power on earth and might and did chastise Princes temporally in order to spirituall good it is sufficient to answere in generall that the contrarie doctrine to wit that in the old law the temporall power and not the spirituall was supreme and that the spirituall power was subiect to the temporall is maintained by many famous and most learned Catholike Diuines S. Bonauentura lib. 2. de Eccles hierarch cap. 1. in 4. dist 24. in litera S. Thom. lib. 1. de Regim Prin. cap. 14. whose opinion in this point Mr. Fitzherbert dare not presume to condemne as temeratious and improbable albeit my answere which is agreeable to their doctrine he sticketh not to call improbable For so teacheth S. Bonauenture a man otherwise addicted to the Popes temporall Monarchie In the old Testament saith he the Priesthood was subiect to the kingdome and therefore Kings then had power to remooue the high Priests from their office as Salomon remooued Abiathar The same teacheth S. Thomas or whosoeuer is the Author of that booke de regimine Principum Whereupon Card. Bellarmine himselfe writeth thus It is not improbable Bell. l. i. c. 14. in Tract de potest Sum. Pont. contra Barcla that in the olde Testament the King was absolutely greater then the high Priest both for that so teacheth S. Thomas in his first booke de Regimine Principum cap. 14. and also for that in the old Testament the promises were temporall and the sacrifices carnall 6 The same also doe teach Alphonsus Tostatus Abulensis Card. Bellar. de Script Eccles pag. 410. d q. 28 in c. 2. l. 3. Regum q. 48. c. 27. num a man most renowmed saith Card. Bellarmine for holinesse and learning Ioannes de Turrecremata e In sum de Eccles l. 2. c. 96. ad 4 c. obedientiam dest 93. q. 2. ad 2 Franciscus Victoria f Relect. 1. de potest Eccles cited by Corduba Sal s. Antonius Corduba g l. 4 quaest q. 5 ar 2 ss ad Vlti Ioannes Salas h q 95. de leg sec 21. and Burgensis i In Addit lid Nic. de Lyra in 1. Pet. cap. 2. all of them most famous Diuines You must also know saith Abulensis that Salomon had power to kill Abiathar although he was the High Priest for that in the old Testament the Ecclesiastical power was not distinct from the Secular power to wit in punishments for great crimes but Priests were directly subiects to the King as Lay men Also there was not a distinction of punishments for Priests and Lay men but in enormious crimes the sentence of death was common to all and because Abiathar had committed treason hee was to be put to death vnlesse Salomon would pardon him And that Priests were subiect to Lay men it appeareth Numer 27. where God said that Eleazar who was the high Priest and the rest of the Israelites were subiect to Iosue as it hath beene more declared Iosue 3. but Iosue was a secular Prince to wit of the tribe of Ephraim Thus Abuâ—ensis 7 And by this the Reader may easily perceiue how ignorantly my vnlearned Aduersarie taxeth my answere of improbabiâ—itie and impertinencie which neuerthelesse is most conformeable to the doctrine of so many famous and learned Catholike Diuines and which Cardinall Bellarmine himselfe holdeth for not improbable and how vainely hee braggeth that hee will make it manifest euen by the law of Moyses that the spirituall power was then the supreame power on earth and commanded all temporall authoritie yea and that it might and did chastise Princes temporally whereas so many famous and learned Diuines whose doctrine this ignorant man feareth not to call improbable doe resolutely hold that in the olde Testament the high Priests were subiect to Kings and that the temporall power was superiour to the spirituall and might remooue the high Priests from their office and punish them temporally if they should deserue it 8 But let vs examine in particular the manifest proofes which this man deduceth from the Law of God in the old Testament His first and principall proofe is taken from that which is written in the 17. chapter of Deuteronomie This appeareth saith he k Pag. 70. nu 3.4.5 by the law set downe in Deuteronomie wherein it is ordained expressely that the highest tribunall for iudgement not only for spirituall but also for politicall and temporall causes should be in the hands of the high Priest The words of the law are these Si defficile ambiguum apud te iudicium esse perspexeris c. If thou perceiue that the iudgement with thee be hard and doubfull betweene bloud and bloud cause and cause leprosie and not leprosie and thou seest that the words of the Iudges within the gates doe varie arise and goe vp to the place which the Lord thy God shall choose and thou shalt come vp to the Priests of the Leuitical stock to the Iudges that shall be at that time and thou shalt aske of them who shall shew thee the truth of the iudgement and thou shalt do whatsoeuer they that are Presidents of the place which our Lord shall choose shal say and teach thee according to his Law and thou shalt follow their sentence neither shalt thou decline to the right nor to the left but he that shall be proud refusing to obey the commandement of the Priest which at time ministreth to our Lord thy God that man shall die by the decree of the Iudge and thou shalt take away the euill out of Israel and the whole people shall feare that none after swell with pride 9 These are the words of the Law of God in Deuteronomie wherein it is to be noted that albeit there be here mention made of the Iudge to be consulted together with the Priests which some of the Aduersaries take to be a temporall Iudge though he may very well be vnderstood to bee the high Priest who was supreme Iudge in the Councell of Priests neuerthelesse I say that albeit he were a temporall Iudge yet it is euident that the finall decision of the doubts and controuersies in that Consistorie and consequently the supreme authoritie resided in the high Priest seeing that the said Iudge if he were a different person was no other then Minister either to see the high Priests commandement executed or to ordaine and decree the punishment of those who should disobey him it being ordained in the Law that he who should be so proud as to disobey the commandement of the high Priest should die by the decree of the Iudge So that it belonged to the high Priest absolutely to command and to the Iudge to giue sentence of death against the transgressors of his commandement besides that c. 10 But first obserue good Reader the corrupt proceeding of this man who to prooue his purpose doth falsely and otherwise then they are in the vulgate Edition alledge the words of holy Scripture
ROGER WIDDRINGTONS Last REIOYNDER TO Mr. THOMAS FITZ-HERBERTS REPLY CONCERNING THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE And the POPES power to depose PRINCES Wherein all his arguments taken from the Lawes of God in the old and new Testament of Nature of Nations from the Canon and Ciuill Law and from the Popes Breues condemning the Oath and the Cardinalls Decree forbidding two of Widdringtons Bookes are answered Also many Replies and Instances of Cardinall Bellarmine in his Schulckenius and of Leonard Lessius in his Singleton are confuted and diuers cunning shifts of Cardinall Peron are discouered PROVERBS 12. The lip of truth shall be stable for euer but he that is an hasty witnesse frameth a tongue of lying IHS Permissu Superiorum 1619. ⧠The CONTENTS of this TREATISE THE Preface to the Reader wherein it is shewed first how dangerous and pernitious a thing it is vnder pretence of zeale to Catholike Religion and to the Sea Apostolike to coyne teach and publish by fraude and violence false articles of Catholike faith especially in things which doe greatly derogate from the temporall Soueraignty of absolute Princes Secondly how exceedingly Widdringtons Aduersaries doe preiudice themselues and their cause by handling this controuersie concerning the Oath of Allegiance and the Popes power to depose Princes in such a fraudulent vncharitable and slanderous manner and in not permitting learned Catholikes to whom the charge of soules is committed and who ought alwaies to bee ready to satisfie euery one that asketh them a reason of their Catholike faith to try and examine by the true touchstone of Catholike faith and the vndoubted principles of Catholike Religion whether the faith which they pretend to bee Catholike bee a false and forged Catholike faith or no Thirdly what is Widdringtons chiefe drift in making this Reioynder and in continuing still to handle this controuersie CHAP. I. Widdrington freeth himselfe of two fraudes whereof he is wrongfully accused and returneth them backe againe vp his Aduersary Secondly hee discouereth the fraude and falshood of his Aduersaries reasons which he yeeldeth for the supposition of his Discourse and that therein he contradicteth his owne grounds Thirdly he plainly sheweth that he hath answeared probably and like a good Catholike CHAP II. Widdringtons answere to an argument of his Aduersary taken from the rule of the law The accessory followeth the principall is confirmed Secondly Two Instances which he brought against that rule are prooued to be sound and sufficient Thirdly that place of S. Paul 1. Cor. 6. If you haue Secular iudgements c. is at large examined CHAP. III. Widdringtons answere to Fa. Lessius argument taken from that maxime Hee that can doe the greater can doe the lesse is confirmed Secondly the foure Instances which hee brought to confute the said argument and maxime are examined and prooued to be neither friuolous nor impertinent but sound sufficient and to the purpose Thirdly Cardinall Bellarmines example touching the translation of the Romane Empire and the argument which D. Schulckenius bringeth to confirme the same with two other examples of Clodoueus King of France and of Boleslaus King of Polony are confuted CHAP. IIII. Widdringtons interpretation of that clause of the Oath wherein the doctrine that Princes who are excommunicated or depriued by the Pope may be deposed or murthered by their subiects or any other whatsoeuer is abiured as impious and hereticall is prooued to bee sound and sufficient and is cleered from all absurditie and contradiction euen by M. Fitzherberts owne examples and that it may without periurie be sworne by any Catholike CHAP. V. Widdringtons answeres to all M. Fitzherberts arguments taken from the law of God both in the olde and new Testament are prooued to be truely probable and sincere and no way fraudulent or contrary to his owne doctrine SEC 1. First all the authorities which are brought out of the old law are confuted in generall by the doctrine of Cardinall Bellarmine and other learned Diuines Secondly the arguments taken from that place of Deuteron 17. Si difficile ambiguum c. and the examples of Eleazar and Iosue and from the difference of the sacrifices to be offered for Priests and Princes together with the testimonies of Philo Theodoret and Procopius are answered in particular SEC 2. All M. Fitzherberts arguments taken from the olde law since the institution of Kings are at large examined and first his argument taken from the authority of Priests and Prophets to create annoint chastice and depose Kings is disprooued Secondly Widdringtons answeres to the examples of Queene Athalia deposed by Ioiada the high Priest and of King Ozias deposed by Azarias the high Priest are confirmed and whatsoeuer D. Schulckenius obiecteth against the said answeres is related and answered Thirdly it is shewed that the authority of S. Chrysostome brought by M. Fitzherbert to confirme the example of King Ozias maketh nothing for him but against him and that in vrging this authority he dealeth fraudulenty peruerteth Saint Chrysostomes meaning and also contradicteth Card. Bellarmine SEC 3. All M. Fitzherberts arguments taken from the new Testament are examined and first his comparison betweene the old law and the new the figure and the verity is prooued to make against himselfe Secondly those words of our Sauiour Whatsoeuer thou shalt loose c. and Feed my sheepe are declared and the arguments drawne from thence and from the nature of a well instituted Common-wealth are satisfied and Doctor Schulckenius Reply is proued to be fraudulent and insufficient Thirdly the authoritie of the Apostle 1 Cor. 10. affirming that he and the rest were readie to reuenge all disobedience is answered M. Fitzherberts fraud in alledging the authority of S. Augustine is plainely discouered and the Conclusion of his Chapter shewed to be false and fraudulent CHAP. VI. M. Fitzherberts arguments taken from the law of Nature are confuted and first it is shewed in what manner temporall things are by the law of Nature subordinate to spirituall and the temporall Common-wealth to the Church of Christ Secondly that Religious Priests cannot by the law of Nature punish temporall Princes temporally and that in the law of Nature the ciuill societie was supreme and disposed of all things as well concerning religion as State and that therefore the new Oath denying the Popes power to depose Princes is not repugnant to the law of Nature Thirdly the difference betwixt the directiue and coerciue power and how temporall things become spirituall is declared and from thence prooued that the Church may command but not inflict temporall punishments and diuers Replies of M. Fitzherbert and D. Schulckenius are confuted CHAP. VII 1. Certaine places of the old and new Testament are explained 2. D. Schulckenius Reply to the answere Widdrington made to those wordes Whatsoeuer thou shalt loose c. and thirdly Cardinall Bellarmines second reason and Fa. Parsons answere to the Earle of Salisburie grounded thereon and fourthly other arguments brought by M. Fitzherbert from the examples of Ananias
whom I built a Monasterie I had not repented at the last houre And truely I haue escaped eternall death but I shall be tormented with most grieuous punishments vntill the day of Iudgement But the Mother of mercie obtained for me of her Sonne that I might come to thee to desire prayers which when he had said he presently vanished away And Ludgard told his necessities to her Sisters that they might relieue him but she greatly pittying his case did afflict her selfe for his cause with wonderfull punishment Let the Reader know saith Thomas Cantipratensis the writer of her life from whom Surius tooke the same that those three causes are by the reuealing of Ludgard not vnknowne to vs but for the reuerence of so great a Pope we would not relate them 7 Which example saith Card. Bellarmine is wont oftentimes to terrifie mee exceedingly and to cause mee to tremble For if so commendable a Pope and who in the eies of men was accounted not onely honest and prudent but also a Saint and woorthy to bee imitated did scape so narrowly hell fire and is to bee punished vntill the day of Iudgement with the most grieuous fire of Purgatory what Prelate would not tremble who would not examine most exactly the secrets of his conscience For I doe easily perswade my selfe that so great a Pope could not commit deadly sinnes but being deceiued vnder the shew of good by flatterrs and those of his owne houshold of whom it is said in the Gospell Matth. 10 A mans enemyes are they of his owne howshold Therefore let vs all learne by this so great an example to examine carefully our conscience least perchance it be erroneous albeit to vs it seeme to be right and sound Thus Cardinall Bellarmine whose counsell in this point I thinke it necessary that all my Aduersaries with Cardinall Bellarmine the chiefest of them and my selfe should duely consider least that the zeale which all of vs pretend to haue be blind and not according to knowledge and that our conscience albeit to vs it seeme to bee right and sound bee erroneous and grounded vpon culpable ignorance For my owne part I haue examined my conscience very carefully and cannot find my selfe guilty of any fault for examining this controuersie touching the lawfulnesse of the Oath and the Popes power to depose Princes and that I was not mooued thereunto for feare flattery hope of gaine or any other worldly respect but truely and sincerely God is my witnesse for the loue I beare to God Religion my Prince and Countrey to finde out the Catholike truth and being found to embrace professe and follow it and thereby according to our Sauiours commaundement to render to God and Caesar that obedience which doth belong to them 8 Secondly therfore I wish my Aduersaries to consider what may in the iudgemēt of any prudent man be thought of those men who by fraud or violēce should seek to force vpon any one a great sum of gold which he greatly suspecteth to be false and counterfaite and therefore refuseth to accept thereof before hee hath fully tryed whether it be true or forged coyne and whether any fault be to be found in him both for desiring to haue the gold examined by the touchstone and those waies by which true gold is discerned from counterfaite before hee bee compelled to take it for good and currant and also for giuing his reasons why hee thinketh the same to bee false and forged And if they will not suffer him to make triall whether it be good or no but will needes haue him to take it for good gold when not onely himselfe but also diuers other skilfull Gold-Smiths doe greatly suspect yea and are fully perswaded that it is naught and counterfaite and if he refuse to accept thereof in that manner they should seeke to disgrace him with the Prince and people and to accuse him of disobedience to the State and who wilfully refuseth to accept and acknowledge the Kings coyne for lawfull whether these men doe not great wrong to that party and whether it may not be prudently thought that they haue a guilty conscience and that they themselues suspect the said gold not to bee indeed so good and currant as in words they would pretend 9 Now the case betweene mee and my Aduersaries is farre worse then this For they haue sought by false and fraudulent meanes not onely to impose vpon the whole Christian world a false and counterfait Catholike faith for truely Catholike but to slander and defame all those Catholikes and my selfe in particular who for the reasons wee haue often propounded refuse to accept thereof for Catholike vntill it be better prooued so to be and to condemne vs of temerity and disobedience to the Sea Apostolike yea and of flat heresie and they would make the world beleeue that wee are not true Catholikes but heretickes disguised and masked vnder the vizard of Catholikes For so saith M. Fitzherbert c. 17. nu 19. And albeit we doe publikely professe our selues to be true Catholikes and doe submit all our writings to the iudgement and censure of the Catholike Romane Church and doe sincerely and solemnly protest to recall and recant foorthwith our errour if wee haue committed any as soone as it shall be made knowne vnto vs that wee haue written any thing amisse yet they feare not to affirme contrary to all iustice and charity that all this our profession submission and protestation is but a false luster and glosse So saith Fitzherbert c. 17 nu 1. 26. to cast vpon our counterfaite ware of purpose to deceiue and that it proceedeth from no other ground but from a deepe dissimulation or rather an artificiall and execrable hypocrisie to delude and deceiue Catholikes 10 Neither will they suffer vs to examine by the true grounds of Catholike Religion their newly inuented Catholike faith and to yeeld our reasons which doe fully perswade vs that their faith which they pretend to be Catholike is not ancient and true but a newly inuented and a false and forged Catholike faith but they haue caused his Holinesse to condemne our bookes which in our iudgement doe plainly discouer their forgeries and to forbid all Catholikes as well learned as vnlearned to read them without signifying vnto vs any one thing in particular which we haue written amisse although wee haue often and earnestly requested to know the same but all that they say or write wee must forsooth without any further examination approoue for good and currant doctrine albeit wee haue most plainely conuinced them of manifest fraude and falshood in almost euery one of their arguments and answeres which they haue brought to prooue their doctrine in this point of the Popes spirituall authority to depose Princes and to inflict temporall punishments to be truely Catholike All which being duely considered what infinite wrong they haue done vs it is too too manifest and albeit they pretend true zeale to Catholike Religion
he affirmeth that the Church in no case can iudge an vndoubted Pope so long as he is Pope Neuerthelesse I neuer affirmed that when the Emperour doth abandon and forsake his Empire and people and refuseth to be their Emperour any longer but leaueth them to themselues it is not in their power to choose them an other Emperour or to change the Imperiall Monarchie into Aristocratie or Democratie for that then the supreme temporall power and authoritie is immediately in the people and this also I prooued in that place out of Card. Bellarmines owne principles 45 Wherefore when D. Schulckenius a little aboue affirmed that I doe oftentimes graunt that the people cannot in any case deny ciuill obedience to that Prince whom once they haue had if his meaning be that I doe graunt that he who is once a Prince can not of his owne accord leaue to be a Prince and can not resigne his kingdome to the next heire and that the people are bound to yeeld ciuill obedience to him who was once their Prince but now of his owne accord hath resigned his kingdome to the next heire he doth greatly wrong me and abuse his Reader for to affirme this were foolish and ridiculous and contrarie to all reason and practise but that which I affirmed was that it is very probable and defended by many graue and learned Catholikes that the people who are subiect can in no case nor for any cause iudge or depose their Soueraigne Prince against his will and my reason was the same which Card. Bellarmine oftentimes vseth to prooue that the Church or a Generall Councell can not iudge or depose the Pope for that it is contrarie to all reason for an inferiour or subiect to iudge his Superiour and therefore those Catholikes that holde a Generall Councell may in some cases iudge the Pope doe also holde that it is superiour and aboue the Pope 46 That the Grecian Emperours had the Romane Empire as forsaken and abandoned by them I affirmed in these words Seeing therefore that as Lupoldus or Ludolphus writeth and diuers other Authors as Nauclerus Aeneas Siluius and Michael Coccinius doe insinuate the Emperours of Greece in the time of Charles the great and also before his time to wit in the time of his father Pipine and of his grandfather Charles Martellus did reigne in the West Empire only in name neither could the Church of Rome nor other Churches of Christ or also any others being by the Longobards vniustly oppressed in the same Empire haue iustice by them or by their authoritie and so the aforesaid Emperours had the West-Empire in a manner forsaken by gouerning therein only in name as it appeareth by diuers Chronicles the Pope Senate and people of Rome at leastwise by the tacite consent of all other Westerne men who were subiect to the Empire had euen according to the doctrine of Cardinall Bellarmine but now related full right and power which they could loose by no custome or translation of the Imperiall Seate as being to them connaturall and due by the law of nature to choose themselues a new Emprour and consequently to transfer the Empire which the Grecians kept in the Westerne parts only in name to Charles the great and his Successours the Imperiall Seate being in those parts at that time as it were vacant or without an Emperour Thus I wrote in my Apologie e Nu. 438. 47 And moreouer that the Greeke Emperours had the Westerne Empire and people for forsaken and abandoned and gaue at leastwise their tacite consent according to that rule of the law qui tacet consentire videtur that they might choose to themselues another Empeperour at leastwise in power and authoritie it is apparant for that they did neuer repugne contradict or gainesay that Charles the great should rule ouer them although perchance it displeased them that hee should haue the name of Emperour Yea and as Cardinall Bellarmine himselfe writeth when the Empresse Irene heard that Charles was called and crowed Emperour by Pope Leo shee did not onely gainesay but also she would haue married Charles and had done if certaine perfidious Eunuches had not hindered her as Zonaras and Cedrenus doe write in the life of the said Irene Afterwards Irene being dead Nicephorus the Emperour who did succeede her sent Ambassadours to Charles as to an Emperour as writeth Ado in this Chronicle of the yeere 803. And a little after Nicephorus being dead Michael suceeding him sent Ambassadours to Charles who likewise did publikely honour him as an Emperour as writeth Ado in his Chronicle of the yeere 810. All which doe sufficiently confirme that the Greeke Emperours did not gainesay this translation nor conceiue it to be a wrong done to them and in preiudice of their Imperiall right and Soueraigntie 48 By all which it is manifest first that I doe not any wrong at all to the Latin Emperours who haue beene and shall be from the time of that translation as though their Empire were not grounded vpon any sound title or foundation for that all writers and Cardinall Bellarmine himselfe doe agree in this that the Pope together with the rest of the people haue power to choose them another Emperour in case the Emperour will no longer reigne ouer them because in that case the supreame temporall power and authoritie is onely in the people or whole multitude but rather Card. Bellarmine as also I obserued in that place f Nu. 462. doth call in question and make doubtfull the right and title which the Latin Emperours haue to the Empire in that hee affirmeth that they haue all their right and title from the Pope alone seeing that there be many learned and graue Authours who make a great doubt whether the Pope alone hath by the institution of Christ any such power and authoritie to transfer Empires but no Authour not so much as Card. Bellarmine himselfe according to his doctrine which I related in that place doeth deny that the whole multitude hath full power and authoritie to transfer the Empire in the aforesaide case to wit when the Emperour doth abandon the Empire and will no longer reigne ouer the people 49 Secondly it is also manifest that I haue not any way contradicted my selfe in my answere and that I haue cleerely prooued by Card. Bellarmines owne grounds and by his owne Authours that the aforesaide translation was done by the authoritie decree ordinance and suffrages both of the Pope and of the people and consequently that the people did more then onely request applaude and assent to that translation to which D. Schulckenius maketh no answere at all and therefore his silence herein is both an euident signe that hee was not able to impugne my answere and that although hee doeth so highly commend his owne booke of the translation of the Empire as exactly soundly and diligently written yet his owne conscience for as much as concerneth this question seeth now the contrarie for that hee being so
therefore belonging to temporall and not to spirituall power or that the Successours of Boleslaus had onely the title of Dukes for that the Pope depriued them by way of a iuridicall sentence of the title of Kings but this might proceed either from the people themselues who by reason of that heynous fact of Boleslaus in killing that holy Bishop Stanislaus with his owne hands in the Church whiles he was saying Masse and after he had miraculously cleered himselfe by raising a man from death in open Parliament to giue testimony whether he had iniutiously taken from that dead man certaine lands or no whereof he was falsly accused by the King in a publike assembly of the Realme would not giue any longer that title of Kings or for that the Emperour to whom that kingdome was perchance m Dubranius l. 5. Aeneas Siluius cap. 19. Bohemiae who relateth that in the time of Otho the first Emperour the kingdome of Polonia was subiect to the Romane Empire then feudarie would not suffer them by reason of the execrable crime to haue any longer that title of Kings but onely of Dukes 61 Wherefore neither by any sufficient reason or approoued practise it can bee prooued that the Pope as Pope hath power to giue earthly kingdomes for the good of the Church or to depriue Princes of their states although they should deserue it and the good also of the Church should require it which last supposition neuerthelesse is vntrue for that to depriue Princes of their temporall States is not necessary for the good of the Church and the saluation of soules as I haue shewed before and although it were necessary yet considering that it is a temporall or ciuill and not a spirituall action for what end soeuer we suppose it to be done it cannot be performed by a spirituall or Ecclesiasticall but by temporall or ciuill power 62 And thus thou seest good Reader to conclude this Chapter with my Aduersary how soundly and without any scoffing I haue confuted Lessius argument and that generall maxime whereon his consequence was grounded by those foure instances which I haue heere examined and cleerely prooued that they are all to the purpose and doe not any whit alter the state of the question but that my Aduersarie himselfe in impugning them doth alter the case and change the state of the question or medius terminus which Lessius vsed and flyeth from his argument to others of his owne inuenting wherein he discouereth his great ignorance in Logicke and that therefore all those vnseemely nickenames of absurd impertinent foolish ridiculous and malicious agree to none so much as to himselfe All which being duly considered I referre to the iudgement of any indifferent man whether I had not reason without any cogging scoffing gibing or malice as my Aduersary is pleased to vnburden his fowle and bitter stomacke but with a sincere compassion of the miserable state of poore English Catholikes in soule body goods and credit into which this man seeketh to draw them headlong and with an earnest desire that they should according to our Sauiours commandement Render to God and Caesar that which is their due to affirme by way of interrogation that these and such like reasons are no good arguments to mooue the English Catholikes prodigally to cast away their goods and to deny their allegiance to his Maiestie 63 Neither is it my desire that Catholikes should bee prodigall of their soules or should deny their fidelitie and due obedience to their spirituall Pastour neither is it true that I haue greater care of their goods then of their soules or that I would haue them venteâ— and hazard their eternall saluation to saue their temporall goods as Mr. Fitzherbert little caring what he saith so that by his saying he may any way disgrace me very vntruely God forgiue him affirmeth For I doe chiefly respect God is my witnesse their eternall saluation and I would haue them to render all due obedience both to their spirituall Pastour and also to their temporall Prince but my desire is that they will sincerely consider that not onely in denying spirituall obedience to their spirituall Pastour but also in denying temporall allegiance to their temporall Prince they doe venter and hazard their eternall saluation for that they are bound by the expresse commaundement of our Sauiour and vnder paine of eternall damnation to render both to God and Caesar that which is their due But it seemeth that my Aduersaries minde is all vpon the Pope and little vpon his Prince seeing that he hath so great care to enlarge the Popes Monarchy and so little to maintaine his Kings Soueraigntie but I hope God will inspire English Catholikes to be wiser and not to runne headlong on either side but to examine and weigh their temporall and spirituall fidelity with an equall ballance and to consider that they may as well offend and hazard their saluation in giuing too much as too little to their spirituall Pastour as also in giuing too little as too much to their temporall Prince 64 Wherefore my humble request to English Catholikes is that seeing this controuersie of their temporall and spirituall obedience betweene their temporall Prince and spirituall Pastour doth so neerely concerne their eternall saluation they will not venter their soules vpon any mans bare word nor giue credit either to my sayings or the sayings of my Aduersaries without examining sincerely the reasons on both sides and the substance and manner of both our writings and diligently considering how farre forth they are bound to obey the command of their spirituall Pastour when it is only declaratiue and grounded vpon no sure definition against the commandement of their temporall Prince who is in lawfull possession of his kingdome from which the Pope the matter being as yet in controuersie and not decided pretendeth to haue power to exclude him For neither ignorance nor pretence of zeale to the Sea Apostolike can now in my opinion excuse them from not examining what duty they owe both to their spirituall Pastour and also to their temporal Prince and to what things both their temporall and also spirituall obedience doth extend for now they hauing so many and so sufficient causes prudently to doubt both in regard of so many bookes that haue beene written and also of the strange carriage of my Aduersaries in commanding me to purge my selfe vnder paine of Censures and not telling of what and forbidding my bookes and not declaring for why although I haue often desired to know some one particular thing whereof I should purge my selfe or which is blame worthy in my bookes faithfully promising to purge whatsoeuer is to be purged and to recall whatsoeuer I haue written amisse they are bound according to the doctrine of all Diuines to examine the truth so farre forth as the learning and capacitie of euery man will permit otherwise their ignorance will bee wilfull and damnable and their zeale albeit they shall thinke
also in readinesse that is in manifest and speedy effect to reuenge all disobedience that is to punish the offences of them who would not obey vs that they might correct themselues Which we will doe when your obedience shall be fulfilled that is when all the rest of you shall by loue be obedient in all things Thus S. Anselme Now what learned man will thus conclude that because S. Paul and the Apostles had a most ample extraordinarie and miraculous authoritie power might and effectuall meanes to conuert men to the faith of Christ and to reuenge or punish all that were disobedient with temporall punishments euen by death as S. Peter did Ananias and Saphyra or by depriuing them of their sight as S. Paul did Elimas the Magician or by deliuering them to Sathan to be visibly tormented by him as S. Paul did the incestuous Corinthian that therefore the ordinarie Pastours of the Church haue now either an extraordinarie or ordinary authoritie power might and effectuall meanes to doe the like 35 I omit that S. Ambrose or whosoeuer is the Authour of those Commentaries expoūdeth those words to reuenge all disobedience when your obedience shall be fulfilled of the Corinthians themselues who being perfectly conuerted shall punish in themselues their former disobedience It is manifest saith S. Ambrose that he reuengeth disobedience when he condemneth it by obedience then destroying it when he bringeth to the faith those who doe resist or disobey that infidelitie may be condemned by them by whom it was defended The same also doth S. Anselme insinuate as you haue seene aboue 36 But S. Augustine saith Mr. Fitzherbert vnderstandeth those words of the Apostle hauing in a readinesse to reuenge all disobedience of the authoritie left by our Sauiour to his Church to compell her rebellious and disobedient children to performe their duties True it is that S. Augustine applyeth those words of the Apostle to the authoritie of the Church to compell heretikes by temporall punishments to returne to the faith of Christ taking the Church as it containeth all the faithfull and consisteth both of temporall and spirituall power but it is not true that he vnderstandeth them of the authoritie of the Church as the Church is taken for Church-men or the spiritual Pastours of the Church Wherefore Mr. Fitzherbert doth herein egregiously abuse his Reader For S. Augustines maine drift both in that 50. epistle in the former 48. epistle is only to proue against the Donatists that heretiks may lawfully be compelled with temporall punishments by the lawes of Christian Emperours to returne to the Catholike faith and that the Pastours of the Church did well in requesting Christian Emperours to make such lawes Wherefore the argument of the 48. epistle to Vincentius is that S. Austin was once of opinion that we must not deale with heretikes by violence but only with the word of God but afterwards being ouercome with the doctrine and example of others he changed his opinion and taught that it is lawfull to implore the lawes of Princes against the enemies of the faith so that it be done with an intention to correct and not with a desire to reuenge And the argument of this 50. Epistle is that S. Augustine sheweth with what moderation heritickes may through feare of Emperiall lawes be reduced to the communion of the Church And in his second booke of Retractations Cap. 48. mentioning this Epistle to Bonifacius he writeth thus At the same time I wrote also a booke meaning this 50. Epistle concerning the correction of the Donatists by reason of those who would not haue them to be corrected by the Emperiall lawes This booke beginneth thus Laudo gratulor admiror fili dilectissime Bonifaci 37 Iudge now good Reader what a shamefull fraud is this of Mr. Fitzherbert to make ignorant Catholikes beleeue that S. Augustine bringeth those words of the Apostle to prooue the authority left by our Sauiour to his Church that is to Churchmen or to the spirituall Pastours of the Church for so hee vnderstandeth the word Church in all this his Discourse to compell her rebellious disobedient children by force of temporall punishments to performe their duties whereas S. Augustines intent onely is to prooue the lawfulnesse of the Emperiall lawes compelling heretickes by temporall punishments to returne backe to the faith and that Church-men or the spirituall Pastours of the Church may lawfully implore the Emperiall lawes and desire Christian Princes to compell heretickes to forsake their heresie by force of temporall punishments so that they desire it with intent to correct them and not with a desire of reuenge 38 But if the Ecclesiasticall authority saith Mr. Fitzherbert y Pag. 90. did not extend it selfe to the chastisement of disobediēt Princes in their temporal states it must needs follow that Christ had not sufficiently prouided for the gouernment of his Church yea much worse then temporall Kings are went to prouide for the administration of the Prouinces or states subiect to them who when they appoint lieutenants or deputies any where do giue them authority ouer all sorts of subiects so much power as may suffice for the remedy of all inconueniences and specially of the greatest which may occurre in the States where they gouerne c. But this consequence I haue euer denied For as I haue often said to the good gouernment of the Church of Christ which is a spirituall not a temporall kingdome or common-wealth it is onely required that the Pastours or Gouernours thereof haue authoritie to inflict spirituall and not temporall punishments and this authoritie forasmuch as concerneth the authoritie and punishments themselues is sufficient to redresse all inconueniences neither is it necessarie either in a spirituall or a temporall kingdome that the chiefe Gouernours thereof should haue that power might or effectuall meanes whereby all inconueniences must actually at all times be redressed 39 And therefore as temporall Kings doe giue to their Lieutetenants Deputies or Vice-Royes sufficient temporall authoritie ouer all sorts of subiects in the Prouinces or States where they gouerne but not alwayes so much power taking power not for authoritie or iurisdiction but for might force or effectuall meanes as may suffice for the remedie of all inconueniences for this power the Kings themselues doe often times want in those Dominions where they themselues doe personally gouerne so Christ our Sauiour ordaining in his Church a spirituall and not a temporall Gouernment gaue to the spirituall Gouernours thereof sufficient spirituall authoritie and iurisdiction to redresse all kind of inconueniences in all sorts of subiects as well the highest as the lowest but not sufficient power might or effectuall meanes actually to redresse the same And as the Lieutenants Deputies or Vice-Royes of temporall Kings if they offend cannot be punished with temporall punishments by any subiect in the States where they gouerne but by the King alone to whom onely they are subiect in temporalls So
the Priests of the new law must haue authoritie to doe the like but things farre more noble and excellent for that the veritie must be of a more high and excellent order then the figure as in the fifth Chapter I proued more at large And therefore as in the olde law all the figures promises and punishments were temporall so in the new law the veritie promises and punishments which correspond thereunto must be spirituall not temporall for otherwise the figure should bee the same with the veritie and not of an higher nature and order then the verity So that temporall life must correspond to spirituall life temporall kingdomes to spirituall kingdomes temporall goods to spirituall goods temporall promises and rewards to spirituall promises and rewards and temporall punishments to spirituall punishments all which spirituall punishments are contained in Excommunication Maior and Minor and in other Ecclesiasticall Censures and punishments And to that which he addeth in the end that I must acknowledge according to my owne doctrine that the Church may punish temporally seeing that shee may excommunicate I haue already fully m Cap. answered and denyed his consequence for that the Church of Christ neither by ExcoÌ„munication nor by any other way hath by the institution of Christ authoritie to inflict temporall punishments but only to punish temporally by way of command which no man denyeth And thus much concerning the olde law 10 Now to the authorities which Mr. Fitzherbert brought out of the new Testament I answered thus Sixtly those places of the new Testament Quodcunque solueris super terram c. n Matth. 16. Whatsoeuer thou shalt loose vpon earth c. and Pasce oues meas o Ioan. 21. Feede my sheepe as also the reason which Fa. Parsons bringeth to wit that otherwise the Ecclesiasticall common-wealth should bee imperfect and not sufficient for it selfe are explicated by mee elsewhere And that corporall killing of Ananias and Saphira and the visible deliuering of the fornicatour to Sathan are to be referred to the grace of miracles Neither will this Authour say as I imagine that the Pope hath power to kill wicked men and malefactours with the word of his mouth 11 To this my answere Mr. Fitzherbert replieth in the same order And first to my answere to those two places Whatsoeuer thou shalt loose c. and Feede my sheepe which I made in my Apologie p Apolog. nu 35. seq nu 203. seq wherevnto I remitted the Reader he replieth thus q Pag. 115. nu 6.7.8 That which Widdrington saith in his Apologie concerning these two texts allâ—dged out of the Gospell is no other but to prooue that Christ gaue thereby to S. Peter a spirituall authoritie onely which we willingly grant as D. Adolphus Schulckenius r Adolph Schulck in Apolog c. 4. § Respondeo p. 136 in his answere for Cardinall Bellarmine hath declared sufficiently and tolde my Aduersary Widdrington withall how vainely he hath laboured with a long discourse and many idle words to prooue that which neither the Cardinall nor any other Catholike will deny 12 For wee willingly grant saith Schulckenius that the Popes power is formally spirituall though virtually it is also temporall extending it selfe to temporall things so farre forth as they are subordinate to the spirituall and the necessitie of the Church shall require So hee Å¿ Ibidem and afterwards he also explicateth the same in these words Nam animus noster spiritus est c. For our soule saith he is a spirit and hath a spirituall power and yet it doth not onely thereby gouerne the body which is subiect vnto it but doth also chastise it with corporall punishments as watching hairecloth fasting and whipping And therefore if Bellarmine did say that the Pope doth iudge the faults of Princes and vpon their desert depriue them sometimes of their gouernment by a temporall power his Aduersary Widdrington should say somewhat to the purpose but now seeing that Bellarmine saith that the Pope vseth a spirituall power when hee depriueth Princes of their States for spirituall and Ecclesiasticall crimes such as heresies and Schismes are his Aduersary Widdrington doth idlely beate the ayre c. for he should haue prooued that a supreme spirituall power cannot extend it selfe to dispose of temporall things as they are referred to spirituall things Thus saith Schulckenius 13 And thereof my Aduersary Widdrington might haue taken notice if it had pleased him when he referred me and his Readers to his Apologie for answere to those places For albeit he may perhaps pretend that hee had not seene Schulckenius his Apologie for the Cardinall before hee had ended his Theologicall Disputation yet it is euident that he had seene and read it before he wrote his Admonition to the Reader wherein he writeth against me For he not onely maketh mention therein of the Apologie of Schulckenius but also carpeth at him for some things that hee handleth and therefore if he had meant sincerely he would not haue remitted vs to his owne Apologie for this point without some confutation of Schulckenius his Answere thereto I meane of so much as concerneth this matter For otherwise he may multiply bookes and write of this controuersie as long as he liueth and all to no purpose if he will still stand vpon his first grounds and dissemble the answeres that are made thereto and therefore as hee remitteth me to his Apologie so I remit him also to the answere of Schulckenius which I haue partly laide downe heere and may be seene more at large in him And this shall suffice for this point 14 But truely it is intollerable that these men should so shamefully both abuse me and delude their Reader I doe not say onely in dissembling the answere I made to their argument but in plainly corrupting the words and manifest sense thereof in which manner they may multiply bookes and make Replies with ease but with shame enough For it is too too apparantly vntrue that I labored in that place to prooue nothing else as those men falsly affirme but that which neither Cardinall Bellarmine nor any other Catholike will deny to wit that Christ gaue to S. Peter a spirituall authoritie onely although it be well knowne that the common opinion of the Canonists doth deny the same who contend that Christ gaue thereby to S. Peter not onely spirituall but also temporall authoritie and made him thereby not onely a spirituall but also a temporall Monarch and therefore Mr. Fitzherbert is grosly mistaken in saying so boldly that neither Cardinall Bellarmine nor any other Catholike will deny that Christ gaue thereby to S. Peter a spirituall authoritie onely For I did not contend in that place about the authority which was giuen to Saint Peter to binde and loose which Cardinall Bellarmine taketh to bee all one with to feede his sheepe whether it was temporall or spirituall or both as the Canonists wil haue it but about the acts
and effectuall meanes to withdraw men actually from sinne for this were extreame folly to say as my Aduersarie himselfe confesseth For the sufficiencie saith hee of the power which Christ hath left to his Church in this point or any other consisteth in this that the power being considered in it selfe is sufficient to worke the effect for which it was ordained if it meete with a capable subiect and haue no externall impediment Wherefore it is manifest that hee who will contend that the Church must haue a more sufficient power to saue soules then which of it selfe is sufficient if it meete with a capable subiect and haue no externall impediment must needes suppose that the Church must also haue sufficient force might and effectuall meanes to saue soules and a power to make the subiect capable and to remooue all external impediments or which is all one must haue such a sufficient power which is not onely sufficient in regard of the power being considered in it selfe but also in regard of all other things which are necessarie that the power worke the effect for which it was ordained for that these two are opposite parts or members of the distinction I made before and no man that hath any skill in Logike can be ignorant that in euery diuision consisting only of two parts or members we may rightly argue from the affirming of the one part to the denyall of the other and frō the denying of the one to the affirming of the other If therfore the power of the Church to inflict Ecclesiasticall Censures be of it selfe a sufficient coerciue power to withdraw men from sinne which is the end of Ecclesiasticall power and if men bee not thereby withdrawne from sinne it is not by reason of the insufficiencie of the power but of the indisposition of the subiect no other coerciue power to inflict temporall punishments can be necessarie And therefore the aforesaid distinction of Ecclesiasticall coerciue power considered in it selfe and in respect of the impediments which may be in regard of the subiect did quite ouerthrow Cardinall Bellarmines second argument and the whole discourse of Fa. Parsons which was grounded thereon So that Mr. Fitzherbert might with more credit haue left vntouched the satisfaction which Fa. Parsons pretended to giue to the Earle of Salisburies desire or complaint for ought hee hath beene able to say in defence of the same 62 And whereas Mr. Fitzherbert quarelleth with mee for teaching in this my Discourse against Fa. Parsons that the penalties which the Church may I doe not say impose as hee vntruely imposeth vpon me for this power of the Church to impose command or enioyne temporall penalties I neuer denyed but to inflict are not temporall punishments and for remitting my Reader for this point to diuers authorities euen of the ancient Fathers related by mee in my Apologie hee wisheth mee g Pag. 122. nu 21. and the Reader to see the answere to those authorities in D. Schulckenius who giueth as he saith sufficient satisfaction to euery one of them and sheweth euidently that diuers of those Authours doe wholly impugne Widdringtons opinion and doctrine and finally telleth him of his bad fortune in alleadging such witnesses as either make nothing for him or quite ouerthrow him and the like may bee seene saith he in D. Westons Sanctuarie who also answereth the said places particularlay and fully I also in like manner wish him and the Reader to see how their answeres haue beene confuted partly by Mr. Iohn Barclay and partly by my selfe aboue in this Treatise h Part. 1. per totum where also I haue shewed the vanitie of these men that when they see their arguments and answeres most of all to bee shaken then they make the greatest brags to which silly shifts they haue beene driuen by their bad fortune to vndertake the defence of so bad a cause and through a vehement desire not to seeme to bee vanquished and to haue any way erred in hauing coined a new Catholike faith 63 Furthermore the Reader may see i Pag. 122. nu 22. C. Bel. in Tract de potest Sum. Pont. contra Barcl cap. 8. saith Mr. Fitzherbert many of them answered by the Cardinall himselfe in his booke against Barclay which Widdrington could not but haue seene no lesse then the former before he wrote against my Supplement and therefore reason would that hee should haue shewed some insufficiencie in those answeres before he so confidently remitted me and his Readers to those places and such like which hee knew were alreadie answered but perhaps he perswadeth himselfe that all his writings and assertions are as I haue said in the Preface like to the lawes of the Medes See Preface nu 15. and see also the answere thereunto Dan. 6. and Persians which are inuiolable and immutable And this shall suffice touching Father Parsons whom you see hee might with more credit haue left vntouched for ought hee hath beene able to prooue against him 64 But as the Reader may see many of them answered by the Cardinall himselfe in his booke against Barclay so also hee may see the Cardinalls answeres confuted by Mr. Iohn Barclay in his booke against Cardinall Bellarmine which Mr. Fitzherbert could not but haue seene before he wrote now his Reply against mee and therefore reason would that hee should haue shewed some insufficiencie in Mr. Iohn Barclayes answeres before he so confidently remitted me and his Reader to Cardinall Bellarmines booke against Barclay which he knew was already answered And therefore that which hee repeateth heere againe concerning the lawes of the Medes and Persians may more aptly be applyed to himselfe and other such like vehement defenders of the Popes power to depose Princes who for that they haue vnaduisedly begun to make their doctrine to be an infallible point of faith which they will neuer bee able to make good will yet defend the same per fas ne fas by right and wrong and perceiuing that they cannot preuaile with reason and arguments endeauour to ouersway their cause by force and authoritie clamours and threatnings as it is euident by the Breues which his Holinesse by their importunitie and sinistrous Information hath published to condemne the new Oath wherein chiefly that doctrine is denied as containing in it many things flat contrarie to faith and saluation which they will neuer bee able to maintaine and by condemning some of my bookes in such generall wordes and commanding me vnder paine of Ecclesiasticall Censures to purge my selfe foorthwith in so strange a maner not declaring of what crime either in particular or in generall I should purge my selfe although I haue often by diuers Supplications to his Holinesse most humbly and earnestly requested to bee particularly informed what one thing is contained in the Oath which is so cleerely repugnant to faith and saluation or what one thing I haue written in those bookes whereof I should purge my selfe as being contrarie to faith
or good manners For what man can be so simple as to imagine that if those most Illustrious Cardinalls of the Inquisition could plainely haue shewed any one thing which either in the Oath or in any of my bookes is repugnant to saith or good manners wee should not haue heard it proclaimed by my Aduersaries with open mouth And what else is this I pray you but to contend that their assertions are like to the lawes of the Medes and Persians which are inuiolable and immutable 65 And this may suffice touching Fa. Parsons discourse which Mr. Fitzherbert might with more credite to himselfe and with more respect and reuerence to his old friend haue left vntouched seeing that hee hath brought nothing against that which I obiected against Fa. Parsons discourse to satisfie the Earle of Salisburies desire but cauelleth onely about trifles which make nothing to the defence of Fa. Parsons as that I did not in that briefe Admonition to the Reader confute D. Schulckenius booke written against mee and Cardinall Bellarmines booke written against D. Barclay and also the whole particular discourse which hee himselfe made in his Supplement to prooue the Oath vnlawfull and repugnant to all lawes humane and diuine but remitted the Reader to some things which more at large I declared in my Apologie to the end that he duely considering my answeres and their Replyes and also what Mr. Iohn Barclay had written in defence of his Father against Cardinall Bellarmine might giue his iudgement accordingly vntill I had time to make a more full answere to them all And therefore seeing that now I haue in this Treatise more fully confuted both Cardinall Bellarmine and D. Schulckenius if he bee another man and also Mr. Fitzherberts whole Reply which he hath patched together by the helpes of Cardinall Bellarmine or D. Schulckenius Fa. Suarez and Lessius wee shall see what a learned Reply hee will make to this my Treatise being destitute now of those helpes which hee had before of those mens writings and being left only to his owne wit and learning and to the aide which he can get from others of his Societie who are more expert in Schoole points then is himselfe whom all men know to haue little skill either in Philosophie or Schoole-Diuinitie And for a conclusion I wish the Reader to call to mind how hee imposeth vpon me heere two manifest falshoods the one that I affirme Fa. Parsons to suppose that Christ hath left to his Church not onely sufficient power and authoritie but also sufficient force might or effectuall meanes to represse at all times all excesses whatsoeuer of Christian Princes and the other that I quarrell with Father Parsons for teaching that the Church may impose temporall penalties which as you haue seene is very vntrue 66 Now let vs proceede to the examining of the rest of his Discourse After this saith he k Pag. 123. nu 23.24.25 Acts 5. 1 Cor. 5. Widdring in admoni nu 19. Widdrington taketh hold of two examples in my Supplement to wit the punishment of Ananias and Saphira and of the incestuous Corinthian which I alleaged to proue the power of the Church to inflict temporall penalties Whereof he saith thus Illa corporalis Ananiae Saphirae interfectio c. That corporall killing of Ananias and Saphira and the visible deliuery of the fornicatour to Sathan are to be referred to the grace of miracles neither will this Authour say as I thinke that the Pope hath power to kill wicked men and malefactours with the word of his mouth So he Whereto I answere that he trifleth no lesse in this then in his former answeres for albeit I will not say that the Pope hath power to kill with the word of his mouth that is to say to doe miracles yet I say he hath power to doe and ordaine those things in the Church which at their first institution were testified and confirmed by miracles 67 As for example I will not say that the Pope can giue the holy Ghost in some visible forme in the Sacrament of Baptisme and Confirmation as the holy Ghost was giuen in the Apostles time Acts 8. 10. yet I make no doubt but that the Pope may minister those Sacraments with the iuisible effect and fruite thereof which was visibly shewed and testified in the Apostles time by that miracle neither will I say that the Pope can deliuer a man to the visible possession of the Diuell to be bodily tormented as S. Paul did when he excommunicated the Corinthian 1 Cor. 5. and others neuerthelesse I say that if Widdrington doe not reforme and retract his pernicious doctrine the Pope both can See cap. 17. nu 23. seq Item Decretum Sacrae Cong and see them also there answered Chrys hom 15 in cap. 5. epist 1. ad Corinth Acts 5. Acts 12. 1 Cor. 5. Greg. hom 10. in Euang. and will ere it be long excommunicate him and deliuer him ouer to the inuisible power of the Diuell which effect was at the first ordinarily testified by the visible torments of the bodies of excommunicated persons vt castigaretur caro saith S. Chrysostome that their flesh might be chastised So as Widdrington may if it please him distinguish betwixt the miracles and that which was in the primatiue Church signified expressed and testified thereby 68 And therefore I say that for as much as it pleased God to testifie by the miraculous punishment of Ananias and Saphira and of Elymas the Magycian whom S. Paul stroke blinde and of the excommunicated Corinthian and others that the Church hath power as well ouer the body as ouer the soule it cannot with reason be denied but â—hat the power remaineth although the miraculous manner in the execution of it ceased when the Christian faith was once propagated and generally receiued because as S. Gregorie saith Signa data sunt fidelibus c. Signes or miracles are giuen or ordained for infidels and not for the faithfull 69 But it is Mr. Fitzherbert himselfe that trifleth no lesse in this then in his former answeres For the question here betwixt vs is not now whether the Pope hath an ordinary power granted him by Christ to inflict corporall and temporall punishments and to depriue the faithfull of their liues and dominions but whether from this miraculous fact of killing of Ananias and Sâ—phira at the word of S. Peter or from the miraculous deliuering of the incestuous Corinthian to Sathan to be coporally tormented by him that his soule might be saued or froÌ„ any other miraculous and extraordinary power which the Apostles had to inflict coporall punishments it can bee rightly concluded that the Pope hath an ordinary power to inflict also corporall punishments And whatsoeuer Mr. Fitzherbert saith I doe confidently auerro that it is a most vicious kinde of arguing from miraculous facts and from an extraordinary power which was graunted to the Apostles as they were Apostles at the first instituting of
Catholike Roman Church whereby hee professeth that if by ignorance hee haue failed in any thing which the Roman Church doth not approoue he doth also reprooue it condemne it and wisheth it to be held as not written let not this I say seduce thee or mooue thee to thinke that he teacheth Catholike doctrine concerning the matter now in question seeing that it is euident that all this is but a false luster and glosse cast vpon his counterfeite ware of purpose to deceiue thee 3 It is true all the bookes I haue written hitherto either in Latin or English I did submit to the Censure of the Catholike Romane Church and in the first booke of all which I published in defence of the temporall right of Princes against Card. Bellarmines reasons whereby he pretended to demonstrate that it is not so much an opinion as an heresie to hold that the Pope hath no authority by the institution of Christ to depose temporall Princes and to dispose of temporals besides the submission thereof to the said Censure of the Catholike Romane Church I did also solemnely protest and call God to witnesse that neither through the spirit of flattery nor of contradiction but sincerely mooued with a vehement desire to finde out the truth in this difficult controuersie which so neerely concerneth our obedience due to God and Caesar I did take vpon me the writing of that Apologie 4 And my third booke which is the Disputation of the Oath against which this man so greatly inueigheth I did not onely submit to the Censure of the said Catholike Romane Church protesting also that if either in that Disputation or elsewhere I had through ignorance written any thing which she did not approoue I also did disprooue it condemne it and would haue it for not written but also I did of set purpose dedicate it to his Holinesse most humbly and earnestly requesting him that considering we had diligently examined all the parts and parcels of the oath and yet could not finde any one thing among so many contrary to faith or saluation his Holinesse would be pleased in regard of his Fatherly care and Pastorall office after hee had duely considered all those obiections which we did propound vnto him for and against the Oath to make knowne vnto vs his poore and afflicted Catholikes one onely thing among so many which are so manifestly repugnant to faith and saluation as he had declared by his Breues protesting that if we could be assured of one onely thing contained in the Oath which is any way repugnant to faith or saluation wee would forthwith obey his declaratiue commaundement and would hazard our liues and all our fortunes in defence of the vndoubted Catholike faith 5 Now this vncharitable man notwithstanding all these my protestations and submissions will contrary to the commandement of Christ our Sauiour the knowne rules of charity and iustice iudge censure my inward thoughts which none but God and my owne conscience can know and boldly affirmeth that it is euident b Nu. 1. that all this is but a false luster and glosse cast vpon my counterfait ware of purpose to deceiue the Reader and that I am an hereticke disguised c Nu. 19. and masked vnder the vizard of a Catholike and that all my pretences to bee a Catholike d Nu. 26. and my submission to the Catholike Romane Church proceeds from no other ground but from a deepe dissimulation or rather an artificiall and execrable hypocrisie to delude and deceiue Catholikes But God knoweth how wrongfully he belyeth me to whose iustice for the infinite wrong he hath done me I doe appeale and I make no doubt but that he will finde him a most iust Iudge and seuere reuenger either in this life or in the next or both vnlesse hee repent and satisfie mee in time for the great wrong he hath done me 6 But let vs heare the reasons which this vnconscionable man bringeth to colour this rash iudgement of his For if Widdrington saith he e Pa. 212. nu 2 so much respect and reuerence his Holinesse and the Romane Church as he pretendeth how chanceth it that vtterly reiecteth three Apostolicall Breues of his Holinesse vpon no better ground and reason but because his Holinesse hath beene ill informed of the matter and consequently deceiued and absurd 7 But albeit with all my heart and soule I doe greatly respect and reuerence the Popes Holinesse the Sea Apostolike the Romane Church and the Catholike Romane Church each of them in their due place and degree but not all of them with equall respect and reuerence for that no learned Catholike can deny but that betwixt all these a great difference is to be made neither are the errours misdemeanours or imperfections of Popes who being men and subiect to humane infirmities as others are to bee attributed to the Sea Apostolike or to the Roman Church although my ignorant Aduersary seemeth not only to make no distinction betwixt the Pope and the Sea Apostolike whereas if he will but reade S. Robert of Lincolne his life in Matthew Paris he may see what difference hee maketh betwixt Pope Innocent the fourth whom hee calleth Antichrist Mat. Paris in Henrico 3 o. pag. 843. and whose Breues as containing in them something which is hatefull to Christ our Sauiour detestable abhominable and very pernicious to mankind hee refused to obey and betwixt the most holy Sea Apostolike which hee saith can command no such detestable thing but also hee would make his Reader beleeue that I take the Roman Church and the Catholike Roman Church for all one whereas it is manifest that there is betwixt them almost as great difference as is betwixt the Kingdome of England and the Christian world or rather betwixt Rome and Christendome and also very many vertuous and learned Roman Catholikes doe not graunt that infallible authoritie to the Popes Holinesse or to the Roman Church which they grant to the Catholike Roman Church according to that saying of S. Hierome si authoâ—iâ—as quaeritur Hier. epist 85. ad Euangrium orbis maior est vrbe if authoritie bee demanded or sought for the world is greater then a Citie which sentence the Glosse vpon the Canon Legimus dist 93. citing and expounding saith Heere is an argument that the Decrees of a Councell doe preiudicate or goe before the Popes Decree if they contradict it 8 Neuerthelesse I doe also willingly acknowledge that I doe not so much respect and reuerence his Holinesse as to beleeue that all the commandements of Popes are iust and all their Breues and Decrees are grounded vpon infallible truth or that any Catholike is bound to obey his Holinesse declaratiue commandement when it is only grounded vpon a probable opinion which no man is bound to follow it being most euident that where there is no authoritie to command it is no irreuerence or vndutifull respect not to obey As likewise although all Subiects are bound to respect
grounded vpon presumption and vpon his owne opinion and priuate iudgement wherby he perswadeth himselfe that the thing which he forbiddeth is otherwise vnlawfull as being forbidden by some former law whose opinion and also declaratiue commaundement grounded onely vpon his opinion when it is against the probable doctrine of other Catholike Diuines may not onely be interpreted but also contradicted as I shewed before out of the doctrine of Suarez Seeing therefore that this second Breue is onely an approouing and confirming of the former it can haue no more force to bind then the former hath for confirming whereof it was written by his Holinesse 27 By this you may see that I did not say as Mr. Fitzherbert vntruely affirmeth me to say that his Holinesse before he published his first Breue did not see maturely weigh and ponder the Oath and sufficiently as he thought informe himselfe of all the clauses contained therein or that his first Breue was false or surreptitious and not written vpon his owne certaine knowledge motion and will and after long and graue deliberation concerning all things contained therein But that which I said is that notwithstanding all his long and graue deliberation first either his first Breue was grounded not vpon any certaine doctrine and of faith but onely vpon his owne opinion and of the rest of his Diuines that the doctrine for his power to depose Princes is certaine and of faith which for that the contrary is truely probable and hath euer beene maintained by learned Catholikes no Catholike is bound to follow and consequently neither to obey his declaratiue precept which was grounded thereon as from the doctrine of Fa. Suarez I clearely deduced and this was my first and principall answere to the first Breue whereon the two other Breues did wholy depend or else secondly that if his Holinesse was perswaded by the information of Cardinall Bellarmine and his other Diuines as by all likelihood he was that in the Oath were contained many things flat contrary to faith and saluation for that he thought his power to inflict Censures to excommunicate to binde and loose in generall and consequently his spirituall Supremacie were denied in the Oath that then he was ill informed deceiued and abused by the aduise of Cardinall Bellarmine and of his other Diuines for that it is euident as I conuinced in my Theologicall Disputation that no such thing is denyed in the Oath and this was my second and lesse principall answere 28 Besides that Mr. Fitzherbert may in those last words of his to wit that the Pope testified that he made the first Breue with mature deliberation and certaine knowledge vse some cunning fraude For his meaning may be that his Holinesse testified that he made the first Breue not onely with mature deliberation had concerning all things contained therein but also with certaine knowledge of the trueth and veritie of all that he affirmed therein as though his Holinesse should haue said that he knew certainely that many things were contained in the Oath flat contrary to faith and saluation as hee affirmed in his first Breue whereas it is euident that his Holinesse said no such thing but those words certaine knowledge which in his second Breue were placed before and not after those words long and graue deliberation c. as this fraudulent man placeth them as though his certaine knowledge did proceede from his long and graue deliberation doe onely signifie that his Breue was not surreptitious false faigned forged or written without his priuitie and knowledge but that it was his true and vndoubted letter or Breue and that he certainely knew that all therein contained was written by his owne power will and motion which I neuer denied or meant to call in question 29 And therefore very falsly and dishonestly doth Mr. Fitzherbert say that I in effect charge his Holinesse to haue lied manifestly in his second Breue when he testified that he made the first with such mature deliberation and certaine knowledge as you haue heard For I euer acknowledged as his Holinesse in his second Breue doth testifie that his former Breue was not false or surreptitious but written as you haue heard vpon his certain knowledge motion and will and after long and graue deliberation had concerning all things contained therein yet from this long and graue deliberation it doth not follow that therefore his Holinesse and his Diuines found out the truth in all points and were not in very deede mistaken and deceiued in the true vnderstanding of some clauses of the Oath and that they certainely knew that the Popes power to depose Princes which is denied in the Oath is a point of faith or that his power to excommunicate to binde and loose c. which is a point of faith is denied in the Oath As also I doe willingly grant that Cardinall Bellarmines booke against his Maiesties Apologie was his owne true booke although masked vnder his Chaplaines name and not false or surreptitious but written vpon his certaine knowledge motion and will and after long and graue deliberation had concerning all things contained therein and notwithstanding all this I dare boldly affirme that he knew not certainely that all the things which he said therein were true and that in many things concerning the Oath whereof some I haue named before he was fowly mistaken and deceiued as I haue conuinced in my Theologicall Disputation 30 Now with the like fraude and falsitie doth Mr. Fitzherbert run from the second Breue to the third as he did before from the first to the second And if the second Breue saith he o Pag. 213. nu 4. did not suffice to cleare his Holinesse of this imputation yet his third Breue must be aboundantly sufficient to doe it in the opinion of any reasonable man seeing that he confirmed thereby his former iudgement giuing expresse order and facultie to Master George Birket the late Archpriest as Widdrington himselfe also signifieth p Ibid. nu 60. to punish by the depriuation of faculties all such English Priests of the Seminaries as being subiect to his iurisdiction had already taken the Oath or had taught or did still teach it to be lawfull and not abstaine from the same and resorme their errour vpon due admonition giuen them and within a certaine time to be prescribed vnto them whereby I say any reasonable man must needes be induced to thinke that his Holinesse neither was nor could be all this time which was more then two yeeres ignorant of the true nature and qualitie of the Oath and of the state of the question betwixt the Catholikes and their Aduersaries especially seeing that now he began to draw his Apostolicall sword proceeding to the punishment of such as did take or defend the Oath which he could not lawfully doe without due consideration and diligent discussion of the whole controuersie and sufficient information of all the circumstances thereof 31 Thus you see how Mr.
will vouchsafe to examine the cause himselfe and not to be ouer confident in the testimonie and conscience of his accuser who is both in great fauour with the Iudge and also is brought as a witnesse against him otherwise all the standers by will perceiue what manifest wrong is done him and hee will giue his Aduersaries great occasion to except and exclaime against him And this is my very case as you haue seene before 75 And whereas Mr. Fitzherbert obiecteth that I doe not promise to his Holinesse to retract or reforme my writings in case that he condemne them to which hee might also haue added that his Holinesse hath now condemned or rather forbidden some of my writings and I haue not as yet retracted or reformed them I answere first that I know not well what this silly man would conclude from hence vnlesse he would make his Reader belieue that I am obstinate in my doctrine which the ignorant man calleth an heresie and that I doe still maintaine that it is a probable doctrine and consequently may be maintained by any Catholike that the Pope hath not authority to depose temporall Princes and that therfore I am no Catholike but a formall heretike disguised and masked vnder the vizard of a Catholike and that all my pretences to bee a Catholike doe proceede from no other ground but from a deepe d ssimulation or rather an artificall and execrable hypocrisie to delude and deceiue Catholikes And this is the chiefe marke at which this rash-headed and vncharitable man aimeth at in this Chapter whereby hee plainely discouereth both the bitternes of his intemperate splene little beseeming the spirit of a religious Priest and also that he knoweth not himselfe what is required to be a Catholike or to haue true Catholike faith 76 Secondly therefore to answere this inference I doe boldly and resolutely affirme againe which also I haue sufficiently conuinced in this Treatise that it is a doctrine truely probable that the Pope hath no authority to depose absolute Princes or to discharge their subiects of their temporall allegiance and therefore it cannot truely bee noted of heresie errour or temerity and so the imputation of heresie concerning the doctrine it selfe is altogether auoided and the submission of all my writings to the Censure and iudgement of the Catholike Romane Church professing that if through ignorance I haue written any thing which she approoueth not I doe also reprooue it condemne it and desire it to bee hâ—ld for not written which is a retractation and recalling in generall of whatsoeuer I haue written amisse is sufficient to cleare mee from all imputation of obstinacie or wilfulnesse vntill I bee certified of some particular thing which requireth a more particular retractation 77 True it is that I did not promise to his Holinesse to retract or reforme my writings and doctrine in case hee should condemne them vpon the false informations of my Aduersaries for that I was not bound to make any such promise as you shall more fully see beneath And now in that manner as the Cardinals of the Inquisition haue by the commandement of his Holinesse as the Decree mentioneth forbidden my Apologie and Theologicall Disputation in the same manner I haue retracted and recalled all that I haue written amisse for as they haue onely in generall forbidden those bookes not expressing any cause or crime either in particular or in generall for which they are forbidden although I haue most humbly and earnestly requested to know some cause thereof so also I haue in generall retracted recalled what I haue written amisse both by abhorring and detesting all heresie and errour in generall and also by submitting my selfe to the Censure of the Catholike Romane Church and solemnely protesting to bee most ready to correct whatsoeuer in my writings is to be corrected to purge what is to bee purged to explaine what is to be explained and to retract what is to bee retracted which being so with what face conscieÌ„ce can this my ignorant and vncharitable Aduersary so confidently affirme that no zealous Catholike can take me for any other then an heretike disguised and masked vnder the vizard of a Catholike and that all my pretences to be a Catholike doe proceede from no other ground but from a deepe dissimulation or rather an artificiall and execrab e hypocrisie 78 But that vnlearned Catholikes may not be led blind folde by this ignorant and silly man who presumeth to be a Doctour and Teacher in these difficult points of Schoole-Diuinitie before he hath beene scarce a Scholler therein and that they may haue some sufficient light and directions to discerne vpon what grounds they ought to build their Catholike faith and whether they are bound to belieue with Catholike faith all that doctrine to bee faith which the Pope with the Cardinals of the Inquisition and his other Diuines of Rome propoundeth as of faith and that doctrine to be hereticall or erroneous which hee with their aduise and counsell condemneth as hereticall or erroneous I thinke it not amisse to set downe two principall obseruations to direct them therein 79 The first is that it is certaine and agreed vpon by all Diuines that true Catholike and supernaturall faith must alwaies bee certaine and infallible not onely in respect of the obiect or the thing which is to be belieued which must of necessity be true but chiefly and principally in respect of the reason or medium whereby wee assent thereunto for many opinions which include intrinsecally a feare and vncertainty as true naturall science and supernaturall faith include intrinsecally a certainety and exclude all feare doubt and vncertainty are true See Bannes secunda secundae q. 6. ar 2. and in respect of their obiect also necessary but the reason for which we belieue or giue assent is that which maketh our true Catholike and supernaturall faith and iudgement to bee infallible and this reason is the reuelation of God propounded to vs by the Church 80 The second is that it is also certaine that there is a great controuersie betwixt the Diuines of Rome and other learned Catholikes especially of Paris whether the Pope defining and determining any doctrine to bee of faith and the contrary hereticall without a generall Councell may erre or no and whether the Pope be subiect or superiour to a generall Councell Victor relect 4 de potest Papae Conc. proposit 3. Bellar. li 2. de Conc. cap. 13. Whereupon learned Victoria affirmeth that both opinions concerning the superiority of the Pope or Councell are probable and Card. Bellarmine himselfe confesseth that although in the Councell of Florence and in the last Lateran Councell the question seemeth to be defined yet because the Florentine Councell hath not so expresly defined it and some make doubt whether the Lateran Councell which hath most expresly defined it Bellar. ibid. ca. 17. albeit afterwards he saith that it is doubtfull whether shee defined it properly as to be
held with Catholike faith was truely a generall Councell therefore vnto this day it remaineth a question euen among Catholikes And all the world seeth that the Diuines of Paris are admitted to Sacraments which ought not to bee tolerated if they committed any heresie errour or temerity for defending this doctrine as publike harlots are in some sort permitted at Rome but not suffered to receiue Sacraments so long as they persist in that wicked life 81 And from hence it euidently followeth first that it is not certaine and infallible that the Pope with his Cardinalls and Diuines yea and with the particular Romane Church defining determining or propounding to the whole Church any thing to be beleeued formally as of faith without a generall Councell cannot erre and be deceiued and consequently such definitions cannot be certaine and infallible nor can be an assured ground of Catholike faith nor a sufficient reason motiue medium or cause to beleeue any thing by him so defined with Catholike faith for that the fundamentall reason medium cause and motiue to beleeue any thing with Catholike faith must be certaine and infallible as I shewed before out of Bannes from whom other Diuines doe not dissent herein and if that reason be vncertaine doubtfull or fallible the faith or beliefe which is grounded and dependeth thereon cannot be truely Catholike and infallible 82 Secondly if the Popes decrees and definitions in things to be beleeued as of faith albeit directed to the whole Church and in things which doe not concerne his owne particular interest honour authority or prerogatiue and wherein therefore there can be no suspicion that he himselfe is led by affection or his Counsellers and Diuines by flattery to the making of such Decrees are not certaine and infallible but may be false and exposed to errour and consequently can be no sure ground of Catholike faith what iudgement can any sensible man make of such decrees or definitions which are neither directed to the whole Church but to particular persons or Churches nor are propounded as of faith nor grounded vpon any doctrine which is certaine and out of controuersie but onely vpon a question maintained on both sides by learned Catholikes and which also concerneth the Popes owne interest authority and prerogatiue as are his Breues directed to English Catholikes which are neither propounded to the whole Church nor containe any definition as of faith but onely a declaratiue precept which is grounded vpon a controuersie which began in Pope Gregory the seuenth his time and hath since continued betwixt the Bishops of Rome and Christian Princes concerning the authority which Popes pretend to haue ouer all their temporalls 83 Thirdly if the Popes Decrees together with the Romane Church by which he declareth and defineth any doctrine to be of faith or against faith may be fallible and exposed to errour and consequently can be no certaine rule or ground of Catholike faith nor any sufficient reason cause or motiue to beleeue any thing with Catholike faith so long as this controuersie among Catholikes concerning the Popes infallibility in his definitions remaineth vndecided much lesse can a Decree of any Congregation of Cardinalls declaring any doctrine to be of faith or condemning any doctrine as hereticall erroneous temerarious or scandalous be an assured ground of Catholike faith or a sufficient reason for any man to beleeue with Catholike faith that doctrine to be such as their Decrees doe declare or condâ—mne Which being so what iudgement I pray you can any reasonable man make of such their Decrees which condemne no doctrine at all either in generall or particular but onely forbid certaine bookes to be read or kept without declaring for what cause or crime either in particular or in generall they are forbidden and such bookes also as are written against one of the chiefest of their Congregation of which sort is that Decree of the Cardinalls wherein two bookes of mine written chiefly against Cardinall Bellarmine are forbidden without expressing any cause or crime at all either in particular or generall why they are forbidden 84 Fourthly by all this it is euident what infinite wrong this my ignorant Aduersary whether onely through blinde and inconsiderate zeale or also through some passionate splene taken against me for contradicting his writings and some others of his Societie I leaue to God his own conscience to iudge hath both done to me in so falsly and yet vpon such childish grounds accusing me to be no Catholike but an hereticke disguised and masked vnder the vizard of a Catholike for not admitting the Popes Breues and declaratiue precept grounded at the most vpon an opinion which learned Catholikes haue euer impugned and taxing my doctrine of heresie for that my bookes are forbidden by the Cardinalls of the Inquisition without condemning any position contained in them of any crime either in particular or generall and also into what eminent danger he both casteth himselfe headlong and seeketh also to draw after him vnlearned Catholikes if they will follow such a blinde guide in waies which he himselfe for want of Scholasticall learning hath neuer gone by endeauouring to ouerthrow their Catholike faith and to perswade them to build it vpon fallible grounds as vpon Popes Breues which neither are directed to the whole Church nor doe containe any definition or declaration of any particular doctrine and vpon the Decrees of certaine Cardinalls condemning bookes onely in generall tearmes which perchance some of them neuer read nor for want of sufficient learning doe well vnderstand but doe relie either vpon the relation or iudgement of other men to whom the charge of ouerseeing such bookes is committed by them whereas the grounds of true Catholike faith and the fundamentall reason why a man ought to beleeue any thing with Catholike faith must be certaine infallible and without all controuersie And thus you see in what a labyrinth this silly man hath wound himselfe who seeking to perswade his Reader that I am no true Catholike but a disguised and masked hereticke vnder the name of a Catholike for not building my Catholike faith vpon vncertaine and fallible grounds and which are controuersed among learned Catholikes plainly bewraieth what a sound Catholike he himselfe is and vpon what sure grounds he buildeth his Catholike faith and would haue other Catholikes to build the same whereas according to the approoued doctrine of all learned Catholikes vnlesse it be built vpon certaine vndoubted and infallible grounds it cannot be a true Catholike faith but onely an vncertaine and fallible opinion masked vnder the vizard of Catholike faith 85 Lastly that vnlearned Catholikes may walke warily securely and without danger and bee not misled blindfold by this my ignorant Aduersary they must carefully obserue the difference betwixt the Church firmely beleeuing and probably thinking or which is all one betwixt Catholike faith and opinion The first difference is that the grounds of Catholike faith must bee certaine and infallible but the grounds of
no Catholike is bound to admit his Holinesse Breues forbidding Catholikes to take the Oath and to obey his declaratiue commandement contained therein for the reasons signified before which I humbly propounded to his Holinesse desiring him most earnestly as being our chiefe Pastour Teacher and Instructer to giue vs some satisfaction therein yet I cannot therefore in the iudgement of any learned man bee iustly accounted a disobedient childe to his Holinesse seeing that it is euident as I shewed before out of Dominicus Sotus that if a Superiour imposâ— a commandement whereby danger is feared to Religion or to the common-wealth or to a third person as all the world knoweth that the forbidding of the Oath is heere in England preiudiciall to Catholike Religion to his Maiestie and the temporall State and to all his Catholike subiects if the subiect be doubtfull that such a danger will arise he is not bound foorthwith to obey but he may without any disobedience demaund of his Prelate a reason of his commandement propounding humbly the reasons of his doubts 103 Besides Luthers doctrine was within two yeeres condemned not onely in generall words but also his propositions were specified in particular both by Pope Leo himselfe in his particular Bull concerning the same and also by the famous Vniuersities of Paris Louan and Collen But albeit two of my bookes are by a particular decree of the Cardinall forbidden in generall and I commanded vnder paine of Censures to purge my selfe forthwith yet they haue neither expressed any one proposition in particular neither as yet can I get them to name one proposition which is repugnant to faith or good manners although I haue most earnestly requested to know the same protesting from my heart to bee most readie to correct what is to bee corrected to purge what is to bee purged to explaine what is to be explained and to retract what is to bee retracted which their different proceeding against me and Luther doth plainly argue that they haue begun a worke which they cannot with their reputation continue and that there is no such dangerous doctrine contained in my bookes as Cardinall Bellarmine against whom I did chiefly write and who is my accuser Aduersarie and Iudge hath by all likelihood informed them and would gladly to saue his owne credit and that he hath not falsly to his great dishonour accused me and my doctrine of errour heresie and of being no good Catholike would make the world beleeue for which at the day of iudgement hee shall render a strict account And thus you see that this comparison which my indiscreete Aduersarie hath to disgrace me made betwixt me and Luther doth nothing helpe but greatly hurt his cause 104 Now you shall see what a fraudulent and vncharitable obseruation hee gathereth from hence That which I wish saith he z Pag. 121. nu 18. 19. to bee obserued heerein is how little heed is to bee taken to Widdringtons submission of his writings to the Roman Church he should haue saide Catholike Roman Church considering his doctrine and the course he holdeth in the maintaining thereof For as Cicero saide by Epicurus who wrote sometimes very vertuously and thereby deceiued many it is not so much to be considered what hee writeth as what his grounds and principles are and how well his writings agree therewith as for example what opinion he or any other hath or can haue of the authoritie of the Sea Apostolike who purposely impugneth the iurisdiction thereof contradicting as I haue shewed sufficiently in this Reply the ancient and generall practise of the Church the expresse Canons thereof and the Decrees of Popes and Generall Councells vpon an absurd supposition partly of a bare probabilitie in his own doctrine partly of a possibilitie of errour in Decrees touching matters of fact which he is not ashamed to say of the Decree of the famous Oecumenical Councel of Lateran albeit all Catholikes doe vniformely teach that generall Councells lawfully assembled and confirmed by the Pope cannot erre in any generall Decree touching either faith or manners as I haue sufficiently signified before a See chap. 16. nu 11. and 12. Besides that he vseth the very obiections arguments answeres shifts and euasions of heretikes discouering now and then such an arrogant proud and malicious spirit towards the Sea Apostolike that no zealous Catholike can reade him without great disgust and indignation or can take him for any other then an heretike disguised and masked vnder the vizard of a Catholike 105 But to answer the false and fraudulent obseruation or rather shamefull calumniation of this malignant spirit which hee would gladly colour with the luster of a faigned intemperate and Pharisaicall zeale to the Sea Apostolike I may rightly say to him as Saint Paul sayde to Elymas the Magician O plene omnidole omnifallacia Act. 13. c. O full of all guile and of all deceipt c. For to begin with his later wordes I doe not vse any other obiections arguments and answeres then which vertuous and learned Catholikes haued vsed before mee neither doe I discouer any arrogant proude or malicious spirit towards the Sea Apostolike whom I reuerence and respect with all my heart onely the plaine truth which Catholike Doctours haue said before me and which oftentimes breedeth enmitie I doe modestly reuerently and without any flattery which commonly procureth friends â—â—â—downe And this vncharitable and ignorant man might haue done well to haue named some one particular shift or euation which I haue vsed and which onely heretikes and no Catholikes doe vse or wherein I discouer such an arrogant proud and malicious spirit towards the Sea Apostolike that no zealous Catholike can reade it without disgust and indignation or take me for any other than an heretike disguished and masked vnder the vizard of a Catholike But this is a vsuall tricke of slanderers and backbiters to vse such generall speeches lest if they should descend to particulars their malicious and lying spirit would presently bee discouered 106 Secondly this silly man cannot prooue that any one thing either concerning my doctrine and the grounds and principles thereof or concerning the course which I hold in the maintenance thereof doth not agree with the submission I made of my writings to the censure and iudgement of the Catholike Romane Church For I doe not impugne any authoritie or iurisdiction which the Catholike Romane Church acknowledgeth as due to the Sea Apostolike but I impugne onely the Popes authority to depose Princes and to inflict temporall punishment as a thing certaine and necessarily to be belieued or maintained by Catholikes for that the Catholike Church neuer acknowledged this authoritie to be due to him neither was this doctrine in the primitiue Church and for many hundred yeares after by the ancient Fathers so much as dreamed on but it hath been challenged practised by some Popes since the time of P. Gregorie the 7. Res ante ea secula inaudita
the State to take compassion of them and to suffer them to make their innocencie and oppression knowne to the whole world in that manner they should thinke fittest being so infinitely wronged for his Maiesties sake in yeelding him that temporall allegiance which he requireth and they in their consciences thinke to be due to him 116 An other reason may be a willingnesse in his Maiestie and the State to haue plainly discouered to the whole world the different grounds and principles in things concerning obedience due to God and Caesar etwixt Catholikes of quiet disposition and in all other things good subiects and such other Catholikes as in their hearts maintaine the like violent bloody maximes that the Powder-Traytors did and a desire that his Catholike subiects would plainly let him see that in all temporall affaires they would and might lawfully according to the grounds of Catholike Religion adhere to him notwithstanding any authority by which the Pope might pretend to commaund them the contrarie whereby himselfe and his State might bee the better secured from all perturbations which might arise from thence and they also freed from most grieuous penalties which otherwise would bee imposed vpon them 117 And if the Pope should vpon some occasion offered be desirous to know how the Iewes that are borne and liue in his temporall Dominions stand affected towards him in point of their ciuill loyaltie and due obedience and whether they thought that their Chiefe Priest or Synagogue had according to the grounds of their Religion authoritie to absolue them from the bond of their naturall allegiance and for that cause should suffer bookes to be printed vnder the name of Iewes with Epistles dedicatory to their chiefe Priests and submission of the whole to the censure of their Synagogue or if the French King should for some good respects bee desirous to know the like concerning his Protestant subiects and thereupon suffer bookes to be printed vnder the name of Protestants with Epistles dedicatory to their chiefe Ministers and submission of the whole to their Congregation or Synode would not any man thinke it to bee both a manifest slander and childish inference to conclude from hence that eyther the Pope was turned Iew or the King of France become a Protestant for suffering such bookes to be printed in that manner or that therefore they knew the Authours of them meant the same for a meere mockery and derision of their chiefe Priests Ministers or Synodes honouring them as the Iewes did Christ when they kneeled downe and adored him saying Aue Rex Iudaeorum and spitting in his face And yet these are the manifest arguments which this vncharitable and ignorant fellow obiecteth against me to proue me an heretike disguised and masked vnder the vizard of a Catholike 118 An other Argument of the like kind vrgeth against mean other as foule a mouth'd and vncharitable Aduersarie of mine to wit that my bookes are printed without license and approbation of Catholike Superiours contrary to the decrees of the Lateran Councell vnder Pope Leo the tenth and also of the Councell of Trent But besides that this is more then this man doth know or can sufficiently prooue it is well knowne that neither that Lateran Councell nor the Councell of Trent were euer authentically receiued heere in England whereupon clandestine marriage which by a decree of the Councell of Trent is made inualide is heere in England euen among Catholikes accounted a true and valid marriage Moreouer it is well knowne that according to the doctrine of many learned Diuines which I haue related else where c In Disp Theol. cap. 10. sec 2. nu 41. Ecclesiasticall lawes doe not binde when there is danger of some great temporall harme by the obseruing of them or when some other necessitie to auoid great scandall or danger to Religion or the temporall common-wealth to know the trueth in a thing necessary to the great temporall or spirituall good or harme of many persons impugned by craft and violence and to defend himselfe and his credite from the slaunderous reports of vncharitable Aduersaries and such like necessities which are commanded or permitted by the law of God and nature all which may by any man of iudgement be applyed to the bookes written by me 119 Besides that saith Mr. Fitzherbert d Pag. 222. nu 20. and 21. their Lordships know full well that Widdrington shall more easily instill his pernicious doctrine into the mindes of Catholikes vnder the pretence and name of a Catholike of a friend and of a brother of theirs then if hee should discouer himself to bee a Protestant and enemy of their cause for as the Poet saith Tuta frequensque via est per amici fallere nomen Tuta frequensque licet sit via crimen habet Which one translated very aptly thus It is a safe and common way by friendship to deceiue Though safe common be the way t' is knauery by your leaue S. Ambrose saith Nihil periculosius his haereticis esse potest c. S. Ambros de filij diuvnt c. 1. Nothing can bee more dangerous then those heretikes who with some one word onely as with a drop of poyson doe infect the pure and sincere faith of our Lord and of the Apostolicall tradition But what would he haue said if he had seene this fellowes bookes impugning directly the Sea Apostolike and the whole course of the Ecclesiasticall gouernment vnder a solemne protestation and profession of obedience to the Church would he haue thought any thing more dangerous or pernicious then him and his workes No truely 120 That which his Maiesty and the State might very well know for their secret thoughts and intentions we cannot know but by coniecture was this that Catholikes would hardly beleeue or reade the writings and bookes of Protestants in matters which may be thought to concerne Religion And therefore to the end his Catholike subiects might plainely see and discerne according to the grounds of Catholike Religion the true difference betwixt spirituall obedience due to the Pope and temporall allegiance due to himselfe and the proper acts and obiects of eyther of them and thereby might the more easily be drawn to giue him that temporall allegiance which hee requireth at their hands And that also all other Catholikes of other Countreyes might perceiue the lawfulnesse of the Oath against which the Iesuites especially did so greatly exclaim vpon what doctrin principles his Maiesty grounded the same also that he himselfe might certainly know what particular exceptions his Holinesse would or could take against any clause of the Oath and what one thing in particular therein contained is contrary to faith and saluation as his Holinesse had in generall in his Breues affirmed that many things were therein clerely repugnant thereunto his Maiesty thought it not amisse to suffer my bookes to be printed vnder the name of a Catholike with Epistles dedicatory to the Pope and with submission of the
with Gods enemieâ— c. thereby to discredit me with Catholikes and to draw their affection from mee and to make them beleeue that I am a Spie and haue intelligence with the State to seeke the ouerthrow of Catholikes I answere that it is a most vncharitable and malicious slander For I call God to witnesse that I neither began nor do continue to write of this dangerous and difficult question at the motion instigation counsell or aduise of any Protestant whatsoeuer but vpon my owne free will and motion after long deliberation had concerning all the dangers and difficulties which were like to befall mee thereby meerely and sincerely for the loue of God of my Prince and Countrey and a desire to know the truth in this important question which so neerely concerneth our obedience due to God and Caesar as I solemnly and sincerely protested in the Preface of my first booke 131 And as for my intelligence with the State I doe sincerely protest and call God to bee both a witnesse and Reuenger if it bee not true that albeit I haue beene sent for sometimes to my Lord of Canterburies Grace and other times although but seldome haue gone vnto him of my owne accord about my owne particular affaires and should haue gone oftener for diuers respects but that I thought it best to abstaine that such slanderous backbyters should not take occasion thereby to make greater clamours against mee yet I neuer gaue any intelligence or information against any Catholike man whatsoeuer that might bee to him the least preiudice in the world albeit I haue had sometimes both fit occasion and iust cause and which in my conscience I might lawfully haue done in defence of my owne good name to seeke redresse against some vncharitable persons who haue most vnconscionably wronged me and sought my ouerthrow who although they bee of great account among Catholikes yet if the truth were knowne they would be most odious to all men for their execrable dissimulation and vnchristian carriage Neuerthelesse I thought it best to remit my innocie and the iustice of my cause to almightie God who in due time will be a iust Iudge and a seuere Reuenger hoping that my patience might in time be an occasion of their repentance Yet I doe freely confesse and acknowledge that I am infinitely bound to his Maiestie to my Lord of Canterbury diuers others of high place degree although I haue neuer spoken with them for many speciall fauours among which I account this not to be the least that they haue gratiously been pleased to suffer Catholikes to make knowne to the world their vnfained loyaltie and how much they detest that horrible and most abominable Powder-treason and the bloodie grounds and principles thereof for all which their fauours and benefits I will euer pray for their eternall and temporall happinesse and account my selfe vnable to giue them sufficient thankes for the same And truely I doe wish with all my heart that all Catholikes would giue such outward tokens of their true and inward loyaltie and sincere affection towards his Maiestie and the State that they might deserue to receiue some comfortable fauour at their hands 132 Now for a finall conclusion Mr. Fitzherbert will bring a more authenticall testimonie and iudgement then his owne concerning my selfe and my writings to wit the forbidding of two bookes of mine by a Decree of the Cardinalls of the Inquisition which neuerthelesse as you shall see is rather a virtuall confirmation then any condemnation of my doctrine And now to conclude saith he e Pag. 224. nu 23. 24. with a more authenticall testimonie and iudgement then my owne concerning Widdrington and his workes I thinke good to giue thee heere a true copie of a Decree very lately printed and published by a Congregation of Cardinalls deputed by his Holinesse for the examination of suspected bookes who by his Holinesse expresse order and commandement haue condemned and prohibited such bookes of his as haue hitherto come to their hands to wit his Apologie and Theologicall Disputation For although they find by a certain Preface annexed to his Theol. Dispu that he hath written also an other booke against an English Doctor yet because they haue neuer seene it they haue not expresly and separately censured or named it in the Decree neuerthelesse the subiect thereof being such as by the Preface it seemeth to bee that is to say containing the same doctrine them he hath deliuered in his other a bookes all Catholikes may easily iudge what opinion they ought to haue of it and may iustly expect that if hee bee a Catholike as hee professeth to bee hee will now shew it not onely changing priuately his opinion but also publikely retracting his doctrine with all conuenient speede thereby to cleare himselfe according to an expresse admonition giuen him in the said Decree vpon paine of such Ecclesiasticall Censures as shall otherwise be inflicted vpon him 133 The Copy of the Decree is this DEcretum Sacra Conregationis Illustrissimorum S.R.E. Cardinalium a S. D. N. Paulo Quinto Sanctaque Sede Apostolica ad Indicem librorum eorundemquc permissionem prohibitionem expurgationem impressionem in vniuersa Republica Christiana specialiter deputatorum vbique publicandum Sacra Congregatio Illustrissimorum S. R. E. Cardinalium ad Iudicem deputatorum viso libro falso inscripto Apologia Cardinalis Bellarminij pru Iure Principum aduersus suas ipsius rationes pro authoritate Papali Principes Seculares in ordine ad bonum spirituale deponâ—ndi Authore Rogero Widdringtono Catholico Anglo 1611. eiusdemque Authoris alio libro inscripto Disputatio Theologica de Iuramento Fidelitatis Sanctissimo Patri Paulo Papae V. dedicata Albionopoli 1613. vtrumque librum damnandum atque prohibendum esse censuit sicuti de mandato Sanctissimi Domini nostri D. Pauli Papae V. prefenti decreto penitus damnat prohibet quouis idiomate impressium aut imprimendum ac nisi illorum Author qui se Catholicum profiteur quam primum se purgauerit censuris ac alijs paenis Ecclesiasticis intelligat se omnino coercendum Mandat autem quòd nullus deniceps cuiuscunque gradus conditionis sub paenis in Sacro Concilio Tridentino in Indice librorum prohibitorum contentis supradictos libros audeat imprimere aut imprimi durare vel quomodocunque apud se detinere aut legere subijsdem paenis praecipit vt quicunque nunc eos habent vel habuerint in futurum locorum Ordinarijs seu Inquisitoribus statim a presentis decreti notitia illos exhibeant In quorum fidem praesens decretum manu sigillo Illustrissimi Reuerendissimi Domini D. Cardinalis S. Ceciliae Episcopi Albanensis signatum munitum fuit die 16. Martij 1614. P. Episcopus Albanensis Candinalis S. Cecilia Locus ✚ Sigilli Reg. fol. 50. Fr. Thomas Pallauicinus Ordinis Praedicatorum Secretarius Romae ex Typographia Camerae Apostolicae 1614. A Decree TO
bee published euery where made by the Sacred Congregation of the most Honourable Cardinalls of the holy Roman Church specially deputed by our most holy Lord Pope Paul the fift and the holy Apostolike Sea for the examination of bookes and their permission prohibition purgation and impression throughout the vniuersall Christian Common-wealth The Sacred Congregation of the most Honourable Cardinalls of the holy Roman Church deputed for the examination of bookes hauing seene a booke falsly intituled An Apologie of Cardinall Bellarmine for the right of Princes against his owne reasons for the Popes authoritie to depose Secular Princes in order to spirituall good written by Roger Widdrington an English Catholike in the yeere of our Lord 1611. and another booke of the same Authour intituled A Theologicall Disputation concerning the Oath of Allegiance dedicated to the most holy Father Pope Paul the fift Printed at Albinopolis in the yeere of our Lord 1613. hath iudged both the bookes worthy to bee condemned and prohibited and by the commandement of our most holy Lord Pope Paul the fift doeth by this present Decree vtterly condemne and prohibite them in what language soeuer they are printed or to be printed and except the Authour of them who professeth himselfe to be a Catholike doe cleare himselfe foorthwith hee is to vnderstand that hee shall bee throughly punished with Censures and other Ecclesiasticall penalties Furthermore it commandeth vnder the penalties contained in the holy Councell of Trent and the Index of forbidden bookes that none of what degree or condition soeuer be so bold from hencefoorth to print the foresaide bookes or cause them to bee printed or keepe them with him in any sort or reade them Also it commandeth vnder the same penalties that whosoeuer hath them now or shall haue them heereafter hee shall presently vpon the knowledge of this present Decree exhibite them to the Ordinaries of the places where he is or to the Inquisitours In testimonie whereof this present Decree was signed and sealed with the hand and seale of the most Honourable and most Reuerend Lord the Lord Cardinall of S. Caecila Bishop of Alba the 16. of March 1614. P. Bishop of Alba Cardinall of S. Caecilia The place ✚ for the seale Regist fol. 50. Fr. Thomas Pallauicinus of the Order of the Preachers Secretarie Printed in Rome by the Printer of the Apostolicall Chamber 1614. 134 To this Decree may bee added a Letter which the Popes Nuncius in Flaunders wrote from Bruxels to Mr. George Birket then Arch-Priest touching my Theologicall Disputation dedicated to his Holinesse the Copie whereof is this Admodum Reuerende Domine vti frater in Christo dilectissimé PEruenit in vrbem Disputatio Theologica de Iuramento Fidelitatis tertium sub Widdringtoni nomine evulgatum opus Ibi cum diligenter examinatum sit declarauit Sanctissimus D. N. nullo modo se dicti operis dedicationem acceptare illius Authorem neque Ecclesiae filium neque Catholicum existimare omnesque insuper Catholicos ab illius lectione abstinere prorsus debere De his ante paucos dies per Sanctae Romanae Inquisitionis Congregationis literas de mandato suae Sanctitatis edoctus sum vt de ijsdem ad Dominationem tuam imprimis scriberem quò eadem istic Catholicis significes ac pro tua prudentia innotescere cures Deus Dominationem tuam Coelesti sua custodia muniat Bruxellis 26. Nouembr 1613. Admodum Reuerendae Dominationis tuae Amantissimus studiosus Very Reuerend Sir and as a Brother most beloued in Christ THere came into the Citie of Rome a Theologicall Disputation concerning the Oath of Allegiance the third worke published vnder the name of Widdrington After it was there diligently examined our most Holy Lord declared that he in no wise accepted the Dedication of the said Worke and that hee thought the Authour thereof to bee neither a childe of the Church nor a Catholike and moreouer that all Catholikes should abstaine from the reading thereof Of these things I was certified some few daies since by Letters of the Congregation of the Holy Romane Inquisition by the commandement of his Holinesse to the end that first of all I should write thereof to your Reuerence that you may signifie the same to Catholikes there according to your wisedome to make it knowne to them God defend your Reuerence with his heauenly custodie From Bruxels the 26. of Nouemb. 1613. Of your Reuerence most louing and respectiue 135 Now from this Decree Mr. Fitzh concludeth this last Chapter and his whole Replie in this manner So as saith he f Pag. 225. num 25. 26. I hope Catholike Reader thou shalt shortly be out of all doubt of what Religion Widdrington is for if now after that this controuersie of the Oath hath beene many yeares debated and discussed by the learned Catholikes of diuers Nations and determined by two Apostolicall Breues yea and that his owne Bookes written in defence of the Oath are condemned by his Holinesse and hee himselfe peremptorily admonished vnder paine of Ecclesiasticall Censures to cleare and conforme himselfe without further delay if now I say after all this he will pretend as hitherto he hath done that his Holinesse is still ignorant of the true state of the question or that he is deceiued deluded by others or else if he seeke other new shifts euasions or delaies to excuse or deferre his conformitie to the iudgement of his supreame Pastour he shall shew himselfe to he either a scabbed or rotten sheepe worthy to be excluded out of the folde for feare hee infect others or else a rauening Wolfe clad in a sheepes skinne Besides that it will euidently appeare that all his former pretences to de a Catholike and his submissions to the Sea Apostolike g He should haue said to the Catholike Romane Church for these be Widdringtons expresse words haue proceeded from no other ground but from a deepe dissimulation or rather an artificiall and execrable hypocrisie to delude and deceiue Catholikes which I leaue good Catholike Reader to thy prudent consideration and humbly beseeching Almighty God from the bottome of my heart to illuminate and inspire him with his grace that he may see his owne lamentable estate and preuent the danger of his soule wherein be runneth headlong if he continue his wonted course 136 But to this Decree of the Lord Cardinals and to the letter of the Pope Nuncius to Mr. Birkett and also to all that which Mr. Fitzherbert concludeth from the aforesaid Decree there needeth no other answer then to set down my Purgation humble Supplication to his Holines wherein I desired to know any one thing which in the Oath is repugnant to faith or saluation as his Holinesse in his Breues declared that there are many things in the Oath flat contrary to faith and saluation or any one thing in my bookes which are against faith or good manners protesting with all sinceritie to correct what is to be
corrected to purge what is to be purged to explains what is to be explained and to retract what is to be retracted Whereby it will euidently appeare that I still remaine an obedient childe of the Church and a true Catholike and that my submission to the Catholike Romane Church was sincere vnfaigned and did not proceed from the least dissimulation at all and that from the aforesaid Decree no colourable argument can be drawne to prooue me to be no Catholike and childe of the Church and to condemne or disprooue but to iustifie and to approoue as well the Oath as the doctrine which I haue taught in my Bookes 137 This therefore is the Copie of my Purgation and humble Supplication to his Holinesse which for satisfaction of some Catholikes who perchance haue not seene it and also for some other respects I thinke it not amisse to set downe here againe To the most Holy and most blessed Father Pope Paul the fift Roger Widdrington an English Catholike wisheth euerlasting happinesse 1_THere came vnto my hands some few daies since most blessed Father a certaine Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the right Honourable Cardinals of the Holy Romane Church who are deputed for the examining of Bookes dated the 16. day of March of this present yeare 1614. and printed in Rome by the Printer of the Apostolicall Chamber wherein two Bookes written by me sincerity nnd simplicity of heart are by name but yet onely in generall words without naming any crime either in particular or in generall at which many doe maruaile altogether condemned and forbidden by the commandement of your Holinesse And the Authour of them vnlesse he shall forth with purge himselfe is threatned to bee punished with Censures and other Ecclesiasticall punishments 2 But what manner of purging your Holinesse doth expect at my hands who am the Authour of those Bookes and of what crime I ought to purge my selfe seeing that in this Decree there is no crime either in particular or in generall obiected against me of which I should purge my selfe neither is my conscience priuie to any crime for the making or publishing of those Bookes I cannot verily in any wise perceiue I know that certaine Doctours misinterpreting my words haue in their publike writingsfalsly and very iniuriously and not to speake a more heinous word I pray God to forgiue them impeached mee of certaine crimes by whose instigation I know not whether your Holinesse hath beene mooued to condemne those Bookes but considering that both they are my Aduersaries in this controuersie and that they are mooued in my opinion rather by affection then by solide reason and also that they doe fouly corrupt my words and wrest them to a bad sense and neuer meant by mee as I could most clearely demonstrate a a This I haue since demonstrated to his Holinesse in the discouery of D. Schulckenius or rather Card. Bellarmines slanders to your Holinesse if it were now a conuenient time I doe not thinke that so great authority is to bee giuen either to their sayings or writings of what learning or dignity soeuer otherwise they bee that they are of force to binde me either to embrace their opinions especially being grounded vpon so weake foundations or not to defend my innocency from their false accusations in such an exceeding great crime as heresie is 3 And that your Holinesse may cleerely perceiue that I haue alreadie in these bookes which are forbidden by your commandement purged my selfe as much as is sufficient for a childe of the Catholike Church I thinke it necessary to repeate againe with as much breuity as may be in what manner I haue in those bookes made profession of the Catholike faith which in my opinion aboundantly sufficeth for the purging of my selfe from all imputation of heresie errour or any other crime which doth depend on these and for what thing I made Supplication to your Holinesse in that Disputation of the Oath of Allegiance that thereby your Holinesse may manifestly perceiue that some persons not of the meanest degree although perchance with the ignorant sort of people they doe greatly impaire my credit yet they doe also bring your Holinesse into no small obloquy both among prudent Cacholikes and especially among those who are Aduersaries to the Catholike faith whiles they are not afraide to divulge not so circumspectly in my iudgement as is fitting that your Holinesse did in good earnest auouch that you thought the Authour of that Disputation to be neither a Catholike nor a childe of the Church whereas the Authour doth professe himselfe both to be a Catholike a childe of the Catholike Romane Church and also submitteth most humbly that Disputation and all his other writings to the iudgement of the Holy Catholike Romane Church neither that you would accept of the Dedication of that booke whereas that Dedication as it is manifest by the Authors Epistle to your Holinesse was onely a most humble Supplication of the Author and of other Catholikes to your Holinesse that your Holinesse as being the supreme Pastour of the Catholike Church and whose office is to instruct and confirme the sheepe of Christ in the Catholike faith would be pleased to instruct them in the Catholike faith and in those things which your Holinesse had declared by your Breues to be in the Oath cleerely repugnant to faith and saluation And that your Holinesse did speake the aforesaid words both of the Author and also of the Dedication some heere giue foorth that your Holinesse his Nuncius then residing at Bruxells did signifie as much to M. George Birket the Arch-Priest who was then liuing and that the same Nuncius did withall affirme that he was certified thereof some few daies since for so are the expresse words of the Nuncius his letters b b These letters were dated at Bruxels 2. Novemb 1613. are to be seene aboue nu 134. which are carried about among us by letters of the Congregation of the holy Romane Inquisition by the commandement of your Holinesse to the end that hee first of all should write thereof to his Reuerence that hee according to his wisedome should signifie as much and make it knwone to Catholikes 4 First therefore I the Author of those bookes did protest that I composed them being mooued thereunto for the zeale of God of Religion and of my Countrey and for more particular reasons which I related in the beginning of those bookes without any respect of worldly fauour or feare neither with any obstinate minde but onely to finde out the Catholike truth in this most weighty Controuersie which belongeth to the yeelding of obedience due by the law of Christ to God and Casar to your Holinesse who is the supreme Pastour in earth of our soules and to our King his most excellent Maiesty In Apol. ad Lect. in fine who in temporalls is inferiour onely to God and I did submit most humbly whatsoeuer was contained in them to the iudgement
therefore as in the end of that Disputation I affirmed I did faithfully set downe all the chiefest arguments which are vsually alledged as well against the taking of the Oath as in fauour thereof neither did I affirme any thing of my owne opinion but onely as representing the persons of them who of set purpose do publikely maintain that the Oath either may or may not be lawfully taken leauing it to the Fatherly care of your Holinesse that when you haue bin fully informed of the whole progresse of the matter and haue diligently examined all the reasons for which English Catholikes obeying the Kings cōmandement haue taken the Oath you will be pleased particularly to approue them or to condemne them that Catholikes in this so most weightie a matter which doth so neerely concerne the prerogatiue of your spirituall Authoritie and of his Maiesties Royaltie being fearefull to resist your Holinesse precept declared in your Breues and also being desirous to obey as much as with a safe conscience they may his Maiesties commaund may cleerely perceiue which particular clauses of the Oath they are bound to admit and which they are bound to reiect and may in plaine and expresse tearmes without any ambiguity of words be instructed by your Holinesse in what manner they may satisfie their owne conscience your Holinesse will and also his Maiesties desire concerning all the particular parts of the Oath For as they are very ready to hazard their whole temporall estate and also to loose their liues for the Catholike faith which by the Church to whom this office belongeth to define matters of faith and not to priuate Doctours who may deceiue and be deceiued is declared to be truely the Catholike faith so doubtlesse they are vnwilling to expose themselues their whole Family and Posterity which this our age doth so much labour to aduance to eminent danger of their temporall vtter ruine onely for opinions although they be maintained by the greater and better part of Diuines so that others although farre fewer in number doe defend the contrary But as they are desirous with all their hearts to obey your Holinesse in spirituall matters and in those things which cannot be omitted without sinne so also they might iustly thinke themselues to be more hardly vsed then children are wont by their Parents if in these times specially wherein by reason of the Catholike faith which they professe they haue grieuously incurred his Maiesties high displeasure who is of a contrary Religion they should without sufficient reason be forbidden to giue that temporall Allegiance to his Maiestie which they perswade themselues to be by the Law of Christ due to him hauing alwayes before their eyes that commaundement of Christ our Sauiour Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars and the things that are Gods Matth. 22. to God 11 And that your Holinesse may yet more cleerely perceiue that this my Disputation of the Oath which is rather to be called a most humble Supplication to your Holinesse was written in manner of an humble Petition I thinke it not amisse to repeate also word by word these very last words of my Epistle to your Holinesse 12 This therefore most Holy Father is our most humble Supplication to your Holinesse First that your Holinesse will be pleased to examine diligently the reasons for which our English Catholikes doe thinke the Oath may lawfully be taken and whereof they are perswaded your Holinesse is not yet rightly informed Secondly that after you haue throughly examined them you will vouchsafe in regard of your Pastorall carefulnesse to instruct them what parts of the Oath are I doe not say according to the probable opinion of some Dhctours but according to Catholike doctrine necessarily to be belieued by all Christians repugnant to faith and saluation and therefore cannot be taken by any Catholike with a safe and probable conscience Thirdly that if your Holinesse shall find that you haue not beene rightly informed of those reasons for which our English Catholikes are of opinion that the Oath may lawfully be taken and that therfore they haue not in a matter of so great weight proceeded rashly and vnaduisedly you will be pleased receiue them and their Priests into your ancient fauour and that if they or any of them haue not through their owne fault but through the indiscreet zeale of others suffered any losse or detriment in their good names or other wayes it may be restored againe to them in that best manner as shall seeme conuenient to the charitie iustice and wisedome of your Holinesse 13 Now what there is contained in this our humble Petition against which your Holinesse hath iust cause to take so high displeasure that you will not accept thereof I remit to the iudgement of indifferent men but especially of your Holinesse For by that which we haue said it doth manifestly appeare that this Disputation of the Oath was for that end composed by me to informe your Holinesse who is the supreme Pastour of the Catholike Church and to whom Christ our Lord hath giuen charge to feede his sheepe not onely with precepts and Censures but also with the word of Doctrine and to instruct them in the Catholike faith truely of our state and to propound vnto your Holinesse sincerely and with all dutifull submission those doubts and difficulties which both to my selfe and to other Catholikes doe occure about this new Oath which is commaunded by his Maiestie forbidden by your Holinesse and daily taken by almost all Catholikes of the better sort to whom it is tendred yea euen by those who haue the Iesuits for their Directours howsoeuer these Fathers doe in outward shew seeme to condemne the same that after your Holinesse had duely examined the reasons and arguments which are vsually alledged on both sides against and for the taking of the Oath you would be pleased to satisfie our consciences and to make knowne vnto vs what parts of the Oath may according to the principles of the Catholike faith be lawfully and what parts may not lawfully be taken and lastly to declare vnto vs which be those many things which your Holinesse being not rightly informed by some as we imagine hath affirmed in your Breues to be cleerely repugnant to faith and saluation for no man be he neuer so great an enemie to the Oath dare auouch that all things contained in the Oath are repugnant to faith or saluation 14 Now I beseech your Holinesse to iudge first whether I the Authour of those Bookes who haue professed my selfe to be a Catholike and a Child of the Catholike Romane Church and haue subiected all my writings to her iudgement and Censure with that submission that whatsoeuer should not be approoued by her I would disprooue condemne and haue it for not written ought to be iudged by the Supreme Pastour and Father of the Catholike Church to be no Catholike nor a child of the Catholike Church If I be no Catholike doubtlesse I must bee
an heretike and defend obstinately seeing that heresie to be imputed to sinne cannot be without obstinacie some doctrine contrary to the Catholike faith But to say nothing at this time of the doctrine which I maintained in those Bookes which if it were cleerely hereticall why did not that Sacred Congregation condemne those Bookes as hereticall I protested to write nothing obstinately but with an humble and submissiue minde and ready to recall my errour as soone as I should perceiue to haue erred in any thing I confesse indeed that I may erre but by God his assistance I will neuer be an heretike And if perchance in any thing I haue erred it is no errour of malice or obstinacie but of ignorance For I will neuer by God his protection wittingly and willingly defend any thing at all which I shall know to be contrary to sound Doctrine or to the Catholike faith 15 Secondly concerning that which some men to no small scandall to Catholike Religion and to the great disgrace of the Sea Apostolike especially among those who be Aduersaries to the Catholike Religion do giue out that your Holinesse should say that you would not accept the Dedication of my Disputation concerning the Oath or rather the most humble Supplication of my selfe and of other Catholikes as I haue shewed before this onely at this present I will say that we English Catholikes are doubtlesse most miserable who daily enduring so many discommodities of this life for the Catholike faith which we professe and hauing prouoked his Maiestie a Prince otherwise most mercifull who professeth the contrary Religion to take displeasure against vs which of all the rest we account most grieuous and hauing therefore for a long time beene and are daily made a pitifull spectacle to this whole Kingdome now by humble Petition crauing to bee instructed by your Holinesse in those things which you by your Apostolicall Breues haue to our most great temporall preiudice declared to be manifestly repugnant to faith and saluation doe not onely not deserue so much at your hands as to be heard herein but your Holinesse doth forbid and condemne our Petition and doth threaten the Authour to bee punished with Censures and other Ecclesiasticall punishments vnles he purge himselfe forthwith yet after an vnusuall manner impeacheth him of no crime whereof he should purge himselfe 16 For behold most blessed Father how miserable and to be pittied is our case Our Kings most excellent Maiesty to whom by the law of Christ we owe temporall allegiance doth demand of vs vnder paine of incurring most grieuous penalties an Oath which he affirmeth to be onely a temporall Oath and of temporall Allegiance your Holinesse to whom by the law also of Christ wee are bound to obey in spirituals hath by your Breues altogether condemned the same as containing in it many things flat contrary to faith and saluation and hath withall declared that all those Priests who either doe take the said Oath or doe teach or shall teach that it may lawfully bee taken shall bee depriued of their faculties Wee English Catholikes being betweene these two narrow straights and fearing least that by auoiding the gulfe of Caribdis we should fall vpon the rocke of Scilla that is least that wee should not render to God or Caesar that which is their due doe most instantly request your Holinesse who is our Superiour Pastour in spirituals and whose proper office is to instruct and confirme the sheepe of Christ in the Christian faith that you will bee pleased to shew vnto vs those many things or at least wise one among those many which in this Oath are so repugnant to faith and saluation to the end that we may both satisfie our owne conscinces and also fulfill your Holinesse and his Maiesties commands as much as in vs lyeth and Catholike Religion will permit And neuerthelesse your Holinesse doth not onely not admit our Petition wherein with all dutifull submission we doe propound the reasons and arguments which are vsually obiected against and for the taking of the Oath to be examined by your Holinesse and affirming nothing of our owne opinion but you doe also by the euill information of others as we are perswaded wholly condemn the same without alleadging any crime either in particular or in generall against it and doe declare that the Authour thereof or your humble Petitioner except he purge himselfe forthwith shall be grieuously punished and neuerthelesse you make no mention of any crime at all whereof hee should purge himselfe 17 Is it perchance a crime for those that are in ignorance errour and doubt to haue recourse to the supreame Pastour and Doctour of the Church to be instructed by him in faith and with due submission to propound to him the doubts and difficulties which trouble both their owne and other mens consciences to be answered and satisfied by him and that not in things of small moment but in such as vnder paine of incurring great penalties doe belong to the yeelding of due obedience to God and Caesar Is it a crime for children that are hungry to craue bread of their Father for sheepe that want Pasture to require foode of their Sheepheard for Disciples that are ignorant to beseech humbly some instruction of their Master and Teacher Wee English Catholikes doe acknowledge your Holinesse to be our spirituall Father Pastour and Master and doe most humbly request to be instructed by your Holinesse in the Catholike faith and in those many things which your Holinesse by your Breues hath declared to be plainly repugnant to faith and saluation and your Holinesse doth damne and forbid our Petition and doeth ordaine after a manner altogether vnusuall that I the Authour thereof who in the name of the rest haue written and composed the same except I purge my selfe very speedily shall bee punished most seuerely For as I thinke in no tribunall on the earth this custome is to bee found that any man is compelled by sentence of the Iudge to purge himselfe vnder paine of incurring most grieuous punishments vnlesse the Iudge doth make knowne vnto him the crime for which if he doe not purge himselfe he is to be condemned Besides that it is impossible for one to purge himselfe of that crime whereof hee is ignorant 18. And to speake freely the truth for now I being summoned before the highest tribunall on earth to purge my selfe am by the law it selfe permitted to speake somewhat more freely so that I speake truely and modestly this new kinde of condemning the bookes of Catholike Authours and of commanding the Author to purge himselfe foorthwith being made by such a publike Decree and vnder paine of incurring the penalties contained in the Councell of Trent and in the Index of forbidden bookes without naming any crime eiher in particular or in generall for which they are condemned and of which the Author should purge himselfe considering that the same punishment is not appointed in the Index for reading without
heere cited by him and haue beene cleerely confuted by me and more particularly to the Contents Abridgement or as it were Index of all the things which are handled by me in this Treatise which he may see partly in the very beginning of the first part before the Preface to the Reader and partly of this third 43 To conclude therefore this Chaper seeing that I haue made it manifest in his Treatise that no one effectuall argument grounded either vpon the holy Scriptures the law of Nature or Nations the Canonicall or Ciuill law or any other Theologicall reason hath hitherto beene brought by my Aduersaries which is sufficient to perswade any iudicious man that the doctrine for the Popes power to depose Princes to dispose of temporalls or to inflict temporall punishments is certain and of faith and the contrary hereticall erroneous or improbable it is euident that the new Oath of Allegiance which is chiefly grounded vpon the denying and impugning of this doctrine and the practise thereof may with a safe and probable conscience and without any note of dangerous temeritie or mortall sinne be taken by any Catholike man notwithstanding that the Pope by seuerall Breues hath iudged and commaunded or supposed the contrary for that there is no danger of temeritie or disobedience not to follow the iudgement and opinion of the supreme Pastour when it is contrary to the doctrine of other learned Catholikes or not to obey his declaratiue precept when it is not grounded vpon any certaine and infallible doctrine but either vpon the false information and vnderstanding of other learned men or vpon the priuate and probable opinion at the most of his Holinesse as I haue amply proued in my Theologicall Disputation Disput Theol. cap. 10. sâ—c 2. all which Mr. Fitzherbert in this Reply of his doth fraudulently conceale who vrgeth with might and maine to terrifie thereby the consciences of vnlearned and scrupulous Catholikes the Popes declaratiue commaundement who by his Breues forbiddeth the Oath to be taken for that it containeth in it many things which are clearely repugnant to the faith and saluation and craftily dissembleth the answeres which I haue made thereunto and which are sufficient to quiet the conscience of any iudicious Catholike man and to take away all iust feare and terrour of conscience out of his mind 44. And especially seeing that his Holinesse which is very considerable and worthy to be obserued hath beene diuers times with great instance and importunitie most humbly requested and in some sort coniured by his Pastorall office and duety to make manifest to distressed English Catholikes one onely thing among so many which he saith in his Breues are in the Oath manifestly repugnant to faith and saluation which his Holinesse without all doubt in regard of his fatherly care and Pastorall office both would and ought to haue made manifest ere this being vrged thereto by so many and earnest Supplications if he had not clearely seene when he had more diligently examined the whole matter being so greatly vrged and importuned to name but one onely thing among so many which he said were in the Oath plainely repugnant to faith and saluation both that his power to excommunicate and to inflict Censures was not denied in the Oath as Cardinall Bellarmine and other Romane Diuines by all probable coniectures as you shall see in the next Chapter had informed him and also that the doctrine for the Popes power to depose Princes which is expresly denied in the Oath and whereon his prohibition to take the Oath according to the opinion of all my Aduersaries was partly grounded was not a point of faith but onely a controuersie among learned Catholikes and as yet not decided by the Iudge and m Trithemius in â—ronico Monast Hirsaugiensis ad annum 1106. consequently that it might be denied and impugned by any Catholike man without any note of heresie errour temeritie or any other deadly sinne so long as the question remaineth so vndecided and in controuersie among learned Catholikes CHAP. XVII Wherein M. Fitzherberts vncharitable Admonition to the Catholike Reader that Widdrington is no other then an heretike disguised and masked vnder the vizard of a Catholike and that his submission to the Catholike Romane Church proceedeth from no other ground but from a deepe dissimulation or rather an artificiall and execrable hypocrisie to delude and deceiue Catholikes is cleerely confuted and proued to be void of charitie learning and sinceritie Also Widdringtons answere to the Popes Breues is confirmed and he freed from all disobedience for not admitting them and lastly the Decree of the Cardinalls forbidding Widdringtons bookes and commaunding him to purge himselfe forthwith is fully answered by his Purgation and humble Supplication which he made forthwith to his Holinesse 1 MY vnlearned Aduersarie T.F. hauing not beene able in the former Chapters as you haue seene to prooue any one answere or position of mine to be improbable or to deserue the least note of temeritie although he often vaunteth that he hath conuinced euery one of them to be either fraudulent malicious impertinent absurd foolish fond ridiculous erroneous or hereticall and then especially his custome is thus to brag when he himselfe most of all discouereth his intollerable fraude or palpable ignorance now this ignorant and vncharitable man doth in this last Chapter turne the sharpenesse of his penne also against my person shewing himselfe therein to haue as great want of charitie as of learning and sinceritie and laboureth to perswade his Reader that albeit I pretend to be a Roman Catholike and doe submit my selfe and all my writings to the Censure of the Catholike Roman Church yet it is euident that this is onely of purpose to deceiue the Reader Sec nu 1. 19 and that no zealous Catholike can take me for any other then an heretike disguised and masked vnder the vizard of a Catholike So aboundant is forsooth the charitie and zeale of this Religious Father that hee feareth not to miscontrue most plaine and manifest words and deepe and solemne Oathes and protestations in the quite contrarie sense to the great discredit of his neighbour whereas by the rules of charity and iustice he is commaunded to interprete euen doubtfull speeches in the better and more fauourable sense * S. Thomas secunda secunda q. 60. ar 4. But let vs heare what he saith 2. Hauing now answered saith he a Pag. 211. num 1. my Aduersarie Widdrington touching that which any way concerneth me either in his Admonition before his Theologicall Disputation or else in those other workes of his whereto hee remitteth his Readers for their further satisfaction I haue tought it conuenient good Catholike Reader to addresse this last Chapter only to thee to admonish thee to take heed that thou be not seduced with his pretence to be a Catholike or with the dedication of his booke to his Holinesse and his submission thereof to the iudgement of the