the Church and the first of all other and this is found in the 16 Session But note that it is not the Councell which speaketh thus but Paschasin deputed from Rome who pleadeth his owne cause and yet this hindred not this Councell from making a Canon expresly declaring and defining that the Bishop of Constantinople is equall with him of Rome in all things yea euen in causes Ecclesiasticall the Canon hath beene produced by vs before He further saith that Irenaeus chap. 3. lib. 3. doth attribute vnto the Church of Rome a principality more powerfull thē vnto others which is most false and an euident corruption of the place Irenaeus speaketh of the principality and power of the city for being the seate of the Empire the faithfull of all Churches had necessary occasions to repaire thither The words are these Ad hanc Ecclesiam propter potentiorem principalitatem necesse est omnem conuenire c. Ecclesiam vnto this Church by reason of the more mighty principality it is necessary that euery Church should resort As if I should say that all the Churches of France should come to that of Paris because there is the principality and power of the Realme and yet can I not for all this say that the faithfull ministers of the Church of Paris haue a principality ouer the rest Saint Cyprian in the third Epistle of his first booke doth directly call the Church of Rome the principall Church because in all the West there was no Church so great or so remarkable as it He saith that the vnity of Priesthood came from thence because his opinion was Hoc crant vtique caeteri Apostoli quod Petrus pari consortio honoris potestatis sed exordium ab vnitate proficisc it ur vt Ecclesia vna monstretur that albeit the Apostles were all equall in power and honour yet S. Peter was entertained into his charge some small time before the other Apostles Iesus Christ hauing a determination to begin from one to the end to shew the vnity of the Church as he saith in his treatise of the simplicity of Prelates He beleeued then that S. Peter who for a season held the sacerdo tall dignity alone to testifie the vnity of the Church had beene at Rome and that from thence Christiā religion spred it selfe into the West Now in this Cyprian goeth about to soften and to gratifie the Bishop of Rome to the end to prepare him the better to taste and to brooke the checkes and reproofes which afterwards he adioyneth whereby he proueth to Cornelius that he hath no power at all ouer Affricke and that he neither could nor ought to receiue the causes of those whom the Bishops of Affricke had condemned for saith he presently after seeing it is ordered among vs all and that it is a thing iust and reasonable that euery mans cause should be examined where the crime was committed and that vnto euery Pastor there is allotted a portion of the flocke which each one ought to gouerne and leade as being to render an account vnto the Lord of his carriage and behauiour there is no reason that those whom we guide should runne from one place to another and through their fraudulent rashnesse seeke to breake the concord of Bishops friendly knit together but that they should there pleade their causes where they may haue accusers and witnesses of their crimes lest it fall out that some desperate and forlorne persons should thinke that the authority of the Bishops of Affricke who haue condemned them should be lesse then others their cause hath beene alreadie examined the sentence hath beene alreadie pronounced To conclude he maintaineth that Cornelius may not take knowledge of any causes determined by the Bishops of Affrica without accusing them of lightnesse and vustaydnesse and so trouble the peace and quiet of the Church This is the cause that made Cyprian to gild his pill to extol the dignity of the Church of Rome before he would shew him that he ought not to thrust himselfe into the affaires of other Churches For it is diligently to be noted that those among the ancient Fathers that affirme that the Bishop of Rome is successour to Peter doe thereby vnderstand that he is successour in the charge of Bishop of Rome but not in the Apostleship After this sort also the Bishops of Ephesus were successors to S. Iohn and S. Paul the Bishops of Ierusalem successors to S. Iames so farre as these Apostles were Bishops of Ephesus and Ierusalem but they neuer were successors to the Apostleship and to the gouernment of the Church Vniuersall Nor is there any reason why the Bishop of Rome should be successor to Peter in his Apostleship and yet the Bishop of Ierusalem should be onely successor to S. Iames in his Bishoppricke Besides the Bishop of Antioch more auncient then the Bishop of Rome hath alwaies beene called the successor of S. Peter and why should it not be aswell in the Apostleship and gouernment of the Vniuersall Church If you will say that Peter hath taken away the prerogatiue and preheminence from Antioch and hath transported it to Rome we vtterly deny it and thereof no proofe worthy the receiuing can be brought If they further say that Peter dyed at Rome I will also say that Iesus Christ dyed at Ierusalem And why should not Christ his death at Ierusalem haue in it more power and vertue to make the Bishop of Ierusalem chiefe of the Church then the death of S. Peter at Rome to conferre this great dignity vpon the Bishop of Rome I leaue it likewise to the Readers to iudge who after the death of Peter ought of right to bee the chiefe of the Vniuersall Church For S. Iames liued yet at Ierusalem after S. Peter was dead And the Apostle S. Iohn out-liued him 32 yeares Eusebius in his Chronicle saith that Peter and Paul died the yeare of our Lord 69. and that S. Iohn dyed at Ephesus in the yeare 101. according to the accompt of Eusebius and Irenaeus Is it a thing to bee beleeued that S. Iohn the Disciple whom Iesus loued who leaned on his breast vnto whom he recommended his mother at his death whose writings are diuine oracles as the Reuelations in the Apocalips doe witnes that he should bee inferior to Linus the Disciple of Paul and indeed our aduer saries themselues haue inserred into the first Tome of their Councels certaine Epistles which they say were Clements Bishoppe of Rome amongst which there is one to S. Iames Bishop of Ierusalem and thus it beginneth Clemens to Iames brother of the Lord Bishop of Bishops gouerning the holy Church of the Hebrewes which is in Ierusalem Clemens Iacobo fratri Domini Episcopo Episcoporum yea all the Churches which are founded euery where by the prouidence of God And a little after hee calleth him his Lord words which witnesse that Clemens acknowledged Iames for his superior and chiefe of all
Gospell now a dayes those which haue their handes stayned and soyled with the blood of Kings should be honoured with that Title It is not the suffering but the cause that maketh a Martyr otherwise the diuell might likewise haue his Martyrs but such paines are crymes and are not onely vnworthy of praise but are likewise vnworthy of pardon and such pains and torments as are againe to be punished with future torments Is it then fit that the holy squadron of Martyrs where S. Stephen marcheth first and S. Iames neare vnto him and after them the rest of the Apostles followed by so many of the faithfull who haue bin prodigall of their bloods but careful and thriftie of the glory of God Is it fit amongst them to finde Incendiaries and Parricides with fire and sword in hand not like vnto S. Paul and S. Lawrence that is to say not representing their punishments but as testimonies of their crymes not to signifie the death by which they died but to declare the manner how they murdered Vnhappy age that styleth villaines with title of vertue and that by the corrupting of words and names depraueth the things themselues and so by a new kinde of Grammer introducteth a new kinde of Diuinity But God be praised that he hath not permitted the Pope by his skill and arte to plant this perswasion generally in the hearts of the people but that euen amongst our aduersaries themselues there are very many that no way approue this seditious and bloody doctrine Amongst which number I would willingly place the Doctor Coeffeteau because of his protestations were it not that he allayes them with such modifications and restrictions as giues vs cause to doubt of them And which testifie that those Kings with whose liues and Crownes he would not haue medled are onely such Kings as are obedient to the Bishop of Rome for he saith That the Church of Rome wisheth to Princes an assured Empire victorious Armes and an obedient people Now it is most certaine that the Pope desireth not that those Kings which condemne him should bee victorious or that their people should remain in their obedience since he deposeth them from their Thrones and dispenseth to their subiects the Oath of their Alleageance And a little while after he saith that hee speaketh of such estates wherein the Church meaning the Church of Rome subsisteth which is as much to say that where it cannot subsist there hee approueth this rebellion and murther which he more clearely sheweth after Fol. 6. pag. 1. where after these wordes That the Pope cannot disapproue the courses that you hold to secure your Authority and person he addeth So that they be not offensiue to that Religion which he is bound to defend So that hereof it followeth that if the Romane Religion doe receiue any offence in England Then the Pope doth no longer approue the courses that the King holdeth for his conseruation But he giueth after more certaine proofes of his intention the which wee will remarke in their due places Besides we doubt not but a prudent person knoweth how to fashion himselfe to the times and to reserue his bloody propositions for fitter occasions And many times enterprizes are onely blamed because they are not succesfull and vices are turned to vertue by happy euents Multa sunt quae non nisi peracta Laundantur And the iudgements of those whose malice is accompanied with doubt and feare are framed according to the successe But in respect of our friendship I am rather enclined to thinke well of him and to free him of this suspition I will therefore conclude this Chapter with an obseruation which I thinke not fit to be omitted and it is that in the time of S. Paul Nero was then Emperour which Monster God eyther for the scorne of men or for their punishment had placed in the Empire who by his example declared to what height absolute and exquisite wickednesse assisted with Soueraigne power could ascend who likewise was the first that stirred vp persecution amongst the Christians Had the Christians euer greater cause to rebell Or serued they euer vnder a more vnworthy Master Now I would demaund of my Masters the Papists if S. Paul should haue made a Myne vnder his house or vnder colour of salutations should haue strucken him to the heart with a Poniard or had beene taken in any of these enterprizes and so put to death for them whether had he beene a Martyr or whether had his death beene acceptable or tended to the edification of the Church But because this is a question full of difficulties it is fit we should leaue it vndecided and that we expect some resolution from the Doctors or some decision from his Holinesse After this Coeffeteau Fol. 6. speaketh by the way of the Popes power ouer the temporality of Kings and promiseth afterwards to speake more at large Wee therefore to auoyde the repetition of things twice will set aside that subiect till he commeth to the place where hee fully handleth it And now let vs heare what he saith of the dignity of Cardinals Fol. 8. CHAP. III. Of Cardinals FOrasmuch as Bellarmine vnder the name of Tortus compareth the dignity of Cardinals to the Maiestie of Kings That is to say the Cardinals Cappe with the Regall Crowne the charge of a seruant of the seruant of seruants to the dignity of the ruler of Nations The King of great Britaine speaketh thus in his Apology I was neuer the man I confesse that could thinke a Cardinall a meete match for a King especially hauing many hundreth thousands of my subiects of as good birth as he As for his Church-dignity his Cardinalship I meane I know not how to ranke or value it eyther by the warrant of God his word or by the Ordinance of Emperours or Kings it being indeed onely a new Papall erection tolerated by the sleeping Conniuence of our predecessors I meane still by the plurall of Kings To this Coeffeteau maketh a milde replie intreating his Maiesty to iudge more fauourably of the intentions of so modest and learned a person as Bellarmine is Fol. 8. beseeching him to remember that Caluine acknowledged that the Cardinals flourished in the time of S. Gregory which is one thousand yeares since and that euen in the Councell of Rome vnder Siluester the first there is mention made of the seuen Deacon Cardinals as of no new Institution then And addeth that their charge was to instruct the people and to minister the Sacraments And since they hauing gotten vnto themselues the election of the Pope and being alwayes neere about him their glory is growne and increased by which the Church hath receiued much ease and furtherance the head of the Church hauing alwayes about his person his Councell in affaires of greatest importance Hee likewise saith that Kings reuerence them but they are so farre from making themselues equall with Kings that Princes finde none that beare themselues with more respect towards
themselues wormes dust and his petty-seruants as did Gregory the first writing to Mauricius CHAP. VI. Of the Clergie and of their Liberties and Exemption § Tertia Cleriâ—i non possunt a Iudice politico puniri vel vllo modo trahi ad secularis magistratus tribunal CArdinall Bellarmine cap. 28. of his booke De Clericis sayth That Clergie men may not at any hand be punished by the politique Iudge or be drawne before the iudgement seat of the Secular Magistrate He saith also that the cheife Bishop hauing deliuered Clerkes from the subiection of Princes § Respondeo summus Pontifex Clericos exemit a subiectione Principum non sunt amplius Principes clericorum superiores Kings are no longer Superiours ouer Clerkes In the same place also he maintayneth that the goods as wel of the Clergy as of secular men are and ought to be exempted from the taxe and tribute of Secular Princes § Quarta Bona Clericorum tam Ecclesiastica quam secularia libera sunt ac merito esse debent a Tributis Principum secularium Hereunto the King of great Britaine speaking to the Emperour to the Kings and Princes of Christendome sayth in this manner And when the greatest Monarches amongst you will remember that almost the third part of your Subiects and of your Territories is Church-men and Church-liuings I hope ye will then consider and weigh what a feather he puls out of your winges when he denudeth you of so many Subiects and their possessions in the Popes fauour nay what bryers and thornes are left within the heart of your Dominions when so populous and potent a party shall haue their birth education and liuelyhood in your Countries and yet owe you no Subiection nor acknowledge you for their SOVERAIGNES So as where the Church-men of old were content with their tythe of euery mans goods the Pope now will haue little lesse then the third part of euery Kings Subiects and Dominions To these words so full of weight and euidence Coeffeteau answereth very softly and sillily He saith that Catholicke Kings do not apprehend any such calamitie seeing that amongst them Ecclesiasticall Persons liue vnder their Lawes and acknowledge their authority euen the Pope himselfe beeing aware of it That in France the Cardinals and Byshops performe vnto the King the Oath of Fidelity coÌ„mendeth the Kings for hauing giueÌ„ to Clerks great immunities notwithstanding which he sayth that they doe not let to be bound to ciuill Lawes These wordes are full of timerousnesse and lurking ambiguity Answere Hee saith that Clerkes indeede liue vnder the lawes of Princes but hee doth not tell vs that in case of disobedience the King may punish them for otherwise there is no subiection He sayth that the Bishops yeeld the Oath of Fidelity but the question now is not touching fidelity but touching subiection and obedience He speaketh of immunities granted by Princes but he doth not tel vs what these immunities be for this is one as Bellarm. witnesseth and we will shew hereafter that Clerks are no longer subiects to Kings that the King is no longer their Superiour Thus can we learne nothing of this Doctor So that indeede his Maiesties complaint is so iust that if we holde our peace threin the cause wil proclaime it selfe Euery man knoweth what a Diminution to the Crowne and greatnesse of Kings these immunities of Clergy men do bring all which they couer and rabble vp vnder the Title of the liberty of the Church vnworthily transporting this sacred name of Christian liberty which signifieth in the word of God the deliuerance from the curse and malediction and from the yoake of sinne and from the heauy burthen of the ceremonies of the law to ciuill pretences and dispensations with that naturall duety which wee owe vnto our Prince vnder whom we had the happinesse first to behold the Sunne This is a thing that belongeth euen to the law of Nations and besides that is authorised by the word of God that euery person be subiect to the Soueraigne Magistrate But here now see how in one kingdome as in Fraunce there will be found aboue three hundred thousand persons who vnder the title of Clergy-men haue shaken off the yoake of the Princes authority yea euen children that are entred Nouices into that Body exempted from all obedience towards their parents This body of the Clergie hath its Iudges and officers their prisons likewise apart Their causes are not called to be answered before Royall Iudges but receiue hearing and determination in the great State chamber at Rome called La Zuota or in the consistorie There is a third parte of the Lands of this kingdome in the hands of Clergy men to the great preiudice of our kings For it often commeth to passe that the proprietarie owners and possessors of lands doe sell their inheritances whence accureth profite to the Prince by the Kings fine which ariseth of euery first part or first prime of such fales and other rights belonging to the cheefe Lord which Rights are lost when once immoueable goods enter into the possession of the Clergy The king doth also lose his right of Aubaine which is an escheate to the king of all such goods as any stranger dying in Fraunce is possessed of also the right of confiscation and in case of desertion when a man doth quit his owne estate The Clergy being a body that neuer dyeth that neuer confiscateth and in which body inheritances dye by Mortmaine Vpon whom the secular persons conferre euery day new Donations but we neuer see the sharing of Ecclesiasticall goods made to the profite and behoofe of any Lay-man for goods finde many gates open to enter into the Clergy but neuer a one to get our from thence like those footings of the wilde beasts which all turned inward towards the Lyons denne but there appeared no trace of any that euer returned from thence And hence it commeth to passe that as in mans body the thighs and armes grow lesse and lesse by how much the bigger the belly swelleth through excesse so in the body of a Common wealth The Nobility and the Commonalty who are as the armes and legges of that State they are brought low by the increase of the Clergy To this end also they haue obtained that the Church shal alwayes be held in non-age and in her minority that if she shall at any time haue made promise or contract that may turne to her disaduantage she may vnder that pretence be releeued And whereas in common course of law thirtie yeeres are sufficient to keepe possession by way of Prescription De Praescript Cap. 2. in Serto. Contra ipsam Romanam Ecclesiam Centenaria vel contra alias Ecclesias quadragenaria prescriptro Legitima sit completa Against the Church of Rome and against the Templaries no Prescription can be of force vnder one hundred yeares which is in effect as much as that against them there is no Prescription The other
receiue some lustre from his reflection But those that desire to make themselues knowne by the greatnesse of their Aduersaries are alwaies such as haue little in themselues why the world should take note of them This Doctor in his booke handleth the King of great Britaine as a Nurce doth her nurce-childe who after shee hath dandled it beates it mingling curstnesse and flattery For in humble termes hee wrongeth him and giueth him respectfull lyes flatters him with iniuries accuseth him to speake vpon trust and that he busieth himselfe with quirkes and subtleties and sayes that he makes S. Paul an Interpreter of the Apocalips This is the forme of his writing as for the matter and substance of his booke I finde that he hath ill measured his owne strength and that with the weakenesse and meanenesse of his skill he hath made the strength of his Maiesties reasons more manifest Gyants are not to be ouerthrown with a breath neyther is a Lion to be fought against with a Festue Other kind of forces are necessary to make resistance to so exquisite a doctrine that is euer abundantly sustained by the truth And indeede he clearely confesseth his weakenesse in this that hee neuer cyteth the Text of the Kings booke but only reporteth the sense thereof disguised and weakened that he may giue himselfe greater scope and liberty forming to himself Chimera's which he impugneth with other Chimera's of his owne as will sufficiently appeare by the examination of his booke to which we now will enter God herein enlighten vs since that which wee say is for his truth which is the light of our soules CHAP. II. Certaine Remonstrances of COEFFETEAV his iudgement touching the Treasons and attempts vppon the life of the King of England ARISTOTLE in the second booke of his Rhetoriques Chap. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith that the Countrey people vse to haue their speeches very full of sentences but folly is more sufferable then vnseasonable wisedome Coeffeteau beginneth his booke much after such fashion making to the King of great Britaine many sententious Remonstrances interlaced and mingled with threats and commendations But whilst he representeth to Kings their duties he goeth beyond his owne for S. Ierome forbids Monkes to be teachers saying in his booke against Vigilantius Monachus non docentissed plangen tis habet officium wishing Monks rather to bewaile and be sorrowfull for their owne faults then to reprehend those of other men But chiefly his Remonstrances are ill employed to a King that is better read in the Bible then he is in his Missall and that hath carefully put in practise the commaundement of God in the seuenteenth of Deuteronomy where hee commaunds Kings to read the booke of the law all the dayes of their liues verse 19. The exhortation that Luther often vsed by his Letters to Pope Leo the tenth to renounce the papacy and to liue of his owne and to come and doe as he did had more grace with it then this of Coeffeteau for it is more probable of the two Sleidan li. 2. that the Pope was the likelier to haue followed Luthers counsell This Doctor hauing thus employed the seuen first pages of his book in these exhortations which haue no other fault but that they are ill applyed comes to those motiues which estrange and keepe the King of England from the Romane Religion supposing the conspiracies that haue beene against his person to be the causes of it thereupon protesteth Fol. 5. pag. 1. that the Romane Church no way approueth such attempts but condemnes them as parricides and wisheth to Princes secure gouernement victorious armes obedient people and faithfull Councell And after addeth That for these considerations the head of the Church which is the Pope cannot disaproue the courses that your Maiestie holaeth to secure your authority and person against the miserable enterprizes so that they bee not repugnant to that Religion which he is bound to desend To this I say Coeffeteau hath beene very ill enformed for the conspiracies against the King of Englands life haue not with-held or kept him from Popery since euen from his Infancy he hath made open profession of the true Religion and before this conspiracy had published the confession of his faith conformable to that which we professe And whereas he condemnes such attempts as are made vpon the liues of Kings we greatly commend him for it and thereby suppose that he no way approued the enterprize of Iames Clement who was domesticke with him and his companion From thence I likewise gather that when the Iesuite Mariana in the sixt Chapter of his booke De Regno prayseth the Act of Iames Clement saying that he was perswaded and enduced thereunto by Diuines with whom hee had conferr'd I gather that Coeffeteau was none of those Diuines and that when this Parricide Saint and Coeffeteau went a begging together hee made him not acquainted with his secret And further it is no small vertue in this Doctor that he feareth not in so iust a cause to condemne many Iesuites who were complices or instigators of this last conspiracy and haue been executed for it Nay more it sheweth a magnanimity in Coeffeteau that hee dares so couragiously oppose himselfe to the Pope and Bellarmine who by their letters before mentioned incite the English to rebellion which could neuer take effect so long as the Kings life should be in safety By the same meanes he likewise condemneth the Authors of the Legend of S. Iames Clement which wee haue seene with our eyes but not without much wonder and admiration The successe of things haue grudged him this honor and men haue beene nothing fauourable and propitious to this Saint otherwise doubtlesse hee had before this beene put into paradice It is likewise a cause of iust ioy vnto vs to see that a Doctor of the Sorbons dare approue the sentence of the Court of Parliament against Iohn Chastell though the Pope of late hath newly censured it By which it dooth also follow that he doth not thinke it well done that Garnet and Ouldcorne Iesuites and parties in the gunpowder treason are at Rome inserted in a roll of Martyres Whosoeuer prayseth and approueth an acte already done will questionlesse counsel and aduise the doing of it for that which is wicked in the vndertaking cannot be good in the execution But the Pope in his breue before mentioned calleth the punishment of Treason and rebellion by the name of Martyrdom which is a dangerous speech able to make Kings tremble when the people shall be taught by Murders and Treasons to seeke the Crowne of Martyrdome An abhominable and detestable doctrine can there be any so colde and frozen zeale that will not hereby be warmed and moued to a iust anger that this so sacred name of Martyr so much reuerenced in the Church should in such sort be prostituted that whereas the holy Scripture calleth them Martyrs which suffer for the testimony of the
and Solitary Monkes and not to Seculars onely And that which is yet more he addeth Be thou an Apostle be thou an Euangelistor a Prophet or whosoeuer Whence appeareth that if the Pope be an Apostle as indeed he calleth his charge an Apostleship notwithstanding by S. Pauls rules he should be liable to taxes and rallages and subiect to the ciuill Magistrate Now because some perhaps may vse this exception This is Bellarmines owne exception cap. 3. de exemptione Clericorum That Christian Clerks were forced of necessity to be subiect to Paynim Princes to pay them taxe and tribute to appeare before their Ciuill and Criminal Iudges for feare of drawing by such their refusall persecution vpon the whole Church but vnder a Christian Prince Clerkes ought to be exempt from this subiection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The same Chrysostome addeth in the same Sermon That if the Epostle established this law at what time Princes were Paynims How much more then ought this to be vnder beleeuing Princes Si omnis vestra Quis vos excipit ab vniuersitate Likewise S. Bernard in his two and fortieth Epistle to the Archbishop of Sens Giue honour to whom honour belongeth Let euery soule be subiect to the higher powers if euery soule then yours also for who can except you from that which is vniuersall Si quis tentat excipere conatur decipere He would daceiue you that would except you This worthy personage had a sensible feeling of the excessiue abuses which alleadged in his time were growne vp in these exemptions S. Ambrose in his Oration of surrendering vp Churches saith De tradendis Basilicis Si tributum petit non negatur Agri Ecclesiae soluuÌ„t tributum Veri ministri Dei legibus nostris subij ciuntâ—r If the Emperour demaund Tribute we doe not refuse it In the fourth booke of Theodorets Story cap. 7. Valentinian the elder writing to the Bishops of Asia he saith That the true Ministers of God are subiect to the lawes of Emperours And it is in the very same Emperour who being ioyned with Valens made that law of which * Pudet dicere Sacerdotes ido lorum aurigae mimi scorta haereditates capiunt solis Clericis monachis hoc lege prohibetur probbetur non a persecutoribus sed a principibus Christianis Nec de lege conqueror sed dolâ—o cur meruimus hanc legem S. Ierome speaketh in his Epistle to Nepotian which did forbid Ecclesiasticall persons to receiue any heretages or to take any thing from women which law is found in the Code of Theodosius in the title De Episcopis Clericis Whence appeareth that the Emperiall lawes did in those dayes subiect Clerkes to many things from which the seculars themselues were exempted Which was not reckoned any Tyranny seeing that S. Ierome sayth in the same place that he doth not complaine of that law but rather of the Auarice of the Clergy who had worthely deserued to be curbed and repressed by that law made VVhat shall I say more Pope Vrban and the Romane Decree in the Cause 23. Quest 8. in the Canon Tributum speaketh in this manner †De exterioribus suis quae palam cunctis apparent Ecclesia tributum reddit The Church payeth her tribute of all her outward goods Againe * Pâ—o pace quiete qua nos tueri defensare principes debent imperatoribus persoluendum est We must pay to Emperours in recognisance of the peace and quiet in which they ought to maintaine and defend vs. Let a man read the Canon †Pontâ—sices procursu tempor alium rerum imperialib is legibâ— vterentur Quoniam and the Canon De Capitulis in the tenth Distinction and there a man shall see how much the Popes do acknowledge themselues subiect to the Emperours and bound to obey no other lawes then the Imperiall in temporall affaires In Sigonius his fift booke Ansbert Archbishop of Pauia crowned Carolus Caluus King of the Romanes saying vnto him Wee haue chosen you with ioynt consent Protector Lord and King and we yeelde our selues your subiects with all our bearts As touching the punishment of crimes it is found at large in the * De Episcopis Clerâ—cis Code of Theodosius that about the yeare 315. Constantine discharged certaine Clerkes from publique functions which they had executed in person and yet without discharging their possessions But as well he as his successours retayned and reserued to themselues the punishment of crimes For in the twentieth chapter of the first booke of the Story of Theodoret he sent Eustathius Bishoppe of Antioch into banishment The Emperour * Sulpitius Seuerus in the second booke of his Story Maximus put certaine Bishops to death for hauing beene infected with the Herefie of the Gnosticks contrary to the counsel of S. Martin who did not approue that cruelty But S. Martin doth not reprehend him for hauing set in his foote ouer the Clergy or for that hee had thrust himselfe in injuriously to the iudgement of their crymes yea about the yeare 1560 the Emperour Iustinian established a law Iustinianus in Nouellis 79. 83.123 by which he permitted Ecclesiasticall persons in ciuill causes to proceede before their owne Bishop but in criminall matters his pleasure is that they should vndergoe the jurisdiction of secular Magistrates the indulgence of the succeeding Emperors hath exempted them from al secular jurisdiction contrary to the dignity and security of the Empire yea and contrary to the rules and examples of the worde of God it selfe Vnder the Law the Leuites had no prisons apart nor Iudges apart they were subiect to the Kings who sometimes chastised the high Priests themselues as Salomon deposed Abiathar from the Priesthood Iesus Christ appeared before the iudgement seat of Pilate Io. 19.11 and he giues this testimony that it is giuen him of God to be Iudge in this cause S. Paul did not appeale to S Peter but to Caesar Act. 23 11. and he doth it by the counsel of the holy Ghost to the end that men should not thinke that it was an euasion which hee followed out of necessity without approuing it as lawfull S. Paul himselfe doth subiect euery soule to the powers that beare the sword and by consequent he dooth subiect them also vnto corporall punishments Some perhaps will say I graunt you that the Clergy haue now a dayes many more exemptions then they haue had in former times But the Emperours and Kings haue giuen them immunities and freedomes which now are irreuocable Concil Chalced can 9. Si Clerieus aduersus â—â—lericum negotium habeat non relinquat Episcopum suum ad secularia Iudicia non recurrat I answere that if Kings haue giuen to Clergy men such immunities they may take them away from them againe when they shal see it to be necessary for the preseruation of their State So all that men are wont to alleadge
the vsurpation of the Gothes out of a base coueteous humour for it makes not whether their proceedings were tainted with auarice or no some one in the prosecution of his right may mingle his particular vices Now if this custome be not then are the Popes and Councels worthy of blame that haue adiudged them both iust and necessary as Adrian the first Leo the eigth and others which vnrequested did voluntarily referre this choyce to the Kings of Italy and to the Emperors And indeed Sigonius Anno 963. saith that Leo the eigth was of opinion Non sine causa AdrianuÌ„ 1. Ca rolo magno tribuisse vt Ecclesiam ordimaret Pontisicemlegeret Labertate populo â—eddita Romanos in dies deteriores effectos that Adrian the first had cause to referre the honour of gouerning the Church and chusing the Pope vnto Charlemaine and that when liberty was giuen to the popular Assembly for the election of the Pope things greweuery day from bad to worse It is heere more remarkable that Coeffeteau doth a little after contradict himselfe for after hauing condemned this electiue custome as as an vniust vsurpation of the Emperours a little after he saith that the Emperour did not vsurpe this right Fol. 18. pag. 2. but receaued it from the Pope If then the Emperours did not vsurpe this power he doth vniustly call it vsurpation And if the Popes gaue this authority the fault was onely in the Popes And if it be a Right as Coeffeteau cals it it can be neyther wrong nor iniustice not vsurpation The feare of the Lombards should haue beene no motiue to the Popes to iniure their own See to pâ—ssesse the Emperours of that which appertained not vnto them Touching that which he addes Fol. 19. p. â— that Lewes the sonne of Charles disclaymed this right I haue already disproued it as vntrue The Canon Ego Lodouicus in the 63. Distinction is of the same touch and as true as the Donation of Constantine It is also vntrue which he saith that the Popes acknowledged Lewes for a benefactor of this See and that they should thinke themselues obliged to him and other Princes which haue bestowed on them the temporalities which they possesse For first the Popes would not acknowledge any such obligation to this Lewes nor to his predecessors notwithstanding all their gifts vnto them hauing forged the Donation of Constantine to obliterate the memory of this benefite and cast an immaginary Conduit-pipe that might from others of farther distance deriue this bountie vnto them Besides their abusing and thundring their stormes vppon our Kings and robbing their Kingdomes is their faire acknowledgement of this good turne like him that hauing gathered the fruite and refreshed himselfe in the shadow of a tree doth with his bil-booke lop off the boughs and branches for recompence Moreouer we denie notwithstanding any thing Coeffeteau sayth that the Popes held their temporal possessions of Pipin or Charles or of Lewes or of any King or Emperour I am not ignorant that these Princes haue exceeded in their liberalities to the Bishop of Rome which they haue performed to their hinderance but they euer did as Princes vnto subiects reserue the Soueraignty ouer the Donce To examine the matter by auncienter proofes and better Sigonius in the History of the yeare 687. saith that the Exarches sent Iudges vnto Rome to administer iustice vnto the people Platina hath the fame in the life of Sergius the second who was the first that chaunged his name after his election because he was formerly called Hogs-snout In the diuision betweene the children of Lewes le Debonaire Lotharius the eldest sonne had for his part the City of Rome with Italy c. Platina in the life of Eugenius the second saith that †Sigonius p. 116 Lotharius in Italiam veniens Magistratum delegit qui populo Romano ius diceret Lotharius comming into Italy established Magistrates at Rome to iudge the people of the Citie Aboue all we haue expresse testimony of Sigonius in the seuenth booke of the History of the Kingdome of Italy Ann. 973. * Pontifex RomaÌ„ Rauennamque ditiones reliquas tenebat authoritate magis quam imeprio quod ci uitates Pontificem vt Reip. Principem Regem verò vi summum Dowinum intue entur atque ei tributa obsequiaque praeberent Then sayth he the Bishop of Rome helde the City of Rome and Rauenna rather by anothers authority then their owne commaund Because these Cities acknowledged the Bishop as a Prince in the Common wealth but did euer looke toward the King as their soueraigne Lord payde him tribute and to him yeelded their obedience And yet it was a long while after ere the Emperours came to Rome to take their Crownes which they held not of the Pope who had onely a hand in the Ceremony but of the people of Rome So that all that which the Pope dooth at this day holde in the nature of a soueraigne Prince is a meere vsurpation ouer the Empire and he cannot exhibite his titles nor shew vs the beginning of his Princely Soueraignty Coeffeteau goes on and condemnes the Emperor Otho for deposing Iohn the thirteenth for his irregular life and Henry the third for deposing three Popes in a short time and saith that in this proceeding he shewed a zeale but no knowledge Whereunto I answerre that this Iohn being maintayned by an Army and a very potent faction he could not be expulsed but by the power of the Emperour nor is it zeale without knowledge to apply vnto an extreame malady the onely and most necessary medicine that can possibly the prouided Our Doctor doth further adde that Constantine did shew much more Religion when in the Councell of Nice he acknowledged that it belonged not to him to iudge of the faults of Bishops But these were but words of his gratious respect vnto them such as the same Prince vsed when he said that if he should finde a Clergy-man offending with a woman he would couer him with his cloake but before in the sixt Chapter we saw that the lawes of Constantine did not priuiledge the offences of the Clergy from the ciuill authority no not the lawes of Iustinian which were made more then two hundred yeares after And indeede Theodoret lib. 1. cap. 19. alleageth an Epistle of Constantine to Nâ—comedians in which speaking generally of all sorts of men he saith that * Si quis audacter inconsulteque ad memoriam aut landem pestium illarum exarserit illias statim audacia ministri Dei hâ—e mea executione coercebitur If any one will rashly and inconsiderately maintaine those pestilent assertions speaking of the Arrians his audatiousnes shall be instantly curbed by the Emperours execution who is Gods Minister I doe plainely confesse that they caused them to be very often deposed by a Synode but yet they ceased not to haue soueraigne authority ouer the Bishops before their deposition or to haue power
and by these the banke of mony-changers is set vp anew in the Temple which Christ ouerturned And indeede if you should say ten times as many prayers and that with farre more zeale and deuotion in any other Church then where these Indulgences are affixed you should notwithstanding goe without any Pardons for they are fastened to certain places for feare lest these contributions being diuided and passing through many handes would vanish into nothing So that the King of great Britaine doth both iustly and elegantly say that this abuse is rightly called the treasure of the Church Now to proue that the Pope hath intelligence with God and that he hath precisely calculated his reckoning with him hee doeth often limit his Pardons with a subtilty full of merriment As at Paris in the porch of a Chappell belonging to the Friers Feuillands in the Suburbes of St. Honorius there is a long list of Pardons to bee seene which among other things tell vs that on euery day of Lent a Pardon may be obteyned for three thousand eight hundred three score and seuen yeares and two hundred and seuen quarentaines of dayes there are many of the same stampe But I long much to know that if a man some few dayes before the day of iudgement should get a hundreth thousand yeares of Pardon whether these Pardons should any thing auaile him Againe if a man needing a Pardon but for ten thousand yeares should obtaine a Pardon for a hundred thousand what should become of the other fourescore and ten thousand but aboue all the rest it is a point furmounting our capacity how these Pardons that doe plenarily forgiue all sinnes and should besides remit a third part of a mans sinnes and yet further giue another eighteene thousand yeares of Pardon as if one should say that the Pope pardoneth all our sinnes and many of our sinnes besides It makes me also to wonder very often why the people doe so zealously flocke to the Iubile at Rome seeing they may as easily and at all times obtaine a plenary Pardon for all their sinnes I forbeare at this time to iudge bad I speake it with greefe and with commiseration whether in this whole Argument there be any the least footestep of Christian Religion to be discerned or whether coueteous gaine did euer trample godlinesse vnder foote in a viler manner ARTICLE XVI Of the baptising of Bels. The KINGS Confession THe King of great Britaine proceedeth to these wordes The baptising of Bels and a thousand other trickes But aboue all the worshipping of Images If my faith bee weake in these I confesse I had rather beleeue too little then too much And yet since I beleeue as much as the Scriptures doe warrant the Creedes doe perswade and the auncient Councels decreede I may well bee a Schismaticke from Rome but I am sure I am no Hereticke Mr. Coeffeteau answers Fol 51. that it is no baptisme that they giue vnto Bels but onely a plaine blessing which notwithstanding the common people do call baptisme for the resemblance of some Ceremonies therein but it is not of simple people but of learned men that we must learne the beleefe of the Church The Answere This answere of M. Coeffeteau is more mannerly then that of Cardinall Bellarmines who writing against his Maiesties booke tels the King that it is an impudent slaunder he might haue spoken more ciuilly to a King for if we wrong them in calling their consecration and benediction of bels by the name of baptisme this imputation should be laid vpon the people of the Romish Church which haue so named it or rather vpon their Bishops and Priests that by a Player-like prophanation haue practised the same Ceremonies vpon bels and gallies which they vse in baptisme for in the blessing and exorcising of a bell they giue him god-fathers and god-mothers which holde the rope in their handes the Suffragan asketh certaine questions of the bell they cloth him in white sprinkle him with holy water and salt the Bishop or his Suffragan annoints him with oyle with many signes of the Crosse praying God that hee will graunt power vnto this bell against the secret assaults of the diuell against thunder and tempest and for the comfort of soules departed then after the singing of certaine Psalmes he is newly marked again with seuen crosses without and foure crosses within which are made vpon the Crisme with the Bishops or his Suffragans thumbe who at euery crosse repeates these wordes Consecretur Sanctificetur Domine signum istus in nomine Patris filij spiritus sancti In all this Ceremony there is nothing wanting but the word Baptisme saue that it is done something more diuersly The same Ceremony is practised vpon gallies when they launch them into the Sea and for what offence they haue condemned this Sacrament vnto the gallies I doe not vnderstand He that shall well vnderstand the great vertue of bels will not wonder at all if the people of the Romish Church haue thought that baptisme doth of right belong vnto them sith that one peale hath power to carry soules into heauen and especially the soules of rich men for if a rich legacy be giuen all the bels in the towne shall ringe a requiem for the soule departed but the poore shall haue leaue to die without any sound And it is presumed that some bels haue more vertue then others for they are not rung all at one rate So at Paris there are bels some at foure Francs some at fiue and some at sixe For it is not credible that any will buy the sound of one bell dearer then another but vpon opinion of reaping a greater benefite thereby It is not then without great reason that Durandus in his rationale and other illuminated Doctors doe finde so many mysteries in bels saying that the clapper of the bell is the tongue of the Preacher that the rising of the bell is the contemplatiue life and the falling downe is the life actiue Boniface 8. au cap. Almamater § adijcimus De sententia excomm In Sexto Grego 9. T it 39. De sent excomm that a ringe of Iron is fastened to the end of the Bel-rope to shew that the Crowne is not obteyned vntill the race be finished which is the cause why Boniface the eighth and Gregory the ninth haue forbidden the ringing of Bels in proscribed or interdicted Churches vnlesse by speciall leaue they be licensed to toll an Aue-maria During the interdiction none but low Masses are said the doors being shut and without sound of Bell. And these obseruations the Apostles would not haue omitted if they had had the keeping of the Bels in the Temple of Ierusalem which then were not rung all the yeare long but now a dayes they are onely speechlesse vpon good Friday whereof there is some mysticall reason which comes not within the compasse of my vnderstanding ARTICLE XVII Of the Reliques of Saints The KINGS
the Patriarchall Seas there was the Bishop of the first seate the Bishop of the second and so in order The Bishop of the first Sea was the Bishop of Rome for the dignity of his Citie because it was the seate of the Empire the Bishop of the second seat was he of Alexandria because it was the greatest and mightiest City of the Empire next after Rome then followed Antioch and lastly Ierusalem which had more the name then the power and authority of a Patriarch because it selfe was subiect to the Metropolitan of Cesarea Now to preuent least any vnder the title of preseance or the first seate should presume to challenge and vsurpe Dominion ouer his fellowes the third Councell of Carthage Canon 26. ordaineth That the Bishop of the first Sea Vt primae sedis Episcopus non appelletur Princeps Sacerdotum aut summus Saceâ—dos aut aliquid huiusmodi sed tantum primae sedis Episcopus shall not bee called Head or Prince of the Priests or high Priest and Bishop but onely Bishop of the first Sea acknowledging it to be for order sake and not for Superiority But after that the abode and ordinary residence of the Emperours began to be in Constantinople together with the forces and strength of the Empire the Bishop of Constantinople did then equall himselfe with the Bishop of Rome and helde himselfe in nothing inferiour to him Whereuppon came in the Ordinance of the Councell of Chalcedon which saith Canon 28. that The hundred and fiftie Bishops of the Councell of Constantinople welbeloued of God haue giuen to the seate of new Rome which is Constantinople the same prerogatiues with auncient Rome Iudging it according to reason that the Citie honoured with the Empire and the Senate and which hath the same Priuiledges with auncient Rome ought of right to bee magnified as much as she in Ecclesiasticall matters being the next in rancke after her Where you see that the Councell putteth a priority in order with an equality in power And this priority because Rome had beene the seate of the Empire before Constantinople wherevpon is to be noted that Leo Bishop of Rome denieth that his deputies consented to that Article as appeareth by the nine and fiftie and sixtie of his Epistles but the Councell for all that doth not let to goe forward and I thinke that sixe hundred and thirty Bishops for so many there were at the Councell of Chalcedon are more to be credited then the Bishop of Rome alone And that which is more you shall finde the Canon set downe at large in the sixth generall Councell Which hath moued the Canonists to falsifie this Canon for in the two and twentieth Distinction in the Canon Renouantes in stead of these wordes Etiam in Ecclesiasticis they haue put non tamen in Ecclesiasticis which is a manifest imposture and corruption That little preheminence then which the Bishop of Rome had from the time of the Councell of Nice and a long while after was onely in consideration of the Noblenesse and greatnesse of the Citie For so also the Patriarches and Metropolitanes were at the first ordained according to the dignities of their Cities as appeareth in the Canon Prouinciae in the ninth Distinction And indeede the Archbishop of Rauenna though it bee almost situated at the gates of Rome yet would he neuer yeeld to acknowledge himselfe inferiour to the Bishop of Rome during the time that the Exarch which was the Emperours Lieutenant made his abode in Italy Which also appeareth in that the Popes Boniface and Celestine who liued in the time of S. Austen being desirous to haue drawne to themselues the Appeales of Affrica and to haue played their Masteries out of Italy they alleadge nothing to the Councell of Affrica where this matter was debated not any text of Scripture nor the power giuen by Christ to S. Peter but only the ordinance of the Councell of Nice of which they produced certaine forged Canons Which falsehood of theirs being detected and conuinced by confronting it with the Originals brought in place the Bishop of Rome had the foile and lost the cause And hereof we haue the whole Councell for witnesse in which Aurelius Bishop of Carthage and S. Austen Bishop of Hippo were present who together with the rest of their fellowes wrote letters to Celestine which are inserted into the Councell and which speake to the Bishop of Rome in this manner The Fathers haue most wisely and iustly prouided that all affaires should be decided and ended in the places where they arise Neyther will the grace of God be wanting to any place through which equity shall prudently and constantly be acknowledged and embraced of the Ministers of Christ seeing also that it is permitted to euery man that receiueth any greeuance from his delegated Iudges to appeale to a Prouinciall or indeede to a generall Councell vnlesse perhaps any man shall thinke that God may giue ability to some one man to examine things vprightly which he will not vouchsafe to a multitude assembled in a Councell Or how can a Sentence or iudgement be of force that is giuen beyond the Sea where necessary witnesses caÌ„not be present eyther by reason of sex or infirmity of olde age and a thousand other hinderances For to tell vs that there ought Deputies Legates a Latere to be sent vnto vs as comming from your Holinesse side it is a thing which we doe not finde to haue beene ordained by any Synode of the Fathers for those Articles which you sent vs a while agone by our fellow and Companion Faustinus as being of the Councell of Nice we could not finde it so in the true Copies sent vnto vs by Cyril and Atticus c. Forbeare also to send vs your Clerkes men ready to serue euery great mans turne or indeed any that shall aske them n = * Nolite concedere ne fumosuÌ„ typhum seculi in EcclesiaÌ„ Christi v deamur inducere least it seeme that we goe about to bring this worldes smoakie pride and hautinesse into the Church of Christ which beareth the light of simplicity and the brightnesse of humility before those who desire to see God After these checkes giuen to the Bishop of Rome they publiquely denounce and giue him warning that he reuoke and withdraw his Deputy Faustinus out of Affrica afterwards they salute him calling him Sir and Brother Domine frater This Epistle is a pretious Iewell of Antiquity and I wonder how so excellent a peece could escape the handes of these falsifiers and Spongers of the Fathers Now they who read this Lesson to the Bishop of Rome who already began to be somewhat tickled with presumption were Aurelius Bishop of Carthage and S. Austen and al the Bishops of Affrica For which cause Boniface the second in an Epistle which is found in the second Tome of the Councels saith that Aurelius and his fellows had separated themselues from the Church of Rome being waxen proude
him be deposed Or if he be a Lay-man let him be excommunicated Would they thus haue spoken if they had beleeued the Pope to haue beene their Superiour or the Church of Rome cheefe ouer other Churches and that it could not erre That the Passages of the Fathers alleadged by Coeffeteau for the Primacy of S. Peter are partly false Fol. 77. 78. partly maymed and partly impertinent FRom this point Doctor Coeffeteau passeth ouer to the Primacy of S. Peter Fol. 76. howbeit before he commeth thereto he giueth in passing by a blow to his Holinesse affirming that he is not Lord ouer any Towne thus doth he dispute the Souerainty of the City of Rome Wee leaue themselues to cleare this doubt and end this Processe He alleadgeth then for the Primacy of S. Peter the 11. Homily of S. Chrysostome and that very falsely for in all the Homily there is no mention of S. Peter nor of his Primacy But Bellarmine did deceiue him out of whom Coeffeteau copied his allegations This other is like it S. Cyprian saith Coeffeteau affirmeth Hoc erant vtique caeteri Apostoli quod Petrus pari consortio praediti honoris potestatis sed exordium ab vnâ—tate proficiâ— citâ—r vâ—â—â—â—â—â—sia vna monstretur that the other Apostles were certainly the same that S. Peter was fellowes and partners of his honour and of his power but the beginning proceedeth from Vnitie and therefore the Primacy was giuen to S. Peter the true reading is this the Apostles inde de were the same things that S. Peter was hauing ONE EQVALL SOCIETY In honour and in power but the beginning was made by one to shew the vnity of the Church Coeffeteau hath razed out the word EQVAL which troubled him and hath clapt on a Tayle of a sentence which is not in Cyprian and therefore the Primacy was giuen to S. Peter S Cyprian had said a little before that Iesus Christ after his resurrection gaue a like power to his Apostles and yet to shew the vnity of the Church he so disposed by his authority that the fountaine of this vnity should begin from one That is to say that he gaue to all his Apostles an equall power but to shew that the Church is one he gaue his power first vnto one namely to Peter and afterwards gaue equall power to the rest With like falshood he dealeth with S. Ierome Fol. 78. pag. 2. lib 1. against Iouinian whom he thus alleadgeth One is chosen among the twelue to the end that there being one head established all occasion of Schisme might be taken away At dicis super PetruÌ„ fundatur Ecclesia licet id ipsum in alio loco super omnes Apostolos fiat cuncti claues regni coelorum accipiant ex aequo super eos Ecclesiae fortitudo solideturâ—sed vnus eligitur vt capite constituto seismatist ollatur occasio But he omitteth the wordes that went before thou tellest me that the Church is founded vpon S. Peter notwithstanding that the same is done vpon al the other Apostles and that all do receiue the keyes of the Kingdom of heauen and that vpon them the stability of the Church is EQVALLY grounded whence appeareth that the Head and cheefe of which he speaketh is nothing else but a superiority in ranke without any Iurisdiction and power ouer his fellowes seeing that they had all the Keyes alike and were alike the foundations of the Church VVhich may serue to the end we may not trouble our selues with examining the rest of his falsifications for solution of all the rest of Coeffeteaus quotations in which S. Peter is called head and first among the Apostles S. Austen indeede in the beginning of his second booke of Baptisme which place Coeffeteau alleadgeth calleth S. Peter the first of the Apostles but he saith also in the same place that for all that he did not presume that the new-commers Nee Petrus queÌ„ primum Dominus elegit super quem aedificauit EcclesiaÌ„ suam cum secum Paulus de circumcisione disceptaret postmodum vindicauit sibi aliquid insolenter aut arroganter assumpsit vt diceret se primatum tenere obtemperari à nouellis posteris sibi potius debcri and latter Apostles were to yeelde him obedience The same S. Austen as he is alleadged in the 24. Cause Quaest 1. Canon Quodcunque speaketh thus S. Peter when he receiued the Keyes represented the Church if then all the good were signified in the person of Peter so were all the wicked also signified in the person of Iudas Seeing then that S. Peter was the same among the faithful that Iudas was among the wicked it followeth that as Iudas was not the head of the wicked to haue power and Iurisdiction ouer them but onely was the most remarkeable among them so S. Peter should be such a one among the beleeuers He might haue had perhaps a priority eyther in age or in vertue or in zeale or in eloquence or in preseance and taking the first place but yet without Dominion or power of Iurisdiction As touching that which somtimes he saith that the Church is founded vpon S. Peter we shall see hereafter that he retracted that ouer sight afterwards and we haue heard before S. Ierome to haue said that the Church is Equally founded vpon all the Apostles As for that which he saith that he that is without the Communion of the Church is to be accounted prophane and that he that is without the Arke shall perish in the floud the same may be said of euery other Church which holdeth the true Orthodox Doctrine yea of the least of the faithfull for that a man cannot separate and withdraw himselfe from him but by renouncing the truth Now in the quarrell which then was in debate Damasus maintained the truth and sounder opinion Whether the Pope may erre in faith or no. TO that which the King of great Britaine denieth that there is any Monarch of the Church on earth whose wordes ought to be held for laws who hath the gift to be able not to erre Fol. 80. Coeffeteau thus answereth We know that the Pope is a sinfull man as another man is and therefore may erre in Doctrine and Manners if we consider him in particular but in the quality of S. Peters Successour hee cannot teach any thing contrary to piety This is it which is commonly said that the Pope indeede may erre as he is a man and a particular Doctor but not as he is Pope Or that he may erre in manners but not in faith Cap. licet titulo 2 de Constitutioni in 6. They say also that he may erre in the question de facto but not in the question de Iure For as Boniface the eighth saith the Pope hath all law and right in the chest of his breast A man had neede of a good stomach to digest this And I doe not see how all this can agree For
booke against Iouinian The Church saith he is founded vpon S. Peter albeit in an other place the same is also built vpon the other Apostles and the strength thereof is equally grounded vpon them all Vnica est faelix fidei pâ—tra Petri ore confessa Hilary in his second booke of the Trinity It is the only blessed stone of the faith confessed by the mouth of S. Peter And in his sixth booke Vpon this Rocke of the Confession the Church is founded S. Ambrose vpon the nine and thirtieth Psalme Quod Petro dicitur caeteris Apostolis dicitur That which was said vnto S. Peter was said vnto the rest of the Apostles also Cyril in his fourth booke of the Trinity expounding the same place saith Opinor per Petram nihil aliud quam inconcussam fir misâ—mam discipuli fidem voluit I thinke that by the Rocke was nothing else meant but the firme and constant faith of the Disciple S. Augustine in his 124. Treatise vpon S. Iohn expounding these wordes Super hanc ergo petram quam confessus es aedificabo Ecclesiam meam Petra enim erat Christus Quid est supra hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam Super hanc fidem Super id quod dictum est Tues Christus filiê° Dei viui Bellar. lib. 1. cap. 10. § Addo Augustinum ex sola ignorantia Hebreae linguae deceptum esse faith Vpon this Rocke that thou hast canfessed will I found my Church And vpon the Epistle of S. Iohn his 10. Treatise and 60. Sermon vpon the wordes of our Lord What meaneth this Vpon this Rocke will I build my Church Surely thus much is meant Vpon this faith vpon this that hath beene said Thou art that Christ the Sonne of the liuing God And forasmuch as he had said in other places that the Church was founded vpon Peter he recalleth himself in his first book of retractations cap. 21. Because saith he that Iesus Christ said not vnto him Tu es petra Thou art the Rocke But Tu es Petrus Thou art Peter Now this Rocke saith he is Christ Which Bellarmine vnable to denie thought it better to affirme that Augustine erred for want of knowledge in the Hebrew tongue Chrysostome vpon Matth. 16 Vpon this Rocke that is vpon the faith of this confession And in this Sermon vpon the Pentecost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath said vpon this Rock and not vpon Peter for he hath not founded his Church vpon men but vpon faith and what faith was this Thou art Christ c. Eusebius Emissenus in his homily vpon the Natiuity of S. Peter expoundeth these wordes in this manner I will build my Church vpon that stone which thou beginnest to lay in the Foundation of faith vpon that faith which thou teachest saying Thou art Christ the Sonne of the liuing God For the Apostle agreeing with this opinion saith That none can lay any other Foundation then that that is laid Iesus Christ What say the Councels hereunto In the Councell of Calcedon Super hanc confessionem robora ta est Ecclesia Dei fidem pag. 223. of the Edition of Collen vpon this Confession which Peter hath made and vpon that faith is the Church grounded Super hanc petraÌ„ id est super meipsuÌ„ qui significor per petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam Nay the Glosse of the Canon-Doctors themselues vpon the goodly extrauagant Vnam sanctam saith Super hanc petram id est super meipsum qui significor per petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam Vpon this Rocke that is to say vpon my selfe that am the Rocke and am signified by the Rocke will I found my Church Reade the exposition of Lyranus vpon Matth. 16. for it agreeth fully with this and setteth it downe in expresse termes But it may be Coeffeteau alleadgeth this passage or sentence because it saith I will giue thee the keyes of the Kingdome of heauen and whatsoeuer thou bindest on earth shall be bound in heauen and whatsoeuer thou shalt lose on earth shall be losed in heauen By the Kingdome of God the Gospell ordinarily doth vnderstand the Church of God vpon earth and consequently the Keyes of the Kingdome of God signifie the Church to bring men into the Church or exclude them from it This is cheefly done by preaching the word of God which our Lord for that cause Luc. 11. calleth the key of knowledge vnto which Preaching is annexed the power of admitting sinners to repentance and to the peace of the Church when they are come to receiue the word and submit themselues vnto it or if they are impenitent to shut them out from the communion of the faithfull This same power is signified by the wordes of binding and losing for wee are naturally in the bondes of Sathan but the preaching of the Gospel freeth and deliuereth vs when by faith we apprehend it by which the children of Abraham are vnbound whom Sathan hath fettered Luc. 13. ver 16. And if any man oppose himselfe against this word either by vnbeleefe or of a prophane humor by the same preaching first generally propounded and after particularly applied to the impenitent sinner by Ecclesiasticall censure the iudgements of God and his curse are denounced vnto him the which holdeth the sinner bound and are vnto him as chaines by which Sathan leadeth him captiue and draweth him with an insensible violence into perdition vnlesse by his earnest repentance hee free himselfe of those bonds and returne to God Here then Iesus Christ sheweth that God ratifieth in heauen both the reception of a repenting sinner and the reiecting of him that is impenitent and willeth that during his obstinacy by which he dispiseth the Church he be held as a Publican and an heathen Matth. 18.17.18 We are then to learne whether this power was giuen to S. Peter alone or to all the Apostles I say that that which was promised to S. Peter Matth. 16. was also promised to all the Apostles the eighteenth of the same Euangelist ver 18. Verily I say vnto you that whatsoeuer you shall binde vpon earth shall be bound in heauen and whatsoeuer you shall lose vpon earth the same shall be losed in heauen 2 Assuredly it is a most ridiculous presumption to thinke that any man now adayes doth better vnderstand the wordes of Iesus Christ then the Apostles did But it is more then euident that the Apostles did neuer suppose that by these wordes of Christ any superiority was giuen to S. Peter for had they so beleeued they would neuer after that haue contended amongst themselues for preheminence as they did Luke 22. but one day before the death of our Lord. 3 Aboue all things this is to be noted that Iesus Christ doth not here giue vnto Peter the power of binding and losing but only promiseth to giue it him which he performed after his resurrection Iohn 20. in which place he giueth like power to all his Disciples saying Receiue yee
the Bishops of the world We graunt then willingly that the auncient Bishops of Rome before the corruption of Doctrine and vsurpation of the Monarchie in the Church were successors of S. Peter in the Bishoppricke of Rome onely euen as the Bishop of Corinth was successor to S. Paul but withall we adde this that through the corruption of Doctrine which hath by little little crept into the Church of Rome euery age hauing added and contributed thereunto hee is now wholy and iustly falne from that succession For he may not in no wise be called Peters successor who oppugneth the Doctrine preached by S. Peter and who in the Chaire of verity doth establish a lie The Turke may not bee called successor to the Emperour of Greece albeit he be seated in his place seeing that he is rather his subuerter I would haue one shew me that euer S. Peter preached any other purgatory then the bloud of Iesus Christ or any other satisfaction to the iustice of God then his obedience any other sacrifice propitiatory then his death That euer he gaue pardons for an hundred thousand yeares or drew soules out of Purgatory with buls and indulgences that he euer degraded Emperours that he tooke away from the people the reading of the holy Scriptures or the Communion of the Cup or that he commaunded the worshipping of Images and publique Seruice to bee said in an vnknowne tongue or that he euer constrayned other Bishops to take from him letters of Inuestiture and to pay vnto him Annates Or that euer S. Peter was called God on earth the Spouse of the Church and caused himselfe to be worshipped or that euer he sung Masse or commaunded the Host to be adored or that euer he left off preaching the Gospell or quitted the Crosier-staffe to take vnto him a triple Diaderne If I say they can shew me that S. Peter euer did these things then though the Pope were Bishop but of one Village alone I will willingly acknowledge him for S. Peters Successor but still in the Bishopricke only and not in the Apostleship which ended in his person and is not deriued vnto his Successors in particular Churches THus doth the confession of the King of Englands faith remain firme and vnshaken against which Coeffeteau hath armed himselfe with humane testimonies being vtterly destitute of any authority out of the booke of God For as they that are ready to drowne catch hold on any thing so these men in a desperate cause embrace all defences but least of all those that be good Againe whatsoeuer this Doctor alleadgeth out of the Fathers is found to be eyther false or clipt or vtterly counterfeit This payment is not currant especially to such a Prince who hath consecrated his penne to the defence of the truth But this is not to be imputed to Coeffeteaus disability but to the vnlawfulnesse of the cause vnto which we haue in such sort satisfied as whosoeuer shall examine my worke he shall finde an answere to Bellarmines booke also which he hath not long since made against the said booke of the King of great Britaine with more weakenesse and lesse dexterity then Coeffeteau hath done There remayneth the last part of his Maiesties booke wherein with a straine of admirable wit assisted by the spirit of God hee openeth the booke closed with seuen seales and piercing into the secrets of sacred Prophesies he findeth in the seat of Rome the full accomplishment of the Apocalyps When hate and bitternesse shall be extinguished through time Posterity shall admire both the worke and the person and looking backe into ages past for the like patterne shall not be able to finde any thing to be compared with it We will not feare then to enter into these darkenesses vnder so great a guide for it is hard eyther to stumble or to stray where so faire a Torch doth light and shine before vs. But we must here take breath a while before we enter into this taske For the sudden death of our King like a great cracke of Thunder benummeth our handes with astonishment and troubleth our spirits with griefe and anguish Let vs then giue place to necessity and leaue to write that we may haue leisure to lament and let Posterity carefully bethinke it selfe of remedies and hold it for a thing most certaine that hee that setteth light by his owne life is master of another mans and that there is nothing so forcible to make vs to contemne our owne liues as this new doctrine which by the murther of Kings openeth the way to the Kingdome of heauen FINIS Faults necessarily to bee corrected The first number noteth the Page the second the Line The letter R. standeth for Reade L. signifieth the line in the same PAGE PAge 13.25 r. 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