Religion as beeing instructed by their schoolemasters in Religion And who were they but Ecclesiasticall persons All this presupposed as matter of trewth I draw this conclusion Howsoeuer no small number of the French Clergie may perhaps beare the affection of louing Subiects to their King and may not suffer the Clericall character to deface the impression of naturall allegiance yet for so much as the Order of Clerics is dipped in a deeper die and beareth a worse tincture of daungerous practises then the other Orders the third Estate had beene greatly wanting to their excellent prouidence and wisedome if they should haue relinquished and transferred the care of designements and proiects for the life of their King and the safety of his Crowne to the Clergiealone Moreouer the Clergie standeth bound to referre the iudgement of all matters in controuersie to the sentence of the Pope in this cause beeing a partie and one that pretendeth Crownes to depend vpon his Mitre What hope then might the third Estate conceiue that his Holinesse would passe against his owne cause when his iudgement of the controuersie had beene sundrie times before published and testified to the world And whereas the plot or modell of remedies proiected by the third Estate and the Kings Officers hath not prooued sortable in the euent was it because the said remedies were not good and lawfull No verily but because the Clergie refused to become contributors of their duty and meanes to the grand seruice Likewise for that after the burning of bookes addressed to iustifie rebellious people traytors and parricides of Kings neuerthelesse the authors of the said bookes are winked at and backt with fauour Lastly for that some wretched parricides drinke off the cuppe of publike iustice whereas to the firebrands of sedition the sowers of this abominable doctrine no man saith so much as blacke is their eye It sufficiently appeareth as I supose by the former passage that his Lordship exhorting the third Estate to referre the whole care of this Regall cause vnto the Clergie hath tacked his frame of weake ioynts and tenons to a very worthy but wrong foundation Page 9. Howbeit he laboureth to fortifie his exhortation with a more weake and feeble reason For to make good his proiect he affirmes that matters and maximes out of all doubt and question may not be shuffled together with points in controuersie Now his rules indubitable are two The first It is not lawfull to murther Kings for any cause whatsoeuer This he confirmeth by the example of Saul as he saith deposed from his Throne whose life or limbs Dauid neuerthelesse durst not once hurt or wrong for his life Conc. Constan Sess 15. Likewise he confirmes the same by a Decree of the Councill held at Constance His other point indubitable The Kings of France are Soueraignes in all Temporall Soueraigntie within the French Kingdome and hold not by fealtie either of the Pope as hauing receiued or obliged their Crownes vpon such tenure and condition or of any other Prince in the whole world Which point neuerthelesse he takes not for certaine and indubitable but onely according to humane and historicall certaintie Now a third point he makes to be so full of controuersie and so farre within the circle of disputable questions as it may not be drawne into the ranke of classicall and authenticall points for feare of making a certaine point doubtfull by shuffling and iumbling therewith some point in controuersie Now the question so disputable as he pretendeth is this A Christian Prince breakes his oath solemnely taken to God both to liue and to die in the Catholique Religion Say this Prince turnes Arrian or Mahometan fals to proclaime open warre and to wage battell with Iesus Christ Whether may such a Prince be declared to haue lost his Kingdome and who shall declare the Subiects of such a Prince to be quit of their oath of allegiance The L. Cardinall holds the affirmatiue and makes no bones to maintaine that all other parts of the Catholique Church yea the French Church euen from the first birth of her Theologicall Schooles to Caluins time and teaching haue professed that such a Prince may bee lawfully remooued from his Throne by the Pope and by the Councill and suppose the contrarie doctrine were the very Quintessence or spirit of trewth yet might it not in case of faith be vrged and pressed otherwise then by way of problematicall disceptation That is the summe of his Lordships ample discourse The refuting whereof I am constrained to put off and referre vnto an other place because he hath serued vs with the same dishes ouer and ouer againe There we shall see the L. Cardinall maketh way to the dispatching of Kings after deposition that Saul was not deposed as he hath presumed that in the Councill of Constance there is nothing to the purpose of murthering Soueraigne Princes that his Lordship supposing the French King may be depriued of his Crowne by a superiour power doth not hold his liege Lord to be Soueraine in France that by the position of the French Church from aage to aage the Kings of France are not subiect vnto any censure of deposition by the Pope that his Holinesse hath no iust and lawfull pretence to produce that any Christian King holds of him by fealtie or is obliged to doe the Pope homage for his Crowne Well then for the purpose he dwelleth onely vpon the third point pretended questionable and this hee affirmeth If any shall condemne or wrappe vnder the solemne curse the abettours of the Popes power to vnking lawfull and Soueraigne Kings the same shall runne vpon foure dangerous rocks of apparent incongruities and absurdities First he shall offer to force and entangle the consciences of many deuout persons For he shall binde them to beleeue and sweare that doctrine Pag. 14. the contrary whereof is beleeued of the whole Church and hath bene beleeued by their Predecessors Secondly he shall ouerturne from top to bottome the sacred authoritie of holy Church and shall set open a gate vnto all sorts of heresie by allowing Lay-persons a bold libertie to be iudges in causes of Religion and Faith For what is that degree of boldnesse but open vsurping of the Priesthood what is it but putting of prophane hands vpon the Arke what is it but laying of vnholy fingers vpon the holy Censor for perfumes Thirdly hee shall make way to a Schisme not possible to bee put by and auoyded by any humane prouidence For this doctrine beeing held and professed by all other Catholiques how can we declare it repugnant vnto Gods word how can wee hold it impious how can wee account it detestable but wee shall renounce communion with the Head and other members of the Church yea we shall confesse the Church in all aages to haue bene the Synagogue of Satan and the spouse of the Deuill Lastly by working the establishment of this Article which worketh an establishment of Kings Crownes He shall
of our Catholike Religion then if it should bee granted the Church hath decided the said points without any authoritie c. Mee thinkes the L. Cardinal in the whole draught and course of these words doeth seeke not a little to blemish the honour of his Church and to marke his religion with a blacke coale For the whole frame of his Mother-Church is very easie to be shaken if by the establishing of this Article she shall come to finall ruine and shall become the Synagogue of Satan Likewise Kings are brought into a very miserable state and condition if their Souereigntie shall not stand if they shall not bee without danger of deposition but by the totall ruine of the Church and by holding the Pope whom they serue to be Antichrist The L. Cardinall himselfe let him be well sifted herein doeth not credit his owne words For doeth not his Lordship tell vs plaine that neither by Diuine testimony nor by any sentence of the ancient Church the knot of this controuersie hath bene vntied againe that some of the French by the Popes fauourable indulgence are licensed or tolerated to say their mind to deliuer their opinion of this question though contrary to the iudgement of his Holinesse prouided they hold it onely as problematicall and not as necessary What Can there be any assurance for the Pope that hee is not Antichrist for the Church of Rome that she is not a Synagogue of Satan when a mans assurance is grounded vpon wauering and wilde vncertainties without Canon of Scripture without consent or countenance of antiquitie and in a cause which the Pope by good leaue suffereth some to tosse with winds of problematicall opinion It hath beene shewed before that by Gods word whereof small reckoning perhaps is made by venerable antiquitie and by the French Church in those times when the Popes power was mounted aloft the doctrine which teacheth deposing of Kings by the Pope hath bene checked and countermanded What did the French in those dayes beleeue the Church was then swallowed vp and no where visible or extant in the world No verely Those that make the Pope of Soueraigne authoritie for matters of Faith are not perswaded that in this cause they are bound absolutely to beleeue and credit his doctrine Why so Because they take it not for any decree or determination of Faith but for a point perteining to the mysteries of State and a pillar of the Popes Temporall Monarchie who hath not receiued any promise from God that in causes of this nature hee shall not erre For they hold that errour by no meanes can crawle or scramble vp to the Papall See so highly mounted but grant ambition can scale the highest walls and climbe the loftiest pinacles of the same See They hold withall that in case of so speciall aduantage to the Pope whereby he is made King of Kings and as it were the pay-master or distributer of Crownes it is against all reason that hee should sit as Iudge to carue out Kingdomes for his owne share To bee short let his Lordship be assured that he meeteth with notorious blocke-heads more blunt-witted then a whetstone when they are drawen to beleeue by his perswasion that whosoeuer beleeues the Pope hath no right nor power to put Kings beside their Thrones to giue and take away Crownes are all excluded and barred out of the heauenly Kingdome But now followes a worse matter For they whom the Cardinall reproachfully calls heretikes haue wrought and wonne his Lordship as to mee seemeth to plead their cause at the barre and to betray his owne cause to these heretikes For what is it in his Lordship but plaine playing the Praeuaricator when he crieth so lowd that by admitting and establishing of this Article the doctrine of Cake-incarnation and priuie Confession to a Priest is vtterly subuerted Let vs heare his reason and willingly accept the trewth from his lips The Articles as his Lordship granteth of Transubstantiation auricular Confession and the Popes power to depose Kings are all grounded alike vpon the same authoritie Now he hath acknowledged the Article of the Popes power to depose Kings is not decided by the Scripture nor by the ancient Church but within the compasse of certaine aages past by the authoritie of Popes and Councils Then he goes on well and inferres with good reason that in case the point of the Popes power be weakened then the other two points must needs bee shaken and easily ouerthrowen So that hee doeth confesse the monstrous birth of the breaden-God and the blind Sacrament or vaine fantasie of auricular confession are no more conueyed into the Church by pipes from the springs of sacred Scripture or from the riuers of the ancient Church then that other point of the Popes power ouer Kings and their Crownes Very good For were they indeed deriued from either of those two heads that is to say were they grounded vpon the foundation of the first or second authoritie then they could neuer bee shaken by the downefall of the Popes power to depose Kings I am well assured that for vsing so good a reason the world will hold his Lordship in suspicion that he still hath somesmacke of his fathers discipline and instruction who in times past had the honour to be a Minister of the holy Gospel Howbeit he playeth not faire nor vseth sincere dealing in his proceeding against such as he calls heretikes when hee casts in their dish and beares them in hand they frowardly wrangle for the inuisibilitie of the Church in earth For indeed the matter is nothing so They freely acknowledge a visible Church For howsoeuer the assembly of Gods elect doth make a body not discerneable by mans eye yet we assuredly beleeue and gladly professe there neuer wanted a visible Church in the world yet onely visible to such as make a part of the same All that are without see no more but men they doe not see the said men to be the trew Church Wee beleeue moreouer of the vniuersall Church visible that it is composed of many particular Churches whereof some are better fined and more cleane from lees and dregs then other and withall we denie the purest Churches to be alwayes the greatest and most visible THE FOVRTH AND LAST INCONVENIENCE EXAMINED THE Lord Cardinall before he looketh into the last Inconuenience vseth a certaine preamble of his owne life past and seruices done to the Kings Henry the III. and IIII. Touching the latter of which two Kings his Lordship saith in a straine of boasting after this manner I by the grace of God or the grace of God by mee rather reduced him to the Catholike religion I obtained at Rome his absolution of Pope Clement 8. I reconciled him to the holy See Touching the first of these points I say the time the occasions and the foresaid Kings necessary affaires doe sufficiently testifie that he was induced to change his mind and to alter his religion vpon the strength of other
as it were a New-song before the Throne and before the foure Beasts and the Elders and none could learne that Song except these hundred foure and fourtie thousand to wit these who are bought from the earth for they who were bought and redeemed by the precious Blood of Christ from among the rest of the world and so were no more of their number were onely able to learne and vnderstand these voyces for vnto them onely it apperteineth Where first God promised that he should shortly destroy that Tyrannie which voyce of God is here described by resembling it to the sound of many waters as Dauid doeth and to the roaring of the thunder And where next the thankes thereof is giuen by the Saints and Angels in singing the praises of God as earnestly and cheerefully as if it were but a New-song and to represent the harmonie thereof they sing to the concords of the harpes and instruments in the presence of God sitting in his Maiestie and compassed about with the foure Beastes and foure and twentie Elders of whom ye heard mention made before 4 These attendants on the Lambe are these who are not defiled with women to wit not guiltie of spirituall adulterie for they are Virgines as Christ called them in the parable of the Lampes these follow the Lambe whithersoeuer he goeth for they goe not astray from his footsteps neither to the right nor the left hand and those are they who are bought from among men and are the acceptable first fruits vnto their Father and his Lambe 5 And in their mouthes was found no guile for they are inculpable before the Throne of God because the Lambe hath fully payd their debts for them 6 Then I did see another Angel flying through the middest of heauen hauing the Eternall Euangel in his hand that he might preach the same to all the inhabitants of the earth euen to all nations tribes tongues and peoples for euen as ye heard before in the sixt Trumpet of the reuiuing againe of the two Witnesses who were slaine by this tyrannicall and hereticall Monarchie so now the same was declared vnto me by this Angel who when this Tyrannie is in the greatest pride as ye haue heard flies through the middest of heauen to be publikely heard and seene by all hauing with him these eternall glad tidings to preach them to all the earth to wit God shall in the end of this Tyrannie while it is yet triumphing raise vp and send his Angels or messengers who shall publikely teach the trewth and refute the errours of this tyrannie before the eyes of the Sunne and the Moone to the saluation of a part of euery countrey and to double condemnation of the rest through making them inexcusable who wil not turne in time 7 And their exhortation shal be this which then I heard the Angel say with a lowd voyce Feare God and render him all glory for the day of his iudgement comes at hand adore him therefore who made heauen and earth and seas and fountaines of water to wit all things good and euill and the particular applications that these Witnesses shall make of this generall doctrine to the times of corruption that they shall be in shall be this that I heard two Angels folowing declare of whom the first said 8 It is fallen It is fallen Babylon that great City because she gaue to al nations to drinke of the Vine of wrath of her fornication or spiritual adulterie to wit that great Monarchie called Babylon because it leades and keepes the soules of men in spirituall thraldome euen as the Monarchie of Babylon led and kept the people of Israel in a corporall captiuitie that Monarchie I say shall be suddenly destroyed for it is to be noted that as there is no distinction of times in the presence of God but all things are present vnto him so he and his Angels calleth oftentimes that thing done that is shortly and certainly to be done thereafter which forme of speach ye wil sundry times heare thus vsed hereafter That Monarchie I say then shall shortly be destroyed and that iustly because she hath abused a great part of the earth by intising them to be senselesse as if they were drunken and to embrace her errours and idolatries or spirituall whoredome For as men are entised by whores to leaue their owne spouse and enter in to them so shall they perswade the nations to leaue their societie with their spouse IESVS CHRIST and onely settle their saluation vpon her and for the committing of this spirituall whoredome this Monarchie is here called Shee Chap. 17. and afterward the great Whore and the reason that they shall giue why they make this warning shall be in these words which I heard the third Angel proclaime to wit 9 For whosoeuer shall adore this Beast any longer or his image or take his character on his forehead or his hand as ye heard before 10 He shall for his iust reward and punishment drinke of the Wine of the wrath of God yea of the pure and immixed wine thereof powred out in the cup of his wrath And he shal be tormented with fire and brimstone to wit he shall be cast into hell the torments whereof they doe signifie and that in the presence of the holy Angels for they shall beare witnesse against him in the sight of the Lambe for the Lambe shall iudge and condemne him 11 And the smoake of his torments shall mount vp in all worlds to come to wit he shal be vncessantly tormented for euer For all these that adore the Beast and his image and hath the character of his name shall not haue rest day nor night to wit they shal be perpetually tormented without any release or reliefe 12 And in these dayes when the Witnesses shal be making this exhortation in these things shall the constancie of the Saints or faithfull be tried and by this triall shall they be knowne and discerned that obserue and retaine the Commandements of God and the faith of Iesus the Sauiour 13 Then I heard a voice from heauen saying to me Write Blessed are the dead that die for the Lords cause hereafter so sayes the Spirit for they rest from their trauails and their workes follow them This voyce from heauen did by these wordes declare vnto me that these Witnesses who should make this exhortation that ye haue heard should be persecuted therefore by that spirituall Babylon but that these should be happiest who lost their liues for so good a cause for the confirmation whereof the holy Spirit sayes Yea and subioynes the reason to wit because both they rest from these continuall labours and troubles that they were alwayes subiect vnto in the earth and in recompense thereof their workes follow them for as faith is the onely leader of men to heauen and so goes before them so according to the greatnesse and honour of their calling in earth if they discharge it well they are rewarded in heauen
the whole Dialogue CHAP. I. ARGV The diuision of Spirits in foure principall kindes The description of the first kinde of them called Spectra vmbrae mortuorum What is the best way to be free of their trouble PHILOMATHES I Pray you now then goe forward in telling what ye thinke fabulous or may be trowed in that case EPI That kind of the diuels cōuersing in the earth may be diuided in foure different kindes whereby he affraieth and troubleth the bodies of men For of the abusing of the soule I haue spoken alreadie The first is where spirits trouble some houses or solitarie places The second where Spirits follow vpon certaine persons and at diuers houres trouble them The third when they enter within them and possesse them The fourth is these kinde of Spirits that are called vulgarly the Fairie Of the three former kinds ye heard already how they may artificially be made by Witchcraft to trouble folke now it restes to speake of their naturall comming as it were and not raised by Witchcraft But generally I must forewarne you of one thing before I enter in this purpose that is that although in my discoursing of them I deuide them in diuers kinds ye must notwithstanding thereof note my phrase of speaking in that For doubtleslie they are in effect but all one kinde of Spirits who for abusing the more of mankinde take on these sundrie shapes and vse diuers formes of outward actions as if some were of nature better then other Now I returne to my purpose As to the first kinde of these spirits that were called by the ancients by diuers names according as their actions were For if they were Spirits that haunted some houses by appearing in diuers and horrible formes and making great dinne they were called Lemures or Spectra If they appeared in likenesse of any defunct to some friends of his they were called vmbraemortuorum And so innumerable stiles they got according to their actions as I haue said alreadie as we see by experience how many stiles they haue giuen them in our language in the like maner Of the appearing of these Spirits we are certified by the Scriptures Esay 13. Iere. 50. where the Prophet Esay 13. and 34. Chap. threatning the destruction of Ierusalem declares that it shall not onely be wracked but shall become so great a solitude as it shall be the habitacle of Howlets and of Zijm and Ijm which are the proper Hebrew names for these Spirits The cause why they haunt sollitarie places it is by reason that they may affray and brangle the more the faith of such as them alone hauntes such places For our nature is such as in companies we are not so soone moued to any such kind of feare as being sollitarie which the diuel knowing well enough he will not therefore assaile vs but when wee are weake And besides that God will not permit him so to dishonour the societies and companies of Christians as in publicque times and places to walke visiblie amongst them On the other part when he troubles certaine houses that are dwelt in it is a sure token either of grosse ignorance or of some grosse and slanderous sinnes amongst the inhabitants thereof which God by that extraordinarie rod punishes PHI. But by what way or passage can these Spirits enter into these houses seeing they alledge that they will enter doore and window being steiked EPI They will choose the passage for their entresse according to the forme that they are in at that time For if they haue assumed a dead bodie whereinto they lodge themselues they can easily enough open without dinne any doore or window and enter in thereat And if they enter as a Spirit onely any place where the aire may come in at is large enough an entrie for them For as I said before a Spirit can occupie no quantitie PHI. And will God then permit these wicked Spirits to trouble the rest of a dead bodie before the resurrection thereof Or if hee will so I thinke it should be of the reprobate onely EPI What more is the rest troubled of a dead bodie when the diuell caries it out of the graue to serue his turne for a space nor when the Witches take it vp and ioynts it or when as Swine wortes vp the graues The rest of them that the Scripture speakes of is not meaned by a locall remaining continually in one place but by their resting from their trauailes and miseries of this world while their latter coniunction againe with the soule at that time to receiue full glorie in both And that the diuel may vse as well the ministrie of the bodies of the faithfull in these cases as of the vnfaithfull there is no inconuenience for his haunting with their bodies after they are dead can no-waies defile them in respect of the soules absence And for any dishonour it can be vnto them by what reason can it be greater then the hanging heading or many such shamefull deaths that good men will suffer For there is nothing in the bodies of the faithfull more worthie of honour or freer from corruption by nature nor in these of the vnfaithfull while time they be purged and glorified in the latter Day as is daily seene by the vilde diseases and corruptions that the bodies of the faithfull are subiect vnto as ye will see clearely proued when I speake of the possessed and Daemoniacques PHI. Yet there are sundry that affirme to haue haunted such places where these spirits are alledged to be and could neuer heare nor see any thing EPI I thinke well for that is onely reserued to the secret knowledge of God whom he will permit to see such things and whom not PHI. But where these spirits haunt and trouble any houses what is the best way to banish them EPI By two meanes may onely the remeid of such things be procured The one is ardent prayer to God both of these persons that are troubled with them and of that Church whereof they are The other is the purging of themselues by amendment of life from such sinnes as haue procured that extraordinarie plague PHI. And what meane then these kindes of spirits when they appeare in the shadow of a person newly dead or to die to his friends EPI When they appeare vpon that occasion they are called Wraithes in our language Amongst the Gentiles the diuell vsed that much to make them beleeue that it was some good spirit that appeared to them then either to forewarne them of the death of their friend or else to discouer vnto them the will of the defunct or what was the way of his slaughter as it is written in the booke of the histories prodigious and this way he easily deceiued the Gentiles because they knew not God and to that same effect is it that he now appeares in that maner to some ignorant Christians for hee dares not so illude any that knoweth that neither can the spirit of the defunct
made his conquest the Law and Prophets are thought sufficient to serue vs or make vs inexcusable as Christ saith in his parable of Lazarus and the rich man CHAP. III. ARGV The description of a particular sort of that kinde of following Spirits called Incubi and Succubi And what is the reason wherefore these kinds of Spirits haunt most the Northerne and barbarous parts of the world PHILOMATHES THe next question that I would speere is likewise concerning this first of these two kinds of Spirits that ye haue conioyned and it is this ye know how it is commonly written and reported that amongst the rest of the sorts of Spirits that follow certaine persons there is one more monstrous nor all the rest in respect as it is alleaged they conuerse naturally with them whom they trouble and haunt with and therefore I would know in two things your opinion herein First if such a thing can be and next if it be whether there be a difference of sexes amongst these Spirits or not EPI That abhominable kinde of the diuels abusing of men or women was called of old Incubi and Succubi according to the difference of the sexes that they conuersed with By two meanes this great kinde of abuse might possibly be performed The one when the diuel onely as a Spirit and stealing out the sperme of a dead bodie abuses them that way they not graithly seeing any shape or feeling any thing but that which hee so conueyes in that part as we reade of a Monasterie of Nunnes which were burnt for their being that way abused The other meane is when he borrowes a dead body and so visibly and as it seemes vnto them naturally as a man conuerses with them But it is to be noted that in whatsoeuer way he vseth it that sperme seemes intollerably cold to the person abused For if he steale out the nature of a quicke person it cannot be so quickly caried but it will both tine the strength and heate by the way which it could neuer haue had for lacke of agitation which in the time of procreation is the procurer and wakener vp of these two naturall qualities And if he occupying the dead bodie as his lodging expell the same out thereof in the due time it must likewise be cold by the participation with the qualities of the dead body whereout of it comes And whereas ye enquire if these Spirits be diuided in sexes or not I thinke the rules of Philosophie may easily resolue a man of the contrary For it is a sure principle of that Art that nothing can be diuided in sexes except such liuing bodies as must haue a naturall seed to genere by But we know Spirits haue no seed proper to themselues nor yet can they gender one with an other PHI. How is it then that they say sundrie monsters haue bene gotten by that way EPI These tales are nothing but Aniles fabulae For that they haue no nature of their owne I haue shewed you alreadie And that the cold nature of a dead bodie can worke nothing in generation it is more nor plaine as being alreadie dead of it selfe as well as the rest of the bodie is wanting the naturall heate and such other naturall operation as is necessarie for working that effect and in case such a thing were possible which were vtterly against all the rules of nature it would breed no monster but onely such a naturall off-spring as would haue come betwixt that man or woman and that other abused person in case they both being aliue had had a doe with other For the Diuels part therein is but the naked carrying or expelling of that substance and so it could participate with no quality of the same Indeede it is possible to the craft of the Diuell to make a womans belly to swell after he hath that way abused her which hee may doe either by stirring vp her owne humour or by hearbes as wee see beggers daily doe And when the time of her deliuery should come to make her thoil great dolours like vnto that naturall course and then subtilly to slip in the Mid-wiues hands stocks stones or some monstrous barne brought from some other place but this is more reported and guessed at by others nor beleeued by me PHI. But what is the cause that this kinde of abuse is thought to bee most common in such wilde parts of the world as Lap-land and Fin-land or in our North Isles of Orknay and Schet-land EPI Because where the Diuell findes greatest ignorance and barbaritie there assailes he grosseliest as I gaue you the reason wherfore there were moe Witches of women-kinde nor men PHI. Can any be so vnhappie as to giue their willing consent to the Diuels vile abusing them in this forme EPI Yea some of the Witches haue confessed that he hath perswaded them to giue their willing consent thereunto that hee may thereby haue them feltred the sikarer in his snares but as the other compelled sort is to be pitied and prayed for so is this most highly to be punished and detested PHI. Is it not the thing which we call the Mare which takes folkes sleeping in their beds a kinde of these spirits whereof ye are speaking EPI No that is but a naturall sickenesse which the Mediciners haue giuen that name of Incubus vnto ab incubando because it being a thicke fleume falling into our breast vpon the heart while we are sleeping intercludes so our vitall spirits and takes all powerfrom vs as makes vs think that there were some vnnaturall burden or spirit lying vpon vs and holding vs downe CHAP. IIII. ARGV The description of the Daemoniackes and possessed By what reason the Papists may haue power to cure them PHILOMATHES WEll I haue tolde you now all my doubts and ye haue satisfied me therein concerning the first of these two kindes of spirits that yee haue conioyned now I am to enquire onely two things at you concerning the last kinde I meane the Daemoniackes The first is whereby shall these possessed folkes be discerned fra them that are troubled with a naturall Phrensie or Manie The next is how can it be that they can be remedied by the Papists Church whom we counting as Heretiques it should appeare that one diuell should not cast out another Matth. 12. Marke 3. for then would his kingdome be diuided in it selfe as Christ said EPI As to your first question there are diuers symptomes whereby that heauie trouble may be discerned from a naturall sickenesse and specially three omitting the diuers vaine signes that the Papists attribute vnto it Such as the raging at holy water their fleeing abacke from the Crosse their not abiding the hearing of God named and innumerable such like vaine things that were alike fashious and feckles to recite But to come to these three symptomes then whereof I spake I account the one of them to be the incredible strength of the possessed creature which will farre exceede the strength
made doubt or stop in it but at the first offering it vnto him did freely take it as a thing most lawfull neither meanes of threatening or flatterie being euer vsed vnto him as himselfe can yet beare witnesse And as for the temperature and modification of this Oath except that a reasonable and lawfull matter is there set downe in reasonable and temperate wordes agreeing thereunto I know not what he can meane by quarelling it for that fault For no temperatnesse nor modifications in words therein can iustly be called the Deuils craft when the thing it selfe is so plaine and so plainely interpreted to all them that take it as the onely troublesome thing in it all bee the wordes vsed in the end thereof for eschewing Aequiuocation and Mentall reseruation Which new Catholike doctrine may farre iustlier bee called the Deuils craft then any plaine and temperate wordes in so plaine and cleare a matter But what shall we say of these strange countrey clownes whom of with the Satyre we may iustly complaine that they blow both hote cold out of one mouth For Luther and all our bold and free-speaking Writers are mightily railed vpon by them as hote-brained fellowes and speakers by the Deuils instinct and now if we speake moderately and temperately of them it must be tearmed the Deuils craft And therefore wee may iustly complaine with CHRIST that when we 1 Mat. 11.17 mourne they wil not lament and when we pipe they wil not dance But neither Iohn Baptist his seueritie nor CHRIST his meekenesse and lenitie can please them who build but to their owne Monarchie vpon the ground of their owne Traditions and not to CHRIST vpon the ground of his word and infallible trewth But what can bee meant by alleadging that the craft of the Deuill herein is onely vsed for subuersion of the Catholique Faith and euersion of Saint Peters Primacie had neede bee commented anew by Bellarmine himselfe For in all this Letter of his neuer one word is vsed to prooue that by any part of this Oath the Primacie of Saint Peter is any way medled with except Master Bellarmine his bare alleadging which without proouing it by more cleare demonstration can neuer satisfie the conscience of any reasonable man For for ought that I know heauen and earth are no farther asunder then the profession of a temporall obedience to a temporall King is different from any thing belonging to the Catholique Faith or Supremacie of Saint Peter For as for the Catholique Faith No decision of any point of Religion in the Oath of Allegiance can there be one word found in all that Oath tending or sounding to matter of Religion Doeth he that taketh it promise there to beleeue or not to beleeue any article of Religion Or doeth hee so much as name a trew or false Church there And as for Saint Peters Primacie I know no Apostles name that is therein named except the name of IAMES it being my Christen name though it please him not to deigne to name me in all the Letter albeit the contents thereof concerne mee in the highest degree Neither is there any mention at all made therein either disertis verbis or by any other indirect meanes either of the Hierarchie of the Church of Saint Peters succession of the Sea Apostolike or of any such matter but that the Author of our Letter doeth brauely make mention of Saint Peters succession bringing it in comparison with the succession of Henry the eight Of which vnapt and vnmannerly similitude I wonder he should not be much ashamed For as to King Henries Successour which hee meaneth by mee as I I say neuer did nor will presume to create any Article of Faith or to bee Iudge thereof but to submit my exemplarie obedience vnto them in as great humilitie as the meanest of the land so if the Pope could bee as well able to prooue his either Personall or Doctrinall Succession from Saint Peter as I am able to prooue my lineall descent from the Kings of England and Scotland there had neuer beene so long adoe nor so much sturre kept about this question in Christendome neither had 2 Bellar. de Rom. Pont. li. 4. cap. 6. Ibid. l 2. ca. 12. Master Bellarmine himselfe needed to haue bestowed so many sheetes of paper De summo Pontifice in his great bookes of Controuersies And when all is done to conclude with a morall certitude and a piè credendum bringing in the 3 Idem ibid. lib. 2. cap. 14. Popes that are parties in this cause to be his witnesses and yet their historicall narration must bee no article of Faith And I am without vanterie sure that I doe farre more neerely imitate the worthie actions of my Predecessours then the Popes in our aage can be well proued to be similes Petro especially in cursing of Kings and setting free their Subiects from their Allegiance vnto them But now wee come to his strongest argument which is That he would alledge vpon mee a Panicke terrour as if I were possessed with a needlesse feare The Cardinals weightiest Argument For saith the Cardinall from the beginning of the Churches first infancie euen to this day where was it euer heard that euer a Pope either commaunded to bee killed or allowed the slaughter of any Prince whatsoeuer whether hee were an Hereticke an Ethnicke or Persecutour But first wherefore doeth he here wilfully and of purpose omit the rest of the points mentioned in that Oath for deposing degrading stirring vp of armes or rebelling against them which are as well mentioned in that Oath as the killing of them as beeing all of one consequence against a King no Subiect beeing so scrupulous as that hee will attempt the one and leaue the other vnperformed if hee can And yet surely I cannot blame him for passing it ouer since he could not otherwise haue eschewed the direct belying of himselfe in tearmes which hee now doeth but in substance and effect For 1 Bellarm. de Rom Pont. lib. 5. cap. 8. et lib. 3. cap. 16. as for the Popes deposing and degrading of Kings hee maketh so braue vaunts and bragges of it in his former bookes as he could neuer with ciuill honestie haue denied it here But to returne to the Popes allowing of killing of Kings I know not with what face hee can set so stout a deniall vpon it against his owne knowledge How many Emperours did the Pope raise warre against in their owne bowels Who as they were ouercome in battaile were subiect to haue beene killed therein which I hope the Pope could not but haue allowed when he was so farre inraged at 2 Gotfrid Viterb Helmod Cuspinian Henry the fifth for giuing buriall to his fathers dead corpes after the 3 Paschal 2. Pope had stirred him vp to rebell against his father and procured his ruine But leauing these olde Histories to Bellarmines owne bookes that doe most authentically cite them as I haue already
thereof since those which immediatly follow are so much derogatorie to the diuine Maiestie And againe My 6 Epist 52. writings be strengthened by the authoritie and merit of my Lord most blessed S. Peter We 7 Epist 89. beseech you to keepe the things decreed by vs through the inspiration of God and the Apostle most blessed S. Peter If 8 In serm 2. in die anniuer assum suae any thing be well done or decreed by vs If any thing be obtained of Gods mercy by daily prayers it is to be ascribed to S. Peters workes and merits whose power doeth liue and authoritie excell in his owne Sea Hee 9 Serm. 3. in die anniuer assump suae was so plentifully watered of the very fountaine of all graces that whereas he receiued many things alone yet nothing passeth ouer to any other but hee was partaker of it And in a word hee was so desirous to extoll Saint Peter that a messenger from him was an 10 Epist 24. embassage from Saint Peter 11 Epist 4. any thing done in his presence was in S. Peters presence Neither did he vse all this Rhetoricke without purpose for at that time the Patriarch of Constantinople contended with him for Primacie And in the Councell of 12 Concil Chalceden Act. 16. Can. 28. Chalcedon the Bishops sixe hundred and more gaue equall authoritie to the Patriarch of that Sea and would not admit any Priuiledge to the Sea of Rome aboue him but went against him And yet he that gaue so much to Peter tooke nothing from Caesar but gaue him both his Titles and due giuing the power of calling a Councell to the Emperour as it may appeare by these one or two places following of many If it may please your 13 Epist 9. Theodosie godlinesse to vouchsafe at our supplication to condiscend that you will command a Councell of Bishops to be holden within Italy And writing vnto the Bishop of Constantinople Because the most clement 1 Epist 16. Flan. Emperour carefull of the peace of the Church will haue a Councell to be holden albeit it euidently appeare the matter to be handled doeth in no case stand in neede of a Councell And againe Albeit 2 Epist 17. Theodosie my occasions will not permit me to be present vpon the day of the Councell of Bishops which your godlinesse hath appointed So as by this it may well appeare that hee that gaue so much to Peter gaue also to Caesar his due and prerogatiue But yet he playeth not faire play in this that euen in all these his wrong applied arguments and examples hee produceth no other witnesses but the parties themselues bringing euer the Popes sentences for approbation of their owne authoritie Now indeed for one word of his in the middest of his examples I cannot but greatly commend him that is that Martyrs ought to endure all sorts of tortures and death before they suffer one syllable to be corrupted of the Law of God Which lesson if hee and all the rest of his owne profession would apply to themselues then would not the Sacrament be administred sub vnâ specie directly contrary to Christs institution the practise of the Apostles and of the whole Primitiue Church for many hundred yeeres then would not the priuate Masses be in place of the Lordes Supper then would not the words of the 3 Bellar. de sacra Encharist lib. 4. cap. 14. Canon of the Masse be opposed to the words of S. Paul and S. Luke as our Aduersarie himselfe confesseth and cannot reconcile them nor then would not so many hundreths other traditions of men be set vp in their Church not onely as equall but euen preferred to the word of God But sure in this point I feare I haue mistaken him for I thinke hee doeth not meane by his Diuina Dogmata the word of the God of heauen but onely the Canons and Lawes of his Dominus Deus Papa otherwise all his Primacie of the Apostolike Sea would not be so much sticken vpon hauing so slender ground in the word of God And for the great feare he hath that the suddennes of the apprehension the bitternesse of the persecution the weaknesse of his aage and other such infirmities might haue been the cause of the Arch-priests fall in this I haue already sufficiently answered him hauing declared as the trewth is and as the said Blackwell himselfe will yet testifie that he tooke this Oath freely of himselfe without any inducement thereunto either Precibus or Minis But amongst all his citations Some of Sanders his worthy sayings remembred hee must not forget holy Sanderus and his visibilis Monarchia whose person and actions I did alreadie a little touch And surely who will with vnpartiall eyes reade his bookes they may well thinke that hee hath deserued well of his English Romane-Church but they can neuer thinke but that hee deserued very ill of his English Soueraigne and State Witnesse his owne books whereout I haue made choice to set downe heere these fewe sentences following as flowers pickt out of so worthy a garland 4 Sand de visib Monar lib. 6. cap. 4. Elizabeth Queene of ENGLAND doeth exercise the Priestly acte of teaching and preaching the Gospel in ENGLAND with no lesse authority then Christ himselfe or Moses euer did The supremacie of a 5 Sand de clau Dauid li. 6. c. 1. woman in Church matters is from no other then from the Deuill And of all things in generall thus he speaketh The 1 Sand. de visib Monar lib. 2. cap. 4. King that will not inthrall himselfe to the Popes authoritie be ought not to be tolerated but his Subiects ought to giue all diligence that another may be chosen in his place assoone as may be A King that is an 2 Ibidem Heretike ought to be remooued from the Kingdome that hee holdeth ouer Christians and the Bishops ought to endeauour to set vp another assoone as possibly they can Wee doe constantly 3 Ibidem affirme that all Christian Kings are so farre vnder Bishops and Priests in all matters appertaining to faith that if they shall continue in a fault against Christian Religion after one or two admonitions obstinately for that cause they may and ought to be deposed by the Bishops from their temporall authoritie they holde ouer Christians 4 Ibidem Bishops are set ouer temporall kingdomes if those kingdomes doe submit themselues to the faith of Christ We doe iustly 5 Sand. de clan Dauid li. 5. c. 2. affirme that all Secular power whether Regall or any other is of men The 6 Ibidem anoynting which is powred vpon the head of the King by the Priest doeth declare that hee is inferiour to the Priest It is altogether against the will of 7 Sand. de clan Dauid li. 5. c. 4. Christ that Christian kings should haue supremacie in the Church And whereas for the crowne and
peccauerit modò semper rationes suorum dictorum modestè reddere paratus sit That is to say Euery man is a lyer yea more vaine then vanity it selfe God onely is trew c. Which seeing wee ought euer humbly to acknowledge in all great and weighty causes most of all ought we to confesse it in the most holy cause of our Faith insomuch as we should not therefore easily condemne euery thing which at the first seemes strange yea false and absurd vnto our eares nor on the contrary side ought wee foorth-with to approoue and that with an opinion of precise necessitie whatsoeuer is commonly receyued especially in matters abstruse and intricate whereof the knowledge is not necessarie to saluation In such poynts as these if any man shall say that such a King or Prince howsoeuer otherwise most godly and religious yea that many such Kings and Princes nay I will not except Bishops or the like Doctors of the Church haue in some sort erred I am of opinion hee shall not giue any iust cause of offence either to the Maiestie of Kings or to the dignitie of Princes and Bishops so as hee bee alwaies ready modestly to yeeld a reason for that which hee shall affirme In which words hee maintaineth two Principles First that euery man is a lyar aswell in matter of Faith as in any thing else and next that wee must not euer esteeme the vulgar opinion and that which is generally receiued in matter of Faith to be the trewest nor alwayes condemne euery opinion for absurd which at the first seemes vnto vs vncouth and new Now we pray you obserue that this man is not accused of small scapes and therefore beeing not charged with lesser peccadillos then those which before wee haue mentioned it necessarily followes that in his excuse hee must vnderstand the same points whereof he is accused And wee hope by the mercy of GOD that no Christian wee speake in this particular as well for the Papists as for our selues shall euer be found to erre in any of those maine points at the least wee will answere by the grace of God for one of those Kings whom he names in general And as for his new opinions which he would so gladly vent abroad the ancient Faith needes not be changed like an old garment either in substance or fashion Furthermore in the third page of his Preface hee vseth these words Sed neque plures vno aliquo semper hîc ditiores sunt Nemo igitur vnus sibi arroget omnia Nec numero plures vni alicui singulare quidquam inuideant Neither are many men alwayes richer in knowledge then some one man Let not therefore any one man arrogate all things to himselfe Nor let the greater multitude enuie a particular man for hauing some singularitie more then his fellowes The trew principle and foundation of the error of the Anabaptists taking away by this meanes all maner of gouernment from the Church For hauing first ouerthrowen the Monarchicall power of the Pope he sweepes away next all manner of power both Aristocraticall and Democraticall from the Church cleane contrary to the Apostles institution which ordeineth that the spirits of the Prophets should bee subiect to the Prophets For if one particular man may take vpon him such a singularitie as this how shall he bee subiect to Generall Nationall and Synodicall Councels For straight will he say vnto them Sirs yee haue no authoritie to iudge mee for I haue a singular gift aboue you all And in the fift Page these are his words Plamssimè enim persuasus sum Serenissimo Regi nunquam in animo fuisse nunquam in animo fore alienae conscientiae quod ne Apostoli quidem sibi vnquam arrogârunt fiue directè fiue indirectè siue per seipsum siue per alios vllatenùs dominari vel fidem nostram vlli humanae authoritati alligare velle For I am absolutely perswaded that it was neuer his Maiesties meaning nor euer will bee either directly or indirectly by himselfe or by others in any sort to ouer-rule another mans conscience which euen the Apostles neuer challenged to themselues nor did or will his Maiestie euer seeke to tie our Faith to any humane authoritie Whereby hee is plainely discouered to bee resolued not to bee subiect in any sort to the iudgement of the Church in those matters whereof hee is accused For hee knowes too well that the ancient Church hath established vpon necessary consequences drawen from the holy Scripture both a forme of beliefe and a forme of speach concerning the holy Mysteries aforesaid And this is the reason why hee will not in these points submit himselfe to the iudgement of any mortall man But vpon this occasion in the seuenth page of his Preface maintaines his Christian libertie in this maner Qui quidem humanas decisiones à Diuinis mysterijs scrupulosé segregem praesertim in audaces Scholarum hypotheses pro Christiana libertate interdum diligentiùs inquiram I who curiously make a separation betwixt the iudgements of men and the Diuine mysteries and especially according to Christian libertie doe sometimes more narrowly looke into the bold supositions of the Schoolemen As if the Schoole Diuines had bene too ventrous to explaine and to defend the Articles aforesaid already so established by the Church But we may trewly wish in that point as Bellarmine did touching Caluin Vtinam semper sic errassent Scholastici Would God the Scholemen had alwayes so erred For in the maine grounds of Christian Religion they are worthy of all commendation Reade Aquinas against the Gentiles But in matters of controuersie where they were to flatter the Pope in his resolutions and to auow the new ordinances and traditions of their Church there they yeelded alas vnto the iniquitie of the time and the mysterie of iniquitie which was euen then in working got likewise the vpper hand ouer them And as for this Christian libertie which he doeth vrge so much certainely he doeth it with no other intention but onely vnder this faire pretext to haue the better meanes and with more safetie to abuse the world For Christian libertie is neuer meant in the holy Scripture but onely in matters indifferent or when it is taken for our deliuerance from the thraldome of the Law or from the burden of humane traditions and in that sense S. Paul speaketh in his Epistle to the Colossians Quare oneraminiritibus Why are ye burdened with traditions But to abuse Christian libertie in presuming to propound a new doctrine vnto the world in point of the highest and holiest mysteries of GOD is a most audacious rashnesse and an impudent arrogancie Concerning which S. Paul saith Though an Angel from heauen preach vnto you otherwise then that which we haue preached vnto you let him bee accursed And Saint Iohn likewise commandeth vs that wee should not so much as say God speed to that man which shall bring vs any other doctrine as wee haue obserued before
to display the colours and ensignes of their censures against Princes who violating their publike and solemne oath doe raise and make open warre against Iesus Christ I grant yet againe that in this case they need not admit Laics to be of their counsell nor allow them any scope or libertie of iudgement Yet all this makes no barre to Clerics for extending the power of their keyes many times a whole degree further then they ought and when they are pleased to make vse of their said power to depriue the people of their goods or the Prince of his Crowne all this doeth not hinder Prince or people from taking care for the preseruation of their owne rights and estates nor from requiring Clerics to shew their cards and produce their Charts and to make demonstration by Scripture that such power as they assume and challenge is giuen them from God For to leaue the Pope absolute Iudge in the same cause wherein hee is a partie and which is the strongest rampier and bulwarke yea the most glorious and eminent point of his domination to arme him with power to vnhorse Kings out of their seates what is it else but euen to draw them into a state of despaire for euer winning the day or preuailing in their honourable and rightful cause It is moreouer granted if a King shall command any thing directly contrary to Gods word and tending to the subuerting of the Church that Clerics in this case ought not onely to dispense with subiects for their obedience but also expresly to forbid their obedience For it is alwayes better to obey God then man Howbeit in all other matters whereby the glory and maiestie of God is not impeached or impaired it is the duety of Clerics to plie the people with wholesome exhortation to constant obedience and to auert by earnest disswasions the said people from tumultuous reuolt and seditious insurrection This practise vnder the Pagan Emperours was held and followed by the ancient Christians by whose godly zeale and patience in bearing the yoke the Church in times past grew and flourished in her happy and plentifull increase farre greater then Poperie shall euer purchase and attaine vnto by all her cunning deuices and sleights as namely by degrading of Kings by interdicting of Kingdoms by apposted murders and by Diabolicall traines of Gunne-powder-mines The places of Scripture alleadged in order by the Cardinal Pag 66. in fauour of those that stand for the Popes claime of power and authoritie to depose Kings are cited with no more sincerity then the former They alledge these are his words that Samuel deposed King Saul or declared him to bee deposed because hee had violated the Lawes of the Iewes Religion His Lordship auoucheth elsewere that Saul was deposed because he had sought prophanely to vsurpe the holy Priesthood Both false and contrary to the tenour of trewth in the sacred history For Saul was neuer deposed according to the sense of the word I meane depose in the present question to wit as deposing is taken for despoiling the King of his royall dignitie and reducing the King to the condition of a priuate person But Saul held the title of King and continued in possession of his Kingdome euen to his dying day 1. Sam. 23.20 24.15 2. Sam. 2.5 Yea the Scripture styles him King euen to the periodicall and last day of his life by the testimony of Dauid himselfe who both by Gods promise and by precedent vnction was then heire apparant as it were to the Crown in a maner then ready to gird and adorne the temples of his head For if Samuel by Gods commandement had then actually remooued Saul from his Throne doubtlesse the whole Church of Israel had committed a grosse errour in taking and honouring Saul for their King after such deposition doubtlesse the Prophet Samuel himselfe making knowen the Lords Ordinance vnto the people would haue enioyned them by strict prohibition to call him no longer the King of Israel Doubtlesse Dauid would neuer haue held his hand from the throat of Saul 1. Sam. 26.11 for this respect and consideration because he was the Lords Anointed For if Saul had lost his Kingly authority from that instant when Samuel gaue him knowledge of his reiection then Dauid lest otherwise the Body of the Kingdome should want a Royall Head was to beginne his Reigne and to beare the Royall scepter in the very same instant which were to charge the holy Scriptures with vntrewth in as much as the sacred historie begins the computation of the yeeres of Dauids Reigne from the day of Sauls death Trew it is that in the 1. Sam. cap. 15. Saul was denounced by Gods owne sentence a man reiected and as it were excommunicated out of the Kingdome that hee should not rule and reigne any longer as King ouer Israel neuerthelesse the said sentence was not put in execution before the day when God executing vpon Saul an exemplarie iudgement did strike him with death From whence it is manifest and cleare 1. Sam. 16.23 that when Dauid was annointed King by Samuel that action was onely a promise and a testimony of the choice which God had made of Dauid for succession immediately after Saul and not a present establishment inuestment or installment of Dauid in the Kingdome Wee reade the like in 1. King cap. 19. where God commandeth Elias the Prophet to annoint Hasael King of Syria For can any man bee so blinde and ignorant in the sacred historie to beleeue the Prophets of Israel established or sacred the Kings of Syria For this cause 2. Sam. 2.4 when Dauid was actually established in the Kingdome hee was annointed the second time In the next place he brings in the Popes champions vsing these words Rehoboam was deposed by Ahiah the Prophet 1 King 12. from his Royall right ouer the tenne Tribes of Israel because his father Salomon had played the Apostata in falling from the Law of God This I say also is more then the trewth of the sacred history doeth afoard For Ahiah neuer spake to Rehoboam for ought we reade nor brought vnto him any message from the Lord As for the passage quoted by the L. Cardinal out of 3. Reg. chap. 11. it hath not reference to the time of Rehoboams raigne but rather indeed to Salomons time nor doeth it carry the face of a iudicatorie sentence for the Kings deposing but rather of a Propheticall prediction For how could Rehoboam before hee was made King be depriued of the Kingdome Last of all but worst of all to alleadge this passage for an example of a iust sentence in matter of deposing a King is to approoue the disloyall treacherie of a seruant against his master and the rebellion of Ieroboam branded in Scripture with a marke of perpetuall infamie for his wickednesse and impietie He goes on with an other example of no more trewth 1. King 19. King Achab was deposed by Elias the Prophet
other weapons of defence I neither can resist nor ought in any other maner to make resistance Iustinian the Emperour in his old aage fell into the heresie of the Aphthartodocites Against Iustinian though few they were that fauoured him in that heresie the Bishop of Rome neuer darted with violence any sentence of excommunication interdiction or deposition The Ostrogot Kings in Italie the Visigot in Spaine the Vandal in Africa were all addicted to the Arrian impietie and some of them cruelly persecuted the trew professours The Visigot and Vandall were no neighbours to Italie The Pope thereby had the lesse cause to feare the stings of those waspes if they had bene angred The Pope for all that neuer had the humour to wrestle or iustle with any of the said Kings in the cause of deposing them from their Thrones But especially the times when the Vandals in Affricke and the Goths in Italie by Belisarius and Narses professours of the Orthodoxe Faith were tyred with long warres and at last were vtterly defeated in bloody battels are to bee considered Then were the times or neuer for the Pope to vnsheath his weapons and to vncase his arrowes of deposition then were the times to draw them out of his quiuer and to shoot at all such Arrian heads then were the times by dispensations to release their subiects of their oathes by that peremptorie meanes to aide and strengthen the Catholique cause But in that aage the said weapons were not knowne to haue bene hammered in the Pontificall forge Gregorie the I. made his boasts that he was able to ruine the Lombards for many yeeres together sworne enemies to the Bishops of Rome their state present and the hope of all their future prosperitie But he telleth vs that by the feare of God before his eyes and in his heart he was bridled and restrained from any such intent as elsewhere we haue obserued In Apol. pro iuram fidel His owne words lib. 7. Epist. 1. If I would haue medled with practising and procuring the death of the Lombards the whole nation of the Lombards at this day had bene robbed of their Kings Dukes Earles they had bene reduced to the tearmes of extreame confusion He might at least haue deposed their King if the credit of the L. Cardinals iudgement be currant without polluting or stayning his owne conscience What can we tearme this assertion of the L. Cardinal but open charging the most ancient Bishops of Rome with crueltie when they would not succour the Church of CHRIST oppressed by tyrants whose oppression they had power to represse by deposing the oppressors Is it credible that IESVS CHRIST hath giuen a Commission to S. Peter and his successors for so many aages without any power to execute their Commission or to make any vse thereof by practise Is it credible that hee hath giuen them a sword to bee kept in the scabbard without drawing once in a thousand yeeres Is it credible that in the times when Popes were most deboshed abandoning themselues to all sorts of corrupt and vitious courses as is testified by their owne flatterers and best affected seruants is it credible that in those times they began to vnderstand the vertue strength of their Commission For if either feare or lacke of power was the cause of holding their hands and voluntarie binding of themselues to the Peace or good behauiour wherefore is not some one Pope at least produced who hath complained that he was hindered from executing the power that CHRIST had conferred vpon his Pontificall See Wherefore is not some one of the ancient and holy Fathers alledged by whom the Pope hath bene aduised and exhorted to take courage to stand vpon he vigor and sinewes of his Papall Office to vnsheath and vncase his bolts of thunder against vngodly Princes and grieuous enemies to the Church wherefore liuing vnder Christian and gracious Emperours haue they not made knowne the reasons why they were hindred from drawing the pretended sword lest long custome of not vsing the sword so many aages might make it so to rust in the scabbard that when there should be occasion to vse the said sword it could not be drawne at all and lest so long custome of not vsing the same should confirme prescription to their greater preiudice If weakenesse be a iust let how is it come to passe that Popes haue enterprised to depose Philip the Faire Lewis the XII and ELIZABETH my predecessor of happy memorie to let passe others in whom experience hath well proued how great inequalitie was betweene their strengths Yea for the most part from thence grow most grieuous troubles and warres which iustly recoile and light vpon his owne head as happened to Gregorie the VII and Boniface the VIII This no doubt is the reason wherefore the Pope neuer sets in for feare of such inconueniences to blast a King with lightning and thunder of deposition but when hee perceiues the troubled waters of the Kingdome by some strong faction setled in his Estate or when the King is confined and bordered by some Princemore potent who thirsteth after the prey and is euer gaping for some occasion to picke a quarrell The King standing in such estate is it not as easie for the Pope to pull him downe as it is for a man with one hand to thrust downe a tottering wall when the groundsill is rotten the studdes vnpind and nodding or bending towards the ground But if the King shall beare downe and breake the faction within the Realme if hee shall get withall the vpper hand of his enemies out of the Kingdome then the holy Father presents him with pardons neuer sued for neuer asked and in afathers indulgence forsooth giues him leaue still to hold the Kingdome that hee was not able by all his force to wrest and wring out of his hand no more then the club of Hercules out of his fist How many worthy Princes incensed by the Pope to conspire against Soueraigne Lords their Masters and by open rebellion to worke some change in their Estates haue miscarried in the action with losse of life or honour or both For example Rodulphus Duke of Sueuia was eg'd on by the Pope against Henry IIII. of that name Emperour How many massacres how many desolations of Cities and townes how many bloody battels ensued thereupon Let histories bee searched let iust accompts be taken and beside sieges layde to Cities it will appeare by trew computation that Henry the IIII. and Frederic the fist fought aboue threescore battels in defence of their owne right against enemies of the Empire stirred vp to armes by the Pope of Rome How much Christian blood was then spilt in these bloody battels it passeth mans wit penne or tongue to expresse And to giue a little touch vnto matters at home doeth not his Holinesse vnderstand right well the weakenesse of Papists in my Kingdome Doeth not his Holmesse neuerthesesse animate my Papists to rebellion and forbid my Papists to take
On the other side without any such Rhetoricall outcries I simply affirme It is a reproach a scandall a crime of rebellion for a subiect hauing his full charge and loade of benefits in the new spring of his Kings tender aage his King-fathers blood yet reeking and vpon the point of an addresse for a double match with Spaine in so honourable an assembly to seeke the thraldome of his Kings Crowne to play the captious in cauilling about causes of his Kings deposing to giue his former life the Lye with shame enough in his old aage and to make himselfe a common by-word vnder the name of a Problematicall Martyr one that offers himselfe to fagot and fire for a point of doctrine but problematically handled that is distrustfully and onely by way of doubtfull and questionable discourse yea for a point of doctrine in which the French as he pretendeth are permitted to thwart and crosse his Holines in iudgement prouided they speake in it as in a point not certaine and necessary but onely doubtfull and probable THE THIRD INCONVENIENCE EXAMINED THe third Inconuenience pretended by the L. Pag. 87. Cardinall to grow by admitting this Article of the third Estate is flourished in these colours It would breed and bring foorth an open and vnauoydeable schisme against his Holinesse and the rest of the whole Ecclesiasticall body For thereby the doctrine long approued and ratified by the Pope and the rest of the Church should now be taxed and condemned of impious and most detestable consequence yea the Pope and the Church euen in faith and in points of saluation should be reputed and beleeued to be erroniously perswaded Hereupon his Lordship giues himselfe a large scope of the raines to frame his elegant amplifications against schismes and schismatikes Now to mount so high and to flie in such place vpon the wings of amplification for this Inconuenience what is it else but magnifically to report and imagine a mischiefe by many degrees greater then the mischiefe is The L. Cardinal is in a great errour if hee make himselfe beleeue that other nations wil make a rent or separation from the communion of the French because the French stand to it tooth and naile that French Crownes are not liable or obnoxious to Papall deposition howsoeuer there is no schisme that importeth not separation of communion The most illustrious Republike of Venice hath imbarked herselfe in this quarrell against his Holinesse hath played her prize and caried away the weapons with great honour Doeth she notwithstanding her triumph in the cause forbeare to participate with all her neighbours in the same Sacraments doeth she liue in schisme with all the rest of the Romane Church No such matter When the L. Cardinal himselfe not many yeeres past maintained the Kings cause and stood honourably for the Kings right against the Popes Temporall vsurpations did he then take other Churches to be schismaticall or the rotten members of Antichrist Beleeue it who list I beleeue my Creed Nay his Lordship telleth vs himselfe a little after that his Holinesse giues the French free scope to maintaine either the affirmatiue or negatiue of this question And will his Holinesse hold them schismatikes that dissent from his opinion and iudgement in a subiect or cause esteemed problematicall Farre be it from his Holinesse The King of Spaine reputed the Popes right arme neuer gaue the Pope cause by any acte or other declaration to conceiue that he acknowledged himselfe deposeable by the Pope for heresie or Tyrannie or stupiditie But being well assured the Pope standeth in greater feare of his arme then hee doeth of the Popes head and shoulders he neuer troubles his owne head about our question More when the booke of Cardinall Baronius was come foorth in which booke the Kingdome of Naples is descried and publiquely discredited like false money touching the qualitie of a Kingdome and attributed to the King of Spaine not as trew proprietary thereof but onely as an Estate held in fee of the Romane Church the King made no bones to condemne and to banish the said booke out of his dominions The holy Father was contented to put vp his Catholike sonnes proceeding to the Cardinals disgrace neuer opened his mouth against the King neuer declared or noted the King to be schismaticall He waits perhaps for some fitter opportunitie when the Kingdome of Spaine groaning vnder the burthens of intestine dissentions and troubles hee may without any danger to himselfe giue the Catholike King a Bishops mate Yea the L. Cardinal himselfe is better seene in the humors and inclinations of the Christian world then to be grosly perswaded that in the Kingdome of Spaine and in the very heart of Rome it selfe there be not many which either make it but a ieast or else take it in fowle scorne to heare the Popes power ouer the Crownes of Kings once named especially since the Venetian Republike hath put his Holinesse to the worse in the same cause and cast him in Law What needed the L. Cardinall then by casting vp such mounts and trenches by heaping one amplification vpon an other to make schisme looke with such a terrible and hideous aspect Who knowes not how great an offence how heinous a crime it is to quarter not IESVS CHRISTS coat but his body which is the Church And what needed such terrifying of the Church with vglinesse of schisme whereof there is neither colourable shew nor possibilitie The next vgly monster after schisme shaped by the L. Cardinall in the third supposed and pretended inconuenience is heresie Pag. 89. His Lordship saith for the purpose By this Article we are cast headlong into a manifest heresie as binding vs to confesse that for many aages past the Catholike Church hath bene banished out of the whole world For if the champions of the doctrine contrary to this Article doe hold an impious and a detestable opinion repugnant vnto Gods word then doubtlesse the Pope for so many hundred yeeres expired hath not bene the head of the Church but an heretike and the Antichrist He addeth moreouer That the Church long agoe hath lost her name of Catholike and that in France there hath no Church flourished nor so much as appeared these many and more then many yeeres for as much as all the French doctors for many yeres together haue stood for the contrary opinion We can erect and set vp no trophey more honorable for heretikes in token of their victory then to auow that Christs visible Kingdom is perished from the face of the earth and that for so many hundred yeres there hath not bene any Temple of God nor any spouse of Christ but euery where and all the world ouer the kingdom of Antichrist the synagogue of Satan the spouse of the diuel hath mightily preuailed and borne all the sway Lastly what stronger engines can these heretikes wish or desire for the battering and the demolishing of transubstantiation of auricular confession and other like towers
any petitions or Grieuances to be deliuered obscurely or in the darke but openly and auowedly in your Publique house and there to be presented to the Speaker And as to the matter of your Grieuances I wish you here now to vnderstand me rightly And because I see many writing and noting I will craue your pardons to holde you a little longer by speaking the more distinctly for feare of mistaking First then I am not to finde fault that you informe your selues of the particular iust Grieuances of the people Nay I must tell you ye can neither be iust nor faithfull to me or to your Countreys that trust and imploy you if you doe it not For true Plaints proceede not from the persons imployed but from the Body represented which is the people And it may very well bee that many Directions and Commissions iustly giuen forth by me may be abused in the Execution thereof vpon the people and yet I neuer to receiue information except it come by your meanes at such a time as this is as in the case of Stephen Procter But I would wish you to be carefull to auoide three things in the matter of Grieuances First that you doe not meddle with the maine points of Gouernment that is my craft tractent fabrilia sabri to meddle with that were to lesson me I am now an old King for sixe and thirtie yeeres haue I gouerned in Scotland personally and now haue I accomplished my appâ—enticeship of seuen yeeres heere and seuen yeeres is a great time for a Kings experience in Gouernment Therefore there would not bee too many Phormios to teach Hannibal I must not be taught my Office Secondly I would not haue you meddle with such ancient Rights of mine as I haue receiued from my Predecessors possessing them More Maiorum such things I would bee sorie should bee accounted for Grieuances All nouelties are dangerous as well in a politique as in a naturall Body And therefore I would be loth to be quarrelled in my ancient Rights and possessions for that were to iudge mee vnworthy of that which my Predecessors had and left me And lastly I pray you beware to exhibite for Grieuance any thing that is established by a setled Law and whereunto as you haue already had a proofe you know I will neuer giue a plausible answere For it is an vndutifull part in Subiects to presse their King wherein they know before-hand he will refuse them Now if any Law or Statute be not conuenient let it be amended by Parliament but in the meane time terme it not a Grieuance for to be grieued with the Law is to be grieued with the King who is sworne to bee the Patron and mainteiner thereof But as all men are flesh and may erre in the execution of Lawes So may ye iustly make a Grieuance of any abuse of the Law distinguishing wisely betweene the faults of the person and the thing it selfe As for example Complaints may be made vnto you of the high Commissioners If so be trie the abuse and spare not to complaine vpon it but say not there shall be no Commission For that were to abridge the power that is in me and I will plainely tell you That something I haue with my selfe resolued annent that point which I meane euer to keepe except I see other great cause which is That in regard the high Commission is oâ— so high a nature from which there is no appellation to any other Court I haue thought good to restraine it onely to the two Archbishops where before it was common amongst a great part of the Bishops in England This Law I haue set to my selfe and therefore you may be assured that I will neuer finde fault with any man nor thinke him the more Puritane that will complaine to me out of Parliament aswell as in Parliament of any error in execution thereof so that hee prooue it Otherwise it were but a calumnie Onely I would bee loath that any man should grieue at the Commission it selfe as I haue already said Yee haue heard I am sure of the paines I tooke both in the causes of the Admiralty and of the Prohibitions If any man therefore will bring me any iust complaints vpon any matters of so high a nature as this is yee may assure your selues that I will not spare my labour in hearing it In faith you neuer had a more painefull King or that will be readier in his person to determine causes that are fit for his hearing And when euer any of you shall make experience of me in this point ye may be sure neuer to want accesse nor ye shall neuer come wrong to me in or out of Parliament And now to conclude this purpose of Grieuances I haue one generall grieuance to commend vnto you and that in the behalfe of the Countreys from whence ye come And this is to pray you to beware that your Grieuances sauour not of particular mens thoughts but of the generall griefes rising out of the mindes of the people and not out of the humor of the propounder And therefore I would wish you to take heede carefully and consider of the partie that propounds the grieuance for ye may if ye list easily discerne whether it bee his owne passion or the peoples griefe that makes him to speake for many a man will in your house propound a Grieuance out of his owne humour because peraduenture he accounts highly of that matter and yet the countrey that imployes him may perhaps either be of a contrary minde or at least little care for it As for example I assure you I can very well smell betweene a Petition that mooues from a generall Grieuance or such a one as comes from the spleene of some particular person either against Ecclesiasticall gouernment in generall or the person of any one Noble man or Commissioner in particular ANd now the third point remaines to bee spoken of which is the cause of my calling of this Parliament And in this I haue done but as I vse to doe in all my life which is to leaue mine owne errand hindmost It may bee you did wonder that I did not speake vnto you publikely at the beginning of this Session of Parliament to tell you the cause of your calling as I did if I bee rightly remembred in euery Session before But the trewth is that because I call you at this time for my particular Errand I thought it fitter to bee opened vnto you by my Treasurer who is my publike and most principall Officer in matters of that nature then that I should doe it my selfe for I confesse I am lesse naturally eloquent and haue greater cause to distrust mine elocution in matters of this nature then in any other thing I haue made my Treasurer already to giue you a very cleere and trew accompt both of my hauing and expenses A fauour I confesse that Kings doe seldome bestow vpon their Subiects in making them so particularly