Inhabitant of China or of Terra incognita can be saued is a great deale more safe then to thinke God hath no meanes vnknowne vnto vs by which he may and doth saue some euen in those countries wherin there is no visible Church or Christian Congregation or whose Inhabitants haue no commerce with any Christians Wee see by experience that God teacheth such as are borne deafe and dumb many things by the eye or other external suggestion which such as haue the vse benefit of eares tongue could not learn either by sight or other externall sense Now albeit the Apostles rule faith commeth by bearing be most vndoubtedly true and true likewise that without faith it is impossible to please God yet were it an hard censure hence to conclude that none such as are born deafe and dumbe can be saued The Apostles saying then that faith commeth by hearing must bee limited by its proper subiect that is men to whom God hath giuen the gift of hearing So must the Maxime now in question extra Ecclesiam non est salus out of the Church there is no saluation bee limited or restrained to its proper subiect Howbeit the exact limitation of it might best bee made or taken by such as haue occasion to dispute with the Iewes or Heathens It is onely or especially true in respect of such Iewes Turkes or heathens and their seuerall progenies as haue commerce with Christians The former Maxime with reference to such men is vniuersally true if we take the visible Church vniuersally or indefinitely vnlesse such men associate themselues to some visible Church or other they cannot be saued And in some cases it may be vndoubtedly true in respect of some particular visible Church but so true onely ex accidenti or hypothesi by accident or vpon supposition As if a Iew or Mahumetan by profession and birth should liue in this kingdome hauing no possible meanes of associating himselfe to any other congregation of Christians than such as conforme themselues to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England it were both safe and orthodoxe to lay the former Law or Gospell as hard vnto him as the Papists doe vnto vs to tell him in plaine and peremptory tearmes that there were no meanes for him to escape the horrors of hell and miseries of the world to come vnlesse hee would become a member of Christs Church planted here amongst vs. Or in case he and other more such as he is were to leaue vs and to reside in some other State or Kingdome we were bound in conscience to apply the like medicine vnto him or them and to tell them there were no hope for them to escape the wrath of God but by becomming the sonnes of God no hope to become the sonnes of God but by becomming the children of some visible Church indued with power and authoritie to baptize them into Christs death and resurrection Of heathens then or infidels or of whosoeuer not as yet professing Christianitie yet hauing commerce with Christians and liuing within the call of the visible Church that of Cyprian is vniuersally true Hee that hath not the Church for his Mother cannot haue God for his Father Albeit by the Church in this saying we meane a visible Church 2 Of such as haue beene actuall members of some visible Church but haue either separated themselues from it or haue beene cast out of it by Ecclesiastike censure or coactiue power neither of the former Maximes extra Ecclesiam non est salus Et qui non habet Ecclesiam Matrem non habet Deum Patrem out of the Church there is no saluation And he that hath not the Church for his Mother hath not God for his Father is vniuersally true if we speake of the Church visible whether particular indefinite or vniuersall Both must be limited by the reasons or occasions which did moue the parties to forsake the Church wherein they were baptized or by the causes for which they were excluded or cast out of it It is here supposed that if the causes why they are excluded from one visible Church bee iust and good and the exclusion it selfe legall and formall the parties thus iustly excluded from one cannot lawfully be admitted into another visible Church 3 Swarez in his treatise to my remembrance de causa formali and in that question An dentur plures formae in vno composito whether there bee more formes than one in one body mentions a Synod which anathematizeth all such as dogmatically doe hold tres animas in vno viuente three soules in one liuing body And had the spirituall sword been put into Lactantius his hands it is very likely he would haue put all such Philosophers Geographers or Astronomers as had held the Antipodes to haue sought out a visible Church in that region At the least if his arme had beene so long as the Iesuits make the Popes hee would haue cut them off from all Communion with any visible Church or congregation of Christians within the Hemisphere wherein he liued And no question but euery visible Church hath such power and authority that it may so it will tyrannically abuse the power which God hath giuen it cut off euery inferiour member de facto But being cut off though from the vniuersall Church visible vpon no greater occasions or iuster causes then these late mentioned they do not thereby cease to be members of the Church which is to vs inuisible that is of the Church which is Holy and Catholike 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no not to be visible members of the Holy Catholike Church taken in a secondary sense that is of the Catholike Church which is visible to vs. Of which and of the ground of this distinction betweene an actuall member of the present visible Church and a visible member of the Holy Catholike Church we shall speake hereafter But to hold tres animas in vno viuente three soules in one liuing bodie is not so great an error in Diuinity or so meritorious of excommunication as either to affirme that there be two persons or to deny that there be two natures in our Sauiour Christ He that should dogmatically hold the affirmatiue or negatiue specified deserueth to bee vtterly cut off from euery visible Church And one and the same stroke of the spirituall sword which cuts him off from being a member of the visible Church doth incontinently cut him off from being a member of the Holy Catholike Church in what sense soeuer taken or to speake more properly hee doth depriue himselfe ipso facto of all communion with Christ or his body the Church by denying the vnity of his person or by confounding his natures And hauing thus apparantly excommunicated himselfe from that holy Church which is only knowne vnto God to vs invisible the visible Church stands bound in dutie of conscience and allegiance to Christ to depriue him of all communion with her or any member of hers either in the
though God wot vpon most dislike occasions in as great execration as those whom the ancient Fathers excommunicated 2 A notable instance to iustifie this assertion wee haue in the seuenth Synod or second Nicene Councell The point in debate was whether such Prelates and other Ministers as had fauoured the Eiconaclastae and withstood the worshipping of Images were to be receiued againe into the Church and to be restored to their dignitie vpon their submission The bookes being produced by which it did appeare that Athanasius Cyrill and other ancient Pillars of the orthodoxall Church had receiued notorious heretikes into their fauour and communion againe a Bishop of the Prouince of Sicilia learnedly puts in this exception or caueat The Canons of the blessed Fathers which hitherto haue beene produced were enacted against the Nouatians the Encratists and Arians But as for the Masters of this present heresie in what ranke shall wee place them Vpon which a Deacon of the same Church and Prouince propounds this question Whether is this new sprung heresie greater or lesse then those heresies which haue beene before it To all which the great Herod of Constantinople Tharasius being reconciled quoad haec to the Romane Pilate Pope Adrian makes this learned answer Euill is alwaies the same alwaies equall This is true saith Epiphanius the venerable Deacon of the most holy Church of Catanes Vicar or Deputie for the most blessed Thomas Archbishop of Sardinia but especially true in causes ecclesiasticall or matters concerning the Church from whose decrees to swarue in matters great or small is all one seeing the diuine Law is violated in both cases And after him one Iohn a venerable Monke Vicegerent for the orientall thrones as if his part had beene to act the Parasite in the Comedie and to turne magnas into ingentes gaue this verdict This heresie is worse then all other heresies and of all euils the very worst c. But was this great Patriarch Tharasius so stoically senslesse as not to be offended with this illiterate rough-shod Asse that thus would claw him like a Spannell For if this heresie were worse then all other heresies or the worst of euils the most excellently illiterate Patriarch and the venerable Deacon were grosly ouerseene in their sentence That all errours or heresies in matters ecclesiastike were equall Or will any Christian be so senselesly partiall as to thinke that this illiterate factious Councell could be Prophets or Doctors infallible in their conclusions when they bewray themselues to be grosse heretikes or more then heathenish Stoicks in the premisses that Malum semper est idem aequale that euill is alwaies the same alwaies equall Thus by the selfe same stroke of Authority by which this Councell did de facto thrust all other out of the visible Church that would not worship Images they haue declared themselues to be excommunicated de iure from the holy Catholike Church 3 In this assertion the ancient Fathers vnanimously accord that defection or swaruing from the Catholike Faith doth exclude men from the Catholike Church and by consequence from saluation but about the extent or precise limits of holy Catholike faith or about the exact list of Articles to be beleeued their concord is not so generall What particular opinions did induce or argue a defection frō Catholike faith or diuorce from the Catholike Church was neuer consented vpon by the ancient Fathers nor could their ioynt authoritie in this case be so great as in the former The latter ages of such as in respect of vs are ancient are in this point various and superstitious But of the vse effects or iust causes of excōmunication we shall haue occasion to speak more particularly hereafter The rules most pertinēt to our present busines which serue as an entry to the main controuersie betwixt vs the Romanists are two 4 The former immediately concernes Prelates or Church Gouernours They are alwaies to remember that this power is giuen them not for destruction or to shew their owne greatnesse but for the edification of others and therefore neuer to be vsed but vpon speciall and weighty occasions Hee that strikes fiercely with his spirituall sword at feathers doth alwaies either wound himselfe or wrest his arme neither is it safe to measure the iustice of Prelates proceedings by the euent or to collect that God doth approue their sentence because the partie sentenced by them may often come to a wofull or feareful end They may dye in their sinnes and Gods iustice may be manifest in the manner of their death and yet for all this their blood may bee required at their hands which did thus rule them with a rod of iron or feede them as the Apostle sayes with the sword when they should haue nourished them with the milke of the Gospell or at least haue vsed salutari seueritate wholesome seueritie towards them The second caueat concernes priuate men and it is that they be more vnwilling to separate themselues from the visible Church then to be cut off from the common-wealth wherein they liue The occasions of voluntary separation ought to be more weighty and hainous in respect of the parties from whom they voluntarily separate themselues then are the causes of excommunication for which inferiours are violently yet iustly separated from the Church by their Gouernours Cato as one saith could not haue committed so hainous a murther by killing another man as by killing himselfe for I thinke it had scarce beene possible for him to haue killed any Romane that had lesse deserued death than himselfe did yet not in this respect onely but simply and absolutely it was a greater sinne in him and is more vnlawfull for any man to kill himselfe then to kill another The rule is as true in this point of spirituall murther that is of vnlawfull separation actiue or passiue from the visible Church Though it be a grieuous sinne in Gouernours to depriue their inferiours of all communion with the visible Church vpon light and vnnecessarie occasions yet it is a greater sinne in inferiours to depriue themselues of the same communion vpon the same or like occasions especially if they bee not certaine elsewhere to inioy the like or equiualent cōmunion without disturbance Such as intend a separation must alwaies respect as well terminum ad quem as terminum à quo whom they goe to as from whom they depart It is a motto better befitting Christians in violent persecutions by heathens then in voluntary separation from Christian Churches Quos fugiam habeo quo fugiam non habeo I know from whom I flye but whither to flye I know not To forsake the Church wherein wee haue beene baptized for the foule abuses that wee know by experience to bee committed in it before we be certaine in what other Church we may be admitted in which there is not in some kinde or other the like or worse abuses or more vnsufferable grieuances were as
seated in Kingdomes or Common-weales independent one of another is the vnitie of league or friendship And this may be as strict as it shall please such Common-weales or Churches to make it Thirdly to make the Church seated in one absolute State or Kingdome liue in subiection to another Church seated in another Kingdome or to any member of another Church or Kingdome head or branch is to erect a Babell or seat for Antichrist not to build vp one holy Church to Christ This practice or vsurpation of the Romish Church hath been the reason why the christian world for these many yeeres hath beene more confused and disordered then the Synagogue of Mahomet Nor is there any possibilitie that christian States or Kingdomes should euer be so vnited in faith and loue as that their ioynt prayers should be acceptable vnto God against the Turke or other professed enemie of Christ vntill they haue cast off this heauy yoke of Satanicall slauery But of these points hereafter 10 Lastly since the Church hath beene diffused throughout all and euery part of Kingdomes and Prouinces it is impossible that euery member should personally meete to make lawes and orders And yet all lawes are presumed to bee made by vniuersall consent and in this regard the Churches haue beene inforced to haue as well Churches as Bodies politike representatiue And inasmuch as the practice and custome hath beene to admit none but Cleargie or Church-men as members of the Body Ecclesiastike or Church representatiue the name of the Church hath beene in a manner appropriated to the Cleargie Church-men or Spiritualtie The Church or body Ecclesiastike representatiue that is the Church inabled to make lawes or canons Ecclesiastike of what members soeuer it doth may or ought to consist for their qualification as whether onely of Clarkes or whether it may admit some mixture of the Layetie is either permanently existent or existent onely by vicissitude or turnes The Church representatiue which is existent onely by vicissitude or at certaine times onely may bee comprehended vnder the names of Councels or Synods whether oecumenicall generall or prouinciall or of Conuocations ecclesiastike The Church representatiue permanently existent amongst the Romanists is the Consistorie of the Pope and his Cardinals Albeit in very deede the Iesuites the Canonists and later Papists of their instruction haue contracted the Church representatiue into the Popes brest alone He to vse their own dialect is the vertuall Church that is He eminently comprehends al the authoritie which is formally and ordinarily seated or inhaerent whether in the Church representatiue or in the whole militant and visible Church of God whereof He claimeth to bee the sole visible head He hath the same reference to the whole body of the Church visible besides as Plato his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is hee is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the life or quintescence of the visible Church or in respect of that Church all in all So Cardinall Paleotus in his booke de sacro consistorio would perswade vs that as God Almighty sometimes gouernes the world by his ordinary power or by the ministerie or coagencie of second causes sometimes by his extraordinarie immediate or absolute power so the Pope sometimes determines controuersies in religion and orders the affaires of the Church by the consent and assistance of Councels or at least of his Consistorie somtimes by himselfe alone and by his sole plenarie and illimited power CHAP. IX That albeit the true Church be alwaies visible yet it is a grosse sophisme hence to inferre that the visible Church is alwaies the true Church or that one visible Church is more priuiledged from erring than another The strange blasphemie by which the Author of the Antidote seekes to support the infallibilitie of the visible Romish Church 1 THe subiect of our next inquirie shall bee so to share the titles or attributes giuen by the Scriptures orthodoxall antiquitie or other good authoritie to the Church indefinitely taken betweene that one Holy Catholike Church which wee beleeue in this Creede and the visible Church or Churches which we see or know so as that God and his Holy Church may haue their full dues and Gods deputies here on earth Caesars or other gouernours of his visible Church may haue no wrong The best and most generall rule for our direction in this search is that which will better appeare from a treatise concerning the exposition of prophesies For as one and the same prophesie touching Christ so one and the same promise made vnto the Church may be often literally verified and in different measure successiuely fulfilled of diuers parties Some promises may be literally verified of the visible Church or Synagogue of the Iewes before our Sauiours Incarnation and of the visible Churches planted by his Apostles and bee in part fulfilled throughout euery age of the liue-members of Christs body to vs inuisible but lastly to bee exactly fulfilled of the Church triumphant or Kingdome of glory 2 Most of the later Romanists arguments are meere Sophismes à dicto secundùm quid ad simpliciter that is they take all those glorious titles or promises made to the Church in its most ample or exquisite signification to be exactly and intirely fulfilled of the visible Church throughout all ages when as they are verified of it in part onely or at some speciall times or by way of type or shadow and vnto which she hath at no time any absolute title but conditionall In this mist of ignorance the Author of the blinde guide of faith in his second chapter doth strangely wander not onely from the truth but from the leuell which hee had taken not much amisse in the first chapter of his treatise and as his custome is when hee hath lost his way like a balling Hound not well entred fals a barking at Doctor Whitaker whose words or meaning how sincerely he quotes or recites I leaue it to the vnpartiall Readers examination In his third chapter hauing proposed this Thesis That the true visible Church is apparantly knowne and famous to the world he labours to proue in the fourth chapter that the true visible and apparantly knowne Church can neuer faile That the visible Church was in the Apostles time and after the true Church of God we neuer denyed nor will we contend with him whether the true Church of God on earth can euer faile no not whether euer it ceaseth to be visible Where then is the difference These two propositions the true Church of God is alwaies visible the visible Church is alwaies the true Church of God differ as much as a Mill-horse and a Horse-mill or as to stand with a man and to withstand a man The whole visible Church in the dayes of the Emperours Constantius and Valens did Arianize as the Romanist cannot deny The best answer that they can giue to this Instance is that these Emperours did not raigne long for Valens died within
hearing of the word of Christ or in the administration of the Sacraments bound she is to withdraw from him all benefits or comfort of Christs death and passion which are committed to her dispensation vntill he repent and bee reconciled againe vnto Christ 4 From this truth some excellent writers against the vsurped power of the Romish Church in the vse or exercise of Peters keyes some I say aswell before Luthers time as since haue gathered this generall doctrine That the visible Church hath only power to declare who are separated or excommunicated ipso facto from the holy Catholike Church she hath no power so to separate or excommunicate any excommunicatione majori by the greater excommunication vnlesse they haue first excommunicated themselues or voided their hopes or interests in the holy Catholike Church by hereticall positions or opinions or by lewd and scandalous misdemeanours Of this opinion was that famous Weselius which was intituled lux mundi before Luther arose or the light of the Gospell which we now enioy did break forth But though the doctrine be true yet he and such as follow him extend the truth of it a little too farre and beyond its proper subiect There is a meane betweene this opinion and the contrary extreame of the Romanist which cannot be found out without some diuision of such errours or other causes as either iustly deserue or at least may be pretended to deserue excommunication or vtter separation from the visible Church Some errors in Diuinitie as we say are heresies ex specie of so deadly a nature that they induce a separation from the Holy Catholike Faith euen in their very first degree Of this ranke are all such errours in Religion as are directly opposite or contrary to those fundamentall points whose positiue beliefe is necessary to saluation which he that beleeues not is infidelis secundùm infidelitatem purae negationis that is such an Infidell as they are which cannot say the Lords Prayer the Creed or ten Commandements by heart or know not the generall contēts of them and which peremptorily to deny or contradict doth argue infidelitatem prauae dispositionis an infidelitie of contradiction We say in Logicke Euery contrarietie if it be direct and full doth necessarily include a contradiction as he that saith nix est alba Snow is white doth as fully contradict him that saith nix est nigra Snow is blacke as hee that should say nix non est nigra Snow is not blacke For album esse to be white is somewhat more then non esse nigrum not to be blacke The rule is applyable in Diuinity and of good vse in this present argument If not to beleeue there is one God if not to beleeue that this one God is the Author of goodnesse and the rewarder of such as seeke him be infidelitas purae negationis a priuatiue infidelitie and argue an absolute priuation of life spirituall then to beleeue there bee more Gods then one or that God is not the Author of goodnesse but it is all one whether we serue him or serue him not is an errour ex specie in its kind hereticall and deadly If it be infidelitas purae negationis an infidelitie priuatiue not to beleeue the incarnation of Christ as certainly it is for all such as doe not beleeue it are Infidells then to bee but positiuely perswaded that Christ is not truly man is an errour ex specie hereticall a deadly heresie infidelitas prauae dispositionis an infidelity of cōtradiction or contrariety Againe if not to beleeue the Sonne of God is truly God or if not to beleeue that this true Son of God was incarnate for vs necessarily argue a priuation of life spirituall and be as we say infidelitas purae negationis a priuatiue infidelity then if any man which acknowledgeth Christ bee of opinion that he is not as truly God as he is man this man by entertaining such an opinion doth vndoubtedly separate and disunite himselfe from the holy bond of Catholike faith and by consequence stands excommunicated ipso facto from the Holy Catholike Church and depriued of the communion of Saints whether the visible Church doth her duty or no in depriuing him of all communion with her selfe or with her members yea though the Pastors or Gouernors of the visible Church could by bribery or other sinister respects be mis-swayed if not to abett or maintaine him in it yet to vse conniuence towards him Now of all such errours as are ex specie hereticall and necessarily induce a separation or disunion from the holy Catholike Faith or Church the former assertion of Weselius is true to wit That the visible Church doth not by her authoritie cut them off from being members of the holy catholike Church but onely declare them to be no members of that Church And of all persons excommunicated by the visible Church or that separate themselues from the visible Church for feare of being censured vpon these causes or occasions the former Maximes are vniuersally true There is no hope of saluation for them vntill they returne againe into the bosome of the visible Church by vnfaigned sorrow and by true submission and repentance Yet suppose they neuer returne againe to the visible Church they are not therefore depriued of saluation because they are extra Ecclesiam visibilem out of the visible Church but because they were cast or went out of it vpon such causes or occasions as did first make them to be extra Ecclesiam sanctam catholicam out of the Holy and Catholike Church Or in case by repentance they returne againe into the visible Church whence they were cast out and obtaine saluation yet are they not therefore saued because they are in the visible Church saue onely as it is the meane or an instrument of reuniting them vnto the Holy Catholike Church or of ingraffing them into Christ Other opinions or errors in religion there be that be ex specie very dangerous yet not deadly vnlesse they be in a high degree or perhaps in the highest degree not deadly in themselues vnlesse they be mingled with some spice of some other pertinacie or disobedient humor more then ariseth meerly from the strength or habit of the errour or from the nature of the obiect about which the errour is To be perswaded that the blessed Virgin did not continue so pure a virgin all her life time after our Sauiours birth as she was before is certainly an errour ex specie very dangerous yet nothing so deadly as the errour of Eutyches which held that our Sauiour Christ did not after his resurrection and glorification continue as truly man as he was before So long as a man holds errours of this second ranke onely to himselfe being not sufficiently enlightned by the messengers of truth to discern their danger nor admonished by pastorall authority to abandon them as it cannot bee denyed that hee is soule-sicke so it is not safe to affirme that hee is
State in respect of Christian and religious policie And first of the reasons in behalfe of King and State Their positions which induce rebellion against free States Kingdomes and which were they ioyntly admitted would leaue supereminent or royall Maiestie onely a naked title without any realtie of soueraignty or iurisdiction are two First That the spirituall power is aboue all secular or ciuill power And this assertion were it rightly limited is in it selfe orthodoxall But the more orthodoxall it is in it selfe the more deadly it makes the second position vnto which they seeke to wed it The second position is That this supreame and spirituall power is totally seated in the Clergie as in a body distinct from the body politike Yea the most of them hold the plenitude of this power to bee in the Pope from whom all spirituall power of iurisdiction is deriued to the rest of the Clergie after the same manner as iurisdiction in causes temporall is deriued to inferiour Magistrates from the Monarch or supreame Maiestie in euery Kingdome The Regiment of the Church as they say is Regimen monarchicum a visible Monarchy of which the Pope is the visible Monarch As the spirituall power which the Church of Rome or Pope vsurpeth is intensiuely most absolute independent so is the obiect of it for extension most transcendent and illimited Pope Innocent the third by vertue of this supposed plenary power did challenge to bee supreme Iudge in censuring or punishing mortall sins Intendimus decernere de peccato cuius ad nos pertinet sine dubitatione censura or vt nullus qui sit sanae mentis ignorat quin ad officium nostrum spectet de quocunque peccato mortali corripere quemlibet Christianū cap. nouit de Iudicijs We intend faith he to determine concerning Sinne the censure whereof so vnquestionably appertaines to vs that no man well in his wits can be ignorant that it is a part of our power or office to chastise or correct euery Christian man for any mortall sinne of what kind soeuer But if in this Cathedrall constitution hee did not erre the Christian world might haue as infallible a perpetual rule for guiding Millers hands and Taylors sheeres and for preuenting or punishing all cozenage in Trades or Crafts as it hath for ending controuersies in matters of faith or diuinity 3 It is an idle and friuolous distinction which some Canonists haue framed to solue the truth of this Popes sentence Aliud est de re actione aut contractu iudicare aliud iudicare de peccato It is one thing to determine of the action or cōtract another to determine or iudge of the sin committed For as Father Paul excellently obserues quod inseparabile est distinguunt they put a diuersity without a differēce For if the pope may iudge of euery matter or contract as it is a sin I hope he would prohibit it if it were a sin and compell men to obserue his Edicts or prohibitions And doing thus what remaines to bee done by any temporall power whether supreame or subordinate but onely to looke on or to be as Sheriffes to see his Decrees put in execution or to be his hangman or executioner No Magistrate doth punish but vpon supposall of some fault or sinne committed Lex non est iust is posita saith the Apostle sed iniustis The Law punitiue is not giuen against the iust but against the vniust And if the Pope might be supreame Iudge of euery mortall sinne euery malefactor might haue the benefit of appeale vnto him in all matters criminall He might punish Princes for making vniust Lawes or for not executing such Lawes as they themselues haue made or haue found made vnto their hands by their Predecessors or as hee shall make or appoint them to make 4 Againe all of them agree in this that the Pope hath a supreame independent power to make coactiue Ecclesiasticke Lawes for the welfare of the Church in as much as all temporall power is subordinate to the power spiritual which as his subiects say is originally and plenarie in himselfe hee may by vertue of this supreame spirituall power disanull all such Lawes as any temporall State or Kingdome shall make if these to his Holinesse vnerring spirit shall seeme contrary to the Lawes of God or to the Lawes Ecclesiasticke made by himselfe or by his predecessors Now in case any Temporall Princes or States shall after some monitions refuse to repeale such Lawes as they haue enacted but hee dislikes they stand obnoxious ipso facto to the sentence of excommunication The exercise of this terrible power hath beene within these 400. yeeres frequent in many Kingdomes and famous of late against the Venetians That ancient and renowned State for wisedome and grauity and of all States professing Romish faith alwaies most venerable for deuotion had made such a Law as the Law of Mortmaine here in England for repressing the excesse of Leuies portion which was become like a huge deformed wen in a faire and comely body and being admonished by the Pope to repeale this Law and another edict necessary for the preseruation of peace whereby the vnruly Cleargie within their territories were subiected to the censure of the State because the Venetians would not obey his monitions and betray their ancient liberties the Duke and Senate were excommunicated by his Holinesse I doe not well remember whether that State had made a decree that no prouision should be carried out of their territories to Ancona but put the case they had made such a Law in as much as Ancona is a Citie which belongs to Peters patrimony a segniorie or Lordship of the Church of Rome this Law must be controleable by the Pope because it is preiudiciall to the Church And the temporall Soueraignty of Venice must submit themselues vnto the spirituall Iurisdiction of the Romish Church or feele the stroke of Peters sword 5 The like dreadfull consequences of these dangerous principles about the supremacie or Iurisdiction spirituall did cause diuers Kings of this land before Henry the eight to separate themselues and their people from the visible Romish Church in matters of Iurisdiction though not of doctrine For an English man to haue receiued any title of Iurisdiction from the Pope or any forraigne Prelate subiect vnto him was by the ancient Lawes of this land a praemunire I will onely touch so much of the Romish Churches practice in this State as forraigne Writers haue taken notice of which was enough to giue our Kings iust occasion to make such Lawes of praemunire as the forecited Author produceth Pope Innocent the third presuming vpon his former rule that it belonged vnto him de quocunque peccato mortali corripere quemlibet christianum to censure or punish euery man for any mortall sinne charged Iohn King of England and the French King to keepe the Churches peace vnder paine of his curse And in the processe excommunicates the French King