appointed by God and practised by his People And if it appears that both Precept and Practice doth abet and favour the Liturgists then I hope our Author will not be so peremptory in casting Aspersions on Liturgies § First consult the Old Testament and you shall find that Moses gifted no doubt himself took the Book of the Covenant and read in the audience of all the People and therefore publick Service and they said all that the Lord hath said will we do and be obedient Exod. 34.7 Likewise the command to the King Deut. 17. was That when he sate upon the Throne of his Kingdom that he shall write him a Copy of this Law in a Book c. and shall read therein all the days of his life c. v. 17 18 19. The like command was to the Priests and Elders of Israel to whom Moses delivered the Law written That when all Israel Men Women Children Strangers come to appear before the Lord thy God in the Place where he shall choose thou shalt read this Law before all Israel in their hearing of Sermons in those days there is no mention to the end and Liturgies are to the same end that they may hear and learn and fear before the Lord your God Deut. 31.9 10 11 12. Moreover of Reading and of the success and benefit thereof the Scripture farther witnesseth That when the Book of the Law had been some time missing and was afterwards found the good King Josiah which heard it but only read by Shaphan tore his Cloaths and confessed that great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon us and thereupon went up into the House of the Lord and all the Men of Judah and Inhabitants of Jerusalem and he read in their Ears all the Words of the Book of the Covenant that was found in the House of the Lord c. 2 Chr. 34.18 19 c. whereby it is abundantly manifest that here was not only a Command performed according to Deut. 31.13 Thou shalt read this Law but repentance wrought by only reading of the Word the like effect I mentioned before Exod. 34.7 Again the Solemn and Religious manner of reading and hearing the Law and the Comfort and Instructions the People received thereby is plainly and in terminis set down Nehem. 8. And all the People gathered themselves together as one Man c. and they spake unto Ezra the Scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses c. And Ezra the Priest brought the Law before the Congregation and he read therein from the Morning until the Mid-day before the Men and the Women and those that could understand and Ezra the Scribe stood upon a Pulpit and opened the Book in the sight of all the People and therefore publick Service and Ezra blessed the Lord the great God and all the People answered Amen Amen with lifting up their hands also day by day from the first day to the last day viz. seven days he read in the Book of the Law of God v. 1 2 3 4 5 6.18 There is also a Promise of blessing annexed to it That the Deaf shall hear the Words of the Book of the Lord Isa 29.18 and a Command from the same Prophet Seek ye out the Book of the Lord and read Ch. 34.16 § Having now out of some few of many places of the Old Testament made good the Precept and the Practise of the Old Prophets Kings and Priests let us now see what the New Testament Christ and his Apostles will afford us that by two such unquestionable and immutable Witnesses every word may be established first That Christ himself is of the same Opinion with the Prophet appears by Luke 16.31 where he saith That if they would not hear Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one arose from the dead Nay how often doth Christ send the Scribes Pharises and Saduces unto the Scripture saying How readest thou or have you not read as in the matter of pulling the Ears of Corn on the Sabbath-day Mat. 12.3 So concerning Divorces Mat. 19.3 The Peoples crying Hosanna Mat. 21.16 and concerning the Stone which the Builders refused 42. and the Resurrection of the Dead C. 22.31 nay when he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and as his custom was he went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath-day and stood up for to read Luke 4.16 and Paul coming to Antioch went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath-day and sate down and after the reading of the Law and the Prophets the Rulers of the Synagogne sent unto them that if they had any word of Exhortation to the People to go on then Paul declared and laid the condemning of Jesus to the charge of those that dwelt at Jerusalem and their Rulers because they knew him not nor yet the Voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath-day Acts 13.14 15.27 28. So the Apostles and Elders being solemnly met together in Council at Jerusalem declared that Moses of old time had in every City them that preached Christ being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath-day Acts 15.24 By which it seems in the esteem of the Apostles and Elders in those days that reading was esteemed preaching and the result of their meeting being written in an Epistle and delivered to the Churches and read they rejoyced for the Consolation 30.31 Likewise the Apostle Paul required that those things which any one Churches Affairs gave particular occasion to write might for the Instruction of all be published and that by reading and therefore commands That when this Epistle is read among you that it be read also in the Church of the Laodiceans and that likewise that ye read the Epistle to Laodicea Colâ—s 4.16 the like charge he gave to the Thess 15.27 I adjure or charge you by the Lord that this Epistle be read unto all the Holy Brethren 1 Thes 5.27 so you see that the Charge is peremptory or with great vehemency and therefore I shall confidently say with St. John Blessed is he that readeth because the Word it self doth pronounce him so if he also observe the same Rev. 1.3 Adjurations we find none in use amongst Gods Servants save when some duty of weight is charged upon the Adjured And so Paul uses it here adjuring to performance of it and thereby notising unto us of how great necessity and use to Gods People is the reading of Scriptures in the Congregation neither is it to be limited to this Epistle only for that all Scriptures have the same Author and are of the same use to the Church of God and the like charge is given for other Scriptures Coloss 4.16 Now consider the Use in all Ages to Jewish Church Nehemiah and others as before give Testimony for their times and no doubt but after-times continued it Josephus against Appian In unaquaque septimana ad legem audiendam conveniunt universi Every Week they all come to hear the Law and records the
or our Abilities It is one thing to stifle Books in the womb before ever they are permitted to see light or that before they are either known or understood and that perhaps by one single person who happily may be much less learned honest or orthodox then the Author and another thing to condemn both Author and Book when examined and found faulty and erroneous For it is most just and reasonable that all and every State should consider how Books as well as men do behave themselves and punish or not punish accordingly accordingly one Carter a Printer suffered in Queen Elizabeths days § Consider matter of Fact by looking a little back Although it was early foretold that Antichrist would come nay that many Antichrists were already come yet until after the 800th year about which time the Eastern Empire divided from the Western there were not many Hereticks found in the Western parts for 300 years after But after the year 1100. by reason of the continual Jars which for 50 years before had been between the Popes and the Emperors which continued unto the year 1200. with frequent Wars there did arise many Hereticks as the Popes were pleased to call them by as good Logick as the Lion is fabled to call the Foxes Ears Horns whose most common Heresies were against the Pope's usurped Authorities over Clergie and Laity This moved the Popes and their Conclaves for Ends not good to establish the two Religious Orders of St. Francis and St. Dominick pure Fanaticks which were soon filled with the most zealous and learned Persons that that Age could afford altogether devoted to the maintaining of the Court of Rome and the Authority of the Pope to which two Orders the care of the Inquisition newly erected was committed and what hath followed since is obvious to every intelligent man which soon spawned the first sanguinary Law against Hereticks by the help of the Emperor Frederick the 2d 1244. imposing fire on Hereticks § But before this we had no Charm nor Lock upon the Press no Purgatory for Books no Limbus Patrum for their Authors we had no proper real and propitiatory Sacrifice in the Mass for the living and the dead nor dry or demi-Communions no Conventicle at Trent no new Creed with 12 new Articles either of Trent or of Johannes Baptista Posa a Spanish Jesuit never heard of before newly printed newly come forth no blotting out of the second Commandment no dividing of the tenth Commandment into two to amuse and cheat the People no Doctrine of Infallibility nor yet of Probability no Penance Sacramental no Satisfaction no Sacramental Confession as now used no Hurtado no Filliucius no Bauny no Lessius no Escobar no Jesuits Morals no power to depose Kings no dissolving Oaths of Allegiance no Gunpowder-Treasons and an Iliad more of such damnable Errors and Heresies I conclude therefore that it bears no shew that forbidding men to write tends to any good end but really to the end to conceal the Truth and to shew it to the World only under a Mask or some deceitful Light I shall conclude with this Observation concerning Printing it self That in the days of Luther and Troubles of Germany about Religion and Vices of the Clergie it was suggested unto Clement the 7th that the occasion of them all was from the new Invention of Printing By Faust and Guttenburg scarce 80 years found out and now not possible to be suppressed which though it had brought to light many Books and much Learning yet they found that in this short time it had made a great discovery of their Arcana Imperii their jugling Arts and Legerdemains much to their prejudice which whilst the Laity were kept ignorant of all went for currant on their side and imputed thereto all the Troubles of Germany about those Centum gravamina then complained of for that now men being better enlightned by printed Books began to call in question the present Faith and Tenets of the Church of Rome and to examine how far Religion was departed from its primitive Institution and Purity Among which one great Crime was that the Laity and vulgar sort of men were taught and exhorted to read the Scriptures and pray every one in their own native Language A great Crime I confess and much to be dreaded for if this were permitted to pass for currant Doctrine the Vulgar would quickly discover their Cheats and Usurpations and believe that the Clergie had abused and cheated them hitherto For if men were once perswaded that they could make their own way and court to God by their own prayers and addresses in their own Tongues which they understood and that they would be heard and be more prevalent in Heaven than mumbled in Latin without understanding what they prayed for it would certainly bring Contempt on the Mass and Mass-Priests on Pardons and Pardon-mongers on auricular Confession and Confessors and on the power of the Keys and in sum would impeach all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction which by sinister Artifices had been got and kept secret by the Clergie for many generations For without all doubt the keeping of these and the like Mysteries rather of Iniquity than of Religion wickedly obtained and as wickedly kept in the hands of Priests only participes Criminis parties to their Cheats have given that esteem the Priests now have amongst the Romanists through many Ages to this very day Now since Printing hath made such Discoveries of such Mysteries of Iniquity and brought to light the more pure Word and Doctrine so that their Traditions their Indulgences their false Glosses and their other like Trumperies could not prevail as formerly Romish Craft sought out other pestilent Inventions to maintain their Impieties whereof padlocking the Press was not the least to keep the Laity ignorant And though they could not wholly suppress Printing yet in Romish Territories they ordained that no Book should be printed without an Imprimatur first obtained from some Inquisitor or some such like Myrmidon digging deep to hide their Counsels from all the Laity and to stifle any Light or Truth that was not suitable to their deeds of Darkness hence hath proceeded the obstructions of many Truths fit to be made common but have not been able to appear in the light but by stealth Instead thereof they now set up heathen Philosophy and Metaphysicks against Scripture to make good their mysterious Juglings disputing and reasoning more out of them than out of holy Writ Thus they set up Learning or rather quirks of Learning against Learning and old musty Traditions of former Times and such obscure passages as needed their Interpretations and Explanations and all to keep the Laity in suspence between fear and controversal Juglings and Equivocations Nay they rather have recourse to Tropes and Allegories where none are needful if not to Cabala it self than allow that all the parts of Religious Worship tho' never so clear and plain to every Understanding as to fall easily within common Understandings should be without their Explications or Expositions so that they cannot monopolize the Mysteries of their Church-Government so closely and wholly within their Ecclesiastick Circle but discoveries are made of their Cheats These things well weighed and considered the Conclusion is natural that it bears no shew that forbidding men to write tends to any good end but really to the end to conceal the Truth and to shew it to the World in Mascarata or some deceitful Light only ERRATA PAG. 1. l. 20. for Spiritual r. Scriptural p. 2. l. 9. for neiter r. neither p. 17. for pro r. per in the Margin p. 20. l. 37. after Christians r. to Bethphage John 12. p. 29. l. 9. in the Margin dele Deo p. 78. in the Margin for Soozm r. Sozom. p. 98. Margin for satisfactoriis r. satisfactionis ut p. 146. l. 8. for peace r. piece l. 29 for absolete r. obsolete p. 151. l. 7. dele p. 152. l. 44. for absolete r. obsolete p. 153. l. 34. for ramanded r. remanded p. 160. l. 4. 8. for St. r. Sir p. 163. l. 7. for coenatori nuptialio r. coenatorio nuptiali p 166. l. 18. for Prosica r. persica p. 171. l. 5. for were r. was p. 173. l. 24. for no. r. any p. 183. l. 6. for perspect r. prospect p. 217. l. penult for thing r. think p. 219. l. 18. for pare r. pari l. 37. after Jupiter r. and Venus their p. 234. l. 6. for Alieno r. Aheno l. 9. for dignity r. divinity p. 236. l. 17. for hariretur r. hauriretur l. 37. for Apello r. Apella p. 239. l. 8. for and r. c. l. 13. next unto to r. be
the Fryers-Pardon-mongers in Germany in matters of Indulgencies as also with the Doctors of Rome did always say that he referred himself to the Pope and when Leo challenged the promise for real which was pretended only Martin did not only not keep it but inveighed more against his Holyness than he had done against the Pardon-Mongers I appeal to our Author himself was it ever found in any Story that ever any man or number of men were willing to have their Opinions Condemned rather if their Opinions were rejected they defended them more obstinately fortifying themselves the more by reason of Opposition by which means of many Sects many Heresies have sprung § But to come more closely to his desire let us consider and examine matter of Fact how far this Discourser and his Predecessors of the same perswasions have been gratified already in this way and what effect it hath had and how far it hath wrought upon them Was not the first Liturgy in Edward the 6th time Composed by as Learned and as Pious Men Men known to all the world to have been famous in their Generation for hazarding their Bodies to be burned in Queen Maries days or if they escaped the Fire were Banished or imprisoned and only because they would not submit to Popery and Superstition and upon as solemn deliberation as that Age could or perhaps as any Age since hath afforded was not that Liturgy ratified by Act of Parliament set forth March 17. 1549. and to gratifie some that fancied themselves to have a more pure Beam of light was it not revised again in the same King's time and re-established An. 5.6 Edward 6. And was it not taken again into most Solemn Consideration Eliz. 1. and before the Parliament would pass their Vote for it and put their Stamp unto it was it not held requisite that a Disputation should be held in English before them for the better clearing of some points therein as about Service in a Tongue unknown to the People about the Power of the Church concerning Ceremonies Ecclesiastical Rites c. and was it not held accordingly by 9 of each party which began the 30th of March each party one day delivering in Writing their Arguments and the other the next day answering them in Writing again § Did not King James in the very beginning of his Reign so far condescend as to comply with some of his more scrupulous Subjects who deeming themselves also to have a more pure beam of light than Prelates or Conformists Petitioned his Majesty for some amendments of our Liturgy on pretence of fitting it unto more encrease of Piety as after above 40 years establishment and quiet usage thereof to have it scanned and debated over again by a most Solemn conference at Hampton Court his Majesty with others of his Council being present and undoubtedly as well able to Judge as any that argued Pro or Con whose admirable dexterity in discerning whose Judgment and Learning in Affairs and Controversies of that Nature gave such satisfaction even to the Opponents themselves that they all seemed satisfied and promised Conformity and Obedience for the future and Dr. Sparks one of the chief favourers of that Petition did write a Book to perswade unto Conformity at which Conference the Abetters of the Petition gave so little satisfaction unto his Majesty that he deemed all their exceptions to be no other than the Phantasms of scrupulous Indiscretion and therefore concluded that if after 45 years injoyment of the clear light of the Gospel any did yet continue dissatisfied that such dissatisfaction did proceed rather out of stubbornness of Opinion than out of true tenderness of Conscience How far our Service Book was taken into sedate Consideration under the Reign of Charles the First of ever Blessed memory and also of Charles the Second since his Restauration and how little it hath wrought upon those for whose sake it was taken into Consideration is so Notoriously known and yet so fresh in our memories that it is enough I have only mentioned it And is it not now setled de Novo and ratified by that Power that gives Life unto all our Laws but yet if his desires should be granted and indeed our Liturgy should be found to stand in need of some few and small amendments and should be amended to the satisfaction of this Importunate Petitioner yet if his Book be a just portraicture of his Opinion he out-shoots Calvin one Bows length at least in that he is against all stinted Formes of Prayers and Praises to be Read and used by the Administrators of Gospel Ordinances in their Administration of them which Calvin was not yet it makes nothing against a Liturgy that may or doth need none and for such it is as I plead Besides Moses did not think it an Impeachment of the gifts of the Ministry nor yet of Edisication when he prescribed a set form of Blessing the People Numb 6.23.27 Besides what security will or can this Petitioner give that we shall from thenceforth have no more the like Impetuous and Importunate desires from others and that our Liturgy shall then rest unquarrelled at Or what security can he give if he should be gratified in taking away the Liturgy that the quiet State of the Kingdom shall not be disturbed or that Popery and Popish Worship in several Parishes if not in all shall not reenter Besides all great Councils in matters tending to Innovation in the Publick Government especially when Religion is concerned therein ought in prudence to be back't by Arms least they prove destructive to the undertakers which consideration made Edw. 6. to put himself at the Head of an Army for the preservation of his Person of his Council and even of the Reformation it self it was but prudence and high time so to do and that early too as the several Insurrections did shortly after demonstrate in which though Inclosures were pretended and were in the Front and Face of them yet returning to Idolatrous and Superstitious Worship was in the Heart and in the depth of their design Besides it is marvellous to consider that after the Act for Repealing of all such Statutes as any way seemed to touch the Subject in Life or Liberty for matter of Conscience made in the times of Richard the 2d and Henry the 4th against the Lollards who differed in Opinion from the Church of Rome or in the time of Henry the 8th as that Terrible Act of the 6 Articles made 31 Henry 8. and those other of a more mild Nature made 35 Henry 8. c. 9. for the qualification of the said 6 Articles and the Act prohibiting the Reading of the Bible in English made 34 Henry 3. c. 1. were passed and before the Liturgy was established All men seemed by such Repealing to have had a liberty of Reading Scripture and of being their own Expositors of entertaining what opinions in Religion best pleased their fancies and promulgating them such a Liberty is now
Corporation consisting of a Superintendent and 4 other Ministers with Power to fill the Vacant places by a new Succession and the Parties by them chosen to be approved by the King and Council all which and much more his Majesty by Patent dated July 24.4 Edw. 6. did indulge unto him and them notwithstanding that they differed from the Government and Forms of Worship established in the Church of England which Indulgences the King and Council did hope might have been enjoyed to the Comfort and Advancement and not to the detriment of the Religion and Worship here professed and yet it did prove otherwise and did administer great occasion of great disturbance to the Church in the setling of the Reformation then in agitation and in fieri For by permitting these Men tho strangers to live under an other kind of Government and to Worship God with Forms different from what were by Law here established proved in the Issue the setting up of one Altar against another and the erecting of Regnum in Regno This gave encouragement unto that good and Pious person John Hoopper afterwards Bishop of Gloster and a Holy Martyr who leaving the Kingdom in the persecuting dayes of Henry the 8th and setling himself at Zurich a Town in Switzerland where he enjoyed the society of famous Bullinger and other good and Learned Men and returning into England in the dayes of Edward the 6th and bringing with him stronger Inclinations to the nakedness of the Zuinglian or Helvetian Churches tho dissering in opinion from them in some points of Doctrine and more especially in those of Predestination and being preferred by the Kings Letters Patents to the Bishoprick of Gloucester he did very much scruple to be consecrated in the Bishops habit setled by Rules of the Church which bred very great Inconveniencies and Disturbances inclining others to boggle at the same and other like Rites and Habits from which Men and time we may justly Write the date of our Liturgy becoming a Bone of Contention Indeed he was so Pious a Person that he found many and great Friends both at home and abroad to Countenance him as the Earl of Warwick the Protector Calvin nay the King himself did Write unto Arch-Bishop Cranmer afterwards his fellow Martyr to dispence with his Scruples But the Arch-Bishop to whom Ridley then Bishop of London stuck very close humbly besought the King to Pardon him if he did not obey his Commands against his Laws which would preserve him in peace and quietness if he kept them And yet some Indulgence through so great mediation was permitted unto him viz. that tho he were Consecrated in the habit then in use yet he should not ordinarily be obliged to wear it These differences being thus Broached and finding such great Favourers of them gave encouragement to John Alasco to step out of his bounds and so to abuse the Royal Priviledges that were granted to him as that he appeared in favour of the Zuinglian and Calvinian up-start Discipline by Publishing his Book intituled Forma ratio totius Ecclesiastici Ministerij wherein he maintains sitting at the Holy Communion which Custome he brought from Poland where sitting at the Sacrament was used by the Arrians who looking no otherwise on Christ then as their Elder Brother denying his Godhead thought it no robbery to be equal with him nor yeâ— to sit Cheek by Jowl with him at his own Table From such Familiarity shall I say or irreverence towards the Son of God grew great contempt of that Ordinance even in those times as hath been observed out of the Register Book of Petworth And yet these were not all the mischiefs these Indulgences did produce For what with Calvins Interposing and mediations with the Protector on the behalf of Bishop Hooper and tho his exceptions against some Antient usages in the Liturgy and tho the Indulgences and Conveniences granted unto John Alasco and his Congregation of Strangers a successive multiplication of Factions and Disorders in the Church did ensue from the Irreverent receiving of the Sacrament grew a Contempt and Depraving of the Sacrament it self from the Contempt of the grave habit of the Clergy grew a disteem of the Men first and then vilifying and contempt of the Ministry it self So that it was Preached at St. Pauls by one St. Stephen the Curate of St. Katherine Christ Church that it was sit the Names of Churches and of the Week dayes should be altered the Fish dayes should be kept on any other dayes than on Fridayes and Saturdayes and Lent at any other time than between Shrovetide and Easter we are told also by John Stow that he had seen the said St. Stephen to leave the Pulpit and to Preach in a Tree in the Church Yard and then returning into the Church to sing the Communion Service on a Tomb Stone neglecting the place appointed for that purpose And was not the like or greater contempts in fashion in our late dayes of Liberty when Liturgies were not only not imposed but disgraced set at nought and used but by some few and that in Corners only so that such exorbitant effects cannot be justly imputed unto the Imposition of Liturgies Look but a little abroad even in the same Age presently after the death of Edward the 6th during the short Reign of Queen Mary where no Liturgy was Imposed and you shall sind the same sad consequences and effects of Liberty among the several Churches or Congregations gathered mostly of those that withdrew themselves from the cruel persecution that Reigned in the Marian dayes unto Embden Stratzburg Frankford Zurick Geneva and other Transmarine places amongst whom the Ball of Contention was very hotly bandied by Calvin Goodman Knox Wood Sutton Whittingham Williams Cox Grindall Sandys Haddon Chamber Parkhust and divers others and all those in defence of several wayes of Worship wherein Knox acted his part so furiously that he gave disturbance to the quiet State and Condition of the Empire so highly that he being accused of high Treason against the Empire he withdrew himself from Stratsburg to Geneva the usual product of such Controversies This I only hint at to make it appear that Liturgies and Forms of Divine Worship do become Bones of Contention as well where they are not Imposed as where they are so that Imposition or not Imposition matters little the Contentious will be always Contending If there were not imposed a stinted Form of Words for the Administration of the Sacrament what should hinder but that every individual Priest might imitate the Vicar of Ratisdale in King James's time or do worse who was proved before the Arch-Bishop and the Lord Chancellour by his unseemly and unreverent usage of the Eucharist dealing the Bread out of a Basket every Man putting in his Hand and taking out a piece to have made many Loath the Holy Communion and wholly to refuse to come to the Church Confer f. 99. 100. Now on the contrary by such Imposition all such
an Unity of Discipline or Coactive Laws full power of Jurisdiction or Independant Judicature is not seated in any one Church or Person Pope or other to whom all other Churches and Persons must vail Bonnet and submit but the same power is in each of those Churches and this they maintain against the Romanists the English Priests and Jesuits who do not only hold this Unity of Independent Judicature to be necessary to the Constitution of the Visible Catholick Church but that of necessity it must be radically in one person to wit the Pope on whom as upon the Head and Fountain the unity of the Holy Catholick visible Church doth depend and for this reason they put his Holiness into the definition of the Holy Catholick Church and contrary to this the Protestant Divines do maintain That the Church of England and all other National Churches have a Discipline of Government and Judicature within themselves Independent of any other Person Church or Power And this is the Drift and Scope both of Bishop Bilson Dr. Jackson and others in their several Treatises § That which P. N. contends for in the Congregational termed also the Independant way is this viz. That those who are called out of the World by the Ministry of the Gospel have power given them by Christ being a competent Number to gather themselves together in his Name and judge their Warrant to be from 18. Mat. And a Church so gathered becomes a Body or Spiritual Corporation and being joyned thus by mutual Assent of each Person have power one over another as in all Fraternities and liberty from Christ to choose their Officers censure Offenders make Canons and Orders in circumstantials for regulating their Affairs And they further say as the Church-Catholick in general so each parcel of it each particular Church hath Christ also for its Head and in such a union with him and such existence in him even as a Church 1 Thes 11. as that if Persons making up this Body be considered distinctly and as incorporated one with another only and not in their relation to Christ also as one with them and chief in the midst of them 18. Mat. 20. Where two or three are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst of them they are not a compleat Body or Spiritual Politie And upon this account it is they profess their dependency to be upon Christ alone for the government and manage of this his Kingdom and thus being dependent upon Christ their only Law-giver 4. Ja. 12. Who is the wisdom of the Father and best knoweth how to govern his own House they profess themselves Independent in respect to the Authority or Sovereignty of any other Person Church Synod or meer Ecclesiastical Power whatsoever yet notwithstanding they own and submit to Magistrates in Matters and Causes both Ecclesiastical and Civil as an Ordinance of God and so far as God hath given the Civil Magistrate Authority to command and require But finding in the Books of God that there are some things of so misterious and of so Spiritual a Nature and peculiar to holy Worship that Christ hath reserved the sole Menage thereof to be ordered by himself as expressed in his Word and no otherwise Now although the Magistrate may and ought to require of his Subjects due obedience to such duties yet ought he not by any Laws or Statutes that he shall enact in this kind either add alter or diminish any thing Christ hath established either in the substance or necessary circumstance thereof and if he shall so do the Churches are required of the Lord the one Law giver who is able to save and to destroy 4. James 12. not to be subject 2 Colos 20. And it is a sin for them through fear of Man or the like temptation to observe and keep such Statutes and for this they bring 6. Mich. 16. For the Statutes of Omri are kept and all the works of the House of Ahab and ye walk in their Councils c. And in this sense only they profess themselves subject to the Civil Magistrates supremacy in Ecclesiastical Affairs and go no further and in this also reserve to themselves the sole judgment of what matters are thus meerly spiritual and appertaining to the Worship of God So that if the Christian Magistrate shall out of a good intention appoint Ceremonies or such like helps for the stirring up our dull minds and to make the Worship of God more edifying or shall appoint a day to be observed as sacred in the Remembrance of the Birth or Resurrection of Christ or to the Honour of the blessed Virgin or holy Apostles if the Magistrate for better government of the Church establish Arch-bishops Bishops Chancellors c. or any Officers that are not appointed by Christ himself they will by no means submit but choose rather to suffer which they term Passive Obedience Thus far P. N. from his own Mouth and under his own Hand to me verbatim § But those Reverend Authors Bilson and others considering the Civil Magistrate is highly responsable being appointed by the Lord as Custos utriusque tabulae if any matters of impiety in respect of God as well as unrighteousness in respect to Men be permitted or countenanced by him therefore he is to see to it that his People be not seduced into Errors Heresies or hurtful Opinions tending to prophaness and disloyalty And God having trusted him with Authority in these things it must of necessity also belong to him to judge what Crimes fall within his Province and Cognizance and accordingly to apply himself as the Minister of God for incouragement to those that are good and to execute wrath upon them that do evil And not to be looked upon as only a by-stander Impedimenta removere as P. N. would have him or to execute only what the Ecclesiasticks have decreed by their Censures or in their Synodals as some others though the Name of Independent was not then in common use § Others as Mr. John Robinson in his Apology in Justification of the same Tenets endeavours to prove the same averring That by Intendment of the Scriptures speaking definitely of visible Ministerial Churches no other is to be understood ordinarily at least than one Congregation met together in one place in such competent numbers as that they may all hear and understand one another 18. Mat. 17 20. If he neglect to hear them tell it unto the Church for where two or three are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst of them And when you are gathered together and my Spirit with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 5.4 All that believed were together and had all things common 2. Acts 44. And they were all with one accord in Solomons Porch 5. Acts 12. Then the Twelve called the Multitude of the Disciples unto them c. and the saying pleased the whole Multitude 6. Acts 2 5. When ye come together therefore into
were altogether unacquainted with the Doctrines of Ecclesiastical greatness Liberties or Licence rather Immunities and Jurisdictions that are now claimed by the now degenerate and Bastardized Romanists who tho of Rome yet are not true Romanists indeed who under a Spiritual pretence but with a secret ambitious end and desire of Worldly Wealth and Domination would free themselves from the obedience due unto the Prince and by false insinuations take away the love and reverence due by the people unto their Prince and cement it unto themselves And to bring these things to pass they have lately invented a Doctrine of Vniversal Monarchy and have erected an Order of Jesuits and a Court of Inquisition whose main concern and design is to maintain the Popes Power to be above that of Kings which Doctrine was unheard of till the dayes of Hildebrand I. Gregory the Seventh 1073. neither is there any Book found concerning it till about the year 1300. then did they begin to write of it scatteringly Vide Gold astum but there were not above two Books which treated of nothing else but this until about the year 1400. and three until the year 1500. after this the number encreased a little but it was tolerable But after the year 1560. this Doctrine began to encrease in such manner that they gave over writing of other Doctrines and little was printed in Italy but Books in diminution of Secular Authority and exaltation of the Ecclesiastical The Confessors likewise need no other learning to be approved of whence is universally spread a perverse opinion that Princes and Magistrates are humane Inventions yea and Tyrannical that they ought only by compulsion to be obeyed that the disobeying of Laws and defrauding the Publick Revenues is no sin and he that doth not pay if he can but fly from it remains not guilty before God And contrarywise that every beck of Ecclesiastical persons without any other thought ought to be taken for a Divine Precept and binds the conscience And this Doctrine above all others is the chiefest cause of most or of all the Inconveniencies which have happened in these latter Ages In Italy Books that defend the Princes Temporal Authority and affirm that Ecclesiastical Persons are also subject to publick Constitutions and punishable if they violate the publick tranquillity these are condemned Books and suppressed more than any others They have gelded the Books of Antient Authors by new Printing of them and taken out all which argue or plead for Temporal Aurhority so that if in Authors we find no good Doctrine favouring Temporal Authority we know who hath taken it away If we find any that exalteth the Ecclesiastical we know who hath put it in and in truth we can be assured of the truth of no Book that hath been under their censures And it is also most evident that those who desire to have an unquestionable liberty to brand the lawful Temporal Power and that Doctrine which opposeth it self to their attempts with the name of Tyranny do design that under pretence of Religion they may become Arbitrators of all Government From henceforth these Doctrines and Tenets did wonderfully increase and multiply spawning out others as prodigious and Monstrous as themselves so that in the Sixteenth Century and in the dayes of Paul the Fifth more especially they arrived unto most admirable perfection for in his dayes Books were Printed as one well observes by hundreds Padre Paolo nay by thousands the purports of which being summarily collected by a diligent Observator and Contemporary of the same time he hath Recorded them to be that the Temporal Power of Princes is subordinate to the Power Ecclesiastical and subject to it consequently that the Pope hath Authority to deprive Princes of their Estates for their faults and errors which they commit in Government yea tho they have not committed any fault when the Pope shall judge it fit for the good of the Church that the Pope may free Subjects from their obedience and from their fidelity which they owe unto their Princes in which case they are obliged to cast off all subjection and even to pursue the Prince if the Pope command it and altho they all agreed to hold these maximes yet they were not all at Accord touching the manner for they that were touched with a little shame said so great an Authoriy did not reside in the Pope because Jesus Christ had not given him any Temporal Authority but because this was necessary for the Spiritual Wherefore Jesus Christ giving Spiritual Authority had given also indirectly the Temporal which was a vain shift seeing they made no other difference than of words But the greater part of these men spake plainly that the Pope hath all Authority in Heaven and Earth both Spiritual and Temporal over all Princes of the World no otherwise than over his Subjects and Vassals that he might correct them for any fault whatsoever that he is a Temporal Monarch over all the Earth that from any Temporal Soveraign Prince men might appeal to the Pope that he might give Laws to all Princes and annul those which were made by them for the exemption of Ecclesiasticks they all with one voice denied that they held it by the Grace and Priviledges of Princes altho their Laws to that purpose Constitutions and Priviledges be yet extant but they were not agreed how they had received it some of them affirming that it was de Jure Divino others that it came by constitutions of Popes and Councils But all consented upon this that they are not subject to the Prince no not in case of Treason and that they are not bound to obey the Laws unless it were vi directivâ And some passed so far as to say that the Ecclesiasticks ought to examine whether the Laws and Commands of the Prince be just and whether the People be obliged to obey them and that they owe not unto the Prince either contributions customs or obedience that the Pope cannot erre or fail because he hath the assistance of the Holy Spirit and therefore that it is necessary to obey his Commandments whether they be just or unjust That to him appertains the clearing of all difficulties so as it is not lawful for any to depart from his resolution nor to make reply tho the resolution be unjust That tho all the World differ in opinion from the Pope yet it is meet nevertheless to yield to him and he is not excused from sin who follows not his advice tho all the World judge it to be false Their Books were full also of such other Maxims that the Pope is a God upon Earth a Son of Justice a light of Religion that the Judgment of God and the Pope is one and the same thing as also the Tribunal and the Court of the Pope and God That to doubt of the Power of the Pope is as much as to doubt of the Power of God And it is notable what Cardinal Bellarmine hath
Lord and the Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost v. 19. and non obstante to avoid Fornication Marriage was Ordained 1 Cor. 7.2 can they be so ignorant trow you as not to know that our Bodies are the Members of Christ or can they be so peerlesly wicked as to justifie the making of the Members of Christ to be the Members of an Harlot Know they not that he which is joyned to an Harlot is one Body 1 Cor. 6.15 16. and yet such are they and such are their Abominations All this and much more non obstante Fornication is enrolled in that black and dismal Catalogue Gal. 5.19 with those horrid sins of Murder Idolatry witch-craft c. which all Nations abhor and make Laws against and tho branded with the dismal irreversible decree that such shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven 1 Cor. 6.9 and non obstante we are commanded to mortifie the very lusts thereof Colos 3.5 and non obstante the variety of Judgments for the guilt thereof shews its hainousness viz. wast of goods Job 31.12 blemish of name Prov. 6.33 rottenness of bones Hos 4.11 hardness of heart and plagues of all sorts threatned to deter us And non obstante executions of such Judgments have been grievous on Sodom the old World Israelites of whom there fell in one day 23000. 1 Cor. 10.8 and Sodom and Gomorrha are set for an example suffering the vengeance of Eternal Fire for giving themselves over to Fornication Jude 7. nay fire and Brimstone hath not to this very day so cleansed Sodom and Gomorrha of it but that the venom thereof still appears there in a poysonous and stinking Lake A sin which the Lord hath severely threatned grievously punished from Heaven cursed to the Pit of Hell and yet generally reckoned by our Holy Fathers at Rome amongst Leviora delicta venial sins tho it brought in the Flood upon the World of the ungodly Gen. 6. Fire and Brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrha Pestilence on Israel Besides this mischief naturally attends this sin more especially above others viz. those sins are most dangerous that are most delightsome in which this sin hath a more principal and natural share above others because the affections are most ravished and held captive by it above others which made Solomon who was first luxurious then slackned devotion then tollerated the Idolatries of his strange Wives say of Harlots their Hearts are Snares and their hands are bands Eccl. 7.26 so easily are men ensnared so hardly rescued being once bewitched and Captivated by Harlotish and Adulterous embraces This is not all they are not content to allow of Fornication but also with the Apostolici old Hereticks of Pisidia 255 years and those other Haeretici Origiani 274 years after Christ to condemn and prohibit Marriage whilst they with them committed all uncleanness and silthiness and Pelagius Anno 578. Bishop of Rome Decreed that Sub-deacons should leave their Wives or their Offices the like was practiced here in Queen Maries dayes Bonner's Orders are yet extant whereby the Clergy were appointed to bring their Wives within a Fortnight that they might likewise be divorced from them as they were deprived of their Livings and Benefices and this done non obstante St. Paul hath declared Marriage Honorable in All and the Bed undefiled but Whore-mongers and Adulterers God will Judge departing from Faith and giving heed to seducing Spirits speaking Lyes in Hypocrisie having their consciences scared with a hot Iron The whole Bulk and Body of Romish Religion being but a Dunghill of Lyes the greatest and most Catholick Heresie in the World an intire Apostacy from Gospel truths not worthy the name of Religion nor to be mentioned with that civility as is decent to be used in Disputes about Religion Bethel being now become Bethauen once a Faithful City now become the Mother of Fornications and of all abominations of the Earth having forsaken her first love commanding to abstain from meats as the Pope doth which God hath created to be received with Thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth All which Doctrines are stigmatized by Paul himself for Doctrines of Devils 1 Tim. 4.1 2 3. and therefore I hope I shall not be thought falsly to Calumniate them whilst I only with St. Paul paint them and their Off-spring their Lineage and Parentage To these give farther Testimony their prohibiting their Laity to read the Bible in their own Tongue acknowledged by all to be from Heaven and the only record by which poor mortal Wights can lay any claim to their Inheritance in Heaven and yet at the same time sequestring in into the hands and management of Priests Participes Criminis the better to keep the Laity ignorant of their Impostures and cheats which as St. Paul said to Timothy who had known them from a Child are able to make wise unto Salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 And Paul hath written the whole 14. Chap. 1 Cor. designed to demonstrate the impossibility of Edification without understanding And yet so notoriously Impudent and Blasphemous have some of Rome's Janizaries been as scurrillously and disdainfully to call the Scriptures a Dumb a Pighius 3. de Hier. Eccl. Judge a Black b Eccius Gospel Inken Dignity and that the People wâ—re permitted to read the Bible was the Invention of the c Peres de tradit par assert 3. Devil That if they were not supported by the Authority of the Church they were of no more value than Aesop 's d V. Chemnit ex 5. can p. 47. Fables And therefore they have placed the Bible in the Front of Prohibited Books and thereby in as much as in them lieth taken away the Key of knowledge from the Laiety What is this less or other than Blasphemously to make God I tremble to mention it that D. For if to permit the People to read the Bible be the invention of the Devil what must then be the Conclusion For all the World knows 2 Tim. 3.16 John 5.39 Acts 17.11 that all Scripture was given by the Inspiration of God and that Christ himself commanded all to search the Scriptures and the Bereans were esteemed more noble than those of Thessalonica because they dayly searched the Scriptures And that all the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament were written for the use of all the World tho more particularly directed to the Romans Corinthians c. and recommended to all to read Then what the undeniable Conclusion from such premisses must be I tremble to name Of the same Father the Devil is their prohibiting the Cup to the Laity tho Christ Instituted and commanded all to eat the Bread and drink the Cup Matth. 26.26 Mark 14.23 Nay they themselves confessing in the very Body of the Canon it self at Trent 21. Sess c. 1.2 that altho at the beginning of Christian Religion the Communion of both kinds was very much used yet the Holy Mother or rather Step-dame hath decreed that it
will not submit to the Pope that is not marked out for destruction under the Notion of Hereticks which notion as soon as a neat opportunity presents tho misapplyed which is not seldom serves his turn for all Assassinations Wars Massacres what not What hath been written with reflection on the State of our Neighbor Nations and on the interest and incessant workings of the Jesuits in all their Courts and Councils doth manifest sufficiently our happiness without any such sinful compliance and spares me the labor of farther characterizing them Jesuiticum Fidei Symbolum veluti Canticum novum ex Jo. Baptistae Pozae Libris conflatum c. 1. CRedo in duos Deos quorum unus ' Filii Pater Mater est Metaphoricè in Generatione Aeterna alter Metaphoricè Mater Pater est in Generatione Temporali cui consequens est ut tam Deo Patri quam B. Virgini nomen Matri-Pater conveniat tanquam uterque Hermaphroditus essel vel Androgynus 2. Credo in Jesum Christum unicum utriusque filium Metaphoricum secundùm aeternam Temporalem Generationem 3. Credo Jesum Christum ut hominem fuisse conceptum Natum de Maria Virgine tanquam Patre Matre Metaphoricè per virtutem Paternam Maternam 4. Credo eundem passum mortuum non verè realiter eo quod mori non potuit 5. Credo eum fuisse sepultum etsi verè realiter non mortuum 6. Credo animum ejus descendisse ad Inferos Metaphoricè cum à Corpore â—on fuit separata 7. Credo eà dem Metaphorâ eum à mortuis resurrexisse qua fuit mortuus 8. Credo eum ascendisse in Coelos sedere ad dextram Patris venturum â—â—â—â—dicet alios viventes alios etiamnum mortuos 9. Credo in Spiritum Sanctum qui locutus est per Prophetas nonnunquam deâ—â—ptos 10. Credo Ecclesiam ex majore parte Sanctam Sanctorum communionem 11. Credo Remissionem peccatorum per repentinum Spiritus Sancti Adventum super impios 12. Credo Resurrectionem Carnis ex majore ejus parte vitam aeternam non sine aliqua oppositi formidine A new Jesuitical Creed gathered out of the works of Johannes Baptista Poza a Spanish Jesuit by Franciscus Roales Dr. at Salamanca and Chaplin to His Catholick Majesty of Spain It is to be found in Latin digested into Twelve Articles v. Alphons Devargas Printed Anno Dom. 1665. cap. 18. pag. 59 60. 1. I Believe in two Gods whereof one is Father and Mother of the Son Metaphorically according to an Eternal Generation the other Metaphorically Mother and Father according to a Temporal Generation and what is consequent hereto that the common term Mother-Father may be equally attributed to God and the Blessed Virgin as if they were both Hermophradites Hermophraditus vel Androgynus 2. I believe in Jesus Christ the only Metaphorical Son of both according to an Eternal and Temporal Generation 3. I believe that Jesus Christ as man was conceived and Born of the Virgin Mary Metaphorically as of Father and Mother by a Maternal and Paternal Virtue 4. I believe that he suffered and was dead not truly and really because it was impossible that he should dye 5. I believe that he was buried though not truly and really dead 6. I believe that his Soul descended into Hell Metaphorically whereas it was never separated from his Body 7. I believe that he rose from the dead by a Metaphor suitable to that whereby I believed him dead 8. I believe he ascended into Heaven that he sitteth at the right hand of God the Father and that he will come to Judge some alive and some already dead 9. I believe in the Holy Ghost who spake by the Prophets though those were sometimes mistaken and deceived 10. I believe the Church to be as to the better part of it Holy and the Communion of Saints 11. I believe the Remission of sins effected by a sudden Collation of the Holy Ghost upon the wicked 12. I believe the Resurrection of the Body as to the better part of it and life everlasting not without some fear of the Contrary AN APOLOGY FOR THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS THough I cannot with truth aver that stealing out in Print sine permissu superiorum is as justifiable as stealing a Nap or stealing away from Company at pleasure yet I hope it is not to be numbred inter graviora delicta And that I may with much truth say that to padlock the Press is but a new Trick or Tyranny rather devised by those whom for shame we cannot own for pious in their Lives or orthodox in their Doctrines and indeed whom it is a reproach to imitate A Romish Practice or at best but a new Canonical Slight unknown to the first and purest Men and Times forged in and crept out of the Saincted Inquisition by the Holy Fathers thereof who to shew their wonderful zeal to Religion and divine Truths have put the Bible it self in the Front or first rank of prohibited Books and so corrupted the Fathers by their Additions and Substractions that those of their Inquisitory Editions can no otherwise be esteemed the true Off-spring of their Natural Fathers then Theseus's Ship could be called his Ship after it had so often been hack'd and hewed patch'd and mended that there was scarce a whole Rib or Plank that did remain the same that it was when it was first built which because it still kept the same form though little of the old matter did still retain the Name of Theseus his Ship Tho' Christians have no other divine Rule or Authority without them warrantable to one another as a common Ground or Rule either for holy Living or determination of Controversies in matters of Religion unto which all ought to submit but the Scriptures nor any other Evidence or Patent to make out their title or claim to Heaven and heavenly things nor unto their great Gospel-Priviledges but the Scriptures yet so just and tender have the heretical Fathers of all Christendom the Popes been that contrary to all express Apostolical Commands by their Indices Expurgatorii whereof there are seven if not more extant in the very front of prohibited Books placed the Bible forbidding it to be printed or read in any vulgar Tongue printed or written and they account all Languages vulgar but Latin Greek Hebrew Chaldaick Syriack Aethiopick Persian Arabick as may be seen in the fifth general Rule in the Index printed at Madrid 1667. viz. Cum experientia docuerit ex permissione sacrorum Bibliorum lingua vulgari plus inde ob hominum temeritatem ignorantiam aut malitiam detrimenti quam utilitatis oriri prohibentur Biblia lingua vulgari extantia cum omnibus eorum partibus impressis aut manuscriptis pariter Summaria Compendia quamvis Historica corundem Bibliorum aut Librorum Sacrae Scripturae Idiomate aut lingua vulgari non tamen clausulae sententiae aut eapita quae libris
Catholicorum haec explicantium citantium inseruntur By this holy Inquisition also these men so wise are they in their Generation have endeavoured to appropriate and monopolize unto themselves the whole power of the Press and as much as in them lyes to cajole the secular power thereof and not without grand reason of State Ecclesiastick for they have been so dexterous at it that they have already expunged the ancient Authors and Councils of all that makes for temporal Authority Ab initio non fuit sic The matter of Fact stands thus the reasonableness of the Practice shall follow In the primitive Church Heretical Books were examined and declared to be such by the Councils but not prohibited by them nor by the Pope but by the Prince The first Council of Nice condemned the Heretical Doctrine of Arius but Constantine the Emperor did forbid his Books by Imperial Law The second Council of Constantinople did declare Eunomias to be an Heretick but the Emperor Arcadius did prohibit the Books of the Eunomians and Maniches by a Law which is in the Theodosian Code The third Council of Ephesus declared Nestorius to be an Heretick and his Books were forbidden by a Law of Theodosius which is in the body of the Civil Laws The fourth Council of Chalcedon condemned the Eutychians and their Books were forbidden by a Law of the Emperor Martian which is in the same aforesaid Book and in Spain the King Ricaredus those of the Arrians This was the manner of the Church until the year 800. since which Times the Popes of Rome have by Usurpation declared divers Writers to be Hereticks and heretical that will not subscribe to the Canons of that Conventicle of Trent But all this while the Press was not guarded nor Transcribing forbidden but left free Books only and those but few censured and prohibited until after the year 1200. and then also but sparingly until about the time of Wickliff H-usse and Jerome of Praghe which was about 1371. in the days of Edw. 3d. Rich. 2d and Pope Martin 5th who by his Bull excommunicated all Sects of Hereticks in their esteem especially Wicklefists and Hussites and had recourse also unto a stricter Guardianship of the Press and also to Excommunication nay to Fire and Fagot also against them and their Books and good reason and high time it was so to do for that their Doctrines touched to the quick the Reformation of the Heretical Doctrines and lewd practices of the Court of Rome and therefore that faithless and jugling Council of Constance in a time of Schism did condemn them their * Counted to be 200 Volumes by Aenaeas Sylisias and Jo. Cocleus in his Book de Historia Hussitarum Books and Bones though Wickliffe had been quiet in his Grave above 40 years before causing them to be taken up burned and their Ashes to be thrown into the River such was their rancour of heart since which Times the Popes succeeding have made it their grand Concern to prosecute the same design which is still on foot at this very day viz. to lay Foundations to maintain and make great the Authority of the Court of Rome by depriving men of knowledge which is absolutely necessary to defend themselves from Abuses Vsurpations and Delusions with which the Court of Rome is full fraught And therefore Paul 4th caused an Index to be composed which being perfected Anno 1659. was so severe and strict that there scarcely remained a Book to be read if rightly observed for that therein many Authors and Books were condemned which for 1 2 or 300 years had usually been read by the Romanists with the privity and without the Contradiction of the Popes then ruling and amongst the Modern some of those which were Printed in Italy even in Rome it self with approbation of the Inquisition and allowed also by the Brief of the Pope himself are forbidden as Erasmus on the New Testament which Leo 10th having read approved by his Brief dated the tenth day of September One thousand five hundred and eighteen But which is most considerable as to the main of my intent and purpose is to shew that where the Hogen Mogen Pontiff not unlike the chief Musty doth domineer there the very bowels of orthodox and sound Books wherein the Authority of Kings and Civil Magistrates is defended from the Vsurpations of the Clergy and in which the Hypocrisies and Tyrannies of the Clergie are manifested are hellishly raked into purged prohibited and condemned with strange Cruelties and which is yet more abominable this is done under the colour of Faith and Religion by which the people under that very pretence of Religion are miserably cheated and deluded A greater mystery of Iniquity was never broached then to use Religion so dirtily as under pretence thereof to make men as much as in them lyes insensible nay brutish by keeping them from the knowledge and consequently from the love of the truth What is this less then Antichristian and like men abominable disobedient and to every good work reprobate and to sit as God in the Temple of God as Judex vivorum mortuorum working after the working of Satan with all power and deceivableness of unrighteousness But though the Court of Rome hath assumed to it self to prohibit Books whether they concerned Religion or other Matters yet before these latter years they have not been so impudent as to dare to say that the Prince also hath not power to forbid Books Cardinal Baronius was the first that spake that boldly but was not seconded by any a long time after but he in the beginning of the year 1605. printing the 11th Tome of his Ecclesiastical Annals libelled therein the Monarchy of Sicily with much bitterness and against many Kings of Arragon and especially against King Ferdinand the Catholick and the Progenitors of the Fathers side of him who then reigned which Book coming to Naples and Millan were prohibited by the King's Officers whereof the Cardinal having notice made a bitter Invective against those Officers unto the Colledge of Cardinals assembled in the vacancy of the See of Clement the 8th for that in so doing they had forsooth laid hands on Ecclesiastical Authority And afterwards when Paul the 5th was chosen Pope he wrote unto the King of Spain the 13th of June the same year wherein amongst other things he concluded that to the Pope only did belong the approving of Books of all kinds much more Ecclesiastical ones Notwithstanding the King of Spain was so wise as to abett and continue the Prohibition of his Officers at which the Cardinal was so netled that he could not contain himself but printing his 12th Tome 1607. he inserted a Discourse stigmatizing that Prohibition as abominable and impious affirming that Princes do it because the Books rebuke their unjust acts and that it was to take out of St. Peter's hands and putting into the Prince's one of the Keys given him by Christ viz. the Key of knowledge to