to haue any iurisdiction power superiority preeminence or authority Ecclesiasticall or Spirituall within this Realme if he digest this then see how one thing draweth on another all our former differences are at once and in this one compounded also for if the Pope being a forraigne Prelate or Potentate be excluded from hauing any Ecclesiasticall power or Spirituall authority within this Realme Then our question of his preheminency or jurisdiction in repressing the exorbitant and pernicious excesse of great men as an Ecclesiasticall Iudge or Supreame Pastor direct or indirect is at an end clearely determined I doubt not but his excellent Majesty of his Princely care to bring home so many lost sheepe and to bosome them againe in his dearest loue will affoord them that fauorable interpretation which this there Aduocate and Orator requireth in their behalfe In the meane space not to loose what we haue got I returne vnto P. R. the like charge of making good of his word touching the Oath of Supremacy in the sence and distinction afore mentioned and therewithall might thinke it not reasonable any further to stricke a yeelding aduersary that by so voluntary an offer cleareth the cause from any further controuersie But remembring the nature and quallity of our adversary and the many winding and intricaking trickes he is vsed vnto in the canvassing of this or the like controversies I feare that this our reconciliation is rather seeming then substanciall and will suddainly vpon a small touch fall a sunder againe to as great a discrepance for howsoeuer he doth so franckly yeeld vnto his Majesty a supremacy of the Church in Ecclesiasticall causes as touching outward preseruation onely let him be but sifted a little in his meanings it will breake from him that he neuer purposed to strengthen the state and authority of our Soueraigne with any such power of absolute defence and protection which shall presently appeare by ministring vnto him some few questions I pray you Sir what Church and what Ecclesiasticall causes doe you consent to be within the Kings Royall preseruation is it incident and appropriate to his Princely Scepter to mayntaine the religion now established in his Dominions by making Lawes for enforcing subjects to an vniforme allowance and profession thereof by punishing Recusants according to Iustice and by employing all his powers to suppresse the oppugners or Conspirators against the same Dareth he to abide by this will he henceforth justifie this preseruation and that by his religious oath which hitherto the impoy-soned pens of these Iesuited spirits haue not spared odiously to tearme a cruell persecution wee haue shaked him already from his attonement with vs in this poynt He will tell vs plainely That the Church and Ecclesiasticall cause which he authorized the Prince to protect and preserue is onely the Catholike Church and Religion and then as if orbs and vrbs were all one that the Catholike is the Romish so that vnlesse the King will turne Leigeman with a kinde of vazilage to the Sea of Rome his right of Supremacy in the outward preseruation of the Church which this man dareth assure vs that all Catholikes in England will easily accord vnto must be denied him as not due and proper to the Title of his Regality Papacy is the pole-starre of all their contemplations It is the Centure whereunto are carried and cleaueth fast all their drifts and disputations And no further shall any Prince hold power especially in Ecclesiasticall causes which are all bosomed vp in the breast of his Holinesse then the same shall serue in a sub-ordination to the advancing and exaltation of that most imperious Romish Hyerarcy Nay their temporall authority also must be kitbed stinted and subjugated by that vntollerable yoake of Popish vsurpation except it should be made plyant ranged and accommodated In ordine ad dominum Papam Then not regarding P. R. his assurance of the voluntary submissions and subscriptions of all Catholikes of England to the Kings Supremacy according to the limitation or interpretation aforesayd we may well assure our selues that no English Papists finding this supremacy of defence and preseruation to tend to the subversion and extirpation of their idolatrous Religion will euer yeelde oath to keepe fayth thereunto Yet hauing closed with him in a full consent vnto this position that euery Prince hath Iure divino the supremacy of outward preseruation of the Church and Ecclesiasticall causes within his Territories and Dominions let it be remembred that he neuer hereafter scandalize the proceedings and execution of Iustice in England against the refractaries and treacherous oppugners of the Religion established in this Realme sith the same is the lawfull and necessary act of a well warranted and acknowledged Supremacy from which our publicke profession of Fayth is to receiue protection and preseruation I cannot but conceiue that this Clearke P. R. wil be shent and receiue some checke for his Doctrine For out of question if his Holinesse and Cardinall Bellarmine haue enkindled their displeasures against Mr. Blackwell the Arch-Priest for allowing the Oath of Alleagiance which contayneth onely an acknowledgment of the hereditary rights of temporall Soueraignity whereunto naturall duty in respect of relation doth bind each subject How much more heynously will it be taken that this Arch-Iesuite as if both their Arches had slipped from them at once should so confidently condiscend to this artickle of Spirituall Supremacy in the sence qualification or moderation before expressed He cannot escape the blame of forgetting or forsaking of his principles neyther can he euer salue his offence by any wily Interpretation or beguiling distinction His direct and indirect his absolute and conditionall his mediate and immediate his simpliciter and secundum quid or quatenus and the like which in all his discoursiue argumenting doth make his way for him through many Obstacles whilst he treadeth out vnto vs his maze of Circuler shifts and manifold euasions can touching this his confession or protestation haue no place or serue him to any stead because knowing aforehand how the case standeth in euery circumstanciall or considerable perticularity he hath to the King of England within his seuerall Dominions adjudged the Supreame gouernment of causes Ecclesiasticall as in the office and care of preseruing the Church with the fayth and Doctrine thereof from all wronges or corruptions Forraigne or Domesticall I encroach not vppon him by inferences and constructions I onely take that which he so fully and clearely gyueth and do challenge him that what he hath deliuered vnto vs for his judgement and resolution and that in high termes and vanting and flaunting of his aduantages therein He will notwithstanding any reprehension or retreite from the Pope or Bellarmine still with the like brauery and constancy mayntaine vnto the end but shall I disclose a secret or rather a wonder vnto the World What if the very same Author who so boldly assumeth and assureth at this time for all Catholikes the Title of Spirituall Supremacy
holding that euen priuate men may destroy Kings P. R. yeeldeth vnto the point of the Kings Supremacie in that sence as we doe accept the same P. R. driuen to fall from that which he had yeelded The Pope and Bellarmine will dislike as much of P. R. for yeelding to the Kings Supremacie of preseruation as they do of M. Blackwell for taking the Oath of Allegeance P. R. thought to be the author of the Letter which replyeth to the Apologie of the Oath He cannot yeeld Supremacie in all causes in his owne sense and yet main aine the Popes power of deposing The maintaining of the Popes temporall power and the denying of the Oath of Allegeance is all one He ought to haue shewed particular matter to be disliked in the seuerall parts of the Oath the true cause why he doth not His foure reasons whereby he would proue matter of Religion in the Oath be examined and refuted All limitting of the Popes power is not matter of Faith The allowing to the Pope a power to depose the King cannot stand with Allegeance A short answer consisting of two parts to the whole Booke Written against Sir Edw. Coke concerning the Popes Authoritie in this Kingdome Difference in the case of subiects vnder Catholike Kings the subiects of this kingdome between the now subiects those of former times vnder 〈◊〉 Kings of England The distinction of the Popes Authoritie direct and indirect 〈◊〉 Reasons to induce the Catholike subiects not to refuse the Oath That sundry Papists haue taken the Oath willingly and that the Gent. Wrongeth them in making a doubt thereof vpon any allegation of constraint by feare That the Law containeth not any compelling or vnlawfull meanes to make any to sweare vnwillingly That they haue also sworne faithfully and that the equiuocating sence which the Gent. deuiseth was not vsed by them nor ought to be vsed by any being sencelesse and against the Oath directly The Gent. rage and threats for enforcing of the Oath His Theologie controlled concerning the ministring of an Oath vnto such as hee that ministreth the same suspecteth will forsweare himselfe That amongst the Papists there be greater enforcements to make men abiure Opinions yea vnder paine of death as is confessed And that the answer to maintaine the same by the title of Ius acquisitum is idle and friuolous A wish for eternizing the memorie of the Gunpowder Treason in answer of their anger for our so often iterating or vpbraiding to them that most abhorred Conspiracie FINIS AN EXAMINATION OF a Position published by P. R. in the preface of his treatise tending to mitigation concerning the lawfullnesse of the Popes Power ouer Princes with a defence of the oath of Allegiance IT pleased the Right Honorable the Earle of Salisbury in his exactly written and necessary published answer to certaine scandalous Papists prouoking him by occasion and in fashion vnsufferable to protest against the insolency and malignity of the Romish Church out of the bosome whereof so many Treacheries Conspirases and Immanities of the foulest kind haue bin vented into the world tending to ouerule or ruinate whatsoeuer authority not submitting the necke to the yoake of that vsurping power in the very first passage of that his Appologetticall declaration which enuie it selfe could not passe ouer without attribution of highest praise hee was carried by the contemplation of so many dangerous designes and complotting practises dayly pretended and contriued against the safetie and dignitie of temporall Potentates to a more vehement expressing of himselfe in the zeale of words following I haue been a long time sorry that those which imploy so many seditious spirits dayly to instruct the vnlearned Catholikes in these mysteries of deposing Princes haue not by some publike definitiue sentence Orthodoxall in which it is supposed the Pope cannot erre made some cleere explication of their assumed power ouer Soueraigne Princes as not onely those which acknowledge his superioritie might bee secured from feares and iealousies of continuall treasons and bloody assassinates against their persons but those kings which doe not approoue the same and yet would faine reserue a charitable opinion of her subiects might know how far to repose themselues in their fidelitie in ciuill obedience howsoeuer they seem to be deuided from them in point of conscience To which his Lordsh. so honourable desire this good father offereth and endeauoureth to giue satisfaction Aman if we mistake not his sheepemarke of some fame and note of that side placed in a degree of preheminence graced with more then ordinary gifts confidently conceited of himselfe and daring to vndertake matters of highest nature not withstanding obseruation is made of him that his boldnes much ouerbalanceth any other his best worth His said preface of the importune exasperations vsed by diuers to increase our diuision and disagreement about matters of Religion is very presumptuous and altogether censorious wholly spent in taxing and traducing not onely the particular speeches or writings of some especiall men of excellent desert in this state as if whatsoeuer they haue vttered out of the abundance of iust griefe in detestation of the late execrable treason did wholly proceede from exasperation exulceration aggrauation exaggeration and calumniation for in those high sounding tearmes he beareth his stile aloft but also the administration of iustice the vprightnes of our regiment the newly enacted penall lawes as making the state of English Catholikes vnder Protestant gouernement more miserable and intolerable than that of the Iewes vnder any sort of Christian Princes that of the Grecians or Christians vnder the Turke or Persian or that of bond Subiects vnder the Polonians Suetians and Muscouites onely he confesseth that in two mens writings he findeth more moderation The one is his Maiestie in his speeches both in Parliament in Proclamations whereunto yet he giueth some dash or wipe of exception The other is my Lord of Salisbury in his said answer to that fond menacing letter or rather franticke commination which yet hee saith wanteth not his sting piercing euen to the quicke After hee hath thus throughout his many licentious leaues braued it with exorbitant and exulting phrases at the last he falleth in hand with this piece of doctrine occasionally drawne thereunto by the consideration of his Lordships said desire and forsooth he is the man that must instruct and settle my Lords iudgment by his profound resolues seeming to be moued with pitty that his Honour in a matter not appertaining properly to his facultie or profession hath beene misled or misinformed by his diuine Before he lancheth into the maine of the matter he disposeth himselfe malepertly to make a crosse or quaere of the truth of such threatnings and scandalls expressed in the said leters For ◠he pauseth vpon the matter with his parenthesis if any such were and after infinuateth his suspition that the same came from the forge of some such as altogether with a blowe to be thereby giuen to all
by what words thereof can he challenge the obedience of all the subiects or Christians in that Common-wealth 3 Whether if St. Peter be affirmed to be the said Monarche what can be alledged for his Superiority that is not equally communicable to the rest of the Apostles ioyntly or severally by the like authorizement 4 Whether St. Peter was more especially appointed the chiefe Apostle for both Iewes and Gentiles If for the Iewes how came it that St. Paul reproved him for misleading the Iewes If for the Gentiles why was St. Paul by a publike consent and Counsell nominated to be the Apostle of the Gentiles who at Rome planted the Church and from whom the succession is most proper 5 Whether St. Peter ever came at Rome sith there is evident demonstration by computing the times and places of his abode during his life after Christs ascension that he could not be there at all by any coniecture as by the Epistles of St. Paul is evicted 6 Allowing that St. Peter was at Rome was he not there as an Apostle and so no more appropriate to that place then to the whole world 7 Being an Apostle how came he to be chiefe yea the vniuersall Pastor over both Iewes and Gentiles except such his Pastorship were rather Apostolicall then Episcopall If his 〈◊〉 were Apostolicall then all the Apostles had interest thereunto as well as he If Episcopall did he renounce or relinquish his Apostleship to erect a new state or seate of an 〈◊〉 Bishop neuer mentioned in the Scripture and of a larger extent and dominion then the Apostleship and by what warrant and authoritye did he so 8 If he did found any such Episcopall eminencie vniversall over all the Churches of the world and that invested in his owne person why may it not be thought that such his Episcopall function was setled vpon him rather at Antioch where his chiefest abode was after his departure from Ierusalem then at Rome 9 Whether in case he preferred Rome before Antioch Ierusalem and other places whereof there is no apparant proofe or certainty is that successive seare established at Rome of the like and the same power vertue and veritie as was conferred on his owne person 10 Whether such supposed succession were afixed to the place or aplied to the persons 11 Whether if the succession were applied to the place was it not cut off and discontinued when there was no vniuersall Bishop refiant at Rome which for some hundreths of yeares after Christ and since the vsurpation Papall for a long time together hath come to passe 12 If the succession were in the persons did not the abominable wickednes of life or the open profession of Atheisme Arianisme Coniuration and contracting with the Deuill damnable doctrines of all sorts and hereticall positions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by such persons yeain their Cathedra dissolve the said succession and what 〈◊〉 they make for Pope Ioane whose stay standeth vnrefuted 13 Moveover he 〈◊〉 me what became of this 〈◊〉 and where that Common-wealth of Christians as they will needs calbit that they may make themselues common wealths men could finde there one 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 Governor when there were two three or 〈◊〉 such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at once 14 Yet we haue not done questioning with him This great 〈◊〉 of doubts must resolve vs how it commeth to 〈◊〉 that the 〈◊〉 persian 〈◊〉 Russian 〈◊〉 and other 〈◊〉 Churches haue not beene made 〈◊〉 with this 〈◊〉 mentall part of doctrine that Christ hath ordayned the Bishop of Rome the supreame and vniuersall Pastor of the whole Common-wealth of Christians which he hath 〈◊〉 and founded 15 He is also to 〈◊〉 himself of an answere to another question Whether the succesors of S. Peter were it once agreed vppon who they were Clement Linus Cletus or 〈◊〉 did over hold or exercise any ditivation of authority from St. Peter over 〈◊〉 and other Apostles that survived St. Peter in the Church or did they or any of them striue for Superioritye with them yea rather did they not yeeld vnto them 16 Besides this 〈◊〉 diving determinor in Divinity doubts must take into his consideration what warrantize of any lawful vocation election and ordinatiō the succeeding Bishops of Rome can avow or maintain sith no man may take on him any 〈◊〉 ministery or 〈◊〉 but in that regular and 〈◊〉 manner And whether such their calling to their Ministeriall offices and Pastorall charge were ordinary or extraordinary the difference in the admissions and choyce of such Bishops which sometimes was by substitution of the proceeding Bishop sometimes by election of the people and in later times by the suffrages of Cardinals and sometimes by meere intrusion giveth cause to move this question 17 What reasons can be pretended or alledged why if both Christ and St. Peter intended the succession of Bishops onely in that Sea of Rome 〈◊〉 there hath new Titles beene taken vp of Patriarke 〈◊〉 and then of Supreame head of the Church and then of Papa or Pope which seemeth to inferre an alteration or else an augmentation of the power or charge first conferred by Christ or St. Peter vppon that Sea and so consequently a question whether the latter diuised Titles be likewise authorized from Christ 18 Doth it not behoue that this so pregnant a Patron of Papacy doe cleare all causes touching the interruption and discontinuance of the supposed succession of Popes whereof some hauing before beene propounded it shall not be amisse to cast him one bone more to whet his teeth or witt vppon I would know whether after cannons and constitutions made by his Holinesse and ratyfied by Councells touching the lawfull election and admittance of the Bishop of Rome if a Pope enter vnduly and contrary to such orders and Cannons by simony bribery faction yea with strong hand or any other corrupt courses may notwithstanding be held and reputed a lawfull Pope and the acts by him done the carnalls by him made and the decrees or trans-actions of his time shall bee adiudged as to stand in the right of Christs Vicar on earth Are not in such cases the linckes of the chaine tying together the succession broken or let loose sith in the particulers in whom the same should be continued such elections and ordinations are adiudged intrusions and vsurpations yea vtterly voyde and very nullities 19 Yet I must make him a little more worke with other questions what is the cause that for so long a space of 600. yeares after Christs Assention this position of the Romish Supremacy and vniuersall head-ship if it were so evident and demonstratiue from Christs owne appointment as this bold bragger would haue vs to beleeue was neither by the Fathers of the Primitiue Church nor by any generall Councels approoued or ratified 20 I am disposed to offer him another objection like a blocke to stumble at which neuer any Papist yet well passed ouer but he brake his shin against it and that is the opinion and censure of Gregory the
and agreeable to the Catholicke grounds He further setteth foorth the receiued opinion of the Church to be that it is lawfull for Subiects when the King resuseth to be reformed and after sentence against him to renounce their Obedience to consult for the leuying of a necessary Warre to taxe the people with the charge thereof and with armed force and weapons in such case of necessitie to set vpon him to kill him and destroy him and then descendeth to this conclusion Eademque facultas esto cuicunque priuato qui spe impunitatis abiecta neglecta propria salute in conatum iuvandi rempublicam ingredi voluerit Let any private man which casting aside all hope of impunity and carelesse of his owne safety will adventure to enterprise his endevors to relieue the Common-wealth take vnto him the same liberty Hath he not soundly and definitively declared the doctrine of the Church of Rome and the very secresies and misteries of the Iesuites profession to the apparant conviction of this Mittigators fained attestations And to the foresaid Councell of Constance which is produced to impugne this position of the practises or attempts of private men against lawfull Soveraignes hee also maketh answere in this manner First that no Decree of any Councell standeth good and holy without the consent of his Holinesse thereunto Then that this Decree was neuer approved by Pope Martin the 5th neither would Eugenius or his successors euer ratifie the same and after declareth also that the Fathers of that assembly did chiefly intend that their Session and consultation against the Hussits who maintained that Princes for crimes by them committed did forfeit their estate and that thereupon they might lawfully be by any man deprived of that power which they vniustly held or obteined Againe that in perticuler and properly they then purposed to opugne the proposition of Iohannes Parvus a Divine of Paris who vnder colour of this defence that it was lawfull by private authority to kill a Tirant endeavored to justifie the fact of the Duke of Burgundie in slaying of the Duke of Orleance In which case there were these diversities from that rule Here was betweene these persons equallitie and no inferioritie there was a solemne oath violated and broken and here was no attending for the sentence or direction of the Superior Here we see two Iesuites in two different opinions in a matter of greatest moment both of them founding vpon the faith of the Church both approved permissu superiorum by the allowance of the superiors Thus hauing buckled together two principall Iesuites to lugg and tugg each other by the eares I will only thus far giue my verdit of their variance That the Spanierd Mariana dealeth plainly and constantly to the practize of Popery and the ratificacions and afirmacions of the Popes themselues who will not endure any abridging of their prerogatiue power of proceeding against Princes in what sort soeuer And our English P. K. hideth the sting would conceale deepe dissembled treacheries by protesting termes to secure vs from suspicions till the venome of malice hath pierced all the veines of the state and seazed our very hart and life-blood by surprizes vnthought of hauing brought vs into a carelesse and deceitfull securitie P. R. hath beene very curious and copious in trying and examining his aduersaries allegacions interpretacions falsificacions translacions and applicacions seeming so watchfull and diligent in that kind of animaduersion as if he accounted it a shame and foile to omit any line or sillable vnanswered for indeede the whole bulke of his booke in this businesse is fraught with no other stuffe then with such wrangling matter of misavouching and misconsterings of quoted allegacions But that it may appeare how his deadly hooke resting in the beliefe of his heart is covered over with an honied bait beguiling vs with fairer speach I shall be bold to trouble him with one question What is the cause that Mr. Mortons publication of the solemne Oration made by the Pope Xixtus the 5. in the Consistory of the Cardinalls in the commendation of the notable rare and memorable act of the braue Monke that killed the French King and the inferrence by him made and vrged against the Pope for his maintenance of Conspiracy and Treason is both by the modrate answer first and after by this mitigating replier layed aside in silence and not once handied or glanced at by any seeming answer The truth is they were enwrapped with a dilemna to allow the fact was against their pretence in their position and to disallow the Pope was against their faith in their religion they must defend by argument what for outward carriage is giuen them in charge sith it tendeth to their aduantagious purpose and they may not without dispensation either presume to censure or vndertake to oppugne what his Holinesse approveth lest they betray and shake the foundacion of their Supremacy By this time I trust his well cloaked dubble iniquity is discovered to his very nakednesse were it not now very strange that hee and I whom our former contencions haue so farr devided afunder should part reconciled and well accorded In his sixt Chapter of corruptions and falsificacions hee taketh hold of Mr. Morions exposition That the Imperiall and Kingly Authority in Spirituall causes reacheth no farther then as to outward preservation and not to personall administration Hereupon he assureth vs that if this be really ment all the Catholikes of England will presently take the oath of Supremacy requiring with an earnest challēge that as this is publikely printed and that by Authority so it may have publike allowance performāce to make it good whereby as touching that poynt there may be an attonemēt I feare that the man in the heate of his sudden apprehension and without the wary consideracion which his pen hath been accustomed vnto doth overshoote and forget himselfe Shall I thinke that he hath never read or vtterly forgotten the Oath of Supremacy He hath so scanned and canvased the Statutes of Henry the eight Edward the sixth and Queene Elizabeth picking at every mote thereof and making a beame of the same though with a left eye and a left hand that I cannot so much as surmize but that he hath had every threed of this question betweene his fingers Therefore if his former subtillity hath not suddenly betrayed him and exposed him to derision as I must admire that he is so easily reformed in Iudgement so I shall be content to embrace the occasion of a well gained agreement And will P. R. the Iesuite and the rest of the English Catholikes of the Romish faction abide by this word in good earnest that if the Kings Maiestie doe not claime or assume vnto him personall administration in cause Ecclesiasticall the Oath of Supremacy shall no further be stood vpon or refused Then let him bethinke himselfe of this part or clause of the Oath That no forraigne Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought
A DEFENCE OF THE RIGHT OF KINGS WHEREIN THE POWER OF the Papacie ouer Princes is refuted and the Oath of Allegeance iustified WRITTEN FOR THE VSE OF ALL English Romanists more especially for the Information of those Priests or Iesuits which are by Proclamation commanded to conforme themselues or depart the Kingdome By EDWARD FORSIT Esquire LONDON Printed by B. A. for Nathaniel Butter and are to be sold at his shop at the Pyed Bull neere Saint Austens Gate 1624. TO THE MOST HIGH AND POTENT MONARCH IAMES OF GREAT BRITAINE FRANCE AND IRELAND KING DEFENDER OF THE FAITH c. TO THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER in God GEORGE by the Diuine Prouidence Lord Bishop of LONDON my singular good Lord. THE whole Church and Kingdome of England Right Reuerend Prelate hath a long time together taken notice of that continuall neerenesse into which it hath pleased his Maiestie who does all things vpon Iudgement to admit your wisedome and faithfulnesse in matters of aduice especially which be most proper to your sacred Function Which Grace of your Lordships with so wise and learned a Prince hath perswaded me that as you were the fittest so you would be the willingest to doe our Great Master this seruice for so I hope this Office will proue if your Lordship wil be pleased that this Boke may by your hands haue accesse vnto his Maiestie It treats of a Royall Argument and therefore euen of dutie to be dedicated to a King as a thing due vnto Caesar And due vnto our King especially whom God hath raysed vp in Brittaine as the Fort Royall of Princes to amate that Tower of Babel that prowd Castle of S. Angelo And therefore as his Maiestie himselfe hath first of all and best of all written in this kind and giuen the ablest directions vnto others to prosecute the Argument so it might seeme presumption if any thing of this subiect should come abroad without his Royall assent His Maiesties example together with this Gentleman 's owne zeale to the Cause did at first no doubt encourage this learned Author to vndertake this present Worke who as he still is by his place a Iustice of Peace so hath he here done Iustice vpon that sawcie Medler with the Rights of Princes Parsons the Iesuit and those two seditious Bookes of his one comming our vnder the name of P. R. the other of a Catholike Gentleman both which he hath here made to keepe the Kings peace The Title will I hope find gracious acceptance and the Booke honourable approbation with his sacred Maiestie Which hope of mine hath emboldened me to offer it vnto your good Lordship as a testimonie of my most hearty and humble thankfulnesse for those fauors which I haue receiued from your goodnesse the remembrance of which shall euer bind me to be at your Lordships seruice most faithfully Nathaniell Butter TO THE READER OCTAVIVS the Emperour did rather chuse to violate the will of Virgil then to consume those laborious AEneids of his in the flames of Obliuion Why then should not this example of his excuse me from blame of the Author of this following Worke for attempting to commit to the Presse and commending that to others in publike which he but lent to me in priuate since good things are best knowne by their vse and well considering how acceptable it may prooue to our hopefull times The end of his 〈◊〉 when hee first began this Treatise I am well assured was onely to satisfie his owne priuate Iudgement esteeming it through his too much Modestie so farre vnfit for the publike view as for the space of tenne or twelue yeeres since the finishing of it hee suffered it to rest obscure amongst his other priuate Labours wherein his industrie and abilitie may appeare to be made yet more transparent in his owne vnder-valuing of what hee hath so exactly performed Which comming thus accidentally to my hands and viewing the matter it treated of and the malicious slanders it retreated I could not chuse but euen blame the vnkind Author that would haue made the very Wombe of this his seasonable Off-spring the Tombe and giuen it at one and the same time both life and dissolution together I haue therefore aduentured my Endeuors without his knowledge beyond his expectation and I am afraid against his desire for the publishing of that which I knew might prooue so vsefull which remaining obscure and in silence neither should the Cause nor the Parsons be vindicated nor yet the soueraigntie of this Antidote against that dispersed Poyson haue beene discernable or serued for publike benefit And though the man opposed be as I conceiue vncapable of defence yet there remaine many of his Labors that like the Vipers brood haue suckt a stronger Poyson from his death Nor want there many of his Iesuited Disciples who may yet doe him right if they thinke him iniuried though it be true Vni Caesari multi insunt Marii All I desire is pardon from the Author vpon whose Worth so well knowne and Loue so often tryed by me I haue thus farre presumed not doubting but the publike good that may ensue his owne Labour will ouer-sway his resolued retyrednesse As for thy acceptance I doubt it not because the benefit is thine owne and accounting it reward enough to my selfe that I am but the Instrument of communicating this to others Farewell F. B. PARTICVLAR MATTERS discussed in this Treatise THe occasion of this Question concerning the Popes power The mitigations of P. R. touching the Powder-treason His mangling and omitting of my Lords words Whether the Pope cannot erre with the manifold distinctions of the Papists therein How the true estate of the Question concerning the Popes power is hidden by a cunning forme of words Whether this point be generally agreed vpon amongst Catholikes and how dangerous the same is to the State How he minceth and mitigateth the matter in question The true Question and how largely it extendeth The reasons made for the position and the same answered and that there neither is nor euer was any standing Authoritie to depriue Kings No reason for the Popes power in nature Whether the vniuersall Pastorship be instituted by Christ and what points must be prooued before that come to be made good The Iesuites busie entermedling in State-affaires The proofe from the word Pasce Oues examined and Baronius his expositions and inferences in this matter Other strange arguments for the Popes temporall power The Pope no rightfull successor of S. Peter but wrongfully pretendeth his Authoritie or Primacie The Pope no successor or imitator of Christ. Their distinction of Authoritie direct and vndirect examined What necessitie there is of this Pastorall power and how it is qualified Politike reaches in Poperie to aduance the Authoritie aforesaid The Pope may reduce all causes to his Cognizance and how farre he may extend the power of Seculare Brachium the Sccular Arme. The Doctrine of the Iesuits concerning the deposing of Princes