house as the same Author expresses that Kings iealousies 11 And for the politique gouernement of that State euen in that Kingdome which they pretend to hold of the Church which is Sicily they exercise a stronger Iurisdiction and more derogatorie to the Pope then this which our King claimes And though Parsonsâ— who is no longer a subiect and Sonne of the Church of Rome then as that Church is an enemy to England for in the differences betweene her and Spaine he abandons â—er aâ—erre in one place that this iurisdiction is by Indult Dispensation from the Pope yet a more credible man then he and a natiue Subiect to the King of Spaine hath vtterly annuld and destroyed that opinion that any graunt or permission of the Popes hath enabled the Kings of Spaine to that Authoritie which they exercise there And he hath not onely told his brother Cardinall Columna that the matter it-selfe Is a point of the Catholicke faith but in his Epistle to King Philip the third hee extols and magnifies that Booke in which he had deliuered that Doctrine so authentically as if he meant to draw it into the Canon of the Scriptures for do these words import any lesse The Booke issued froÌ„ the very Chaire of S. Peter by the commandement of S. Peter and is confirmed by S. Peter and shal without doubt endure for euer And he addes this Commination speaking to the King Let them which resist these writings take heede least they stumble In hanc Petram and least they bee vtterly trode in pieces Ab ipsa ab alto ruente Petra But of Baronius his detestation of Monarchie and ill behauiour towards all Kings as well as his owne Soueraigne I haue another occasion to speake All which I purpose to euict here was that if Parsons haue spoken so heretically in saying that this is done by vertue of the Popes Indult that remaines true which I said before that that Kingdome of Spaine endeuours by all wayes it can to redeeme it-selfe from these vsurpationâ— and re-inuest it-selfe in her originall Supremacie 12 For as in one of the Greeke States when Nycippus sheepe brought forth a Lyon it was iustly concluded that that pâ—rtended a Tyrannie and change of the State from a peaceable to a bloody Gouernement so since the Spirituall principalitie hath produced a Temporall since this mild and Apostolique sheepe hath brought forth this Lyon which seekes whom hee may deuour as by his first Iurisdiction he would make in this Kingdome a spirituall shambles of your soules by corrupt Doctrines so by the latter he labours to make a Temporall shambles and market of your bodies by selling you for nothing and thrusting you vpon the Ciuill sword which it is a sinne to sheath when the Law commaunds to draw it in so dangerous cases of polluting the Land And though it be pretended by you and for you that the Popes haue laide both a spirituall and temporall Obligation vpon you Because besides their care for instructing your soules they haue also with some charge erected and endowed some Colledges for your Temporall sustentation who come into those parts yet as the wisemen of Persia being set to obserue the first actions of their new King Ochus when they marked that be reachd out his hand at the Table to Bread and to a Knife presumd by that that his time would be plentifull and bloody and faild not in their coniecture So since the Pope reaches out to you with his small Collegiate pittance the Doctrine of the materiall and temporall sword howsoeuer hee may seeme to relieue your miserie and penurie which you drawe vpon your selues yet it is accompanied with the presage of much blood since either his purposes must
no so it be to the profit and aduantage of that Church 111 And though Bellarmine seeme to deplore and lament that vnworthy manner of handling serious Controuersies of which hee accus'd that Authour which called his booke Auiso Piaceuole because he cytes some of the Italian Poets against the Church of Rome yet is this fashion still in so much vse amongst them that in their last busines with the state of Venice one authour though in a disguised name that vndertooke the defence of Baronius his furious instigation of the Pope doth not onely wound and staine the memory of our late Queene with impious calumniations and wrest the Scriptures to defame our present King but he protests that hee chuses this way of doing it to imitate Socrates who was saies he Derisor hominum maxime potentum and exhibites his booke as a sacrifice Risui Lubentiae 112 Where then shall we hope that these men will stoppe or limit their blasphemies when in the licentious fury thereof hauing made it habituall to them and an Idioâ—isme of that Religion they set in their account God against God that is the word of God against the Pope and defame him in their owne Pasquils by the phrase of Scripture In which kind of prophane libelling I had thought their malignity and irreligion had beene at the highest when they called Lucretiaes bastard by Pope Alexander and his sonne the holy Ghostâ— till of late we see one of our owne nation hath drunke so deepe of that cuppe that he hath swallowed the dregges also and in a childish and trayterous itch of witte at once wounded the Maiestie both of his God and of his King by imputing false faults to the one that hee might misuse the word of the other And by this meanes as when they determined to kill the Emperor Henry the seuenth that they might poison him they forbore not to poison their owne God in the Sacrament first so when they purposed to teare and deface the name and honour and lawes of the King they first offer the same violence to the word of God himselfe 113 Thus the scriptures serue them for Panegyriques to aduance the Pope Omnia Subiecisti sub pedibus eius which being spoken of beasts subiection to men they make it of men to the Pope Thus the scriptures serue them to deuest and disarme Princes Ecceduo gladij which being if we beleeue the Iesuite Sd no other then those knifes with which they had cutte vp the paschal Lambe a pope applies to the spirituall and temporall Iurisdiction And thus the scripture serues them for prouocation and incitements to warre and deuastation Macta Manduca which being spoken of baptizing the Gentiles Baronius detorts to the excommunication of Christians Onely they are content to spare scriptures when they come to defend their late-borne Heresies for for the necessity of beleeuing Purgatory Inuocation Transubstantiation and some others of the same age they offer no scripture but they thinke it victory enough that Galatine can proue all these out of the Talmud and Cusanus out of the Alcoran For for the olde and new Testaments they finde other employment They must serue them against the office and dignity of Princes to exhibite them as a prey to their neighbours and a scorne to their owne Subiects 114 As Christ asked of the Iewes for which of his good workes they would stone him Princes may aske of the Romane Church for which of their benefites they are so iniurious to them Is it for hauing established a Primacy vpon that Bishoppe aboue his fellow Patriarches which was so long litigious Or for withdrawing him from the iawes of the Barbarous deuourers of Italy Or for enriching him with a Patrimony and Priuiledges almost equall to their owne Is it for any of these that you say A Clergy man cannot be a traytor though he rebellâ— because he is no subiect By which you cut off so great and so good a part as in your opinion the stâ—te without it is but a meere Carcasse for the Clergie is the soule And you extend those immunities not onely to your boyes which light your Candles and locke the Church doores but to euery sullen fellow that will retire himselfe into a wood without either assuming Orders or subiecting himself to any Religious Rule or despoiling himselfe of his temporall possessions as you say of your Ermits Yea to Nunnes who though they be not of the Clergie yet are Ecclesiastique persons and yet they are so prophane as they may not be admitted to touch any thing which belongs to the Altar And not onely the Nunnes within profession haue these priuiledges but also their Nouices who are vnder no vow yea they enioy them whom you call Canonicas Saeculares which may trauell traffique marry and do any ciuill or vnciuil function for of the continency of Nunnesâ— am of a better perswasion for this reason especiâ—lly that the Iesuites by a Constitution are forbid to haue the care of them and those secular women which I mentioned are Ecclesiastici fori by a late Decision in the Rota because though they be not Ecclesiasticae yet they are Personae Miserabiles and weare an vniforme habite and to raise the number you say If an iniury be done to any kinsman of an Ecclesiastique person it is done to him And that if any offence bee committed by diuers persons amongst whome there is one Clergie man none of the offenders can bee subiect to Temporall Iurisdiction 115 And not onely all these persons but all which appertaines to them becomes spirituall and by a new Alchimy they doe not onely extract spirit out of euery thing but transmute it all into spirit and by their possessing them Houses Horses and Concubines are spirituall But as euery thing returnes to his first state and being and so Rome which was at first built and gouerned by Shepheards iâ— returned to the same forme after the decay of the Empire and as the name of Bishopp which was at first giuen to Clerkes of the Market and Ouerseers of things to be bought and solde agrees still with these Symoniaque Bishoppes of Rome so many of these pretious Iewels which are employed about the Images and Reliques which were at first temporall and then by this tincture growne to be spirituall returne againe to their temporall nature when any of the Popes â—ake ocsion to serue their pleasure or foment dissensions amongst other Princes and schisme amongst themselues by coyning the Images as Vrbanus did in such a case 116 But the greatest iniury that is done to Princes in this matter of Exemption is that they will not be beholden to Princes for it but plead their Ius Diuinum not onely the positiue Diuine Law by which they say that the Popes if they had not found these men naturally exempted and if Princes had not granted these exemptions might
omitted sometimes spoke remissely of good workes yet betweene those who seuerely adhere to him other Churches which in some other things depart a little from them in this point I haue obserued no dissention 6 But the Romane Church at this present is tempested with a violent storme in this maâ—ter that is by what way and meanes man can be enabled to doe any meritorious worke In which Controuersies after the Dominicans and the Iesuites had with much earnestnesse prouoked and with much bitternes replied vpon one another Benius in a booke as moderate and elegant as any these later ages haue affoorded proiecting a way in his Epistle to Clement the eight how these dissentions might be re-vnited and reconciled obserues that all the Controuersies betweene them ariseth out of presuming a false ground and foundation to be true which is the famous Distinction of Sufficient and Efficient Grace And so he dooth not onely demolish all that they had diuersly built thereupon but defeats and destroies that foundation which Bellarmine himselfe was most confident in and euicts that that distinction which that Church hath vsed of late yeares against all opposition is neither containd nor conueniently deriued either from Scriptures Councels or Fathers but is refeld resisted by the Councell of Trent it â—elfe Noâ— can they extenuate this matter as though it were oâ—â—maâ—l consequence since neither small matters should produce amongst Religious men so much and so bitter Argumenâ—ation nor can it bee in it selfe esteemed a small matter vpon which Benius saies the questions of Predestination Iustification Merite Perseuerance Glorification and many more depend and that all Diuinitie is shaken therein 7 And if they thinke howsoeuer they suffer an intestine war to make vs beleeue that all is peace and that this variety is onely De modo they must remember that that for which they burne and damne men which is Transubstantiation is but a question De modo which may be sometâ—mes so essentiall That if the Arrians had agreed with the Orthodox of the maner of the generatioÌ„ of the Soâ— or the Greeke Church would agree yet with the westernâ— of tâ—e maner of the proceeding of the Holy Ghost there could be no diffrence in tâ—ese points and therfore these dâ—ffreÌ„ces controuersiâ—s irresolutioÌ„s in the Roman Church caâ—not be â—xcuâ—'d or diminished by this that they are De modo since they are not De modo probâ—tionis which is when a certaine truth is illustrated by diuers waies of proofe but they are so De modo essendi or existendi So as if you remoue these wayes by which they are said to be they are not at all 8 And howsoeuer those Doctors whome they stile Seraphicos and Illustratos and Irrefragabiles Fontes vitae with which transcendent Titles they enamell so many of the writers in the Franciscan Families so are in so high a piâ—ch as dazles vs or diue so low as we cannot discerne what they â—old in this matter of Merit yet what the vulgar doctâ—ine is in this point the Expurgatory Inâ—ices shall sufficâ—ently informe vs for no opinion of any Faâ—her or Doctor or of any vniuersity can be of so mâ—ch crediâ—e and authority as those books since they are compiled by a commission issuing from the Pope himselfe who was either authorized or entreated to that office by a generall Councell So that in these bookes there are all these approaches to an infallibility that they were determined and prouided by a Councel executed by a Popes Buls and iustified by him when they were perfited â—nd accomplished 9 And those bookes haue not bestowed so much diligence vpon any point as this that nothing remaine in any Authour which may prefâ—rre Christs passion before our merits And therfore to omit innumerable instances to this purpose in that Catholique booke imprinâ—ed in a Catholique state wâ—ich is stiled Ordo Baptizandi Modus Visitandi they haue expunged these wordes Doost thou beleeue to come to glory not by thine owne merites but by the vertue and passion of our Lord Iesus Christ And a little after they haâ—e cut off this question Dost thou beleeue that our Lord Iesus Christ died for our saluation and that no man can be saued by his owne merits or any other way but in the merite of the passion of Christ And though they might haue excuse to extoll our merites yet they might haue spared the first part of the sentence and giuen vs leaue to beleeue That our Lord Iesus Christ died for our saluation 10 Amongst these great works pregnant both of Merite for our selues and satisfaction for others Martyrdome is in theâ—r Doctrinâ— that Opus priuilegiatum which takes away al sinne by occasion of which wordes To take away I cannot forâ—beare to warne you in this place of one ordinarie indirect dealing in Bellarmine which is thaâ— in his Indices and Tables he presents wordesâ— veâ—ie fâ—râ—e from the sense of the place to which they relate As in this point of merite where his Index saies Martyrium tollit peccata S. Hierome out of whom the Text â—o which he relates is drawnâ— sâ—ies only per martyrium peccata non imputantur which is nothing to the naturall condignitâ—e of the woâ—â—e it selâ—e And I should haue neglected to haue noted Bellarmines Index but that I obserue that they are so seuere vpon the Indices made by some of their owne Church that pretending stâ—ll to haue rased nothing in the body of the fathers they expunge in the Indices many sentences though the very wordes be in the Text it selfe as in tâ—is point of Merite Iunius hath noâ—ed that these wordes Meritum nullum nisi quod a Christo confertur are cut out of the Index to Chrysostome though the same wordes be in the text 11 To proceede then for the dignity of this woâ—ke Bellarmine against Soâ—o and Ledesmo maintaines that martyrdome doth saue a man ex opere operato And that there is required in the martyre no further disposition nor other preparation then in one who is to be baptized For saies he though Charity be required it is not precedent Charity but it is because a Martyr cannot depart without Charity because by a couenant from God Grace is infâ—s'd and so Charity and therefore it abolishes originall sinne and actuall sinne and both eternall and temporall punishment belonging thereunto And in another place Bellarmine saies That it is euident that martyredome is so full a satisfaction that it expiates all guiltinesse contracted by all sinnes how huge soeuer the number or haynousnes therof be and if any milder man of that Church would say otherwise as Ferus doth directly the Passions in this life are not worthy of future glorie hee must be detorted to the other sense as Senensis saies of this place I am of opinion that Ferus his wordes might bee deflected to the other sense Or if the wordes will
not reach and attaine to the force of that Canon saies Gretzer who allowes him all these escapes That he did it either by negligence inconsideration a fore conceiu'd perswasion or some other cause which is large enough 2 But if euer a Iesuite come to be the Church that is the Pope we shall sooâ—e be precluded by the Churches Definitions And as now to doubt whether the Pope without a Councell may teach an Heresie is Haeresi proximum and so is Semi-haereticum when a Iesuite is Pope it will be Hyper-haereticum and Sesqui-haereticum for we haue beene already taught that something may be more thenheresie when by a new Decretall of Paul the fourth they say That any great person falling into Heresie or Schisme shall for the first offence be esteemed relapsed and be in the same desperate state as if he had formerly iuridically abiurd the same heresie At least when a Iesuite comes to that Throne as in this last volume of the Canon law we haue a new title presented De Cardinalibus which was in none of the rest where they are call'd The principall members of the Church constituted by the holy Ghost And the most noble part of the Popes body And the clearest lights and most speciall children of the Church where to take any thing from them is called Sacrilege and to fauour any which hath dis-fauoured them or hurt them is made Treaâ—on so without doubt the Iesuites will be as indulgent to their owne Order and we shall haue at the next croppe when there is a new Haruest of ripe Decretals a title De patribus Societatis Iesu. 3 As at their first institution they were thus neere the Papacy that the Order of the Theatines of which Paulus fourth who was at that time Pope was either the authour or a principall man desired to be vnited to them by which meanes they might haue compassed the Papacy in thâ—ir Cradle so haue they of late made suspicious approaches thereunto by admitting Cardinal shippes and other Dignities 4 Those of theiâ— Order who heretofore refused offers of that Dignity as you say Laynez did â—rom Paulus the fourth and Borgia from Iulius the third did it Constantissime and I beleeeue with such constancy in resistance Tolet and Bellarmine might haue preuailed Hee which giues rules for the institution of Monkes forbiddes not onely Bishoppâ—ickes but all acquaintance with Bishoppes By all meanes saith hee let a Monke auoide women and Bishops because both hinder Diuine Contemplation which Rule when Iesuiâ—es broke and came to liue in secular and Ecclesiasticall Courts they shewed that they were not stubborne and inexorable against these preferments 5 And if euer they attaine the Papacy they haue already laide good foundations for the entailing thereof vpon their owne Family by Azorius his disputation what the authority of the Pope is in designing a Successor for he deliuers it as the common opinion that the forme of electing the Pope being founded vpon the Canons it may at his pleasure be changed So that the Pope may establish the Prouincials of the Iesuites to be the Electors And then descending to another question whether the Pope himselfe may designe his Successor hee saies that the Canons against it cannot preiudice him because he is aboue them and that it is not forbid Iure Diuino and that for matter of fact he beleeues S. Peter did chuse Clement but least the Popes should haue nothing to auert them from this course before any Iesuite were Pope and so worke an exclusion he saies It is not lawfâ—ll Iure Naturae that is saies he because natural reason informes that it were inconuenient for the Church And but for that inconuenience he saies they might cast lots for the papacy But this inconuenience depends vpon such reasons and circumstances as are alterable and when they cease this law of nature ceases too 6 And though Laynez in the vacancy after Paulus the fourth is said by you to haue had twelue of the best voyces for the Papacy though he were out of the Colledge of Cardinals And in one Conclaue Bellarmine also is said to haue had some yet if any Iesuite had voices enow would his Supeâ—iour allow him the Religion of his vow by which he ought to refuse it or his naturall liberty by which any man that is chosen Pope may if he will refuse it 7 If it were once come to that as you are content yet â—o seeme as modest as the Carthusian who saies that he beleeues it to be a singular blessing of God that no Carthusian hath beene Pope you would make good hast to reckon with the forwardest Orders how many Popes you had had And quickly in these accounts ouergoe the Franciscans themselues who reckon of their Order not onely Popes and Martyres and such poâ—sible things but are so precipitate and transported with this fury that they reckon how many of the Apostles Prophets and Patriarches they haue had of their Order So as I thought whilst I reade it they would neuer haue stopped till they had tolde vs how many Adams and Eues had beene of their Order and how many Iesus Christs besides S. Francis For I vnderstand not by what other figure they vse this anticipation and call these auncients Franciscans then that by which Serarius the Iesuit saies Herod was a great Machiauellian and Gregorie de Valentia that Plato might learne the doctrine of Purgatory out of the booke of the Machabees which was written after his deâ—th 8 But besides that the Iesuites decay in the hearts of Princes which Philip the second of Spaine testified well because though he had great vse of their seruice hee neuer did any thing for them this also makes me doubt that they will neuer haue Pope because it is already reueil'd by Christ to S. Francis that Antichrist shall come out of the family of the Franciscans 9 This also encreases my suspicion that they could neuer compasse that which is much lesse then a Pope which is a Saint in their family For the Authority of the Pope is greater then of a Saint sayes Cassanaeus And in his Indulgences he doth as familiarly command Angels as the yonger Prentizes the Exorcists do deuils To whom they vse this language when any spirit possesses a body I command Lucifer and all the Furies in hell to precipitate you into hell fire presently indispensably and â—ternally till the day of iudgement And I forbid the Ayre to haue any power to receiue you 10 And though Tortus say That the time of the Canonizing of the founder of that Order is not yet pass'd and therefore hee may bee Canonized in good time which is a poore comfort since I neuer found any such limitation nor that a Saint apparant as Ignatius is may be superannated and grow too old to bee Canoniz'd yet since those two great Princes
concoxions enow from the Church to nourish a conscience to such a strength as Martyrdome requires For that which their great Doctor Franciscus a Victoria pronounces against his direct Authoritie we may as safely say against that the indirect This is the strongest prooâ—e that can be against him This Authority is not proued to be in the Pope by any meanes and therefore he hath it not To which purpose he had directly said before of the direct Authoritie It is manifestly false although they say that it is manifestly true And I beleeue it to be a meere deuise only to flatter the Popes And it is altogether fained without probability Reason Witnesse Scripture Father or Diuine Onely some Glossers of the law poore in fortune and learning haue bestowed this authority vpon them And therefore as that Ermit which was fed in the Desert by an Angell receaued from the Angell withered grapes when hee said his prayers after the due time and ripe grapes when he obserued the iust time but wilde sower grapes when he preuented the time so must that hasty and vnseasonable obedience to the Church to die for her Doctrine before she her selfe knowes what it is haue but a sower and vnpleasant reward CHAP. X. That the Canons can giue them no warrant to aduenture these dangers for this refusall And that the reuerend name of Canons is falsly and cautelously insinuated and stolne vpon the whole body of the Canon law with a briefe Consideration vpon all the bookes thereof and a particular suruay of all those Canons which are ordinarily cyted by those Authours which maintaine this temporall Iurisdiction in the Pope TO this spirituall Prince of whom we spoke in the former Chapter the huge and vast bookes of the Canon law serue for his Guarde For they are great bodies loaded with diuers weapons of Excommunications Anathems and Interdicts but are seldome drawen to any presse or close fight And as with temporall Princes the danger is come very neere his person if the remedie lie in his guard so is also this spirituall Prince brought to a neere exigent if his title to depose Princes must be defended by the Canons For in this spirituall warre which the Reformed Churches vnder the conduct of the Holy Ghost haue vndertaken against Rome not to destroy her but to reduce her to that obedience from which at first she vnaduisedly strayed but now stubbornly rebels against it the Canon law serues rather to stoppe a breach into which men vse to cast as wel straw and Feathers as Timber and Stone then to maintaine a fight and battell 2 This I speake not to diminish the Reuerence or slacken the obligation which belongs to the ancient Canons and Decrees of the Church but that the name may not deceiue vs For as the heretiques Vrsalius and Valens got together a company at Nice because they would establish their Heresies vnder the name of a Nicene Councell which had euer so much reputation that all was readily receiued which was truely offered vnder that name so is most pestilent and infectious doctrine conuayed to vs vnder the reuerend name of Ecclesiastique Canons 3 The body of the Canon law which was called Codex Canonum which contained the Decrees of certaine auncient Councels was vsually produced in after Councels for their direction and by the intreaty of popes admitted and incorporated into the body of the Romane and Imperiall law and euer in all causes wherein they had giuen any Decision it was iudg'd according to them after the Emperours had by such admittance giuen them that strength 4 And if the body of that law were but growen and swelled if this were a Grauidnes Pregnancy which she had conceiued of General Councels lawfully called and lawfully proceeded in and so she had brought forth children louing and profitable to the publique and not onely to the Mother for how many Canons are made onely in fauour of the Canons all Christian Princes would be as inclinable to gâ—ue her strength and dignity by incorporating her into their lawes and authorising her thereby as some of the Emperours were And had the Bishops of Rome maintained that purity and integrity of Doctrine and that compatiblenesse with Princes which gaue them authority at first when the Emperours conceiued so well of that Church as they bound their faith to the faith thereof which they might boldly doe at that time perchance Princes would not haue refused that the adiections of those later Popes should haue beene admitted as parts of the Canon law nor should the Church haue beene pestred and poisoned with these tumors excrescenges with which it abounds at this time and swelles daily with new additions 5 In which if there bee any thinge which bindes our faith and deriues vppon vs a Title to Martyrdome if we die in defence thereof as there are many things deriued from Scriptures and Obligatory Councels the strength of that band rises so much from the nature of the thing or from the goodnesse of the soile from which it was transplanted to that place that though we might be Martyrs if we defended it in that respect yet wee should loose that benefit though it be an euident and Christian truth if we defend it vpon that reason That it is by approbation of the â—ope inserted into the body of the Canon law which is a Satyr and Miscellany of diuers and ill digested Ingredients 6 The first part whereof which is the Decretum compiled by Gratian which hath beene in vse aboue foure hundred yeares is so diseased and corrupt a member thereof that all the Medicines which the learned Archbishop Augustinus applied to it and all that the seuerall Commissioners first by Pius the fift then by Gregory the thirteenth haue practised vpon it haue not brought it to any state of perfect health nor any degree of conualescence 7 But though that Bishop say That Gratian is not worthy of many words though in his dispraise yet because he tels vs That the ignorant admire him though the Learned laugh at him And because hee is accounted so great a part of the Canon Law as euen the Decretall Epistles of the Popes are call'd Extra in respect of him as being out of the Canon Law it shall not be amisse to make some deeper impressions of him 8 Thus farre therefore the Catholicke Archbishop charges him To haue beene so indiscreete and precipitate that he neuer stood vpon Authoritie of Bookes but tooke all as if they had beene written with the finger of God as certainely as Moses Tables And hee is so well confirm'd in the opinion of his negligence that he sayes He did not onely neuer Iudge and waigh but neuer see the Councels nor the Registers of Popes nor the workes of the Fathers And therefore sayes hee There is onely one remedy left which is Vna litura And in another place That there can bee no vse at all made
hee doth positiuely teach the iust contrarie to Gratian in matter of faith as in the Doctrine of perplexities which wee noted before 19 How dangerous therfore it is to confide in Gratian we see already may haue further light by obseruing That Ballarmine saies that in a main point of Canonicall Scriptures Gratian was deceiued by trusting a false copie of Saint Augustines workes And as Bellarmine saies hereâ— that Gratian was deceiued so Gratian deceiued him for in that Canon which we cyted before of the exemption of Clergy men either Bellarmine was a direct falsifier of the Councel or an indiscreet credulous swallower of Gratians errours which in his Recognition he refuseth not to confesse in another matter wheÌ„ he retracts some things which he spoke vpon the credit of Gratian there repents recaÌ„ts theÌ„ 20 But you and Bellarmine may easily be misled by him since euen a Pope himselfe was brought into a false perswasion by his errour For till of late all the copies of the Decretum in that famous Canon Sancta Romana which distinguishes Canonicall fâ—om Apocryphall writings in stead of the wordes Sedulij opus Heroicis versibus descriptum had these wordes Hereticis versibus Which saies a Catholique authour induced not onely many wise men but euen pope Adrian 6. to a perswasion that al Poetry was Hereticall since Gelasius a Pope and Author of that Canon though he praised Sedulius his worke in that place yet because it was writ in verse he câ—ls them Hereticos versus 21 Of them therfore which will binde their faith to the Canons and aduentuâ—e these dangers for that faith as the Canonists say that Saterday and Sunday is all one fictione Canonica so wee may say thaâ— they are but Martyres fictione Canonica and that not onely a Martyr and a Selfe-murderer but a Martyr and a Traytor may be all one Fictione Canonica And by such fiction that English Priest Bridgewater which cals himselfe Aquipontanus ouerturning and reâ—enuersing his name with hâ—â— conscience may be beleeued when he saies That those Priests which were executed vnder Queene Elizabeth died pro inficiatione pontificatus faeminei But their malice was not because she would haue bin a Priest but because she would not be a Sacrifice to their Idolatry nor Ambition nor open her heart to their inchantments nor her throate and sides to their poisons and swords 22 The next limme in this great body of the Canon law after the Decretum is the Decretall set out by Gregoâ—y the ninth who was Pope about the yeare one thousand two hundred thirty And as the Decretum pretends to bring to all purposes sentences of Fathers anâ— Canons of Counsells So this pretends principally the Rescripts and Deâ—retall letters of Popes So also doe all tâ—e other bookes which were set out after in supplement of this as that which is called Sextus set forth by Boniface the eight who was Pope An. one thousand three hundred and the Clementines which Clement the fift set out who was Pope within sixe yeares afterâ— and those Extrauagants which beaâ—e the name of Iohn the two and twenty within ten yeares of Clement and those which are called common Extrauagants because they come from diuers Popes and to these is added not long since the booke called Septimus Decretalium 23 And thus this fat law for so Ciuilians say of that that it is Crassa aequitas which is a praise beyond desert though rhey speake it in diminution scorn grows daily so fast that as any corruption can get entertainment in a grosse body so I doubt not but this or the next age shall see in their Octaues and future Volumes not onely many of their letters yet for shame coÌ„cealed but at Henry the thirds death canonized in the body of this law For though they haue denied it with some-earnestnesse yet they haue also confest that if it were such as it is said to be it admits a good interpretation 24 But for these bookes though they haue more credit with them then the Decretum hath I will ease my selfe of that labour which I tooke in that booke in presenting particular defects and infirmities both because we haue Bellarmines confession That there are many things in the Decretall Epistles which doe not make a matter to be De fide but onely doe declare what the opinions of the Popes were in those causes and because a Catholique authour of whom we spake before hath obserued that the compiler of the Decâ—etals by leauing out a word in a Canon of a Councell of Carâ—hage hath occasion'd the Church euer since to doe directly aganst the purpose of that Councell in shauing the heads of Priests For whereas the Councell is cited by him Clerici nec Comam Nutriant nec barbam by occasion whereof many subsequent orders were brought in for Shauing and transgressors seuerely punish'd it appeares that he left out in the end the word Radant which vtterly changed the precept into the contrary These Canons therefore of so sickely and weake a constitution that any thing deiects them cannot preuaile so much vpon our consciences as to imprint and worke such a confidence in them and irremoueablenesse from them as to maintaine them with the same maner of testimonie as we would doe the words of God himselfe 25 For howsoeuer they depart from them and seeme somewhat negligent of the Canons when we make vse of them to our aduantage against them yet they affright and enthrall the tender consciences of their owne Disciples with nothing more then the name of Canons to which promiscuously they ascribe all reuerence and assent without distinguishing to them which are Gratians and which are opinionate and which Decretall for all together are approoued and confirmed And therefore the Canons themselues not only inflict an Anatheme vpâ—on any â—ay-maâ— which shall so much as dispute vpon the text or any one Iod oâ— the Epistle of Pope Leo which is in the Canons but also prâ—nounce it blasphemy against the holy Ghost to violaâ—e a Canon willingly becauâ—e â—hey are made by the hyol Ghost And Bellarmine also writing against a Doctor which had defended the Venetian caâ—se against the Popes Censures saies That it is a gâ—ieuous rashnesse not to be lefâ— vnpunished that he should say â—he Canons as being but Humane lawes cannot haue equall authority with Diuine For this saies Bellarmine is a contempt of the Canons as though they were not made by the direction of the holy Ghost And yet these Canons which that Doctor intimated were but two and cyâ—ed but by Gratian and concerned onely Exempâ—ion of Clergie men from seculâ—r â—udges 26 And so â—arsons when he is to maâ—e hâ—s aduantage of any Sentence in Gratian vses to dignifie it thus That it is translated by the Popes into the Corps of the Canon law and so not onely allowed and admitted
and approued but commended and commanded and as he addes after Canonized and determined for Canonicall law and authorized and set forth for Sacred and Authenticall whatsoeuerâ— For they continue stâ—ll that practise which Frederic the Emperour obserued in his time when they interdictâ—d his Kâ—ngdome of Sicily Offundunt bibulis auribus Canonâ—s 27 And when they list to vrge a Canon any litle rag torn or fallen off from â—hence must bind the Church de fide as a cathedrall and Decretall resolâ—â—ion for so saies he that made the Notes vppon Cassianus excusing Origen Chrysostome some other Fathers for inclining to Platoes opinion of allowing some vse of lies in wise men That it was lawfull till the Church had defined the contrary But now saies he the Pope hath decreed it And how hath he decreed it In a letter vpon a question of Vsurie the Pope saies Since the Scriptures forbid lies euen for defense of any mans life much lesse may vsury be permitted But if in this question of lying the band did not aâ—ise out of the euidence and truth of the matter it selfe but relied vppon the authority of the Popes declaration and decision can such a ragge casually and incidentally fall into a letter of another purpose by way of comparison binde the whole Church De fide when as though Sixtus 4. had so much declared himselfe to fauour the opinion of our Ladies conception without originall sinne that he had by one Canon instituted a particular Festiuall thereof and appointed a particular Office for â—hat day with many Indulgences to the obseruers thereof yet the fauourers of the contrary opinion forbore not for reuerence of that Canon to preach publiquely against that Doctrine till some yeares after he forbad it vnder paine of Excommunication by another Canon that any should affirme that she was conceaued in originall sinne and yet this is not esteemed as yet for all this to be decreed as a matter of faith in that Church yea it is so farre from it that after all these solemnities and preiudices of that Pope yet the Commissioners of Sixtus the fift and Gregory the thirteenth appointed to expunge all dangerous passages in the Canons in the Glosse vpon that Canon which reckons all the festiuall daies which are to be obserued haue left these words vntouched The Conception of our Lady is not named because it ought not to be kept though in England and some other places it be And the reason is because she was conceaued in originall sinne as all but Christ were And after the Iesuite of whom I spoke before had refreshed that Doctrine That a Confession of a person absent made by letters was Sacramentall and Clement the eight was so vehement against it that by a solemne decree he condemned it for false rash and scandalous at least and commaunded that no man should speake of it but by way of condemning it and excluded euen dumbe men from this benefiâ— yet another Iesuite since a great Doctor perplexorum findes escapes to defend that Doctrine from beeing Hereticall 28 So that though in trueth there goe verie many Essentiall formalities to such a Decree as bindes the conscience De fide yet these men when they need the Maiestie of a Canon will euer haue feâ—ters in all corneâ—s to holde all consciences which offâ—r to slip or breake from them and still oppresse them with waights and with Mountaine of Canons Which way the Canonists doe noâ— only approue as the most conuenient to hold men in that Religion because the Canons are more easily vâ—ried and flexâ—ble and appliable to occasionâ— then the Scriptures are but also because ordinâ—rily the Canonists haue no other learning they think the way by Canons to be the fittest means to reduce them whom they call Heretiques For so sayes one of them in his booke to the present Pope with mâ—ch aâ—uâ—enesse certainty and subtilty The Canons may well be alleadged against Heretiques because they alleadge Scriptures and they cannot know Scriptures by any other way then Canons 29 But besides that I haue giuen you sufficient light to look into the deformity and coâ—ruption of the Canons which GOD forbid any should vndeâ—stand me to meâ—ne of Canons in that sense and acceptation that the Ancients receaued it which is of the Constitutions of Orthodox Councels for I take it here as your Doctors do as your Confessors doe for the whole body of the Canon law extant before I enteâ— into the suruay of those paâ—ticular Canons which vsually are obtruded in this point of the Popes temporall Supremacie I will remember you briefly of some of those reâ—sons and occasions such as may be fittest to vn-entangle your consciences and deliuer them from perplexiâ—ies in which the Canons doe not binde vs to theâ—r obseruation 30 Oâ— which one of the most principall and important is That Canons doe neuer binde though they be published and knowledge taken of them except they bee recâ—aued and practised in that Country So saies Gratian Lawes are instituted when they are published but confiâ—med when they are put in practise And therefore saies he none are guilty of transgressing Telesphorus Decree that the Clergie should fast fiftie dayes because it was neuer approued by practise No more doth the Decree of Aâ—exander the third though vnder excommunication That in Armies there should bee abstinence for reuerence of certaine dayes binde any manâ— because it was not practised which opâ—nion Nauarre also followes and a late Canonist writing to this Pope calls it Singularem et Magistralem et a toto mundo allegatum And vpon this reason the Councell of Trent bindes not yet in some Countries in neither Tribunall of conscience or the outward censures of the Church because it is not receaued 31 And can you finde â—hat any such Canons as enable the Pope to depose a Prince haue beene admitted by our Princes and practisâ—d as ordinarie and currant law Or can you finde any Canon to this purpose with the face and countenance oâ— a law made by the Popes in reposed peaceable times deliuered quietly as a matter of Doctrine and conscience and so accepted by the Church and state For if in temporall Scismes and differences for temporall matters betweene the Popes and other Princes the Popes to raise or maintaine a party against their enemies haue suffered seditioâ—s Bulls and Rescripts to passe from them to facilitate and effect their enterprises then in hand this is farre from the nature of a law and from being accepted and practised and so iustified as it may be drawne into consequence and haue power and strength to binde the conscience 32 And as acceptation giues life to law so doth disuse or custome to the contrarie abrogate it And howsoeuer a superstition toward the Canons may still be preserued in some of you yet the generall state that is the same authority by which those
to a Law according to the proper signification of the words then there is no place for such discretion and for admitting a diuers sense but the wordes of our Oath which are According to the plaine and common sense fall directly within his first Rule 59 And the law hath good warrant and precedent to assume the word hereticall in such a moderate signification for so the Scriptures vse the word when S. Paul saies oportet hereses esse which Gretzer confesses when to excuse the vulgate Edition which hath in that place left out the wordes Vobisâ— he saies It would do no harme to their cause to admit those wordes because it is not spoken De haeresi propriè dicta 60 And so the generall Councell of Constantinople within the first â—oure hundred yeares calles some Heretiques though they be not Anathematized by the Church because they make Conuenticles against bishopps and accuse them vnorderly and against the forme of Canons So also doth another Councell say of Simony that it is not onely Sacrilegious but hereticall And accordingly to these a late Pope Leo 10. in a formall Decree and Bull vses the worde in a like sense For he condemnes the Articles imputed to Luther Tanquam respectiue haereticos because out of some of them it would follow that the Church had erred But that proposition out of which the next deducted Conclusion might bee Heresie is not it selâ—e necessarily Heresie properly vnderstood 61 And as these do so also doe the Canons in the law speake in a moderate phrase For in one place wher the text saies that a thing is done Contra fidem Catholicam the Glosse explâ—catâ—s it Contra bonos Mores and in another plâ—ce it interpretes the same wordes so because it dooth Sapere heresim and yet it is not heresie and so we finde a late Decretall to call Simony True and vndoubted heresy where Gregory is produced to giue this reason why Simony is called heresy because whosoeuer is ordained by Simony is therfore ordained that he may be an heretique So thâ—t we see such acts as beget or accompany heresy are called heresy in this milde acceptation which our law giues it 62 From which sense the Fathers did not abstaine in vsing that worde for Tertullian saies That no man will doubt to call Adams transgression heresie since by his owne election he adhered rather to his owne will then to Gods And in another booke he saies Not so much newnes as truth doth conuict things to be heresies for whatsoeuer tastes against truth is an heresie though it be an ancient custome And so saies S. August if their owne men cite him truely That Schisme is called Heresie not that it is heresie but that it disposes to heresie 63 And the Iesuits themselues who are the precisest and seuerest accepters of this word come thus neere That some things tolerated by the Church though they be not propriè haeretica â—et thâ—y are haeresi proxima For so saies Bellarmine and hee might iustly make this position which wee speake of his example And his defender Gretzer saies that some opinions are so framed that though no Decree of the Church haue yâ—t condemned them yet they are enormous Scandalous and haeresi proximae 64 And thus also do the Schoolemen somtimes take it For so saies Aquinas out of S. Ierome that he which expounds the Scriptures against the sense of the holy Ghost may be called an heretique though he depart not from the Church And so haue diuers compilers of the Ecclesiastique history done for Epiphanius râ—ckons diuers sects of the Iewes and Gentile Philosophers amongst Heretiquâ—s And Bernardus de Lucemburgo inserts into his Catalogue of heretiques Auerros and Auicen though they were not Christians And lastly that the word was vulgarly so vsed as by many other obseruations so is it euident by a Story in Math. Paris where one vpon his death-bed cals the Friers heretiques for not reprehending the Prelates the Prelates heretiques for conferring Benefices vpon vnworthy persons yea in this very case which we haue in hand an authour of your owne Religion pronounces thus of those fifteene Bishops which adhered to Gregory the seuenths party against the Emperor It is great heresie to resist the Ordinance of God who onely hath power to giue Empire which heresie it appears that those fifteene false Bishops haue committed 65 As therefore all sorts of men into whose mouthes vpon any occasion this word was like to come haue vsed the word for Erroneous and Impious and Corrupting good manners and disposing preparing absolute and proper Heresie so doth the law accept it in this oath where it makes it equiualent and Synonimous to the wordes which are ioyned with it which are Impious and Damnable and therefore it is but a Calumny cast vpon the law and a tergiuersation picked out for their escape if any pretend for that word to decline the Oath 66 But if this word in this place were to be vnderstood in the strictest and seuerest sense that a Iesuite could vse it against vs yet hee that shall take the Oath doth not thereby pronounce that any Position which attributes any power to the Pope is hereticall Not that hee may excommunicate a King no nor that he may depriue him but it is thus conceiued That this position is hereticall That Princes which be excommunicate or depriued by the Pope may be deposed or murdred by their subiects or any other So that it casts no Manicles vpon the Popes hands if he will excommunicate let him if he will depriue let him Onely them who by his act of the goodnes or badnes whereof this Proposition pronounces nothing may be mis-led to an vnchristian vndutifull desperatenes it forewarnes and aduises to a due and iust consideration of such proceedings For as when men were content to heare heresies Leo said wisely in reprehension of that easinesse They which can hearken to such things can beleeue them So since it is too late to forbid hearing of this heresie of deposing Princes since out of Iesuites bookes which speak of state-learning scarce any thing is to be sucked but it or such preparatiues as worke and conduce to it it was necessary to begin a step higher then Leo did and pronounce it hereticall that so none might beleeue it since hee that can beleeue it can be content to affoord his helpe to the doing thereof 67 And hauing thus gone as far as I purposed in both parts of this Chapter in the first whereof I shewed that in speciall cases new oathes were necessary and that the forme of them ought to bee such as might reach home to the intent thereof and not be eluded which had beene if any part of this oath had been omitted and that their writers which neuer teach that vpon a Bishops excommunication a Prince may be deposed denie implicitely this power in