Windsore Park Concerning Deanes of Churches and Abbots and Priors of Conuents THe Priors of Kockford and Bingam were sued for proceeding against some in the spirituall Court after prohibition R. Io. anno 15. The Deane of Doncaster for molesting diuers of the Kings liege people was conuicted before the Iudges and admitted to his fine The Prior and Couent of Saint Patricks in Dublin lost their Temporals for electing an Archbishop without the Kings consent Anno 6. Edw. 1. The Deane of Wooluer-hampton was cited to appeare before the Iudges for his contempt for admitting one Ottobon to a Prebend in the same Church by a Mandate from the Pope Anno 31. Edw. 1. The Prior of Canterburie for appealing to the Court of Rome was adiudged to bee imprisoned and to reuoke his Appeale Anno 23. Edw. 1. Io. Abbat of Walden attached for the same Anno eodem Thus farre of Bishops Deanes Abbots and Priors the recitall of the rest would fill the booke and not much more satisfie the Reader and therefore I forbeare to name them and come now to shew how little the Pope of Rome or his Buls were regarded of our English Iudges There was an Act made against drawing causes to Rome anno 27. Edw. 3. and a commandement giuen anno 16. Edw. filij R. Edwardi that no man should alienate sell or send any thing beyond the Seas and how many were accordingly indited and committed as Io. Ouerton to the Tower Simon Mellercet to the Kings Bench anno 28. Edw. 3. William Beuercot to the Marshalsey anno Regis filij Edwardi 17. And for the Popes Buls how little were they regarded or rather how greatly were the getters or procurers their fautors and abettors those that did but threaten to make vse of them punished and censured There was a proceeding with some seueritie against one that threatned he would get a Bull from the Pope Anno 27. R. Henrici There was likewise an Inquisition indented taken for those that procured them anno 20. Edw. 3. their Abettors anno R. Edw. 4. and one that pleaded them was committed to prison So then those that bought those Buls at Rome giuing Gold for Lead found them still Lead and no better here in England and neither Buls Appeales Bishops or liberties of the Church could protect them against the King his Crowne and dignitie Kings of England here and I trust euer shall be able to maintaine their soueraigne iurisdiction within these Kingdomes ouer all persons and in all causes against all forreine iurisdiction which commeth next in order to bee handled The Third Proposition The King is not subiect to any forraigne iurisdiction THe Pope pretends to be the Head of the Catholique Church how rightly we shall see hereafter I am sure the King of England holdeth it by as good right as the Law of God and the Law of this Kingdome can giue him I know it will bee presently obiected that King Henry the eighth being a violent King tooke this title vpon him they are certainely deceiued that either thinke or say it and therefore to manifest this point the better I will tell you my conceit how this matter was brought to passe not without an especiall prouidence of God out of very vnlikely meanes For when King Henry the eighth was sharpened against Luther there wanted not some about him that buzzed this into the Kings eares that the doctrine of Martin Luther was nothing else but drawne from the hereticall proposition of Iohn Wicklife which was condemned long since in and by his Vniuersitie of Oxford Whereupon the King being tickled because the full knowledge of this at that time serued well for his purpose presently dispatched Edward Leighton one of his Chaplaines and Batchelor of Diuinitie with those Letters to the Vniuersitie of Oxford By the King TRusty and welbeloued Wee greet you well And forasmuch as Wee at this instant time for certaine great and weighty considerations Vs moouing touching as well the repressing of such erroneous opinions and heresies as be now a dayes spread abroad in sundry places as also the consolation of Christs Church and good Christian people be desirous not only to be aduertised of the Articles whereupon Wicklife was condemned heretofore by that Our Vniuersitie of Oxford but also of the confirmation of the Councell of Constance concerning the condemnation of the said Articles We therefore will that yee with all celerity doe send vnto Vs by Our trusty and welbeloued Chaplaine M. Edward Leighton the bearer in writing vnder the Seale of Our said Vniuersitie in as lawfull and Authentique wise as yee can deuise as well all and singular the said Articles of condemnation of the said Wicklife and also the confirmation thereupon of the said Councell of Constance giuing vnto Our said Chaplaine firme credence in such things as he shall shew vnto you in Our behalfe touching the premises And in thus doing you shall minister vnto Vs full acceptable pleasure Yeuen vnder our signet at our Castle of Windesore the last day of Iuly Vpon the receipt of these Letters followed a Conuocation a Delegacie was appointed the sixth of this instant moneth there wanted no celâ—ritie the Instrument is made and both it and the answere to the Kings Letters sealed the ninth day of that very moneth Amongst those Articles that were sent vp there were diuers that did mainly trench vpon the Popes power which as Wickliefe said were neither found nor founded vpon Gods Word What effects these Articles wrought in the Kings mind I know not but of one thing I am wel assured that not long after the King being at variance with the Pope a Parliament was called with in two yeres and a motion was made therein that the King should be declared Head of the Church but his Maiestie refused till he had aduised with his Vniuersities vpon that point and whilest the Parliament sate God in whose hands the hearts of Princes are so disposing it the King reflecting belike vpon Wickliefes former Articles directing his Letters to the Vniuersitie of Oxford about the election of the Bishop of Lincolne into the Chancellorship of the Vniuersitie of Oxford in the roome of Archbishop Warham lately deceased After the accomplishment whereof saith the King Our pleasure and commandement is that ye as shall be beseeme men of vertue and profound literature diligently intreating examining and discussing a certaine question sent from Vs to you concerning the power and primacie of the Bishop of Rome send againe to Vs in writing vnder your common Seale with conuenient speed and celeritie your mind sentence and assertion of the quaestion according to the meere and sincere truth of the same willing you to giue credence to Our trusty and welbeloued this bringer your Commissarie aswell touching Our further pleasure in the premisses as for other matters c. Yeuen vnder Our Signet at Our Mannor of Greenewich the eighteenth day of May. Vpon the receipt of these Letters the Vniuersitie at
iurisdiction Where we attribute to the Kings Maiestie the chiefe Gouernment by which title we vnderstand the minds of some slanderous folkes to be offended we giue not to our Prince the ministring either of Gods Word or of the Sacraments the which thing the Iniunctions also set forth by Elizabeth our late Queene do most plainely testifie But that onely prerogatiue which wee see to haue been giuen alwaies to all godly Princes in holy Scriptures by God himselfe that is that they should rule all Estates and degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiasticall or Temporall and restraine with the Ciuill sword the stubborne and euill doers This thirtie seuenth Article explained and maintained by the Papists in these subsequent Propositions 1. THe Kings Maiestie hath the chiefe power in this Realme of England and other his Dominions 2. Ouer all persons in all Causes whether they be Ecclesiasticall or Ciuill 3. The King is not subiect to any forraine iurisdiction 4. Hee may restraine with the Ciuill sword the stubburne and euill doers The first Proposition The Kings Maiestie hath the chiefe power in this Realme of England and other his Dominions I Must craue pardon of euery honest Reader if I inlarge my papers in this point and the propositions following beyond my first proposall for that I take it to bee a piece of my alleageance for me and all of my coate not onely to oppose those paper walles but to interpose our deerest liues betweene the King and danger if need require Danger there is and euer will be to Kingly power as long as their bloody Inquisition-house shall stand at Rome for if their transcendent and vniustifiable power be not limited they will in time to come if they may haue their willes quod absit first thrust Kings out of their bookes and then out of their Kingdomes But the best is nocumenta documenta his most excellent Maiestie being forewarned is forearmed not only to preueut the danger by their bookes but by their mischieuous persons with a iust deleantur both out of his Kingdome and State Wee may see their euill intents in their thrice accursed Indices Expurgatorij If a flower of Regall authoritie do begin to bud forth it is presently nipped off with their vlcerous hands For example Place we the King according to our bounden duties by the Lawes of God and men in a Throne higher than all other men because he hath no Peere or Compeere vpon earth that can equalize much lesse ouertop Honore quolibet sublimiorem quum habeat dignitatem this doctrine was taught vs long agoe by Agapetus the Deacon and other ancient Writers whose steppes the Papists pretend to follow and who but they that seeme to reuerence their graue sentences and gray haires Neuerthelesse you see a crosse in the Margent and you shall find a Deleatur in their books or a Caue as if you had trod vpon a Serpent I haue an ancient Manuscript in my keeping that made an hard shift to come vnto mee for he almost lost his coate by the way but ragged and torne as he is he hath these words which doe serue to bee written in letters of gold because they speake the Supremacy in expresse tearmes and accord with this our Article The King hath no liuing person aboue him in his Kingdome who then dares appeale from him Vnlesse it be some traiterous Becket or other that passing the Seas raised such seas of trouble in this Kingdome that he had welnigh ouerwhelmed both King and State if the prouidence of God had not the better preserued them as may appeare in our English Stories But leauing Becket to be fully displaied in all his colours and prooued to bee as he is a notorious Traytor notwithstanding all their shifts that would apologize for him I proceed and further shew that there is iust occasion giuen vs to feare that if this old Manuscript had lighted into the Papists hands either this leafe should haue bin purged or torne or the whole booke made away that it should neuer haue come in euidence against them For Manuscripts as well as other books whether Greeke or Latin old or new are the subiect or obiectum adaequatum of their damnable vnheard of and Diabolicall censures But to resume my first Proposition againe that the Kings Maiestie hath next vnder God the chiefe power in this Realme is a doctrine so harsh and distasteful in their mouthes that there is a Deleatur wheresoeuer it is found non habet in terris se quicquam excelsius He hath no man greater vpon earth is shamefully put forth and cleane turned out of an ancient Writer in their Bibliotheque of ancient Fathers This very sentence in other words in Lud. Viues Epistle vnto King Henrie the eight hath endured the like purgation and is washed away cleane out of the booke Now to grow to a conclusion If the Papists doe so ill entreate Kings in their bookes I leaue you to imagine what they would doe to their persons if they could as easily come by them But nouerint vniuersi I would haue all men know that the more they corrupt the lesse they gaine in the iudgement of any indifferent Papist not too much Romanized and of fauour let me aske them this question and let them answere mee if they can vpon their consciences doe these sentences that they haue caused to bee blotted and blurred make against them or not If they doe not they make themselues ridiculous by taking so much labour in vaine the Thalmud of the Iewes nor the great Theater of Zuinger amongst the Protestants nor Tostatus or Salmeron among your Papists nor any booke in any Science haue wearied your patiences or terrified your Inquisitors from prying into their bookes or corrupting their writings if they doe make against you and your doctrine which cannot subsist without these notorious shiftings and shufflings wrenchings and wrincklings the more dishonest men you that while the controuersies are depending and the questions are in disputing doe shamefully either suborne Authors to beare false witnesses to testifie vntruths or suppresse and subuert the testimonies that make against you To close vp this first Proposition and your mouthes if it be possible this first Proposition standeth inuiolable The Kings Maiesty hath the chiefe power in this Realme of England and other his Dominions The second Proposition Ouer all persons in all causes whether they be Ecclesiasticall or Ciuill HEarken then I pray you to your own Writers Claudius Espencaeus a man of singular note trencheth vpon this troublesome question and decideth it thus Hauing spoken of Saint Pauls omnis anima Let euery soule be subiect to the higher powers expounded by Chrysostome whether he bee Apostle or Euangelist Prophet Priest or Monke which exposition is seconded by Theodoret Theophylact Oecumenius and what Greeke Writer dares oppose against it he inferreth these words Yea Gregorie the first Gregorie the Great doth ingenuously acknowledge
to their office and functions to assist the Pope in doing good and preaching the Gospell or visiting the sick or suruaying their Diocesses Lastly 〈…〉 Pope to whom he poore Wicelius deceiued by a counterfcite Epistle of Anaclâ—tus erring the errour of the Pontifician by misinterpreting the words of our â—uiour Thou art Peter giueth a kind of Supremacie but not in that latitude that now it is taken hee summoneth to appeare before the Tribunall Seate of God if he did not his best to reforme the corruptions of the Clergy in generall not exempting his Holines as some flatterers and pick-thankes did and the foule abuses of the Court of Rome which were spread abroad throughout all the World in bookes printed to the shame of that See and iust reproofe of his Holinesse and hee did verily thinke in his conscience that if they did not the sooner begin to reforme the Sectaries by Colloquies or Councels not by fire and sword ere long be they would loose all Germanie that began then to dance after Martins Luthers Pipe and greedily to imbrace his doctrine for the very filthinesse and abominable or innominable sinnes of their Clergie 14. Lastly what shall I speake of their Holy water qua nihil immundius that was vnholy their Thurification that was to be reiected because the sent thereof was not pleasing in Gods nostrils abuse of Confession Baptisme Excommunication which were too too much abused You see our Wicelius was a true reformer of the Church a moderate Papist at the least and no dissembler of the faults of his age of the Church doubtles in time he might if he had not bin too much awed by their great ones to whom as became a peaceable man he shewed all manner of outward obedience I say he might haue prooued an other Martin Luther though moued with a cleane coÌ„trary spirit so powerful is the Spirit of God to change our purposes and alter our nature when and as it pleaseth the Diuine prouidence Concerning Ant. de Dom I know not well what to say but to cry out Digitus Dei God had a finger in disposing of his comming ouer and suffering him to fall that other might rise and to write so directly against the Church of Rome as to my seeming for the most points no man hath done better though himselfe were neuer in the right hauing a good head but a corrupt and equluocating heart from the beginning which well became him that was tutored by and brought vp vnder the Iesuites Now albeit his conuersion were most fained and his Apostacie most certaine and true whatsoeuer he proposed to himselfe the heart is a Closet wherein none may enter but God God so disposed of both for his glorie that his person should relapse from our Religion and himselfe returne with the Dog to his old vomit and his elegant and substantiall bookes though they be mute should speake and proclaime to all the World the vnauoideable truth of our Religion now publikely professed and established in the Church of England Thus doth the diuine prouidence bring light out of darknesse and make good effects spring from the roote of euill causes as better shall appeare when we come to giue you my obseruations about the bookes that are purged I will onely touch vpon the Author of the Historie of the Councell of Trent whom because Ant. de Dominis whom I cannot call Ant. de Dommo because hee serued more Masters called Pietro Soare I will also call him by that name doth so farre shew to euery one-eyed Reader that the Councell of Trent though it were called against and condemned Martin Luther and his Religion yet if the Councell had been free and their voyces decisiue without the Pope though the Italian Bishops were three to one in number and there had been no foule play in calculating the voyces still I say leauing the Clokebag behind the Councell of Trent might haue turned Lutheran and sate at Witenberge aswell as there for their propositions and reasons which as D. Stapleton saith may be fallible and deceitfull but the conclusion is that which they did and we must look after if we will suffer our selues to be hoodwinckt and as very fooles as they I am not ignorant that there be some in the world moderate Papists that haue taken as iust and as great exception as we doe or can vnto the Councell of Trent and I would not haue the Christian Reader ignorant of this that I haue intreated of this largely in another set Treatise which if it shall be thought worthy by the Church of England to whom I doe yeeld and owe all submission may haue the happinesse with some other Treatises of mine to see the light Of the bookes printed vnpurged so much by way of caueat for the printed purge Copies take gentle Reader these few notes into thy Christian consideration 1. That I propose not to my selfe any exact handling of the Controuersies questioned betweene vs and the Papists per viam Thomae as they say by way of opposition or obiections and answeres out of Scripture Councels Fathers midled aged first aged and all aged Writers before Martin Luther my weake and wearied legges at this time will not suffer me to expatiate so farre yet my studies I confesse and naturall disposition to rip vp and vnfold the controuersies and vnriuit them out of the secrets of true Antiquitie driue that way my purpose is if God will to giue you a taste onely of that fruit which may be expected out of their sundry Indices Expurgatorij if they be well and narrowly sought after and looked into I haue but seuen or eight of them some that fell into my hands by casualty at the surprizall of the Towne of Cadiz others by the prouidence of God and great care and industrie of the Founder of our great Librarie Sir Thom. Bodley the Pâ—olomey of our â—ges and wonderfull preseruer of bookes I haue by my selfe and my friends amassed and shouelled together some thirtie Quire of Paper of Catholike restitutions and restored some one or two hundred seuerall Authors and out of them I haue gathered this small Introduction or Manuduction vnto Diuinitie sorted according vnto the especiall Articles of Religion controuerted at this day betweene vs and the Papists deliuered in as plaine and familiar manner as I could possibly deuise for the capacitie of the vulgar Protestant or Papist 2. I haue not taken all that may be taken or gathered out of the Articles that the booke might not rise to too great a bulke I haue neither collected all that is contained in the seuerall Indices but a third or fourth part only nor all that is contained in my said collections but the most pertinent and proper places 3. Neither is it to be vnderstood that all that are recorded by them for Papists are indeed Papists but supposed ones as Laeuinus Lemnius Io. Spondanus c. whose testimonies are sparingly miscited by mee in following the common errour
the Emperours soueraigntie aswell ouer the Priests that fight Gods battels as ouer the souldiers that warred vnder his conduct Regist lib. 2. Ep. 64. And after Gregorie and Chrysostome Bernard a late Writer in his to Henrie Archbishop of Senes Ep. 41. argueth after this manner out of the words Euery soule If euery soule then yours he that would haue you conceiue otherwise of these words doth but deceiue you follow not their counsels Espenc ep ad Titum cap. 3 pag. 513. And not long after If Princes haue nothing to do with Religion and sacred businesses what makes so many Imperiall lawes and constitutions for Religion in the Code Nouels and Authentikes And to what purpose doe wee reade of so many Royall Edicts and Parliaments in the Annals of all Christian Princes for the settling and establishing of Religion As I heare when those horrible fires were lighted throughout all the kingdome of France for the burning of men and women aliue Oh that was a matter of the Church appertaining to Religion But when there was speech of reforming the Clergie conforming Monkes to their primitiue orders and sending Non-residents home to their Cures to care for their flocks that matter was not to be spoken of by the temporall Magistrate it was to be treated of in a Councell or before the Popes Holinesse for so I haue heard and doe well remember that our Bishops were wont to distinguish after this manner as if Princes were not to be zealous and carefull in point of Religion but to commit the care thereof not only to men very indiscreet but altogether ignorant and so to become meere executioners of their cruell designes as if they were not sonnes of our Mother the Church and chiefe propugnators propagators and defenders of the same Wee haue heard what Espencaeus iudgement is of Princes intermedling in Ecclesiasticall affaires heare wee now a man nothing inferiour to him for learning Andreas Masius writing vpon Iosua what saith he If it should chance that the Priests forgetting their duties doe against the Lawes of God Customes of the Church or approoued Ceremonies and Rites of Gods worship and doe performe the seruices of God either negligently and disorderly or do violate and breake them or by their lewd liues and wicked actions doe trouble and disquiet the settled state of the Common-wealth we may not say that it belongeth not to the office of a Lay Prince to put them in mind of their duties and to admonish them and if this will not serue to bridle their audacious actions by his Princely authoritie and this doctrine I take to be well warranted by the letter and examples of the Scripture If out of the mouthes of these two witnesses this doctrine be not sufficiently concluded we will indeauour to euince the same out of the Pragmaticks of France and Courts of Iustice here in England and first of France The Vestall Virgins are not free from the punishment of the Temporall Magistrate and who more sacred And as learned Budaeus saith there was a French King that made their Cardinals and Bishops quake and who so great But optima prima his gouernment was too good to last long he was soone sent packing with a figge in his mouth or a peare or some such thing as the Deuill would haue it Boniface the eighth brought an error into the Church which was greatly preiudiciall to the Pragmattick of France one Tanquerel openly in Paris tooke vpon him to defend the same but a good paire of legges were his owne best defence he ran away and one P. Gustus in his steed before fiftie Doctors of Diuinity and Sorbonists in their Schoole stood bare a prettie while and then shamefully acknowledged his errour and not onely his but Boniface the eighths and forthwith their chiefe Diuines offered themselues prompt and ready to take the Oath of Alleageance or to giue any satisfaction to the King or Courts of Iustice But why dwell wee so long in France when domesticis exemplis abundamus England is sufficiently prouided to furnish vs with examples out of Westminster or the Tower as may appeare by the diligent hand of a most knowing Lawyer who hath collected them together sending them to a reuerend friend of mine who coppied them out and imparted the Transcript vnto mee whence I gather that it was a familiar matter in old time when the State stood Popish and the Iudges stood too much affected with that which they now call the Romane Religion to sue fine and imprison Archbishops Bishops Deanes and Clergie men for beating wounding burning houses killing of men cutting of lippes and not so onely but about Prohibitions in Prouisions out of the Realme Appeales to and Buls from Rome and it would not serue a Bishops turne so carefull were the Iudges of keeping and preseruing the ancient liberties and customes and the King his Crowne and dignitie that though they reuerenced the Church according to their blind deuotion yet a Bishop comming before a Lay-Iudge pleading that hee was an anoynted Bishop Brother to the Pope and an Ecclesiasticall person that he was a Clerke neither of both could be heard but in the Tower Marshalsey Kings-Bench c. or fined and ransomed brought they Letters Prohibitions and Buls from Rome the very bringing whereof was no lesse danger then a Praemunire I know you expect proofes and not words Records and no other proofes and therefore I proceed and shew out of the Records that For Archbishops and Bishops Anno 27. R. Henrici filij Iâ—nioris there came a precept to the Iudges of the Kings-Bench to proceed against Robert Bishop of Worcester and others in a cause of Prohibition as being against the Kings Crowne and Dignitie The Bishop of Exeter lost his Temporals for not admitting the Kings Clerke to the Church of Southwell The Bishop of Ely for being accessary to the burning of Blanch Wakes house and murdering of Will Holme which was killed in a Wood by his seruants and intertained by him after the fact was done was put vpon his twelue Godfathers Walter Bishop of Exceter for appealing to the Court of Rome to the Kings great preiudice finds sureties to answer the matter before the King Anno 6. Edw. 1. Semblably Ralph Bishop of Bath and Welles was proceeded against for summoning men to Rome Anno 19. Edw 3. William Bishop of Norwich had his Temporals seazed on for excommunicating one Richard that brought the Kings Prohibition Anno 20. Edw. 3. Adam Hereford for partaking with Roger Mortimer is tainted in Parliament notwithstanding the Archbishops challenge Anno Edw 17 Rob. Archbishop of Canterburies body was to bee taken for excommunicating the Sherifes when he came to serue the Kings Warrant Anno 32. Edw. 1. And to see how small a matter would incense the King and how sharpe his punishments would be against the Clergie there was a warrant sent downe to the Sherife of Worcester to serue vpon him for hunting only in
and further too for in those dayes when hee wrote there was no question made but those of the inferieur sort of the Cleargy should if they could not containe but needs would marry be sustained and maintained out of the profits of their benefice and enioy the benefit of their priuiledges At that time also if an Acolythus came to a discreete Priest and told him by way of Confession that hee had not to say the truth the gift of continency it was but a veniall sinne in the Confessour to aduise his Confessee to contract himselfe with some one or other in priuate sort so deceiue his Diocesan for of two euils the lesse is to be chosen and it is a lesse fault for a Priest to marry priuatly and to keepe his wife without scandall together with his benefice then to keepe a Concubine against the expresse commandement of God And put the case that this man after this be compelled by his Diocesan to ascend to holy orders wee beleeue and assure ourselues that hee is in lesse fault that keepes the company of his owne wife than he that haunts an Harlots company this is spoken of them that cannot containe Answerable to this ancient Tenet was that of Erasmus and others Whosoeuer hee bee that preferres the hauing of a Concubine before the marriage of a wife to my seeming is in as bad case or rather worse than hee that doth commit adulterie The more ashamed might our Papists bee that tollerate Stewes and maintaine harlots in and by their Church policie they shame not to write it I am ashamed to repeate it ne deterior libido vsum assumat and as if they would put chast marriage cleane out of countenance I haue read of one Tho. dela Beare a Welch Bishop who more like a Beare then a Bishop would not suffer the Clergy of his Diocesse to part with their concubines though they earnestly desired it because forsooth he should lose an annuall rent of fortie Markes which was well and truly paid him and no maruell for Espencaeus a later Writer telleth vs that in his time their Archdeacons and Officials in their visitations respectiuely leuied the same of concubinary Priests and sometimes of those that were continent Habeant aiunt si volunt They might haue had their whores if they would Erasmus wondreth not at this because they made a sweete gaine by this sweete sinne To conclude consideratis considerandis the premises duely considered the great snares wherewith their Priests and religious were intangled the intollerable fire of lust wherewith they did burne their homicides incests whoredomes Sodomitic all sinnes denaturalizations sinnes against nature all which shall bee reckoned vp in their proper place Were it not safer for vs to conclude with Pius 2. his golden saying As there was great cause to remoue Priests wiues at the first so there is greater cause to restore them againe now Which hee spake belike because this old Aeneas had a young Ascanius brought vnto him which his Father Franciscanus was faine to keepe or rather because Priests and Monkes are lesse chaste then married men that Marriage is at this day now in the Reformed Churches more holy and more acceptable vnto God and the bed vndefiled farre to be preferred before single life as Erasmus Laurentius Schraderus Melchior Iunius Dan Venatorius and Petrus Crinitus doe conclude on the behalf of married men And so I end my Treatise of this Article That marriage is not to be forbidden Clergie men and Ecclesiastiques but it is lawfull also for them as for all other Christian men to marry at their owne discretion as they shall iudge the same to serue better for godlinesse Of the authoritie of Generall Councels GEnerall Councels may not be gathered together without the commandement and will of Princes and when they be gathered together for as much as they bee an assembly of men whereof all be not gouerned with the Spirit and Word of God they may erre and sometimes haue erred euen in things pertaining vnto God wherefore things ordained by them as necessary vnto saluation haue neither strength nor authoritie vnlesse it bee declared that they be taken out of holy Scripture This Article maintained by the Papists MEdicines say Physitians must bee proportionable to the diseases when the diseases of the Church grow Epidemicall and common say wise men there is no remedie so apt as a Generall Councell But who shall assemble them together Who but Princes and Emperours so the same Erasmus P. Aerodius Fr. Duarenus Aug Thuanus Ant. de Dominis and others of the best note with them But then this question againe may be demanded Who shall preside and gouerne the Councell The same Princes by whose commandement and will they are gathered so Langius vpon Nicephorus and the fore cited Fr. Duarenus But in the meane time what shall become of the Pope Is not he the great Patriarch of the West and Prime Prelate of the Church Be it granted we will for orders sake allow his voyce in the first place but consultiue at the most with and not decisiue without the Councell for else it were in vaine to call them together Nay when the Pope doth not his dutie see how farre hee is in danger of a Councell hee may bee opposed and deposed by them If the Fathers of Constance and Basil were silent this might be otherwise prooued but the truth is the best Writers of your side whose eyes are not dazled with the brightnesse of the See of Rome nor their persons awed by the Popes greatnesse doe confesse thus much in expresse tearmes totidem verbis that Councels are aboue the Pope as Io. Langius Albertus Krantzius Wernerius Rolewinck Ant. de Dominis and a whole legion of Writers in Zuingers Theater It is not then to bee maruelled if the Pope in these latter times be so loth to call a Councell if no man will tell vs the reason thereof â— Iouius in the life of Leo the tenth will blab it forth Concilia terrori Pontificibus Our Popes are too wise to hazzard their estates in a Generall Councell if they may otherwise dispatch the businesse and come fairely off There remaine behind two scruples in this Article whether first Generall Councels may erre Secondly Whether Scripture must be the Rule to guide them Prudent Erasmus taketh them away both by saying that Councels may be depraued and then that no morall perswasion of Councels but authoritie of Scripture must be insisted vpon Of the 37. Article Of the Ciuill Magistrate THe Kings Maiestie hath the chiefe power in this Realme of England and other his Dominions vnto whom the chiefe gouernment of all the Estates of this Realme whether they be Ecclesiasticall or Ciuill in all causes doth appertaine and is not nor ought to be subiect to any forraine