Episcopus Romanus or Dum Presbyterium he might haue said either while Donatus the Bishop of Rome or the Presbytery one Pope or many Popes doeth extoll himselfe aboue the Emperor non verendo eum qui post Deum not reuerencing nor fearing him who next after God is reuerenced and feared of all men Theodosius Images were cast downe in Antioch whereupon Chrysostom saith Laesus est qui non habet parem super terram summitas et caput omnium super terram hominum The Emperour is wronged who hath no equall vpon earth the height and head of all men Wherein let no man mistake when wee call Emperours and Kings Supreme gouernours wee doe not extoll them aboue GOD or his Law or word Ministri Dei sunt as the Apostle sayeth they are Gods ministers and therefore subordinate to him that sent them And if they commaund any thing against GOD their authoritie comes too short in such things it is better to obey GOD then man And yet in these things though wee may not obey yet we may not resist but suffer as Iulians souldiers would not sacrifice at his command yet when he led them against an enemie they obeied most readily Distinguebant dominū temporalem à Domino aeterno tamē subditi erant propter Dominum aeternum etiam domino temporali as S. Augustin saith They made a difference betweene their temporall Lord and their eternall Lord and yet for their eternall Lords sake they were subiect to their temporall Lord for as among men if the Proconsul command thee any thing and the Emperour command the contrary thou doest well to obey the Emperour and not the Proconsul So if the Emperour command any thing and God commaund the contrary thou doest well to obey God and not the Emperour In these cases saith S. Augustin Timendo Potestatem contemne potestatem in that thou fearest Gods power feare not mans power So then they are supreame because they admitt no mortall man as superior vpon earth yet they are not supreame aboue GOD nor aboue Christ for all their authoritie is deriued from GOD and Christ And as it is à Deo from God and Christ so it is propter Deum and propter Christum for God and for Christ not against God nor against Christ for the trueth not against the trueth As Nabuchodonosors Law was to be disobeied that he made for an Idol so the Law that he made for the true GOD was to be obeyed And as in ciuill causes by all mens confession they are supreame and yet not aboue God nor Christ So in causes Ecclesiasticall they are likewise supreame on earth yet not aboue God nor Christ they are ministri Dei nō Papae non presbyterij They are Gods immediate ministers of whom they holde in Capite not mans not the Popes not the Presbyteries to draw their swords at their command Now that their authoritie is not confined to the second Table of causes Ciuill but extends it selfe to the first Table and causes Ecclesiastical wil appeare in this word Necessitate subditi estote you must of necessity be subiect for this is not Necessitas externa an externall necessitie onely of force and compulsion for wrath propter iram but also Necessitas interna an internall necessitie of loue and duety propter conscientiam And according to the Schoole there is Duplex necessitas a double necessitie There is necessitas naturae the necessitie of nature as the fire is necessarily hot by nature and if it cease to be hote it ceaseth to be fire And there is necessitas praecepti finis the necessitie of the precept and the end for all precepts are necessarily to be kept in respect of the end So that a sicke man should recouer his health it is necessarie necessitate finis that hee obserue the precepts of Phisicke and keepe a good diet So S. Paul saith Necessitas mihi incumbit A necessitie is laide vpon me and woe is me if I preach not the Gospel there is a necessity not of nature but of precept his calling and the end saluation So subiection to higher powers is necessarie in Christians Necessitate praecepti finis by the necessitie of the ende peace and tranquillitie and Religion in this life and life euerlasting after death and by the necessitie of the precept Honour thy father and mother in which number all Kings and Fathers of Countries and Princes must haue the honour of reuerence to their Persons of obedience to their Lawes of patience to their punishments of maintenance to their Estates and of fidelitie to their Crownes Now because Gouernment and Obedience are relatiues of equall extent so farre must we obey as their commission is to gouerne And the precept of their Authoritie extends not onely to ciuill causes in the second Table but also to Religion in the first And this precept according to the difference of times is threefold Naturall Legall and Euangelicall In the Law of nature it can be no question but causes Ciuil and Ecclesiasticall belonged both to one man since the calling of King and Priest was vnited in one man The Prince of the family was both chiefe Magistrate and Priest had the supremacie in both Which Aristotle well obserued when he said Quae ad Deorum cultum pertinent commissa sunt Regibus Things pertayning to Gods worship are committed to Kings as a part of their charge In which respect he saith Imperator erat Rex Iudex rerúmque diuinarum ei cura commissa est The King was in warre an Emperour in peace a Iudge and in diuine causes an Ouerseer And this was practised by all Nations Assyrians Medes Persians Grecians Romanes Iewes and Gentiles Pagans and Christians All which did establish Religion by their publicke Lawes and maintained it by the Magistrates sword Iustinian said Nos maxima sollicitudine The true Religion of God and the honest conuersation of Priests is our greatest care Rex seruit Deo aliter quâ homo aliter quâ Rex saith S. Augustine The King doth serue God as a man and as a King As a man hee serueth God by liuing holily As a King he serueth God by making Ecclesiasticall Lawes with conuenient rigour and seueritie that shall commaund that which is iust and forbid that which is contrary His examples are Ezechias and Iosias that destroyed Idoles and reformed the worship of God And also among the Heathen first Nahuchodonosor who being instructed by the miracle of the fiery Fornace made a Law for the worshipping of Daniels God next Darius who by occasion of a like miracle made a Decree that al men should feare and tremble before the God of Daniel And last of the King of Niniuee who at Ionas preaching proclaimed a fast and commanded all the citie man and beast to fast and to cry mightily to God and to turne from their wicked wayes And these three did this not out of a
delegated Authority from the Priest but by that originall Commission Necessitate praecepti by the necessitie of the precept in which they are made guardians of the whole Law If it be further said these Kings did this by an extraordinary and Propheticall power which is but onely said and neuer prooued the confutation is ready If this had beene done by a Propheticall power why are those Kings registred as glorious and good Kings that walked in the wayes of Dauid and tooke care of Gods Religion And on the other side those Kings that omitted these duties of Religion not onely noted and disgraced but condemned for the omission of that which according to this opinion concerned not their office Had the supreme care of Religion in these Kings beene onely a Counsaile and no Precept no man should haue been disgraced and condemned for it for no man is to bee condemned for the omission of a Counsaile And therefore the Scripture condemning many Kings for the omission of this dutie and registring Nahuchodonosor Darius and the King of Nineue for their great care in this charge this is not a Counsaile but a precept in the Lawe that Kings must take charge of the whole Law and causes Ecclesiasticall as well as Temporall When the Donatists pleaded that Kings were to meddle with Ciuill causes of the second Table and not with Ecclesiasticall causes of the first Optatus held it to be a madnesse in Donatus Ille solito furore accensus in haec verba prorupit Quid Imperatori cum Ecclesiâ Donatus enflamed with his accustomed furie brake foorth into these words What hath the Emperour to doe which the Church But sayth Optatus the Apostle taught vs to pray for Kings Non enim est Respublica in Ecclesia sed Ecclesia in Republica i. in Imperatore Romano The Commonwealth is not in the Church but the Church is in the Commonwealth that is in the Romane Emperour And S. Augustine reiecteth the plea as ridiculous Nolite curare in regno vestro à quo tueatur vel oppugnetur Ecclesia Take you no care in your Kingdoms who oppugneth the Church and who defendeth it who is religious and who sacrilegious This is as much as if you should say Take no care who is chast and who is vnchast Cur enim adulteria legibus puniuntur sacrilegia permittuntur As if adulteries were to be punished and sacriledge permitted The force of the Argument is this If the King be to punish by Ciuill punishment in the second Table murther theft adulterie and the like much more in the first Table Atheisme Idolatrie Sacriledge Heresie Schisme and the like else these sinnes must goe vnpunished in this life But it will be said Indeed the kingdome was aboue the Priesthood in the Law but in the Gospel the Pristhood is aboue the kingdome And therefore though kings in the Law medled with Ecclesiasticall persons and causes necessitate praecepti yet in the Gospel their authoritie is confined onely to causes Ciuill the Church that was gouerned 300. yeeres before any king was Christian hath no need of their supremacy there is no precept of obedience in the Gospel which imposeth this necessitie Indeed if the Gospel were either a Reuocation or limitation of their Commission granted in the Law it were somewhat But when the rule holdes that Euangelium non tollit praecepta naturae legis sed perficit The Gospel doth not take away the precepts of nature and the morall Law but perfect them The cōmission of Kings granted in the Law standeth good to the worlds end And Christ came vt tolleret peccata non iura mundi not to take away the Lawes and societies but the sinnes of the world And hee renued the precept Date quae sunt Caesaris Caesari Giue to Caesar the things which are Caesars by the Law of Nature and Moses And the Apostles doe often and almost euery one of them in their writings double the precept As Saint Peter and Saint Iude and Saint Paul in many Epistles One place shal serue for all 1. Tim. 2. he ordeineth that Christians shall pray for Kings and men in Authority The reason is That wee may liue a quiet and peaceable life vnder them And the compasse is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all godlines and honestie Therefore godlines and honestie belongeth to the Kings charge And so the same precept with the same extent remaineth in the Gospel that was giuen in the Lawe In the 2. Psalme it is prophesied that Christian kings should serue the Lord Christ in feare and reioice to him in reuerence and they must serue him not onely as men but as kings and kings as they are kings saith S. Augustine out of this place serue the Lord if in their kingdomes they command that which is good prohibite that which is euill Non solùm in ijs quae pertinent ad humanam societatem verùm etiam in ijs quae ad Diuinam religionem Not onely in things pertaining to humane societie but also in matters concerning Diuine worship And Esai prophecied that in the Gospel Kings should bee noursing fathers and Queenes shoulde bee noursing mothers of the Church and they must nourish by their milke and internall milke of the worde and Sacraments they cannot giue they can neither preach the worde nor administer the Sacraments no more then Vzziah could burne incense or offer sacrifice to God Neither can they giue commission or power to any man to preach or minister the sacraments which is an authoritie deriued from God by imposition of hands Ite praedicate Permittere licentiam dare possunt non authoritatē Their authority is a permission or licence to preach in their dominions not a power of mission or ordination And therefore since they cannot giue the internall milke of the word and Sacraments they must giue the externall milke of discipline and gouernement And although the Church were gouerned for the first three hundred yeeres before any Emperour or king became a publique professed Christian yet as S. Augustine saith Aliud fuit tunc tempus omnia suis temporibus aguntur The times were different and all things haue their time And therefore assoone as Constantine became a Christian he assumed this supremacie he put downe idolatry hee established Christian religion composed differences of Bishops suppressed heresie and Schismes called Councels and gaue his suffrage in them hee heard causes of religion iudged them in his owne person he made lawes decrees edicts and orders for religion And this saith Eusebius hee did tanquam communis Episcopus à Deo constitutus as a common Bishop or ouerseer ordeined of God And concerning these that boldly and vnaduisedly were inflamed with the memorie and prayse of those Arrian Bishops pestium illarum is Constantines words those plagues and firebrands of the Church Illius statim audacia ministri Dei hoc est mea executione coercebitur The
according to our Canonicall Constitutions in our name and by virtue of our Authoritie And these Lawes were of that force in those dayes that when Mauritius the Emperour that made a Law that Nemo publicis administrationibus implicatus ad Ecclesiasticum officium perueniret That no man intangled with publique charge should bee aduanced to an Ecclesiasticall office S. Gregory approued this part of the Law because many vnder this colour did mutare seculum not relinquere And further the Law forbade any Souldier to enter a Monastery till his warrefare was expired S. Gregory though hee wished not any to flie the warres or not pay their debts vnder the name of a Cloister yet because hee saw it hindered many from the warrefare and seruice of God wrote an humble Letter to Mauritius and another to Theodorus the Emperours Physician to intreat the reuocation of this Law inuented by Iulian in a very submisse Stile Ego quidem iussioni vestrae subiectus I your seruant and subiect to your command haue sent this Lawe to many parts of the world and now I write my opinion to your Maiestie Vtrobique ergo quod debui exolui qui Imperatori obedientiam praebui pro Deo quod sensi non tacui In both I haue done my duety I haue perfourmed my obedience to the Emperor and I haue not concealed what I thought fit for Gods cause And S. August sayth of this power of Lawes Hoc iubent Imperatores quod Christus iubet quia cùm bonum iubent nemo iubet nisi per eos Christus When Emperours command that which is good it is Christ and no man else that commandeth by them The fourth worke of this Supremacie is receiuing of Appeales and giuing Decisions Restitutions and Depriuations and other punishments of Bishops for causes Ecclesiasticall Wherein although Constantine at the first in modestie and a desire to suppresse the calumniations of Bishops and being not yet so fully instructed in Christian faith tooke the papers and Articles of the Bishops and burnt them in the Nicene Councill yet being better instructed and seeing the necessitie of his Authoritie in these causes he iudged Cecilianus cause himselfe Donatus procured Cecilianus to be condemned by 70. African Bishops for certaine crimes obiected against him As also that hee was ordered by one Foelix who as it was pretended had burnt the Scriptures And in a tumult they set vp another Bishop of Carthage against him then they appealed to Constantine and desired him to assigne them Iudges Constantine by his Commission extant in Eusebius delegated and authorized Meltiades Bishop of Rome Marcus a Clergie man of Rome yet no Bishop and Rheticius Maternus and Marinus three French Bishops to heare the cause who gaue sentence for Cecilianus Vpon a second Appeale Constantine made a second Delegacy to Chrestus bishop of Syracuse certaine Bishops of France met at Arle who likewise gaue sentence with Cecilianus Vpon the third Appeale Constantine appointed Elianus a Ciuill Magistrate to examine Foelix who acquited Foelix also Then the Emperour called both parts before him and gaue finall sentence for Cecilianus and made a seuere Law against the Donatists by which Lawe many Donatists were brought home to the Catholique Church In which passage I pray you obserue 1. That Meltiades not as supreme Iudge of all Controuersies but as delegated by Constantine did iudge of Cecilianus cause And S. Augustin defendeth him from vsurpation vpon the 70. African Bishops because the Emperor so appointed it Next the Bishops of France did iudge the same cause after Meltiades without any wrong to the Sea of Rome no man in that age found fault with it And thirdly it is apparant that Constantine was superiour to Meltiades and both made him his Delegat and iudge of his sentence and iudgement which S. Augustine calleth vltimum iudicium the last iudgment vltra quod causa pertransire non potest and that the cause had gone as farre as it could goe And whereas the Donatists pleaded that a Bishop should not be purged iudicio Proconsulari by the Proconsuls iudgment S. Augustine answeres The Bishops sought it not but the Emperour enioyned it Ad cuius curam de qua rationem Deo redditurus erat res illa maximè pertinebat To whose charge of which he must make accompt to God this matter did chiefely appertaine There was a conference held by the appointment of the Emperour Honorius the Iudge designed by the Emperour was one Marcellinus to whom Augustine after writ his Bookes De Ciuitate Dei at which S. Augustine was present and others who disputed against Petilianus Emeritus and Gaudentius and other Donatists which was gathered by Marcellus And S. Augustine hath written the seueral dayes Collations Marcellinus gaue sentence against the Donatists and it was confirmed by the Emperour Honorius all which is extant Theodosius called a Councell of all sorts Nactarius and Agilius made the confession of Consubstantialitie Demophilus deliuered vp the Arrian faith Eunomius the Eunomian faith Eleusius the Macedonian faith Tum solus separatus precatur Deum saith Socrates Then the Emperor alone separate from all company made his prayers to GOD to direct him in the Trueth and then he read the seuerall faiths and condemned and rent all the rest that rent and diuided the Trinitie and commended and approued that faith of the Consubstantialitie of the Father of the Sonne I must here omit infinite other matters of facts and punishments and many obiections and conclude with a question that Theodosius proposed to these seuerall sorts assembled which he did by the counsaile of Sisinius What accompt saith Theodosius make you of the Doctors and Histories of the Church that are vnpartiall and liued before these questions were moued If it be answered as then it was Habemus tanquam magistros We esteeme them as our fathers and masters the cause is cleare they giue witnesse on our side If they reiect them it is a matter of great deliberation whether a man would be of such a Church whereof neuer any man was before themselues In which case it seemeth more then reasonable That in a reformation wee should conforme our selues Ad regulam Antiquorum to the rule of the Ancient Scriptures Apostles and fathers Chrysostome Nazianzen Basill Ambrose Hierome Augustine Gregory the like rather then after the New cut of those who haue not aboue the life of a man on their backs sixtie or seuentie yeeres And surely the rule of Charitie is That since all the Question is of the Churches Regiment not so much who should feede and rule the Church for so must both Prince and Priest but who should rule gouerne most we should euery one lay downe all contentious humors and ioyne hand and heart to feed and gouern Gods inheritance and striue rather in deeds then words who shall most carefully doe that duty which God hath laid vpon him necessitate praecepti by this triple necessitie of his precept That so we may be all partakers of the end peace and tranquillitie and religion in this life and life euerlasting in the kingdome of heauen which God graunt Amen Osea 8.4 1. Cor. 14.33 Numb 16.32 Bern. de Domo Interiori ca. 28 Ephes 6.6 Coloss 3.22 Matth. 22.21 Chrysost in Rom. 13. hom 23. Gregorius Epist 1.2 cap. 100. 103. Bernard Epist. 420. Act. 25.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 2.13 Tertull. ad Scapul Optatus contra Parm. lib. 3. â— Chrysost ad pop Antioch hom 2. Act. 4.19 August in psael 142. August De verbis Dom. sec Matth. hom 6. Dan. 3.6 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— Cor. 9.16 Exod. 20.12 Arist. polit lib. 3 cap. 10 11. Nouel Constit 6 August Epist 50. Dan. 3.29 〈◊〉 6 26. 〈◊〉 2 6. Gen. 9.25 Deut. 17.18 19 20. Exod 32.21 Numb 15.31 a Iosue 5.2 b Iosue 8.30 c Iosue 8.32 34. d Iosue 7.24.25 e Iosue 24.23 25. 1. Paral. 16. 1. paral 23. 1. paral 24. 1. paral 25. 1. paral 26. 1. paral 27. 1. Reg 6. 1. Reg. 8. 1. Reg. 2 3â— 2. Paral 14.4 c. 2 Paral. 15 8.12 13 14 15. 2. paral 15.16 2. Paral 17.6 7. 2. Paral. 19.4 â— Paral. 19.8 2. Para. 29.3 4. ver 5. 2. Paral. 29.30 2 Paral. 30.1 6 12. 2 Paral. 31.2 2. Paral 31.1 4 Reg. 14.4 2. Paral. 33.3 15. 2. Paral. 34.3 4 29 30 31 32 33. 2. Paral. 35.1 2 3 10 18. Optatus contra Parm. lib. 3. 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iohn 1.29 Matt. 22.21 1 Pet. 2.23 Iude 8. 1. Tim. 2.2 Psal 2.11 August contra Crescon lib. 3. cap. 51. Isai 49.23 2. Paral. 26.16 Marc. 16.15 August Epist 50. Eusebius de vita Constan lib. 1. cap. 37. 〈◊〉 lib. 1 â—â— 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 14. 1. Bellar. de Concil l. 1. cap. 13. Leo Epist. 9. Epist 24. Epist 26. Epist 23. Epist 43. Oratio Marriani in Concil Calc Epist 59. Hierom. in Apologia contra Ruffinum Socrates lib. 5. in praemio Eusebius de vita Constantini lib. 2. cap. 20. cap. 21. cap. 24. cap. 44. Theodoret. li. 5. cap. 15. 〈◊〉 Franciae per Ansegisum 〈◊〉 Gregorius Epist lib. 1. cap. 100. 101. Ego dignus pietatis vestrae famulus August Epist 166. Vide Optatum lib. 1. Aug. Epist 162. 166. Eusebius li. 10. cap. 5. Eusebius li. 10. cap. 5. August Epist 162. August contrae Parm. lib. 1. cap. 6. August Epist. 166. Extat haec collatio apud Optum Socrates lib. 5 â—ap 10. Socrat. lib. 5. cap. 10.