of her death Theo. Then suerly was Innocentius all that while a sleepe for the continuall entercourse betweene the two Cities both for temporall and ecclesiasticall affaires was so great the person so famous the time so long that no meane man in Rome could bee ignorant of her death Besides that Innocentius Legats were at Constantinople to intreate Arcadius for a Councell a litle before Chrysostome died and there vnlesse they wanted both eyes and eares they could not choose but learne that the Empresse was dead Phi. She was then liuing as Nicephorus saith Theo. The more he fableth the lesse credite he deserueth Eudoxia died before Arsacius and after his death was Atticus chosen then how could she bee liuing when Atticus was Bishop in whose time the Legats of Innocentius came to intreat for Chrysostome Phi. Let Nicephorus answere for himselfe I layde before you what I finde in him Theo. If this be all you can say for his defence giue vs leaue to tell you that this Bull bearing Innocentius name is some foolish and late forgerie deuised to perswade men that Popes in those dayes coulde quaile Emperours which God knoweth is nothing so Next for Chrysostomes cause as it helpeth you litle so doeth it hinder you much For first Chrysostome when himselfe and his Clergie were called to appeare before the Synode where Theophilus the Patriarke of Alexandria his mortall enemie was the chiefe man appealed from them not to the Bishoppe of Rome but to a generall Councell So sayth Socrates Iohannes eos a quibus vocabatur tanquam inimicos exceptione recusabat vniuersalem Synodum appellabat Chrysostome refused those that called him vppon this exception that they were his enemies and appealed to a generall Councell So sayth Chrysostome himselfe Though wee were absent and appealed to a Synode and sought for iudgement and refused not audience but manifest enimitie yet Theophilus receiued accusors against mee excommunicated such as helde with mee and tooke libels at all their hands which had not yet purged themselues of such crimes as were layde to their charge al which things are contrarie to the lawes and Canons Next when Innocentius saw the matter could not be ended but in a general Councel by reason the three Patriarks of Constantinople Antioche Alexandria were against him he sent Legats to Honorius and Arcadius to beseech them that a Synode might be had and the time and place appointed Wherin his supplication was so litle regarded that his Legats were sent away with reproch as disturbers of the west Empire and Chrysostome caried farther off in banishment than before Lastly when such as fauoured Chrysostome in the East parts would not cōmunicate with his enemies but ioyned themselues in communion with the Bishop of Rome who likewise seuered himselfe from those that were the beginners of this garboyle Arcadius made this Law If any Bishop refuse to communicate with Theophilus Atticus and Porphyrius hee shall loose both his Church and his goods If any that beare office they shall forfeite their dignitie If any Souldier hee shall lose his seruice If any of the common people let them bee fyned and exiled Phi. Will you nowe trust Nicephorus Theo. Sozomene in effect sayth the same For the communion of Arsacius Porphyrius and Theophilus at the suite of the Nobles there was a lawe made that no Christians should meete at prayers out of their Churches and those that woulde not communicate with these three Patriarkes should bee expelled So smally was Innocentius communion at that time respected that the followers of it were sharply punished Phi. You know what manner of men they were that did it Theo. Such as you may not easily despise Entending to write the wrong done to Chrysostome sayth Theodorete I am forced to shrinke at the doers thereof for their other vertues Atticus as Socrates confesseth was a very learned religious and wise man Porphyrius sayth Theodorete left many monuments of his benignitie being a man endewed with excellent wisedome Arcadius besides that Chrysostome calleth him after his banishment Christianissimum pientissimum Regem a most Christian and Godly prince a litle before his death wan estimation of holynes not without the admiration of a great multitude saued from destruction by his prayers Theophilus Epiphanius and others that held tooth and nayle against him were no babes in the Church of Christ. Cyrillus a famous father was after long time with much adoe drawen to yeeld thus much that Chrysostomes name should be rehearsed in the Catalogue of those that had bene Bishops Arsacius if Cyrillus may bee trusted was a blessed man and most worthie of commendation Phi. You goe about to deface Chrysostome by commending his enemies Theo. It is the least part of my thought and yet Socrates doth not altogether excuse him in saying hee was a man Iracundiae magis quà m reuerentiae indulgens more addicted to serue his passions than to reuerence any person And surely the wordes that he spake of the Empresse in his sermon openly before all the people Againe Herodias is madde againe she rageth againe shee daunceth againe she wil haue Iohns head in a dish were very bitter but my meaning is to shewe they were great and good men in the Church that about Chrysostoms quarrell were it right were it wrong neglected the communion of the Bishop of Rome Phi. Though they made light of it in this tumult and faction yet Augustine Hierom and others did highly esteeme it Theo. The communion and felowship of Christian loue and peace may not rashly be broken with any Church especially not with the chiefe and principall Churches vnlesse the cause be weightie and vrgent but looke whē the Bishop of Rome attempted any thing against the faith or the Canons tel me then what accompt they made of him Phi. That you must looke out I know no such thing Theo. So will I when my course commeth but yours as yet is not ended Phi. Myne shall not bee long Theo. As short as you will I thinke the best be spent Phi. Augustine and the fathers assembled in the Mileuitan Councell aske helpe of Innocentius for the condemnation of Pelagius and his heresie Theo. The Bishops of Africa themselues in this and an other Councell helde at Carthage condemned the error of Pelagius as repugnant to the Scriptures and iniurious to the grace of God And because it was a matter of faith that indifferently concerned all they thought it necessarie to aduertise the Bishop of Rome what they had done and to pray him also to condemne the same that as the infection was farre spred and found many defenders so the condemnation thereof might be generall and ratified by the publique liking of the Bishops in euery prouince What can you gather by this but that it was then the manner of the Church as in trueth it was by their letters sent too and fro both to aske and to giue
was loth to sit iudge in his owne person for that he was not acquainted with the Church Canons which were then brought in question but at length when he saw no remedie himself sate in iudgement both after the Pope and after the Councell and heard the whole matter and ended it for euer This inferreth that at the first when he refused he wanted not power to commaund but skill to discerne more requisite in a iudge than the former Yea at the first when he durst not sit iudge himselfe for lacke of experience hee shewed his soueraintie by making delegates to heare and order the cause So sayth S. Austen the very next wordes For that Constantine durst not be iudge himselfe of a Bishops cause eam discutiendam at que finiendam Episcopis delegauit he made delegates of the Bishops to discusse and determine the same And againe causam Ceciliani iniunxit eis audiendam he gaue foorth a precept to the Bishoppe of Rome and others for hearing of Cecilianus his matter Now to delegate the Bishoppe of Rome with others and to giue fresh iudges after them is an argument of greater authoritie than if the Prince in Person had beene iudge in the cause Did not Constantine receiue that appeale which the Donatists made from Meltiades and assigne them other iudges His Epistle to Chrestus Bishoppe of Siracusas in Sicile whom he willed to be present at the Councell of Arle for the ending of the same matter is an euident proofe that hee did At the first sayth Constantine when this schisme beganne I wrate my letters and tooke this order that certaine Bishops comming from Fraunce the parties in strife called for out of Africke the Bishop of Rome being also there in their presence this quarrell should be throughly considered and pacified Mary for so much as they will not agree to the sentence there giuen but goe forward in their outragious dissention I must take care that the strife which should haue caulmed of it selfe at the first decision at least may now bee composed by the meeting of many Hauing therefore charged a great number of Bishops out of diuers coastes to assemble by the kalends of August at Arle I thought it not amisse by letters to require you that you fayle not to be with them at the time place appointed that by your vprightnes with the good aduise and full consent of the rest which shall then there meete you vpon diligent hearing what either side can say whom we haue commanded to be likewise present they may be reduced from the schisme yet during to religion fayth and brotherly concord as in duetie they be bound When Meltiades and his collegues sayth Austen to the Donatists had pronounced Cecilianus innocent and condemned Donatus as authour of the schisme raised at Carthage your side came backe to the Emperour complained of the iudgement of the Bishops against them The most patient mild Emperour the second time gaue them other iudges namely the Bishops that met at Arle in Fraunce Certes the taking of an appeale made from the Bishoppe of Rome and appointing other iudges after him and besides him strongly concludeth the Princes authoritie to bee farre aboue the Popes euen in causes ecclesiasticall or as you terme them spirituall Will you lastly say that Constantine sate not iudge himselfe in this matter as well after Meltiades as after the Councell of Arle S. Austen is flat against you Your men sayth he speaking to the Donatists appealed from the Bishoppes at Arle to the Princes owne person and neuer left till the Emperour himselfe tooke the hearing of the cause betweene them both and pronounced Cicilianus innocent and those his accusers to be malitious wranglers And againe the Donatists appealed from ecclesiasticall iudgement that Constantine might heare the cause Whither when they came both partes standing before him Cecilianus was adiudged to bee innocent the Donatists ouerthrowen To proue this I will bring you sayth Austen the very wordes of Constantine taken out of his letters where hee witnesseth that vpon iudiciall hearing of both sides hee found Cecilianus to be cleare For first declaring how the parties were brought to his iudgement after two iudgements of Bishoppes alreadie past there saith Constantine I fully perceiued that Cecilianus was a man most innocent obseruing the dueties of his religion and folowing the same neither coulde any crime bee fastened on him as his aduersaries had in his absence suggested And shewing what followed vppon this iudgement Then did Constantine sayth hee first make a most sharpe lawe to punish the Donatists His sonnes continued the same read what Valentinian read when you will what Gratian and Theodosius decreed against you Why wonder you then at the children of Theodosius as if they shoulde haue followed any other president in this cause than the iudgement of Constantine which so many Christian Emperours haue kept inuiolable Though Constantine bee dead yet the iudgement of Constantine giuen against you liueth For when Emperours commaunde that which is good it is Christ and no man els that commaundeth by them Lay these thinges together and marke the consequent First the Bishoppe of Rome and his assessours were appointed by the Prince to meddle with this matter as his delegates Next vppon complaint of their partiall dealing the Prince commaunded others leauing out the Bishoppe of Rome to sit in Fraunce to conclude the same cause Thirdly the Donatistes still appealing the Prince called for both sides hearde them in his owne person gaue small iudgement with Cecilianus and discharged him as innocent therewith made a penall edict against the Donatists Fourthly these princely proceedinges of Constantine the Church of God receiued with honor and vsed with gladnesse the Christian Emperours imbraced as vertuous and confirmed as religious S. Austen alleadgeth them as substantiall proofes for the Catholikes and effectuall iudgements against the Donatistes Now speake vprightly whether in this case the Prince were not superiour to the Pope yea supreme gouernour of Ecclesiasticall persons and causes To Theodosius the elder Damasus Siricius Anastasius as I shewed before made grieuous complaints one after an other against Flauianus for entring and possessing the See of Antioch contrarie to the Canons of the church The prince sending for Flauianus heard his answere and admiring the courage and wisedome of the man willed him to returne to his countrie and feede the flocke committed to his charge notwithstanding the Bishops of Rome for the space of seuenteene yeares before would neither acknowledge him for a Bishop nor communicate with him Of Arcadius his son Innocentius the Bishop of Rome requested a Councel for the trial of Chrysostoms cause but his petition was denied his messengers sent awaie with reproach as troublers of the West Empire Chrysostom banished farther off and this edict giuen forth by Arcadius the East Emperour against those that taking part with Innocentius and fauouring
did whom you cal a blessed bishop for his labor your selues do worse For you be not cōtent to resist as he did by wilfull departing the Realm you take weapon in hand to depose the Prince terme it iust honorable warre to rebell against a lawfull Magistrate which impiety he did not declare in act though in heart perhaps he did not abhor it But omit that he ment and come to that hee did except you shew what one thing in those ancient lawes of the crowne to which the Archbishop had expresly sworne was repugnant to the word of God or office of a christian Prince we conclude your blessed Bishop and Canterburie Saint to be a shameful defender of wickednesse an open breaker of his oth and a proude impugner of the sword which God hath authorized as the Scripture teacheth And albeit wee like not the maner of his death that priuate men shoulde vse the sword which is deliuered vnto princes yet the cause for which he withstood the king was enormous impious dying in that though his death were violent he could be no martyr Phi. You be loth to haue him a martyr he was so far both frō your opinion in this point religion otherwise but yet he died in the defence of the Catholike church therefore we iustly count him blessed Theo. Hee died not in defence of the church he stoode stifly for the Popes pride and gaine and for the impunitie of malefactours among the Clergie which thinges no way touch the true lawes or liberties of Christes church And therefore you must either proue that clergie men are not subiect to the Princes sword for heinous offences which is most false and that appeales from all places must bee made to the Bishop of Rome which you shall neuer do or else it is euident that Thomas Becket deserued rather the reward of a traytor than the honour of a Martyr these two being the principall causes for which he resisted the king whiles hee liued and was canonized after he was murdered Phi. The church of Rome liked and allowed of his doings though you doe not Theo. She had good reason so to do He gaue his life for the maintenance of her wealth and ease and therefore if shee shoulde not esteeme him shee were to blame but this was no quarell for a christian Bishop to spend his blood in The due correction of offenders by the temporal sworde though they were clergie-men and diligent execution of iustice at home without running to Rome when either part was disposed to vexe the other were lawfull and wholesome preceptes of the kinges of this Realme and so long as the resistance made by the Archbishop against the king was sinfull and seditious consequently the state he stood in damnable though the death he suffered were wrongfull as not proceeding orderly from a magistrate but furiously inflicted by some that were offended to see a Bishop brest a king in so vile a cause Phi. The king himselfe in the end was driuen to order and penance Theo. It was easie for you when not only his neighbours but his owne son rose in armes against him to winne his consent to any thing By warres and inuasions of Realme vpon Realme by defection of subiects from their soueraignes by the rebellion of children against their parentes your cunning hath beene to driue Princes to order and keepe them in awe but that doth not iustifie your vnnaturall and vnchristian tumults to force them to your bent We dispute not whether of late you haue so done but whether of right you may so doe wee see the meanes which Antichrist hath vsed to aduance his kingdom but those we say be neither agreeable to the sacred scriptures nor to the course of Christs church in former ages they be late deuises practises of Popes to exalt themselues aboue the highest the iustice of God preparing that plague for the sinnes of men and dissention of Princes which should haue ioyned togither to succour his truth safegard his church by repressing the Popes pride driuing him to Christian integritie and modesty and would not Wherefore God gaue them ouer into his hands that he should tread on their necks play with their crownes as pleased himselfe and they thinke it some great honor and preferment to kisse his feete hold his bridle whiles he gets to horsebacke Phi. A number of the like examples mo we might recite of our Country of the christian world whereby not only the practise of the church in al ages may be seene but also catholike men warranted that they be no traitors nor hold assertions treasonable false or vndutiful in answering or beleeuing that for heresie or such like notorious wickednesse a Prince otherwise lawfull and annointed may be excommunicated deposed forsaken or resisted by the warrant of holy churches iudgement and censure Theo. From the conquest to King Henrie the eight there was no Prince of this Land deposed by the Pope but only King Iohn Deposition was offered to Philip the fourth and Lewes the twelfth Kinges of Fraunce but they were so farre from taking it that they withdrewe their whole Realme from the Popes obedience and ouerreached your holy Father with his owne practise Philip by the general consent of his Nobles and Bishoppes not onely despised the Popes sentence of depriuation against him but requited him with the like and to tame his pride tooke him prisoner and made him end his life for very griefe of hart within sixe weekes after Thus sayth Platina died Bonifacius hee that went about rather to strike a terrour into Emperours kings Princes and Nations than to plant religion in them and chalenged to giue and take kingdomes and to aduaunce and debase men at his plasure And so saith Gaguinus This ende of his life had Bonifacius the contemner of all men who not remembring the precepts of Christ tooke vpon him to dispose crownes and depriue kinges as hee sawe cause whereas hee supplieth his roome on earth whose kingdō is not of this world nor in earthly things but in heauenly and gate the Popedome by deceit and vngodly meanes and kept his predecessour in prison so long as he liued from whom he wrested that dignity This example you would not alleadge because you sawe the whole Realme of Fraunce stoode with Philip against Bonifacius that the Pope had no right to depose Princes Lewes the twelft in a Councel at Tours had the resolution of al the French Bishops that he might surcease from the Popes obedience and contemne his vniust censures and had not Maximilian somwhat slacked and Iulius in the meane time died the Pope himselfe had bin depriued of his triple crowne in the Councell of Pisa which was indicted by the Prelates of Germanie and Frāce at the instaunce and pursuite of Lodouike The Bishops of Nations assembled and decreed Iulius to be cited Vpon the
your selues and confute your aduersaries but onely the breath of your own mouthes Phi. Wee giue you an oth for our discharge will you not beleeue vs when wee sweare Theo. If wee do it is more of our good meaning than your wel deseruing you dispence so fast with the breach of othes Phi. You misreport vs we do not so Theo. That shal appeare in place conuenient I will not now disgresse from the matter An oth you say we haue to purge al suspition Let vs hear it Phi. The principall of the viage doth protest that he neither ioyned with rebell nor traitor nor any other against the Queene or Realme or traiterously sought or practised to irritate any Prince or potentate to hostility against the same Further inuocating vpoÌ„ his soul that he neither knew saw nor heard during his aboad in the court of Rome of any such writings as are mentioned in the proclamation of Iuly containing certaine articles of confederation of the Pope king of Spaine other Princes for the inuasion of the Realme Theo. We heare you sweare but meane you plainly Phi. Why doubt you that Theo. You teach others wheÌ„ they be called before such as you count heretiks sophisticè iurare sophisticè respoÌ„dere sophistically to swear sophistically to answere that is to mocke the Magistrate with a captious cunning oth or answere And therefore vnlesse you giue vs a preciser strickter oth than this we trust you not You did not traiterously seeke or practise to irritate any Prince or Potentate to hostilitie against the Queene or Realme What needed this addition you sought it not traiterously Your meaning may bee you sought it but lawfully Phi. What fraud you suspect where we meane simply Theo. Then for the better explication of our selues do you thinke it treason for an English man to ioyne with the Pope or any other appointed by him to inuade the Land for the restoring of Religion and execution of the sentence which Pius the fift pronouÌ„ced against her Maiestie Phi. That sentence is extrauagant Theo. Not so For if you count it no treason as we can proue the most part of you do not to obey the Pope deposing the Queene then in your own conceits may you safely sweare you did not these thinges trayterouslie though touching the factes it were certaine you did them Phi. What a compasse you fet to intrap vs Theo. What euasions you get to delude vs but how doth this cleare the rest of your side Phi. Wee bee most assured that no English Catholike woulde or coulde bee the author thereof Theo. It is much to bee sure what euerie man of your faction would or could doe you must bee gods and not men if you can doe that Phi. Wee knowe they woulde not Theo. Leaue this follie you can not search the secretes of other mens heartes nor accompt for their deedes in a matter so impossible the more vehement the more impudent Phi. It verily may bee thought and so is it certaine that some of the principall ministers of the forenamed Princes haue aâ—nswered being demaunded thereof that the Protestantes hauing exercised skill and audacitie in such practises and counterpractises of which Fraunce Flaunders Scotland and other countries haue had so lamentable experience did contriue them to alter her Maiesties accustomed benignitie and mercie towards the Catholickes Theo. It is great pitie that Papistes bee no practisers Aske England Scotland Flaunders Fraunce Spaine Italie Scicile Germanie what practises they haue found I say not in your temporall men but in the Priestes Prelates and Pillours of your Church Righter Macheuels than the Popes them-selues Christendome hath not bred mary this indeede you were alwayes better with poysons and Treasons than with papers and pamflets and yet you spared neither Scriptures Councels nor Fathers but corrupted and enterlaced them to serue your turnes As for the procurers and setters of this late confederacie to assaulte the Realme if you knowe not who they were Charles Paget and others with you can tell or if they would dissemble Throckmorton hath tolde There shall you see whether this were a meere deuise and sleight of ours or a lewde intente and practise of yours These bee the chiefe pointes of your seconde Chapter the rest is lippe-labour and noe waye concerneth your cause Phi. Yes wee prooue it lawfull for men in our case to flie to the Bishoppe of Rome for reliefe either of bodie or soule Theo. Wee bee sure you will saie it with boldnesse enough but will you prooue it Phi. Wee will prooue it Theo. Howe Phi. Whither should wee rather flie than to the head or as Sainct Hierom speaketh to the most secure part of our Catholike communion to the rocke of refuge in doubtfull dayes and doctrines to the chiefe Pastour and Bishoppe of our soules in earth to the Vicar generall of Christ out of the compasse of whose fold and familie no banishment can bring vs to him that by office and vnction had receiued the grace of loue pitie and compassion to him that counteth no Christian nor domesticall of faith a stranger to him whose Citie and Seat is the natiue home of all true beleeuers and the paterne of all Bishoply hospitalitie and benignitie Theo. Whither nowe Maisters are you well aduised Phi. Why not Theo. You presume that to be most true which is most in question betwixt vs and as if your vnshamefast flatteries were sounde and substantiall verities you conclude without prouing the precedents or respecting the consequent For first what witnesse bring you that the Pope is as you say the head the rocke of refuge in doutful daies doctrines the chiefe Pastor and Bishop of your souls in earth the Vicar generall of Christ or that his seat is the natiue home of all true beleeuers and the whole Church his folde and familie What auncient Father or Councell euer liked or suffered these proude and false titles Why proue you not that which you speake Or why speake you that which you can not proue In so weightie matters do you thinke it enough to saie the worde and by and by wee must hush Phi. Wee haue else-where brought you so manie demonstrations for these thinges that nowe wee take them to bee cleare Theo. Omit these vauntes we aske for proofes and till you bring them by your owne rule we neede frame you no farther answere Phi. Make you merrie with that aduantage but yet Sainct Hierom is not so shifted Theo. His name you set in the forefront to lead on the rable of your vnsauorie speeches but the wordes of Sainct Hierom doe little releeue you For let it be that Athanasius and after him Peter Bishops of Alexandria declining the persecution of the Arian heresie fled to Rome as to the safest port of their communion because Rome was then free from the tumults of Arians so long as Constans liued and readie to receiue such as suffered affliction for
the truth of Christ which is all that Sainct Hierom saith what inferre you thence that Rome is now the like This illation commeth twelue hundred yeares too short of your antecedent and no waie dependeth vpon S. Hieroms wordes vnlesse you thinke that Rome now because shee beareth the same name must also chalenge the same vertues and praises which Rome so longe since both had and deserued which were verie ridiculous But is this all you will adde before you growe to your maine conclusion Phi. The greatest part is yet behinde For as I beganne whither shoulde we rather flie than to him whose Predecessors gaue vs our first faith in the time of the Britanes restored it after in the dayes of the English recouered vs from Paganisme from Arianisme from Pelagianisme from Zwinglianisme often receiued harbored and releeued diuerse blessed Bishops and Priestes of our nation as well in the times of their prosperitie as persecution and who haue receiued againe of all our Princes Prelats and People all duetifull and correspondent honours and good Offices for so many hundred yeares togither when they and their dominions florished in much glorie and felicitie and were dreadfull to Gods enemies the Churches and their owne among whom hir Maiesties Father for his worthie writinges and doings against the Lutherans receiued the glorious and eternall title of Defender of the faith to him of whose Predecessors all the famous Fathers called for ayde comfort and counsell in their like distresses Cyprian of Cornelius and Stephanus Athanasius of Iulius and Marcus Chrysostom and Augustine of Innocentius Basill of Tiberius Felix and other Bishops of Italie Hierom and Milecius of Damasus Theodorete of Leo the great and all the rest of otherholy Popes as time and necessitie required to him whose Seat as Eusebius reporteth of Sainct Denys of Corinth did alwayes sende reliefe to all the Christians persecuted and condemned to mettalles and refreshed all the faithfull comming vnto it as the Parent the children to him who as he canonically succeedeth all these in Seate doctrine and dignitie so is inferiour to none farre passeth many and resembleth most Sainct Gregorie the great our Apostle in all charitie hospitalitie zeale and tendernesse of heart and affection toward the desolate namely our nation for the spirituall calamitie whereof the writer of this hath seene him weepe full hartily and hath heard him saie the goods of that holie Seat whereof he had the dispensation were for the poore afflicted domesticals of faith Finallie whither could we with more hope haue recourse than to him by whose bounteous goodnesse so manie Patriarches Bishops learned Gentlemen and Christians of all sortes English Scottish Irish Almans Hungarians Syrians Armenians Cyprians and all other vnder the Turke or any way for Christes sake oppressed or impouerished haue beene and shall be relieued Theo. A long processe to little purpose Graunt that diuerse good men in times past haue sent and gone to Rome for counsell and comfort in cases of distresse which is all in effect which you can or doe say what conclude you nowe Phi. That wee may doe the like Theo. The like you may but not the contrarie Phi. We follow precisely their steps Theo. That we denie Well you may goe to Rome as they did and so your iourney not differ from theirs in the paines which you take nor the place which you see but you neither carrie with you the same mindes that they did neither doth your holy Father content him selfe with those meanes which his predecessors vsed For the auncient Bishoppes of Rome were duetifull and obedient Subiectes to the Christian Emperours and dealt by petition and supplication in most humble wise for their afflicted brethren they neuer offered armes nor encouraged Rebell against the superiour Powers no not when Constantius the Arian banished Liberius the Bishop of Rome for dissenting from his opinion nor when Iulius the Apostata renounced the faith and openly fell to Gentilisme but euer submitted them selues to the same Lawes and paines that other godly Bishops did when the Prince tooke part with error And for this cause the traueling then to Rome whiles the Bishop there embraced the truth obeyed the State assisted their brethren by good and lawfull meanes coulde no waie be displeasant to God iniurious to Princes nor daungerous to common-wealthes In our dayes it is farre otherwise The Pope nowe taketh vpon him to depose Kinges to inuade Realmes to authorize rebellion yea to curse all that yeelde any subiection or duetie to those Magistrates that withstand their fantasies Which vile and intollerable presumption of the late Bishops of Rome neither Cyprian nor Athanasius nor Chrysostome nor Augustine nor Basill nor Hierom nor Theodorete in their times euer founde or feared And therefore both you must alter the leude perswasions of your heartes and your holie Father must leaue his wholie practises to pull Princes out of their thrones by stirring sedition and inuading their Dominions before your flocking to Rome can bee warranted by these examples Phi. I maruell you still obiect that which wre by oth haue purged You knowe wee haue sworne that in going to Rome wee had no such intent Theo. Your oth if it bee true cleareth one man for one viage but which of you doeth or can sweare for all other times and persons Howbeit in this place wee doe not vrge you with your intentes nor attempts against her Maiestie wee onely weigh the strength of your argument that you may slie to Rome as well as some learned and auncient Fathers haue done This collection of yours is not good because the bishop of Rome nowe claymeth full power to depriue Princes of their Crownes and discharge their Subiectes from all obedience contrarie to the worde of God and examples of Christes Church which in those dayes whiles these Fathers whom you mention liued the Bishoppes of Rome neither did or durst presume Phi. Wee meddle not with the Popes clayme hee can answere for himselfe Theophil You must meddle with it and bring ineuitable proofe for it before your consequent will bee currant or your slight to Rome lawfull Phi. If wee sought to Rome for succour against the Prince your saying were somewhat but I haue often tolde you we doe not Theo. And I haue told you as often that graunt you did not the Popes clayme to discharge Kinges and Queenes at his pleasure is enough to reuerse your argument Wee care not what you dissemble of pollicie for a season but what he chalengeth for euer as of right His pride not your craft is the thing we stand on and that being such as the learned Fathers whom you name neuer sawe nor suspected maketh so great a difference betweene those dayes and these that from their fact to yours no good consequent can be framed And yet I could tell you besides that when hee commaundeth you must and will execute So that although you were no seekers nor prouokers of his vnchristian dealinges
Rome notwithstanding he professe him selfe an open enemie to the Queene Phi. You still presse vs with that which we neuer ment Theo. You stil defend your selues there where we doe not strike This is the very drift and scope of all your examples as your owne wordes witnes And sor vs of the schoole and Clergie whither should we rather flee than to him Now that he hath openly shewed himselfe an enemie to her Highnes in accursing her Person in remouing her Crowne in forbidding her subiects to obey her in ayding rebelles against her and assaulting her land with force you can not so much as doubt woulde you neuer so faine the facts are so notorious and fresh in the memories of all men Phi. We noted this in you that where the Britanes and Saxons receiued preachers from Rome with honour and thankes you persecute them with all kinde of torments Theo. Your attempt is as contrary to theirs as your reward is diuers from theirs They came with religion to God and submission to Princes you come with neyther Phi. I woulde you knewe it wee come with both And you may bee ashamed to charge vs with two such haynous crimes prouing neyther Theo. Haue patience till wee come to the place where both shall bee discussed and see whether that which is nowe saide shall then be proued or no but in the meane time goe forwarde with the rest of your examples Phi. Wee flee to him of whose predecessors all the famous fathers called for aide comfort and counsel in their like distresses as Cyprian of Cornelius and Stephanus Athanasius of Iulius Chrysostome and Augustine of Innocentius Basil of Liberius Felix and other Bishops of Italie Hierom and Miletius of Damasus Theodoret of Leo the great and all the rest of other holy Popes Theo. This is no reasoning but rouing You florish with a few general and doubtful termes neither opening the causes nor expressing the circumstances They called you say For ayde comfort and counsell What ayde such as the Bishops of Rome might and did yeeld in those dayes without chalenging any supremacie That is nothing to your purpose neither will that warrant your gadding to Rome Such as none could giue but they that were rulers heads of the whole Church That were somewhat if it could bee proued but your examples cōtaine no such thing Uiew the particulars Cyprian in his epistles to Cornelius Stephanus neuer calleth them otherwise than brethren and collegues and in matters concerning the regiment of the Church as well giueth as taketh both counsell and comfort But can you shewe that Cyprian euer allowed any man to runne to Rome for helpe against the iudgements and acts of other Bishops if you can not as wee bee right sure you be not able then can we shew you where Cyprian misliketh and plainely reproueth this posting of yours to Rome writing to Cornelius Hee saith that certaine persons condemned in Africa by the Bishops there Romam cum mendaciorum suorum merce nauigauerunt sailed to Rome with their fraight of lies adding farther And now what is the cause of their comming for either they like that they did and so perseuere in their wickednes or if they mislike relent they know whither they may returne For where it is a thing prescribed to vs al and besides that equal and right that euery mans cause be there heard where the crime was committed and euery Pastor hath his portion of the flocke assigned him which he must gouerne and rule as one that shall giue an accompt of his doings to God Oportet vtique eos quibus praesumus non circūcursare Those that be vnder vs must not runne thus about to Rome but there plead their cause where they may finde both accusers and witnesses vnlesse perhaps a few desperat and loose companions take the authoritie of the Bishops of Africa to be lesse than at Rome The like hee sayth of one Basilides that being depriued of his Bishopricke procured letters from Rome for his restitution Neither can this infringe the ordering of the next Bishop lawfully finished that Basilides running to Rome deceiued Stephanus our collegue by reason he is farre off not acquainted with the truth of the case getting himselfe to be restored vniustly to the Bishopricke from the which he was iustly deposed If Cyprian did not like that Cornelius should medle with matters concluded in Africa neither esteemed the restitution of Basilides made by Stephanus but reiected it as voyde and vniust what other ayde thinke you would he call for at their hands but onely such mutual concorde as should profite the Church and well beseeme the seruantes of Christ Phi. If Cyprian woulde not Athanasius did who being Patriarke of Alexandria fled twise to Rome for succour in his owne person and was there not onely receiued and harboured but also restored to his former dignitie of Iulius notwithstanding the Councels of Tyrus and Antioche had decreed the contrarie and Constantius the Emperour consented thereto Theo. The troubles of Athanasius gaue Iulius good cause both to claime and vse the vttermost of his authoritie The wrong offered Athanasius was so shamefull the madnes of Arians subuerting the faith and oppressing the Church so manifest the rage of Constantius assisting their heresie with all his might so cruell that if euer the Bishop of Rome woulde stirre this time must needes force him to doe his best Phi. And so he did I warrant you Theo. What did hee Phi. You knowe well inough hee summoned the Arians to appeare before him examined their proceedings reuersed the sentence giuen against Athanasius and placed him in his Bishopricke in spite of his aduersaries Theo. Can you proue that Iulius did al this alone without the help of others or that he did any part of this as head of the Church Uicar general to Christ Phi. What cauils you inuent when you be vrged with any thing Theo. What broken reedes you leane too and thinke them strong pillers It is well knowen the Bishop of Rome was not onely Patriarke of the West parts but of the foure Patriarkes also which were the chiefest Bishops of Christendome in order and accompt the first By reason whereof no Councell could be generall vnlesse hee were called no matters concerning the whole Church or principall Patriarks could be handled vnlesse he were present or priuie to the same Which prerogatiue was giuen him by consent of men not by graunt from Christ in respect of the Citie that was the Seate of the Empire then ruling the worlde not in token of any supremacie descending from Peter Thus much we graunt without any proofe of yours more than this if you would sweate out your heartes you shall neuer proue by these nor any other examples of the primitiue Church Phi. Then by your owne confession hee was the chiefest and highest Bishoppe in the worlde Theo. He was before the rest in honour and
dignitie but not ouer the rest in power and authoritie His place was first when the Patriarkes met but his voyce not negatiue he might assemble his prouince and consult with them but not conclude without them himselfe was subiect both to the decrees of Councels and to the lawes of the Christian Emperours euen in causes ecclesiasticall and was oftentimes not only resisted by famous men but ouer-ruled as well by prouinciall as ecumenicall Councels when he attempted any thing against the Canons Which differeth much from the supremacie that he now chalengeth and vsurpeth And therefore you did wel to walke in a mist of ambiguous wordes to couer the lamenesse of your conclusion Phi. Why did Athanasius flee to the Bishoppe of Rome for helpe if Iulius had nought to do with his matter Theo. Athanasius being wrongfully thrust from his Bishopricke and an other forciblie set in his roome by certaine Arians assembled at Antioche vpon this pretence that he was deposed in the Councell of Tirus before he was banished and after his returne presumed of his own head without a Councell to reenter and keepe his place and finding the East Church not able to succour him for that Constantius the Emperour supported his enemies with a strong hand fled to the Bishop of the West where Constans a religious and curteous Prince brother to Constantius raigned and made his complaint as reason was he should first to the Bishop of Rome the cheefest man amongst them and the ringleader of the rest with whom he was ioined in consort and communion as the right and true Patriarke of Alexandria desiring no more but that his case might be heard and the desperate and furious proceedings of his aduersaries against him examined in a iust and lawfull Councell Which petition of Athanasius doth not proue the West Bishops to be controllers and ouerseers of such things as were done in the East much lesse the Bishop of Rome to be supreme Iudge ouer all but rather sheweth that the Church of Christ was guided by the common consent and mutuall agreement of both parts as well East as West indifferently balanced and that the West Bishops might call for a reason of the sentence giuen against Athanasius before they allowed the same or receiued his successour to the felowship of their communion Phi. The ecclesiasticall historie saith otherwise that Athanasius opened his cause to Iulius Bishop of Rome and that hee vpon the prerogatiue of the Romane See wrote threatning letters in his behalfe and restored him to his place reprouing them that rashly deposed him Theo. Socrates as an Historiographer noteth in fewe wordes the chiefe points and chiefe persons but if you will take the paines to reade the particular discourse of these thinges which Athanasius writeth in defence of himselfe you shal find that true which I say Phi. What shall we finde Theo. That the West Bishops were ioyned with Iulius in all this action and nothing done without their Sinodal decree Phi. How proue you that Theo. First the letters of credit which Athanasius brought with him to Rome from the Bishops of his communion in Egypt Thebais Lybia Pentapolis witnessing the manifold wrongs which he suffered and earnestly crauing a dew reformation of the same were written not to Iulius alone but Omnibus vbique ecclesiae catholicae Episcopis to all the Bishops of the Catholique Church wheresoeuer hauing these words in the cōclusion For this cause in a publike assemblie by the consent of vs all wrate wee these letters vnto you praying your wisedomes in Christ to receiue this testimonie touching Athanasius to admit him to your fellowship and communion and to bee moued with a zealous indignation against the Eusebians his enemies the authors of these disorders and that such lewdnes and mischiefe preuaile no longer against the Church vos certe vindices huius iniustitiae imploramus we call for your help to be the reuengers of their vnrighteous dealing Haec quidem Aegyptij ad omnes ad Episcopum Romanum Iulium scripsere this they of Egypt wrate to all and to Iulius the Bishop of Rome So that in sight the complaint was made generally to them all Phi. But Iulius alone cited the contrarie part to appeare before him by a day limited and that argueth his authoritie ouer them that were not of his Prouince Theo. Iulius by the consent of both parts and aduise of all the Bishops of Italie and other places neere him appointed the matter to be heard in a Councell and exhorted the aduersaries of Athanasius to bee present at the time and place prefixed Phi. What a mincing you make of this matter Iulius cited that is Iulius exhorted them to come Iulius heard the cause that is Iulius called a Councell to heare it Theo. What a mountaine you make of a mole hill I repeate the very wordes of Iulius and good reason in his owne fact to beleeue him best Phi. If he say so but I doubt you mistake the words Theo. Then may you take them righter but I am perfect I misse them not Heare first what Athanasius and then after what Iulius writeth Quin Eusebiani ad Iulium literas misere vt nos terrerent Synodum conuocari iusserunt ipsi Iulio si vellet arbitrium causae detulerunt The Eusebians also sent letters to Iulius and the rather to fray vs willed a Synode to be called and Iulius himselfe to be Iudge in the cause if he would Which Socrates doeth not omit Eusebius verò cum quod volebat perfecisset legationem ad Iulium Romanum Episcopum misit obsecrans vt ipse Iudex esset in causa Athanasij ad se litem hanc vocaret Eusebius when he had done all that he woulde sent messengers to Iulius Bishop of Rome praying him to be Iudge in the cause of Athanasius and to call for the hearing of this contention Phi. Athanasius aduersaries seeme to consent that Iulius alone shoulde sit Iudge in this cause Theo. That Iulius as chiefe but not that Iulius alone should examine this quarel For they required to be heard in a common Councell both of East and West Bishops Phi. As yet I see no such thing Theo. Say not so for Athanasius euen now told you that his enemies to fray him in their letter to Iulius willed a Councell to be held for this matter and Iulius in his epistle replying to those that were gathered at Antioch the second tyme writeth thus What is there done worthie of offence or what cause haue I giuen you to whom I wrate to be angrie An quia adhortati vos sumus vt ad Synodum occurreretis Is it for that we exhorted you to meet vs at a Synode The Bishops assēbled in the great Coūcel of Nice not without the wisedom of God gaue leaue that the acts of one Synode myght be discussed in an other to this end that both they which were Iudges knowing a secōd examination of the
a societie with the East Bishops for himself and the rest of his prouince as hauing no lesse interest in the Church than they had Phi. What say you then to the prerogatiue of the Romane See and to that ecclesiastical Canon which forbiddeth to meddle in the Church without the consent of the Romane Bishop Theo. The Bishop of Rome had this prerogatiue that first he should be written vnto by reason of his place which was first but not that he alone should be written vnto So saith Iulius Cur igitur in primis de Alexandria ciuitate nihil nobis scribere voluistis an ignari estis hanc esse consuetudinem vt primùm nobis scribatur vt hinc quod iustum est definiri posset Why then would you write nothing to vs especially touching the citie of Alexandria Are you ignorant of this custome that you shoulde write to vs first that hence that which is iust might bee determined Phi. No better text from Rome must bee determined what is right in the regiment of the Church Theo. A wise catch I promise you Did you not heare Iulius euen now speake the same wordes of euery Bishoppe Vt ab omnibus quod iustum esset decerneretur that euery one might determine what was iust So that Iulius by this had no greater authoritie than the rest for right was to bee determined by them all Phi. The Canon of the Church made euery thing voyde that was done without the Bishop of Rome Theo. That which you call a Canon in deed was an order taken by the Bishops among thēselues for the better guiding of the Church by common consent when as yet there were no Christian Magistrates and the same was afterward liked and allowed of Godly Princes as the best way to keepe the Church in peace from quarrels and factions And this it was In waightie matters no prouinciall Councell might deale without consulting the rest of the Patriarkes who straightway conferring with the Bishoppes of their Prouinces wrate backe the generall opinion of themselues and their brethren This if any Councell did omit the Prouinces rounde about were at libertie to reiect their proceedings if they saw cause This Canon or kind of regiment obserued in the Church Iulius obiecteth against the councel of Antioch Oportuit secundum Canonem iudicium fieri Iudgement should haue proceeded according to the Canon that is Oportuit omnibus nobis scribere vt ab omnibus quod esset iustū decerneretur You should haue written to vs al that that which was iust might haue beene concluded by all And as by the Canon they should haue written to al so first to the Bishop of Rome by reason that his place was the first in order among the Patriarkes which is all the prerogatiue that Iulius in his Epistle claymeth for himselfe and his See This is that ecclesiasticall Canon and priuilege which Socrates and Sozomenus doe mention when they say the Councell of Antioch did against the Canons in that they called not the Bishop of Rome to their assemblie Phi. The deposition of a Bishoppe was no matter of such importance that a Prouinciall Synode might not attempt it without the rest Theo. Yes the deposing of a Patriarke was in it selfe a matter of great weight and required the consent of the rest as appeareth by that which the Councell of Antioch long before this did against Paulus Samosatenus where you shall finde the causes of his condemnation layde downe at large in their letters written to all Prouinces and namely to Dionysius and Maximus Bishops of Rome and Alexandria but yet the wrong offered Athanasius at this time touched the fayth Church of Christ nearer than one mans iniurie Phi. Why Theo. The Arians by their shifts and practises had almost gotten the most part of the East Churches and finding the two principall Archbishops of Constantinople and Alexandria greatly to hinder their enterprise for that their prouinces were very wide and many that stoutly defended the trueth were shielded by them they thought best to inuade them both at one time thrusting Paulus from his Bishopricke by plaine force and pretending a Canon of their owne making against Athanasius Which if the West Bishops had quietly suffered without enterposing them selues and assisting their brethren two parts of the worlde by their silence had beene drowned in Arianisme and themselues in great danger not long to remaine without the same infection This respect made them earnest for Athanasius as Sozomene noteth The Bishops throughout the East that fauoured the Nicene faith were deposed and the cheefest Seates inuaded by the Arrians as Alexandria in Egypt Antioche in Syria the Royal Citie of Constantinople in Hellespont This the Bishop of Rome the Priests of the west tooke to be their reproch and therefore very friendly entertayned Athanasius at his comming to them and tooke vpon them the defence of his cause Phi. This is not all that Iulius did for Athanasius Theo. What els can you shew that hee did Phi. Hee called a generall Councell to determine this matter and made Constantius the Emperour glad to receiue Athanasius to his former seate Theo. By mine aduise you should haue left out this it will come very short of your reckoning Phi. Not a whit Theo. Be not so peremptorie Phi. What was not this that I say done for Athanasius Theo. It was Phi. Who then besides Iulius could bring this to passe Theo. An other if you could light on him Phi. What was he Theo. Constans the West Emperour Phi. Who sayth so besides you Theo. The three writers of the Church storie which with one consent agree that the West Emperour called the Councel and threatened his brother if Athanasius and Paulus were not suffered to enioy their former places Iulius when the letters which he sent touching Paulus and Athanasius did nothing preuaile with the East Bishoppes opened their cause to Constans the Emperour Constans wrote to his brother that he should send some of the Bishops of the East to shewe him the reason why these men were deposed Three were chosen who comming to Italie went about to perswade the Emperour that the Synode of the East Bishops had done well and Constans perceiuing they had done vniustly sent thē backe whence they came And because Constans requiring this fauour at his brothers hands that Athanasius the rest with him might be restored could not obtaine so much and those that were with Paulus and Athanasius getting to his presence besought him that a Synode might be called it pleased the Emperour that the bishops of either side should meet at Sardica by a certaine day prefixed Phi. It might please him they should do so but how proue you the thither they came by his authoritie Theo. Athanasius going to Constans bewayled vnto him the violence that was offered the Apostolicke faith Putting the Prince in mind of his fathers acts that the
greatest Councel that euer was was called by him the determination of those fathers lawfully confirmed beseeching the Emperour with teares to imitate his Father Constans vpon the hearing of these thinges presently writeth to his brother and warneth him to keepe inuiolably the inheritance of his fathers faith Constantius moued with thâ—se letters appointed a Councel to be held at Sardica and willed the Bishops as wel of the East as the west to be their present After this Councel had likewise concluded for Paulus and Athanasius against their deposers Constans wrate to his brother the resolution of the Synode and exhorted him to restore them to their places which when Constantius delayed and differred the West Emperour offereth him this choyse either to restore them their Churches or if he woulde not to looke for hostilitie and warre Wherupon the East Emperour being driuen to this streit sent for Athanasius and his fellowes by three seuerall letters and not only restored them but abolished all things that might any way be preiudiciall to them By this you see Iulius had no power to cal a general Councel but Athanasius was fayne to begge it of the Prince with teares and the Bishoppe of Rome was not then taken for the last and supreme Iudge on earth But the Councel sate in Iudgement after him where matters were ended by number of voyces Phi. Yet we saide trueth that Athanasius called for ayde of Iulius Theo. I said as truely that you florish with generalities and ambiguities conclude nothing For what haue you gotten nowe more than we graunted at first or which way doth this example perteyne to that which is in question betwixt vs Phi. You make too light of our proofes Theo. Then put you more weight to them I take them as I find them and for ought that I see you can not mend them Phi. Well esteeme them as you lift they proue that the Bishop of Rome was euer a sure refuge for the Catholiques against heretikes which he neuer perfourmed more worthily than in our dayes Theo. I thinke in deede Rome was neuer fuller of deuises and practises than at this present Antichrist is so carefull for his kingdome lest it fall that hee spareth neither men nor money to be reuenged on those that shrinke from him but when all is done God will strike the stroke Phi. No doubt he will but neuer for you that bee so shamefully fallen from his Church Theo. You be more shamefully fallen from his word consequently from faith which is the foundation of the Church neither can he be ioyned to the Church which is seuered from the Gospel But we go from the matter your examples bee not yet all discussed Phi. Returne when you will Theo. Chrysostome and Augustine you say asked ayde of Innocentius Phi. They did so Theo. Ayde they might aske and he might yeeld and yet neither make for your purpose Phi. That were maruaile Theo. None at all Chrysostome whom you first name sought for helpe as Athanasius did but the displeasure which Arcadius the East Emperour had conceiued against him was so great that Innocentius coulde not preuaile Phi. It serueth our turnes that Chrysostome did seeke to the Bishop of Rome notwithstanding Arcadius by force did ouerbeare him Theo. Chrysostome sought nothing but that his cause might bee heard in a full Synode before indifferent Iudges Phi. It maketh much for Innocentius supremacie that Chrysostome sought this at his handes Theo. You must make your foundation surer before your building will stand You sawe by the last example of Athanasius that the Bishop of Rome and the west Church might reiect refuse the sentence of any Prouinciall Synode giuen against the Patriarke vnlesse their consents were first had And euen the very same doeth Chrysostome request of Innocentius that he would neither admit nor allowe the proceedings of his aduersaries against him as good nor communicate with him that was chosen by them to succeede in his place Phi. This still confirmeth that nothing was good if the Bishop of Rome did dissent Theo. And still that inferreth nothing but yâ— the Bishop of Rome and his Prouince were a part of the Church and by reason and equitie were to giue their voyces as wel as others before the rest might conclude any thing that did concerne or should bynde the whole Church And this is strange that where the Bishoppe of Rome for himselfe and his Prouince seeketh en equalitie with others as a part of the Church you frame him alone a superioritie ouer all others as the heade of the Church Your examples shewe this that others without him could not bind the whole Church because the conseÌ„t was not general your conclusion must be this that he without all others as Christes UicegereÌ„t in earth might dispose the whole Church at his pleasure See you no differeÌ„ce betwixt these two positions Phi. I confesse they differ but can you shew that others withstoode him as well as he withstood them Theo. Yea that I can Phi. Arians perhaps or Donatists Theo. Nay Catholike fathers Councels Phi. Shew that and you say somewhat to the matter Theo. That I will shew when your proofes are ended I thinke not good to mingle yours and ours together Phi. Ours I graunt are much after one sort and therefore I long to heare yours Theo. No hast but good anon you shall you would faine I see ridde your hands Phi. You shall well know the contrarie Say what you can Theo. I say nothing but that you gaine litle by Chrysostoms example Phi. Doe we not These be Chrysostomes wordes to Innocentius Wherefore least this confusion inuade euery nation vnder Heauen I beseech you write that these vniust proceedings both in our absence and when wee refused not iudgement may be of no force as in deed of themselues they are not and let them which haue doone this wrong feele the censure of the ecclesiasticall Lawes and suffer vs that were neither conuicted nor charged with any crime nor so much as conuented to enioy your letters of communion and charitie and likewise of all others whose fellowship wee had before Doeth he not in these wordes request Innocentius to pronounce the sentence voyd that was giuen against him to remoue the authors of this disorder from the communion Theo. To Dissent from it was enough to vndoe it because neither he nor his prouince were acquainted with it to excommunicate the doers was nothing els but to communicate no longer with them which euery Bishop and prouince might do when any wilful breach of the Canons was offered Phi. This petition was made to Innocentius alone and not to the residue of the West Bishops Theo. If Innocentius alone were spoken to the matter is not great Sure it is the Bishop of Rome neither did nor might deale in these cases without the consent of his brethren for feare least when the matter came to voyces as in the end it
their mutuall consents for the suppressing of errors that dayly sprang when generall Councels coulde not bee called In which case the Bishop of Rome both in respect of his Citie that was Imperiall and his See that was Apostolicall vsed to receiue the first letters Phi. The Councell of Carthage writeth thus to Innocentius Hoc itaque gestum charitati tuae intimandum duximus vt statutis nostrae mediocritatis etiam Apostolicae sedis adhibeatur auctoritas pro tuenda salute multorum That which was done we thought good to intimate to your charitie that to the decrees of our meannesse the authoritie of your Apostolike See might be added for the sauing of many from infection Theo. First they for their partes decreed against Pelagius without the Bishop of Rome next they seeke the consent of the Bishop of Rome not to make that good which they had done but to preuaile the rather with many that were out of their Prouince Error ipse impietas quae tam multos assertores habet per diuersa dispersos etiam auctoritate Apostolicae sedis anathematizanda est This error and impietie which hath so many fauorers dispersed in so many places had neede be condemned by the credit and authoritie of your Apostolike See Phi. Innocentius saith they did but their dueties Theo. A man might soone intreate Innocentius to take enough vpon him and yet the worst he saith is this Arbitror omnes fratres Episcopos nostros quoties fidei ratio ventilatur non nisi ad Petrum id est sui nominis honoris authorem referre debere velut nunc retulit vestra dilectio I thinke that all our brethren and fellow Bishops when any matter of faith is in question ought to referre the same to none but to Peter the author of their office and honor as now your kindnesse hath done Where by referring to Peter he did not meane as you do that all faith and Religion should depende on the Popes sleeue but that when they had concluded as they saw cause they should giue him intelligence to this ende that he might cōcur with them for the better repressing of heresie with full consent Now that which Innocentius made but a thought of you since that time proclaime for a Gospell Phi. Innocentius would not thinke so without some ground Theo. Thoughts are weake proofes when the case is our owne And Innocentius Epistles in answere of these two Councels Erasmus noteth for want of words wit and learning requisit for so great a Prelate Phi. Erasmus is very bolde with the Fathers Theo. Your decretall Epistles be euen such for the most part mary that is not to this purpose Basill is the next man in your beadrole who called as you say for helpe of Liberius Felix and other Bishops of Italie but can you tell vs where we shall finde all these thinges that you affirme Phi. In his Epistles Theo. There be foure or fiue Epistles of his written to the West Bishops in general and to the Bishops of Italie and Fraunce for succor and helpe where the Bishop of Rome perhaps is included as one amongst the rest but neuer intreated nor so much as named asunder from the rest And here may you learne of Basill the cause why good men being oppressed in the East Church by the craft and power of heretikes or enimies sought to the West for ayde and assistance Not that they tooke the Bishop of Rome for supreme Iudge of all doubts and doctrines as left in Christs steede but that the number concorde of the West Bishops might temper and hinder the malice of their aduersaries and bring their quarels to be decided in an open and euen Councell So Basill aduiseth Athanasius to do For the experience that I haue had in things I know this to be the only way to get help that our Churches are linked with the West Bishops For if they will readily shew the same zeal for our Coūtries which they did against one or two that were diffamed in the West perhaps somwhat wil be done that shall generally profit all whereby those that are in authority may be moued to reuerence their number the people euery where wil follow thē without contradiction And Basil himself writing to thē As much cōfort helpe as you can saith he delay not to yeeld to the distressed and afflicted Churches As we thinke the concord vnitie which you enioy there among your selues to be our own happines so ought you to labor with vs in these dissentions which assault vs. If then there be any comfort of loue if any communion of the spirit if any bowels of pitie be moued to helpe vs take ye the zeale of godlines deliuer vs from this tempest And describing at large the miserable state of the Churches thereabout The principles of godlines saith he be ouerthrowen the rites of religion peruerted faith it selfe in daunger godlie preachers put to silence euery blasphemous mouth is open holy thinges are prophaned and those that are sound amōg the people flee the house of prayers as in the which impietie is published Therefore while yet some stand before a perfect and full shipwrack oppresse the Church hastē vnto vs hasten at the lēgth yet What you shall do to help vs we neede not tell you but onely this that you must make speed the presence of many brethren will be requisite for this matter to this end that they which come may make a full and iust Synode This is the chiefest thing that we require that by your meanes the troubles of our coūtries may be knowen to the Emperours own person or if that be hard that some of you come to see comfort the afflicted The thinges that we spake many suspect as proceeding of priuate contention you the farther you dwel off the more credit you haue with the people If therfore many of you with one consent shal decree the same it is euident that the verie number of you concurring in one minde with vs shall cause all men to receiue this doctrine without any doubting You see what helpe Basill asked of the West Bishops making no mention of the Bishop of Rome but praying them all to ioyne togither and to shewe their zeales for the truth either by meeting in a ful Synod for the condēnation of such errors as were newly risen in the church or by writing their letters to the East Bishops that the teachers embracers of those impieties should be seuered frō the communion of the faithfull vntill their amendment The redresse of these things we seeke for at your hands the which you shall performe if it please you to write to all the East Churches that those which in this sort haue corrupted the doctrine of truth be then admitted to the communiō when they correct their errors if they will not be brought from this innouation but frowardly continue the same
receaued to their fellowship they keeping still that honor and excellencie which they had in Christ before our comming Abraham is to this day the father of the faythful the Patriarkes Prophets are not depriued of their dignitie Peter no doubt as he was so he is the first Stone that Christ layed in the foundation of his Church which dignity you can not take from him after his death Phi. What then shall his successour haue Theo. The charge that he had to feede the same keyes that were giuen him and the rest to binde lose Which office if the Bishop of Rome will execute he may haue Phi. A fayre promotioÌ„ You meane he shal be a Bishop as others are Theo. God graunt he be so much More if he will haue by warrant from Peter you must proue it better than by such forged autorities manned exaÌ„ples as here you bring Those that are past your self see were to litle purpose Theodoretes example which is yet behind is like the rest Phi. He submitted him self to Leo the great was by him restored to his Bishoprike though he were not of his Prouince Theo. Leo toke his part against Dioscorus the Patriarke of Alexandria that like a tyrant in the second Councell of Ephesus not only was the death of Flauianus by spurning tredding on him but also coÌ„firmed the wicked opinion of Eutiches deposed Theodorete without any iust cause whoÌ„ the Bishop of Rome receaued to the coÌ„munion accepted for a lawfull and Catholike Bishop not regarding the sentence pronounced against him by Dioscorus Phi. Then Leo reuersed the lewd acts of Dioscorus in that Ephesine Councell Theo. Leo withstood theÌ„ as all other good men did throughout the world but the iudgement was reuersed by the great CouÌ„cel of Chalcedon not by the Bishop of Rome where Theodorete was forced with his own mouth in their presence to cleare him selfe from all suspition notwithstanding his restitution by Leo before he could be admitted to make his complaynt against Dioscorus Phi. Still you see the Bishop of Rome resisted other by dissenting from them ouerthrew their interprises Theo. And still you see the Bishop of Rome neuer ended these matters at home in his owne Câ—â—sistorie as supreme Iudge of the whole earth but euer made suite to Christiâ—n Princes that these thinges might be determined in full assemblies of Bisâ—ops by the iudgement opinion of the most part which is cleane contrarie tâ— that absolute power he now claymeth as Uicar generall to Christ the only Ruler of his vniuersall Church And therefore these examples which you haue brought many like which you might bring proue noâ— that power which you defend at this day to belong to the Bishop of Rome but rather euert the same For what needed his predecessors with all ouetie become suppliants to Catholike Emperours for the gathering of Bishops out of all quarters to decide matters in doubt and that sute often refused as when Innocentius messengers came backe from Arcadius with a shamefull repulse and Leo the great whom you last spake of besought Theodosius the yonger with sighes teares to graunt a Councell for the repealing of Dioscorus actes could not obtaine it what needed I say such earnest and humble request to those that neglected their prayers if Christ had appointed them as Peters successors and his deputies without depending on Princes pleasures or other mens voices to say but the word which should stand good in his Church against all persons in all causes both of doctrine discipline And what better conuiction of your falshood can there be than that in all these troubles tempests of the Church which you haue chosen out of many for your best aduantage the Bishop of Rome neuer so much as pretended or mentioned his Lieutenantship to Christ which you now defend but euer keeping his place which by reason of his Citie was the first among the Patriarkes ioyning him selfe to the West Bishops which were then a good part of Christendom by their helpe and the fauour of religious Princes gate those thinges that oppressed the Church and impugned the faith to be debated and determined by common coÌ„sent in generall and lawfull Councels without any reseruation or motion of his absolute power or negatiue voice Phi. Our examples you grant proue this that he resisted others now shewe you that others ouerruled him Theo. If I could not the matter were not great coÌ„sidering your examples conclude nothing against vs but least you should flatter your selues too much in your follies you shal see that others withstood him as well as he withstood others Phi. Were they Catholiks Theo. I trust you dare not account them heretikes Peter as you say the first Bishop of Rome was resisted by Paul the teacher of the Gentiles Anicetus by Policarpus Saint Iohns owne scholer Victor by Polycrates Ireneus and al the brethren of Asia Stephanus by Cyprian Damasus Syricius and Anastasius by Flauianus and all the Churches of the East of Asia Pontus Thracia and Illyricum Innocentius by Cyrill Sozimus and Bonifacius by Augustine and two hundred and sixteene Bishoppes of Africa Caelestinus by Theodorete Leo by the great Councell of Chalcedon Gregorie by the Britanes and many other Bishops of Rome by diuerse godly Princes Prelates Countries and Councels Phi. I like not these generall florishes which serue onely to obscure the truth and beguile the simple Theo. Howe then can you like your Apologie which consisteth of nothing else And what a slender kinde of proofe was that idle rehearsall of names which you made euen now for your running to Rome But our particulars I am well content you shall skan The first Paul himselfe affirmeth When Peter came to Antioch I withstood him to his face for hee was to be blamed Phi. The quarell betwixt them was not great Theo. Not walking the right way to the truth of the Gospell and compelling the Gentiles to liue like the Iewes was no such petite fault as you make it but graunt it were The smaller the fault the stronger our instance If Paul for a light matter resisted Peter to his face what woulde hee haue done in a cause of more weight Phi. Was Peter then Bishop of Rome when Paul reproued him Theo. It forceth not whether hee were or no. Peter as you pretende had his prerogatiue not from Rome but from Christ long before hee sawe Rome and therefore was in as full authoritie when Paul resisted him as when Nero martyred him and yet if their account bee true that were the first authours of his preferment to Rome hee was rebuked at Paules handes euen when hee was Bishoppe of Rome For Peter as Eusebius or some other in his name recordeth went to Rome and was Bishoppe there in the 44. yeare of Christ that is eleuen yeares after his passion Christ being put to death in the 33. yeare of his age
and Paul in the fifteenth yeare of his conuersion or as himselfe speaketh After fourteene yeares came not to Rome but to Ierusalem to conferre with Peter which at least must be the 48. yeare of Christ and foure yeares after Peters installation at Rome And after that when Peter came to Antioch and began to dissemble for feare of the Iewes which were sent from Iames Paul resisted him to his face and sharpely rebuked him not respecting that hee was then in his pontificalibus and newly made Bishop of Rome as you your selues beleeue Now choose whether you will disclaime Peter for no Bishop of Rome and so loose your succession from him or graunt that the Bishop of Rome may be lawfully resisted as Peter was which is the very thing you required vs to proue One of these twaine you shall neuer auoide do what you can Phi. I may not deny that Paul did it the Scripture is plaine I resisted him to his face but whether he did no more than he might or how to his face is a Schole-point and a pretie question Theo. No question at all vnlesse you will charge Paul with rashnesse in doing it vnshamefastnesse in writing it and wilfulnesse in directlie defending it For by this dissention doth he proue the â—oundnesse of his doctrine and by Peters yeelding hee confirmeth the Galathians that were wauering And therefore you must either allowe this resistaunce for good and lawfull or else conclude this Epistle to bee no Scripture and Paul to be voide of the holy Ghost in proposing an vnhonest and vngodly fact of his owne for a president which to say were no small blasphemie Phi. I did not auouch it but only moue the question Theo. You must moue no such questions if you be a Christian they be reprochfull to the spirit of God and iniurious to his word You were driuen to a narrow straite when you came to this shift You be loth I see to confesse either but there is no remedy Philander you must yeelde vs one of these whether you will or no. Phi. Let me heare the rest and then you shall know my minde Theo. Resist not truth to maintaine your credit God will surely reuenge it This example is ineuitable studie till your braines ake for an answere But the rest you shall heare Polycarpus being at Rome when Anicetus was Bishop there they dissenting in some other small matters were by and by reconciled but touching the obseruation of Easter-day which in diuerse places was diuersely kept Anicetus could not perswade Polycarpus to leaue those thinges which he had alwayes obserued with Iohn the Disciple of our Lord and the rest of the Apostles with whom he had beene conuersant Phi. The contention was but in words betweene them Theo. Yes they differed in deedes and Polycarpus could not be induced by any wordes to follow that manner of celebrating Easter-day which Anicetus receiued from those Apostles that founded the Romane Church This coÌ„trouersie waxed hoatter in Victors time who for the very same cause went about to cut off al the Churches of Asia from the vnitie of communion as intangled with some strange opinion and by letters inueighed against them and vtterly denounced al the brethren there excommunicated but for all his hast he was quickly staied Phi. By whom Theo. Polycrates in the behalfe of the Churches of Asia amongest other thinges replyeth thus to Victor I that haue seene threescore fiue yeares in the Lord and haue coÌ„ferred with the brethren throughout the world and haue turned and searched the holy Scripture will neuer be afraid of those thinges that are done to terrifie me I could make mention of the Bishops that are with me whoÌ„ you required me to send for and so I did whose names if I would recken they would make a great multitude which taking the paines to visit me a man of small account consent to this Epistle Victors deede did not please all the Bishops that otherwise were of his side Yea many of their letters saith Eusebius are extant that did sharply reproue Victor Amongest whom Ireneus was one that wrote in the name of his brethren of Fraunce where he was chiefe and allowed Victors opinion that the mysterie of the Lordes resurrection should bee kept onely vpon Sundaie But yet he wisely and largelie warneth Victor that he should not excommunicate all the churches of God obseruing their auncient tradition Phi. They withstood him in a small and trifling cause Theo. You take holde of that which doth hurt you To resist whom they should not in a matter that they neede not is a double offence and then shoulde Ireneus and others haue rather reproued Polycrates and his adherentes for neglecting their dueties than the Bishop of Rome for passing his boundes but in that hee was stoutly resisted by the one and sharpelie reproued by the other it is euident that neither of them tooke him for his sole and supreme directer of Christes Church on earth Of Cyprian I said before that he counselled the Church of Spain to reiect Basilides notwithstanding his restitution by Stephanus Bishop of Rome and howe vehemently the saide Stephanus was resisted by Cyprian for the rebaptizing of such as forsooke their heresies his Epistle to Pompeius doth aboundantlie witnesse Because you desired to knowe what aunswere our brother Stephanus Bishoppe of Rome returned to our letters I haue sent you a copie of that he wrote By the reading whereof you shall more and more perceiue his error that hee laboureth to maintaine the cause of heretickes against the Church of God For amongest other thinges either superfluous or impertinent or contrarie to themselues which he writeth vnskilfully and vnwisely hee added this c. And hauing repeated and refuted the wordes of Stephanus What blindnesse of heart saith Cyprian is this and what peruersenesse that hee will not acknowledge the vnitie of faith comming from God the Father by the deliuery of our Lorde Iesus Christ And where no heresie no nor schisme can haue the sanctification of healthfull baptisme out of the Church why doth the inflexible obstinacie of our brother Stephanus breake out so farre that of Martions baptisme and such like blasphemers against God the Father he auoucheth children may be borne vnto God It commeth of too much presumption and frowardnes that a man had rather defende his owne though it bee false and naught than yeelde to an others deedes and words How like you this resisistance doth it go to the quicke or no Phi. This was an error in Cyprian for Stephanus held the truth Theo. The question is not whether Cypryan were deceiued but whether Stephanus were resisted I grant in this case Stephanus had the better part but yet Cyprian the Bishops of Africa thought theÌ„selues to be right vpon that opinion of truth how far they resisted the Bishop of Rome their acts Epistles declare Phi. Their matter I tel you was naught
Theo. That doth rather fasten than shake my conclusioÌ„ For if Cyprian the Bishops of Africa when their cause was not good resisting the Bishops of Rome both in words deeds were taken accounted in the Church of God for Christian Catholike Bishops yea Cyprian the chiefe leader of them and most earnest against him for a worthie Father glorious Martyr how much more then in a right and iust cause might the Bishops of Rome be lawfully resisted in those dayes The which I may likewise conclude by the next example where the Bishops of Rome were not onely resisted but at length forced to yeelde to Flauianus although their strife with him at the first seemed to carry some reason Phi. Did they not wel to reiect him that was made Bishop against his oth Flauianus was one of those that were sworne neither to seeke nor to accept the Bishopricke of Antioch if they were chosen till Miletius Paulinus were both dead that thereby the Church of Antioch which before was diuided in two partes vnder two Bishops might be ioyned togither and vnited in one and hee vpon the death of Miletius whiles Paulinus yet liued not respecting his oth was content to take the place Theo. I sayde there was some cause for the Bishoppes of Rome to refuse him and yet notwithstanding the goodnesse of their quarrell and sharpenesse of contention which Damasus Syriâ—ius Athanasius and Innocentius maintayned against him all the Churches of the East of Asia Pontus Thracia and Illyricum tooke part with Flauianus defended his election and receiued his communion though the Bishops of Rome would do neither And Theodosius the elder a very religious Emperour hauing the courage and wisedom of Flauianus in admiration and seeing the number of Churches that did communicate with him willed him to returne feede the Church or flock committed to his charge Against whom when the Bishoppe of Rome made a long accusation the godly Prince vndertooke his defence pleaded his cause and exhorted them to knit their Churches togither and to leaue striuing and extinguish those foolish brables And so was the Bishop of Rome glad to giue ouer the quarell which hee and three of his predecessors had for the space of seuenteene yeares egerly followed against Flauianus How little Cyrillus esteemed the communion of the Bishop of Rome doeth well appeare by his answere to Atticus where hee vehemently diswadeth that Chrysostoms name after his death should be put in the Catalogue of Bishops notwithstanding Innocentius and the West Bishops would not communicate with Egypt or the East partes till that were obtayned Phi. It was a fault in Cyrill to be so vehement against Chrysostom in fauor of his vnkle Theophilus the chiefe doer of all this and that ouersight he after corrected by yeelding to that which before he rufused Theo. What moued Cyrill at the first to withstand and after to yeeld I neede not care you may not iudge were the cause good or bad to my purpose all is one this is it that I vrge neither Cyrill nor Atticus nor the Churches with them were reputed schismaticall for lacking or neglecting so long time the communioÌ„ of the Bishop of Rome though the matter they stood on were skant sound Phi. You should bring vs an example where the Bishop of Rome was withstood by a Councell the factes of priuate men carie not so great credit as when they bee done in a publike Synode Theo. The men that I haue named vnto you were no such obscure persons that you neede doubt of theyr credit They were for their calling and function Bishops and Patriarkes for their learning and holinesse lightes in the Church of Christ and are so taken to this daie Neither as you suppose were they alone in these actions but had the Bishoppes and Churches adioyning to take their partes and did these thinges which I spake of in open Councell Polycrates had with him a Councell in Asia when he resisted Victor and Ireneus had likewise an other in Fraunce when he reproued him Cyprian and 84. Africane Bishops ioyned together in the CouÌ„cel of Carthage against Stephanus With Flauianus as Sozomene writeth were the Bishops of Syria Phenica Armenia Cappadocia Galatia as Theodorete sayth all the Churches of Asia Pontus Thracia Illyricum besides all the East Churches That which Cyrill defended was done by two Councels allowed by the three Patriarkes of Alexandria Constantinople Antioche and their Prouinces And therefore these are no priuate men nor matters as you pretend but thinges done in open Synodes by no meane Bishoppes And yet to content your mind you shall see where the Bishop of Rome clayming farre lesse authoritie than hee doeth at this day was openly resisted in a Councell of 217. Bishops to his immortall shame and your vtter ouerthrow in this cause Sozimus Bishop of Rome sending his Legats Faustinus Philippus and Asellus to the sixt Councell of Carthage in fauour of Apiarius a Priest that fled to Rome for ayde against Vrbanus his Dioecesane which had taken both his function the communion from him for his lewdnes amongst other things gaue them in charge to clayme this prerogatiue for him and his See that if any Bishoppes were accused or deposed and appealed to Rome the Byshoppe of Rome might either write to the next Prouince to determine the matter or send some from his side to represent his person and to sit in iudgement with the Bishoppes And to proue this lawfull he cited in writing vnder his hande a Canon of the Councell of Nice tending to that effect The Godly fathers assembling themselues out of all Africa to the number of 217. and finding no such Canon in their bookes either Greeke or Latine wrate to the Patriarkes of Alexandria Constantinople and Antioche for true and authentike copies of the Nicene Councell and seeing their owne copies agree worde for worde with those that were brought and no such thing to bee found in any Canon there first by their decree cut off appeales to Rome and secondly by their letters traduced the Bishop of Rome as well for his ambition as forgerie Phi. An old broken matter often alleaged and offen answered Theo. You could doe litle if you could not crake but that will not serue your turnes you must spare vs a better answere In deede Bonifacius the second doeth answere the matter in this sort Aurelius praefatae Carthagiensis ecclesiae olim Episcopus cum collegis suis instigante Diabolo superbire temporibus praedecessorum nostrorum Bonifacij Caelestini contra Romanam ecclesiam cepit Aurelius once Bishoppe of Carthage with his collegues amongst whom was S. Austen with many other learned and Godly fathers in the time of Bonifacius and Caelestinus our predecessours began through the instigation of the Deuill to be malepart with the church of Rome If you take this for an answere so is it other I know
Constantinople 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equall priuileges with elder Rome and in causes ecclesiastical to be aduanced as far forth as Rome Against the Councell of Chalcedon if you oppose the Legates or letters of Leo you make but a slender match In this Councell were sixe hundred thirtie Bishops double the number of the Nicene Synode and Leo was led with priuate respects to crosse this Canon as loth to see the Bishoppe of Constantinople rise too fast for feare least at length he should offer to pricke before the Bishop of Rome which in deede came to passe not long after in the dayes of Gregorie the first and therefore the fathers lightly reiected all that his Legates could say when the matter came the second time to voyces as appeareth in the sixteenth Action of the sayd Councell where the Iudges after either side had proposed what they could resolued on this wise By these things that haue bin done and alleaged we perceaue the first and chiefest honor according to the Canons is reserued to the Archbishop of ancient Rome and moreouer that the Archbishop of the Royal Citie of Constantinople which is new Rome must enioy the selfesame prerogatiues and priuileges c. Thus we conceiue you Nowe let the sacred and oecumenical Councels speake their mindes The reuerend Bishoppes answered This is a right iudgement wee all say the same euery one of vs is well contented therewith this is a good decree let this determination stande in force all this is orderly concluded wee pray you demisse vs wee al continue in the â—ame mind Lucentius Vicegerent to the Bishop of Rome replied The See Apostolike which gaue vs this in charge must not be abased by this decree And therefore whatsoeuer was yesterday concluded in our absence to the preiudice of the Canons we pray your excellencies to commaund that it may be put againe to voices Yf not that our protestation against it may be set downe in record that wee may knowe what to informe the Pope of the Vniuersal Church The Iudges answered That which we pronounced the whole Councel hath approued Phi. The Synode approued it but the Bishop of Rome resisted it Theo. You confesse that which I would inferre Phi. What doe I confesse Theo. That the Councell made this Canon the Legates of Leo gainsaying it Phi. The more to blame they that did it Theo. So you reuerence generall Councels when you be disposed yet this is apparant that the councel of Chalcedon ouer ruled the Bishop of Rome and mauger his Legats that were present earnest against it they concluded without them that which they most misliked Neither could Leo for al his eger sharpe resistance preuaile with them or against them the Christian Emperours still fauouring and the sixt generall Councell againe confirming that which their fathers before them had enacted at Chalcedon Renewing the decrees of the 150. fathers that met in this royall Citie of Constantinople of the 630. Bishops which assembled at Chalcedon we likewise determine that the See of Constantinople shall haue equall priuileges and honors with the Seate of elder Rome and in ecclesiasticall matters be aduanced as farre forth as it being next vnto it Which wordes are falsely reported or rather lewdly corrupted in your Canon lawe by putting a negatiue to the later part of them that draweth the whole to a contrarie sense Non tamen in ecclesiasticis rebus magnificetur vt illa sed secunda post illam existens And yet for all that shall not the See of Constantinople be aduanced in ecclesiasticall affaires as high as Rome but be the second after her And so where the Councell decreed that Constantinople shoulde bee aduanced in ecclesiasticall matters as farre forth as Rome you falsifie the words and conclude that Constantinople shall not bee aduanced as farre foorth as Rome which is no forgerie Phi. Let him answere for it that did it Theo. Bee your decrees no more worth nowe than to bee thus shaken off to shift for themselues Not long since they were the fairest flower in your garland but if you renounce your Canon law we will presse you no farther with it Phi. Not so neither Theo. Then howe can you salue this shamefull corruption Phi. Perhaps it was mistaken Theo. And neuer after perceiued Phi. I do not say so Theo. Why then not amended but openly suffered Phi. An error it might be wilfull it was not I dare sweare Theo. Is your Canon law so free from wilful corruptioÌ„ that you dare sweare for it Phi. As I thinke Theo. How doeth it handle the wordes of the Mileuitane and Africane Councell which I last alleaged Ad transmarina qui putauerint appellanduÌ„ a nullo intra Africam in comunione suscipiatur They that offer to appeale ouer the seas let them be receiued of no man within Africa to the communion That is true saith your lawe nisi fortè Romanam sedem appellauerint vnlesse perhaps they appeale to Rome And so where the councel purposely decreed this to keepe all men from Rome your lawe wittingly peruerteth their words and addeth except they appeale to Rome Which is both a ridiculous and malicious corruption The like prancke you play for authorizing your decretals out of S. Augustine and making them equall in credite with the canonicall Scriptures In which wordes you not only commit grosse forgerie but also runne into haynous blasphemie For where S. Augustine sayth In canonicis autem scripturis ecclesiarum Catholicarum quam plurium autoritatem sequatur inter quas sane illae sint quae Apostolicas sedes habere epistolas accipere meruerunt In esteeming the Canonicall scriptures let a Christian man follow the authoritie of the greater number of catholike churches amongst whom those Churches are which deserued to haue both the seates of the Apostles and to receiue their letters Your canon law turneth and altereth his words thus Inter quas scripturas Canonicas sane illae sint quas Apostolica sedes habere ab ea alij meruerunt accipere epistolas In the number of which Canonical scriptures let those epistles bee which the Apostolike See meaning Rome hath and others haue receiued from her And least you should thinke any other Epistles are ment than such as the Bishops of Rome themselues wrate in fayre red letters before the text these wordes are placed Inter Canonicas scripturas Decretales epistolae connumerantur The Decretall epistles of Popes are counted by S. Austen for Canonicall scriptures What greater blasphemie can be deuised or vttered against Christ his spirit than that the Popes Epistles should bee canonicall scriptures that is of equall authoritie with the worde of God And how farre S. Augustine was from any such thought the very place which your law so wickedly peruerteth doth best witnes First you grossely mistake the antecedent to the relatiue Inter quas scripturas for Inter quas ecclesias Next you chaunge the
faire king of France also did before him put the Pope to the worse Phi. What did he Theo. He not only contemned the Popes Buls curses but clapt his Legat by the heels sequestred himselfe his whole realm from his obedience at length caught the Popes own person kept him in prison til he died Phi. Durst he be so bold with his holines Theo. How bold the king of France was a frier as you bee shal tel you Bonifacius the 8. minding to send an armie to Hierusalem hoping to get Philip of France to furder the matter sent the Bishop of Apamea to the king who when he perceiued he could do no good began to threaten king Philip that he should be depriued of his crown if he did not satisfie the Popes request was therfore by the commādement of the king cast in prison Which done Bonifacius a mā aboue measure arrogāt pretending that Philip had violated the law of natiōs would needs be reuēged sending the Archdeacon of Narbon into Frāce forbiddeth Philip to take any more of the church reuenues wheras before the king that Bonifacius could suffer had one yeares fruit of euery vacāt church which we cal the kings due farther he denoūceth that the crown of Frāce is deuolued to the church of Rome by Philips cōtumacy adding that if Philip refused this he would pronoūce both him those that fauored him heretikes moreouer he appointed the bishops certain Abbats with the diuines Canonists a day to appeare before him at Rome withal declareth the charters grāts bestowed on the Frēch by the bishop of Rome to be void This message done by the Archdeacō with pride enough Philip set the Bishop which was kept in ward for his lewd wordes at libertie and charged him with speede to depart the Realme the next spring the Prince gathered an assembly at Paris rehearsing the iniuries that he had receiued at Bonifacius hands asked first the Bishops of whō they held their lands reuenewes then turning himselfe to the Nobles you my Lords saith he whom do you take for your king ruler both answering without staie that they helde inioyed all those things by his Princely lawes but saith the king Bonifacius so dealeth as if you the whole Realme of Fraunce were subiect to his See For the Empire of the Almanes which he thrise denied Albert hath he now giuen him and also the kingdom of Fraunce But we thanking you for your fidelitie good will trusting to your helpe doe promise to defende the libertie of our Lande The Councell risen the king by open Proclamation forbad all men to carrie gold siluer or any other thing out of his Realme a paine set for the breakers of this Edict besides watch ward was appointed at euery passage port to apprehend those that came in or went out of his Countrie And not long after a second Councell of Bishops and Nobles were assembled at Paris where they discussed Bonifacius claime to the kingdom of Fraunce the Fathers affirming that Bonifacius was vnworthie to be Bishop for that he was an homicide and an heretike whereof they had witnesses present Therefore with one consent they concluded that Bonifacius ought not to be obeyed vnlesse he first cleared himselfe of that he was charged with After this king Philip taking the pride of Bonifacius in very ill part sent some to intimate his appeale against the iniuries of Bonifacius who belike meaning to gratifie the king caught the Pope in his fathers house at Anagnia whēce the proud Prelate was led to Rome cast in prison where within foure twentie daies he ended his life either by violence or else for griefe of hart Thus died Bonifacius like a dogge that went about to strike a terrour into Emperors Kings Princes Countries Commonwealthes rather than any religion which assaied to giue kingdoms take them away to aduance men and pull them downe at his pleasure Wherefore it was truely saide of him he entered like a Foxe craftily liued like a Lion furiously died like a dogge shamefully Phi. This is but one mans iudgement Theo. Yet a man of your owne side and if our English Monkes do not deceiue vs it was the prophesie of Caelestinus his predecessor who sayd to him Thou hast entered like a Foxe thou wilt raigne like a Lion shalt die like a dogge but the truth of the storie is it that I seeke for and that in effect a few circumstances altered is confessed by the best of your writers and this they adde which I would haue you marke that the king not only withdrew his obedience from the Pope but also restrayned his subiectes from sending or going to Rome So Sabellicus Philip offended with Bonifacius by open Edict forbad all French men to go to Rome or to send any mony thither So Platina The king meaning in part to reuēge the wrōgs which the Pope had done him made a law that none of his Realme should go to Rome or send mony thither So Paulus AEmylius The Bishops and prelats of France were commaunded by Bonifacius to appeare at Rome by a certaine day The king suffered no man to depart out of Fraunce which you thinke much her Maiestie should at this present in a far better cause commaund within her dominions Phi. One Swallow maketh no summer Theo. One such Sommer is able to mar the Popes haruest but herein the king of France is not alone the kings of England haue done the like Phi. Which of them Theo. I could easily name them but I need not The ancient Lawes Liberties of this Realm permit no man to go out of this land nor appeale to Rome without the kings consent Phi. Uery ancient I promise you those lawes were first made by king Henrie the 8. about fiftie yeares since Is not that great antiquitie Theo. The lawes that I speake of are 500 yeares old and were in full force vnder William Rufus and Henrie the 1. the Sonnes of William the Conquerer Phi. Did they restraine their subiectes from going to Rome Theo. Whether they did or no iudge you When Anselmus Archbishop of Canterbury asked leaue of William Rufus to go to Rome the king replied that no Archbishop nor Bishop of his realm should be subiect to the Pope or court of Rome especially since hee had all those liberties in his kingdom which the Emperour had in the Empire And for this cause was Anselmus conuented by the king as an offendour against the State And to this accusation did the most of the Bishops except the Bishop of Rochester giue their consentes And for that he ventered ouer the Seas to Rome without leaue All his goods cattels were seased to the kings vse all his actes proceedings in the Church of England reuersed himselfe constrained to liue in banishmēt during the life of king
blood and bowels against them And therefore no maruaile if king Henrie relented somewhat of his former stoutnesse when the king of Fraunce the Earle of Flaunders the king of Scots the yong king his sonne and two other of his children the Duke of Aquitane and Earle of Britaine cōspired against him but it is euident that frō the conquest till the time these lawes and liberties stood in their full force and were publikely receiued and vsed in this Realme Phi. Did the Pope procure him these enemies Theo. What packing there was betweene the French king and the Pope though the stories in this place do not confesse yet we may soone coniecture by the generall drift of your holy Father his blessed adherents in those daies specially by the exāple of king Iohn the sonne of the said king Henrie whom for refusing the disordered election of Stephen Langton to the church of Canterbury Innocentius the 3. so terrified with open inuasion of enemies secret defection of subiects that for safegard of himselfe he was driuen to resigne his kingdome take it againe at the Popes hands in fee farme vnder the yearly rent of a thowsand marks binding himself his heires for euer to do the like homage fealtie to the Bishops of Rome for the crowne of England Which shamefull seruitude of the Prince vtter ruine of the Realme so much displeased the barōs bishops that before toke the Popes part against the king that in plaine contempt of the Popes keies curses they chose them an other king chased king Iohn the Popes farmour from place to place in despite of al y his new Landlord could do or deuise But this I omit because the quarel touched the right title to the crown I medle only with those resistances which the kings of England made for men and matters ecclesiastical Phi. I trust they were not many Theo. For the first hundred yeares next the cōquest it is clear the kings of this Realm would neuer allow their subiects to run to Rome nor suffer appeals to be made to the Pope without their expresse consent now shall you see what they which came after did When king Edw. the 3. reuiued the statute of Premunire made by king Edw. the 1. in the 35. year of his raign against such as sought to Rome to prouide thē of benefices other ecclesiastical promotions wtin this realm enacting the same penalty for those that by processe frō thence impugned any iudgement giuen in the kings courts or brought from Rome any Bul writing or instrumēt to those other like effects Gregory the 11. then Bishop of Rome vnderstanding therof was very earnest against it protesting this was nothing else but to make a schism in the church of Christ to abolish religion to subuert right reason infringe al coūcels speedily dealt with king Edw. to abrogate this law A schisme rising not long after in the church of Rome there was not a Pope that had any care of this til at lēgth Martin the 5. wrote more vehemēt letters to K. H. the 6. But these two bishops of Rome receiued one the same answer which was that an act of Parliament could not be repealed without the autority of a Parliamēt that shortly one should be called to that end which neuer after was performed Yea the king that came after did not only cause that law to be kept put in vre but increased the terror of it with a rigorous punishmēt which is that the party so offending shal forfeit his goods himself be condemned to perpetual imprisonmēt This writer an Italian born a man wedded to the See of Rome confesseth the Popes authority was abated restrained by the lawes of this Realm in the time of king Edward the 3. and so continued euer after that not only the Popes letters were twise refused but the sharpnesse of the punishment increased to strengthen the Statute that pared their power and limited his iurisdiction within this Realme Phi. Perhaps they wtstood him for tēporal matters Theo. The matters were such as your own church accoūteth spiritual to wit electiōs of Bishops gifts of benefices procedings in other causes tending as the cōmplaint of Gregory teacheth you to the diuision of the church extirpation of religion subuersion of al councels which you may not thinke to be temporall matters And this resistance which the Bishop of Rome so much repined at in the daies of king Edward the 3. neuer ceased till king Henry the 8. of famous memory banished the Popes vsurped power cleane out of this Land Phi. So did none of his progenitors before him Theo. It may be they wēt not so far as he did but as Polydor writeth R. Rich. the 2. wēt fairly towards it In a Parliament held the 14. yeare of his raigne the king his princes were of opinion that it would be very good for the realme of England if some part of the Popes dominion were determined with the Sea that is excluded out of this lād for that many wer daily vexed for causes which they thought could not so easily be ended at Rome Wherefore they made a law that no mā euer after should deal with the Bishops of Rome that any person in Englād should by his autority for any cause be excōmunicated that none should execute any such precept if it were sent him If any mā brake this law the pain apointed was he should lose al he had ly in prison during his life And where the pope trauailed by al means to ouerthrow the statute of prouisiō premunire the parliamēt held in the 13. year of Rich. the 2. for the better establishing surer executing of the law made it death for any mā to bring or send Bul or other proces frō Rome to impugn the same These be the words Itē it is ordained established that if any mā bring or send within this realm or the kings power any sūmōs sentēce or excōmunicatiō against any persō of what cōditiō that he be for the cause of making motiō assent or executiō of the said statute of Prouisors or premunire he shal be takē arested put in prison forfeit al his lands tenements goods catle for euer moreouer incur the pain of life mēber So the kingdoms cōmonwelths as wel as councels of al others Frāce England haue from time to time resisted your holy father in the midst of his terror tyrany P. You shew they did it but you do not shew they did wel in it Th. I need not you must shew they did il The prince by gods ordināce beareth the sword not the pope therfore the presumption lieth for the prince against the pope til you proue the cōtrary besids if bishops in a synod may lawfully resist him why may not princes in their parliamēts
thou assay so mightie weapons If peace be abroad thou makest war at home neither can thy fierce pride away with rest Thou settest brother against brother father against sonne thou venterest on al mischief hatchest al vilany thou regardest neither right nor law thou beguilest both God man thou feaâ—est neither heauen nor hell Auentinus a man likewise of your side and not long since aliue complaineth not without cause Since the Bishop of Rome hath so great power why doth he not vse it since the haruest is so great why doth hee not reape why doth he not feed when he seeth so many sheepe die for hunger Why doth he set ouer the flocke goates wolues libidinous adulterous persons abusers of virgins and Nunnes cookes Mulettors theeues banckers vsurers drones hunters after gayne luxurious perfidious forsworne ignorant asses I speake not by hearesay I write that I see with these eyes Why doth he coÌ„mit sheepe to wolues why doth he suffer his flocke to be in subiection to most pernitious hypocrites prouiding only for their owne bellies nay why doth hee let boyes wantons rule his lambes I am ashamed to say what manner of Bishops we haue With the reuenues of the poore they feede houndes horses I need not say whores they quaffe they make loue flee all learning as infection Such is the miserie of these times we may not speak that we thinke nor thinke that we speake As for the sheepe committed to their charge to sheere them strip them and kill them as euery man list vnder a pretence of deuotion is now an auncient custome If one witnes be not sufficient you shal haue more those of your not our religion to confesse the same Palingenius an Italian suppliant to the Church of Rome describeth at large the monsterous corruption of your Romane Clergie Sed tua praecipue non intret limina quisquam Frater vel Monachus vel quauis lege sacerdos Hos fuge pestis enim nulla hac immanior Hi sunt Faex hominum fons stultitiae sentina malorum Agnorum sub pelle lupi mercede colentes Non pâ—etate Deum falsa sub imagine recti Decipiunt stolidos ac relligionis in vmbra Mille actus vetitos mille piacula condunt Raptores moechi puerorum corruptores Luxuriae atque gulae famuli celestia vendunt Hos impostores igitur vulpesque dolosas Pelle procul Mystae vafrique cuculli Quos castos decet esse palam cum pellicibus vel Furtim cum pueris matronis virginibusque Nocte dieque subant sunt qui consanguiniarum Inguinibus gaudent ineunt pecudes quoque multi Prô pudor hos tolerare potest ecclesia porcos Duntaxat ventri veneri somnoque vacantes Let no Frier Monke or any Priest come within thy dores Take heede of them no greater mischiefe These are the dregges of men the fountaines of follie the sinckes of sinne wolues vnder lambes skinnes sâ—ruing God for reward not deuotion deceiuing the simple with a false shewe of honestie and vnder the shadow of religion hyding a thousand vnlawfull actes a thousand haynous offences committers of rapes fornicators abusers of boyes slaues of gluttonie and luxurie they sel heauenly things These imposters craftie foxes chase farre from thee The Priests and Monkes that shoulde bee chast spend night and day either openly with whoores or closely with boyes matrones and maydes Some spare neither blood nor beast O shame Can the Church endure such hogs giuen only to feed their bellies satisfie their lusts and take their ease Cornelius one of the bishops that were present at your late councel of Trent in the midst of your assemblie doth acknowlege that to be true which Auentinus and Palingenius before complayned of With what monsters of filthines saith he with what canel of vncleannes with what pestiferous contagion are not both people and priests defiled and corrupted in the holy church of God I make your selues Iudges and beginne at the sanctuarie of God if there were any shamefastnes any chastitie any hope or helpe of honest conuersation left if there were not lust vnbridled and vntamed singular boldnes and incredible wickednes For those two bloodsuckers which alwayes crie bring bring one the mother the other the nource of all euill I meane couetousnes ambition either a secrete and subtile mischiefe poyson plague and monster of the worlde whiles learning and vertue are despised and in their places ignorance vice highly aduanced by those whom we should take for quicke and liuing lawes haue brought to passe that edification is changed to destruction examples to offences custome to corruption regard of lawes to contempt thereof seueritie to slacknes mercie to impunitie pietie to hypocrisie preaching to contention solemne dayes to filthie Marâ—es and that which is most vnhappie the sauour of life to the sauour of death Would god they were not fallen with one consent from religion to superstition from faith to infidelitie from Christ to Antichrist yea from God to Epicurisme saying with their wicked hearts and shamelesse faces there is no God The Turkes proude with the victories and rich with the spoyles that they haue gotten froÌ„ ChristiaÌ„s grew not by their own strength but by our corrupt maners they were not so much enemies as scourges from God their weapons assaulted vs but our sinnes preuailed against vs they shewed their fiercenes we suffred for our iniquities And would God we alone had suffered that the sacred admirable name of Christ Iesu had not bin a iest fable amoÌ„g the faithlesse Iewes and Gentiles by reason of vs whose slouthfulnes wickednes is bruted ouer all the world with a most shamefull report Phi. You neede not reproch vs so bitterly your selues bee not free from all faults Theo. I neuer said we were I know these be the later times when iniquitie shall abound and the charitie of many waxe cold yea when men shall be louers of themselues couetous boasters proud cursed speakers vngratefull vnholy vnkinde vnfaithfull slaunderers intemperate fierce headie high minded preferring their pleasures before God as the holy Ghost foretold vs they should Of this soyle many no doubt on either side yours and ours haue a tast at this day but in vnshamefastnes you passe all others that the wide world crying shame on the manifold corruption of your clergie that Citie you only step forth wtout any blushing to denie that which your nearest friends haue confessed with insoleÌ„t words to promise this land high experimeÌ„ts innumerable examples of vertue deuotion as if that sinke of sin were lately become a fouÌ„taine of grace or the famous whore of BabiloÌ„ newly changed into chast IerusaleÌ„ But you must bee borne with your purpose was to lift extoll Gregorie the 13. aboue the skies thereby to kindle his loue and deuotion towards your Colleges as very zealous for his highnes holines which you could not wel do
You must bee subiect for conscience sake If the Saintes must bee subiect to Princes ergo the Church for the Church on earth is nothing els but the collection of Saintes And if euery soule that is euery man must bee subiect howe can the Church consisting of men bee exempted But if by the Church you meane the preceptes and promises giftes and graces of God preached in the Church and poured on the Church Princes must humbly obey them and reuerently receiue them as well as other priuate men So that Prophets Apostles Euangelists and all other buylders of Christes Church as touching their Persons bee subiect to the Princes power mary the word of trueth in their mouthes and the Seales of grace in their handes because they are of God not of themselues they be farre aboue the Princes calling and regiment and in those cases kinges and Queenes if they will bee saued must submit themselues to Gods euerlasting trueth and testament as well as the meanest of their people but this neither abateth the power which God hath giuen them ouer all men nor maketh them thrall to the Popes iudiciall processe to bee forced and punished at his pleasure and therefore this notwithstanding Princes bee supreme that is superiour to all and subiect to none but onely to God Phi. Who euer taught before you that Princes were subiect only to God Theo. The Church of Christ from the beginning Colimus Imperatorem vt hominem a Deo secundum solo Deo minorem Wee reuerence the Emperour sayth Tertullian as a man next vnto God and inferiour only to God Againe Deum esse solum in cuius solius potestate sunt a quo sunt secundi post quem primi ante omnes super omnes Deos hommes It is onely God in whose power alone Princes are in comparison with him they bee second and after him first afore all and ouer all both Gods and men So likewise Optatus Super Imperatorem non est nisi solus Deus qui fecit Imperatorem Aboue the Empe-rour is none but onely GOD who made the Emperour And Chrysostome Parem vllum super terram non habet The Emperour hath no peere on earth much lesse any superiour And that Princes are aboue all Saint Paul is cleare Let euery soule bee subiect to the Superiour powers All must bee subiect to them ergo they bee superiour to all and superiour to all is supreme Chrysostome calleth the Emperour The highest and head of all men vpon earth Iustinian sayth the Emperour hath receiued a common gouernement and Principalitie ouer all men Ambrose sayth of Theodosius that hee had power ouer all men And Gregorie as you hearde affirmeth that Power is giuen to Princes from heauen ouer all men not onely Souldiers but also Priestes And since I before concluded and you confessed all men were they Monkes Priestes Bishoppes or whatsoeuer to bee subiect to the Princes power and authoritie both in causes ecclesiasticall and temporall why shoulde that nowe bee reuoked or doubted Phi. I neuer did nor will confesse Princes to bee supreme For he that iudgeth on earth in Christes steade is aboue them all Theo. You come nowe to the quicke This very clayme was the cause why the woorde supreme was added to the othe for that the Bishoppe of Rome taketh vppon him to commaund and depose Princes as their lawfull and superiour iudge To exclude this wicked presumption wee teach that Princes be supreme rulers wee meane subiect to no superiour iudge to giue a reason of their doings but onely to God Phi. This you teach but this you can not prooue Theo. It forceth not what wee can doe The burden in this case to prooue is yours and not ours You say Princes bee subiect to the Popes Consistorie wee say they bee not Must wee prooue the negatiue or must you rather make good your affirmatiue Againe Saint Paul auoucheth with vs that euery soule is subiect to their power You contradict those woordes and say the Pope is not subiect but Superiour to Princes The generall in precise tearmes concludeth for vs you except the Pope must you not prooue your exception Phi. You be loth to proue you knowe the weakenes of your side Theo. You crosse the plaine wordes of the holy Ghost and woulde put vs to refute your fansies Phi. Wee say Christs Uicar is not included in those woordes Theo. Wee say the generall includeth euery particular Phi. How could Paul make Peter a subiect to Princes when Peter was none Theo. Why shoulde not Peter bee subiect to Princes when God himselfe pronounced by the mouth of Paul that euery soule was subiect to them Phi. Who euer constred S. Pauls words so besides you Theo. The Church of Christ neuer constred them otherwise Peter and the Bishoppes of Rome for the first three hundred yeeres did they not patiently submit themselues as subiects to those punishments and torments which heathen Princes inflicted on other Christians Phi. In deede they were martyred for the most part by the rage of Infidels that knewe them not Theo. And the Christians that knewe them neuer tooke armes to defend thē against the rage of Infidels but thought them subiect to higher powers by force of S. Pauls words as well as all other Bishoppes were Phi. They might not resist though they were wrongfully vexed Theo. And why might they not but because they were subiect by Gods ordinance to the Princes power Unlawfull violence might well bee resisted Phi. Christian Princes were neuer superiours to the Bishoppes of Rome Theo. Syr your courage is more than your cunning The Bishops of Rome for eight hundred and fiftie yeres after Christ that we can directly proue were duetifull and obedient subiects to Christian Emperours Phi. Are you not ashamed to tell such a tale Theo. Will you be ashamed of your error if I proue it a trueth Phi. Shewe mee that and I will yeeld the rest Theo. The rest is alreadie proued and this shall be presently shewed I might alleage that after the Romane Emperours began to professe the name of Christ Iulius and Liberius were banished by Constantius Bonifacius the first by Honorius Syluerius and Vigilius by Iustinian Martyne the first by Constantine the thirde and diuers other Popes by sundrie Princes but that I will skippe come to the submission of Leo the fourth made to Ludouike the West Emperour with these wordes If we haue done any thing otherwise than well and not dealt vprightly with those that are vnder vs wee will amend all that is amisse by the iudgement of your highnes beseeching your excellencie to sende for the better triall of these surmises such as in the feare of God may narrowly sift not onely the matters infourmed but all our doings great and smal as well as if your Maiestie were present so that by lawfull examination all may bee finished and nothing left vndiscussed or vndetermined In all things great and small the Pope
submitteth himselfe to the Princes commissioners and offereth to amend all that is amisse by the princes iudgement This lowly submission importeth an euident subiection Phi. It was a dispensation of the Popes humilitie not any part of his bounden duetie thus to doe Theo. So Gratian the compiler of your decrees falueth the matter which is as much as if you sayde the Pope by right might haue commaunded the Prince but in a merie moode for once to make sport he would needes bee iudged and ordered by the Prince Is not this a proper kind of diuinitie when the Pope protesteth his obedience to the Princes power and lawes to say the Pope speaketh in iest his wordes are but a tricke of voluntarie which he may recall or refuse when hee will If such vnlearned irreligious and vnsavory shiftes may serue for good answeres you may soone defend what religion you lift It is a very short and easie methode to be rid of all examples and histories to say they did so but it was more than needed or should haue beene done Phi. In temporall matters it might be the Pope was subiect to the Princes power but not in spirituall Theo. No man can bee both a subiect and a superiour to the Princes power A subiect is alwayes a subiect that is at al times to bee commaunded and punished by the magistrate neuer to command or punish the Magistrate Againe Leo referreth him selfe in all thinges both great and small to the Princes pleasure and censure now a subiect in all thinges is superiour in nothing yet left you shoulde cauill that ecclesiasticall causes are not expresty mentioned in this place you shall see that the Bishoppes of Rome for eight hundred yeeres and aboue were suppliants and seruants not of curtesie but of duetie to Christian Emperours and obeyed their ecclesiasticall Lawes and edicts and were commaunded and ouerruled by them in the regiment of the Church as the stories that follow shall plainely declare Donatus and his fellowes pretending that Cecilianus could not be Bishop of Carthage for many crimes falsely surmised and specially for that Felix which layed handes on him had as they sayde betrayed or burnt the scriptures not onely refused his communion and procured his condemnation in a Prouinciall Synode by lxx Africane Bishoppes but in a tumult erected an other Bishoppe besides him diuided the people from him and offering a bill of complaint against him to the Proconsull of Africke made a request to Constantine that hee woulde giue them iudges to decide the matter The Prince carefull to keepe the Church in peace did authorize Meltiades Bishoppe of Rome Marcus a Clergieman of the same Citie but as then no Bishop Rheticius Maternus and Maximus three Bishoppes of Fraunce to consider their allegations and determine the strife Where sentence passing with Cecilianus the contrarie part appealed from the commissioners to the Prince This appeale Constantine might haue iustly reiected as made from his owne delegates but seeking all meanes to pacifie the schisme commanded a greater number of their Bishoppes to meete together at Arle in France there to sit in Councell a fresh about the hearing and ending of this quarell from whome for that they likewise concluded Cecilianus to be right Bishop of Carthage the Donatists appealed as they had done from the first adding nowe that if Cecilianus himselfe were cleare yet so long as Felix was guiltie which ordered and confirmed him his election must needes bee voyde The patient and mild Emperour seeing them twise conuicted and not contented but still murmuring against the Bishoppes as partiall and dayly molesting his eares with importunate suite neuer troubled Bishoppe or Councell with the clearing of Felix but appointed Aelianus a ciuill Magistrate to search out the trueth of these later accusations in a temporall Court where Felix after diligent examination was iudicially discharged and acquitted from all suspition of that sacrilegious abusing the woorde of God Then were both sides called before Constantine to receiue iudgement at his handes without appeale who taking paynes in his owne Person to sit iudge betweene them and exactly weighing what either part could say gaue sentence with Cecilianus against Donatus making therewithall a most sharpe Lawe to punish the Donatists if they persisted in their wilfulnes as dissentious schismatikes from the Church of Christ which rigour the Christian Emperours that followed did rather increase than diminish This I thought good to report out of Eusebius Optatus and Austen somewhat the larger that the circumstaunces being fully knowen the conclusion might the better bee perceiued I trust you will not denie but the strife betweene Cecilianus and Donatus consisted both of persons and causes ecclesiasticall The parties accused and accusing were Bishoppes the faultes obiected were iust impediments of episcopall dignitie the matters in doubt were the committing and partaking of sacrilege the right election of Bishoppes the lawfull deposing of them by Synodes the needefull communion with them or schismaticall dissention from them No causes can possiblely touch the regiment of Christes Church neerer than these wel then in these causes who was supreme Meltiades or Constantine The bishop of Rome or the Emperour The prince sent commission to the Pope ioyned other collegues with him receiued an appeale from him gaue second iudges after him and in his owne person pronounced finall sentence without him the least of these facts proueth the prince superiour to the Pope and all these did that famous Emperour and his doings in this case were very well lyked and accepted in the Church of Christ. Which of these things wil you now encounter Did not Cōstantine authorize Meltiades His commission is yet extant to Meltiades Bishoppe of Rome and Marcus with these words My pleasure is that Cecilianus with ten Bishops of his accusers and other tenne of his fauourers come to Rome there to be heard before you both ioyning with you Rheticius Maternus and Marinus your collegues whom purposely for this matter I haue willed with speede to repaire vnto you S. Austen debating with the Donatists what iust exceptions they could take to so many sentences giuen against them moueth this doubt maketh this answere Should not thinke you Meltiades Bishop of Rome with his collegues haue vsurped that iudgement which lxx Africane Bishops had ended What that he did not vsurpe For the Emperour vpon motion made by you sent Bishops to sit with him as iudges and to rule that matter in euery point as iustice should leade them This we proue by the Donatists supplication and the Princes owne wordes If S. Austen defend the Bishoppe of Rome from vsurping in this case by producing vrging a commission from the prince then apparētly both the pope was authorized by y◠princes power to giue iudgemēt in a matter ecclesiastical had bin but for that warrant an vsurper Phi. S. Austen sayth that Constantine durst not be iudge of a Bishops cause Theo. At the first hee
faith and which your Highnes for verie loue to trueth will make voide by your decree to the contrarie most glorious Emperour I therefore earnestly request and beseech your Maiestie by the Lord Iesus Christ the founder and guider of your kingdom that in this councell of Chalcedon which is presently to bee kept you will not suffer the faith to bee called in question which our blessed Fathers helde deliuered them from the Apostles neither permit such errours as haue beene long since condemned by them to bee nowe reuiued againe but that you will rather commaunde the faith concluded in the first Nicene Councell to stande in full force remouing all the latter deuises of Heretikes Which request Martian accomplished entering the Councell in his owne person and there by word of mouth absolutely forbidding the Bishops to defend or auouch any thing of the flesh and birth of our Sauiour otherwise thā the Nicene creed did containe To this councel of Chalcedon Leo willed by Martiā to subscribe returned his answere in this suppliant duetifull order Because I must by all meanes obey your sacred and religious will I haue set down my consent in writing to those Synodall constitutions which for the confirmation of the catholike faith and condemnation of heretiks pleased me very well What better witnesse can we produce that in causes Ecclesiasticall the Prince was the Popes superiour than this that for repealing the Councell of Ephesus for summoning the Councell o◠Chalcedon for charging those 600. and 30. fathers not to decline from the Nicene faith and requiring the Bishop of Rome to subscribe to their actes Martian commaundeth with authoritie Leo with al readinesse obeyeth yea that Leo beseecheth Martian to commaund and protesteth that for his part he did and must obey the Princes will in those cases We COMMAVND saith Iustinian the blessed ARCHBISHOPS of Rome Constantinople Alexandria Theopolis and Ierusalem to receiue for ordering and instauling of Bishoppes onely that which this present Lawe doeth allow And taxing the charges of euery Bishoppe according to the yearly value of his Church If any man saith hee presume to take for installations or other duties aboue the rate which we prefixe we cōmand that he repay thrise so much of his own to the church or bishop in that sort grieued Neither doth he limit the Popes receites onely but also bindeth him with the rest by this general constitution If any man be made Bishop contrary to the forme which this law prescribeth the party confirmed shall loose his Bishopricke and the confirmer stand suspended from his Ecclesiasticall function one whole year and besides forfeit all his goods to the vse of his owne church mary when a bishop is accused of any thing that doth by the sacred canons or our lawes hinder his consecration if any man order him before diligent examination had as well he that did order him as he that is ordered shal for euer be depriued Thus coulde auncient Princes commaund in causes and correct for offences Ecclesiasticall euen the chiefest Patriarkes and namely the Bishop of Rome who now taketh on him to depose Princes and dispose kingdomes at his pleasure This illation is more than euident by the wordes of Gregorie the first who writing to the Emperour Mauritius vseth euery where this stile My Lord my most gracious Lord I your seruant and subiect to your commaundement and that not in temporall causes but in things concerning the rules and orders of Christes church as by the speciall circumstances will appeare Mauritius perceiuing that many coueted to be Clergi-men and Monkes some to preuent the daunger of their accomptes others to decline the burden of warfare made this decree that no souldier nor officer accountant to the Prince for any summes of mony should be receiued to sacred orders or Monastical profession charging the Bishoppe of Rome to giue notice thereof to the rest of his Prouince Gregorie though very much amased and grieued at the strangenesse of this law yet durst not resist or refuse the same but first with all diligence put the commaundement of Mauritius in execution and afterward fell to beseeching him to relent somewhat from the rigour of this hard and seuere prohibition My Lord hath giuen forth this edict saith he that no man entangled with seruice for the common weale should enter any ecclesiasticall function which I greatly praysed knowing that he which on the suddaine steppeth from a secular trade to a spiritual charge doth not meane to leaue but exchange the world Where it is added that none such should be suffered in any Monasterie this I maruailed at seeing the place doth not hinder the making of his accompts nor the paiment of his debts It followeth in the same law That no man once mustered as a souldier should cōuert from that calling and become a Monke Which constitution I confesse to my Lord did euen astonish mee because the way to heauen is thereby shut vp from many men and that now prohibited as vnlawfull which hath hitherto bin frankly permitted And what am I that speake to my Lord but dust and a verie worme Yet for that this Edict tendeth against God the creator of all thinges I can not conceale so much from my Lord. I therefore beseech you by the dreadful iudge that your holines wil either mitigate or abrogate this rigorus proclamation I for my part as subiect to your commaundement haue sent your precept into sundrie coastes yet because your Lawe doeth not stand with Gods glorie Lo by letters I haue acquainted my most glorious Lord there-withall So that I haue either way done my duetie which haue both yeelded obedience to my Prince and in Gods behalfe disburdened my conscience I your vnworthie suppliant waxe not thus bold either in respect I am a Bishop or in that I am your seruant by publike right but resting on your speciall and priuate fauour for that most gracious Soueraigne you were my Lord and master when as yet you were not Lord and chiefe ouer all If it be possible for a subiect to shew more submission and dutie to the Princes commaundement than the Bishop of Rome doth to Mauritius restraining all Bishops by his princely power from admission of such Monkes and election of such Clerkes as hee disabled let your Apologie bee had in some credit but if greater obedience than these wordes import neither Gods law doth exact nor Princes can expect I trust Gregories owne confession shal be taken without exception The like submission vpon like occasion is extant in other his Epistles as when Mauritius willed him to grow to some concord with Iohn Bishop of Cōstantinople to whom or from whom Gregorie would in no wise send or accept letters of communion societie because the saide Iohn entitled him vniuersall Patriarke I haue saith hee receiued letters from my vertuous Lord that I should be at peace with my brother and fellow Bishop Iohn In deed
it well beseemeth a religious Prince to commaund Bishops in such things mary this was heauie to me that my Soueraigne Lord did not rebuke him for his pride but indeuor to bow me from my purpose which in this cause stand with humilitie and sinceritie to defend the Gospel and Canons Hee rather is worthie to bee threatned with your Maiesties commandement which refuseth to be subiect to the Canons he to be repressed which offereth a wrong to the vniuersall Church Let my Lord I beseech him somewhat respect me being his own whom he hath alwayes fauored aboue others which am also very desirous to yeeld him obedience and yet am I loth to be conuicted in that last fearfull iudgement of ouer much negligence Let my Soueraign Lord voutsafe to sit iudge in this matter himself or els to make him to surcease his inteÌ„t I as obedieÌ„t to my Lords precepts haue gentlely written to my said fellow Bishop humbly warned him to forgo that vaine title As much as in me lieth I am readie to obey the commandement of your Maiestie yet for that the cause is not mine but Gods not I alone but the whole church is troubled let my gracious Lord launce the right place where the wound is and subdue the patieÌ„t that resisteth him with the strength of his imperiall power Againe when Maximus was ordered Bishop of Salona within Gregories Prouince yet without Gregories knowledge thus he coÌ„planeth of him to Constantia then Empresse The Bishop of Salona was ordered neither I nor my respoÌ„sarie witting therof which thing was neuer atteÌ„pted vnder any of the Princes your predecessors Assoone as I vnderstood therof I sent him word that he should not presume to celebrate diuine seruice that he meaneth by the name of Masse vntill I heard from my Soueraigne Lords that it was their pleasure it should be so but he setting naught thereby despising me goeth on stil will not resort vnto me according as my Lords coÌ„manded him Yet I obeying their graces precept did from my hart remit vnto the said Maximus this his presumption as freely as if he had been ordered Bishop by my consent Onely other offences of his as fleshly wantonnes entrance by Simony ministring the Lords supper after he was put from the coÌ„munioÌ„ these things I can not skip vnexamined for my duties sake to God before these things could be tried my soueraign Lord preuenting me with his precept commanded that I should receiue the said Maximus at his comming with all honour This is a pitifull case that a man accused of so great crimes should be honored before hee bee cleared if the faultes of those Bishops which be committed to my charge be born out with my gracious Lords in this sort by secret fauorers vnhappy man that I am what make I here in this church Wel that mine own Bishops contemne me haue a refuge against me to secular iudges I can not but thanke God impute it to my sinnes If the Bishop of Rome despised and ouerruled in his Episcopall iurisdictioÌ„ neither plead his own supremacy nor once kick at the Princes autority but rather submit himselfe as a seruant subiect of duty to the princes pleasure so far as he might with a safe conscience to Godward besides the man so religious the matter so serious that in this case iesting were not excusable lying intollerable then may you be fully resolued that the primatiue church neuer heard of this leud arrogant presumption which the Pope now claimeth vsurpeth I meane to be master deposer of Princes but that contrariewise the Bishops of Rome themselues euen in causes Ecclesiasticall kept the lawes and obeied the precepts of Christian Emperours as of their liege Lords soueraigne rulers The wordes of Gregorie be so vehement euident to this effect that no face caÌ„ deny them no cunning auoid them You must needs seeke farther for a new distinction Your first is foolish your second is false neither of them coherent with the sacred Scriptures or auncient histories Neither was Gregory the last Bishop of Rome that yeelded obedience to the princes power in causes ecclesiastical Agatho Bishop of that See 680. yeares after Christ when Constantine the 1. sent for certaine learned skilful men of the West parts to treat confer with the Grecians in the sixt general councell about the truth of religion returned this dutiful effectual answere Most gracious Lord saith he to CoÌ„stantine ioyning with him Heraclius Tiberius his brethren your sacred letters incouraging vs to shew foorth effectually our prompt diligent seruice for perfourming that which your edict coÌ„maunded for discharge of our duty to choose the fittest that could be found in this decaied age wretched prouince we haue directed these our fellow seruants according to the most godly precept of your Maiesty in regard of obedieÌ„ce which we did ow not for presumption of their knowledge for we waxed not bold vpon their cunning but your princely fauor mildly coÌ„manding so much did incite vs our basenesse hath obediently fulfilled that which was by you commaunded And in his second epistle to the same Princesse he saith Al the Bishops of the North West partes seruants of your christian Empire giue thanks to God for this your religious intent The calling of generall Councels to debate matters of faith is a point that precisely concerneth the regiment of Christs church in that case we see the Bishop of Rome confesseth himselfe a seruant sheweth himselfe obedient to the princes precept assuring vs by plaine words and agâ—eeable deeds that this humility proceeded not froÌ„ any iesting humor or fained submission but from the singlenes of his hart in respect of his bounden duty which auerreth our assertion clearly conuinceth that the Princes authoritie was then superiour to the Popes euen in causes Ecclesiasticall which you defend to be no way pertinent to the ciuill magistrate I wil end with Leo the 4. the selfsame that first submitted himself to Lodouik the father after coÌ„firmed his obedience to Lotharius the son in these words As touching the chapters imperiall preceps of your Highnes the Princes your predecessors irrefragablely to be kept obeied as much as in vs did or dothly we by al meanes professe that we wil by Christes helpe now and for euer obserue the same if any man hath or shall informe otherwise your Maiestie may right well assure your selfe it is an vntrue tale The chapters of Charles Lodouike and Lotharius for persons and causes Ecclesiastical I repeated before to those the Bishop of Rome eight hundred and fiftie yeares after Christ promiseth and sweareth not onely present but also perpetuall obedience to the vtmost of his power without all contradiction It is easie to see which of these twaine was superiour hee that had power to make Lawes not he that was bound
to keepe them he that might commaund not he that must obey Lotharius not Leo. Can you looke for stronger proofes or plainer wordes that the Prince was the Popes superiour in causes Ecclesiasticall If the Bishop of Rome were a SERVANT to christian Emperours then was he not their ruler If a SVBIECT vnder them then no superiour ouer them If SVPPLIANT to their persons and OBEDIENT to their lawes then no deposer of Princes nor reseruer of their edicts to bee short if they were correctors and iudges of his demainour and doinges then his claime to punish and depriue them of their kingdomes is vsurped and wicked and so Princes hauing no superiour but onely God are consequently supreme gouernours ouer all their subiectes be they laie-men or Clerkes to commaund that which is good and prohibite that which is euill not in ciuill affaires only but in matters also concerning diuine Religion Phi. I confesse places somewhat moue me neither can I vppon the suddaine answere them yet are there many both authorities and reasons that make with vs for the contrarie Theo. Shew me but one Scripture Father or Councell all this while that proueth the Pope to bee the Princes superiour and I will aske no further answere Phi. God saith to Ieremie I haue appointed thee this day ouer nations kingdomes to pull vppe to beate downe to disperse to ouerthrow to build and plant Theo. Was Ieremie euer Pope Phi. I doe not saie hee was Theo. Then that which God spake to Ieremie concludeth nothing for the Pope Phi. If a meane Prophet had that power to plant and remoue kingdomes how much more he that is head of the vniuersal church and iudge ouer the whole earth Theo. Your antecedent is false and your consequent foolish For Ieremie had no such power as you dreame of hee was appointed a Prophet to denounce the wrath of God against nations and Countries not a Prince to displace Rulers and translate kingdomes It is a grosse peruerting of the Scriptures to wrest them to that sense Next your consequent supposeth that the Pope is head of the vniuersall Church and iudge ouer the whole earth which vaine presumption is no good illation you must bring vs better conclusions before they wil be currant Phi. The text is plaine I haue appointed thee ouer nations and kingdomes Theo. I haue appointed thee ouer them not a Prince to subdue them but a Prophet to warne them Phi. How proue you that exposition Theo. The text it selfe saith so Prophetam Gentibus dedite I haue made thee a Prophet ouer nations And the verie next wordes before yours are these Ecce posui verba mea in ore tuo ecce constitui te hodie super gentes super regna c. Behold I haue put my wordes in thy mouth behold I haue appointed thee ouer nations and kingdomes that is a Prophet with my wordes in thy mouth not a magistrate with the materiall sworde in thine hand This we likewise proue by the execution of his office For he prophesied the captiuitie of the Iewes the taking of the king and the citie the destruction of the Aegyptians Philistines Moabites Ammonites Idumeans Persians Damascus Babylon and other kingdoms nations but he neuer deposed king nor altered state ergo his coÌ„mission was to foreshew the ruines ouerthrows decaies changes of kingdoms natioÌ„s common-wealthes not to practise them he was the man that foretolde them he was not he meanes to worke them Theodorete saith of these words I haue appointed thee ouer natioÌ„s kingdoms to pul vp beat down disperse ouerthrow build plant for he prophesied not only the Iewes captiuity but their deliuerance by Cyrus He prophesied also to many other nations al kinds of calamities And likewise Bernard Rusticani sudoris quodam schemate labor spiritualis expressus est Disce sarculo non sceptro tibi opus esse vt facias opus Prophetae By a certaine resemblance of the husbandmaÌ„s paines the spirituall labor of the Preacher is expressed Learne that thou must haue an hooke to weed not a scepter to rule if thou wilt do the worke of a Prophet Nicolaus de Lyra 1300. yeares after Christ could hit the right sense of this place I haue appointed thee to roote vp that is to denouÌ„ce the inhabitaÌ„ts shal be remoued out of the laÌ„d to built plaÌ„t that is to denouÌ„ce that the Iewes shal be builded plaÌ„ted again in their own couÌ„try This I take to be the right meaning of the text if that please you not but you will haue the Prophet himselfe to be the workman then Ieremy was sent not to plant and pul vp Priâ—â—es not to build and beate downe kingdomes but as your own gloze saith to roote vp vices to beate downe heresies to build vp vertues Euery plant saith Hierom vpon those words which the heauenly father hath not planted shal be rooted vp the building which hath not his foundation on the rock but in the sand is vndermined ouerthrown by the word of God And Gregory The Prophet is first willed to destroy after to build first to roote vp after to plant because the foundation of truth is neuer wel laid except the frame of error be first subuerted Yea Many saith HieroÌ„ vnderstand this place of the person of Christ which destroied the kingdom of the diuell Take which of these senses you like best so you bestowe not that on Ieremy which is proper to Christ to be king of kings Lord of lords nor allow him the liberty that God reserueth to himselfe to bear rule ouer the kingdom of men to giue it to whome hee will which no Prophet before Christ no Apostle since Christ no mortall creature euer claimed or vsed but onely the whoore of Babilon that raigneth ouer the kinges of the earth Phi. The nations and kings saith God by Esaie that wil not serue thee shall perish Theo. Whose translation is that Phi. The Septuagintes Theo. But the Hebrew is That nation and kingdom which wil not serue thee shall perish And so doth S. Hierom translate Phi. There is no great difference betwixt them Theo. As much as is betweene the Prince and the people Phi. Both Prince and people must serue the church or else they shall perish Theo. Wee reason not what they must doe but what Esaie saith and hee saith the kingdome must serue the king must nurce the church which is a word of more dignitie than seruice is Thou shalt sucke the breastes of kinges And againe Kinges shall bee thy foster fathers and Queenes thy nurcing mothers but I sticke not on this Phi. You neede not for in plaine wordes it is said a little before Reges eorum ministrabunt tibi Their kings shal serue thee Theo. Their kings shall attend thee or minister vnto thee The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth him that is next about a maÌ„
his brethren vnprofitable slacke in his office silent in that which is good hurtfull to himselfe all others yea though hee leade with him innumerable soules by heapes to the diuell of hell yet let no mortal man presume to find fault with him or reproue him for his doings This is the subiection which your holy father wold haue which you count vs absurd for not acknowledging But may we not iustly say to you as S. August saide to the Donatistes This which you affirme that al the worlde must bee subiect to one man as to Christs Uicar Did God or man tell it you If God read it vnto vs out of the law the Prophets the Psalms the Apostolical or Euangelicall writings Read it if you can which hitherto you ueuer coulde But if men haue saide it or rather no men but your selues beholde the deuise of men beholde what you worship behold what you serue behold wherefore you rebel you rage you waxe madde Phi. If you will not bee subiect to the Pope as Christes Uicar and head of the Church which no doubt he is yet haue you no colour to withstande his authoritie as hee is and euer was Patriarke of the West Theo. His vicarshippe to Christ and headshippe ouer the Church bee thinges that you speake much of but shewe small proofe for It were good you woulde either prooue them or not presume them as you doe they bee matters of greater weight than that you may carie them away with your faire lookes Patriarke of the West wee graunt he was which is a foule fall from head of the Church and Uicar generall to Christ himselfe and yet this way you come too short of your reckoning For first the tytle and authoritie of Archbishoppes and Patriarkes was not ordayned by the commaundement of Christ or his Apostles but the Bishops long after when the Church began to bee troubled with dissentions were content to lincke themselues together and in euery Prouince to suffer one whome they preferred for the worthines of his Citie and called their Metropolitane that is Bishoppe of the chiefe or mother Citie to haue this prerogatiue in all doubts of Doctrine and discipline to assemble the rest of his brethren or consult them absent by letters and see that obserued which the most part of them determined Before there beganne schismes in religion the Churches sayth S. Hierom were gouerned by the common Councell of the Seniors And therfore Episcopi nouerint se magis consuetudine quam dominicae dispositionis veritate Presbyteris esse maiores Let the Bishoppes vnderstand that they bee greater than ministers or elders rather by Custome than by any trueth of the Lordes appointment and that they ought to gouerne the Church in common And in his Epistle to Euagrius hauing fully prooued by the Scriptures that the Apostles called themselues but Presbyteros Elders or Seniors he addeth Quod autē postea vnus electus est qui ceteris praeponereter in schismatis remedium factum est ne vnusquisque ad se trahens Christiecclesiā rumperet That after their times one was chosen in euery Church and preferred before the rest to haue the dignitie of a Bishoppe this was prouided for a remedie against schismes lest euery man drawing some vnto him shoulde rent the Church of Christ in pieces For what doth a Bishop except ordering of others which an Elder may not doe And lest you should thinke he speaketh not as well of the chiefe as of the meaner Bishoppes hee compareth three of the greatest Patriarkes with three of the poorest Bishops he could name Vbicunque fuerit Episcopus siue Romae siue Eugubij siue Constantinopoli siue Rhegij siue Alexandriae siue Tains eiusdem meriti eiusdem est Sacerdotij Potentia diuitiarum paupertatis humilitas vel sublimiorem vel inferiorem Episcopum non facit ceterum omnes Apostolorum successores sunt A Bishop of what place soeuer hee be either of Rome or of Eugubium or of Constantinople or of Rhegium or of Alexandria or of Tains hath the same merite and the same function or Priesthood Abundance of riches or basenes of pouertie doeth not make a Bishoppe higher or lower for they all be successours to the Apostles So that the Bishoppe of Rome by commission from Christ and succession from the Apostles is no higher than the meanest Bishop in the worlde The superioritie which he and others had as Metropolitanes in their owne Prouinces came by custome as the great Councell of Nice witnesseth not by Christes institution Let the olde vse continue in Aegypt Lybia and Pentapolis that the Bishoppe of Alexandria bee chiefe ouer all those places for so much as the Bishoppe of Rome hath the like custome Likewise at Antioch and in other Prouinces let the Churches keepe their prerogatiues The generall Councell of Ephesus confesseth the same It seemeth good to this sacred and oecumenicall Synode to conserue to euery prouince their right priuileges whole and vntouched which they haue had of olde according to the custome that now long hath preuayled Next their authoritie was subiect not only to the discretion and moderation of their brethren assembled in Councell but also to the lawes Edicts of Christian Princes to be graunted extended limited and ordered as they saw cause For example the first Councell of Constantinople aduaunced the Bishoppe of that Citie to bee the next Patriarke to the Bishoppe of Rome which before he was not And the Councel of Chalcedon made him equall in ecclesiasticall honours with the Bishoppe of Rome and assigned him a larger Prouince than before he had So Iustinian gaue to the Citie in Africa that he called after his owne name the See of an Archbishoppe Archiepiscopale munus quod Episcopo Iustinianeae Carthaginis Africanae Dioeceseos dedimus conseruari iubemus Sed aliae ciuitates atque horum Episcopi quibus passim in diuersis locis ius Metropoliticum concessum est in perpetuum hoc priuilegio perfruuntor The Archiepiscopal dignitie which wee gaue to the Bishoppe of Iustinianea within the Prouince of Africa we commaund to continue still And likewise let other Cities and their Bishops to whom in diuers places and Countries the right of Metropolitanes hath beene graunted enioy that priuilege for euer The same Prince as you heard before commanded the Archbishops and Patriarkes of Rome Constantinople Alexandria Theopolis and Ierusalem and generally subiecteth them in ecclesiasticall causes and iudgements to the sacred Canons and his Imperiall Lawes as appeareth expressely in his publike Edicts made to that end Thirdly by the right and auncient diuision of prouinces this Realme was not vnder the Bishoppe of Rome For when the Bishoppes of Africa praied Innocentius either to send for Pelagius the Britan or to deale with him by letters to shewe the meaning of his lewde speaches tending to the derogation of Gods grace the Bishoppe of Rome made
doe that which by right we can And Cyprian himselfe did not vse the word in that sense when he saide of a Bishop Iudicari ab alio non possit cum nec ipse possit alterum iudicare hee may not bee iudged of an other since himselfe may not iudge an other And euen in his Epistle Nequâ— potest illis esse frons ad nos accedendi They can not haue the face to come vnto vs. Phi. You may thus shift out any thing Theo. It is no shift to tell you that non potest doth not euer signifie an absolute impossibilitie Nothing is more vsuall neither in sacred or prophane writers no nor in common speech than that construction of the word which we bring you Non possum quin exclamem I can not but crie out saith Cicero and facere non possum vt nihil ad te dem literarum I can not but write vnto you Where is no simple necessitie in either but an vrgent occasion only The Scriptures euerie where vse the word in like sort God saith Non potero celare Abraham quae gesturus sum Can I hide from Abraham that which I am about to doe Iacobs sonnes answere Sichem and his father NoÌ„ possumus facere quod petitis We may not do that which you request Of Iosephes brethren the text saith Nec poterant ei quicquaÌ„ pacificè loqui they could not giue him a faire word Iudas speaking of his brother Beniamin Non potest puer relinquere patrem suum and after Non possum redire adpatrem absente puero The lad can not leaue his father I can not returne to my father without him So Iephta saide to his daughter I haue opened my mouth to the Lord aliud facere non potero and I can not otherwise doe When Asaell persued Abner and would not leaue him Abner said depart least I be driuen to kill thee and then can not shew my face to Ioab thy brother Adonias to Bethsaba the mother of Salomon Speake I pray thee to king Salomon neque enim negare tibi quicquam potest for he can denie thee nothing The man of Iudah saide to the Prophet that dwelt in Bethell Non possum reuerti I can not go backe with thee though presently he did it Infinite are the places both of the olde and new Testament where the word is so vsed In the Gospell he that was in his bed when his friend spake to him said Non possum surgere I can not rise and yet he did The ghâ—st that maried a wife answered Non possum venire I can not come and yet he might The master saide to his seruant Thou canst be steward no longer when he ment he should not The Iewes â—aid of Christ This is an hard speech who can indure it which yet his Apostles did And Christ himselfe saide to his kinsmen Non potest mundus odisse vos The world can not hate you meaning it hath no cause to hate you Non potest oculus dicere manui The eie can not say to the hand I haue no neede of thee S. Paul meaneth if the eye will say truth So himselfe saith Non possumus aliquid aduersus veritatem We can do nothing against the truth that is we may or will not So saide the Sonne of God to the church of Ephesus Scio quia non potes sustinere malos I know thou canst not abide them that are euill A thowsande like there are in euery part of the Scripture but these are enough to perswade any sober mind that we bring no new nor strange interpretation of Cyprians words but such as is familiar and frequent in the bookes of God and mouthes of men Phi. The words perhaps may be so taken if that were proued to be Cyprians meaning in this place Theo. The wordes standing indifferent to both constructions yours and ours wee shall quickly see which of them commeth neerest to Cyprians meaning The sense which you make besides that it is absurde in it selfe it neither serueth the worde nor matcheth the circumstances of this Epistle nor agreeth with the maine iudgement of Cyprian in his other writinges and that which is most of all it flatly dissenteth from S. Paul who would neither warne the Romanes to feare without cause nor threaten theÌ„ with thinges impossible Phi. Proue this and expounde the place how you list Theo. Both CypriaÌ„ Paul name generally the Romanes not seuerally the Bishop of Rome from the rest Next habere accessum noteth not any corruptioÌ„ springing or not springing within theÌ„selues but only resort of others vnto theÌ„ Thirdly Cyprian complaineth that this was done and toucheth the vnshamefastnesse of heretikes for doing it which you would presse as impossible to bee done Fourthly the thing which those perfidious persons sought at Rome was not any mutation of the faith but letters of fellowshippe and communion which the Bishops of Africa denied them for their sundry disorders Last of al repeating and commending the warines of the Romanes in shunning the poyson of heretiks he shutteth vp his letter with wordes very like the former and declareth the true meaning of that he spake before Let our most beloued brethren hereafter stoutly decline and forbeare all speach and talk with such men Though I know our brotherhood there at Rome garded with your foresight and watchfull enough of themselues nec capi haereticorum venenis posse nec decipi can neither be taken nor deceiued with the venemous deuises of heretikes The right cause then why the Romanes in Cyprians time could not be caught with the baites of heretikes was not Peters priuilege or impossibilitie to er as you fondly dreame but the wisedome of Cornelius directing them and the peoples care neither to speake nor eate with any such men And this diligence remaining it was not possible that the impietie or infidelitie of others should haue accesse vnto them Other opinion of the Romanes Cyprian neuer had and as for the Bishop of Rome that he might and did erre if the wordes of Cyprian to Pompeius against the letters of Stephanus Bishop of Rome be not plaine enough in the iudgement of any reasonable man wee yeelde you the whole In reading the letters of the Bishop of Rome you may more and more perceiue saith Cyprian his errour which defendeth the cause of heretikes against the church of God And so likewise he saith of Stephanus haeresin contra Ecclesiaâ— vindicat he bolstereth heresie against the church Sua praua falsa defendit defendeth his euill and false assertion I respect not which of the twaine had the better side Stephanus or Cyprian but onely whether Cyprian had that opinion of Stephanus and other Bishops of Rome that they coulde not erre and if you haue but common sense you must say no. Much lesse did Cyprian euer meane to saie that the people
of the cause and we bring Tertullian not to commend Montanus error but to shewe what the Bishoppe of Rome did Phi. He beganne to like them but it tooke not effect Theo. Hee wrate letters of peace to the Montanists and sent them away which is enough to conuince that he erred though hee after relented from his former enterprise How Mercellinus Bishoppe of Rome sacrificed vnto Idols and denyed it when it was obiected to him and was after reproued by sufficient witnesse and condemned for it the Synod extant in your first booke of councels doth declare and Damasus writing the liues of his predecessours doth testifie the same Phi. Hee fell in persecution but he repented after and suffered for Christ as Peter did Theo. And therefore the Bishoppe of Rome may fall from the faith for so did Peter and Marcellinus but whether he shal be renewed by repentance as they were that is neither knowne to you nor beleeued of vs. Phi. We care not if they fall so they rise againe Theo. We proue they may fal Proue you they shall not choose but rise againe Phi. They haue all done so that yet are mentioned and so did Liberius whō I knowe you will name next although wee may worthily doubt whether euer hee fell or no. Theo. You and your fellowes make a doubt of it but I see no reason why you should For it is confirmed by many sounde and sufficient witnesses who both for the time when and place where they liued did and might best know the trueth of that matter Phi. Ruffinus doubteth of it Theodoretus denyeth it and Socrates inclineth rather to vs than otherwise Theo. Ruffinus sayth whether it were so or no pro certo compertum non habeo I know not for a certaintie Socrates maketh neither with it nor against it but passeth it ouer with silence And so doth Theodorete onely hee sayth the Emperour at the supplication of the Gentlewomen of Rome Flecti se passus iussit optimum quidem Liberium de exilio reuocari Suffering him self to be intreated commaunded the good bishop Liberius to bee called from banishment But this excludeth not his subscription before hee receiued his place which Sozomene writeth The Emperour at the intercession of the West Bishoppes recalleth Liberius from Beroea whither hee was banished and assembling the Bishoppes that were in his tents compelleth him to confesse the sonne of God not to bee of the same substance with his father Basilius Eustathius and Eleusius induced Liberius to consent by this meanes that some vnder the colour of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did labour secretly to confirme heresie When this was done the Emperour gaue him leaue to go to his Bishopricke Phi. Will you beleeue Sozomene before the rest that report no such thing Theo. Their silence doth not preiudice his Storie And yet Sozomene is not the first author of this report Athanasius who liued in the same age with Liberius and for whose cause Liberius was banished therefore woulde say no more than truth by him witnesseth no lesse Liberius post exactum in exilio biennium inflexus est minisque mortis ad subscriptionem inductus est Liberius after two yeres spent in banishment inclined by feare of death was induced to subscribe Damasus that was Bishoppe of Rome next after Liberius and therfore could not be ignorant of the trueth and woulde not belie his owne See saith of him Ingressus Liberius in vrbem Roman◠4. nonas Augusti consensit Constantio haeretico Non tamen rebaptizatus est sed consensum praebuit Liberius entering the citie of Rome the 4. of the nones of August consented to Constantius the heretike He was not rebaptized but hee gaue his consent Hierom brought vp at Rome in the time of Liberius and after so neere Damasus that hee was his right hand in answering all Synodal consultations and in that respect had often and easie accesse to the Recordes and monuments of the Church of Rome writeth of Fortunatianus Bishoppe of Aquileia In hoc habetur detestabilis quod Liberium Romanae vrbis Episcopum pro fide ad exilium pergentē primus solicitauit ac fregit ad subscriptionem hareseos compulit In this he is coūted detestable that he first attempted Liberius the Bishoppe of Rome going into banishment for the fayth and preuayled with him and gate him to subscribe to the Arrian heresie In his addition to Eusebius Chronicle hee saith as much Liberius taedi◠victus exilij in haereticam prauitatem subscribens Romā quasi victor intrauerat Liberius wearied with his banishment and subscribing to hereticall prauitie had entered Rome as a conquerour We aske not what authoritie you haue to counteruaile these wee knowe you haue none but what reason haue you to resist these Phi. The rest agree not with them Theo. Omission in one writer is no good argument against an other foure affirme it and euery one of thē elder and likelier to come by the trueth than Theodorete yet Theodorete doth not gainsay but only ouerskip the fact If therefore to claw the Bishoppe of Rome you refuse the consent of Athanasius Hierom Damasus and Sozomene you doe but discouer your follie to the wiser sort and hazard your credite with the simple If you receiue their testimonie touching this fact then is there no doubt but the Bishop of Rome subscribed vnto Arianisme and whether hee repented or no wee may worthily doubt since your owne Stories auouch the contrarie Phi. Which of our Stories Theo. Martinus Polonus Vincentius and others Martinus saith Constantius recalled Liberius from banishment because he had agreed to him and to the Arians and placed him againe in his Seate and so vnhappie Liberius held the Church of Peter sixe yeeres by violence then was the persecution great in the citie in so much that the Clergie men which were against Liberius were Martyred then also Eusebius a Priest suffered death for declaring Liberius to be an heretike And Damasus when he came to the Bishoppe of Rome next after Liberius with open voyce condemned Liberius and all his acts Phi. I beleeue neither Vincentius nor Martinus in this case Theo. Your not beleeuing them sheweth your selfe to be partial not their report to be false Phi. Liberius surely continued not an Arrian Theo. That he subscribed to the Arrians we proue that he recanted his subscription you can not proue Phi. No doubt he did it though it bee not written Theo. So you presume though you want all proofe for it Phi. Neuer Bishoppe of Rome died an heretike Theo. What did Honorius whom the sixt generall Councell condemned and accursed after his death for heresie Phi. That Councel is shamefully corrupted by the Grecians Theo. If the Grecians copies did differ from yours you had some reason to charge thē with corruption but since your copies confesse the same howe could the Grecians inuade your libraries without your knowledge and raze
you Marke howe Paul deliuered the man of Corinth to Satan Eijciebatur nempe a communi fidelium caetu hee was cast out of the congregation of the faythfull hee was cutte off from the flocke of Christ and left naked and being so destitute of Gods helpe hee lay open to the Wolfe and subiect to euerie assault So sayth Theodorete By this place where Paul deliuered the incestuous Corinthian to Satan we are taught that the diuell inuadeth them which are seuered cut off from the bodie of the church finding them destitute of Gods grace Keepe your selues therefore within your limites Pastors haue their charge which is as S. Paul noteth to watch ouer soules they haue not to doe with the goods or bodies of the faithfull Their goods are Caesars by the plaine resolution of our Sauiour Giue vnto Caesar the thinges which are Caesars Which God willed Samuel to aduertise the people of when they first demaunded a king Shew them the right or law of the king that shall raigne ouer them And so Samuel did saying This shall be the law of your king He shall take your sonnes and appoint them for his charets and to be his horsemen shal make theÌ„ captaines ouer thowsandes captaines ouer fiftyes set them to eare his grounds to reape his haruest to make his instruments of war things to serue for his charets And he wil take your fields vines best olyues giue them to his seruants And he wil take the tenth of your corn wine giue it to his Princes seruitors And he wil take your men seruaÌ„ts maideseruants the choice of your yong meÌ„ your asses vse theÌ„ to his work The tenth of your sheep wil he take ye shal be his seruaÌ„ts Phi. Make you the king Lord of al without exception Theo. Though God neuer ment that Princes inordinate priuate pleasures should wast consume the wealth of their Realmes yet may they iustly commaunde the goods and bodies of all their Subiects in time both of warre and peace for any publike necessitie or vtilitie Whereby God declareth Princes and not Pastours to bee the right ouerseers of temporall and earthlie matters and consequentlie that the power of the keyes extendeth not to those thinges which are committed to the Princes charge I meane neither to the goods nor to the bodies of christian men To a king sayth Chrysostom are the bodies of men committed to the Priest their soules The king pardoneth corporall offences the Priest remitteth the guiltinesse of sinne The king compelleth the Priest exhorteth the one with force the other with aduise the kings weapons are sensible the Priâ—stes are Ghostly The like distinction betweene them doth S. Hierom make Rex nolentibus praest Episcopus volentibus ille timore subijcit hic seruituti donatur ille corpora custodit ad mortem hic animas seruat ad vitam The king ruleth men vnwilling the Priest none saue the willing the king hath his in subiection with terrour the Priest is appointed for the seruice of his the king mastereth their bodies with death but the Priest preserueth their soules to life This power of the sword our Sauiour precisely prohibited his Apostles as I haue shewed and therefore you may not indirectly nor by accident chalenge it Phi. Why then did Paul saie Knowe you not that wee shall iudge the Angels howe much more secular matters Theo. If this bee the best hold you haue in the new Testament for secular matters you must take the paynes to light from your horse and goe on your feete as well as your neighbours For the Apostle speaketh that of all Christians which you restraine to Priests and moueth the parties striuing rather to make their brethren arbiters of their quarrelles than to persue one an other before Infidels What grant is this to you in your owne right to bee iudges ouer your brethren in all secular affaires and not onely without their consents to determine their griefes but also to bereaue them of their goods and lands and afflict their bodies yea to pull the sword out of Princes handes take their Crownes from their heades when the rulers are beleeuers as well as the Preachers Do you not know saith S. Paul that the Saincts not onely Priests shal iudge the world If the world then shal be iudged by you speaking to all that were of the church at Corinth are ye vnworthy to iudge the smalest matters He saith not it was their right to iudge secular matters but they were worthy to bee trusted with them whom God would trust with greater and shewing that hee spake this of the people not of the Priests he saith If then you haue any iudgementes concerning the thinges of this life make euen the contemptible in the church your iudges Hee saith not God hath made them your iudges but rather thaÌ„ your contending brabling about earthly things which you professe to contemn should be knowen to Ethniks such as hate deride both Christ you your selues make the meanest of your brethren whom you will your iudges Nowe ioyne your conclusion ergo the Pope hath authority to dispose the goods lands and liues of all the faithâ—ul euen of Princes theÌ„selues be they neuer so iust or religious Magistrates and see what a non sequitur you conclude out of S. Pauls wordes Phi. The Primatiue church vnderstood this place of Priests and Bishops as appeareth by Sainct Augustine complaining of the tumultuous perplexities of other mens causes in secular matters to the which troubles sayth he the Apostle hath fastened vs. 1. Corinth 5. The like hee witnesseth of S. Ambrose at Millan And S. Gregory reporteth the same of himselfe at Rome Theo. Trueth it is the Bishoppes of the Primatiue church were greatly troubled with those matters not as ordinarie iudges of those causes but as arbiters elected by the consent of both parties And I coulde requite you with Gregories owne wordes of the same matter in the same place Quod certum est nos non debere which it is certaine we ought not to do but yet I thinke so long as it did not hinder their vocation function though it were troublesome vnto them they might neither in charitie nor in dutie refuse it because it tended to the preseruing of peace loue amongest meÌ„ And the Apostle had licenced all men to choose whom they woulde in the church for their iudges no doubt meaning that they which were chosen shoulde take the paynes to heare the cause and make an ende of the strife But it is one thing to make peace between brethren as they did by heaping their griefes with consent of both sides and an other thing to claime a iudiciall interest in those causes in spite of mens heartes Which wrong you shoulde not offer the least of your brethren much lesse may you
much lesse so great a Prince Truly I prepared to depart for so Montanus your messenger knoweth that vpon the receit of your letters if your grace vouchsafed but to write I might presently bee gone with my readines to obay preuent your rescript For I am not so madde as to thinke I may contradict such preceptes With what forehead then can they say I obaied not powers Neuer recken this man for a resistant that so many wayes protesteth and confirmeth his obedience to Princes learne you rather to follow his submission and draw him not against his own both deeds and wordes to be of your faction Phi. The people of Alexandria were twise or thrise in an vprore about him first vnder Constantius and after vnder Valens Theo. The people of Alexandria were very tumultuous and raised many horrible garboyles both in the Church and common wealth Socrates saith of them Populus Alexandrinus prae alijs populis seditionibus delectatur si quando occasionem seditionis fuerit nactus ad intolerabilia mala prorumpit nec sine sanguine sedatur The people of Alexandria delight in sedition more than other Cities and if at any time they catch any occasion to make a tumult they runne headlong to foule outrages and neuer end but with blood The selfe same report Euagrius giueth of them The people are soone stirred and easilie incited to a tumult most of all others they of Alexandria who by reason of their great number those obscure persons and of all sortes are insolent rash bold and in furie will venter on any thing Lamentable examples whereof you may reade in the stories of the church describing the horrible fights and slaughters that were between the Iewes Gentiles and Christians of that Citie as wel against the trueth as with it And therefore in these populous and tumultuous Cities if you did shew some insurrections of the people for their pastors it would doe you no great good Men haue raised tumults in al ages and that doth iustifie rebellion in you no more than Cains sword dipt in his brothers bloud at the first beginning of the world and neuer since drie doth warrant theeues to take mens liues by the high waies side yea rather lesse for they kill to supplie their needes you to reuenge your grifes they vnhorse priuate men you vnthrowe Princes they rifle howses you spoile kingdomes they fly vpon the fact you stand to the defence of it before the whole world Farre from this affection were S. Basil and S. Ambrose as euen now wee saw and Athanasius as farre if you dare trust him on his oth if not you shall shift him neerer by his acts When he saw the people of his Church grudge at the Emperours precept to remoue him from his seat and readie to take weapon in hand hee departed the citie Under Valens the people of that citie likewise resisted and would not suffer any violence to be offered Athanasius by the Captaines vntill the Emperours pleasure were precisely knowen touching Athanasius In so much that the multitude flocking together and a great hurlie burlie rising in the Citie a sedition was feared When the people some daies after was appeased Athanasius by night closely conueigheth himselfe out of the Citie Others saie that foreseeing the rashnes of the multitude and fearing least he should seeme to be the author of that euill which might ensue he hid him selfe all that time in his fathers tumbe Thus when hee might haue beene defended by the people hee would not and because they suffered him not to depart from them by day hee frale from them by night and left his Bishopricke to be disposed by the prince The like did Chrysostome in his troubles For when the people knew of his deposition they brake out into an vprore and would not suffer those that had it in charge from the Emperour to carrie him into banishment Chrysostom fearing least any other crime should bee fastned on him either that he did not obay the Emperour or that he stirred the people to sedition the third day after his depriuation priuilie leaueth his Church and yeeldeth himselfe to be caried into exile So that by S. Chrysostomes iudgement it is first a fault in a Bishop not to obay the Prince next it is an other fault to stirre the people to sedition be the cause neuer so good as Chrysostomes was not badde Phi. Likewise against Valens the Arrian Emperour Petrus successour to Athanasius and brother to S. Basil did seeke to the Pope of Rome for succour as al other afflicted Bishoppes and Catholikes euer did Theo. The Bishop of Rome in those daies was neither so mightie that he could nor wicked that he would assist subiects with armes against their Soueraignes Peter Bishop of Alexandria brought letters from Damasus Bishop of Rome allowing his election and Confirming the same the people vpon that spying their time displaced Lucius an Arrian and receiued Peter their right Bishoppe Phi. And what was this but resistance to the Prince Theo. Resist they might and did but not with armes Phi. Which way then Theo. By refusing his communion disobeying his iurisdiction and withdrawing their duties from him yeelding the same to Peter as to their lawful and true Bishop Phi. Socrates sayth the people taking courage expelled Lucius and set Peter in his place Theo. They might driue him away and make him forsake the Citie though not with armes But whatsoeuer the people did against Lucius in their heate hauing as I noted before vnto you out of the same writer a very sharp and seditious humour and being miserably handled by Lucius as scourged with whippes their flesh torne with hookes and diuersly tormented with fire vnto death the letters of Damasus incited them to no such thing but onely approued the election of Peter Phi. But Peter it shoulde seeme allowed the people in their enterprise for by their tumult he recouered his Bishopricke Theo. You must not imagine rebellions where none are written The people draue Lucius from the See being an intruder an heretike and a murderer other tumult the Storie doth not mention Phi. The Prince had placed Lucius there Theo. The election of Bishops in these dayes belonged to the people and not to the Prince and though Valens by plaine force placed him there yet might the people lawfully reiect him as no Bishoppe and cleaue to Peter their right Pastor Phi. Might they reiect him with armes Theo. I said not so Phi. But so they did Theo. That must you proue we find no such thing in the Storie neither of Socrates nor Sozomene Phi. Socrates sayth they expelled him Theo. But not with armes Phi. Do you thinke hee would yeeld without force Theo. Do you thinke any great force needed for a whole Citie to expell one man But why come you with thoughts when you should bring vs proofes That hee was expelled wee graunt but whether
next foure hundreth yeeres you name vs one that was not depriued of his Empire but denyed his reuenues in Italie by the rebellion of the souldiers and Citizens of Rome Rauenna Venice other places against him Phi. The Greeke and Latine writers doe consent that this was Gregories act Zonaras sayth Gregorie which then ruled the church of olde Rome refusing the fellowship of the Bishoppe of newe Rome of all that were of his opinion wrapped them together with the Emperour in a Synodical excōmunication and stayed the tribute which til that time was paied to the Empire and made a league with the Germanes Vrspergensis sayth Gregorie the Pope of Rome prohibited any tribute to bee giuen to the Emperour out of the Citie of Rome or out of Italie Frisingensis hath the like Gregorie the Pope warning the Emperour often tymes by letters and finding him incorrigible perswaded Italie to reuolt from his Empire And so Sigebert Gregorie reprooued Leo the Emperour for his error and turned both the people of Rome and the tribute of the West partes from him Moe I coulde bring you but these are enough Theo. You speake truer than you are ware of The rebellion of the Italiās against Leo the thirde was like enough to be Pope Gregories act For the Bishops of Rome were then Malcontentes to see the Bishops of Constantinople liue in such wealth ease and honor and themselues neglected by the Greeke Emperours and afflicted dayly by the Lumbardes And therefore I thinke they were forwarde enough to kindle the people against their Prince vppon the least occasion that might fall out And that may be the meaning of those Greeke and Germane writers which you bring that the Bishop of Rome occasioned or secretly incouraged the rebellion of Italie against Leo But that he tooke vpon him in those dayes to be the deposer of Princes as now he doeth or that he openly shewed or pleaded his vniuersall and supreme power to dispose kingdomes which is the thing that you shoulde proue that I denie and therein your owne stories as well the elder as the later sort of them that otherwise be very partial will iustifie my speech Diaconus aliue in those dayes saieth Leo the Emperour tooke the images of Sainctes at Constantinople and burnt them and commaunded the Bishop of Rome if euer he looked to haue his fauour to do the like But the Bishop refused to doe it and all the souldiers of Rauenna and Venice resisted this precept with one consent and but that the Bishop of Rome prohibited them so to doe they had attempted to make an other Emperour ouer them Regino that liued 200. yeres before Sigebert Frisingēsis Vrspergensis or Zonaras saith the same Blondus a diligent searcher and reporter of antiquities where partiall affection doth not blinde him saith The Emperour dealt by faire meanes at first with the Bishop of Rome if hee woulde haue his fauour to pull downe and burne the images in all places of Italy as he had done in the East Upon this precept of the Emperour first the citizens of Reuenna then the people and souldiers of Venice brake into an open rebellion against the Emperour and his deputie the exarch and laboured to the Bishop of Rome and to other cities of Italie to abrogate the Empire of Constantinople and to chose one of Italy or Rome for their Emperour and the rebellion went so farre that reiecting Magistrates which the exarch had appointed euerie citie and euery towne beganne then first since the inclination of the Romane Empire to create and elect Magistrates of their owne which they called Dukes But Stephen the Bishop of Rome repressed that attempt of the Italians to choose a new Emperour because he hoped Leo would vppon better aduise hereafter forbeare such enormities Yet the rebellion of the people of Rome and of other persons in Italie went forwarde and euerie day increased against the Emperour Nauclerus agreeth with Blondus saue that hee maketh Gregorie the seconde then Bishoppe of Rome when Blondus nameth Stephen Platina telleth his tale this way Leo the Emperour the thirde of that name when hee coulde not haue his will at the Bishop of Rome proposed an edict that all men vnder the Romane Empire shoulde take out of their Temples the images of all the holie Martyres and Angels for auoiding of idolatrie as hee sayde and who so did not hee woulde accompt him for an open enimie Gregorie the seconde not onely obeyed not but also warned all the Catholikes so your adherentes call themselues though they be nothing lesse than Catholikes that they shoulde not fall into that errour for any feare or precept of Prince By the which exhortation the people of Italie were so animated that they lacked verie little of chosing themselues an other Emperour but Gregorie interposed himselfe to staie them by his authoritie from doing it Sabellicus adding a thirde cause why the people of Rome and Italie were sore greeued with the Emperour and with-helde their tribute and not long after diuided the Empire which was the continuall impugning of them and preuailing against them by the Lombardes without any helpe from the Graecians Leo sayth he prayed the Bishop of Rome friendly that following his example he would raze the images of Saints out of al the temples in Italie Wherin the Bishop not only would not gratifie the Prince but wrote vnto al the churches that they should continue their most ancient custome That procured Leo passing hatred amongst other Nations but chiefly among the Italiās insomuch that the people of Rome began to consult of the choise of a new Emperour within Italie and the heartes of all Italie were ioyned with them in that attempt and that consent of theirs had broken foorth into an open defection had not the Bishop of Rome enterposed his authoritie and restrained the fiercenesse of his citizens by mollifieng them and admonishing them to persist in their former duetie to the Emperour when as that cōspiracie had alreadie so preuailed that Marinus the ruler of the citie his son the president of Campania being slain by the people the Exarch likewise murdered at Rauenna the cities commons had chosen for themselues new Magistrates Aeneas Syluius euen when hee was Pope Pius the seconde speaking oft his vprore made against Leo the thirde saieth To this rebellion the Bishoppe of Rome did not consent hoping that Leo would be better aduised If the report of other Writers be not sufficient the letters of Gregory the 2. Gregory the 3. wil witnesse no lesse the one writing in the 7. yeare of Leo the other in the 23. which was the last yeare of the raigne and life of Leo the 3. where they call him not onely Emperour but most religious Lord which could not bee if for his impietie they long before had forsaken his obedience as Zonaras the Monke imagineth Gregorie the 2. endeth his letters
with Imperante Domino pijssimo Augusto Leone à Deo coronato magno Imperatore imperij eiuâ— anno septimo In the 7. yeare of the raigne of the great Prince crowned by God Leo the Emperor our most gracious Lord. Gregorie the thirde writeth Imperante Domino pijssimo Augusto Leone Imperij eius anno vicesimo tertio In the 23. yeare of the raigne of our most religious Lord Leo the Emperor Both which letters Marianus Scotus remembreth with their dates in his accompt of times and yeares If Leo the last yeare of his life were called religious Lorde and Emperour by the Bishop of Rome how can it be true that either of the Gregories forsooke his obedience and depriued him of all his dominions in Italie long before his death Who stirred this rebellion against Leo the thirde I will not dispute The Graecians had good cause to suspect the Bishop of Rome and to thinke him to bee the verie author and contriuer of it as Zonaras doeth but that which hee did was closely doone vnder hand by conspiring priuily with other places and inciting the people by secret meanes to reuolt from the Empire As for anie open and apparant act hee was so farre from taking vppon him to depriue the Emperour by iudiciall sentence in his Consistorie that hee durst not bee knowen in this tumult to stande with the people or fauour their doinges by any publike aide or consent but seemed rather to staie them by his persuasion and to labour against that defection of theirs in the sight of others as your owne Stories doe confesse And therefore you may proue if you will by this example a rebellion of the Romanes against their Prince which the Bishoppe of Rome neither did nor durst auouch but deposition of Princes by the Popes censures which is the point that we demaunde you can not proue by this or any other president in the West partes for a thowsande yeares after Christ. Phi. You can not deny but that for defect in religion and of the churches defence the Greeke Emperors were discharged and the Empire translated to the Germanes by Pope Leo the thirde Theoph. That the Empire was deuided I doe not denie but that it was doone for defect in religion or that the Pope alone of his absolute authoritie did it both these I denie and therein though certaine Monkes and Friers of yours do slubber vppe the matter and attibute the doing thereof to the Popes sole and soueraigne power yet the truer and exacter writers of your owne side do witnesse the contrary And that first it was not doone for any defect in Religion the time when it was doone will declare The seconde Councell of Nice was celebrated in the eight yeare of Constantine and Irene as the first session of the Councell doth specifie Where not only the Legates of Adrian Bishoppe of Rome say of them-selues Nos postquam ab Apostolico Patre nostro Adriano litteras accepissemus eas ad pios nostros Imperatores pertulimus The letters which wee brought from our Apostolike Father Adrian wee deliuered to the handes of our religious Emperours Constantine and Irene But Adrian him-selfe writing to them by name saith Being lately by your godly coÌ„mandemeÌ„t aduertised of your pleasure we offred praiers thanks to almightie God for your Empire And growing to an end Haec sunt serenissimi pijssimi Imperatores These are the things most gratious godly Emperors which we haue gathered out of the Scriptures c. the which by our Apostolike relation we present to the good affection of your Maiesties with all humilitie and sinceritie beseeching your clemencie and as it were kneeling in your presence and prostrate before your feete I with my brethren make supplication request to you in the sight of God that keeping the tradition of this your most holy blessed church you wil detest the wicked rage of heretikes that you may imbrace this catholike and Apostolike church of Rome which is yours without dissolution At this Synode Constantine and Irene were acknowledged by Adrian and his Legates for Emperours of Rome and after this Synode til the diuision of the Empire there was no change of religion in Greece but the affayres of the church stoode in the same state in which they were at the time of this Synode And sure it is that Irene was wholy addicted to images for by her helpe this councel was kept images restored and yet in her raigne when she alone had the rule of all the Empire was diuided So that religion can not be pretended for the translation of the Romane Empire from the Greekes to the Germanes Againe the maine consent of your Stories is that the Senate and people of Rome did concur with the Bishop in this action their decree that he should and request that he would crowne Charles for their Emperour are expressely remeÌ„bred in the most of your writers otherwise deriuing al the power they can in these and such like cases to the Bishop of Rome Platina and Blondus saie it was done Populi Romani scito ac precibus by the decree and request of the people of Rome Nauclerus saith it was done populi Romani consensu with the consent of the people of Rome Sabellicus saith Scito rogatuque populi Romani The Pope did it by the determination and petition of the people of Rome Auentinus sayth Pontifex Senatus populusque Romanus imperâ—um transferre iure suo in Germanos Carolumque tacito Senatus consulto plebiscitoque decernunt The Bishop Senate and people of Rome conclude by a decree of the Senate and people secrete among them-selues to remoue the Romane Empire and in their owne right to deriue it vnto the Germanes and vnto Charles Sigebert shewing the time and adding the cause sayth Romani qui ab Imperatore Constantinopolitano iam diu animo disciuerant nunc accepta occasionis opportunitate quia milier excaecato Imperatore Constantino filio suo eis imperabat vno omnium consensu Carolo Regi Imperatorias laudes acclamant eumque per manus Leonis Papae coronant Caesarem Augustum appellant The Romanes which in heart were long before fallen from the Emperour of Constantinople taking this occasion and opportunitie that a woman which had pulled out the eyes of her owne sonne the Emperor had gotten the Dominion ouer theÌ„ with one generall consent proclaime king Charles for their Emperour and crowne him by the handes of Pope Leo and salute him as Caesar and Emperour of Rome Frisingensis saith of her Digna cuius diebus orbis imperium quod in manus faeminae non dignè deuenerat ad Francos transferretur She well deserued that in her dayes the Empire of the world which came into the handes of a woman by so vile meanes shoulde be translated to the Germanes Aeneas Syluius giueth an other cause that moued them no lesse than this Demum verò negligentibus Romam Graecis
him hee woulde lacke a great deale of that praise which you and other such Pharisaicall Friers as you bee giue him The Councell of Woormes where were present Vniuersi pené Teutonici Episcopi almost all the Bishoppes of Germanie condemned him of great periuries newfangled abuses and manifolde infamies of life after that thirtie Bishoppes of Italie gathered together at Brixia hauing there the Legates and letters of nineteene Bishoppes assembled at Mentz with the Nobles of Italie and Germanie not onely auouched of him that hee most impudently intruded himselfe into the See of Rome by fraud and monie subuerted the ecclesiasticall order troubled the regiment of the Christian Empire sought destruction of bodie and soule vppon their Catholike and peaceable king and maintained a periure against him but in fine they adiudge the saide Hildebrand a most shamelesse person breathing out sacrilege and spoile defending periuries and homicides calling in question the Catholike and Apostolike fayth of the bodie and blood of Christ the auncient scholer of the heretique Berengarius an obseruer of dreames diuinations a manifest coniurer and a worker with a familiar spirit therefore fallen from the true fayth to be canonically deposed and expelled from his Bishopricke Phi. These bee the slaunderous libels which I tolde you some of the Emperours flatterers and his enemies wrote against him Theo. You beleeue not the report of so many Bishoppes and Nobles iudicially proceeding and â—inding him culpable in these thinges and affirming so much to his face and euen nowe you when you heard the malitious and slaunderous accusation of one priuate man against his Prince neither discussed nor prooued but obiected only in defence of his rebellion you beleeued that and put it in print to the view of all men with no lesse leuitie than partialitie as if al were true that liketh you be it neuer so vnlikelie or vntrue and againe all false that fitteth not your fansie bee there neuer so many deponents for it and iudges with it both Bishoppes and nobles Such indifferencie wel becommeth such writers as you are which seeke nothing but that your tales may take place bee they neuer so vnchristian or vncredible Phi. Will you beleeue men in a faction one against another Theo. If the Princes faction may not bee credited against the Pope why should the Popes faction be receiued against the Prince And yet the Princes faction against Hildebrand if it were a faction was very generall Fraunce Germanie and Italie were of that faction in so much that when the Emperour had reconciled him-selfe to the Pope at Canusium and Legates were sent to absolue such as were excommunicate the Princes and people of Italie fell to an vproare against the Emperour for submitting him-selfe and ment to haue set his sonne in his place as Schafnaburgensis confesseth in these woordes When the Legate came and shewed to the people of Italie the cause of his comming a vehement offence and dislike was conceiued against him Fremere omnes saeuire verbis ac manibus caeperunt Apostolicae Legationi irrisorijs exclamationibus obstrepere conuicia maledicta vtcunque turpissima furor suggessisset irrogare se excommunicationem illius nihili estimare quem ipsum omnes Italiae episcopi iustis de causis iam pridem excommunicassent qui sedem Apostolicam per Symoniacam haeresim occupasset homicidijs cruentasset adulterijs alysque capitalibus criminibus polluisset regem secus ac deceat egisse crimenque gloriae suae intulisse nunquam abolendum quod homini haeretico probis omnibus infamato maiestatem regiam submiserit c. They all began to mutter and to manifest their griefe of mynde with woordes and handes and to deride and interrupt the Popes Lagate to taunt him and raile on him euen as their rage lead them saying that they esteemed not Hildebrands excommunication whom all the Bishoppes of Italie long before had excommunicated for that hee gate the Apostolike Seate by Symonie and had embrued it with blood and defiled it with adulteries and other capitall crimes and that the king had done otherwise than became him and had vtterly blemished his glorie in submitting his royall maiestie to an heretike and one that was infamous for all vices This sedition growing ripe they were all of one minde and determination to refuse the father who had made himselfe vnworthie of the scepter and to choose his sonne to be their king though very yong and vnfit for the affaires of the Realme and to goe to Rome with him and elect them an other Pope by whom both he should be crowned and al the actes of this Apostatical Pope should bee reuersed This opinion his owne people had of him how learned and godly a man soeuer hee seemeth in your eyes and these were not procured by the Prince but readie to forsake the Prince for humbling himselfe to so infamous an heretike as Hildebrand was whome you call a very notable good Pope The rest of his goodnes if I should lay foorth as Beno the Cardinall that liued with him describeth him all other the vitious and infamous Popes which the whoore of Babylon hath bred vs would seeme punees to him but thither I refer the reader that list to behold the man of sinne exalting himselfe in the Church of God I seeke to examine the fact and not the life of Gregorie the seuenth if that were good though he were badde I will vse no aduantage Phi. These were his enemies Theo. To an euill man howe could they bee but enemies if that they said were true Phi. True not a word of it Theo. So say you but what if wee beleeue them before you haue we not good cause so to doe Phi. These were such as helde against him and therefore hardly would speake well But others and the best of that age greatly coÌ„mend him Theo. Were they not such as tooke his part Phi. Yes but yet they would not lie for him Theo. Might not the Pope haue flatterers as well as the Prince Phi. Hee might but these were none Theo. Howe shall we know that Phi. They were godly Monkes and Bishoppes that woulde not flatter Theo. They might be godly and yet be deceiued in iudging of other mens persons The best men are hardest to beleeue euill reportes concerning others though perhaps true if they were perfectly knowen and yet there were other causes which wanne him the fauour of many Monkes and Bishops in those dayes and of many Romish writers since that time and those were the suppressing of maried Priestes and aduauncing of Monkes and the exempting of Bishoppes from their Princes which things the Church of Rome after him greedily embraced and holdeth vnto this day as the glorious acts of Hildebrand Phi. Doe you dispraise them Theo. The Church of Christ til that time suffered the mariage of Priests and expected the Princes consent in the choice of her Bishoppes both which Hildebrand
Rege inconsulto Romanae ecclesiae Pontificem ordinassent ipsumque si non idoneè satisfaceret illicité accepta dignitate abdicare se praeciperet Why they had created a Bishoppe of Rome without the kinges consent against the auncient vse of their fathers and to commaund him that was chosen if hee made not due satisfaction to forbeare the dignitie which hee had vnlawfully taken To this Hildebrand answered that hee was chosen of the Romanes and violently constrained to take the place and yet by no meanes coulde be brought to permit himselfe to bee ordered Bishoppe of Rome vntill hee certainely knewe that the king and the Nobles of Germanie had consented to his election and for that cause hee had hitherto differred his consecration and surely woulde differ it vntill hee were aduertised of the Kinges pleasure by some trusty messenger The like Custome and priuilege the Prince had to consent to the elections of all other Bishoppes within his Empire before they coulde bee ordered as your owne Lawe confesseth and hee that withstoode it was accursed by the Popes owne mouth long afore Hildebrande was borne Adrian the Pope with a whole Synode of an hundreth fiftie-three Bishoppes yeelded vnto Charles the great right and power to choose the Bishoppe of Rome and to dispose the See Apostolike Also Adrian defined that the Archbishoppes and Bishoppes of euery Prouince shoulde receiue inuestiture of Charles so that vnlesse a Bishoppe were first liked and inuested by the King hee might not bee consecrated by any man And whosoeuer did against this Decree hee accursed In an other â—â—â—ncell helde at Rome Leo the eighth of that name after the example of Adrian confirmeth this custome to Otho the first King of the Germanes and Emperour of the Romanes I Leo with the whole Clergie and people of Rome doe settle confirme and establish and by our Apostolike authoritie we graunt and giue vnto our Lord Otho the first and his successours power for euer to appoint a Bishoppe of this chiefe Apostolique See and likewise Archbishoppes and Bishoppes that they shall receiue inuestiture of him in so much that no man of what dignitie or profession soeuer hee bee shall haue power to choose a Bishoppe of this chiefe Apostolike Seate or to consecrate any other Bishoppe without consent of the Emperour If therefore a Bishop bee chosen by the Clergie and people let him not bee consecrated vnlesse he be first allowed and inuested by the foresaid king And if any man attempt any thing against this our Apostolike sentence wee determine him to stand excommunicate These grauntes and confirmations your owne Stories doe witnesse though Blondus seeme to doubt of them as vnlikely Sigebert sayth From Charles the great for the space of three hundreth yeeres and aboue during the liues of threeskore and three Bishoppes of Rome they that were Emperours of Rome gaue Bishoprickes and Abbayes by the deliuerie of a ring and a staffe that then was counted lawful Now in the dayes of Hildebrand against the Decrees of their fathers the Popes in their Synodes haue determined that no Bishoprike nor ecclesiastical inuestiture can or should be giuen by a lay man with a staffe and a ring and they which so receiued Bishoprikes or other ecclesiasticall preferments were excommunicated Thus Hildebrand pretended to follow the steppes of his fathers when hee forsooke them and concluded that to bee Symonie which was none and made it a cause of depriuation for the Prince to hold that right which two Bishops of Rome with their Synodes expresly confirmed to Charles and Otho and sixtie three Bishops had suffered and approued in the Germane Emperours and himselfe had protested to the Princes Legates at his first entrance to the Bishoprike If this were not a mere quarell vniustlie sought by the Pope vpon the Prince against all order and equitie your nearest frindes shall be my iudges The seconde cause of Hildebrandes presumption against the Prince is like the first For what Lawe diuine or humane forced the Prince to goe to Rome at the Popes call Howe proue you that for sinne committed against God the Pope may enioyne what penance hee list And the Prince must abay Or that if the Prince refuse the Popes newe founde and needlesse penances hee must bee deposed Philand Woulde you not that Princes shoulde repent their wicked liues Theoph. Yeas and amende them with all Christian care and speede But what power hath the Pope by Gods Lawe to pardon the sinnes of Princes more than an other Bishoppe hath Or why shoulde Princes repenting not bee forgiuen without perfourming such penance as the Bishoppe of Rome list to deuise for them Had Gregorie delt with Henry the fourth to correct those thinges which were amisse and to returne to GOD with earnest and heartie repentaunce wee woulde not haue misliked that fatherly monition both to giue eare to the sinister and slaunderous informations of subiectes and Rebelles against their Prince to cite him in person to appeare at Rome that was his Soueraigne Lord and master to repell his messengers with reproche and infamie that came to cleare him to depriue him of his kingdome for not consenting to such penaunces as the Pope in pride and rage should impose to make him stand three daies in the colde frost barefooted before hee could bee admitted to presence and after his submission and absolution giuen by the Pope him selfe to set vppe his seruantes and sonnes to take his Crowne from him If this bee Iustice the dyuell himselfe may suffer for Iustice as wel as Pope Hildebrand Phi. Are Princes too good to do penance for their sinnes Theoph. Prooue first that such penances as you list to enioyne are necessarie partes of our conuersion vnto GOD and then wee will say Princes may be blamed for refusing them otherwise you wickedly abuse the keyes in that you make them serue your lustes to compasse your purposes and to bee reuenged of your enemies vnder colour of repenting and reconciling vnto God Phi. Must not the Church also bee satisfied Theo. If Popes vnder the name of the Church play the Tyrants and content not them-selues with those signes of inwarde sorrowe which God accepteth they bee nowe not forgiuers of sinnes nor watchmen ouer soules but cunning huntsmen after gâ—â—â—e and peruerters of trueth with their prophane policie which turne the keâ—â—s and Cannons of Christes Church to enrich them-selues and to get a Lordly Dominion ouer all persons and places by restraining the Sacraments and enioyning penaunces such as they see make most for their aduantage And this hath beene the manner of all your late Popes vpon priuate and earthly displeasures and quarrels to curse and banne both Prince and people till amendes were made them euen in their owne liking as if Christ had ordayned the Sacramentes to bee not seales of his grace and helpes of our fayth but baites to catch kingdomes and roddes to reuenge such Princes as will
not or can not procure the Popes fauour For so the Bishoppes of Rome haue vsed their excommunications against Princes and others as the examples that followe will fully declare To make an ende first with Hildebrand if either the successe that GOD gaue him in his furious attempt or the iudgements of your best and syncerest Stories neere that tyme bee woorthie to bee regarded they condemne this act of Hildebrande as vniust and vngodly Rodolf whome the Pope and the Saxons set vp against his master lost his right hand in the fielde as hee sought to get the Crowne from him and when by reason of that and other woundes hee was readie to giue vp the ghost Vrspergensis reporteth of him that looking on the stumpe of his arme and fetching a deepe sigh hee sayde to the Bishoppes that were about him beholde this is the hande wherewith I sware alleagance to my Soueraigne Lorde Henrie and nowe I leaue you see both his kingdome and this present life you that made me aspire to his throne take you heede that you lead me right I followed your aduise The same yeere that Rodolf was slaine Hildebrand by reuelation from heauen as hee sayde foretolde that that very yeere the false king should die but his coniecture of the false King which hee interpreted to bee Henry deceiued him sayth Sigebert For Henry fighting a set battell with the Saxons Rodolf the false king and many of the Nobles of Saxonie were slaine If this were a reuelation from God as Gregorie pretended then by the foretelling and perfourming of this accident GOD himselfe pronounced him the false King whom the Pope erected and maintained against Henry the fourth If it were no reuelation from aboue but a consortion with spirites from beneath then was Gregorie no such Saint as you make him that had felowshippe with Diuels and his owne master betrayed and beguyled the frantike humour of his infernall disciple Foure yeares after Hildebrande him-selfe was forsaken of his owne people and by their consent depriued of his Popedome and hee faine to flie to the barbarous Normanes for refuge and there in banishment died Romani Imperatorem Henricum recipiunt in vrbe eorum iudicio Hildebrandus Papatu abdicatur The Romanes receiue Henrie Emperour into their citie and by their iudgement Hildebrand is depriued of the Popedome Vrspergensis confirmeth the same Vnde Romani commoti manus Regidederunt Hildebrandum vero Papam vnanimeter abdicarunt whereupon the Romanes being moued that the Pope would not come in the kings presence to haue the matter hearde submitted themselues to the king and with one consent abandoned Pope Hildebrand Who lying at the point of death as Sigebert founde written of him called vnto him of the twelue Cardinals whom hee loued aboue the rest and confessed to God S. Peter and the whole church that hee had greatly sinned in the Pastorall charge which was committed vnto him and that at the instinct of the diuell he had stirred hatred hart-burning amongest men Beno the Cardinall testifieth the same though some of your Romish writers stoutly auouch the contrary This was the successe of Hildebrande and his newe made king the one vppon the losse of his hande and ende of his life remembring his oth and repenting his treason the other seeking to displace the Prince was displaced him selfe and lost his Popedome whiles he laboured to set the Prince besides his throne As touching the fact Frisingensis saith this was the first onset that euer Bishop of Rome gaue to depriue the Emperour I reade and ouerreade saieth he the gestes of the Romane kings and Emperors and I neuer find any of them before this man excommunicated by the Bishop of Rome or depriued of his kingdom Sigebert wisely and truly giueth his iudgement of this and the like interprise To speake with the leaue of all good men this only nouelty I will not say heresie was not crept into the worlde before the daies of Hildebrand that Priestes should teach the people they owe no subiection to euil kinges and that although they haue sworne fidelitie vnto him yet they must yeelde him none neither may they bee counted periures for holding against the king but rather he that obeyeth the king is excommunicated he that rebelleth against the king is absolued frō the blemish of disloyalty periurie Gerochus a great champiō of Gregories is fain to say of him The Romanes vsurp to themselues a diuine honor they wil yeeld no reason of their doinges neither can they abide that any man should say vnto them why doe you so They answere as the Poete writeth so I will and commande Let my will stand for reason Vrspergensis sayeth of the Synode at Mentz where in the presence of the Romane Legates the Bishops that rebelled with Hildebrand against the Emperour were deposed Ibi communi consensu consilio constituta est pax Dei There by common consent and counsell the peace of God was established which concludeth Gregorie to be the author of a diuelish dissention against the Emperour Phi. Wee care for none of these that speake euill of Gregories doing so long as we haue a greater number of stories to commend him Theo. And wee hauing the true reportes of these that liued in the same age with him which neither you nor the rest of your Romish faction can disproue litle regard what men that came after and were more desirous to please the Pope than to write the truth haue published in their stories You nor all the writers you haue shall euer be able to refell the assertions of Sigebert Frisingensis that Hildebrād was the first Bishoppe of Rome which attempted to depriue Princes of their Crownes and that this noueltie or rather heresie was neuer hearde of before Howe lawfull then it was which for a thowsande yeares the church of Rome neuer durst aduenture till Gregorie the seuenth first presumed to doe it leaning rather to wicked and seditious policie than to christian and confessed authoritie the simple may soone discerne or if they looke to the end they shall see the reward that is consequent to all rebellions A good instruction sayeth that auncient reporter of Henries life was giuen to the worlde that no man shoulde rise against his master The right hand of Rodolph cut off shewed a most iust punishment of periurie in that he feared not to violate his fidelitie sworne to the king his Soueraigne and as though other woundes had not beene sufficient to bring him to his death that part also was punished that by the plague the fault might bee perceiued Phi. If you stand on successe Henrie him-selfe was lifted at last out of his kingdome by his owne sonne Theo. Was it not wickednesse enough to arme the subiectes against their Prince to set the sonne to impugne the father but you must also crake of it The way that Hildebrand beganne
coniecture For within short space the Emperour recouered his townes that were lost and staied those that were shrinking from him to the Popes no small regreet Phi. He was offended with Fredericke for that the Temple was left in the Turkes handes Theo. The Prince perceiuing the Pope to enforce his countries at home to irritate his souldiers against him what els should he stay for when he was once reuested with the kingdome of Ierusalem Phi. Our Lordes sepulcher and the Temple were the chiefest things that the Pope regarded Theo. And good cause why They gate him more mony and ridde him of moe enimies than any places in the world besides Phi. Which way trow Theo. The Pope no sooner lacked mony but he must haue a collection through Christendome for the succourse of the holy land as you call it and if he fell out with any Prince or Emperour or saw him likely to stand in his way that he could not rise so high as he would he would neuer cease what with excommunications to feare him what with indulgences to allure him till he had gotten his consent either to bestowe his owne person on the seruice or at least to employ his treasures and forces to recouer the land of Iurie from the hands of Saracens and in their absence he ruled the roast as pleased him and grew great by their decayes Phi. Would you not haue the Turke resisted Theo. Your holy father neuer tooke the way to haue that doone He suffered the Turke to deuoure the Greeke Empire and set the Princes of the West not to helpe them but to fight for the place where Christ was crucified by the Iewes whiles the Turke in the meane time ouerthrewe many thousand Christian Churches and Cities else where and nearer home And the supplies of men and money were so stragling and interrupted with dissentions and discords at home that the Turk reconquered more in three yeeres than the Christians wanne in threeskore yeeres before Phi. Yet the Popes good will is to bee commended the fault was in them that woulde not agree Theo. And who was the cause of that but onely the Pope Phi. You speake of spite Theo. Who filled the Emperours hands with rebellions and dissentions more than the Bishoppe of Rome did Who brought the Empire to a bare title and the Emperour to bee skant able to defend his owne but onely the Pope Who cut Italie into so many seuerall Marquesdomes and Dukedomes as wee nowe see but your holy father seeking to exclude the Germane Prince cleane out of Italie and to hedge vp his way to Rome with many particular states and regiments interiected and all linked in one league to repell him from passing or entring their Countries Neither was it enough to straighten him abroade vnlesse hee did also weaken him at home for feare least some valiant Prince occasioned by so populous and stout a nation as the Germanes are shoulde attempt with force of armes to recouer Italie And therefore you were neuer quiet till Germanie was shaken into as many shiuers as Italie and the Emperour able to command none of them but by their common consent and according to their owne liking Which is the state of the Empire in our dayes This was not the way to make the Emperour strong against the Turke for the regetting of Ierusalem out of his handes but to diet the Emperour and to take him so low that he should not bee able to wraffle with the Bishoppe of Rome without a present foile and instaunt daunger of loosing all And thus weake though hee were yet to make him weaker the holy lande was euer vrged by the Pope as a perpetuall Lottarie to make him and other Christian Princes spende their people and wealth with so small successe and mightie losse that no one thing did wast and weaken Christendome more than this Philand Is this the thankes you giue the Pope for staying the Turke from inuading Europe Were it but for that respect you shoulde thinke better of him than you doe Theo. To keepe the Turke from subduing Christendome is a good and godly enterprise but from that the Pope was fardest off He woulde neuer assist the Christians of Grecia continually fighting with the Turk six hundred and fiftie yeres after the diuision of the Empire vnder Charles the great before their Empire was ouerthrowen but rather held the Princes of Christendome from succouring them vnlesse they would submit them-selues to the See of Rome which they would neuer doe though some of their Princes do now and then in hope of aide inclined to a kind of concord And suffering the Turke still to preuaile against them and at length to swallow them vp to the great shame of the Christiā princes that next adioined but most of himself who was well willing because they were not his obedients to leaue them and theirs as a pray for the Turke he would needes goe fish for for Christs sepulcher as if that had beene the next way to safegared Christendome from the Turke to keepe the place where Christ was buried and to let him in the meane while conquere halfe Christendome And that made your holy father storme so much at Frederikes peace concluded with the Turke wherein the Sepulcher was left out that hee would not absolue him after his returne but vpon the paiment of six skore thousande ounces of gold Which after three pounds an ounce as it is valued in our dayes is three hundered and three skore thousand pounds And though the Prince for all this monie had but one dinner at the Popes table yet Blondus is so farre out of charitie with Frederike that hee saith the Pope was easier in receiuing so small a recompence than hee ought or was fit hee should Phi. That monie was paied for the dammages doone to the Church by the Princes souldiers in their late warres not for his dinner as you gibe Theo. Blondus and Platina doe presuppose that Frederike by his Agents in his absence did spoile and sack S. Peters Patrimonie but Gregory that receiued the monie saith the Princes deputy inuaded Sicilie and no more which was Frederikes right and inheritance though the Pope claimed thence a yeerely custome And therefore since Frederikes captaine did the Pope no wrong to inuade Sicilie being his masters dominion when the cities perhaps vppon the Popes censures beganne to slide from Fredericke no reason the Prince should performe the losses and dammages of the warre which beganne by the Popes egernes and consequently no cause for the Pope to exact so much mony of the prince but either for his dinner which was too deare or for his keies which should not be sold or for his fauor which dured not long For within short space after they fell at worse variance than before and the same Pope the second time accursed and deposed Frederike and the matter grew to such heate that your holy father crossigned souldiers
not be possible for him and the Princes that succeeded him to represse the Popes insolencie which beganne to increase apace This was the true cause why Gregorie the 9. set himselfe against Frederike the second after his first absolution which cost so many thousands what soeuer the Italian writers do imagine in hatred of Frederike whom they misliked as well for persuing the Pope as for spoyling and wasting their natiue Countrie Phi. Did hee not well deserue their hatred that ranged ouer all Italie with incredible cruelty sacked their cities filled euery towne village familie with mortal discord and dissention banished and murdered Bishoppes imprisoned the Cardinals Prelats as they were comming to the Councel so pursued inclosed the Pope that he died for very griefe of heart as Platina writeth Theo. Will you kindle a fire and then looke it should not burne What other fruits of warre coulde you expect but these or worse You made leagues to bereaue him of his right you caused his subiects to meete him in the field you accursed his person and depriued him of his Empire you came out in armes against him as you would against a Turk or an Infidel you did what you could to requite him his with like rage and violence when you could not be euen with him you thought it best to complaine of his crueltie But you loose your labour For warres are iudged by their causes and not by their consequents If Frederikes cause were good as the persuite of his right demand of obedience within the Territories of his Empire could not be euil thē your rebellions confederatiōs excōmunications depriuations such like actions to resist him defraud him or oppresse him were al wrongful wicked and his reuenge of your conspiracies treacheries though sharp and seuere was lawful as the cause stood needful Phi. No Prince euer delt so badlie with the Church of Rome as Frederike did Theo. No Prince was euer prouoked with halfe the iniuries with the which he was He was foure seueral times solemnly deposed by the bishops of Rome once by Honorius twise by Gregorie lastly by Innocentius the 4. his good friend whiles he was a Cardinal but his capital enimie when hee came to bee Pope Phi. It skilleth not how often it was done so long as it was done for causes vrgent important Theo. If the Pope had any such power as he hath not the causes must be iust and true which these were not Phi. Yes that they were And though the rest did not so plainely expresse thē which maketh you to carp at them yet Innocentius the 4. layeth his downe in writing which are extant to this day Theo. You say trueth The censure of Innocentius against Frederike the second is extant in your Decretals and foure causes of his deposition there remembred Phi. And those no lesse than periurie sacrilege heresie iniurie and oppression of the Church of Rome The. If it be enough for you to obiect what you list you may soone condemne whom you please We heare your holy father in his magnificence charge the Emperour with these foure things but I winne it woulde trouble him or you to prooue them Hee committed periurie the Pope sayth in his iudiciall sentence by rashly breaking the peace that was made betweene the Church and the Empire If the trueth were well tried this periurie lighteth on the Pope and not on the Prince For Howe coulde the Popes Legates be in the field against the Prince to assist his rebels and not breake the peace that was made betweene the Church and the Empire Is the Popes power so infinite that he can make right in the Prince to be periurie and warre in him-selfe to bee peace The taking and deteyning of Cardinals and Prelates was the sacrilege which in this place is obiected to the Prince but when you proue that Prelats and Cardinals be no subiectes and that they may lawfully take armes against Princes and yet no Prince must lay handes on them then you may chaunce to haue an action of wrongful detynue against the Emperour but not of sacrilege It is a point of your popish pride to make it sacrilege for a lawfull magistrate to restraine your parish Priestes of Rome from their seditious intens practises What are your Cardinals by Gods Law more than other Clergie men or why may not the Prince both represse them and punish them if they disturbe his state Phi. They were not his subiects Theo. Then were they his enemies since they came armed and presumed with their shippes to encounter his why should he not sease them as his prisoners Phi. They came to keepe a Councel being thereto called by the Popes authoritie Theo. To call Councels was the Emperours right and not the Popes and this conuenticle was called to oppresse the Emperour Why therefore might hee not preuent it and disperse it especially when straungers offered to passe his dominion by plain force without his leaue Heresie was the third crime for which the Pope suspected him Wherin if a mortall enemie may be both accursed and iudge and proceede vpon no better ground than suspition you may quickly condemne any man of heresie Princes haue warme offices if they shal lose their Crownes as soone as the Pope lysteth to suspect them of heresie The fourth cause is more foolish than any of the former The prince forsoothe forced his subiects in Sicilie to aguise him and obey him as their lawful prince notwithstanding the Bishoppe of Rome had deposed him and the persons that would not hee banished and diuersly punished This in deede was not for your profite but this was nothing against his dutie Ph. He forced them to impugne the Church of Rome whose vassalles they were Theo. The Church of Rome had a yeerely pension out of Sicilie which is here specified more the Pope could not claim and that pensiō was first yeelded by those that vsurped the kingdome of Sicilie against the Empire For Roger of Normanie whē Lotharius the Emperor had chased him out of Apulia Campania taken those countries from him intended the like for Calabria Sicilie but that he was called away by suddain occasions died before he could returne grew to a secret compact with the bishop of Rome to hold the kingdome of Sicilie which the Emperour claymed as from the Church of Rome by a yeerely recognisance After the death of Lotharius Conradus the next Emperour was so troubled first with rebellion at home then with an expedition into Syria that he had no leasure to thinke of Sicilie Against Frederike the first who succeeded Conrade in the Empire did William of Sicilie nephew to this Roger for his sonne raigned not long conspire with the cities of Lombardie and the Bishoppe of Rome to keepe the Germane Emperour aloofe from Italie and so long they striued hauing
for the Pope was not as earnest to haue him gone but he was as glad to go as willing neuer to returne And therfore to take his farewel he sould all the right title that the Emperour had throughout Italy as Blondus saith omâ—ia vbique concessit ex quibus pecunia abra di potuit passed away euery thing in euerie place by the which he might get any mony And as he did in Italy so did he in germany For laboring to haue his son VeÌ„celaus chosen his successor in the Empire wheÌ„ the electors wold not agree to it because the child had nothing in him fit for so great a calling the Emperor offered euery of the Electours a hundred thowsande poundes to goe through with the choice and so they did And not hauing mony sufficient to defraie such an infinite summe hee pawned the Landes and reuenues of the Empire into their handes till they were paied and so they remaine to this day Hence the Romane Empire came to naught neither was it euer after able to stand vpright the Princes Electors keeping al in their handes and swearing the Emperour when he is first chosen that he shall not claime such things as they haue of the Empire in morgage Vencelaus for whom his father paied 600000. pounds to haue him Emperour proued so vnprofitable for the place that the electours when Charles was deade of their authoritie put him from the crowne and set an other in his steede Some Princes of other countries you might repeate which I omit no man doubteth but your holy Fathers pride and arrogance serued him to venter on meaner Princes as well as on Emperours this is it that wee stand on for a thowsande yeares there was no such thing vsed nor offered in the church of Christ and since that time though Popes haue beene very forwarde to depose Princes you shall neuer shewe any Prince that acknowledged or obeyed that sentence yea none of their people vnder them nor of the borderers about them embraced those iudgementes but such as had secrete quarelles against them or sought to gaine some part of their kingdoms from them The rest of their subiects neighbours honoured them as Princes notwithstanding your furious lightning and thundering from Rome as I haue shewed by many specialties from the time of Henrie the fourth to these our dayes and an infinite number of your owne side haue by deedes and wordes boldly and sharpely reproued that insolent presumption And therefore if you doe any good in this cause you must goe higher and bring vs elder examples that Bishops of Rome haue deposed Princes than these violent and tragicall vproares of later Popes blinded with errour and puffed with pride who to compasse their vngodly desires haue ouerwhelmed the earth with fraude and force with periurie and iniquity with battaile bloodshed like furies of hel not like teachers of truth or Pastors of mens soules Could you proue tenne thowsand such attempts it would relieue you litle we may not leaue the manifest commaundements of God constant obedience of Christes church for so many hundreths and allow of those hatefull and heathenish deuises which the sonne of perdition hath lately broched Phi. Will you yeeld to an elder example if it be brought you Theo. Reason we know the man before we reuerence his act Phi. It shal be Gregorie the great first of that name whome you confesse to haue beene both learned and holy He being many hundreth yeares before Gregorie the seuenth and our speciall Apostle practised the poinct we now stand on and therefore likely to be beleeued of all reasonable men Theo. Did Gregorie the great euer depose Princes Phi. That he did Theo. Name the Prince which he deposed and winne the field Phi. He deposed them before hand whatsoeuer they were that shoulde at any time after to the worlds end impugne his priuilege Theo. Then he deposed princes not only before they were Crowned but also before they were conceiued of their mothers Phi. He adiudged they should be deposed that so offended though actually he deposed none In the forme of his priuilege graunted to S. Medardes Monasterie thus he decreeth Si quis Regum Antistitum Iudicum vel quarumcunque personarum secularium huius Apostolicae authoritatis nostrae praeceptionis decreta violauerit cuiuscunque dignitatis vel sublimitatis sit honore suo priuetur If any King Prelate Iudge or what other secular person soeuer shall transgresse this decree of our authoritie and commaundement of what preeminence of highth soeuer he be let him be depriued of his dignitie Theo. Why stoppe you there and goe no farther Phi. I neede not here is enough for my purpose Theo. Yet reade on the rest or if you will not I will Cum Iuda traditore Domini in inferno inferiori damnetur and let him be damned with Iudas the traytour in the nethermost hell Phi. There is nothing in this against vs. Theo. You might the better haue rehearsed it But think you that Gregorie did damne men to hel or reserue you that power only to Christ Phi. None can cast body and soule into hell fire but only God Theo. Doth Gregorie take Gods office from him Phi. No but he meaneth to terrifie them with this kinde of curse and praieth it may fal on their heades if they infringe his godly actes Theo. Then as Gregrie had no power to condemne Princes to hel though he threaten it to them no more had he right to depose Princes though he wish their ouerthrow if they frustrate his decrees It is therefore AN IMPRECATION or curse which in the like case the meanest founder that is may lay on the greatest Prince that shall be borne without any iudiciall authoritie It is no depriuation neither prosecuted nor purposed by the Bishop of Rome Phi. He saith Let him be depriued of his dignitie Theo. And know you not that is the optatiue mode by the which Gregorie wisheth and praieth it may come to passe but neither pronounceth nor perfixeth any such iudgement Phi. If it may come to passe then Princes may be deposed Theo. God hath many wayes to displace the mightie from their seats to whom Gregorie praieth for vengeance though the Pope be not the doer Phi. If this bee but a wish euerie doner may doe as much Theo. They be the verie woordes wherewith euerie doner doth strengthen his endowment And euen in this place Gregorie is not alone Thirtie Bishops of diuers cities subscribed to this graunt and curse in the selfe same wordes that Gregorie did Theodoricus the King and Brunichildis the Queene vsed the same manner of subscription that the Bishop of Rome did and the generall comprisement that presently followeth sheweth the wordes that went before to be but curses Omnium maledictionum anathemate let him be loden with al those heauie curses wherewith Infidels and
heretiks from the beginning of the world to this day haue beene hampered So that your eye sight was not vp when you tooke a prayer for a iudgement a fourme of imprecation for a sentence of depriuation a curse precedent for an execution that should be subsequent Phi. This was the right and power of S. Gregorie and this hath been the fayth of christian men euer sith our Countrie was conuerted and neuer subiect called in question much lesse accused of treason for it til this time and lest of al made or found treason by the old lawes in K. Edward the thirds raigne as is pretended howsoeuer by their new Lawes they may and do make what they list a crime capitall Theo. Gregorie cursed them and prayed against them that should disorder or alter his grant made at the Princes motion with the consent of al the prelates in Italie with the good will of the Romane Senate and the fauourable iudgement of al the Bishops of France This is not it that is called in question You beare armes against your naturall prince and encourage her subiects that by Gods law should obey her to take her crowne from her when the Pope willeth them This Gregorie neuer spake of neither did England at any time frō the first receiuing of the faith to this day euer acknowledge any such right or power in the Pope to depose princes Much lesse then was this the faith of christian men euer sith our Countrie was conuerted as you brauely but falsely boast Phi. In K. Iohns time the Prince realme were of this opinion which wee are now Theo. They were not Some bishops Monks offended with the King for the losse of their goods fled the realm tooke part with the Pope against the King the Barons for other causes loued not their King as appeared by their departure frō him in Normandie before this trouble began by their general rebellion against him when the Pope had not only released him but also did vphold him to the vttermost of his power And though he had lost the hearts of his Nobilitie before now of his Clergie by turning them out of al their liuings yet was there no conspiring against him in those fiue yeres in which hee stoode excommunicate And to him for defence of himself his land came threeskore thousand able men of his own subiects wel furnished besides an infinite number that were sent home againe for want of armour and a fleete greater than that which the King of Fraunce had against him Phi. If his armie were so great and his people so sure why would he not trie the field with the king of France Theo. He saw the strife was but for the admittance of a bishop better to slip his right in so small an iniurie than to put his owne state and welfare to the doubtful successe of battaile Phi. The storie saith he was afraid lest he should bee left alone in the field bee forsaken of his own nation nobles Theo. So Pandulfus told him to afreight him make him yeelde the sooner but the Pope himself cōplaineth of the contrarie that the Barons of Englād by a peruerse order did rise in armes against their king after hee was conuerted and had satisfied the Church who assisted him when hee did offend the Church And yet I am of opinion they would easily haue forsaken him not for respect of your Romish censures but for their extreme detestation of his odious and tyrannous gouernement which they shewed after his reconciliation to the See of Rome more than they did before and obeyed neither King nor Pope so long as he liued and enioyed the Crowne This realme therfore in the time of King Iohn assisted their Prince against the Pope and when the king had submitted himselfe and rented his Crowne at the Popes handes they resisted both Prince and Pope and elected an other Afore that and since that this realm neuer confessed or beleeued any right or power in the pope to depose Princes Phi. They neuer made it treason to be of that beliefe til this miserable time in which wee lyue Theo. Richard the second very neere two hundreth yeres agoe made it death for any man to bring or sende within this realme any summons sentence or excommunication from Rome against any person for the cause of making motion assent or execution of the statute of prouisours which barred the bishoppe of Rome from giuing reseruing or disposing Bishopricks and benefices in this land To impeach the Kings lawes or to defeate him of his smaller inheritances as aduousons Patronages by censures from Rome was death in those dayes what thinke you would they haue sayd to him that shoulde haue brought a bull to depriue the Prince of his crowne or a warrant to rebel against him to take his life from him as you doe in our dayes And because you stand so much on the word treason why should not the statute of Edward the thirde recensing Treasons extend directly to your doings It is there numbred among treasons to compasse or imagine the death of the King to leuy warre against him in his Realme or to bee adherent to the Kinges enemies in his Realme or to giue them ayde and comfort within the realme or else where If al wars waged against y◠prince within the Realme that is by subiects are treasonable howe shoulde your warres for religion against your soueraigne be iust and honourable If to ayde or comfort the kinges enemies within the realme or else where be trayterous conspiracie how can you stirre vp forraine power to assault the realme perswade the people of this land with armes to displace the prince and not incurre that crime Phi. Doe wee set straungers to inuade or subiects to rebell Theo. You be adherents and instruments to him that doth Phi. You meane wee bee of the same faith with the Church of Rome If that bee treason then wee are traytours Theo. We talke not of your fayth but of your woorkes Beleeue what you list so you meddle not with ayding nor comforting inuasion nor rebellion Phi. We doe not Theo. You commend them and allowe them that wil doe either yourselfe in this place defende their enterprise to be godly iust and honorable Your fellowes before you in their printed bookes openly did celebrate them as Martyrs that lost their liues in the North for bearing armes against the Queene What greater comfort can you giue to rebels and enemies than to animate and encourage them with praises promises defences and honors both in this worlde and the next It is more pernicious to fire the heart than to warme the hand to minister courage than to giue drinke to them that shal fight against the Prince In all actions the perswaders and enducers are equal with the doers and executours Why then should you not bee within the
We may do better to learne obedience than sawcely to check the magistrate for allotting such penalties as we do not like yet this I wil say there is no conspiracie so pernicious and dangerous to the State as that which is secretly crept into the hart vpon a sense of deuotion and outwardly couered with a shew of religion If therfore the Prince seuerely reuenge both your pretences in opinion practises in execution absurdly grounded on Peters keyes and wickedly deriued thence for the remouing of her crowne defacing of her person and diminishing of her right that rigor may wel be defended as comming from iust and lawfull authoritie not without sufficient and euideâ—t necessitie neither can you bring ought against it but onely that you professe it as a point of your Catholique religion not of any sinister or direct intention to hurt her maiestie or any other Christian Prince which is most friuolous false For the Popes authoritie iurisdiction and power lately claymed by him and vsurped within this Realme and since maintained extolled and defended by you and such your adherents as haue suffered death to prescribe Lawes as hee list to commaund Princes and interdict their Realmes yea to depriue them of their crownes absolue their subiects licence rebellions and dispence with the murdering of heretikes as you call them euen of Princes themselues This authoritie iurisdiction and power we deny to bee any doctrine or doubt of Christian religion or to bee so much as once spoken or thought of I say not by the Scriptures which put no difference betweene the Pope and an other Bishoppe but by any father or Councell for a thousande yeeres in the Church of God It was the meere deuise and drift of Antichrist to make himselfe mightie when it was first attempted by Hildebrand and it is nowe coloured by you with the name of religion because you would poyson the people the sooner with that perswasion haue somewhat to say for your selues when you be charged with rebellion and disobedience to the temporall magistrate Phi. Your owne masters and leaders whom I trust you will not condemne for Traytours haue detested the title of Supreme head of the Church in princes as well as wee the Lutherans flatly controling it in generall and Caluin himselfe with all the Puritants much misliking and reprehending the first grant therof to king Henry Why then put you poore men to death for that which your owne side abhorreth Theo. Your brethren were not put to death for denying her maiestie to bee supreme head of Christes Church in Englande in causes ecclesiasticall though one of them for want of trueth or wit did so report at his end and you for lacke of better proofe haue brought his owne woordes spoken in fauour and excuse of himselfe as some worthie witnes No man is compelled by the lawes of this Realme to confesse any such title in the Prince much lesse punishable by death for denying it and therefore your martyr was a Lyer at the houre of his death and either of malice inuerted or of ignorance misdeemed the cause for which he dyed Phi. It is all one to bee head of the Church and to bee chiefe Gouernour in causes ecclesiasticall Theo. They suffered neither for the one nor for the other but for maintaining and defending the iurisdiction and power of the Bishop of Rome heretofore claymed and vsurped in this Realme which generall includeth all your erroneous and trayterous assertions of the Popes power tending no way to religion but only sauouring of the Popes pride to be ruler and displacer of Princes And therfore either proue that claime to pertaine to faith or leaue your vayne presuming and fond discoursing that a number of your brethren haue beene condemned and executed for meere matter of religion Though you list to take that for spirituall which is temporall and cal it religion which in deede is sedition yet your idle multiplying of words and changing of names doeth not conuince your quarrel to bee righteous or the Lawes of this Land to bee tyrannous Shewe that power iurisdiction and authoritâ—e which your holy father hath heretofore claymed and vsed in this realme to bee consonant to the lawes of God or church of Christ for a thousand yeres and wee will yeeld your friends and familiars haue dyed for religion otherwise you do but face out the matter with fierie words to keepe deceiued and simple sâ—ules from suspecting the secrets of your profession As for supreme head of the church it is certaine that title was first transferred from the Pope to king Henry the eight by the Bishops of yoâ—r side not of ours though the pastors in King Edwards time might not wel dislike much lesse disswade the stile of the crowne by reason the king was vnder yeres and so remained vntil he died yet as soone as it pleased God to place her maiestie in her fathers throne the Nobles preachers perceiuing the words head of the church which is Christs proper and peculiar honour to be offensiue to many that had vehemently refelled the same in the Pope besought her highnesse the meaning of that word which her father had vsed might be expressed in some apter plainer termes and so was the Prince called Supreme gouernour of her Realme that is ruler and bearer of the sworde with lawfull authoritie to command and punish answerably to the word of God in all spirituall or ecclesiasticall thinges and causes as well as in temporall And no forraine Prince or prelate to haue any iurisdiction superiority preeminence or authority to establish prohibite correct and chastice with publike lawes or temporall paynes any crimes or causes ecclesiasticall or spirituall within her Realme This Caluin and they of Magdeburge neuer misliked howsoeuer you would seeme to take aduantage of their words Phi. Caluin sayth it is sacrilege and blasphemie Looke you therefore with what consciences you take that othe which your owne master so mightily detesteth Theo. Nay looke you with what faces you alleage Caluin who maketh that stile to be sacrilegious and blasphemous as well in the Pope as in the Prince Reason therefore you receiue or refuse his iudgement in both If it derogate from Christ in the Prince so doeth it in the Pope if it doe not in the Pope as you defend no more doeth it in the Prince Yet we graunt the sense of the word supreme as Caluin conceiued it by Steuen Gardiners answere and behauiour is very blasphemous and iniurious to Christ and his word whether it bee Prince or Pope that so shall vse it For by supreme Caluin vnderstoode a power to do what the Prince woulde in all matters of religion without respect to the will or precepts of God which is a thing most impious Phi. His woordes are They were blasphemers in calling him supreme head of the Church vnder Christ. Theo. They are so but that which goeth before
vmitate Ecclesiae Peter the first stone that Christ laid in the foundatioÌ„ of his church Cyprian de vmitate Ecclesiae Exordium and fundamentum all one Peter at this day lieth in the foundation of the church where Christ placed him Galat. 4. Ephes. 2. Heb. 12. Chalcedonens concilij actio 1. Leo tooke Theodoretes part against Dioscorus Euagrius lib. 1. cap. 10. Leo Epist. 61. ad TheodoretuÌ„ Chalcedonens Concilij actio 8. Their examples proue the Bishop of Rome had no such power as he now claimeth The Pope besought the Emperour with sighes teares for a Councel and could not preuaile In all these examples the Bishop of Rome neuer so much as alleadged or mentioned his vniuersall power which your Iesuites defend As the Bishop of Rome resisted others so others resisted him Who they were that resisted the Bishop of Rome Galat. 2. Ibidem Paul resisting Peter that after his installation at Rome if the Romish account be true which most men doubt Euseb. Chronic. in anno 44. Galat. 2. The Papistes make Peter a Nonresident Rhemish annor in Epi. ad Gal. cap. 2. vers 11. Whether Paul might resist Peter is an vngodly doubt Polycarpus withstood Anicetus for the obseruation of Easter Euseb. lib. 5. cap. 26. Euseb. lib. 5. cap. 25. Polycrates withstood Victor for the same cause Ibidem A great multitude of Bishops with Polycrates against Victor Euseb. lib. 5. cap. 26. Victor reproued by his owne side for offering to excommunicate the churches of Asia that stood against him Cyprian lib. 1. Epist. 4. Cyprian Epist. ad Pompeium contra Epist. Stephan CypriaÌ„s stoutnesse against Stephanus Bishop of Rome Ibidem Cyprian in an ill cause resisting the Bishop of Rome did and doth go for a Martyr and father of the church Flauianus withstood 4. Bishops of Rome though their cause were not much amisse Sozom. lib. 7. cap. 3. Theodor. lib. 5. cap. 23. Who tooke part with Flauianus against the Bishops of Rome The Prince willeth Flauianus to keepe his Church though foure Popes for 17. yeares togither impugned him Ibidem Ibidem Nice lib. 14. cap. 27. Cyrill esteemed not the communion of the Bishop of Rome Theodor. lib. 5. cap. 34. Those resistances were offered not by priuate persons but by Councels and Countries Euseb. lib. 5. Cap. 24. 25. Ibidem Cap. 26. Concil Cartha de haeret baptisandis inter opera Cypriani Sozome lib. 7. Cap. 11. Theodoret. li. 5. Cap. 23. Socrat. lib. 6. Cap. 18. The sixt couÌ„cel of Carthage stoutly resisted the Bishop of Rome and conuinced him of forgery Vide Concilium Carthaginense sextum Cap. 3. Bonifacius saith the diuelled Saint Augustine the rest to be sawcie with the Bishop of Rome Bonifacius secundus ad Eulalium de reconcilia Carthaginens Eccl. Concilio tomo 1. Aphric concilij Cap. 92. Appeales to Rome condemned by Saint August and his Collegues Aphric concil Cap. 101. Aphric concil Cap. 105. The fathers neuer heard of Christs vicar general Where then are appeales to Rome The holy Ghost as wel â—â— one proâ—â—ace as in 〈◊〉 The Councel of Nice corrupted by the Bishop of Rome The Popes claime called the smokie pride of the world What the Councel of Africa denied to the Bishop of Rome Was this resisted or no Epist. Aegiptiorum ad MarcuÌ„ pro exempla Niceni Concilij tomo Conciliorum 1. The Papists to saue the Popes credit haue coÌ„mitted shameful forgeries Rescriptum Iulij contra orientales pro Athanasio And he a wise man to chose the worst Episto Africani conci ad Bonif. Cap. 101. No decretals can discredit the diligence of the African Bishops Concilium Carthaginense sextum Cap. 9. Concilij Afric Cap. 102. 103. Their Decretales are too yong to out-face the authenticke copies Ruffin lib. 1. Cap. 6. The Popes silence then conuinceth this forgerie since Marke the likelihoode of this fable and see the shamefastnes of Papists that mocke the worlde with them Extat Socratis lib. 1. Cap. 9. The Canons burnt before they were made Sozome lib. 1. Cap. 17. Beda distinc 16. sexta Sozom. lib. 3. Cap. 1. Athanas. not neere Aegypt when this letter was written thence in his name Rescriptuuâ— Marci Athanasio Aegyptijs Vide Sozome lib. 1. Cap. 25. 28. Concil Africa Cap. 102. An other forgerie vnder Iulius name worse than the former Rescript Iulij ad Orientales Cap. 29. The Papists haue forged a decretal in Iulius name where as his true letter is extant in Athanasius Apologie Socrat. lib. 1. Cap. 40. A man may feele this forgerie with his fingers Sozome lib. 3. Cap. 5. Athanasij Apologia 2. The first dated Calend. Octobris the second calend Nouembris the same yeare Euagâ— li. 1. ca. 4. Theodoret against the Popes deputy The Legats of Rome threatned by the first Ephesine Councel In Apologet. Cyril mandatuÌ„ Synod Ephesâ— Vide concilij Chalcedonens actioneÌ„ 16. The great councel of Chalcedon ouerruleth the Bishop of Rome Actio 16 concil Chalcedonen The Popes Legates could not then commaund in general couÌ„cels The Councel of Chalcedon proceeding without the Romish Legates Chalcedo CoÌ„cil cano 28. actio 15. repetitur actio 16. For what cause Rome had the supremacie giuen her Why Leo was so earnest against this Canon The Romish Legates their allegations reiected the second time in the Councel of Chalcedon EiusdeÌ„ Concilij â—câ—io 16. The selfsame priuileges that Rome had giuen to Constantinople The Pope had no negatiue in Councels Canons made in Counceles mauger the Bishop of Rome his legates Liberatus Cap. 13. Concilij sexti Constantinop Cap. 36. How the Popes law vseth ancient customes Distinct. 22. Renouantes A monsterous corruption of a councel turning an affirmatiue into a negatiue Africani concil Cap. 92. The Canon law glozeth the Councell of African quite against the text Caus. 2. quaest 6. placuit Saint Austen forged to make the Popes decretals of equall authoritie with the scriptures De doctrina Christiana lib. 2. Cap. 8. Distinct. 19. In canonicis Rubricae Ibidem Glosa Ibidem The britanes 4000 yeare agoe woulde yeelde no subiection to the Popes legate Beda lib. 2. Cap. 2. Bed histo gentis Anglorum lib. 2. Cap. 2. Galfrid monemutens lib. 8. Cap. 4. 1200 monks in one time chose rather to die than to be subiect to the Bishop of Rome Concili Laterae sub Innocentio 3 Cap. 4 The Grecians detesting the Bishop of Rome Paul Aemil. in Philippo 4. Idem Aeneas Syluius lib. 9. epitomes in decades Blondi Sessio vltima Florentiae in literis vnionis Graecorum responsio in vltima sessione Florentiae Platina in Eugenio 4. Luitprand li. 6. Cap. 10. Ibidem Cap. 7. The germans against the Bishop of Rome Platina in Gregorio 6. Cronicon Abba Vrspergensis Ibidem anno 1080. This was he that first ventred to depose Princes Ibidem anno 1083. The Romans reiected him as wel as the Germans did Platina in Gregorio 7. The later Italians make Hildebrand a Sainct for
6. cap. 15. Three Lodouikes not one of them deposed by the Pope Henry the fourth was the first that euer was offered dopositioÌ„ by any Pope The defence cap. 5. The defence cap. 5. It is no sinne nor wrong to call Gregorie the seuenth Hildebrand The Iesuites mannerly speeches of the Emperor Acts. 12. vers 22. The defence cap. 5. The conteÌ„tioÌ„ between Pope Gregorie the seuenth and Henry the third Emperour Proue the Popes right to depose Princes we remit the successe That right is yet vnproued The praise of the person is nothing to the right of the cause The defence Cap. 5. Pope Hildebrand a good man Hildebrand might well be a dealer in Berengarius recantation for the goodnes of it The Iesuits should condemne them selues if they should not coÌ„mend Hildebrand Which like they better Peter enduring or Hildebrand displacing Princes Lambert Schaf Abbas Vrsperg The mildnes of Pope Hildebrand What iustice call you that which the Church of Christ for 1000. yeres counted wickednes * Iude epist. * Rom. 23. The defence cap. 5. Lib. 3. cap. vlt. factorum memorabilium The testimonie of the Duke of Genuâ— for Pope Hildebrand See Vrsperpen lib. 5. annalium How knew Baptista Fulgosius the goodnes of Hildebrand that liued 400 yeres before him Lib. 3. cap. 8. de Constant. A noble mans fansie is no fit balance for this cause No reason that Princes rightes should be tried by Italian Dukes The defence cap. 5. Trithem in Chron. If Baptista knew little of Hildebrand Trithemius knew lesse of Henry the fourth Trithemius a man of their side our age is no good witnes in this case Dodechinus in anno 1090. This pestileÌ„t slaunder of Henry the 4. came first froÌ„ the mouth of a rebell that sought to supplant him Three bishoprickes for one sword is no such hainous Symony The Iesuits are content to make their abbasses whoores and their Bishops Sodomites to deface this Emperour The greatest fautors of Hildebrand aliue at the same time with him neuer charged him with these vnclean surmises Dodechinus in anno 1106. Marianus in anno 1075. He that will rebell against his Prince must be a slanderer of his Prince or els he shal seeme to rebell without cause Vita Henrici 4. habetur in fasciculo rerum sciendarum Colonie impresso He toucheth the very crimes that the Iesuites obiect Vrspergeâ—s in anno 1071. It were easie to paint out Hildebrand in his coulors if that were to this purpose Vrspergens in anno 1076. Vrsperg in anno 1080. Vrsperg IbideÌ„ The Iesuites beleeue one rebel against his Prince without prâ—sâ— but they will not beleeue the Bishops Nobles of Italie Germany iudicially pronouncing against the Pope Italy displeased with Henry for submitting himself to Hildebrand Lambert Scafnaburgens in anno 1077. Al the bishops of Italie had condemned Hildebrand for capitall crimes Hildebrand infamous for all vices Hildebrand an Apostaticall Pope He that will see the rest of HildebraÌ„ds vertues let him read Beno the Cardinall of his life and acts The fact and not the life of Hildebrand is the thing which we striue for The pope had his flatterers as well as the Prince Mariage in Priests and obedience to Princes impugned by the names of fornication Symonie Hildebrandes griefe against the Emperor Hildebrandes policie to quell the Empeâ—oâ— These aduantages the Pope had against the Prince Lambert scafnaburg in anno 1077. Hildebrands first attempt was to pull the Clergie from the king The next was to make him self the corrector master of Princes The mysterie of iniquitie sheweth it selfe Men of their own religion haue obserued in HildebraÌ„d as much as I report Auent annal lib. 5. fol. 562.569 sequeÌ„t The Iesuites trust none but Italians such as flatter the Pope as fast as themselues Vrspergens in anno 1076. Hildebrands owne confession for what causes he did excommunicate the Emperor Henry the 4. free from Symony by the report of his verie enemies Lambert Scafn in anno 1075. Did not this prince vehemently detest Symonists Lambert Scafn Ibidem No prince freer in his elections thaÌ„ Henry the 4. If the Pope had coÌ„mitted no worse Symony than heÌ„ry the 4. did the Church had beene in better case than it is The Monkes of purpose diffame the prince to flatter the Pope Vita Henrici 4. in fasciculo reruÌ„sciendarum Henry the 4. abused by his tutors in his minoritie This fault of other men is imputed to the Prince by the Moncks The tru cause why Hildebrand was offended that the Prince should giue spirituall liuings This was the way to pull first the clergie after the people from the Prince Princes were neuer weakened till their clergie tooke part with the Pope against them Hildebrand made it Symonie for a lay man to present to a spiritual liuing Platina in Gregor 7. Vide caus 16. quaesi 7. ¶ Si quis deincept Lustily saide and like a Pope Ibidem This was neuer counted Symony before Hildebrands time Platina in Benedict 2. The Bishop of Rome could not be chosen without the Princes consent Lambert Schaf in anno 1073. Hildebrand wheÌ„ he came to be Pope durst not be ordered without the Princes pleasure That which Hildebrand condemned was long before coÌ„firmed to the Prince by the former Bishops of Rome Distinct. 63. ¶ Adrianus Hildebrand accursed by his predecessours Distinct. 63. ¶ In Synod This was the yoke which Hildebrand could not indure Martin Polon in Adriano Leone 9. Plat. in Pasc. 1. Leon. 8. Sigebert in anno 1111. This was the chiefe quarel between Hildebrand and Henry the 4. Was not this a wise cause to depriue a Prince of his Crowne The Prince was not bouÌ„d to appeare in the popes consistorie Refusing the Popes penaltie is no depriuation in a Prince Any Pastor may remit the Princes sinnes as wel as the Pope Marke the stately proceedings of Hildebrand against the Emperour The diuell himselfe may minister as good Iustice as HildebraÌ„d did The popes arbitrarie penances are no parts of our conuersion vnto God The Pope abuseth the keies to increase his gaine and power How Hildebrand sped with his enterprise The iust reward of a rebel shewed in Rodolph Vrspergens in anno 1080. Sigebets in anno 1080. Hildebrand Prophesieth against himselfe Hildebrand himselfe turned out of his Popedome Sigeber in anno 1084. Vrspergen in anno 1083. Siger in anno 1085. In vita gestis Hildebrand Otho Prisingens li. 6. cap. 35. Depriuation of Princes neuer offered by any before Hildebrande Sigeb in anno 1088. This is right the Iesuites cause Apud Auent lib. 5. fol. 563. Vrspergen in anno 1085. The later writers of the Romish faction to please the Pope coÌ„mend Hildebrand to the heauens Vita Henrici 4. in Fasciculo rerion sciendaruÌ„ That part punished which offended What Hildebrand began the pope that came after would neuer leaue off Three erectâ—â— against Henry the 4. and all slaine The two sons of Hen. the 4.
and eloquence hee seeketh to proue and perswade to the people of this Realme as the chiefest Bulwark of their Defence that were condemned he saith for religion we say for treason and in deed the very ground of all their actions I thought needefull to examine and to let the simple see on what a sandy slime they haue built as well their consciences as their Colleges and in how wretched and vnrighteous a quarell they haue hazarded their liues in this world and their soules in the next to inlarge the power and make vp the purse of their Rhemish founder Taking that therefore in hande I haue worde by worde refelled the fifth chapter of their Defence which purposely treateth of this matter and inserted so much of the fourth as tended to this ende the rest being a voluntarie pang of their vnbridled eloquencc as also I haue ripped vp the shamefull attemptes and tumults of Popes these last fiue hundred yeares for before that time Antichrist neither was nor durst be so bold presuming to displace depose their Lord Maister the Romane Emperor incountering him other Princes with treasons poysons battayles bloodsheds periuries treacheries such as Christendom neuer before tasted of euer since rued Where I haue not only opened the facts noted the meeknes of their martial spirits but haue vnfoulded the causes quarels for which those Princes were thus pursued with such excommunications and depriuations from Rome shewing as I go the Italian stories in fauour of their countrieman and foreman the Pope to bee exceeding partiall The like order I would haue followed in their Apologie but that as I first protested I found nothing in it worthy to bee refuted vnlesse I should haue banded their idle and emptie termes backe againe to them with others of the same making and so brought the cause of Christ and trueth of Religion to a warfare of woordes which I neither ought nor would If any man thinke me no indifferent iudge of their paines it may please him to cast his eye on the second sheete and hee shall find all the proofes and places of their Apologie aunswered in three leanes and of those fewe and weake quotations to haue made a conquest in open writing had beene incke and paper ill imployed I would therefore not take that course which seemed to me neither needeful nor profitable but to benefite the poore deceiued subiectes of this Realme and bring the Iesuites cause to the touch-stone in deede I haue chosen the principall intentes of their Apologie on which their whole foundation standeth and after mine owne course debated them more exactly and largely than the confutation of their Apology would haue suffered me For where they pretend they departed for lacke of the Catholike Sacrifice Sacramentes and Seruice which want in this Realme and because they were forced by oth to confesse an vnnaturall and impossible power in the Prince to be supreme Gouernour of all persons and causes as well ecclesiasticall as temporall and in their absence they resort for reliefe to none but to him that is the head of their catholike communion the chiefe Pastour and Bishoppe of their soules in earth and the vicar generall of Christ to whose predecessors all the famous Fathers called for aide comfort and counsell in their like distresses and traine vppe such as come vnto them in obedience to the churches Lawes Apostolike Traditions both written and vnwritten and to the precepts of Ancients Superiours who haue the promised spirit of trueth and are sent backe againe into this Land to execute spirituall offices and to absolue in foro conscientiae the penitent people from their sinnes of what sort soeuer schisme and heresie not excepted who seeth not that these assertions being the seueral braÌ„ches of their Apologie depend either on religion that is in strife betwixt vs or on the Princes power which they impugne or on the Popes claime to bee head of the church which we deny And therefore the proofe or disproofe of their particular actions must be fet and deriued from those chiefe and capitall springs The consideration whereof first induced mee to neglect the rouing discourses and vaunting florishes of their Apologie no lesse voide of trueth than of proofe and to betake my selfe to a stricter and directer kinde of examining the most materiall pointes on which the rest did hang as first their running to Rome siding themselues with the Pope as Christs Vicar generall against their Prince for which they haue no president in the primatiue Church The next is the princes power to commaund for trueth and right to beare the sword within her owne Realme ouer all persons for thinges and causes as well Ecclesiasticall as Temporall without any subiection or relation to the Popes tribunall which I prooue is agreeable to the Lawes of God and practise of Christes church and therefore the oth importing the same to be good and godlie Thirdly the Popes censuring and depriuing princes of their crownes I shew to be nothing else but a wicked vnchristian pride contumelie not long since deuised by Antichrist to frustrate the word and ordinance of almighty God and to make himselfe great and so of force the subiects which be partakers with him in that hainous conspiracie by perswading assisting executing or defending the same in worde or deede against their princes to bee traytours and not martyrs if they die for that quarell Lastly the publique reformation of diuine Sacramentes and Seruice made by her Maiestie I declare to be Christian and Catholike and the partes of poperie repealed and abolished by the lawes of this Realme to be repugnant I speak for the substance of theÌ„ and not for certain indifferent ceremonies in them to the sacred scriptures and ancient fathers Other incident and adiacent matters I haue handled and those not a fewe as the generall and speciall contentes before and after will better insinuate but these foure bee the pointes that beare the burden both of their first Apologie for their Seminaries and last Defence of English Catholikes By these shal we soone discerne the truth or falshood of their pretences clamors against the Princes Lawes and such as are authorized by her highnesse therefore from the sober sad discussing hereof if they get them as they haue done to outragious and tragicall exclamations we must leaue them as men wilfully diuerting from the right way crying as loude as they can for life to drowne the voices of such as woulde recall them If they looke that all the parts of their Defence should haue bin answered in like sort as the fifth chapter is that labour I say for a man of my calling wold haue bin as fruitles as it is needles the proofs that are not here discussed may â—afely be despised the rest of their rolling rhetorik a diuine neither need regard nor should repeate As much as is inforcing to their purpose is here
The Scriptures commend Iosiah for compelling the people to serue God the seruant is charged to compell the guestes that were loth to come God hath ordained the sword which neuer entreateth or perswadeth but onlie commaundeth and compelleth to punish falshood and assist truth Now men that bee willing neede no forcing ergo Princes may compell their subiectes that is constraine them against their wils to keepe the faith and communion of Christs Church notwithstanding they pretend or in deede haue neuer so resolute and strong an opinion to the contrarie The Donatistes rather than they would bee forced from their fansies slew themselues yet this did nothing fraie the Church of God froÌ„ compelling them by the rigour of Princes lawes without any respect to their wilful desperation We graunt he that woundeth a weake conscience sinneth against Christ mary to be grieued with that which is good is no weakenesse but wickednesse and he that tendereth or regardeth a wicked conscience by your leaue is a fauorer and confirmer of his euill works To such saith Paul I gaue no place no not an hour for if I should so please meÌ„ I were not the seruant of Christ. We may not for thinges indifferent trouble the weake mindes of our brethren yet this rule bindeth no Magistrate to remit the punishment of error and infidelitie because God hath charged them to suffer no kinde of euill vnreuenged and this is the greatest whose voice they must heare whose will they must obeie though they were sure thereby to scandalize neuer so many both aliens subiectes Phi. Wo to that man by whom offences come Theo. True Sir but an offence fondly taken not iustly giuen entangleth no man besides the taker Blessed is he saith Christ that is not offended at me Where cursed is he that taketh an offence the giuer is blessed for euer We preach Christ crucified a stumbling blocke to the Iewes and wo to me saith Paul if I preach not the Gospell yet doth it bring the wicked to their destruction and is the sauour of death vnto death in them that perish Then as the minister must dispense the worde of truth be therewith offended and greiued who list so the Magistrate may drawe the sworde of iustice to compell and punish such as bee blindly led or maliciouslie bent to resist sound doctrine without any respect what afterward befalleth such ouerthwart creatures If vpon compulsion desperation ensue wo not to the compeller vsing those meanes which God hath appointed and discharging that duetie which God hath commaunded but wo rather and double wo to the despayrer who first framed his conscience to forsake truth and beleeue lies and nowe receiuing the iust reward of his error hath his heart hardened that when good discipline which healeth others is applied as a wholesome medicine to recouer him it causeth or sheweth him to be past cure without any sinister action or ill intention of the Magistrate Thus much for the making and exacting of that oth The contents whereof shall be fully discussed when we come to the place which I named We stand too long I feare about these foolish and impertinent quarels I will passe to your second Chapter as finding nothing left in your first but an action of vnkindnesse against such as call you Fugitiues which name you well deserue though you be loth to beare Phi. That is but your saying which wee little regard Theo. Much lesse neede wee regard your slaunderous and false reports published of purpose to deface this Realme they bee but your sayinges which no good man esteemeth Phi. You fall now to wordes Theo. What else haue you done since we began We be now come to the shutting vp of your first Chapter reuiew the same what one line what one letter haue you proued that hurteth vs or helpeth you Phi. You were not here to looke for many Scriptures or Fathers we giue you the reasons of our departure which bee matters of fact and admit no proofes Theo. If you can not proue them wee neede not disproue them and so let vs end with this and proceede to the next Phi. You answere not halfe that which we haue obiected Theo. You obiect much proue litle which forceth me to neglect the most part of that you haue obiected For when you heape vp idle words that are but winde and raigne ouer your aduersaries with Lordlike vauntes which are better despised than answered why should I follow your vaine humor or bring the cause of Christ to a meere brable or wordes as your Apologie doth Phi. Say your pleasure Theo. Your first Chapter we haue seene what doth your seconde containe Phi. The causes of our repairing sometime to the Citie and Court of Rome Theo. If this be all I will neuer open my mouth for the matter Your priuate actions and secret purposes we can not see wee neede not search Therein you may pretende what you please without any truth and wee beleeue what we list without any wrong Phi. In faith and truth they were none other but to make humble sâ—te for the establishment and perpetuall foundation of the College or Seminarie which his Holinesse had long before instituted in place of the hospitall of our nation there this was one thing Another was that the Gouernours of that College in Rome aboue and of this other now resident in Rhemes beneath might giue and take mutuall direction for correspondence in regiment discipline and education most agreeable to our Countrie mens natures and for preuention of all disorders that youth and companies of Scholers namely in banishment are subiect vnto Theo. It may be this you did but did you nothing else Phi. It was strongly surmised we know that our going to Rome was to procure some matter against the Prince but God is our witnesse it was no part of our meaning Theo. That intelligence was giuen by such as were daily conuersant with you and those articles of confederacie betweene the Pope and others to inuade this Realme were rife in your Seminaries there and closely sent to your friendes here but whether interprised followed by coÌ„mon consent amongst you or only deuised scattered by some of you to strike a feare in the peoples harts to make them the readier for your perswasions we can not exactly say this wee be sure such practises in subiects be lewd seditious Phi. If that informatioÌ„ were true Theo. What reasons haue you to proue it false Phi. Enow The second chapter of our Apologie doth refell it at large Theo. You refell it in deed as your maner is that is you say that you wil without any further proofe or paines Certain yong fellowes say you Fugitiues from their Masters depreheÌ„ded in diuerse cosinages counterfaiting of letters plaine thefts haue of malice hope of impunity and lucre traiterously slaundered you Thus as if you sate supreme Iudges ouer al the world you bring nothing to quite
self same matter was to folow should with al diligence weigh the cause and those against whom sentence was giuen might cleerely confesse themselues to be condemned not by any faction of the former Iudges but iustly and worthily And if this were an auncient custome and the memorie therof renewed and put in writing by the great Nicene Councell you now will not suffer the same to take place with you trewly you doe an vnseemly thing For no equitie doth alow that a few of you shuld abrogate a custome once receaued in the Church confirmed by so great a Synode yet that being granted you the offence which you take is without al reason for your Legats Macarius and Hesiochus no way able to match those that Athanasius sent but in euery thing conuicted and refuted by them Concilium indici postularunt literasque ad Eusebianos Athanasium Alexandriam quibus conuocarentur mitti vt coram omnibus iusto iudicio de causa cognosci posset tunc enim se de Athanasio probaturos esse quod iam nequirent required a Councell to bee summoned and letters to be sent to the Eusebians and to Athanasius at Alexandria to giue them warning to come that the cause might bee debated before all in an euen and vpright iudgement adding that they would then conuince Athanasius of those things wherin now they failed Yea publikely in our presence Martyrius and Hesichius were confounded Athanasius Priestes readily answering them with great boldnes to say the trueth Martyrius and his side were alwayes put to the worst Ac proinde Concilium generale postulauit And for that cause he requested a generall assemblie of Bishoppes If therefore Martyrius and Hesichius your agents not requiring a Councell I had exhorted you that they which wrote to mee on either side might bee called to a Councell namely in fauour of my brethren which complayned they were oppressed that motion of mine had beene honest and iust for so much as it is acceptable to God agreeable to the Canons but now where those very men whom you counted to be discreete and worthy to be trusted with your message were the first inciters of mee to cal you to a Synode surely you ought not to take that in so ill part By these words these two pointes are more than manifest First that Iulius did not peremptorily commaund them to appeare before him but exhorted them to meete in a lawfull Councell for the better discussing of matters in question Next that for the warning of a Councel which should examine their acts hee pretendeth not his supreme power ouer all the Church nor his Lieutenantship to Christ but groundeth himselfe on their consents which were the chiefe authors of this tragedie and citeth the Nicene Councel agreeing with the auncient vsage of the Church that Synodes might discusse and redresse the wrongs done by Bishoppes Phi. You can not denie but Iulius heard their Legats before the Bishoppes met Theo. I graunt for his better information hee might heare them alone but not to giue iudgement thereof without others so sayth Iulius himselfe Athanasius was neither condemned at Tyrus nor present at Mareota where you proceeded in his absence And you know that the records of those acts bee very suspitious and of no force where one part onely was admitted to proue Yet we though it were so for the more full discussing of the matter did neither preiudice you that wrate against him nor those that wrate for him but exhorted all as many as wrate to present themselues here in iudgement that all thinges might exactly bee skanned in a Synode In the which Synode when the contrary side refused to appeare Athanasius was hearde at large and there receiued to the communion of all the West Church as right Bishoppe of Alexandria notwithstanding his former deposition by the Bishoppes at Antioche and the violent intrusion of an other in his place Phi. This you say but this you proue not Theo. If Athanasius say the same it is proofe sufficient and that you shall heare him say Viton the Priest whom Iulius sent for that purpose brought with him to the councel moe than fiftie Bishops where our defence was admitted and wee counted worthie to bee receiued to their communion and brotherly feast and great indignation kindled against the Eusebians to whome they willed Iulius to write backe in his owne name for that their letters were written to him not to them And so Iulius did putting them to wit which is the thing that you stagger at that although his name were alone to the letters yet the common consent approbation of the Synode wanted not to the matter Notwithstanding saith he that I alone wrate to you yet I wrate the iudgement and opinion not of my selfe onely but of all the Bishops of Italie and of all in these quarters The Bishops met at the time appointed and were of that mynde which I nowe signifie to you againe wherfore though I alone write yet I would haue you knowe that I write the common opinion of them all And his Epistle ended This sayth Athanasius the Synode at Rome wrate by Iulius the Bishop of Rome So that all this while Iulius did nothing of himselfe without a Synode neither did hee or the Synode challenge any superioritie ouer the East Bishops but rather an equalitie with them and for that cause might require to see the reason of their doings against Athanasius before they would reiect him as no Bishop and communicate with Gregorie that was placed in his seate And so much the East Bishops should haue doone without asking For where a prouinciall Synode bindeth no man out of the same Prouince they were by the discipline and custome of the Church to sende their letters to the Bishops of euery Prouince namely to the chiefest and to expect the general consent of their brethren before they proceeded to the deposition of a Bishop and so great Bishoppe as the Patriarke of Alexandria was which is the thing that Iulius vrgeth them with Si vt dicitis omnino in culpa fuerunt oportuit secundum Canonem non isto modo iudicium fieri oportuit scribere omnibus nobis vt ita ab omnibus quod iustum esset decerneretur Episcopi enim erant non vulgares ecclesiae qui ista patiebantur If as you pretend they were guiltie in deede yet iudgement should haue gone forwarde according to the Canon of the Church and not after this strange sort you should haue written to vs all that that which had been iust might haue been determined by all For they were Bishops and no meane Churches that were thus vsed By this you see that in ayding and helping Athanasius the Bishop of Rome did neither by worde nor deed take vpon him to be vicar generall to Christ on earth nor supreme iudge of all men and matters in the Church as nowe he doeth but claymeth rather
none that your friends haue made Phi. The Bishops of Africa you know were deceiued in the number of the Nicene Canons Theo. I know they were not but graunt they were this sufficeth me that they resisted three Bishoppes of Rome Sozimus Bonifacius and Coelestinus one after an other both by their decrees and their letters For vpon occasion of Apiarius flight to Rome they decreed that Priests Deacons and other inferiour clerks if they complayned of the iudgements of their Dioecesanes should be heard by the Bishoppes adioyning Quod si ab eis prouocandum putauerint non prouocent nisi ad Africana Concilia vel ad primates Prouinciarum suarum Ad transimarina autem qui putauerit appellandum a nullo intra Africam ad communionem suscipiatur And if they think good to appeale from them also let them not appeale but to the Coūcels of Africa or the primates of their owne Prouince And hee that ventereth to appeale ouer the Seas to Rome let him be receiued of no man within Africa vnto the cōmunion Phi. This decree barreth Priests inferiour Clerks from appealing to Rome but not Bishops Theo. The Canon was fitted to the matter in question Appiarius that ranne to Rome was a Priest and no Bishop and yet touching appeales of Bishops to Rome what answere they made followeth in their letters first to Bonifacius before they sent for authentike copies to the chiefe places of Christendom to whom they signifie that cōcerning appeales of Bishops to the Priests of Rome they would suffer that to be kept for a while till they could get the Canons of the Nicene Councell after they had receiued the same from Cyrillus and Atticus they framed their answere to Coelestinus on this wise Our dewe salutations remembred and done we entreat earnestly pray you that hereafter you will not lightly giue audience to those that come from hence to you neither any more receiue such to the communion as we excommunicate because your reuerence shall easily perceiue that order taken by the Nicene councel For if there appeare a prouiso for inferior clerks and lay men how much more would the Synode haue the same obserued in Bishops that being excōmunicated in their own Prouince they should not be suddēly hastily or vnduly restored to the cōmuniō by your holines And likewise your holines must repel these wicked refuges of pristes other clergie men to Rome as becōmeth you for that by no determination of the fathers this is derogated frō the church of Africa the Nicene Canons do most euidently cōmit both inferiour Clergie men the Bishops thēselues to their owne Metropolitanes No doubt they most wisely and rightly prouided that al matters should be ended in the places where they first arose neither shall the grace of the holy Ghost be wanting to any Prouince by the which equitie may be grauely weighed and stoutly followed by the Priestes of Christ especially where as euery man hath liberty if he mislike the iudgement of those that heare his cause to appeale to the Councels of his own Prouince or to a general Councel Or how shall the iudgement ouer the Seas at Rome be good whereto the necessarie persons of the witnesses either for sex or for age or sundrie other impedimēts can not be brought For that any shuld be sent as Legats from your holines side we find decreed by no Synod of the fathers That which you sent vs hither by Faustinus as a part of the Nicene Coūcel in the truer copies which we haue receiued from holy Cyril Bishop of Alexandria reuerent Atticus Bishop of Constantinople takē out of the originals thēselues which also we sent to Bonifacius your predecessor In them we say we could find no such thing And as for your agents or messengers send thē not grant thē not at euery mās request lest we seem to bring the smoky pride of the world into the Church of Christ which proposeth the light of simplicitie humilitie to those that desire to see God c. Doth your eye sight serue you Philander to marke in this olde broken matter as you call it howe many wayes the Bishoppes of Africa withstood the Bishop of Rome Appeales to Rome which Sozimus claymed by the Councell of Nice they confute by the same Councell and impugne with other graue pithie reasons Legates a latere which he chalenged they reiect as neuer spoken of in any Councell Running to Rome which you make lawfull they call a wicked refuge and sending of messengers from Rome a smokie pride of the worlde The corrupting the Nicene canons by Sozimus they disproue by copies that were true and authentike and Apiarius whome the Bishoppe of Rome harboured and restored the second time to the communion they vtterly banished from the Church of Christ and not therwith content they set downe a rule that if any Priest afterwarde did appeale to Rome no man in Aphrica should receiue him to the communion What thinke you woulde these men haue done if Sozimus had claimed to be head of the vniuersall Church Uicar generall to Christ supreme and infallible Iudge of all men and matters ecclesiastical and that not by consent of Synodes but by graunt from Christ What could they haue sayde to your vntydie vanities that the Popes seate is the natiue home of all true beleeuers himselfe the rocke of refuge in doubtfull dayes and doctrines and the whole worlde his fold and familie You must frame vs some better answere to this geare than Bonifacius your holy father did I trust in these dayes you dare not say the diuel led S. Augustine al the Bishops of Aphrica to be pragent saucie with Coelestinus as he sayd For if the diuell led them that in defence of themselues their right searched and auouched the true Canons of the Nicene Councell what spirite led Sozimus that began a strange and new clayme and to bolster vp his pride wilfully corrupted the Councell of Nice Phi. He did not corrupt the Councell of Nice but rather their Bishoppes of Aphrica that withstoode him were beguiled in the number of the Nicene Canons Theo. He did corrupt the Councell of Nice and the Bishops that detected his falshood were not beguiled Phi. They had but twentie Canons where the Councell of Nice made threescore and ten as we find in an Epistle written by those of Egypt to Marcus Bishop of Rome for a true extract of seuentie Canons after the Arians had burnt the Authentike copie which Athanasius brought from Nice Theo. You rescue one forgerie with an other When your adherents saw that Sozimus was taken tardie with belying the Nicene Councell to saue his credite they deuised that the councell of Nice should make seuentie Canons though there were neuer seene but twentie And to giue this tale some life they coyned a letter in the name of Athanasius and others to Marcus Bishop of
it vp translated the same from Basill to Bononia by the consent of all the cardinals that were about him But the Emperour and the rest of the Princes and Prelates that were at Basill were so farre from obeying the Pope that they summoned him twise or thrise to present himselfe with his cardinals at Basill chosen by Pope Martin as a fit place to keepe the councell in otherwise they would proceed against him as a transgressor and wilfull refuser Eugenius troubled with this message confirmeth the councell of Basill with his Apostolike letters licencing all men to go to the councell Phi. I graunt they resisted Eugenius but I doubt of the Councell whether it were lawfull or no. Theo. Will you trust Eugenius himselfe Phi. If he say the word Theo. Thus he saith Not long since for certaine causes expressed in our letters and by the consent and aduise of our brethren the cardinalles of the church of Rome we dissolued the sacred general councell of Basill lawfully begun by the decrees of the generall councels of Constance and Senes by commission from Martin the fift likewise from vs. Mary seeing great dissention hath risen greater may rise by the saide dissolution wee determine declare that the foresaid generall councel of Basill from the first beginning of it was is lawfully continued alwaies hath yet doth ought to dure as if no dissolution had bin made And that our affection and integritie to the sacred generall councell of Basill may plainly appeare whatsoeuer hath beene done attempted or alleadged by vs or in our name to the preiudice or derogation of the sacred generall councell of Basill we vndoe reuoke frustrate and annihilate If this be enough Nicolaus the 5. that came next after Eugenius vpon the composing of the schisme betweene the Councell and the Pope gaue out a generall Bull for the confirmation of all their doinges without exception Omnia singula tam iustitiam quà m gratiam concernentia per ipsum tunc Basiliense Concilium qualitercunque facta gesta concessa data disposita ordinata cuiuscunque naturae existant motu proprio ex certa scientia de Apostolicae potestatis plenitudine de consilio assensu venerabilium fratrum nostrorum sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinaliū praesentium serie approbamus ratificamus etiā confirmamus rataque firma haberi volumus All euery thing that concerneth either fauor or iustice done deuised granted giuen disposed ordred by the coūcel of Basil of what nature soeuer we of our own motiō certain knowlege by the fulnesse of our Apostolike power and with the assent and aduise of our brethren the Cardinals of the holy church of Rome allow ratifie and confirme by the tenor of these presents and will haue to stand sure and firme So that the Councell of Basill hath ill lucke if after all these buls it bee not both a lawfull and generall Councell Phi. The Bishops of Rome that came after neuer liked the Councell of Basill but we will not striue for that we shall see what you will inferre Theo. No newes for Popes to mislike that which pared their ambition and hindered their gaine as the Councell of Basill did but can you or they denie that the Councell was orderly called Phi. I do not stand so much on that Theo. Then I conclude that a Councell may lawfully resist commaund correct and depose the Pope for so did the late Councels of Pisa Constance and Basill which your Church then helde for sacred and ecumenicall both determine in wordes and practise in deedes You must confute or confesse this illation Phi. I haue saide what I coulde and all will not helpe The Councels you proue to be generall and I see they not onely resisted and deposed Popes but also concluded it lawfull for them so to do Theo. Then you confesse they did and might resist the Pope Phi. Councels I graunt might and did but not others Theo. Why may not others do the like Phi. They must rather obey than resist Theo. We dispute not as yet whether it be lawfull or no for euery man to resist the Pope the cause being iust and when that commeth in question you must shewe good and apparent reason why they may not that which I first auouched was this your owne Cardinales and Councels your owne friendes and fellowes which you may not count schismatikes and heretikes haue stoutly resisted him and restrained and limited his dominion euen in the middest of his pride and ioylitie For Councels I haue saide sufficient Now for others The famous Uniuersitie of Paris which I thinke you will not condemne and the whole kingdom of Fraunce haue often times opposed them-selues against the Pope and withdrawne their obedience from him in part or in all as occasion required Phi. For some monie matters it may be they withstood his Collectors and Officers Theo. The Diuines of Paris openly confuted the conclusions and articles of Iohn the 22. touching the beholding and seeing of God and gate the same to be condemned before the king of Fraunce with the sound of trumpets as Gerson reporteth By this saith he appeareth the falsitie of Pope Iohns doctrine which was condemned with the sound of trumpets before Philip king of Fraunce by the Diuines of Paris and the king beleeued the Diuines of Paris before the Popes court And Ioannes Marius Iohn the second Pope that sate at Auinion fell into suspition of heresie For he taught and defended certaine articles touching the sight and vision of God which the Diuines of Fraunce king Philip taking their part very freely contradicted The yeare before the Councell of Pisa which I last spake of was gathered when Benedict the 13. would yeeld to no reason for ending the schisme between him Gregory the 12. Charles the French king with the aduise of the Bishops Princes and Vniuersities of his Realme caused himselfe to bee proclaimed adherent or obedient to neither of the twaine by them all it was decreed that the whole Church of Fraunce should depart from the obedience of Benedict and by the authoritie of this Councell all the French Cardinals forsooke him When the Councell of Basill was ended the Germans the king of France the king of England the Prince of Millan others fauored the same with all their power neglecting Eugenius authoritie then sitting in the Councel of Florence and the rather to giue it full force and effect in the kingdome of Fraunce Charles the 7. in a Parliament at Burdeuz made a law called the Pragmaticall sanction for the perpetuall obseruation of those thinges which the Councell of Basill had decreed And this law the Bishops of Fraunce and Schole of Paris defended and followed almost an hundred yeares in spite of al that Pius the 2. Sixtus the 4. Innocentius the 8. and other Bishops of Rome could do to the contrarie Phi. Did the Bishops of Rome labour
your Maiesties that you will cōmand the reuerend Bishop Dioscorus to answere to those things that we lay to his charge for confirming a wicked heresie deposing vs vniustly directing your sacred precept to oecumenical councel of Bishops to heare the matter between vs and the said Dioscorus and certifie your Maiesties of the whole cause that you may do therein what shal please your Graces Iustinian in his sixt Constitution prescribing what persons he will haue made Bishops and how they shal be qualified and examined before they be admitted threatneth in sharp manner He that doth any thing besides this which we haue appointed both he that is ordered shal be depriued of his function and he that did order him shall loose his Bishopricke for offending this law The like punishment he setteth downe for Simonie Though sayth Iustinian he haue all other things that we before required yet if hee procure a Bishopricke by mony or mony worth Let him knowe that hee shall be turned out of his Bishoprike and doe his orderer this pleasure that he also shall be remoued from his office and from the Clergie So for ordering and not examining that was obiected against the Person If one come to bee made a Bishop and any man contradict and offer to lay somewhat to his charge Let him not be ordered before such complaints be discussed And if he that should make him hasten to consecration after such contradiction without examining the matter Let him know that which he doth shall be vtterly void and also he that goeth against our law shall be depriued of his Priestly function and he that ordered him without trial shall likewise be remooued from his Episcopall dignitie So for absence from his church after he is Bishop This also we define that no Bishop bee so hardie as to absent himselfe from his Church aboue one whole yere If he be away longer than a yere let the Patriarke of that region cite him orderly to returne If he continue disobedient let him be clean expelled from the sacred number of Bishops And generally for all matters comprised in that constitution The things which we haue decreed for the preseruation of ecclesiastical order and state agreeable to the tenor and prescript of the sacred rules let the most holy Patriarkes of euery Prouince the Metropolitanes and the rest of the most reuerend Bishops and Clerks see that they keepe for euer hereafter sure and inuiolable the punishment to him that transgresseth these things shal be to be seuered quite from God and excluded from his Priestly degree In his sixteene constitution commaunding Clerks to be remoued from one Church to an other till the iust number which he decreed were supplied in euery Church he writeth to the Patriarke of Constantinople in this wise Your blessednes shall endeuour to put in execution the things which we haue thought decent for the profite of the sacred and holy Churches And if any thing be attempted to the contrarie let him assure himselfe that durst enter orders against this our law that it doe him no good In his 57 Constitutiō prohibiting the sacred mysteries to be celebrated in priuat Chappels these things saith he we commaund to the most holy Archbishop and vniuersall Patriarke of this Citie In his 123 Constitution you shal find examples enough of his Princely prohibitions and commaundements to Bishops for matters concerning the regiment of the Church For first appointing how Bishoppes shall bee chosen and that the Person elected shall before his admission deliuer a confession of the true faith subscribed with his owne hand and recite the praiers vsed in the sacred communion holy Baptisme and sweare that hee neither hath giuen nor promised nor will giue any thing to those that elected him nor to him that ordereth him nor to any other the rather to attaine his ordering he addeth If any be made Bishope against this obseruation as well he shall be cast out of his Bishoprike as the other that presumed to create him against this forme shall bee seuered one yere from the sacred ministerie and shall forfeit all his goods to the Church where he is Bishop But if any man consecrate one that is accused before hee examine the matter both he that is made and he that did make him shal bee depriued of their episcopall functions Aboue al things This we decree to bee kept that no man be made a Bishop by rewards And therefore as well hee that giueth as he that taketh and he that would bee the meanes to worke it shal be degraded And so going on with Diuers ecclesiastical Chapters he saith We forbid the Bishops to leaue their Churches and to trauell into other coasts And we commaund that in euery Prouince there be yerely kept a Synode where causes of faith and doubts concerning the Canons and administration of ecclesiasticall things as also touching Bishops Priests Deacons and other Clerks and Rulers of Monasteries and Moncks either for their liues or other things needing reformation shall be handled and in conuenient manner examined and corrected according to the sacred Canons and OVR imperial LAVVES Besides we command that all Bishoppes and Priests doe celebrate the sacred oblation and praiers in the holy Baptisme not secretly but with a loud voice so as the faithfull people may heare the religious Priests and Bishops knowing that if they neglect any of these things they shall answer for it in the dreadfull iudgement of the great GOD and our Sauiour Christ neither will wee vnderstanding thereof passe it ouer or leaue it vnpunished We also forbid the most religious Bishops Priests and all other Clerks to play at tables or to companie with such gamsters or to be present at spectacles If any of them offend in this point we command that he bee suspended from his function for three yeres Likewise we forbid all Bishops and Priests to separate any man from the communion til a cause be shewed for which the Canons wil it to be doone If any man separate an other from the communion against this law the partie that is greeued vniustly shal be absolued and receaued to the communion by an higher Priest And he that durst excommunicate vniustly shall be put from the communion by the Bishop that is next aboue him as long as it seemeth good to that superiour Moreouer if the Bishops of the same Synode haue any controuersie betweene them touching ether ecclesiastical right or causes first their Metropolitane with two other Bishops of the same Synod shall determine the matter And if either part find fault with that iudgment then shal the Patriarke of that Prouince heare the cause and define that which is consonant to the canons ecclesiastical and our lawes neither part hauing leaue to cōtradict his sentence If a Clerke or any other of what cause soeuer appeale from a Bishop first the Metropolitane shall iudge the matter according to the sacred canons
deponitur For heresie the Pope is ipso facto deposed and no inconuenience And to that ende hee alleadgeth Petrus de Palude saying Papa quando labitur in haeresin tunc â—o ipso est praecisus ab Ecclesia desinit esse caput The Pope when hee falleth into an heresie is presently cutte off from the Church and ceaseth to bee the heade of it So Gerson the Chauncellour of Paris Tam Papa quam Episcopus deuiabiles à fide The Pope may swarue from the fayth as well as an other Bishop The generall councell of Basill saith Saepe experti sumus legimus Papam errasse Wee haue often both found out by experience and reade that the Pope hath erred And againe Cum certum sit Papam errare posse For so much as it is certaine the Pope may erre Aeneas Syluius afterwarde Pius the seconde inueying against them that woulde not haue councels gathered without the Popes consent saith What remedie shall there bee if a sinnefull Pope trouble the Church if hee destroie soules if hee peruert the people with his euill example Si denique contraria fidei praedicet haereticisque dogmatibus imbuat subditos If he teach against the faith and infect those that be vnder him with hereticall opinions Cardinall Caietane and Pope Innocentius the fourth though they had good cause to fauour the See of Rome yet were they clearely resolued the Pope might erre and so were all the writers of your owne religion before this our age that euer I hearde of and euen at this day the sincerest of them dislike the vnshamefastnesse of your assertion Papa in fide errare potest vt melius sentientes tenent etiam ex hijs qui Papatui plurimum fauent Inter quos est Innocentius eius nominis quartus Pontifex in cap. 1. De summa Trinitate The Pope may erre in fayth as the truer opinion is euen of them that fauour the popedome verie much Amongest whome is Innocentius the fourth of that name Bishoppe of Rome writing vppon the first chapter De summa Trinitate Arboreus a Doctor of Paris and one of your chiefe Sorbonistes Papa in fide errare Potest Et tota mihi aberrare via videtur qui aliter sentit Assentantur sane Romano Pontifici qui faciunt cum immunem à lapsu haereseos schismatis The Pope may erre in fayth And he seemeth to mee to bee in foule errour that thinketh otherwise Surely they doe but flatter the Bishoppe of Rome that make him free from falling into heresie and schisme Erasmus pithily impugneth your inconsiderate follie If it bee true which some say that the Bishop of Rome can neuer erre iudicially what neede generall councels Why are men skilled in the lawes and learned in diuinitie sent for to councels if hee pronouncing can not erre To what purpose are so many Vniuersities troubled with handling questions of faith when truth may be had from his mouth Nay how commeth it to passe that the decrees of one Pope are repugnaÌ„t to the decrees of an other This perswasion of yours must needes be naught which so many of your owne side haue condemned before our dayes and the sobrest of your selues that haue written since our time doe vtterly disclaime And therefore aduise you whether you will faierly resigne this fansie or be conuinced by the verdict of your fellowes for men-pleasers and flatterers It is farre from a Catholike position which your owne church in the midst of darkenesse would neuer acknowledge and at this daie none defende but such hungrie ghestes as you be that gape for thankes and seeke to please Phi. You falsely charge vs with vnhonest respectes Theo. It is not my iudgement of you but theirs that otherwise haue no cause to thinke euill of you Phi. The reason that moueth vs so to say is for that we finde no Pope that euer erred Theo. You refuse Councels Fathers Stories and all that come in your way because you will not finde it Phi. We refuse not that is ancient or indifferent but onely such as we thinke partiall Theo. Then if there bee no cause why they should be partiall you will admit them for credible Phi. We will Theo. We expect no more What say you then to Clemens the first of that name as you make your account though wee thinke it a leude forgerie in his name Doe not your own Decrees report out of his decretall epistles that amongest christians al things ought to be common euen wiues and all Communis vita omnibus fratres necessaria est Communis enim vsus omnium quae sunt in hoc mundo omnibus esse hominibus debuit In omnibus autem sunt sine dubio coniuges A common life is necessarie for all men brethren the vse of all thinges that are in this world ought to be common to all men And in al things no doubt are wiues contained Phi. He meaneth not the carnall vse of women but their domestical seruice ought to be common Theo. So your gloze would make vp the breach but all in vaine For Socrates in Platoes common wealth whom your Clemens in this place citeth and calleth Graecorum sapientissimum the wisest of the Graecians rehearsing the prouerbe which Clemens here vseth inferreth that the coniunction of men women and procreation of children ought to bee common which is a monstruous and heinous errour And were that excused the the rest is a shamefull absurditie that all other thinges ought of necessitie to bee common amongst christians For the Scriptures do not exact that no maÌ„ should possesse any thing but onely that charitie should gladly distribute supply the wantes of such as neede Phi. Your selfe thinke this to be forged in Clementes name Theo. We do but you do not and therefore against you the instance is good The next is Tertullians testimonie who saith of the Bishop of Rome that he agnised the prophesies of Montanus and sent letters of communion and peace to the churches in Asia and Phrygia that were of that sect Phi. But hee reuoked those letters and ceased from that purpose as Tertullian also confesseth Theo. Hee reuoked them after they were sent and ceased from that which he first acknowledged Episcopum Romanum tunc agnoscentem prophetias Montani ex ea cognitione pacem Ecclesiis Asia Phrygiae inferentem falsa de ipsis prophetis adseuerando coegit literas pacis reuocare tam emissas a proposito recipiendorum schismatum concessare Praxeas the heretike forced the Bishoppe of Rome then agnising the Prophesies of Montanus and vppon good liking of them giuing peace to their Churches in Asia and Phrygia to reuoke his letters of coÌ„munion when they were sent and to cease from his purpose of embracing their doctrine Phi. Tertullian was of that sect himselfe and therefore no indifferent witnes Theo. Indifferent enough to report the fact though not to iudge
Who rightly considering these attempts will not lament them detest them as the foresignes prognosticatioÌ„s of the ruine of the church And when the composition was made between the Emperor the Suldane that Hierusalem with certaine places neere bordering should be restored to the christians truce remaine for ten yeares the Emperor by letters aduertised the Pope the rest of christendom of this ioyfull newes The Pope cast away the letters would not receiue them with his fautors as men affirmed made a rumor to be spred in Apulia that the emperor was dead Wherupon the cities that yet stood for the emperour inclined to render themselues into the popes hands to kil the Almanes that returned from the holy land or were commorant in Apulia a most barbarous and wicked purpose And lest there should want any thing to the vttermost of al wickednes when Frederik after his arriuing in the holy land sent messengers to Rome to require absolution reconciliation because he had now perfourmed his promise the Pope repelled his petition inioyned the soldiers in Asia to withdraw their help froÌ„ Frederik as froÌ„ a publike enimie It was not enough to fil the Princes hands with ciuill warres when he should prepare against the Turk to stop and spoile his souldiers that should accompanie him to inuade his lande sollicite his townes in his absence your holy father must set the Christians when they should fight against the Turke togither by the eares wil them not only to forsake but also to impugne their Emperor What could the diuel himselfe haue done more if he had bin couched in the Popes chaire than Gregorie did Phi. These things Gregorie himselfe denied the Italians that since haue written reiect them as false Theo. So had they need For if they should confesse them they must yeeld the Pope in so doing to be rather the foreman of Satan than the Uicar of Christ. And therefore your Italian Stories presuming all that the Pope saide in defence of himselfe to bee true and all that hee claymed from the Empire to bee his raile on Frederike in great choler as on a wicked and faithlesse Prince and acquite the Pope as doing his dutie in all these counterplots But Italian wittes are too well knowen to be trusted when they are offended and in Blondus a man may soone perceiue an intemperate heate against those Princes that withstoode the Pope Phi. You dislike our stories and we dislike yours Theo. May you dislike your owne and such as then liued and honoured the See of Rome hauing no iust exception against them but only that they could not apparel the Popes pride with some smoth deuises as the Italians do Phi. Not long since you praised Blondus haue you now cast him out of conceite Theo. I did commend Blondus for his diligence where affection did not interpeale him But in this case drawing all thinges to his appetite the more diligeÌ„t the more daÌ„gerous He not only taketh euery word that Gregory spake for a Gospel but addeth of his own head such things as Gregory neuer obiected to Frederike that with no small spite For where Frederik complained to the Princes of Almanie how iniuriouslie and deceitfully the Pope had dealt with him amongest other thinges whiles hee was in the seruice of Christ against the Turke how the Pope had surprised a part of his kingdom with armes Gegory in his letters replied that because Raynold Frederiks captaine inuaded the kingdome of Scicily the speciall patrimonie of the church least the See Apostolike should thereby be impugned his Legates entred Frederiks kingdom found many ready to submit themselues This is all that Gregory pretended who woulde not spare to speake any thing that with any colour he might in his owne excuse and against Frederike Blondus finding this to be but a simple cause for the Pope to inuade the Emperors dominion in his absence in that seruice first for so much as the right of Scicily was in strife between the Empire the church of Rome secondly for that if Scicily were held in fee of the church of Rome yet Frederike was right heire vnto it by the mother side in ful possessioÌ„ of that kingdom before he was made Emperor therfore wel Raynold his captaine might put ouer souldiers into Scicily to man the forts for al occasions to containe them in their duties whatsoeuer should happeÌ„ to his master in that voiage against the Turk But other inuasâ—oÌ„ preiudicial to the church of Rome the princes captaine neither needed nor coulde make any Bondus I say perceiuing that Gregories pretence woulde seeme but a quarel sought of purpose to make a rebellion against the Emperour whiles he was from home helpeth the matter with certaine additions which are both odious and slaunderous Frederik saith he ready to take ship saile froÌ„ Italie was so far froÌ„ asking the Popes absolution benediction that making one Rainold the gouernor of the kingdome of Scicilie in plaine words willed him to oppresse the Pope and Clergie by all meanes Blondus might haue doone well to tell vs who stoode by and heard these wordes which Gregorie would neuer haue omitted if he had knowen them And if the Pope that sifted his words and deedes with all diligence knew no such thing how shoulde Blondus so many yeres after come by the knowledge of them The other obiection that he despised the Popes absolution is as foolish For as soone as he was landed on the other side and began to march towardes the Turke Platina confesseth that he was very earnest both by letters and messengers to be absolued by the Pope from his excommunication and could not obtaine it To haue delt therefore with the Pope before his going to be absolued had beene in vaine the Pope doubting that he would not goe and refusing as your selues confesse to absolue him when he was there arriued and encamped against the Turke Phi. The Pope would not absolue him because he went about to make peace with the Turke The. The Pope would euer haue some cause to molest him otherwise I see no reason to mislike the peace For whether the Turke stood in feare of him or was to be distracted emploied about other wars I know not the Emperor had not bin there a yere but the Turke was glad to yeeld him the kingdome of IerusaleÌ„ sauing the Temple a few Castles to hold peace with him and Christendom for ten yeres Which conclusion as it was honorable in it selfe so was it acceptable to all Christian states saue only to the Pope mary he of meere malice against Frederike when the letters were brought that should aduertise him of the Emperours good successe threw them away and shewed him-selfe much agreeued with the matter as one that did abode the Princes speedie returne would disappoint him of his hope And he missed not his
against the Emperor as if he had bin a Turke or a Saracene Philand Did not Frederike rather play the Turke with such as fought against him when he cut their heades in fower parts and laide them crossewise on their shoulders and with hoat Irons burnt a crosse in their foreheads whose liues he spared and caused the Clergie mens crownes to bee cut square to the very sculles What Turke or Saracene euer shewed like crueltie The. Al executions not in warre onely but in peace also seeme cruell if you looke to the punishments and not to the offences Phi. What was their offence Theo. They rebelled against him for the Popes pleasure whom by Gods Lawe they shoulde haue honoured and obeyed as their Soueraigne Lord and lawfull Prince and not therwith content they take vp the crosse against him in their badges and banners as if it had beene against a Turke or an Infidel If subiects so farre forget their dueties as to vse their Princes like Infidels because the Pope disfauoureth theÌ„ why should not princes forget their clemencie reward rebels and enemies according to their deserts It was therefore more enormous for the Pope to proclaime the crosse against a Christian Prince though his aduersarie for some priuate respectes as hee doeth against the Turke than for the Prince to inflict some such punishment as should make them repent their follies Phi. Frederike impugning the Pope with all his might why shoulde not the Pope such him-selfe the best way hee coulde Theo. And the Pope bringing rebels into the fielde against the Prince as it had beene against an Infidel why shoulde not the Prince teach them to beware howe they vsed the crosse against Christian Magistrates which was deuised against Turkes and Saracenes Phi. The Prince himselfe was in all the fault Theo. Because he woulde not suffer the Pope to ride on his necke as hee had done on his graundfathers and the rebellious Cities of Lombardie to shut him cleane out of Italie For what other cause had Gregorie the ninth againe to excommunicate and depose Frederike after hee had shewed himselfe so desirous of peace that hee paide a huge heape of golde to content the Popes ambitious spirite What one iniurie done to the Church of Rome can your Italian Sories iustly charge him with after his first absolution If you thinke your holy father may turne and wynd Princes like dishcloutes and curse them and depose them for what causes he lyst then Frederike was in some fault for that hee would not graunt peace to the Cities of Italie which rebelled against him at the Popes motion but if that bee madde diuinitie as in deede it is the Pope himselfe was not wel aduised first to set the subiects vp in rebellion against their Prince and next to depriue the Prince for offering to represse them that resisted him Shewe vs therfore what offence it was against the Popes holynes for the prince to compel his subiects to obedience by force of armes or else wee must conclude your holy father did the prince open wicked wrong to thunder his censures against him for seeking his own by those meanes which God hath allowed vnto magistrats Phi. The Emperour hired some to rebel in Rome against the Pope Theo. Your Italian writers would faine find holes in Frederiks coate if they could tel howe but their tales hang not together Platina runneth one way Blondus an other and Antoninus a thirde Platina sayth that Peter Fregepanes taking part with the Emperour kept the Pope out of Rome and made him decline to Viterbium as hee was going with an armie against the Emperour whome hee vnderstoode to bee within Italie and to oppugne the confederate Cities So that by Platinaes confession the Pope was in armes against the Emperour afore the fautors of Frederike offered him any violence Blondus a deadly persuer of Frederike with his pen reporteth this resistance made by Peter Fregepanes before the Emperor entered Italie addeth as his maner is of meere spite that the Prince had hired him with mony so to doe Antoninus as Nauclerus alleageth him writeth that Frederike hearing the cities of Lombardie Millan Bononia and many others of Romandiola to bee fallen from him and turned to the deuotion of the Church went against them with a great armie And the Citizens of Millan with al their strength and the Popes Legates and the whole confederacie of Lombardie which did cleaue to the Church fought a fielde with the Emperour in a place called New court and the Millanoes with their adherents after a sore conflict were ouerthrowen many of theÌ„ being slaine many taken prisoners with their Carroch where the Ruler of Millan being the sonne of the Duke of Venice and sundrie other Noble men of Lombardie were taken and sent into Apulia the Prince causing the Dukes sonne to bee hanged on a tower by the Seas side the rest to be executed some one way some an other This Florentine conâ—esseth the Popes Legates were in the battayle that was fought with Frederike at his first entrance into Italie and that the very original of the warre was the defection of the Lombardes from the Empire to ioyne with the Pope or as he speaketh with the Church which in deede was the only strife betweene the Pope and the Prince whatsoeuer Blondus others in hatred of Frederike do surmise Uiew now this quarrell tel vs whether Frederike did more than a Christian Prince might doe or whether the Pope rather did not wickedly nourish the conspiracie that the Lombardes made with Adrian the fourth against Frederike the first to driue the Emperour cleane out of Italie which was the point that the Pope pushed at all this while Phi. The Pope required nothing at his hands but the preseruation of that league which his graund-father made at Constans and his father during his life had kept inuiolable Theo. That peace included none but Frederike the first and Henrie his sonne it extended not to their heires and aftercommers as appeareth by the othe of fidelitie which the confederate cities tooke to Frederike then Emperour and king Henrie his sonne no farther and therfore that peace being expired by the death of his father the Prince was at libertie to doe as he sawe cause Phi. But the Pope sought the continuance of that peace Theo. And the Prince perceiuing the Popes fetch in time to exclude the Emperour cleane out of Italie by the renuing of that peace would not assent to it but came with a mind resolued to bring the Lombardes to their former subiectioÌ„ What wrong was this in Frederike Phi. It was hard dealing Theo. None at all And considering the Popes drift to be free from the Emperors force that he might with more safetie quarrel with him when he lysted and depriue him at his pleasure without daunger it was necessarie for the Prince to settle his state keepe his right in Italie it should otherwise
as soone as the Pope by his letters willed them Theo. The one halfe of the electours were Bishops that neither durst nor would abide the Popes furie in the other halfe it was easie to finde one that would be seduced displeased or some way corrupted to go to the choice of a new but that the elect of theirs was slaine the same yere in the siege of Vlme William of Holland that was choseÌ„ next after him had as short a dispatche by those that tooke part with Fredericke And had you not beene more actiue with your poisons than lucklie with your elections Fredericke had sped them faster than you had named them Phi. His own bastard stisled him Theo. But his Antagonists first drenched him so Cuspinian sayth The Popes hatred against the Prince ceased not whom he night and day deuised how to destroy after the conspiracie of Theobaldus Franciscus Gulielmus of San Seuerine and Pandulphus was detected who coÌ„fessed they were set on by the Pope as Peter de Vines witnesseth in his second booke tenth thirtieth epistle Yet at last the prince could not be so watchful but when he returned to Apulia hee was poysoned And lying very sicke of the potion which he tooke and beginning at length to recouer he was stifled of Manfrede his base sonne with a pillow as he lay in his bed Thus you made away that worthie Emperour Frederike the second and these bee the weapons of your Romish warfare against Princes excommunications rebellions poysons Phi. You raiâ—e without all reason Theo. I speake no more than trueth Your owne examples shall iustifie the same Omitte Henry the seuenth called Henrie of Lucenburg whome a Dominican Frier poysoned in the chalice Lodouike of Bauaria and king Iohn of this lande were they not thus persued and thus dispatched Beginne with Lodouike the fourth What cause had Iohn the 22. to curse and banne him and to condemne him for an heretike Phi. Platina telleth you he called himselfe Emperour without the authoritie of the See of Rome and ayded the deputies of Italie to get the citie of Millan and to be Lords ouer it Theo. Two shamefull sinnes I assure you He had foure voyces when he was first chosen in contentioÌ„ with Frederike of Austria Auentinus saith he had fiue after in the field he tooke the other elect prisoner and so ended the strife why then should he not take himselfe to be lawful Emperour Phi. The fourth voice which did the deede was cunningly stollen For where the Marquesse of Brandenburge then absent wrate his letters for Frederike his name was rased out and Lodouikes conuaied in Theo. Sir by your leaue that is a legend The marquesse of Brandenburge sent his substitute with a general coÌ„mission to choose as hee sawe cause though as some said his meaning were that Frederike should haue his voyce and that instruction hee had giuen priuatly to the partie that was sent who deceiued his expectation and named Lodouike The second obiection is more absurd For Lodouike aided those that stoode for the safetie of the Empire against the Popes incourses practises And that since he was chosen Emperour in honour and equitie he was bound to do Phi. He ayded them against the Church Theo. The Church of Christ hath nought to do with the warlike wilful tumults of Popes Phi. He made a new Pope against Iohn the 22. and set him vp as an Idole in Peters chaire Theo. The Pope before that had done the worst he could against Lodouike openly excoÌ„municating him and all his fauourers and appointing him three monethes to renounce the election to the Empire that was made of him and come personally to excuse himselfe of his fact in giuing ayde to heretiques schismatikes and such as were rebels against the Church He also depriued al Clergie men that yeelded the Prince any counsell helpe or fauour And when Lodouike appeared not the Pope accursed him and condemned him of heresie These be the sober and graue proceedings of your holy father which he and his flatterers called the defence and exaltation of the church But the sounder and sincerer of his owne Canonists and schoolemen abhorred as the confusion and desolation of all Godlines Hermannus then lyuing sayth These proceedings against Lodouike were curiously obserued by some but very many reputed them litle worth because as men said they were examined by the Doctours of both Lawes pronounced by them to bee vtterly voyde Yea many famous diuines well commended for their learning and life concluded the Pope to bee an heretike for certaine errors which hee coldly recanted at the houre of his death and Benedictus his successor is reported to haue publikely condemned those erronious opinions Phi. Nothing is so well done that all men like it Theo. It must needes bee euill that so many of your owne side mislike yea which the Pope that came next most of all others misliked For when the kinges of Fraunce and Apulia by their Legates defaced the person of Lodouike and rehearsed what thinges hee did against the Church the Pope replied nay wee did against him Hee would haue come to the feete of my predecessor if hee might haue beene receiued to fauour and that he did hee did it prouoked The Prelates and Princes of Germanie being assembled at Franckforde with their common consent reiected all the Popes iudicial processe against this Emperour as wholy voide and of no validitie the Prince declaring so much by his Imperial decree By the counsell and consent of all the prelats princes of Alemannie assembled at our towne of Francford wee denounce determine these processes of Pope Iohn against vs to bee none in Law and of no strength or force And wee straitly charge and commaund all and euery within the limittes of our Empire of what condition state soeuer that no singular person nor societie presume to obserue the sayde sentences of excommunication and interdiction Where also you may see the protestations and allegations of that Prince against the doings of Pope Iohn taken out of the groundes of your owne Canons and the very same that are defended of vs at this day as warrantable by the sacred Scriptures and auncient order of Christes Church namely these The Prince hath his sword or dominion not from the Pope but only from God The sacred Canons and the Church of Christ prohibite and doe not graunt to the Pope the right of the Empire and power in temporall things The sentence is ipso iure none which is erroneous as when it commandeth the subiect not to obey his superiour or prescribeth any thing against God or the Scripture But it is manifest that Pope Iohn hath coÌ„maunded that our subiectes shall not obey vs to whome all that are in our Empire ought to yeeld alleagance and reuerence by the Lawes of God and man This
citation he refused to come knowing his own wickednes sought to defend himself with armes Alas saith this writer being one of your owne friendes whither is that auncient sanctitie of the Romane Bishoppes vanished whither is that clearnesse of conscience gone which neglecting the threats of Princes built the church not with armes but with the beames of their vertues They refused not Councels but rather frequenting them cleared themselues from such things as they were charged with in full assemblies of their mother the church Behold Iulius who is taken to be the sheepheard giueth no eare to the coÌ„plaint of his sheepe but killeth the weake ones and hee that with his owne blood should purchase them peace doeth what hee can with his curses to increase their trouble And getting the Spaniardes and Venecians to vpholde him sheddeth not teares with Ambrose but displaieth his banners with Iulian whose name he beareth against the church All the Germane Emperours that were depriued by the Pope you haue recited Others perhaps were blasted with his excommunications as Henrie the fifth or not agnised by him for some dislike in their elections as Philip of Sueuia and at his first entraunce Albert of Austria or busied with continuall warres in which the Pope had an oare as Conrade the thirde but iudicially deposed they were not Phi. Philip of Sueuia Otho the fourth that was chosen against him were both deposed by the Pope Theo. Otho the 4. the same which you cal Otho the fifth was rashly aduaunced by the Pope against Philip and as rashly displaced after the death of Philip the right of the Empire being al that while in Friderike the seconde whom the Princes of Almanie by the procurement of Henrie the sixt had chosen to bee their king lying in his cradle and sworne fealtie vnto him and testieth so much vnder their handes and seales to the Emperour his father After whose death when the Princes forgetting their act and oth began to treate of a new election Philip Frederikes vncle fearing least a straunger should be thrust in to the ruine of him-selfe and his nephewe sought to keepe the Empire in his handes during his life or till Frederik came to age This Innocentius the 3. would not suffer but vpbraiding him with the crueltie which his brother father had shewed heaping many absurd some false things against him in his Epistle to Berthold Duke of Zaringia stood on friuolous exceptions to hinder him obiected that he was excoÌ„municated by Celestinus his predecessor whiles he was gouernour in Tuscia yea so great was his malice that he protesteth he wold either take the emperial diademe from Philip or Philip should take the triple crown from him In this rage the Pope caused first Berthold of Zaringia to be chosen king of the Germanes and when he was too weake to incounter Philip he gate Otho the fifth to bee set vp against him whom Philip so long as he liued draue to the wall but being traiterously slaine in his chamber by one that would haue maried his daughter he left Otho in full possession of the Empire in which he continued no long time For two yeares after the Pope fell into sorer hatred of him than euer he had of Philip and after excommunication and depriuation to spite him delt with the Princes of Germany to remember their choice made of Frederike the second when he was but yong and their oth past vnder their seales to Henrie the sixt for the ratifieng of that election and so by the helpe of the French king gate the Germanes to forsake Otho and sticke to Frederike their right and naturall Prince whome in the ende hee pursued with greater disdaine than any of the former in so much that in three and twentie yeares after Frideriks death the Empire was not setled in any lawfull successour The fruites of these stirres as your owne friendes confesse were impietie and all kinde of iniquitie in the Priestes and people flatterie periurie and conspiracie in the Nobles briberie diuision and vnconstancie in the electours onely the Pope vsed them as meanes to increase his wealth augment his pride and procure his ease Then sayeth Vrspergensis beganne euils to bee multiplied on the earth For there sprang discordes deceites treacheries treasons to the destroying and murdering of ech other The spoyling sacking wasting and burning of Countries seditions warres and rapines were openly allowed in so much that euerie man now breaketh his oth and giueth himselfe to these sinnefull mischiefs yea the Priestes are as bad as the people The Princes and Barons of the Land learning the Diuels Art care for no othes violate their faith and confounde all right sometimes forsaking Philip and cleaâ—ing to Otho somtimes contrarie Vpon these tumultes it came to passe that there was skant anie Bishoprike ecclesiasticall dignitie or parish Church which was not litigious and the cause caried to Rome but not with an emptie hande Which made the Abbate then liuing and seeing the whole order of their doinges to crie out Reioyce our mother Rome because the windowes of earthly treasures are opened that euen streames and heapes of mony in great abundaunce may flow vnto thee Be glad for the wickednes of the sons of men thou art well recompensed for their foule enormities Take delight in discord thy best assistant which is issued from the bottomlesse pit to increase thy gaine Thou hast that which thou didst alwaies thirst for sing this song that by the malice of men not any religion of thine thou hast conquered the worlde Neither deuotion nor good conscience draw men to thee but manifold sins and strifes wherein mony beareth the sway And because the Pope would be sure the Emperour should not trouble nor interrupt his excessiue gaine nor pride he would not suffer Charles the fourth to be crowned but on this condition that he neither stay at Rome nor in Italie which Petrarke a man of that time pretily gibeth at All power is impacient to beare an equall whereof if we had not ancient presidents enough I feare our age hath giuen vs a late example and that the Bishop of Rome hath forbidden the Emperour of Rome to abide at Rome which as they say he hath done and not only looketh but commandeth the prince should be content with the bare crowne and title of the Empire and whome hee permitteth to be called Ruler by no meanes will he suffer him to rule And writing to the Emperour him-selfe With a promise I knowe not how and with an oth as it were with a strong wall or high hill you are prohibited to haue accesse to the citie of Rome What pride is this that the Romane prince the author of publike libertie should be depriued of al liberty and that he should not be his owne whose by right all thinges should be Mary the Pope the prince were wel met
Father and the Sonne to proceede both from the Father and the Sonne For the Sonne saith when the spirit of trueth coÌ„meth which proceedeth from the father Where he teacheth vs the spirit to be his also because himselfe is trueth And that the holy ghost proceedeth likewise from the sonne the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles doeth deliuer vnto vs. For Esay sayth of the sonne Hee shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the spirit of his lippes he shal slea the wicked Of whom the Apostle also sayth Whom the Lord Iesus shall slea with the spirit of his mouth Whome the onely Sonne of God declaring to bee the Spirite of his mouth breathing on his Disciples after his resurrection sayth receiue ye the holy Ghost And Iohn in his Reuelation sayth that out of the mouth of the Lorde Iesu him-selfe there proceeded a sharpe two edged swoorde Hee therefore is the Spirit of his mouth hee is the sword which proceedeth out of his mouth And againe By many testimonies of the diuine Scriptures it is prooued that he is the spirite of the father and the sonne which is properly called in the Trinitie the holy ghost And that he proceedeth from both it is thus proued because the sonne himselfe saith the spirit of trueth proceedeth from the father And when he was risen from death and appeared to his disciples he breathed on them and sayd Receiue ye the holy ghost to shewe that the spirit proceeded from him also And that spirit is the vertue which came from him as we read in the gospel and healed all men What you thinke of these places we know not but sure we are S. Augustine himselfe sayth of these the like Cum per Scripturarum sanctarum testimonia docuissem de vtroque procedere Spiritum sanctum When I had shewed by the testimonies of the Holy scriptures that the holy ghost proceedeth froÌ„ both the father the sonne And if it bee the naturall and distinct proprietie of the Spirite to proceede as it is of the sonne to bee begotten which I winne you will not denie then is it as euident by the Scriptures that the holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the sonne as it is that the sonne was begotten of the father For as the second person in Trinitie was begotten of him whose sonne hee is so the thirde Person proceeded from them whose spirite hee is but hee is the Spirite of them both as the Scriptures expressely witnes Ergo hee proceeded from them both Phi. The doctrine is true but the scripture is not expresse Theo. What meane you by your expresse scripture Phi. Those very woordes He proceedeth from them both are not found in the scriptures Theo. Alas good Sirs is that your quarrell Doe the scriptures I pray you consist in spelling or in vnderstanding Neuer read you what S. Hierom sayth Nec putemus in verbis ScripturaruÌ„ Euangelium esse sed in sensu non in superficie sed in medulla non in sermonum folijs sed in radice rationis Let vs not thinke the Gospell to lie in the words of the scriptures but in the sense not in the rind but in the pith not in the leaues of speech but in the ground of reason truth If by expresse scripture you meane the plaine 〈◊〉 sense of the word of God we haue euident infallible proofes thence for the proceeding of the holy ghost from the father the sonne But if you sticke on the syllables letters which we speake you doe but wrangle with vs as the Arias did with the Nicene fathers Expostulating why the Bishops that met at Nice vsed these words substance consubstaÌ„tial which were nowhere found in the Scriptures our answere to you shal be the same that theirs was to them These words though they be not found in the Scriptures yet haue they the same meaning and sense which the Scriptures containe And that we count to be expresse scripture For otherwise as Hilarie saith Al heretiks speake Scriptures without sense the diuell himself as Hierom noâ—eth hath spoken some things out of the scriptures but that as they both witnes in the very next words The scriptures coÌ„sist not in reading but in vnderstanding And yet I see no cause why this point should be denied to be expresse Scripture for so much as S. Iohn describing the son of God with a sharpe two edged â—word proceeding out of his mouth which is the rod of his mouth wherewith he shal smite the earth the spirit of his lips wherewith hee shall slea the wicked as Esay prophesied hee should and Paul declareth hee would vseth the very same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 twise which our Sauior before spake of his father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the spirit which proceedeth froÌ„ the father So that you were fouly ouerseene when you obiected this point of our christian faith as wanting expresse scripture Phi. If you take not only the words but also the sense â—or scripture we will not greatly gainesay but all points of faith may be deriued out of these words or out of the sense of that which is written The. Deriued as you do pardoÌ„s pilgrimages penaÌ„ces purgatory But we say that al points of faith must be plainly concluded or necessarily collected by that which is writteÌ„ And for our so saying we haue not only the scriptures fathers but also your selues which being so often required vrged to shewe what one point of faith the primatiue church of Christ beleeued wtout the scriptures could neuer shew any Phi. We could shew many if that needed we wer disposed The. I know not what accoÌ„pt you make of it but to our simple conceiuing it is the groundwork of al religioÌ„ crazeth the very heart of your vnwritten verities And if to satisfie the people of God disburden your selues of an errour you be not all this while disposed to doe what you can we must leaue you for curious and daintie men and thinke you can not Phi. Tertullian was of that minde that we are when he willed the christians not to appeale to the scriptures for the triall of their faith His words are Ergo non est ad scripturas prouocandum nec in ijs constituendum certamen in quibus aut nulla aut incerta victoria est We must therefore not appeale to the Scriptures nor place the trial of our cause in those writings in which the victorie is either none or not sure Theo. You do both the truth and Tertullian wrong TertulliaÌ„ doth not say that in matters of faith some things should be beleeued wtout the Scriptures no man is flatter against that than Tertullian in this very booke which you bring but he would not haue the heretikes of his time chalenged nor brought to the Scriptures because they receiued not the books as
full consent of all ages and Churches in expounding the same but also to chase the people by terror of secular power and ecclesiasticall curse from the cup of their saluation from the communion of Christs blood and felowship of his holy spirit Such fathers such fansies What is mockerie what is iniurie to God and man if this be Religion or pietie The Church of Rome you will say concluded with them That increaseth her sinnes and excuseth not their follies If an Angel from heauen had conspired with them our duetie bindeth vs to detest both him and them as accursed if they step from that which the primatiue church receiued from Paul and Paul from Christ Howe much more then ought wee to reiect that which the church of Rome presumeth not onely besides but against the sacred scriptures And yet to speake vprightly the auncient church of Rome maketh wholy with vs in this cause For no church euer resisted your mangled communions with greater vehemencie than the church of Rome did till couetousnesse and pride blinded her eyes and hardned her heart against God and his sonne Pope Iulius that lyued vnder Constantine the great made this decree We heare that certaine led with schismaticall ambition against the diuine ordinances and Apostolike directions doe giue TO THE PEOPLE the Eucharist dipped in wyne for a full communion They receiued not this from the Gospell where Christ betooke his body and blood to the Disciples For there is recited the deliuering the bread by it selfe and the cup by it selfe Let therefore all such error and presumption cease least inordinate and peruerse diuises weaken the soundnes of fayth If the communion bee neither perfite nor agreeable to Christes institution and Apostolike prescription except the people receiue both kinds seuerall and asunder the bread from the cup and the cup from the bread as Christ ordayned and the Gospel declareth Ergo your excluding the people cleane from the cup is altogether repugnant to the manifest intent of our Sauiour and right imitation of his Apostles And what if the first authors of your drie communion were the Manichees are you not wise men and well promoted to forsake the precept which Christ gaue you the president which Paul left you the course which the christian world for so many yeeres obserued and followe so pestilent and pernicious a sect of heretikes reprooued and long since condemned by the church of Rome for that very fraude and abuse in the Sacraments which you bee nowe fallen vnto The Manichees sayth Leo to couer their infidelitie venter to bee present at our mysteries and so carie them-selues in the receiuing of the Sacraments for their more safetie that they take the body of Christ with an vnwoorthy mouth but in any wise they shunne to drinke the blood of our redemption Which I would haue your dâ—uoutnes speaking to the people learne for this cause that such men might bee knowen to you by these markes and when their sacrilegious simulation is founde they may bee noted and bewrayed by the Godly that they may bee chased away by the priestly power Against this disorder of Manichees wrate Pope Gelasâ—â— as your friende Master Harding confesseth Wee haue intelligence that certaine men receiuing onely a portion of the sanctified body abstaine from the cup of the sacred blood who for that it appeareth they be entangled with I knowe not what superstition let them either receiue the whole Sacraments or be driuen from the whole because the diuiding and parting of one and the same mysterie can not bee without grieuous sacrilege The sense is plaine To take the Lordes breade and not drinke of the Lordes cup is a seuering and distracting of this mysterie which by the iudgement of these two Popes is open sacrilege ergo neither Catholike or christian What shift nâ—we Philander to saue your selues from sacrilege Spake Gelasius of the Manichees as Master Harding resolueth Graunt it were so Then what was sacrilege in them can it bee catholike in you If that auncient church of Rome condenmed this in the Manichees howe commeth your late Church of Rome not onely to suffer but also to commaund the same Can you turne darkâ—nes to light and sacrilege to Religion That were a marueilous alteration But Siâ—s your minds may change wee knowe Christes institution can not changâ— The contempt thereof in Manichees in Papistes as then so still was and will be sacrilege Spake Gelasius not of the Manichees but of certaine Priestes that receiuing the bread at the Lordes table neglected the cup Yet Leo speaketh of the Manichees by name and â—hose Laymen and mingled with the people and calleth their forbearing the Lords blood a sacrilegious sleight reason were you should prooue that onely Priesâ—es are ment in this place of Gelasius and not suppose what you list at your pleasures as the gloze doeth and others of your side that stand on this answere The woordes are indefinite and touch as well people as Priest but let vs imagine that Gelasius spake of Priestes first then you commit sacrilege in restraining all Priestes from the communion of both kinds except they say Masse themsâ—lues Next if it bee sacrilege in the Priest why not in the people The precept of our Sauiour drinke ye all of this compriseth all both Laymen and Priestes His Apostle extendeth the same to the whole Church of Corinth Chrysostome sayth the Priest differeth nothing from the people in receiuing the mysteries but one cup is proposed to al In Chalice nobiscum vos estis You sayth Austen to the people are in the Lordes cup no lesse than we The cup was deliuered to all men Priest and people with like condition as Theophilact affiâ—meth Drinke yee all of this that is sayth Paschasius as well other beleuers as Ministers Hence wee frame you this argument The cup was by Christ deliuered to Priest and People with like condition and like precept the refusing of the Lordes cup is sacrilege in priests by the position of Gelasius and the confession of your friends it is therefore no lesse than sacrilege for the people to refraine the same What then is it for you to pull the Lordes cuppe out of their handes by rigor and force for so trifling respectes as you pretende but apparent violent and wilfull sacrilege Phi. It was sacrilege then for the people to refuse or refraine the cup because the church was content to admitte them to it But now the church is otherwise resolued it were sacrilege to expect or demand it Theo. What shall the man of sinne and sonne of perdition when he commeth if hee bee not already come and you his supporters to hold vp his seate in the temple of God say more than you now say that you at your lists may breake the commandements of the great and euerlasting God and alter his ordinances and to blame you for
to say is hereticall And therefore they ioyne both in this that the bodie of Christ may not only be eaten of a Mouse but also it may be vomited vppe by the mouth and purged downe by the draught say Bonauenture what he will or can in detestation of their folke These be their words Igitur corpus Christi sanguis tam diu manet in ventre stomacho vel vomitu quocunque alibi quamdiu species manet Et si specieâ— incorruptae euomuâ—tur illa autem qâ—andoque non corrùpta emâ—ttuâ—tur vt in habentibus fluxum ibi est vere corpus Christi Therefore the bodie and bloud of Christ remaine in the bellie anâ— stomacke or in vomite and in whatsoeuer course of nature so long as the shewes of bread and wine remaine And if they be vomited or purged before they be altered as sometimes in those that are troubled with the fluxe euen there is the true bodie of Christ. O filthie mouthes and vncleane spirites What Capernite what heretike what Infidel was euer I say not so carnall and grosse but so barbarous and brutish Is this the reuerence you giue to the sacred and glorious flesh of Christ Is this the corporal presence that you striue for Shal Mice Dogges and Swine haue eternall life that you bring them to eate the fleshe and drinke the bloud of our Sauiour The rest of your sluttish diuinitie no religious hart can repeate no Christian eares can abide let your neerest frindes be iudges whether this kinde of eating doe not match not only the Capernites but also the Canibals This vile and wicked assertion you will beare men in hand you did euer detest and so think to discharge your selues but you cannot scape so The church of Rome whose factours and attournies you be must answere to God and the worlde for suffering admitting and strengthning this sacrilegious blasphemie For when these things were first broched what did she Did she controle the doers and condemne the filthines of their error Did she so much as note the men or mislike the matter No Philander she proposed the question in her sentences Quid igitur sumit mus vel quid manducat What then doth the mouse take or what doth he eate And with her colde and indifferent answer Deus nouit God knoweth she set the schoole men on work she laid vp the ashes of those mice next her altars for reliques she fauored aduanced and canonized the spredders of it Thomas of Aquin was her only Paramour Hugh of Cluince who commended a Priest for eating the sacrament which a leaper had cast vp Cum vilissimo sputo was Saincted of her she made Antonius no worse man than an Archbishoppe What Call you this the quenching or kindling the suppressing or increasing of heresies No maruaile if you recken Rebels for Martyrs your holy mother the Church of Rome hath the cunning to make saints of blasphemers Returne returne for shame to grauitie trueth and antiquitie Learne to distinguishe that which is seene in this Sacrament from that which is beleeued I meane the visible creature from the grace which is not visible HADST THOV BEENE saith Chrysostome WITHOVT A BODIE Christ WOVLD HAVE GEEVEN THEE HIS INCORPORALL GVIFTS NAKEDLY that is without any coniunction of corporall creatures BVT NOW BECAVSE THY SOVL IS COVPLED WITH A BODIE THEREFORE IN THINGS THAT BE SENSIBLE THINGS INTELLIGIBLE ARE DELIVERED THEE AS BREAD saith Cyril of this sacrament SERVETH FOR THE BODIE SO THE WORD SERVETH FOR THE SOVL. It is neither nouâ—ltie nor absurditie to say that the bread of the Lorde as touching the material substance may bee deuoured of beasts digested of men and will of it selfe in continuance mould and putrifie Such is the condition of all creatures that serue to nourish our bodies and this is a creature well knowen and familiar to our senses But the word of God which is added to the corporall elements the grace which is annexed to the visible signes and the flesh of Christ which quickneth the soul of man by faith these thinges I say be free from all violent and vndecenâ— abuses and iniuries For they be no corporall mortall nor earthlie creatures but spirituall eternall and heauenly blessings and therefore in no case subiect to the greedines of beasts vncleanes of men or weaknes of nature The element is one thing saith Ambrose the operation is an other thing That which is seene in all Sacraments is temporall that which is not seene is eternall If wee looke to the very visible thinges wherein Sacraments are ministred who is ignorant saith Austen that they be corruptible But if wee consider that which is wrought by them who doth not see that that cannot suffer any corruption Of the Lordes Supper Origen affirmeth that the bread as touching the matter or materiall partes thereof goeth into the bellie and forth by the draught but the praier and blessing which is added doeth lighten the soule according to the portion of faith The sacrament that is the sacred element is one thing saieth Rabanusâ— the power of the Sacrament is an other thing The Sacrament is receiued in at the mouth with the vertue of the Sacrament the inwarde man is filled the Sacrament is turned into the nourishment of the bodie by the vertue of the Sacrament wee attaine eternall life This doâ—trine your schoolemen either wilfullie reiected or foolishly peruerted to make Christ substantiallie present in your Masses and for that onely cause felâ— thâ—y to the locall shutting of him within the formes of bread and the corporall eating his flesh with their teeth Which grossenes once preuailing in your Church of Rome Thomas Alexander Antonius and the greatest Clarkes of your side were by the consequent of your reall presence forced to conâ—â—sse that the flâ—sh of Christ might be subiect to the teeth and iawes as well of beastes as of vnbeleeuers For wickednes is worse than sluttishnes and the bodies of sinnefull men God more detesteth than he doth the bowels of vnreasonable creatures Since then by the generall consent of your Church Christ doeth not refuse the bellies and intralles of faithlesse persons why say they should he not be verily contained in the capacities and inwardes of brute beastes if by mischaunce they deuoure the Sacrament This hold fast your gloze layeth hands on Si dicatur quodmus sumat corpus Christi non est magnum inconueniâ—ns cum homines sceleratissimi illud sumant If it be said that a mouse taketh the bodie of Christ it is no great inconuenience seeing most wicked men doe receiue the same and this Bonauenture setteth downe for the chiefest motiue to that vile assertion Phi. To tel you truth I like not that position Theo. So long as you defend Christs humane substance to be locally present in your host you cannot for your hart auoide it but either by mocking your sâ—lues and deluding your senses or
the bosome of the Catholike Church as you terme it to obay their Prince against the censures of your Church Phi. I haue hast in my way Theophilus and I haue said as much as I wil at this time Theo. I can hold you Philander no longer than you liâ—t but yet remember this as you ride by the way which I reiterate because both your Seminaries shall think the better of it that as many as you reconcile so long as you teach this for a point of faith that the Pope may depose Princes and must bee obayed in those his censures of all that will be Catholikes so many both heretikes against God and traytors against the Prince you hatch vnder the hoode of religion and also that the thinges now reformed in the Church of England are both catholik and christian notwithstanding your fierce bragges and fiery wordes lately sent vs in your RHEMISH Testament To the KING euerlasting immortall inuisible vnto GOD which is only wise be honour and praise for euer and euer Amen The speciall contents of euery part The contents of thâ— first part The Iesuits pretenders of obedience Pag. 2 The causes why they fledde the Realme 5 The proofes and places of their Apologie 7 Forcing to Religion 16 Two Religions in one Realm 21 Toleraunce of error 26 Toleraunce of error in priuate places and persons 27 Compulsion to seruice and Sacraments 29 Exacting the oth 30 Their running to Rome 35 This Lande receiuing the faith from Rome 40 Preachers sent from Rome with the Kings consent 41 Preachers not conspirators froÌ„ Rome 41 Howe the Fathers soughte to Rome 42.48 Athanasius at Rome 44 Chrysostomes request to Innocentius 51 A forged Bull against Arcadius 53. Chrysostomes banishment 55 How Saint Augustine sought to Rome 56 How S. Basil sought to Rome 58 S. Ieroms letters to Damasus 60 The Rocke on the which the Church is built 62 S. Cyprian lately corrupted 65 Gratian suspected 66 Peters person laide in the foundation of the Church 67 Theodoret and Leo. 67 The Bishop of Rome resisted 68 Paul resisted Peter 69 Polycarpus resisted Anicetus 70 Polycarpus resisted Victor 70 Cyprian resisted Stephanus 71 Flauianus withstoode foure Bishops of Rome 72 Cyrillus withstoode the Bishop of Rome 72 Councels resisting the Byshop Rome 73 The Councell of Africa resisted the Byshop of Rome 74 Forged Decretals 76 The councel of Ephesus threatning the Legates of Rome 78 The Councell of Chalcedon against the Bishop of Rome 79 The Councell of Constantinople against the Bishoppe of Rome 81 CorruptioÌ„s in the CanoÌ„ lawe 81 The Brytons resisting the Bishop of Rome 82 The Grecians detesting him 83 The Germans deposing him 84 His owne Councels depose him 85. Fraunce resisting the Pope 92 Paris appealeth from him 94 The french King resisting the Pope 95 The Kinges of England against the Pope 97 Our resistaunce more lawefull than theirs 104 Peters dignitie not imparted to the Pope 104 S. Ieroms praise of Rome 105 The manners of Rome since his time 105 The manners of Rome in his time 106 S. Cyprian forced to make for Rome 106 S. Augustine forced to make for Rome 107 From Peters seate is from Peters time 107 The intent of the Seminaries 108. High experiments of Popes 112 High experiments of the Popes clergie 114 The Iesuits slaunder England and Scotland 118 What the Iesuits worke teach in this land 119 The Pope succeedeth his Auncestors neither in seate nor beliefe 12â— The contents of the second part The Princes power to COMMAVND for trueth 124 Princes be gouernours of countries Byshops be not 127 Byshops by Gods lawes subiect to Princes as well as others 128. The Prince by Gods law charged with Religion 129 Princes may commaund for religion 133 Constantine commaunding for Religion 134 Constantius commaunding Bishops in causes ecclesiastical 135. Iustinian commanding for causes Ecclesiasticall 137 Charles commanding for causes Ecclesiasticall 139 The lawes of Charles for causes Ecclesiasticall 140 Ludoâ—ikes lawes for causes Ecclesiasticall 144 Ludouikes lawes visitors 144 What is ment by SVPREME 146. Supreme is subiect to none on earth 146 Princes subiect onely to God 147. Princes not subiect to the Pope 147. The Pope subiect to his Prince 148. Constantine superiour to the Pope in causes ecclesiastical 150 Emperours superiour to the pope in causes Ecclesiasticall 152 The Prince superiour to the Pope 160 Ieremies words expounded 160 How Prophets may plant and roote out kingdoms 161 Howe Kinges must serue the Church 162 How Byshops are to be obeied 164 How the Church is superiâ—ur to Princes 167 What is ment by the Church 168. The Prince not aboue the Church 171 Princes haue power ouer the persons of the Church 172 The woordes of S. Ambrose to Valentinian 173 The behauiour of S. Ambrose towards Valentinian 174 Valentinian refused to be iudge betweene Byshops 177 Valentinians fault 178 Theodosius searched and established the trueth 178 Princes decreeing for truth 179 Athanasius Osius Leontius 179 Athanasius reproued Constantius 180 Athanasius expounded 181 Why Constantius was reproued 182 Osius words examined 188 Leontius discussed 189 What Hilarie misliked in Constantius 190 Kings commended in the scriptures for medling with religion 191 Moses â—oshuaes example 192 King Dauids care for religioÌ„ 193 Princes charged with the whole law of God 194 Asa Iehosaphat Ezekiah perfourmed that charge 193 Manasses Idolatry repeÌ„tance 196 Iosiah reformed religion 197 Nehemiah correcteth the high Priests doings 197 Princes medled with religioÌ„ 198 Princes vsed to commaund for religion 198 God commaÌ„deth by their harts 199. Princes commanding for Religion 200 Princes haue ful power to command for trueth 202 Princes may prohibite and punish error 203 To commaund for causes Ecclesiasticall was vsuall with Princes 204 To commaund Bishops for causes Ecclesiasticall was vsuall with auntient Princes 206 The Iesuites purposely mistake the Princes supremacie 213 The Iesuits cauelling absurdities against the Popes power 221 This land oweth no subiection to tribunals abroade 228 This lande not subiect to the Popes tribunall 229 What subiection the Pope requireth 231 The Pope maketh it sacrilege blasphemie to doubt of his tribunall 231 A right Rhomish subiection 232 Patriarks of the west 233 Patriarks subiect to Princes 234 This Realme not in the Popes Prouince 135 The Patriarkeâ—dome dissolued 235 The words of the oth examined 236 It is easie to plaie with wordes 237 Princes gouerne with the sword Bishops do not 238 Princes only beare the sword in all spirituall things causes 238. Princes supreme bearers of the sword 240 Supreme gouernour displaceth not Christ. 241 Princes may not commaunde against the faith or Canons 242. Gregorie shamefully corrupted 243. Spirituall men aâ— matters 244. Carnall things called spirituall 245 Carnall thinges made spirituall to increase the Popes power and gaine 245 Carnall things made spirituall 246 Princes charged with spirituall things 247 Princes chiefely charged with things truly spirituall 247 Princes charged at Gods hands with things spirituall not
The faith of our fathers is not alwaies trueth 537 God forbiddeth vs to follow the steppes of our fathers 538 The godly confessed their fathers did erre 539 All humane lawes barres giue place to God 540 The prince might make lawes for trueth maugre the Pope 541 Princes haue setled religion without Councels 542 Christian religion receiued vpon the direction of a lay man 543 Trueth authorised the Apostles against Priests Princes 544 Railing on Princes is a capitall crime 545 The contents of the fourth part No point of Poperie Catholike 546. What is truely CATHOLIKE 547 The worshipping of Images is not Catholike 547 The west Church against the worshipping of Images 548 Corruption to help the credite of the second Nicen councell 549 The worshipping of Images detested in the Church of Christ as Heresie 550 The â—mage of God made with hands may not be worshipped 552 The Iewes Gentiles did erect their Images vnto God 553 The heathen adored their stocks as the Images of God 554 The Image of man set vp vnto God is an Idoll 556 The wodden Image of Christ may not be worshipped 557 The honour done to a wodden Image is not done to Christ. 559 Adoration of Images no Apostolick tradition 562 S. Basill forged to make for adoration of Images 563 The shamefull forgeries and falsities of the second Nicene councell 564 Both Scriptures and fathers wickedly abused by the second Nicene Councâ—l 565 The second Nicene Councel conuincing it selfe of forgerie 566 What an Idole is 567 A wrong seruice of God is Idolatrie 568 The Church of Rome giueth diuine honour vnto Images 569 Christs honour may not be giuen to Images 570 The hauing of Images is not Catholike 572 Athanasius palpablie forged in the second Nicene Councell 574 The Church next to the Apostles reiected Images 574 Images came first from Heathens vnto Christians 575 Images reiected by godly Bishops 576. No corporall submission may be giuen to Images 577 The Nicene Bishops play the sophists in decreeing adoration vnto Images 577 The wodden crosse of Christ may not be adored 578 Not one word in scripture for adoration of Images 580 No point of faith may be built on traditions 581 No point of faith beleeued without Scripture 582 Baptizing of Infants is a consequent of the Scriptures 583 It may be a tradition yet grounded on the Scriptures 584 Baptisme of InfaÌ„ts prooued needfull by the Scriptures 585 Rebaptization repugnant to the Scriptures by S. Augustines iudgement 588 The perpetuall virginitie of Marie the Mother of Christ. 589 The Godhead of the holy ghost expressed in the Scriptures 590 His proceeding from the father and the sonne confirmed by the Scriptures 592 Expresse scripture is the sense and not the syllables 593 Fathers wrested to speake against the scriptures 594 The Popish faith is their owne traditioÌ„ against the scriptures 597 Their adoration of images is a late and wicked inuenâ—ion of their schooles 598 Images adored in the Church of Rome with diuine honour 600 Images reiected by Catholike Bishops 601 S. Austen condemneth Images as vnprofitable signes 602 Custome without trueth is but the antiquitie of error 603 Praier in an vnknowen toung prohibited by Saint Paul in Gods name 604 S. Paul speaketh of vnknoweÌ„ touÌ„gs 606 An vnknowen toung cannot edifie 607 Diuine seruice in a knowen toung cannot choose but edifie 608 S. Paul speaketh of three learned toungs as wel as of others 610 S. Paul speaketh of the Hebrew Greeke and Latine as well as of other tongues 611 S. Pauls wordes comprise both Church seruice sermons 612 Saint Paul 1. Cor. 14. speaketh of Church seruice 613 The Church vnder the Apostles had no set order of diuine seruice 614 The Church vnder the Apostles did sing blesse and pray by the gyft of the spirite 615 The Apostle had no certaine praiers or seruice 616 The Iesuits halting reasons that S. Paul did not speak of the church Seruice 616 S. Paul to the Corinthians speaketh of Church seruice 620 No man may say AMEN to that he vnderstandeth not 624 Necessary to vnderstand our praiers 625 The primatiue Church had neuer her praiers and seruice in an vnknowen tongue 627 The latine seruice was vnderstood in the Countries where it was 629 Alleluia is vsed in all tongues aswell barbarous as others 630 The Britans had no latine seruice 632 Alleluia soung at the plough 632 The Iesuits manner of alleaging impertiment authorities 633 Bede doth not say that the people of this Realme had the latine seruice in his time 634 The prayers of the primatiue Church were common to all the people 636 The Masse book proueth that the people should vnderstand the Priest 639 The Priest needeth no speach in his praiers but to edifie the hearers 640 Praier is as acceptable to God in a barbarous as in a learned touÌ„g 642 Seruice in an vnknowen tongue is no custome of the vniuersall Church 643 The primatiue church had her seruice in such tongues as the people vnderstood 644 The primatiue church allowed praiers in barbarous tounges Whether side commeth nearest to christs institution 650 S. Paul by the Lords supper meaneth the sacrament 651 The name Masse whence it first came 655 We doe not swarue from christes institution 657 Christ did blesse with the mouth and not with the finger 658 Blessing in the scriptures applied to diuerse and sundrie thinges 659 To doe any thing vpon or ouer the bread is not needefull 660 The rehearsall of christs wordes maketh a sacrament 661 We shew our purpose at the Lords table by our words and deedes 662 The worde beleeued maketh the Sacrament 664 Vnlâ—uened bread is not of the substance of the Sacrament 664 Water is no part of Christs institution 663. 670 Water is not necessarie in the Lordes cup euen by the confession of their own schooles 668 No water mingled whiles the Apostles liued 672 The Masse an open profanation of Christs institution 673 Priuate Masse euerieth all that christ did or said at his last Supper 674 Christ did not sacrifice himselfe at his last supper 676 The Primatiue church had no priuate Masse 678 The Lords supper ought to be coÌ„mon 679 The Lords cup was deliuered to the people as well as the bread 679 Christs precept for the cup extendeth as well to the people as to the Priest 680 In the primatiue church the lords cup was common to all 682 The causes for which the church of Rome changed christs institution 683 The auncient church of Rome very vehement against half communions 684 Forbearing the Lords cuppe condemned in laymen as sacrilege 685 Sacrilege in the Priest can be no religion in the people 686 The Iesuits proofes for their sacrifice 687 How the fathers call the Lordes supper a sacrifice 688 Their own Masse booke contradicteth their sacrifice 690 The Lords death is the sacrfice of the Lords supper 691 A memoriall of christs passion is our daily sacrifice 692 The elder sort of Schoolemen knew not their
Rom. 15. How kinges must serue the Lord and Christ his sonne Psalm 2. Aug. contra literas Petilia lib. 2. cap. 92. Idem contra Cresconium lib. ◠cap. 51. The church shall suck the brestes of kinges The milke of princes is not temporall wealth August epi. 50. Idem contra 2. Gaudenij epist. lib. 2. cap. 11. Idem contrae Epist. Parmen lib. 1. cap. 7. The Prince charged to punish false and corrupt religion * Read on the place contra epist. Parmen lib. 1. cap. 7. Compell them to come in spoken to the magistrates Luke 14. Aug. contra 2. Gaudent Epist. lib. 2. cap. 17. Mat. 21. 1. Corinth 10. 2. Tim. 2. Mat. 24. Tit. 1. Mat. 20. 2. Pet. 5. Luke 14. August Ep. 50. Idem contra 2. Gaundentij epist. lib. 2. cap. 17. Idem Epist. 48. Idem Epist. 50. Idem Epist. 48. The Princes charge as the scriptures do expresse it Al these things must bee done in euery christiā cōmō wealth and who shall do them but the Prince August contra Cresconium lib. 3. cap. 51. Christian Princes from the beginning haue delt in causes ecclesiasticall Socrat. in prooemio lib. 5. Alciatus incodicem rubric de sacrosanct ecclesijs tomo 3. pag. 198. Constantines example Euseb. hist. lib. 10. cap. 5. Euseb. de vita Constant. lib. 2. cap. 28. Socrat. lib. 10. cap. 34. Euseb. de vita Constant. lib. 1. cap. 37. Ibidem lib. 3. cap. 13. Ibidem lib. 3. cap. 22. Ibidem lib. 3. cap. 23. Socrat. lib. 1. cap. 28. Euseb. de vita Constan. lib. 4. cap. 42. Athanas. Apol. 2. cap. Quum multas Athanasius and his side appeale from the councel to the prince Socrat. lib. 1. cap. 34. The Councell of Tyrus commanded to come before the Prince giue account of their doings What Constantine did in Athanasius his cause Socrat. lib. 1. cap. 27. The restoring of Arius Socrat. lib. 1. cap. 25. Socrat. lib. 1. cap. 27. Constantine threatneth Athanasius for not receiuing Arius Socrat. lib. 1. cap. 37. 31. Ibidem lib. 1. cap. 38. The Prince cōmaundeth the Patriarke to receiue Arius to the cōmunion Codi lib. 1. tit 1.6.2.3 Tit. 5.7.9.11 Nouel constitut 57.37 42.123 Nouel constit 123.131 Nouel constit 5. 131.3.67.79 Nouel constit 123.133 Nouel const 6. 123. Nouel constitutione 123. Nouel constit 123. The prince receaueth information cōmaundeth correction Nouell constitutione 6. The doctrine discipline of the church must be the Princes cheefest care The Bishops Patriarks of euerie diocesse cōmaūded and threatned Nouel Constitut 5. Nouel Constitut 133. The Prince soueraigne ouer all men and that in things cōcerning God which must be preserued from corruption by the prelates but most of all by the Prince The things were then in the Princes charge which the Pope now tieth to spiritual courtes Careli praefa in leges Franciae The preface of Charles to his lawes directing commissioners to reforme the Church in his name and by vertue of his authoritie Legū Franciae li. 1. Cap. 1.2.3 Cap. 23. Chap. 49.25 Cap. 11. Cap. 57.45 Cap. 13. Cap. 6. Cap. 20. Cap. 41. Cap. 15. Cap. 160. Chap. 76. Cap. 76. Ibidem Ibidem Ibidem Cap. 66. Cap. 132. Cap. 147. Cap. 73. Cap. 155. Cap. 75. Cap. 139. Cap. 158. Cap. 74. Cap. 78. Cap. 103. Cap. 129. Cap. 128. Cap. 130. Cap. 131. Cap. 141. Cap. 136. Cap. 86. Cap. 67. Cap. 79. Cap. 81. Cap. 110. Cap. 71. Cap. 62. Cap. 163. Cap. 116. The Prince visiteth and cōmaundeth for ecclesiastical rules and discipline Cap. 104. The Prince promiseth by the aduise of his faithful determinatiō for such ecclesiasticall matters as were not expressed in his chapters Charles by his lawes rectified al ecclesiasticall things and causes If any wanted he promised at his leisure to supply that defect His sonne his nephew followed his steps and executed his lawes Legion franciae lib. 2. Cap. 1. Cap. 2. Cap. 3. The cheefe of this ministerie consisteth in the princes person to whom the Bishops are coadiutors Cap. 12. Cap. 11. The Prince willeth all without exception to obserue his commaundements in all things as well ecclesiastical as temporal Cap. 26. Bishops to be reformed by the Kings visitours Cap. 27. The kings decrees touching all things and causes to be obserued of all men Chap. 28. The first part of the Princes commission concerned religion and ecclesiastical order Legū Franciae Cap. 12. Cap. 26. Cap. 28. Cap. 11. What lacketh this of gouerning al men in al matters both ecclesiasticall and ciuil Supreme is not superiour to Christ but not subiect to the Pope The superlatiue includeth not God because God with man is not cōpared 1. Pet. 2. Tit. 3. Rom. 1. Cap. 13. Cap. The saints on earth are subiect to the Princes sword the graces of God are not The Church cōfessed princes to be subiect to none but to God Tertul. ad Scapulam Idem in Apologetico Contra Parmenian lib. 3. Ad Populū antioch homil 2. Superiour to al is subiect to none Ad popu Ant. homil 2. Nouel const 133. De obitu Theodosij Greg. epist. li. 3. ca. 100. cap. 103. The word supreme was added to set Princes at libertie from the Pope and that is it that so much offēdeth the Iesuites They must proue Princes to be subiect to the Pope we need not proue them to be free The Bishops of Rome for 300. yeres endured heathē Princes Martin Polon in Iulio Liberio Platina in Bonifacio I. Martin Polon in Syluer Vigil Martino I. Caus. 2. quaest 7. Cap. Nossi The popes submission to the Emperour Ibidem Cap. Perrus A lewd elusiō of Gratian. The Prince superior to the Pope euē in causes ecclesiastical The quarel between Donatus Cecilian Lib. 10. Cap. 5. Lib. 1. contra Parmenianum epist. 162.166 alibi This quarell was forthings causes spiritual Constantine superior to Meltiades Euseb. lib. 10. Cap. 5. The Pope with others were authorized by the Prince to heare this cause August epist. 162. Epist. 166. Constantine himself would not at first fit iudge in the cause for want of skill August epist. 166. Cellatio 3. dici cum Donatistis The Prince receiued an appeale from the Pope Euseb. li. 10. Cap. 5. August epist. 166. And gaue thē other Iudges after the Pope August epist. 166. The Prince sate himselfe in iudgement both after the Pope and after the Councel Idem epist. 162. Idem contra Crescon lib. 3 Cap. 17. August epist. 166. The Prince made a penal law to confirme his finall decision Ibidem The Prince in these foure facts superior to the Pope The Prince willeth Flauianus to keepe his Church after foure Popes had repelled him for no Bishop Theodor. lib. 5. cap. 23. Sozom. lib. 8. cap. 28. Arcadius denied the Pope a Councel punished the Bishops that kept his communion Niceph. lib. 13. cap. 30. Ex libro pontif in vita Bonifacij Epist. Bonifacij ad Honorium Augustum Rescript Honor. ad Bonifac. tom
and our lawes If either side mislike the cause shal deuolue to the Patriarke of the Prouince and he shall end it by the direction of the Canons and our lawes Clerks we permit none to bee made except they be lettered of a right faith honest conuersation haue neither Concubine nor bastardes but such as either be single men or had or haue one lawful wife and her the first no widowe nor diuorced woman nor otherwise interdicted by the lawes or Canons A Priest wee will not haue made vnder the age of fiue and thirtie neither a Deacon or Subdeacon vnder the age of fiue and twentie neither a Reader vnder eighteene A woman shall not bee admitted to serue the Church that is vnder fourtie or hath beene twise maried Many skore precepts besides these that I recken shall you finde in that constitution touching persons and causes ecclesiasticall with these words Volumus sancimus iubemus Wee wil decree commaund and other verbes equiualent prescribing directly to Bishops what order and course they shall keepe for the seemely regiment of Christes Church By the commandement of Iustinus vncle to Iustinian the Councell of Chalcedon was preached and established through the most holy Churches And by the commandement of an other Iustinus his nephew was Gregorie called from Mount Sina to be chiefe Bishoppe of Antioch next after Anastasius whom the Prince remoued from his seate for wasting the Church treasures Leo the successor and Anthemius that maried the daughter of Martian gaue forth this commandement Let no man be made a Bishop for intreatie or for mony If any man be detected to haue gotteÌ„ the seate of a bishop by rewards or to haue taken any thing for the electing or ordering of others let him be accused as for a publike crime and an offence committed against the state repelled from his priestly degree And we adiudge him not only to be depriued for euer of that honor but also to be condeÌ„ned to perpetual infamie And the same princes by their Edict more general We decree say they that those thinges which were in sort done against the Lord himselfe of true religion being abrogated and vtterly abolished al things be restoared againe to their former condition and order in which they were established before our times as well touching the points of christian faith as touching the state of the most sacred churches Martyrs chappels Al innouations in the time of this tyrannie against the holy churches their reuerend bishops concerning the right of their Episcopall creations the deposing of any Bishop during those times their prerogatiue to sit before others within Councell or without the priuileges of Metropolitanes and Patriarks al such innouations we say repealed Let the grants CONSTITVTIONS of the godly Princes before vs and likewise ours touching churches chappels of Martyrs Bishops Clerkes and Monkes be kept inuiolable Much more might be sayd but this shal suffice You bring vs one seely mistaken authoritie where Constantius commaunding against right and trueth in a Bishoppes cause was reproued wee bring you if you viewe the precedents well an hundred expresse places and aboue that auncient and religious princes commaunded Bishoppes and Councels in matters of doctrine and discipline and were not reproued but honoured and obeyed in the Church of God Now choose whether you will shew your selues so voyd of al religion reason that you will preferre a single and solitarie text and the same so many wayes answered by vs before the publike and perpetuall practise of the primatiue Church or else acknowledge with vs that Princes for trueth did might commaund Bishoppes and preuent and punish in them as well errors in fayth as other ecclesiasticall crimes and disorders Phi. All this I may graunt and yet your supremacie will not followe Theo. Neuer tell vs what you may doe but what you will doe Deny the premisses if you dare or the consequent if you can Phi. I graunt Princes may commaunde Bishoppes but not what they list which is your opinion Theo. If you may bee the reporter of our doctrines wee shall defende many mad positions leaue your malitious and odious slaunders wee maintaine no such opinion Phi. What doe you then Theo. If you did not range thus besides all order and trueth you should perceiue what wee doe but when wee come to conclude you slide from the matter and fall to your wonted outfacing and wrangling Phi. Doe I not answere directly to that which you aske Theo. For a while you doe but when we come to touch the quicke you start aside and busie the reader with other quarrels Forbeare that till wee come to the sifting of your absurdities and then take your fill In the meane time suffer vs to say what we defend and to know what you assent vnto that the difference betwixt our opinions may be rightly conceiued and the proofes of either part duely considered Phi. With a good will Theo. Doe you then 〈◊〉 for a matter fully proued that auncient kings and Christian Emperours 〈◊〉 â—â—â—maund for trueth as well Priest as people and that they chiefly did and iuâ—â—ly might enterpose their royall power and care for the reformation and correction of errours in fayth abuses in discipline disorders in life and all other ecclesiasticall enormities as appeareth plainely by the publike lawes and acts of Constantine Theodosius Iustinian Charles Lodouike Lotharius and other no lesse Godly than worthie Gouernours If the places which I haue brought import not so much refell the particulars I will be of your mind if they doe why stande you so doubtfull as lothe to confesse and yet not able to gainesay the proofes Phi. For trueth I knowe Princes haue commaunded as well Bishops as others and vy their Princely power established and preserued the faith and Canons of Christes Church Theo. And this the sacred Scriptures the learned fathers the stories ecclesiasticall the lawes and monuments of Catholike Princes in the primatiue church of Christ for eight hundred and fiftie yeres doe fairely warrant Phi. They do Theo. And the places that proue this are both innumerable and inexpugnable Phi. The proofes for this point bee pregnant euough Theo. And this is no way repugnant to probabilitie possibilitie reason or nature Phi. It is not Theo. You will not eate these words when you come to the purpose Phi. I will not Theo. And if you were to bee sworne on a booke doe you beleeue in your conscience this which you say to bee true Phi. I doe Theo. Then here I will stay Phi. Haue I not answered directly to your questions Theo. You haue and wee vrge you no farther Phi. What are you the nearer Theo. That shall you now see You make shamefull outcries at the power which we giue to Princes to be supreme Gouernours of their Realmes in al thinges and causes as wel ecclesiastical as temporal as A thing improbable vnreasonable vnnaturall
such thing and putting the Pastorall staffe in his handes first himselfe named him Abbate and prayed the rest both souldiers and Monkes to consent to his election Likewise when the Abbate of Loressan was dead and the Monkes and souldiers hee meaneth the Clergie and the people of the place had elected the Prior with one accord to succeede and came to the Court for the kings consent neither was it thought that the king woulde dissent for that the Prior was in some grace and fauour with the king by reason of his diligent seruice afore that tyme the king caught an other of the Monkes of the same house by the hand which came with the rest of his brethren thinking on no such thing and drewe him into the midst of the companie amazed at the matter and to the great admiration of all men gaue him the Pastorall staffe This report the very mislikers of Henry the fourth doe giue him touching his hatred and detestation of Symonie and his Princely disposition to make free choice of Bishoppes and Abbattes If some tymes hee were ledde with affection and fansie I knowe neither Pope people nor Prince that may not bee often affected intreated and deceiued in their gyftes and elections bee they neuer so wise and otherwise neuer so syncere But your Monkes as Marianus Dodechinus and others did the Prince great wrong to diffame him with all posteritie for one that solde all spirituall lyuinges especially where the Pope himselfe charged him with no such thing in his Synodall sentence against him Phi. All Stories crie out on Henry the fourth for Symonie Theoph. Neither doe I thinke that his tyme was free from it though his person were The writer of his life seemeth to complaine of those that were about him and had the gouerning of him in his nonage After the yong king was taken from his mothers lappe and lighted into the handes of his Nobles to bee brought vp by them whatsoeuer they prescribed him as a child hee did it hee exalted whom they would and deposed whome they willed him in so much that they did not serue him but raigne ouer him When matters of the kingdome were handled they regarded not the common-wealth but their priuate respects and in all thinges which they went about the first and chiefest marke they aymed at was their owne gaine But when hee came to that stay of age and witte that hee coulde discerne what was honest and profitable for him selfe and his Realme what not retracting those thinges which hee had doone at the suggestion of the Nobles hee condemned many of his owne factes and becomming as it were a iudge of himselfe hee chaunged thinges where neede so required I will therefore neither excuse him for licentiousnes of life when hee was young nor those that were about him from briberie but the Symonie which your holie Father shot at was an other matter Hee sawe the Clergie did relie too much as hee thought vppon their Prince by reason all Bishoprickes Abbayes and Benefices were in the Kinges gift and none placed in them but such as loued and honoured the King which was not for the Popes purpose the whole Clergie by their example and doctrine leading the people to reuerence and obey the magistrate The first steppe therefore to weaken the king not by sedition on the suddaine but by defection in continuance was to get the Clergie to bee neither promoted by the King nor beholding vnto the king but to exâ—mpâ— first their lyuings and after their persons from the Kinges power that thereby they might the more freely take part with the Pope against the King without all daunger and drawe the people after them vnder pretence of Religion when tyme shoulde serue Which at first was not spied of Princes till all too late they founde by proofe that when the Pope beganne to quarrell with them and excommunicate them for very trifling and earthly causes the Bishoppes Priestes and Monkes presently syded with the Pope against the Prince and taught the people that it was damnable to ayde maintaine or assist any Person or Prince excommunicate against the Church so they called the Pope and his Cardinals and this terror of conscience made subiectes euen by heapes abandour their Princes and aggregate them-selues to the Popes faction which otherwise they woulde not haue done had they not beene rightly instructed by their Pastours to obey their Princes and not to feare friuolous and rash excommunications from Rome whiles Popes will rule all and bee resisted by none The first layer of this corner stone in the kingdome of Antichrist was Hildebrand with his skilfull exposition of Symonie who resolued in his Councels at Rome that to accept any spirituall lyuing from a layman were hee King or Caesar that gaue it must bee taken for Symonie and as well the giuer as the taker bee cursed and excommunicated These bee his woordes Following the steppes of our holy fathers as wee haue doone in former Councels so in this by the authoritie of almightie GOD wee decree and pronounce that he which hereafter accepteth any Bishoprike Abbay or other ecclesiasticall Benefice at a lay mans hand shall in no wise bee counted a Bishoppe Abbate or Clerke and that he shall not dare approch to Rome vnder paine of the greatest curse vntill repenting him of his fact hee hath refused the place gotten by such ambition and contumacie which is al one with Idolatrie To the same censures wee will haue Kinges Dukes and Princes tied and subiected which shall presume to giue Bishoprickes or other ecclesiastical dignities a thing neither fit nor lawfull This sayth Platina he decreed lest the Church of Rome should receiue any hurt by briberie and Symonie Gregorie decided it to bee Symonie for a layman to present to a Benefice or for a Bishoppe to expect the Princes consent whereas in the Primatiue Church the people which were laymen chose their Pastours and for a long tyme the Bishoppes of Rome them-selues were not chosen without the Princes consent and that which Hildebrande affirmeth here to be Symonie the Bishoppes of the same See before him confessed to bee godly and the Emperours were possessed of it as of their right euer since the dayes of Charles which was very neere three hundreth yeres That stood good sayth Platina sixe hundreth and eightie yeres after Christ in the election of the Bishoppe of Rome which the Emperour or his Deputie in Italie confirmed This was in force a thousande yeeres after Christ euen when Hildebrande came to the Popedome as appeareth by the message which Henrie the fourth sent to the Romanes vpon the choise of Hildebrand and his answere backe againe to the Emperour For when the Romanes after the death of Alexander had elected Hildebrand without expecting the Princes pleasure the King sent Eberhardus an Earle to the States of Rome to knowe the cause quare praeter consuetudinem maiorum