and fitting them for the kingdome of glory Instance and euident proofe whereof is affoorded in this one practise for many others of the primitiue Church in which these Church gouernors only tooke knowledge and care of all those that gaue their names vnto Christ and were thereupon after confession of the faith admitted into the ranke and order of their Catecumeni and so afterward were reckoned in the number of the visible Church as Saint Augustine confesseth of himself who also afterwards falling from that faith or not liuing worthy of the same after all good meanes vsed as is specified more particularly by our Sauiour Christ Mat. 18. v. 17. and was alwayes in force in the primitiue Church as by Heb. 10. other places may be gathered and yet persisting in that their vnworthinesse of such a fellowship were returned backe againe by the same power of the Church vnto their former estate and were no otherwise accounted of then as if they were Publicans or Heathen Mat. 18. v. 17. that is such as had nothing to doe with that speciall Church of the Iewes which was the onely Church visible at that time The like may be sayd of all decrees and constitutions made by the immediate gouernours of any particular Church for the determining of all controuersies and expounding of Scriptures according to the rules of faith and manners and their speciall prescribing meanes and directions to penitents and such like as Physitians are wont to their patients and giuing orders for the safe keeping of the doctrine of faith and manners and the preuenting of all things contrary to the same commonly procured by hereticks and schismaticks Wherein also that their power for the vrging of Subscription proceeding from this of Excommunication to all things set downe by them not contrary to the generall rules of faith and manners consisteth and appeareth as is further declared in the next treatise In which respect Saint Paul gaue such charge in so many places vnto Timothie for the carefull keeping of that depositum and forme of wholsome wordes 1. Tim. 6. v. 20. And Reuel 2. ver 14. and 15. God requireth it of the Angell and none other who by all mens confession representeth the Church power in that place that the doctrine of Balaam and of the Nicholaitans and the heretickes themselues were not repressed by him and that Ecclesiasticall power whereof that Angell was head and superintendent by such meanes of admonition confutation conuiction and so consequently if neede required Excommunication which are euermore proper to the Church care and power Albeit in that infancy of the Church in all places there was a great mixing of both powers as appeareth by the Apostles themselues who called Councels in their owne name for the better strengthning that their weake state and beginnings strooke some with temporal punishments and with death also in some cases which also vntill Christian Magistrates did protect and maintayne this power rights and authority of the Church was practised in many places after the Apostles time wheresoeuer the violence of persecuting tyrantes did not restrayne the Church liberty in this behalfe which is wont and so iustly may yea ought indeede as well as any other incoporation left vnto it selfe to make Lawes ordayne Magistrates punish offenders and such like whereby that their state may bee better ordered and preserued Howbeit which in the second place I answer and is euermore to bee remembred according as wee haue also obserued before no power whatsoeuer properlie belonging to the Church or els annexed by any meanes thereunto can be exercised in any part of the world vnder ciuill Magistracy without the authority or good leaue at the least of the commaunders therein nor any Lawes made or ratified without assent and leaue of the ciuill power as vnder which and from which all other Externall power hath all his outward motion as the most principall members of any naturall body vnder their proper head as all Christian Churches doe acknowledge the ciuill magistrate in all causes supreme head and gouernour howsoeuer that word Head without any such iust cause I thinke hath beene of late misliked of some euen as many good Popes also Beda lib. 1 cap. 23. de Gregorie Mag ad Mauricium lib. 2. cap. 18. Honorius ad Horaolium before that chayre of pestilence was fully seated amongst them did call the Emperors of their times their gracious Lords And yet notwithstanding as the other principall parts of the body the Liuer for example hath immediate motion and operation from it selfe as wel as that other from the head and as the inferiour orbes of the Stars and circles of heauen are moued as well by theyr owne naturall courses as by that generall motion which is obserued to carry all other with it and vnder it so is it in this entercourse of politique administrations Ecclesiasticall and ciuil both interchaungeably compared and considered together neither may the proper orders and proceedings of the one be truely sayde to be any more preiudiciall or contrary to the other then the Liuer in his proper operations to the heart or head from which it hath his continuall life and motion wheras the God of nature hath in his wisedome and prouidence diuersly disposed of them in that general communion their properties and functions euermore reserued to themselues as that stoute and wise high Priest tolde Vzziah how it appertained not vnto him to meddle in any part of the Priest his office 2. Chro. 26. vers 18 howsoeuer in other things they were subiect vnto them euen vnto their placing and displacing and indeede here is no more in effect then as housholders rule in the house and martiall men for their orders of warre 1. Reg. 2. v. 35. which yet I hope no way withstād that other which we call the chiefe power To which purpose also is that other straine and further extent of this cauil that any such power should be warranted by God and so allowed to bee in force vnder any wel ordered gouernment wherein the ciuill and chiefe Magistrate hath nothing to doe for the discerning and awarding thereof much lesse to haue power and authority to repeale or reuerse the same and so to restore any person censured thereby of this kingdome to forrain Ecclesiastical power of law as it is thought Insomuch as one of the daintiest practisers of these dayes in a sad and sober conference had with some of our grauest did cast it out I cannot tell how that he could neuer found the depth and mysteries of Episcopall Iurisdiction in generall and of these proceedings for Excommunication in speciall pag. 77 78. Late assertions for Church discipline And more plainly and grosly our late pleaders as well for their innocents as they terme them and as I may truely call the other very sinfull assertions for their new discipline haue made both the power it selfe and much more the due practise and exercise thereof very dangerous for
of the fathers albeit belonging to the Church power alwayes in such cases and that in the highest degree wherein through the affliction of the flesh in any kinde meanes may better be procured and applied for the sauing of the soule in the day of the Lord Iesus 1. ad Corin. Cap. 5. v. 5. The difference and true distinction whereof may appeare by these speciall notes first that Ecclesiasticall excommunication and all things concurring thereunto so farre foorth as they are meerly ecclesiasticall concerne the soule and the meanes to recouer any secure or desperate sinner and withall to preserue any other or the whole Church from any further annoyance spirituall infection or any kind of preiudice thereby but the other respect first the body and outward man and afterward happily are made profitable and appliable to the soules of any Secondly that which we call for better order and instruction sake ciuill haue their ground and originall whatsoeuer they are from the other power which is called ciuill magistracy as the other touching the soule the inward and spirituall seruice of God the peace of conscience and such like belonging vnto this censure proceede from the rites and investitures of that other order called priesthood power of keyes ecclesiasticall magistracy or what els besides it be called swaruing not from the trueth of the matter it selfe which for it part must alwayes doe that which belongeth thereunto in this and all other offices although there were no Christian Magistrate in the world and doth also exercise the same according as they see it most fit and correspondent to the ends aboue named in all places where the foote of violence from any part of the secular power incombreth not but rather as they ought to kisse the Sunne in that one sense and behalfe protest and maintaine the rights power and priuiledges of the same Thirdly those proceedings herein which are meerly ciuil or mixt sometimes of both according to their seuerall ends authors and originals doe principally and for the most part respect the common policy of the whole State and that which is Ciuil as well and more particulary many times as that which is Ecclesiasticall albeit they ought to agree in all things together as Hippocrates his Twinnes All which might be shewed in the manifold particulars which in the vse of this censure haue been added partly by the ciuill Magistrate and further inuented by the immediate Gouernours vnder the allowance of the chiefe magistrate of seuerall Churches for the better strengthning and more orderly and profitable executing this or any other censure which any iudicious reader may referre euery one as they are not vnknown by reason of their common practise in the world to their proper place and one of those three heads of this our last diuision To which I desire this one thing to be adioyned before I come to the more particular definition of this Excommunication namely that albeit this censure doth properly and euermore of right belong to the power of the Church and immediate gouernment of soules yet can no such power exercise any part of outward gouernment or more publique administration whatsoeuer within the territories and dominions of any ciuill magistracy without the speciall good allowance or indulgence at the least of the chiefe magistrate there which in all places of setled and well ordered gouernment appertaineth to the ciuill power which God in the example and type of Iudah among the tribes hath made the onely lawe-giuer Insomuch as no due execution of any other their owne most proper proceedings can bee well performed without their helpe and assistance which caused the due vse of this censure to be so rarely and indeed weakly exercised in the primitiue Church and many other Churches of later times before ciuil magistrates were christned or this ciuill power did vndertake the protection of the Church or at least gaue way and liberty for the full execution of all Ecclesiasticall power which hath beene very much curbed and scanted by most Christian Princes in the world Much lesse doe we arrogate any secular power and command to be originally and properly in the persons or states meerly ecclesiasticall albeit one and the selfe same man or state may very lawfully and ought sometimes necessarily to be armed and furnished with them both as Luther himselfe learnedly sheweth In Epistola responsiua ad Melancthonem Et in postilla ad Epiphaniam de Magis and elsewhere we haue examined that as the ciuill magistrate sometimes hath been a priest so contrarily may Gods minister be a king or of any other electiue dignity the same man but not the same person which are distinguished euermore but may concur both in one subiect but that the enacting of lawes Bodin de repub in Methodâ— historiarum creating of magistrates citations Iudiciall proceedings and punishments accordingly haue their first beginning and warrant also from the ciuill sword yea the very outward forme of gouernment by which that part of the Church which is committed to any ciuill Magistrate who is truely termed of our later Deuines the keeper and maintainer of both tables commonly called Church discipline is to be administred and vnder which be it one or other any of these Church affayres are to be established procured and executed dependeth wholly vpon the will and authority of the chiefe magistrate in any estate as himselfe may iudge fittest for the due ordering of the same most agreeable to the ciuill body and conuenient and profitable for the whole state Alwayes prouided that the essentiall and mayne points expressed in the word or the necessary consequents belonging to any person cause or calling in these Ecclesiasticall administrations be in no part abolished interrupted or diminished which is all that we challenge in this Excommunication or any other such power priuiledge or censure from any ciuill magistrate in the world The summe and definition whereof according to the premises I meane this Excommunication from the visible Church by order of wholsome Lawes ecclesiasticall or ciuil according to the true nature thereof commaunded and expressed in the word of God may for our better proceeding to the points that follow Definitio Excommunicationis a visibili ecclesia be thus set downe Namely to be that censure of the Church which proceeding from the power of the keyes is awarded against notorious offenders vnder any forme or meanes by those persons onely whome any Church shall thinke best to depute and assigne to take knowledge of all causes deseruing the same and to giue sentence according to the nature thereof against any persons offending therein Which although in regard of the extent thereof and quality of the crimes and persons offending and incurring this censure it hath beene diuided or rather distinguished by some such circumstantiall differences of time longer or lesser while places of and in the Church or Churchyards or such like yet for summe and substance I hold them all one as by
any estate and most preiudiciall to the royall prerogatiues yea the very Crowne and dignity as they most ignorantly slanderously if not indeede blasphemously haue obiected of Christian Princes making it the greatest meanes for Antichrist his clyming so high and the very stirrop to the Pope his mounting into his saddle To all which albeit I haue aunswered somewhat in a larger treatise which I purposed should haue beene the elder brother but that this like rough Esau hath for iust and good cause I hope hastned formost and preuented the other which was euen ready to come foorth first and like vnto Iacob may holde this elder by the heele yet must I briefly adioyne somewhat to that which hath beene a little before aunswered in this behalfe that may more directly quench if not kill the heate and venome of these poysonfull proiectes and problematicall diuelish obiections First therefore they might as well except against the ministery of the word and Sacraments the Ordination or degrading of ministers consecrating of Churches and such like many more which as yet none of these exceptors nor any other durst diuorce from that holy order and power of Priesthood as without any true offence it may bee called or to make them any way common to any Prince and ciuil power whatsoeuer Secondly the heart may as well bee arraigned of treason against the head and whole body as this power of the keyes and any particular administration thereof may bee iudged preiudiciall to the supremacy of Princes and safety of the whole body standing quietly of Ecclesiasticall and Ciuil power and executions sweetely ioyned and combyned together vnder any kinde of soueraignty or Ciuil Magistracy which is euermore the head of them both And lastly their Lawe and Logicke together very much deceiue them not onely in making that the cause which is not the cause and things accidentally and by circumstance somtimes euil to bee so euermore and in their owne nature which are the vsuall sallations practised by these Sophisters deceiuing themselues and others thereby but also which argueth their greatest ignorance or forgetfulnesse at the least in this point pleading from that which is cleane contrary to argue this encumbring and encountring of Princes iust titles and royall dignities as the proper effect of the same For indeed this Excommunication especially as it was vsed by those masters of the Romish Church was one of the greatest engins meanes to batter downe the walls and strong holdes of Antichristian prelacy and power when Princes and all the world once perceiued that those many Bulls roared for nothing els but to get preies for the filling of their owne bellies and feeding the ambitious humours of those vsurping and presumptuous Prelates And for the thing it selfe in it owne nature there is no one thing belonging to Ecclesiasticall power or which might possibly be inuented in the world which might sooner distast Princes or any part of the ciuill body and more likely to withdrawe them from protecting all or any of the Church rightes then the due execution of this censure In regard whereof together with these confused and troubled times wherewith the Church hath beene and is for the most part still annoyed and incumbred the due and constant vse of this Excommunication eyther hath beene obserued to haue been seldome practised in any Church or els haue the wisest gouernours of the same not thought it fit or conuenient many times to drawe out this spirituall sword and censure so often as otherwise the necessity and safety of their seueral Churches might require And for the abuses which proceeded from the persons to whome this censure hath beene at any time committed and not from the thing it selfe whereas for want of skill happely and good wisedome how and when this speciall physicke was to be applyed as Erastus himselfe obserueth who had more learning and iudgement euen in this physicke also and true diuinity then hundreds of these late pleaders and from whome this last dramme of mischiefe was drawne into the Pennes and pleas of these pettifoggers and promooters they doe no more argue the vnlawfulnesse of this power or disable the true wise and round vse thereof then if a senselesse although a golden sword appointed euermore for the highest Iustice should be misliked and most senselesly indicted and condemned for that murder which a foole and mad man had committed by it To all which kinds of reasoning and such like obiections and framers of them I could wish better skill to construe their Lawe or choppe our Logicke as we say then for want of this latter which with due reuerence alwayes to that graue profession any may obserue to bee much wanting in those Scribes especially when they are out of that their Element and put a little from their owne pace to misse very much in their right vse and application of the former and other their riche naturalls and further accomplishments wherewith for the most part they are well qualified and endowed for many Lawyers as I may say truely with reuerence and respect as abouesayd of most of them would dispute as well as any if they knew how and for the last pleader of all Author of the Assertions for Church Discipline who hath beene a great and long practiser in that bad and blacke Court by cunning libelling against all our Ecclesiasticall power and proceedings and not long since hath drawne all his Lawe and Logicke which I thinke may be put in a little bagge or at the least weighed in a small ballance together with the slime and froth of his hote and malitious wit to the fortifying of a rotten mud wall reared by another pleader almost as bad as himselfe I cannot but in holy zeale I hope to this good cause and most holy censure of Christs Church Nichols Countermure and iust indignation against all such vnskilfull reformers of Ecclesiasticall abuses and wilfull deformers indeede of all good order crie out with Peter to Simon Magus and all such enuious spirits and despitefull lookers vpon any that haue greater guifts and authority then themselues Thou thy Law and thy Logicke perish together for they haue no part I am sure nor portion in these businesses and lesse authority or calling to speake or write against any thing possible amisse therein and I feare I may too too truely adde the other that theyr hearts are not vpright in them but that vnder colour of calling vppon the vrging and mayntaining of many good Lawes and constitutions amongst vs and vnder pretence of tendring Princes supremacy which if any should presume to breathe or blowe against I wish them from my heart breathlesse to establish an yron and Macedonian throne for themselues vnder which they would soone bondage and bring both Medes and Persians and the golden head it selfe of any kind of gouernment as al know their intendmēts who are any way acquainted with their positions resolutions and practises about their new discipline which they
word And had not God himselfe made this order and difference in all publique and politique proceedings as by the places aboue named and many other of the old and newe Testament which we haue elsewhere vsed for the differences and dignities of Ministers in generall may appeare yet common experience reason and necessity would haue inforced the same as we may see in all pollitique bodies Ecclesiasticall and Ciuil which haue euer beene in the world which otherwise through a generall confusion none ruling nor any obeying would fall downe of themselues as Saint Paul saith if euery member were a head where were the hand the feete the smelling c euen all without order and difference a monstrous confusion And therefore these men themselues in their exercising and awarding this high censure or any part of their new deuised pollicy and discipline reduce all such proceedings to Consistorial throne and iurisdiction and that in far greater soueraignty and peremptory vnreuerseable power then wheresoeuer vnder Christian Magistracy any lawfull Ecclesiasticall body doth execute their iurisdictions and power And herein it differeth not whether the immediate mannagers and Actuaries in this Excommunication be good or bad as the Donatists and Anabaptists sometimes excepted against Baptisme it selfe and some of our homebred Schismatickes haue often reuiued those quarrells or els Laickes sometimes and in some cases as the next question will better inquire so long as they haue this externall order and power by lawfull authority vnder Christian Magistrates put vpon them because therein they doe not their owne worke or actions as Augustine hath abundantly aunswered against the Donatists but the speciall functions of the Church by which they are moued and in euery particular directed and no way carried so farre foorth as they performe any Ecclesiasticall seruices by their owne priuate motions and spirit as appeareth also in baptisme ordination of ministers and many other things appertaining to Ecclesiasticall power and censures And indeede the summe of this obiection is none other then the demand of Corah and his confederates challenging equall power and holinesse in this kinde to all the Leuites and ministers in common Num. 16. v. 34. which God had made then for the order and gouernment of that Church proper to the Priests which is all one with the matter and question we haue in hand For the conclusion whereof I desire all to reade that with iudgement and to translate the Latine of it into good true English diuinity or Christian and godly pollicy if they will which that graue learned and true Christian politician wrote sometimes by way of councell and Theologicall determination to certayne like minded with these Questionists Obiectors Melancthon in Consiliis theologicis Et Consistoria ideo coÌ„stituta sunt ne indocti pastores aut malidaÌ„nent homines sine legittima cognitione sicut manifestum est iracundos pastores saepe hoc modo iniuste turbasse ecclesias notum est plurimos pastores nescire ordinem cognitionum satis est pastors quod ad ministerium iurisdictionem suam attinet quando crimen est notorium admonere reum si non obtemperet arcere cum a communione c. Which speciall power also is by the wisedome and appointment of our Church thorough some delegate power left many times in the hands of euery the meanest minister who also for the most part alwayes hath his ministery and vse in the inflicting this censure and absoluing any persons from it To which the same author addeth the practise and iudgement of other learned men and Churches at that time more directly to this question Anâ—â— Annum in ditione Naumbergensi magna contentio fuit inter quosdam an singuli pastores armandi essent hac potestate Nominatim sine cognitione Consistorii excommunicandi aliquos responderunt autem Dr. Sneppius Casper Aquila idem quod nos nunc scribimus Now for the third and last question and obiection vsually made against the meanes and manner of executing this censure Quaest 3. namely that oftentimes meere Laicks or such at the least as were neuer fully admitted into holy orders doe not onely intermeddle therewith but haue for the most part the greatest stroke therein Plea of the Innocent pag. 49. 50. To which I first answer that which some of these exceptors and pleaders make contrary vse of alledging as the truth is and the order thereof by our Canons and common practise of our Church that the mayne sentence of Excommunication is euermore reserued to bee denounced by the Bishop or some other minister as from whose care and power this whole proceeding doth originally descend by whome and by what means soeuer it be managed Which secondly if it were not so I answer that whatsoeuer is performed herein by any such persons either for the better more safe preparation to the finall sentence it selfe or els practised in the very denouncing of the same are to be accompted for no other then the actions of the sacred ministery it selfe or if you will rather speake with Cyprian and Ierome of the Church and whole power any where established for so they speake plainly albeit very impertinently Nichols in his plea pag. 59. and as ignorantly cited by one of these grand exceptors against many things in our Church gouernment and this one we haue in hand amongst the rest Clauium potestas non vnised vnitati conceditur And so indeede the intermedlers herein are not merely Laikes or wholy Ecclesiasticall in that behalfe and their assistance herein or pronouncing this sentence at any time is no otherwise then as the Clerke of the peace at any commoÌ„ Sessions doth reade denounce or any way assist the Iudges thereof to whome properly and principally the whole commission is directed Thirdly many things incident and especially belonging to this greate censure of Excommunication as it is now for the most part exercised by any Church being externall and primarily respecting the bodies and outward estates of the offendors as also the common peace and externall pollicy of both Church and common wealth together as we aboue shewed they are by all reasonable consideration to be mannaged and discussed by their proper professors and best experienced therein Neither lastly were it meet as the whole councell of the Apostles conclude in the like case that the ministers of the word and Sacraments should attend vpon tables or taking knowledge of all criminall causes in this kind and nature In respect whereof our new masters of their Church policy haue found it very necessary to appoint diuers sorts of lay persons as Elders Deacons Widdowes and such like making them essentiall parts of all welordered Church policy Acts. 6. v. 2. according to Christ his word rules and kingdome as they say who yet notwithstanding in the trueth of those termes being according to the vse thereof in the first Churches and Paul his mentioning of such kind of helpers 1. Cor. 12. v. 26. vnder the
the most part of the ministery and abundance of poore in all places Thirdly dispute not thou what is fit for discipline of Clergy or people in ceremonies more or lesse these or other but leaue it to the magistrate that is charged with that care and must answer for his magistracy and sinnes thereof one day Neither may any without great occasion of sinne and manifest breach of the fift commandement pulle their necks out of the yoake of their lawfull commands For Christianity taketh not away any part of ciuility or humanity as some haue well said much lesse due obedience to lawfull authority as too many haue taught of late and practised And to conclude this first part of my answer to this obiection I desire all to reade and compare with iudgement that reply of our Sauiour Christ to that Pharisaicall exception against Christ his Disciples for eating with vnwashen hands with the doctrine and practises of these men who making scruple and much adoe about Crosse and Surplice and a few ceremonies distasting their priuate iudgements runne headlong into open neglect and contempt of the fift commandement And so as the Pharisies did vpon error of deuotion and conscience to their Corban cause many a silly disciple of theirs to neglect their manifold duties to father and mother whereby as Christ telleth them they made the commandement of God of none effect by their traditions Euen so doe these new masters euery way the selfesame in effect Secondly I answer that albeit no humane Lawes do of themselues binde the conscience but only as they haue their ground and warrant from the fift commandement and further that no magistrate or creature in the world can take away the least part of Christian liberty in things inwardly spirituall or outwardly indifferent in themselues for choice or vse because Christian liberty is the selfe-same still and is seene as well in doing as not doing vsing or not vsing any thing subiect vnto it yet do all wise esteemers of these things hold that euery Christian Magistrate may and ought also many times by vertue of the fift commandement restraine this Christian liberty in many particular things according as any good cause and reason generall or particular may occasion any Prince or state to make wholsome Lawes for any such purpose And that so farre and so large as no one commandemēt of God by commission or omission any thing hereby be preiudiced by any of these restraints or impositions whatsoeuer As in the matter of fasting abstinence the learned Schooles haue fully determined which may serue for answer and direction touching all wholsome Lawes penall or otherwise enacted and in force in our state or any other CHAP. VII Answering the obiection of so many scandals arising by the vse of the Crosse THat other of this last and least kind of arguments against the Crosse which shall also be the last of this our consideration is drawne from the offences which haply haue or may at any time arise from the vse of this Crosse For answer whereunto I hope I shall not need to stand vpon the definition of a Scandall in generall Hieron in 15. Math. v. 12. Scandalum est dictum vel factum quod dat alteri occasionem ruinae or the vsuall diuisions of the same into Actiue and Passiue by the Schooles and commonly termed offences giuen or taken but referring all to Saint Ierome his definition of a Scandall set downe in his commentaries vpon the 15. of Math. vers 12. I wish these great exceptors and all other too too iustly scandalized by them their offensiue behauiours in this behalfe to turne their eyes vpon the manifold scandalls and inconueniences also which many waies breake out priuately and publiquely both in Church and common wealth by reason of their omitting misliking and so peremptory condemning the vse of the same albeit established by publique authority amongst vs. Which indeed are so many as that no wisely affected or honestly disposed heart can but throughly and most feelingly be touched and iustly greeued withall especially since those which rise from the omitting of it are farre greater and of another nature from those which proceede from the vsing of it euen in Baptisme it selfe or any other holy administration there beeing indeed betwixt them no iust or fit proportion or comparison the one being only passiue and vnnecessarily taken by those that abuse them and themselues and others by them and doe neither know the truth vse or right practise of them the other being too too iustly giuen and actiuely and in themselues euil as the Schooles speak and we haue aboue shewed conteining in them manifold breaches of the fift and almost euery other commandement of God As namely generall disobedience and both inward and too too often outward kicking spurning and rebelling against the most graue decrees and constitutions of the Church and soueraigne authority of the chiefe Magistrate to which euery honest heart ought willinglie to subscribe and simply without contradiction or disputation to yeeld their obedience Besides the great neglecting of speciall callings and manifold duties therein to GOD and man bereauing the Church also by this meanes of their gifts and themselues and others of their necessary maintenance besides many other which I haue more griefe then will to repeate Secondly were these offences both alike I meane accidentally euill only as those taken herein are and so being meere occasions nec dant speciem nec veniunt in definitione as the Schooles speake 22. Quaest 43. art 1. and therefore are no proper causes of euill yet in such a consideration the greater number doth and ought with euery good conscience to ouersway the fewer and the lesser which if they should be reckoned together there would appeare great oddes and a broad difference to any equall or iudicious eie And whereas some haue found a more nice difference in this behalfe in respect of the Magistrates commanding these things which in their iudgements might well be forborne charging them further with great want at the least of Christian charity and wise louing care and foresight towards the good of their poore subiects and inferiors soules and bodies by not preuenting and taking away so many causes or to speake more properly occasions of so much offence hurt and dammage to their weake consciences and Church of God in generall I answer first that it is a horrible sinne both against the fift but especially against the ninth commandement for any priuate spirit or person whatsoeuer to entertaine any such thoughts and suspitions which are no other then diabolicall suggestions against their Prince or any lawfull authority placed ouer them Whereas the rule of that royall law is particularly expressed in the ninth commandement neuer to censure or conster the words or doings of any the meanest offensiuely and to the worst when any more fauourable conceipt and interpretation thereof may be admitted and affoorded Much more to presume so farre as to