THE ENGLISH CONCORD IN ANSVVER TO BECANE'S ENGLISH JARRE Together with a Reply to Becan's Examen of the English Concord By Richard Harris Dr. in Diuinitie 2. Tim. 2.16 Stay profane and vaine babblings for they will encrease vnto more vngodlinesse AT LONDON Printed by H. L. for Mat. Lownes and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Bishops head 1614. TO THE KINGS MOST EXCELLENT Maiestie Iames by the Grace of of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the true auncient Catholick and Apostolike faith and Supreme Gouernour in all Causes ouer all persons Ecclesiacticall within his Dominions So ordained to be by the Diuine Masestie Most Gracious Soueragine THat busie pack-horse Iesuit Becan maintaining what in his small power lyeth diametrall opposition to your Maiesties rightfull supereminet power Ecclesiastical To make the same seem ludibrious in the eyes of his adherents as King Dauid dauncing before the Arke seemed to be in the eyes of prophane Michal in his printed empty pamphlet stiled Dissidium Anglicanú brought as it were vpon the vvorlds Theatre fiue English Protestant Writers in defence of your Maiesties said Supremacy namely the most learned Reuerend Bishop of Ely with his two Chaplaines Maister Thomson and Maister Burhill also Maister Doctor Tooker and my Selfe as iarring among our selues in many and materiall points of the said Supremacy and therevpon hee concluded that your Maiestie hath no iuct cause to vrge the taking of the Oath of Regall Supremacy vpon your subiects sith the defenders thereof in writing cannot agree in the main reall and essentiall parts of it Which pernitious proiect of the Aduersarie caused me in my most humble dutie loyall seruice to your Maiestie eftsoones to write my booke of English Concord therein shewing and prouing the sweet harmonie whereby all the fore said fiue Writers vtter the rightfull Supremacy of your sacred Maiestie Now because some of your Maiesties Popish and English subiects haue turned the said pamphlet of Becan out of Latin into English thereby to cause that poisonfull canker to spread further and that Roman leprosie to ouerrun the outward faces and inward hearts of English Papists on this side and beyond the Seas To countermine that serpentine plot viz. to suppesse or at the least to stay the further progresse of that running Canker it seemed good vnto your Maiestie to commaund the translating of my said booke into English which was done accordingly But before it could be printed Becan had written and sent to the last Frank-fort Mart his EXAMEN of my booke of English Concord which forced me to annex my REPLY and Refutation of his Examen in the Interim in English also because the other are in English intending with all conuenient speed to send the same Reply augmented beyond the Seas in Latin that this importune Aduersary may see his reed Examen shaken downe and shinered all to peeces and also may behold the English Concord fully maintained and iustified in euery part and parcell of Regall Supremacie I humbly confesse vnto your excellent Maiestie that it grieued me at my very hart to spend so many good houres in refuting the Almanack-pamphlets of this shallow and in very truth vnlearned Iesuit wherein is not to be found any learning reading or indicious discourse fitting a Father-Iesuit but onely boy-like wranglings about either seeming Iarres in vvords or syllables or escapes of the Transcriber Printer or Corrector in some abcedary letters in numerall figures in quoting the middle paragraph-word for the first vvord of the selfe same Canon vvhereas the very expresse words or the very substantiall matter according to the meaning of the Author and the purpose in hand was faithfully set downe These trifles which with his shamelesse calumniations vntruthes and scurrilities make vp the very bulke of his triobulare booke though they might well haue been let passe as things of nought or buried in silence yet because wise Salomon aduiseth Sometimes to answere a foole in his foolishnes least my silence heerin should cause this Iesuit to growe more insolent or the Popish sort in their vngrations and rebellious deniall of this Oath more confident I haue made this Reply to giue him more matter to vvorke vpon It beeing my setled resolution through Gods assistance whiles I breath to iustifie in vvriting against this Iesuit both the rightfulnesse of your Maiesties Supremacie and also the vniforme agreement of the said Writers therein The rather because though this Iesuit by his sillie scribblings brings shame and disgrace to the Pope whose cause he vndertaketh to defend yet is thought not the vnmeetest Emissary of his Vnholinesse for that this Popeparasite with his hard forhead dare set forth in print any thing for his Lord God the Pope against your sacred Maiâ—stie be it for the matter neuer so impiously grosse and for the manner neuer soimpudently sourrilous Wherfore having tasted of your Highnes most Gracious patronage in my former labours I am emboldned to present these also vnto your royall view beeing more desirous of your Maiest sole iudgement to approue the lines defending regall iurisdiction then of a whole Colledge or councell of our Aduersaries Because such is the desert of your royall minde and penne as vvas by Sabellicus attributed to Cicero Pulchriùs illi multo fuit Latinum sermonem quà m Romanum Imperium auxisse So is it more honour to your excellent Maiestie if such a Prince bee capable of accesse of Honour that you haue by writing propagated the religion of Christ then if by battell you had enlarged your Dominions and Great Britaines Monarchie The one beeing the price of the death of Iesus the other your most lawfull patrimony by the death of your royall fore-fathers Which the Lord graunt you may so long enjoy as your owne royall heart desireth and all your louing subiects doe say Amen Your Maiesties most humble and loyall subiect RICHARD HARRIS A PREFACE TO all English Papists who approue not the Gun-powder Treason aunswering the Preface of BECANE For as much as Becane hath discoursed of an English Iarre about the Supremacie I am willing to vse a few words vnto you but in no case to be troublesome with any tedious Oration About two yeares since Becane wrote two Libel-pamphlets touching the Kings Supremacie th' one against the Apologie and monitorie Preface of our most mighty and gracious Soueraigne IAMES King of great Britanne Th' other against a booke called Tortura Torti or rather against the author thereof the most reuerend Bishop of Ely The smoaky fumes of which Pamphlet for they contained no solide matter in them were dispelled by Dr. Tucker Mr. R. Tomson Mr. Rob. Burhill and by Hainricus Salo-brigiensis Notwithstanding Martin Becane abideth conceitedly obstinate although there be many things which might haue cooled his heate and taken from him all lust of further brawling And principally these First the iniquity of his Cause Then your indifferent equitie Lastly the manifolde
few Questions following I. Whether the King of England haue any Primacy in the Church or no II. Whether the Primacy of the King bee Ecclesiasticall and spirituall III. Whether the King by this Primacy may be called the Primate of the Church IIII. Whether by vertue of the same Primacy the King may be called Supreme Head of the Church V. Whether this Primacy consist in any Power or Iurisdiction Ecclesiasticall VI. Whether the King by reason of his Primacy can assemble or call together Councels and sit as President therein VII Whether he can make Ecclesiasticall Lawes VIII Whether he can dispose of Ecclesiastical liuings or Benefices IX Whether he can create and depose Bishops X. Whether he can excommunicate the obstinate XI Whether hee can be Iudge and determine of Controuersies XII From whence hath the King this his Primacy XIII Whether he can force his Subiects to take the Oath of Supremacy In these Questions doe our Aduersaries extreamely differ and disagree but especially these M. Doctor Andrewes in his Tortura Torti M. William Tooker Deane of Lichefield in his Combat or single Fight with Martin Bucane M. Richard Tomson in his Reproofe of the Refutation of Tortura Torti M. Robert Burhill in his Defence of Tortura Torti and M. Henry Salclebridge in his Refutation of Becane his Examen Besides these as opposite vnto them I will also cite Doctor Sanders in his booke of the Schisme of England Genebard in his Chronology Polydor Virgil in his History of England Iacobus Thuanus of Aust in the History of his time Iohn Caluin in his Commentary vpon the Prophet Amos and others English Concord THe Regall Primacy in the Church of England is much more ancient then the Popish Primacy in the Romane Church The Regall Primacy had his beginning from the * Daniel chap. 7. v. 6 Ancient of Dayes vnder the most ancient Patriarchs It flourished magnifically vnder the Orthodoxall Kings Israeliticall and Euangelicall and now in England it flourisheth most of all vnder King Iames soundly sounded vpon the rock and built vpon the doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets permanent for euer so that by the fall of raines the comming of flouds and the wine-blasts of any Iesuits whatsoeuer it cannot be so much as moued much lesse remooued and least of all rent and torne in peeces But of the Popish Primacy rightly saide Christ in the Gospell Euery Kingdome diuided in it selfe shall be desolate Now what and how great their Iarres and discords are I am to shew in handling these few Questions following English Concord BEcane in his booke of English discord and in his first Question demanded Whether the King of England haue any Primacy or Supremacy in the Church And I in my book of English Concord demaunded Whether the Pope haue anie Primacy in the Church considering that Saint Cyprian asserteth that Peter did neuer challenge or assume any such thing Epist ad Quintum 71. sect 3 as to say that he held the Primacy and that Chrysostome dogmatically writeth thus Whosoeuer desireth or affecteth the Primacy in earth as all Popes doe shall finde confusion in heauen Homil. 35 in Matth. Whereunto the Iesuite in his late book entituled Examen Concordiae Anglicanae The examination of the English Concord answereth or obiecteth thus BECAN Exam. THat they are not the words of Chrysostome Pag. 92 but of some other author ioyned with him 2. That these words are against our King desiring Supremacie in earth 3. That the Author speaketh promiscuously of both the Primaces Secular and Ecclesiasticall 4. but distinguisheth betweene the desiring and obtaining of the Primacy referring the one to vanitie and the other to the iudgement of God Dr. HARRIS Reply 1 I Doe commiserate the seely ignorance of this Iesuite Becane who knoweth not that these very words aforesaide are not onely canonized but also expresly fathered vpon Chrysostome in the Popes Canon law which the Iesuite dare not affront Dist 40. ca. Multi The wordes of the Canon are these Also Iohn Chrysostome Not euery one is a true Priest which is named a Priest Many Priests and few Priests Many in name but few in work Take heede therefore brethren how you sit vpon the Chayre because the Chayre doth not make the Priest but the Priest the Chayre c. The same Chrysostome Whosoeuer shall desire Primacy in earth shall finde confusion in heauen neither shall he be numbred among the seruants of Christ Qui de Primatu tractauerit Who handleth or ambitiously speakes of or challengeth Primacy De Scriptor Ecclesiasticis And according to that Canon the most profound and famously renowmed Canonist euen by Bellarmine in his late booke to witte Henry Cardinall Hostiensis vpon the 15. Chapter of Penitency and Remission Cap. Cui Papa ascribeth these words vnto Chrysostome as to the Author of them thus And so in the Penitentiall Court the Pope is made lesse and his Confessor greater and this Chrysostome insinuateth Dist 40. Multi Wherefore the Iesuite may take from mee thus cleared this falsity vnto himselfe or else hee must returne it ouer To the Authoritie of their Apostaticall Church To their authentike and ordinary glosses and explanations of the Gospell To the decrees of the Romane Bishops To their chiefest Canonists and Diuines for in the writings of all those he may finde sentences written in that Worke called the Imperfect Worke alleaged as out of Chrysostom 2. By the expresse words of the foresaid Canon it is manifest that the words of Chrysostō are by their Canon law referred vnto Priests and Priests onely who sit vpon the Chayre in expresse tearmes often repeated Whereby it appeareth what a seely and vnmannerly Sophister this Iesuite is who thence frameth his Argument against our King drawne thus into form syllogisticall as indeed from thence it can be drawne no otherwise What Priest soeuer desireth Primacy in earth shall finde confusion in Heauen The King of England is a Priest desiring Primacie in earth Therefore he shall finde confusion in heauen Were this Iesuite in our Vniuersitie Schooles he wold be hist out as an absurd Dunse for arguing Our gratious King is no Priest but detesteth their Priests and Priesthood as Antichristian Hee is by the grace of God the high and potent Monarch of Great Britanne France and Ireland and vnder Christ made of God without any ambitious desire of his Primate or Supreme Gouernour ouer all persons and in all causes Ecclesiasticallor Temporall within his Dominions maugre the beard of the Pope and all his Shauelings But if the Iesuite will rightly assume out of the Maior proposition set down in the said Canon law he must take the triple crowne of Primacy from the Popes head and wrap it vp in the dust of Confusion thus What Priest soeuer though it were Peter himselfe doth challenge or ambitiously desire Primacy in earth shall finde confusion in heauen But the Popes of Rome haue and now most of all doe challenge
Egypt And hee put one of them in Bethel and the other in Dan. Also hee made a house of the high places and made bim Priests of the lowest of the people vvho were not of the sonnes of Leui. And Ieroboam made a feast in the fifteenth day of the eight Moneth like vnto the feast that is in Iudah and sacrificed on the Altar So did hee in Bethel and offered vnto the Calues that hee had made And hee constituted in Bethel the Priests of the high places which hee had made And you may read in the 13. chapter That beeing rebuked by a Prophet for this matter yet hee departed not from his euill way but turned himselfe and made him Priests of the high places de saece populi of the dregs of the people and vvhosoeuer pleased him hee consecrated him and made him a Priest of the high places And againe 2. Chron. II. chap. 13. verse And the Priests and the Leuites that vvere in all Israel resorted to him out of all their coasts meaning Roboam the sonne of Salomon For the Leuites left their suburbs their possessions and came to Iudah and to Ierusalem for Ieroboam and his sonnes had cast them out from ministring in the Priests office before the Lord. But thus writeth the King and his learned Interpretour the Bishoppe of Ely in Tort. Tort. pag. 381. Quodcunque in rebus religionis reges Israel fecerunt nec sine laude fecerunt id vt et Regi Iacobo faciendi ius sit atque potestas Whatsoeuer the Kings of Israel did vvith commendation in the maters of Religion the same power and iurisdiction now hath King Iames. Let this therefore be the Proposition or first part of the second reason which Becane himselfe acknowledgeth in his Refuration cap. 8. pag. 124 and then I will assume the Minor But the Kings of Israel not without commendation by their royall authoritie in matters of Religion 1. Haue enacted lawes 2. Delegated of their subiects to iudge of such lawes 3. Haue bound all their subiects both Clergie men and Lay-men by oath of Allegiance 4. Haue pumshed the transgressors of such lawes 5. Haue called assemblies or Councells 6. Haue ruled all estates as the Heads of the Tribe of Leui as vvell as of the other Tribes and vvere as much Kings of the Clergie as of the Laitie 7. If any Abiathar or High Priest vvexed proud they bridled him by their censure and if there were cause deposed Abiathar from the High Priesthood 8. They abolished all strange worship as when they razed the high places brake in peeces the golden Calues and the brasen Serpent c. To conclude they gaue order for things indifferent which appertained to the outward splendour comlinesse of the house of G O D And by their authoritie cut off idle and curious questions in religion vvhich were wont to be the mother and breeder of schismes as the Scriptures expresly witnesse whereof you may read in Tort. Torti pag. 381.382 Therefore I will conclude that King Iames hath the same power and iurisdiction and therfore may binde his subiects by an oath I A. B. doe openly testifie and declare in my conscience that King Iames is the oneliâ— supreme Gouernour of this Realme and of this Church of England c. as was Dauid and Salomon of the Church of Israel and Asa Ezekias and Iosias of the Church of Iuda and that no forrainer hath or ought to haue any iurisdiction power c. within this Kingdome as they had none in Iuda and so may lawfully say to the Priests subiects Obey not the high Priest which dwelleth in any forraine kingdome but obey me alone as the onely supreme Gouernour of this Church You are all exempt from his power and iurisdiction For so Dauid Salomon Asa Ezekias and Iosias might lawfully commaund their Priests Leuits and therefore so may King Iames commaund his Clergie These things thou maiest perceiue learned Reader are collected out of the pure fountaines of sacred Scriptures and so conclude our cause solidly and beyond all exception But Becane his Sillogisme is a monstor in Logick running vpon some feet yet halteth For King Iames speaketh of godly religious Kings and not schismaticall either of all Israel or onely of Iuda and of their Ecclesiasticall gouernment the very patterne and exemplary primacy commended vnto Christian Kings in the Scriptures But Martin the Sophister that is the Iesuit assumeth impious schismaticall Kings of Israel rent from Iuda among whoÌ„ neuer any one is remembred in scripture to haue handled Ecclesiasticall matters with commendation And heere I intreat the ingenuous Reader to obserue the Iesuiticall and serpentine subtilty of Becane who to decciue his Catholiques passeth by all the godly Kings of Iuda and onely bringeth Ieroboam on the stâ—ge a schismaticall King the first head of that iniquitic and the ring-leader of all them that are branded with notes of infamy in the holy booke as 1. King 15.29 And Baasa strooke all the house of Icroboam hee left no soule aliue because of the sinnes where-with Icroboam sinned and made Israel to sinne And 2. Chron. 13.5 Ought you not to know that the Lord God of israel hath giuen the Kingdome ouer Israel to Dauid for euer euen to him and to his sonnes by a Couenant of Salt And Icroboam the sonne of Nebat the seruant of Salomon the sonne of Dauid is risen vp and bath rebelled against his Lord c. Loe this is that most impious rebellious and schismaticall Ieroboam vvhich must comfort and confirme the Romish Catholiques But seeing our Iesuit is conuersant among schismes and schismatiques let him assume and make his instance those three Antipopes who troubled the world about the time of the Councel of Constance Or let him take any one of them and tell me 1. Who was then the Primate of the Church 2. Who was then the supreme head of the Church 3. Who had then the Ecclesiasticall Primacy 4. Who did then exercise the supreme Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction 5. Who could then by his owne authority call a generall Councell and sit therein President 6. Who had power to conserre that fat benefice of the Papacy it selfe 7. Who could then create Popes and depose the Antipopes 8. Who was then the supreme Iudge of all Controuersies especially of papall or popish questions But I will yet presse the Iesuit more necrely What if the French so called Catholique Church should create to it selfe a Patriarch leaue the See of Rome seeing the Pope Paul the fist claimeth temporall iurisdiction ouer the King of Fraunce What if other Kings both Protestants all those which call themselues Catholiques seeing the Pope claimeth iurisdiction ouer all in a common cause that so much concerneth their Crownes and royall dignities should ioyne hands and harts and establish a Patriarch in their seuerall Kingdoms who should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 take and exercise the same iurisdiction that the old Roman Patriarch had did
Gregory the great called Mauritius the Emperour his Lord and himselfe the Emperours Seruant but afterwards the case was altered cleane contrariwise and the Pope became the soueraigne Lord of the Emperour and the Emperour the Popes vassall In the yeare 1133 when Pope Innocent the second had set the Crowne vpon the Emperour Lotharius head hee caused the solemne manner thereof to be painted on a wall in his Lateran-Palace and vnder the picture these verses following to be written Rex venit adfores iurans per vrbis honores Post homo fit Papae sumit quo dance coronain The king at Palace of the Pope sweares fealty and than The king receiuing Crowne of Pope made is the Popes sworne man True it is that by the Popes Canon law Dist. 63 c. Tibi Domino et 22. q. 5. de forma in Glossa the Emperours as the Popes vassals must sweare homage to the Pope as holding their Crownes and Empires of him but it was neuer heard of before these Iesuiticall traytours had so heretically dogmatized that the Kings and Emperours hold their liues also of the Pope as the basest villaines that euer were to witte at the Popes pleasure Now iudge Christian Reader what noble schoolemaisters these Iesuites are teaching all Christian subiects the Art of killing their Kings Saint Iohn in his Reuelation Chap. 17. vers 16. prophecied That the King should hate the vvhore the scarlet vvhore died first in the bloud of Martyrs but now in the bloud of Kings and make her desolate and naked and should eate her flesh and burne her vvith fire If euer there were iust cause presented to kings to doe it surely now it is giuen them to the full Prou. 8.15 The King of heauen by vvhom they rule and decree iustice stirre vp betimes their royall hearts with vnited forces to constraine the Pope to renounce this his Antichristian bloudy claime or else to pull his triple Crowne from his head and to lay his Romish Popedome in the dust choosing another Patriarke if a Patriarke must needes bee had and bounding that new one within the Ecclesiasticall tedder onely That learned Gerson in his booke De Aufeberilitate Papae of taking the Pope of Rome cleane away gaue a good Item for this long since BECAN Exam. Page 100 YOu cite out of Bellarmine these words If the Pope should command vice and forbid vertue the Church were bound to belieue vertue to be euil and vice good but most deceitfully For Bellarmine doth not absolutely affirme that which you faine but vpon condition that grant one absurdity another will follow Bellarmines words are these It can not be that the Pope should erre in commanding any vice or forbidding vertue because then he should erre about faith For the Catholike faith teacheth that all vertue is good and all vice is euill But if the Pope should erre in commanding vices and prohibiting vertues the Church were bound to belieue vices to be good and vertues euill vnlesse it would sinne against conscience Dr. HARRIS Reply THis Iesuit makes Bellarmine write farre worse than as I produced him For in my Citation he spake thus If the Pope should command vice or forbid vertue the Church should belieue vice to be good and vertue to be euill but Becane brings him in writing more impudently and blasphemously thus If the Pope should erre in commanding vices or forbidding vertues the Church vvere bound to beleeue vices to be good and vertues to be euill vnlesse the Church would sinne against her conscience Which is plaine blasphemie and for which Bellarmine incurreth S. Pauls curse directlie For hee can not deny but that the blessed Angels of heauen and Apostles were as free from errour in their Angelicall and Apostolicall doctrines of faith and maners as the Pope is yet saith S. Paul Gal. 1. vers 8 If vve or an Angell from heauen should preach vnto you otherwise than that yee haue receiued let him be accursed But Bellarmine thus If the Pope should preach otherwise viz. vertue to be euill and vice good according to that of Esay Chap. 5. vers 20. Woe be to them that speak good of euill and euill of good the Church ought to hold the Pope so blessed as that she should sinne if shee did not belieue him so erring and erroneously preaching What is this else but to giue the holy Spirit of God the Lie in his face 〈◊〉 is here most absurd in writing thus Dato 〈…〉 do sequitur aliud If vvee grant one absurâ—â—◠〈◊〉 followeth another For grant that one absurdity that a blessed Angel of heauen should preach errour should this â—â—â—urditie follow That the Church vvere bound to beleeue him No saith Paul the Church vvere bound to holde him accursed Further it is apparantly vntrue wherewith Becane doth heere charge mee viz. that I said Bellarmine did absolutely affirme the Pope to command vice and forbid vertue or that the Church should belieue vice to be good and vertue euill for I cited it in a hypotheticall or conditional proposition thus If the Pope should command vice c. and not by a categoricall or singlie affirmatiue proposition thus The Pope doth command vice and forbid vertue c. It may be Becanes learning extendeth not so farre as to knowe when a thing is vttered categorically and when hypothetically and so of ignorant simplicitie he falsely burdened me with it If it were so I will the rather forgiue him but then I would haue him to goe to schoole againe to learne the principles of Logike if he knew it and yet would write thus he abuseth his Reader not a little But I will leaue this vnlearned Iesuite a while and indeede I begin to growe very weary of him with Bellarmine here would I gladly change a few wordes and learne of him whether the Church bee bound in any case to beleeue errour in faith or in the necessary precepts of manners If he affirme it he shewes himselfe to be an Heretike 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 condemned in his owne conscience if hee deny it then suppose the Pope should erre in faith or manners yet the Church should not belieue him therin By the rules of the CanoÌ„ law If the Pope erre in faith that is if he be an Heretike he should be deposed but by Bellarmines paralell If the Pope erre in faith he must be beleeued If this be not doctrine hereticall what can be hereticall Therefore to the euerlasting shame of Iesuites let this hereticall position of Cardinall Bellarmine which Becane seekes heere to defend but the very heathen would blush to assert of any bee ingrauen with a penne of yron in lead or stone for euer viz. If the Pope should erre in commanding vices and forbidding vertues the Church is bound in conscience to belieue vices to be good and vertues to be euill Goe to now ô Pope and say Soule thou hast enough for now doe but command the bloudy and traiterous crime of Regicide that is killing of kings
Niniuch serued by compelling the vvhole Citie to pacifie the Lord. Euen as King Darius serued by breaking the Idol in pecces Euen as King Nabuchodonosor serued by making a godly and laudable lawe that vvhosoeuer blasphemed the God of Sydrach hee should be destroyed and his house razed In this therefore Kings serue the Lord in that they are Kings vvhen they doe those things for his seruice which they cannot doe but as they are Kings If therefore the Iesuit had seriously knowen how to distinguish these things hee might haue acknowledged that Maister Burhill and Maister Thomson agreed with the reuerend Bishop in this point Especially when Maister Thomson in pag. 78. writeth thus expresly and distinctly Omnes principes etiam pagani c. All Kings yea very Pagan Kings objectiuely haue supreme power ouer all the persons of their subiects both in sacred and ciuill things especially to attemper their measure and permit their exercise vvhich thing is witnessed by the Chronicles of all Nations Although the Pagans vsed that their power against the Lord yet vvas it a fault of the men abusing their power giuen them of God to a good end and not any fault of the power at all But yet by a farre more speciall regard did this power in Ecclesiasticall matters of old belong to the good Kings of Israell and now also to Christian Princes For they as bceing of the lewish Synagogue and these as beeing of the Church haue a greater and more speciall right in all causes of the Church then if they were meerely and onely Kings Wherefore in one respect it was said to Cyrus Pastor incusestu Thou art my Shepheard and in another respect to Dauid Tu pasces populum meum Israel Thou shalt feed my people Israel Which thing Iremember our reuerend Bishop hath admonished in another place And speaking to Becan himselfe pag. 94. hee concludeth with these words Haec facilia sunt intellectu miror te tantum Theologum hic haesisse These things saith hee are easie to be vnderstood and I cannot but vvonder that Becane vvho is magnified by the Papists for so great a Diuine should faile in a point of such facilitie Heere you may perceiue Readers that there is a constant English concord and no Iarre among vs at all wherein these two things offer themselues to bee considered First the Logick and secondly the plainnesse or rather ignorance of this Iesuit or at the least a Iesuiticall iarre or the Primacy of Kings established by the Iesuits themselues 1. Thus he reasoneth out of Maister Thomsons and Maister Burhills opinion All Kings yea popish and pagan haue a primacy in their Kingdoms Ergo saith the Iesuit it must needs follow that all persons liuing in those Kingdoms are bound to doe all things though neuer so vvicked which are by them commaunded Is this the Diuinitie of the Iesuits Math. 23. 2. Our Sauiour speaketh thus to his Disciples The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses chaire all things therefore vvhich they commaund you to doe that obserue and doe Acts 4.18 There the same Pharisees out of the same chaire forbid the Apostles that they speake and preach any more in the Name of Iesus Therefore may not the Iesuit as Logically conclude that the Apostles are bound to obey them and then no more teaching in the Name of Iesus But Peter and Iohn answered them other wise Whether it be more iust vvee obey GOD or man iudge yee And after this manner writeth Isidore in the Canon law Si is qui praeest 11. q. 3. out of Basil St is qui praeest prohibet vobis quod a Domino est proeceptum c. If hee that sitteth chiefe forbid you that vvhich is commaunded of the Lord or on the contrary commaund that vvhich is forbidden of the Lord let him bee accursed of all them that loue God and reckoned a false vvitnesse and sacrilegious person The Romane Catholiques of Venice of Sorbona many other Noble-menan France acknowledge the Popes supremacy in the church but if the Pope should commaund them to become his subiects in temporall things etiam in ordine ad spiritualia in behalfe of spirituall causes or if hee should authorise the Alcoran and commaund them to follow it would they thinke you obey his vvill Then must they doe against their conscience If they doe not obey him then what shall become of the Popes Primacie I will beate you with the scourge of your owne tongue Perhaps they vvill aunswere They vvill obey vvhen they thinke good Shall therefore the papislicall Catholiques in France and in Venice take vp this saying Heere O Pope wee thinke good to obey your Holinesse commaund in this point and not in that and then farewell the Popes supremacy Thus much of the Logicke of Becane Now for his plainenesse or plaine ignorance these are the words of the Bishoppe of Ely in Tortura Torti pag. 39. Dominia non fundantur in fide sic infidelitate non euertuntur Quin rex quinis cum de Ethnice Christianus fit non perdit ius terrenum sed acquirit nouum Gouernments and principalities are not founded vpon belieuing and therefore are not ouerthrowne by infidelitie But vvhen any King is made a Christian of a Pagan hee loseth not the earthly right he had before but acquireth a new right Thus farre our vvorthy Bishoppe Now saith the Iefait in these words The Chaplaine teacheth that Pagan Kings haue no Primacie in the Church but they receiue it by their conuersion to Christianitie But I say that these are not the words of the Bishop of Ely onely but before him of Cardinall Bellarmine De Roman Pont Lib 5. cap. 2. et 3. Dominium non fundatur in gratia aut fide Christus non abstulit regna ijs quorum erant c. Lordshippe and principalitie is not grounded on grace or belieuing Christ tooke not away Kingdoms frons them to vvhom they belonged for hee came not to destroy things vvell established but to perfect them Therefore vvhen a King is made a Christian which vvas a Pagan hee loseth not his earthly Kingdome which hee had obtayned by right but acquireth nouum ius a nevv right Which nevv right if Becane may be belieued as an Interpreter or Concluder or Iudge is the Primacie in the Church And so we haue him crying guiltie confessing the question let vs sound the victory For if there be no iarre heere betwixt the Iesuits about this Primacie then haue wee plainly confirmed and euicted them that Christian Princes haue a Primacie in the Church For so Bellarmine expresly and dogmatically affirmeth That Ethnick Kings becomming Christians acquire a nevv right Which new right by confession of Becane is the Primacy in the Church Therefore Christian Kings haue a Primacie in the Church But vvhat is the Primacie of Pagan Kings as Pagans I leaue it to the Papists themselues to consider BECAN Exam. Pag. 212 I Doe not take away the Supposition out of mine ovvne opinion
much as God can doe And I will yet deale more articulately and plainly kk Ioh. de Paris de Pot. Reg. Pap. Auentinus l. 6. Hee shall be Lord in temporal things thorough the vvhole world directly indirectly ll De Maior Solitae Anto. de Rosâ—l The King of Kings and Lord of Lords mm Dist 98. Si Imper. in gloss Extra de foâ—o coÌ„petent ca. Licet Beeing aboue all Emperours as his vassalls nn De Maior vnam sanctam Hauing of his owne both swords oo Auent in Adriano 4. Anno 1154. Beeing set ouer Nations and Kingdoms to destroy to pluck vp build and plant pp Hard. Iew. p. 5. c. 6. D. 8. From whom alone all Emperours hold their Empires qq Auent in Adrian 4. In vvhose power it is to giue them or take them from vvhom hee vvill rr Carion de Alexand. 3. Who treadeth the necks of Kings vnder his feet Å¿Å¿ Caelestinus Papa Vide RogetuÌ„ Cestrâ—nsem et Houenden And to conclude vvho crowneth Kings with his feet and vvith his feet againe spurneth the Crowne to the ground tt De Maior Solitae gl Beeing seuentie times seuen greater then the greatest Kings I will yet expresle the matter more articulately uu Lyra in Dâ—ut c. 17. Hee shall be so absolute a Iudge of all Controuersies that if hee shall say the right hand is the left or the left hand the right his saying is to bee belieued And this is the opinion of Bellarmine xx De Pont. Po. li. 4. c. 5. If the Pope should commaund vice and forbid vertue the Church were bound to belieue that vertue were euill and vice were good And they giue this reason thereof yy Panor de Constit c. 1. The fulnesse of the Popes power excelleth all Positiue lawes zz De transl Epis Quanto glossa Hostiensis ibidem and it sufficeth that the Popes will goe for a law whereby he can make righteousnes of vnrighteousnesse And heereupon Philelphus Decad. 6. Hecast 9. beautifully describeth the Pope as Antichrist saying Non Scytha non Turcus non quiterrore Damascum Aegyptumue tenet sed maximus ille Sacerdos E medio templi nostrum emersurus in axem Antichristus erit quise canit ore colendum Pro christo cuius refer at nomenque vicemque Which I English thus No Tartar grim or Turk or feared Saladine Shall be that Antichrist but that high Priest That midst the Temple sits adored with dread dinine Who beares the name Vicar is of Christ. I might be infinite in numbring the seuerall offices which are thought to be the offices of the Romane Primacie out of which I wil frame this after Becans maner I A. B. doe publiquely testifie and sweare in my conscience that I will be faithfull and obedient to the Bishop of Rome as often or whensoeuer hee shall by his owne proper authority directly in temporall causes create Emperours vvhom hee will or by the same power depose vvhom hee vvill If this part onely of the Popes Supremacy should be exacted of all the Iesuits what doe you thinke would bee done Would all thinke you yea they which adhere vnto the Pope sweare this Let them sweare that would as Baronius Triumphus Carerius and almost all the Canonists and many other famous Popish Writers Yet I amsure that Bellarmine and Becane if they be constant men will neuer sweare For thus writeth Bellarmine Papa not habet vllam merè temporalem iurisdictionem directè iure diuino lib. de Pont. Rom. 5. cap. 4. The Pope hath no meere temporall iurisdiction directly by the law of God And Becane in his Refuration pag. 18. Acprimum non disceptamus de primatu in temporalibus illum quisque Rex insuo regno legitimè habeat Wee dispute not of the Primacy in temporall causes let euery King in his kingdome lawfully possesse the same What then Is this so sure a ground with Bellarmine and Becane that they firmely determine to lose their liues like many glorious Martyrs in this kingdome rather then to admit the Popes supremacie abiure the Kings For this is thought to be one of the prime offices of the Popes supremacy That the Pope is Lord of the whole world directly in all temporall causes But this is vtterly false in the conscience of Becane and Bellarmine Or whether partly for preseruation of externall peace and gouernment which these menesteeme more then their faith and religion or partly that one of them may be made Pope the other a Cardinall which good fortune may befall them heereafter will they sweare against their owne conscience vnto the Popes supremacie with all functions which are thought to be parts thereof and thereof shall be branded as Carerius hath marked them to be impious Polititians of our time deseruing rather the name of Hareticks then of Catholicks Of whom may Pope Paul the fist truly affirme That he hath found more truth in sauage wilderobbers then in these kinde of men viz. the Iesuits which teach practice the Art of Equiuocation euen in their solemne swearing And thus much for the first reason which I am sure is enough if not too much for Bellarmine and Becane also His second reason is this King Iames dooth often protest that he claimeth no more right or iurisdiction ouer the Church then did the Kings in the old Testament long agoe But the Kings in the old Testament could not compell their subiects to sweare such an oath as this is I A. B. doe openly testifie and in my conscience declare that Ieroboam is the onely supreme Gouernor of this kingdome of Israel as well in spirituall as temporall matters And that no forrainer hath or ought to haue any iurisdiction power superiority or authority in this kingdom Ergo King Iames c. And a little after hee explicateth his Minor proposition thus After King Salomon there vvere two distinct kingdoms Iuda and Israel and there vvere two Kings vvhereof both had their successors There vvere Priests and Leuites in both who vvere chiefely ruled by the high Priest who liued in Ierusalem And yet Ieroboam could not lawfully say to his Priests and Leuites you shall not obey that High Priest resident in Iuda you are exempt from his iurisdiction c. So Becane I answer Can any man endure either in a Diuine so great ignorance or such malice in a Iesuit As though the Kings Maiestie did euer belieue write or so much as dreame either that all those things which the wicked Kings of Israel of whom Ieroboam was ring-leader did practice impiously in Ecclesiasticall matters or that all that iurisdiction which those vngodly kings did challenge ouer the Church doth belong to the King supremacy Of Ieroboam thus speaketh holy writ 1. Kings 12.28 The King made two golden Calues and said vnto the Israelites It is too much for you to goe vp to Ierusalem Behold the Gods that brought you vp out of the Land of
intestine Iarres and differences of Romane Writers about the Popes Supremacie and our full agreement in the Kings Supremacie What shall I neede to speake of the iniquity of his Cause For it fights against the Church of Christ in the behalfe of the honour and Soueraignetie of Antichrist after the manner and biasse of Icsuits And in this case what one of the forenamed hath he not iust cause to feare Againe your indifferent equitie wherein with the Venetians and the Parisian Sorbonists you detest the Iesuites who seeke to iustifie their Cause by the imprisonments bonds and deaths of Traitors suffered for their rebellions against their natiue Kings whose hands vnlesse they were the hands of this Becane would it not shake and cause to let fall the penne whose spirits though neuer so lofty would it not depresse infringe and dissipate saue onely of Becane But very impiously and impudently doth he apply to the Gun-powder Traitors that which Saint Paul 1. Cor. 4. wrote of the persecuted Saints viz. You are made a gazing stock to God to Angels and to Men. Let them be so since the Iesuite will haue it so 1. Agazing stock to God who beholding their trecherous and couert conspiracies against their most gracious Soueraigne his Anointed as the Iesuite here confesseth laugheth them to scorne enfeebling their forces for our victory and preparing hell fire for their eternall punishment 2. A spectacle to Angels who wondring there be any so much as stiled with the name of Christians that tremble not to call the royall Supremacies of Kings in the Church ordained by God himselfe grounded vpon Scriptures practised with commendation by the best both Kings of Israell and Emperors Christian Potentissimos Inferorum Principatus The most potent principalities of hell reioyce to beholde such infamous and execrable Traitors committed to the safe custody and torture of spirituall wickednesses Lastly A spectacle to men who being dispersed through the whole world and but hearing of these most inhumane and bloudie Iesuiticall conspiracies more sauage then cruelty it selfe are inflamed for the Lords Anointed to vndergo perpetuall combats with all these pestilent Emissaries of Antichrist Moreouer if you know not with what great varietie inconstancy and vanitie of opinions the popish Writers trauell and with what vniforme consent of all our Writers the Kings Supremacie is maintained listen and read-ouer but cursorily this little Booke which here I present to you and in it you shall finde particularly expressed before your eyes wherein and in what heads they differ among themselues about the Popes Supremacie and how we accord in the Supremacie of our King And heere it much concernes your desire of peace and tranquillitie to obscrue how gallantly this Becane presenteth himselfe to you with his counterfaite and childish wiles to entrappe you wherein he playeth his prizes so skilfully and subtilly to circumuent you that by his onely cunning hopeth to gaine no small praises But seeing he is ready for the combat I will so prouide that he shall not finde me vnprepared not only to meete with his blowes but also to repell them and to turne them backe againe vpon his owne head Of which our conflict I desire you to be Spectators In the meane time I beseech the most mercifull heauenly Father to grant you zeale according to knowledge c. The most desirous of your saluation Richard Harris Becan Exam. By the way of a lie and calumnie you write that I did vse that of the Apostle You are made a gazing stock to God Angels and Men of Traitors I did not vse it of Traitors but of those Catholikes who are with you imprisoned banished spoyled of their goods and fortunes or also put to death You knowe who they are Dr. HARRIS Reply I Knowe the Iesuite heerein belyeth this State most impudently by which none but traiterous or at least seditious obstinate Cacolikes not any one meerly for faith or religion haue been or are imprisoned exiled dispoyled or executed 2. The Iesuit here confesseth that those said traitors were Catholikes and themselues euen the Gun-powder-traitors confessed that their treason was vndertaken for their faith and religion So traiterous and dangerous to Christian States is the Iesuited Popery 3. This Becane in his cōscience thinketh that these words You are made gazing stocks were and are most fitly and truely to bee applyed to Garnett that cunning but arch-traitour viz. when hee was dismembred and his head and quarters fixed on high to be gazed on 4. The present Iesuited Romish faith is impious heresie and Idolatrous blasphemy the religion is grosse superstition and open rebellion against God and the King or rather an open profession of the lawfull killing of Kings Gods Anointed by the meanest vassals of the said Kings authorized by the Pope to kill them As it is plainely set downe by Suarez in his late booke against our King Lib. 6. chap. 4. imprinted by publike authoritie with priuiledge Therefore by all lawes diuine and humane why may not all such Iesuited Cacolikes be most iustly imprisoned dispoyled exiled or executed as guiltie of high treason for this their traiterous and rebellious faith and religion so stiffely maintained by them especially when as by their owne popish doctrine Hereticall obstinate Schismatikes such as indeede all those Cacolikes are may be imprisoned and dispoyled of goods lands and life it self and when as so many thousand deare Saints of the Lord meerely for their orthodoxall faith and pure religion haue beene in their bloudy Inquisition and other popish persecutions most sauagely tortured euen to death Therefore with great impudency doth he charge vs with shedding the bloud of Martyrs for faith and religion from which wee are as free as they therein are guilty 5. No small number of popish Martyrs so canonized and enrowled amongst them were in truth haynous and diabolicall Traitors against the King Queen and State heere and accordingly were here executed therefore indeede these words You are made agazing stock c. the Iesuite applied to Traitors to wit such popish Martyrs 6. Lastly the exceeding clemency of our King towards the now imprisoned seditious and treacherous Cacolikes is such that they fare more deliciously and liue more sportfully I might well haue said riotouslie then millions of his Maiesties good subiects doe who enioy their libertie This is too too well knowne And this forsooth is that hard-hard vsage and hot persecution which hath bred this Iesuiticall exclamation BECANVS Iarre THE Kings Supremacy in the Church of England is a new thing It began vnder King Henry the 8. continued vnder King Edward the 6 and Queene Elizabeth and now vnder King Iames the same is rent and torne in peeces with so many domesticall iarres and diuisions that long it cannot stand So as Christ in the Gospell said full well Omne regnum in se diuisum desolabitur Euery Kingdome diuided in it selfe shall be destroyed But what and how great these discords be I will shew in these
as their right Primacy in earth Not onely ouer the whole Cleargy contrary to that Inhibition of S. Peter 1. Pet. 5. v. 3. Not as Lords ouer Gods Heritage but also ouer Kings and that not only in Spiritualls but also in their Temporalls viz. in their Goods Reuenews Crownes Kingdomes liberties and lines As their chiefest Iesuite Writers Bellarmine Suarius and this meane Iesuite Becane haue not beene ashamed to dogmatize in their late publike writings some whereof haue beene euen by State-Papists in their Parliaments censured and condemned as seditious pernitious against Kings prerogatiues royall crownes and dignities And some of them by vs here lately haue beene purged by fire and also most ambitiously haue and do desire and practise to get the Popedome and being opposed therein do by all euen bloudy meanes endeuour to retaine the same Onuphr in Chronie Rom. Pont. as the thirtie Schismes in the Church of Rome about the Popedom wherof the last worst lasted by the space of fiftie yeers together raysed and continued by the ambitious desire thereof in the Popes themselues euen to the shedding of the liues bloud of two hundred thousand christians caused by two Antipopes at once doth more then demonstrate To instance this ambitious desire in one but their principall one and chiefetaine Hildebrand the first who with brasen face did openly vndertake to depose the Emperour from his Empire The Cardinall Beno who liued with Hildebrand and knewe him too well writeth thus of him Hildebrand poysoned sixe Popes to make his waie to the Popedoma Nauclere reporteth that the clergy saide Pope Hildebrand was excommunicated by the Bishops of Italy as hauing defiled the Apostolike Sea with Simonie c. And Abbat Vrspergensis writeth Anno. Dom. 1080. that the Councell of Brixia censured Pope Hildebrand as an vsurper of the Sea of Rome not appointed by God but intruding by fraude money And to speak in general as Mantuan saith of Rome and Romanists Venalia nobis Templa Sacerdotes Altaria Sacra Coronae Ignis thura preces coelum est venale Deusque Where Church Priest Altar Masse Crowne for money tolde Also Fire Incense Prayer Heauen and God are solde Where all things come for money there is no probabilitie that the Popedom there more worth then all things else should come freely without money c. Rome is no changeling of which the Iesuites may read in the Canon law thus Roma fundata fuit a praedonibus adhuc de Primor dijsretinet dicta Roma quasirodens manus Roma manus rodit quos rodere non valet odit Rome was first founded by thieues and sauoreth still of her beginnings By th' hand Rome byteth States and whom shee cannot bite she hates If Rome bite all not giuing sans gifts shee popes none liuing Now since the Assumption is so plainely proued we may thus conclude Therefore the Popes of Rome shall finde confusion in Heauen Hence the Popish Antichrist is by the Apostle tearmed fitly Filius perditionis The sonne of perdition or confusion Moreouer from the words of Cyprian is this Syllogisme as canon-shot directed against the verie heart of the Popes Primacy thus If Peter did not ne could challenge to himselfe Primacy then the Pope hauing no Primacy but as Peters successour cannot challenge Primacy to himselfe But Peter could not challenge Primacy to himselfe as Cyprian here saith De Simple Praelator and else where proueth thus Hoc erant vtique c. The rest of the Apostles vvere the same that Peter vvas endewed vvith like fellowship of Honour and Power Therefore the Pope cannot challenge the Primacy This of Cyprian the Iefuit passeth ouer dry-foot and not without cause seeing hee could get no baulme from Gilead to cure this deadly wound giuen to the Pope by Saint Cyprians foresaid Canon-shot 3. The Iesuite doth here shamefully bely Chrysostom affirming that hee speakes promiscuously of both Primacies Secular and Ecclesiasticall whereas most distinctly hee writeth thus of them Dominus introduxit c. The Lorde brings in a diffeference betweene worldly or temporall Princes and Ecclesiasticalls because the Princes of the vvorld are therefore made that they might rule ouer their subiects and serue themselues of them 1. Sam. 9 ver 11. c. and spoyle them to their owne profit and glory according to the saying of God to Samuel This shall be the manner of your King hee will take your sonnes for his Chariot-driuers Captaines and Husbandmen and your Daughters for Apothecaries Cookes and Bakers he will take your fields and vineyardes and giue them to his seruants c. But the Princes Ecclesiasticall are therefore made that they may serue their vnderlings and minister vnto them all things which they haue receiued from Christ That they should neglect their owne profit and procure the profit of others and if neede be that they should not refuse to die for the safety or saluation pro salute of their inferiours Therefore if these things be so there is cause and profit to desire the Secular Primacy but to desire the Ecclesiacticall there is neither reason nor cause For what wise man would hasten vvillingly to submit himselfe to seruitude labour griefe and such a danger as to render an account for all the Church before the inst Iudge vnlesse peraduenture he thinke there is no iudgement of God or feares it not as one abusing his Ecclesiasticall Primacy secularly changeth the Ecclesiasticall into the Secular Than which words what could be written more distinctly and plainely against this lying Iesuite and his Popes Primacy to stop the mouth of the one and to plucke vp the other by the rootes I meane the Primacy Papall which is now become the highest temporall Primacy in the earth of which the Emperours as vassals holde their Imperiall crowns yea their liues and yet neither of these but during the Popes pleasure And this is with them become an article of the Romish faith Hence it is that his Maiesties subiects are forbidden by the Pope in their oath of Allegiance to sweare that what in them lieth they will preserue the life of their Soueraigne against the Papall and all other forrain power because as the Pope hath definitiuely set it down they should therein deny the faith Is not this his Ecclesiasticall Primacy become Temporall or rather Diabolicall Therefore euery good Christian from Chrysostome here is to learne That the Pope either thinketh there is no God or Iudgement of God to come or that the feare of God and of his Iudgement is not before his eyes Surely if the popish Primacy be that Ecclesiasticall here described by Chrysostome the Pope will no longer contend for it he will soon hate it worse than dogge or snake 4. The Iesuite here either very ignorantly or very impudently abuseth his Reader whom hee would make belieue that Chrysostome in that Homily so distinguisheth the Primacy of Honour to witte Ecclesiastical from the obtaining of that Primacy as though he
c. If he be so ignorant let him heare Cyprian in these his owne words Superest vt de hacipsa re singuli quid sentiamus proseramus neminem iudicantes aut à iure Communion is aliquem si diuersum senserit amouentes Neque enim quisquam nostrûm Episcopum se esse Episcoporum constituit aut tyrannico timore ad obsequendi necessitatem colleg as suos adigit quando habet omnis Episcopus pro licentia libertatis et potestatis suae arbitriuÌ„ proprium tanquam iudicari ab alio non possit qui nec ipse potest alierum iudicare Let euery of vs vtter what vvee thinke of this matter iudging no man nor excommunicating any who shall think otherwise then we doe For there is none of vs that makes himselfe a Bishop of Bishops or by tyrannicall feare forceth his colleagues to obey sith euery Bishop may speak freely what he thinks iudged of none as he can iudge none Doth not the Iesuit knowe euen by the name Papa that the Pope ambitiously makes himselfe Bishoppe of Bishops in their popish Canons and tyrannicallie by oath enforceth all Bishops to the necessity of obeying him to say as he saith in their canonicall obedience If he know not let Aeneas Syluius afterward Pope Pius 2. schoole him in these words Bishops contradicting the Pope though they speake the truth yet they sin against their oath made to the Pope If this Iesuite were not ignorant that Cyprian spake those words in the Councell of Carthage what a friuolous Doctor is he misspending the precious time about trifling escapes of the Printer or Transcriber c. viz. of the word Constantinople for the word Carthage as though such escapes were not frequent in the Popes Canon law BECAN Exam. YOu cite these words Pag. 95. Plenitudo potestatis Papae c. with this citation Extra de Constitut Ecclesi Sanct. Mariae numero nono Againe falsely and ridiculously For neither are those words there neither haue you cited the place well Thus you should haue cited it Extra de CoÌ„stitutionibus cap. Ecclesia Sanctae Mariae Yet now at the last liarne somewhat that you be not alwaies a child and blockish in citing Dr. HARRIS Reply THe Iesuit here vndertaking to be my Schoolemaister proues himselfe to be a very blockish and a ludibrious Teacher To proue not as he imagineth The fulnesse of the Popes power to surpasse all Positiue lawes but that The temporall lawes with or against the Church extend not to the Church vvithout the Popes expresse allowance I cited the place rightly thus De Constitut cap. Eccles Sanctae Mariae nu 9. But the Iesuit after the depth of his shallow capacitie cites it thus De Constitut. Ecclesia Sanctae Mariae leauing out these words numero nono Wheâ— as those very words if he had but any smattering skill in the Commentaries vpon the Canon law might easily haue informed him that these words and syllables viz. Lex praeiudicialis Ecclesijs c. were the words of Panormitan vvriting vpon that chapter as indeed they are thus Paner de Constâ—r ca. E. cl Sáâ—â—e marae nu 9. Lex Principis praeiudicialis Ecclesiis non extenditur ad Ecclesias nisi expresse approbetur per Papam Si verò est Constitutio laicorum inferiorum fauorabilis Ecclesiis non extenditur aliquo modo ad clericos nisi sit approbata per Papam The lawes of Princes prerudiciall to the Church extend not to the Clergie except the Pope expresly allow them Though these words Lex praeiudicalis c. bee not in the Canon but in the Rubrick of the same and euen that is enough to make this Iesuit blush yet the matter is fully set downe in that Canon De constitut ca. Eccles S. Mariae And the case was between Iohn de Archea who appealed and the Church of St. Mary touching certaine possessions then in contiouersie before the iudge of appeale who by reason of a certaine statate of Rome spoyled the Monastery of the said possersions and transserred them to the Church of Saint Marie giuing corporall possession thereof This cause being brought to the Pope he sets down this decree We considering that layites hauing no power ouer the Church or Church-men if they make a law which may restect the good of the Church is of no validity vnlesse it be established by the Popes authoritie doe make void that vvhich is done in preiudice of the Monasterie and diffinitiuely doe sentence the possession to be restored vnto it These things beeing thus made plaine to the Iesuit it is meet now he should answere how those lawes indeed anciently made but lately reuiued and reen forced by the Venetians so exceeding preiudiciall to the Church and Church-men as the Pope in his late excommunicating Bull expresly and his two Cardinalls Bellarminus and Baronius particularly haue set downe stand still in force euen to the expulsion and extirpation thence of all Icsuits without any hope of their returne Whether because this said Canon hath lost his force or for that the roating Bull hath lost his hornes and is now become no more feared then a braying Asse BECAN Exam. Page 96. OVt of Gratian 9. q. 3. Neque ab Augusto you cite these vvords Sirotus Mundus sententiaret c. Richard you presit nothing Once againe I wili teach you thus you ought to haue cited cap. Nemo ludicabit 9. q. 3. For the beginning of the chapter doth not beginne vvith thesâ—â—ord Neque ab Augusto as you dreame but with these Nemo iudicabir And yet the words cited by you are not found there Dr. HARRIS Reply IT is not I who to prooue that if all the world would sentence against the Pope yet the Popes sentence should stand cite 9. q. 3. Neque ab Augusto but the incomparably learned Bishop Iewell as I expresly wrote in my Concorde page 8. Therefore the Iesuit fondly saith that hee will teach mee to cite better heerin thus cap. Nemo iudicabit 9. q. 3. because the chap. beginneth with these words Nemo iudicabit and not with these Neque ab Augusto Wherein the Iesuit bewrayeth his incredible rudenels ignorance who neuer read citations made in the Canon law by words after the beginning the midst or later end of the Canon but onely in the beginning thereof Therefore heere I must take him to schooling and read three lectures out of the Canon law viz. out of the Decrees the Decretalls and the Extrauagants vnto him thus In the Decrees Dist. 12. ca. No decet verb. Discretione and Dist 11. ca. Non nos verb. quis entm the Glosle citeth 17. q. 4. § Qui autem But those words are not the beginning of any chapter in 17. q. 4. In the Decretalls De Electione Electi potestate cap. Venerabilem verb. Transtulit The Glosse cireth 24. q. 1. § Sedillud and immediatly after 11. q. 1. § Sedsi quis but neither of those chapters begin with those words Sedillud or
to haue Primacy Episcopall But the first is true according to Becane viz. That the deny as Becane meaneth and Becane meaneth that the King vsurpeth Primacy Episcopall Therefore the later is true also viz That Dr. Tooker and Mr. Burhill denying the King to be Primate or to haue the Primacy deny him to be Primate or to haue Primacy Episcopall as all Protestants doe So that here is among vs all a full and settled Concord and the Iesuites Iarre as empty chaffe is blowen cleane away ⧠Becans Iarre IIII. Question Whether the King by reason of his Primacy may be called Head of the Church THis Title first began to be vsurped of King Henry the 8. as all Authors aswell our owne as our aduersaries do testifie For thus writeth Iacobus Thuanus in his first booke of the Histories of his times Henricus post diuonium se Caput Ecclesiae constituit K. Henry after his diuorce from Q. Katherine made himselfe Head of the Church c. And Polydor Virgil lib. 27. of his History of England saith Interea habetur Concilium Londini in quo Ecclesia Anglicana formam potestatis nullis ante temporibusvisam induit Henricus enim Rex Caputipsius Ecclesiae constituitur In the meane while to wit after his foresaid diuorce a Councell was held at London wherein the Church of England tooke to it selfe a forme of power neuer heard of before For that King Henry was appointed Head of the same Church c. Genebrard also in the fourth books of his Chronologic hath these words Henrieusanno 1534. in publicis Comitijs se caput Ecclesiae Anglicanae appellauit King Henry in the yeare of our Lord 1534. in publike Parliament called himselfe Head of the Church of England c. Also Doctor Sanders in his booke of the Schisme of England saith Exquâ— licendiformula primam occasionem sumptamatunt vt Rex Supremum Caput Ecclesiae Anglicanae diceretur By which manner of speech it is said the first occasion was taken of calling the King supreme Head of the Church of England c. And againe in the same booke Proponebantur eis noua Comitiorum Decreta iubebantur iureiurando affirmare Regem Supremum Ecclesiae esse Caput The new Lawes or Statutes of the Parliament were propounded vnto them to wit to the Kings subiects and they were commanded to sweare that the King was head of the Church c. Iohn Caluin in like manner vpon the 7. Chapter of the Prophet Amos writeth thus Qui tantopere extulerunt Henricum Regem Angliae certè fuerunt homines inconsiderati Dederunt enim illi summam rerum omnium potestatem hoc me grauiter semper vulnerauit Erant enim blasphemi cùm vocarent eum summum Caput Ecclesiae sub Christo Those who so greatly did extoll K. Henry of England were men voide of consideration For they gane vnto him the chiefe power of all things and this point did euer gall me grieuously For that they were blasphemers vvhen they called him the chiefe Head of the Church vnder Christ c. 2. The same Title did K. Edward Sonne to King Henry and his Successour vsurpe as it may be seene by his Letters to Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury which begin thus Edouardus Dei gratia Angliae Franciae Hyberniae Rex supremum in terris Ecclesiae Anglicanae Hybernicae taÌ„m causis spiritalibus quà m teÌ„poralibus Caput Reuerendo Thomae Cantuariensi Archiepiscopo saluteÌ„ Edward by the Grace of God K. of England France Ireland supreme Head on earth of the Church of England and Ireland as well in Causes Ecclesiasticall as temporall to the Reuerend Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury greeting c. The same Title also did Bishop Cranmer giue vnto the said King as appeareth by his letters written to other Bishops subiect vnto him thus Thomas permissione diuina Cantuariensis Archiepiscopus per Illustrisimum in Christo Principem Edouardum Regem sextum supremum in terris Caput Ecclesiae Anglicanae Hybernicae sufficienter legitimè authorizatus Tibi Edmundo Londinensi Episcopo omnibus fratribus Coepiscopis vice nomine Regiae Maiestatis quibus in hac parte sungimur mandamus vt Imagines ex Ecclesijs cuiusque dioecesis tollantur c. We Thomas by Gods permission Archbishop of Canterbury being sufficiently and lawfully authorized by our most gratâ—ous Prince in Christ King Edward the 〈◊〉 supreme Head on earth of the Church of England and Ireland do in his Maiesties Name and place which berein we supply command von Edmund Bishop of London and all the rest of our Brethren Bishops that Imaves be taken out of the Churches of euery Diccesset c. And Doctor Sanders also in his booke of the Schisme of England saith thus Quamprimum visum est Henrici octaui mortem diuulgare statim Edonardus Henrich filius nonum aetatis annum agens Rex Angliae proclamatur sumurn Ecclesiae Anglicanae in terris Caput proximè secundum Christum constitutel it c. As score as it was thought good to diuulge King Henries death by and by Edward his sonne being of the age of nine yeares was proclaymed King of England and ordained supreme Head of the Church of England on earth next vnder Christ c. 3. Queene Elizabeth although she were a woman yet she thought her selfe no way inferiour to her Father or Brother Shee therefore would be also called supreme Head of the Church of England For so writeth Iacobus Thuanus in his 15. booke of the Histories of his time Elizabetha recep to à Patre fratre titulo Ecclesiae Caputper Angliam coepitappellati Queene Elizabeth hauing receiued the former Title from her Father Brether began to be called Head of the Church throughout England c. 4. But now aduyes vnder K. Iames this title is put in Repardie The Chaplaine to wit M. Doctor Andrewes doth admit the same in his Tortura Torti but M. Tooker and M. Burhill do reiect it M. Tookers words which a little before I recited are these Olere autem malitiam clamitare audaciam tuam videturillud cum Regem Caput Ecclesiae Primatemque confingas It may seems to sauour of malice and try out upon your sausines when as you feigne the King to be Head and Primate of the Church c. And in like manner doth M. Burhill pag. 133. reprehend a certaine person of ouer much want onnes and boldnes for calling the King Head Pastour and Primate of Bishops 5. In his debate and Iarre then what shall the King do If he admit the Title of Supreme Head of the Church of England M. Tooker and M. Burhill will no doubt murmure streadly If he rerect it what then will the Chaplaine say Perhaps this contention may be mollified if the King as he gaue to the Chaplaine the Bishopricke of Ely so he would giue to M. Tooker and M. Burhill two other Bishopricks For then least they might seeme ungratefull they would easily grant this Title to the
should eate the labours of their hands and drink the water of their own wells with more security Were your Priests Iesuits or confounded none vvould hurt or destroy in all the mountaine of Gods holinesse None would hatch the Cockatrise egges or weaue the Spyders web of Gun-powder treasons and milhons of other trayterous complots and bloudy conspiracies You you are they who in very deed trouble Israell and bring the whole Christian world into combustion It is a statute enacted in the heaueÌ„s that euery soule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 13. ver 1. as saith ChrysosÌ„tome writing vpon those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be hee an Apostle or Euangelist or Prophet or any other Peter Pope or whosoeuer should bee subiect to the higher Powers for conscience sake But by the Popes statute or Canon the vilest shaueling Priests aforesaid are so exempted froÌ„ subiection to the highest Powers Kings and Emperours that they are not bound to obey them or their lawes for Conscience but onelie for Order sake Therefore they are not bound to giue neither will they giue to Caesar that which is Caesars viz. Tribute for Tribute belongs to him nor Custom yet Custom is due to him They will not as Saint Paul did stand at Caesars iudgement seat to be tryed there much lesse will they as Christ did present themselues to that tribunall vvhich hath power giuen to it from aboue to bee condemned there Some kind of reason they may haue for it as this They hold with Antichrist why then should they follow Christ Touching the popish Layicks If as the Iesuit heere saith all the Kings subiects vvithin his Realmes are bound to obey the King why doe they disobey him euen in the face beeing open and professed wilfull Recusants to come to Church there to heare Gods word truely preached and his Sacraments duely administred to pray to God to praise God in the congregations of his Saints Why doe they against the law of God of Nature of Nations and of their King refuse to testifie by oath their Allegiance to their Soueraigne Why vnlesse it be for that they want motion as hauing no vertue of motion thereunto deriued vnto them from their Pope-Head or else because they take them selues to be the subiects of the Pope and not of the King And this is indeede Preiudiciall to the King in the highest degree BECAN Exam. Pag. 132 YOu cite out of the Canon law some maimed words which you read not there nor vnder stand That you may vnderstand them I will cite them whole as they are The Sacrament of this office c. They are Pope Nicolas words and containe these three things 1. That Christ placed the Sacrament of Preaching the gospell principally in Peter when he saw the vessell let downe from heauen and when it was said vnto him Rise Peter kill and cate 2. That God would haue the vertue and effect of the gospell to be powred vpon the Gentiles from Peter as from a Head 3. That God tooke Peter into the Jellowship of indiuiduall vnitie by communicating his name and dignitie to him for he would haue Peter called the rocke and foundation of that Church whereof he is the rocke and foundation What gather you hence against the Pope nothing as all Onely you bewray your dulnesse and ignorance berein Dr. HARR IS Reply I Gather hence that the Pope is very Antichrist shewing himselfe as God The Scripture saith that by preaching the gospell 1. Cor. 3.7 Paul may plant and Apollo may water but this God onely giues the increase that is the vertue and effect of preaching But here Peter to weet the Pope is said to giue the vertue and effect of preaching The Scripture 1. Cor. 3.11 yea the Canon law saith that there is no foundation or rocke of the Church but onely Christ Iesus But here the Pope challengeth not onely the name but the very Dignity of Christ viz. to be as Christ is The foundation and rock of the Church God saith Esay 48.11 Hee will not giue his Glory or Dignity to any other but here it is said that Peter to weet the Pope is assumpted into the Dignity of the indiuidual vnity The indiuiduall vnity is our Lord God but here the Pope is assumpted into the fellowship of the name and hence it is that the Papists or Papi-coliks call that Romish Anrichrist their Lord God the Pope Thus haue I gathered out of the blasphemous assertioÌ„s of this Iesuit here and out of their Canon law enough for this one time and to much for Becane to answere all his life time against their Pope-Head But how doth the Iesuit gather that the Sacrament of preaching was principally constituted in Peter when after the vessell let downe it was said vnto him Rise Peter kill and eate seeing that Christ before his passion did constitute the Sacrament of preaching equally and with the selfe same words in all his Apostles saying Gopreach the gospell to all the world By vertue whereof the rest as well as Peter did preach the Gospell but this vision and this speech to Peter was after Christs ascension not to constitute the Sacrament of preaching the Gospell principally in him but to reforme the errour that was principally in him viz. that he ought not to preach the gospel to the Gentiles Therefore by that speech and vision he was emboldned to preach the Gospell to Cornelius a Gentile but not to kill Cornelius as Cardinall Baronius expounded those words against the Venetians If the Iesuite had cited the whole words of the Canon as he promised to doe he might haue learned by those words of the Canon Dexteras Societatis the right hands of Fellowship that the Sacrament of preaching the Gospell was as principally constituted in Paul towards the Gentiles as it was in Peter towards the Iewes As touching me I had read that Canon often but I purposely cited out of it those words onely which shew what a blasphemous Head the Church of Rome hath who challengeth to be assumpted into the fellowship of the indiuiduall vnitie in such sort that all gifts and graces of God are powred vpon the Church from him and through him as the Head of that his body the Church And those words which I cited were not maimed but full enough to euince the Pope to be such a blasphemous Head indcede Notwithstanding I must giue the Iesuite leaue to hold on his course viz. to wound his Pope when he seeks to heale him to disgrace mee without cause and to bely mee without blushing BECAN Exam. Page 133 YOu cite out of Durand truely that all Bishops descend from the Pope as members from the head Which is nothing else but this that they all receiue from the Pope Iurisduction of the externall Court Which as English Academicks say is in liâ—e sort giuen by the king to the Bishops in England Therefore here is the Iarre between you and the Academicks Dr. HARRIS Reply
IN England the King doth but nominate some to be Bishops They are chosen by the Deane and Chapter The King approueth and ratifieth the Electiò but they are consecrated Bishops only by Bishops And therupon without any grant therof froÌ„ the King they haue ipso facto Episcopall function and Iurisdiction in externall Court Whereby it is apparant euen by this Iesuitesinterpretation of the words that our Bishops doe not descend from our King as the Romish Bishoppes descend from the Bishop of Rome who receiue the gifts of the Holy-ghost and the vertue and effect of their preaching from the Pope and so descend from him as members from the Head which Pope saith Bellarmine is the onely Bishoppe iure diuino by the word of GOD and all the rest of the Bishoppes Archbishops Patriarkes are but his Curates iure humanâ— by the wordor inspiration of the Pope Inspirante Petro as Leo saith The Pope breathing on them the Holy-ghost All English Academicks would detest such descending of our Bishops froÌ„ the King who giueth vnto our Bishops chosen and consecrated their Baronries and Iurisdiction coactiue by corporall or temporall mulcts which is Dr. Tookers meaning herein but not Iurisdiction meerely sacerdotall or Episcopall viz. to excommunicate to giue Orders to confirme c. And so here is still the Concord maintained BECAN Exam. Pag. 134. THE rest vvhich you cite out of Hostiensis and the Abbat you neither cite vvell nor understand It irketh mee to warne you so oft and to obtaine nothing Dr. HARRIS Reply TRuely I vnderstand that Martin Becane is a very vnlearned and slugge Iesuite as shall in this place manifestly appeare In the meane time I pray you Christian Reader to obserue how the case is now altered touching the Popish Headship from that it was heretofore for euen as Antichrist groweth on to his height of impudency and impietie so the Headship increaseth Heretofore the Pope was said to be not simply the Head of the Church as Christ is but the inferiour-ministeriall Head now hee is growen to be the Supreme Head equall with Christ as hauing the same Tribunall and Consistorie that Christ hath and being able to doe all that Christ can doe To proue this I cited the words of the two most famous and iudiciously learned Canonists that euer were Cardinall Hostiensis and Abbat Panormitane and in the margine of my booke I quoted rightly the places where those words were written The matter you see to be of the greatest moment and most fitting to the dispute of the Head of the Church here in hand yet the Iesuite hath no other thing to answere but this you doe not cite those wordes well nor vnderstand them Whereof Christian Reader be you iudge after that I haue produced at large their owne words which are as followeth Panormitan Super prima primi de Electione cap. vener abilem verb. Transtulit Papa transtulit imperium in Germanos Papa autem hoc potuit facere ex magna causa concurrente cum possit facere quicquid Deus potest Alias Christus non fuisset diligens Paterfamilias si non dimisisset in terris aliquem loco sui qui expedientibus causis possit omnia facere quae ipse Christus Hanc regulam firmauit Hostiensis in cap. Quanto De Translatione praelatorum vbi dicitur quod cum Dei et Papae idem sit consistorium omnia potest facere quae ipse Christus excepto peccato Sed improprie excipit peccatum quod Peccatum non cadit sub potentia imò sub impotentia The Pope translated the Empire to the Germanes The Pope might doe it vpon great cause because be can do whatsoeuer God can doe Otherwise Christ had not beene a diligent father of his family if hee had not left one in his owne stead on earth who as causes require can do all that Christ himselfe can doe This rule hath Hostiensis confirmed in cap. Quanto de translat Praelat where it is said that seeing there is but one and the selfe same Consistory of God and the Pope The Pope can do all things that Christ himselfe can doe except sinne But Hostiensis improperly excepted sinne because sinne falleth not vnder power but rather vnder impotency or weakenesse By these their words thus at large set downe it appeareth that I cited the words well and knew what I cited euen enough to demonstrate that the Popish Primate is a blasphemous Head and that our King is no such Head Both which are appatant to any man of reading but this slugge Iesuite is so vnlearned that hee vnderstandeth nothing which hath any sound learning or iudicious reading in it ⧠Becans Iarre V. Question Whether the Kings Primacy do consist in any Power or Iurisdiction Ecclesiasticall HEERE now is there a great Iaure and debate amongst our English Aduersaries nor can the same be easily vnderstood vnlesse it be first well distinguished Ecclesiasticall Power is threefold as the Diuines doe teach One of Order another of interiour Iurisdiction the third of exteriour Inrisdiction To the first belongeth to effect or consecrate and to administer Sacraments to the second to gouerne the Church in the interiour Court or Court of Conscience and to the third belongeth to gouerne the Church in the exteriour Court Now certaine it is that the King hath not the Power of Order by reason of his Primacy For this dooth M. Tooker confesse page 14. vvhere he saith Reges non habent potellatem administrandi Sacramenta Kings haue not power to administer Sacraments It is also certaine that be hath not Iurisdiction of the interiour Court or Court of Conscience For this in like manner doth M. Tooker confesse pag. 63. Omnis jurisdictio saith be in foro interiori Sacerdotum est nulla Regum All Iurisdiction in the interiour Court or Court of Conscience belongeth to Priests not ance vvaie to Kings c. 2. All the question then is whether the King hath Iurisdiction Ecclesiasticall in the exteriour Court or no About this point are the Englishmen at a great iarre and variance amongst themselues some affirming it some denying it others distingnishing M. Tooker affirmeth it pag. 305. in these words Qui habet plenissimam amplissiman iurisdictionâ—min foro exteriore potest candem dare auferre Rex eam habet Ergo potest eandem dare auferre Totum hoc liquet ex V. N. Testamento Hee that bath most full and ample Iurisdiction in the exteriour Court can giue and take away the same at his pleasure But the King hath this Iurisdiction Ergo he can giue and take away the same All this is manifest out of the old and new Testament c. With him agreeth also M. Salclebridge pag. 140. Regesoleo sacro vncti capaces sunt Iurisdictionis spiritualis Kings saith be anointed with holy oyle are made capable of spiritual IurisdictioÌ„ c. And then again in the same place out of the Lawes of Eng. Rex saith be est persona mixta vtpote
Pag. 48. DIstinguish but the times as St. Augustine teacheth you namely the times of the Churches peace wherein raigned Christian Princes and the times of persecution wherin Pagan Kings had the Soueraignty and you shall rightly vnderstand the Scriptures Of the peaceable times of the Church so writeth Dr. Tooker pag. 42. It belonged to King Dauid Salomon Iehoshophat and Iosias to giue lawes to the Leuites and to the whole congregation of Israel And in the same place he writeth again of the times of persecution Erat Apostolorum omnium c. It vvas not one but all the Apostles which both called the Councell and decreed vvith like solemnity of these words Visumest Spiritui sancto et nobis It seemed good to the holy Ghost and to vs. Ma. Thomson speaking of this matter doth not denie that the lame Apostolicall law had any force without the fauour of Caesar as though there had neuer beene law in the Church vvithout the aforsaid approbation of the Emperour but onely that without it they had no force vnder paine of corporall punishment as is most plaine by the tenor of his vvords So that heere is no Iarre or dissension among the English Writers as hee affirmeth but onely a dreaming dorage of the Iesuit who childishly sporteth himselfe with a fallacy of Equinocation especially when hee endeuoureth to match in equall ranke the lawes and Canons of Bishops with the lacred decrees and Constitutions of the Apostles Well wrote Saint Augustine Dâ—Nâ—ur et Grana c. 61. I am bound to consent to the holy Scriptures of the which sort are the decrees of the Apostles without all refusall And in another place Iread other Writers Epist 19. ad Hiero. Dist 9. Egoâ—oht how much soeuer they excell in holinesse or learning so as I doe not therefore thinke it truth because they thought so but because they perswade mee by other canonicall Authors or by probable reasons not differing from truth And against Faustus Lib. 11. ca. 5. We must read this kind of learning such as are the writings of the holy Fathers and Doctors non cum credendi necessitate sed cum libertate iudicandi not as bound to belieue them but as free to iudge them And vnto this purpose he writeth in another place Neither vvill I obiect the Councell of Nice vnto thee Cont Maxinn l. 5. c. 14. neither must thou obiect the Councell of Ariminum vnto mee let matter vvith matter and reason dispute vvith reason out of the authorities of holy Scriptures The Iesuit I hope will not deny that all the Apostolicall Sanctions vvere giuen by Diuine Inspitation and dareth hee affirme so much of all Ecclesiasticall Canons of Bishoppes yea though the Popes Holinesse haue breathed vpon them yea of the Councell of Trent Against which the Embassadours of the French King Anno 1562 who was there present protested in this manner Minus legitima minusque libera c. All those Councells vvere euer accounted lesse free and therefore not so lavvfull vvhen they vvho vvere assembled not ledde by the holy Ghost spake after the pleasure of some other to vveet the Pope And the Vniuersitie of Paris Anno 1517. in their appeale against Pope Leo the tenth and his Councell assembled at Rome wrote in this sort Leo Papa dicimus in quodam coetu c. Leo the tenth in a certaine Assembly in the Citie of Rome vvee knovve not hovv gathered together yet vve are sure not in the holy Ghost And is Becane the Iesuit ignorant in what pleasant manner Cardinall Cusan brake this iest vpon Eugenius the Pope saying De còcord lib. 2. ca. 20. Hovv can Pope Eugenius affirme this thing to be true because hee vvill haue it so and for no other cause Ac si inspiratio ipsius Sancti spiritus c. As if the mind of the holy Ghost vvere in the power of the Bishop of Rome and must then inspire vvhen the Pope vvill have him inspire To conclude this Question I desire the Iesuit Becane in the behalfe of Ma. Thomson to yeeld a sound reason wherefore the Bishops in the first Councell of Constantinople did in this humble manner entreat Theodosius the Emperour Rogamus clementiam c. Wee beseech your clemency that by the letters Patents of your Piety you vvould confirme and cause to be ratified the decree of this Councell BECAN Exam. Page 162 THe Apostles by diuine right might make lawes Which right cannot be proued to haue bin transtated froÌ„ them to Kings or Emperours but to Bishops successours of the Apostles with whom as with the Apostles the Spirit of truth remaineth for euer Therefore the Bishoppes and their Lawes or Canons euen in England are no lesse diuinely inspired then the Apostles or their Lawes or Canons Apostolicall Which if you deny the Arch-bishop of Cauterbury or certainely the Bishop of Ely will cause you to be punished therefore You are abasht to speake any thing of King Henry 8. his law touching the lawfull marriages in degrees not prohthited which carnall knowledge followed Dr. HARRIS Reply VVHat modest Hearer will not be abashed and what Christian heart will not tremble to heare these blasphemies vttered by the Iesuite The Apostles were Gods chosen pen-men to write the Scripture as they were immediately mooued by the Spirit of God 2. Pet. 2.19 21 without possibility of error They were Gods immediate instruments either joyntly in Councell or singularly alone to set downe Lawes and Canons Essentiall parts of that Scripture wherof we read thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Tim. 3.16 1. cor 15.15 The whole Scripture is gluen by inspiration of God The Apostles were such chosen witnesses to testifie Gods truth Gal. 3.8 that if an Angel from heauen should testifie otherwise than they did he must be accursed Are all Bishoppes or any one two three c. Gods immediate pen-man to write portions of holie Canonical Scripture Are all the Lawes and Canons made by Bishops in all Councells essentiall parts of Canonicall Scripture giuen by inspiration of God Are all Bishops God immediate chosen witnesses to testifie the truth so without all possibility of falshood that the Churches faith should depend thereon so sure that if an Angell of heauen testifie other wise then they haue preached or written he should be accursed Then must writings testimonies and lawes hereticall go for Scripture Canonical and so Diuine Scripture must be hereticall Is not this blasphemy And this necessarily followeth from the Iesuite his premisses here to weet That all Bishops and the lawes and Canons in Councells and other writings made by Bishops are and were inspired by the spirit of truth without errour as the Apostles and their Canons and writings were Ten seucrall prouinciall Synods gaue consent with the Arian Heretikes And whereas in the first and most famous generall Councell of Nice which maintained or thodoxally Christ his God-head there were but three hundred and eighteene Bishops In the hereticall
exteriour Court and the second that the King hath not all Iurisdiction of the exteriour Court 6. The third Aâ—gument is That whosoeuer is subiect to another in Ecclesiasticall inrisdiction of the exteriour Court hath not supreme most ample and full lurisdiction Ecclesiasticall of the exteriour Court But the King is subiect to some other body in Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction of the exteriour Court to wit to the Bishop because he may by him be excommunicated by sentence and cast out of the Church as Maister Burhill doth confesse Ergo hee hath not supreme most ample and most full Iurisdiction Ecclesiasticall in the exteriour Court c. Or if your will contrariwise thus Hee that is subiect to no other in Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction cannot by any man be excommunicated by sentence But the King now if he haue supreme Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction is subiect to no other in Iurisdiction Ecclesiasticall Ergo he cannot by any other be excommunicated c. I doube not but you marke well that these things doe not agree English Concord Pag. 68 IN good sooth by this precedent chapter I obserue my Aduerlary a bad Disputer by the good leaue of his fellow Iesuits For manifesting hereof let vs first handle the question You enquire whether the King may excommunicate his subiects The worthy Bishop of Ely pag. 151. Doctor Tooker pag. 15. Maister Thomson pag. 83. 84. affirme of all our Writers in these words Omnes fatemur regem excommunicandipotestatem nullam habere Wee all confesse that the King cannot excommunicate I pray tell me in so full a concord is heere any difference Surely no English Iarre except a fained Becanicall Iarre for the Iesuite followeth not the question Whether the King can excommunicate but whether the King may be excommunicated and so proceedeth as you see to discourse of the offices of supremacy that is to say Whether this be not numbred among the residue That a Primate may be excommunicated of his subiects But here like an idle Sophister he fighteth without the lists and first it is worth our labour to marke his admirable skill in Logick wherby he goeth about out of our most vniforme consent to wrest an English discord This is therefore his first reason The King cannot execute all the inferiour actions of Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction that is to say He cannot excommunicate therefore he hath no supreame Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction I am ashamed of such childish Iesuiticall fancies Is the Iesuit become ignorant or forgetfull of the question Is not our controuersie about one supreame Gouernour of the Church in all matters Ecclesiastical and aboue all Ecclesiasticall persons Yes wee reason about the office of that one onely supreme Gouernor as supreme Gouernour according to Saint Augustine ad Bonifac Epist 50. Inhoc ergo seruiunt domino reges in quantum sunt reges cum eafaciunt ad seruiendum illi quae non possunt facere nisi reges In this Kings serue the Lord respecting onely their kingly office that is vvhen they doe those things to serue him which they cannot doe except they vvere Kings Now sir if excommunication belong onely to the primate or supreame Gouernour for in our question they are both one then it should follow that all Bishops and euery meane Archdeacon for both these haue power to excommunicate are also supreme Gouernours of the Church and so there must needs bee by this Iesuits Logick as many onely supreme Gouernours as there bee Bishoppes and Archdeacons Is any thing more absurd See you not in what a brake the Iesuit is caught But for the power of excommunication vnderstand thus much The King of himselfe can excommunicate no man yet notwithstanding by the consent of all the estates assembled in the Parliament he can make Ecclesiasticall lawes by force and vertue wherof this or that obstinate subiect ought to be excommunicated And besides it is in the Kings absolute power to commaund any Bishoppe within his dominion to absolue any man whom by appeale hee shall finde to be vniustly excommunicated Secondly the Iesuit reasoneth thus The King giueth to other power to excommunicate therefore he he himselfe may excommunicate The Iesuit might haue learned out of Bernard whò they take for a brother of their owne the vanitie and weakenesse of this argument who though his doctrine heerein be not orthodoxall yet to infringe this consequent doth very accuratly distinguish thus writing to Eugenius Conuerie gladium tuum in vaginam Tuus ergo et ipse two forsitan nuiu etsi non tua manu cuaginandus c. Put vp thy sword into thy sheath saith Christ to Peter Then saith Bernard to the Pope Yea that sword is thine yet not to be drawn by thy hand but at thy direction Both swords are the Churches that is to say the spirituall sword and the materiall sword but the materiall sword is drawn for the Church the spirituall sword by the Church one of them by the hand of a Priest the other by the hand of a Souldier but yet at the pleasure of a Priest and the commaund of the Emperour Thirdly hee argueth on this manner The King is subiect to the Bishop excommunicating the King as vvas Theodosius to Ambrose therefore hee is not the onelie supreme Gouernour in his dominion ouer all persons and causes Ecclesiasticall I aunswere that if this be a strong argument then shall not the Pope be Primate of the Church for the Pope is subiect to a Priest in his act of Confession So writeth Panormitan Papatenetur confiteri Extra de poenit etremiss et in illo actu Sacerdos est maior illo Sacerdos potest illum ligare et absoluere The Pope himselfe is bound to confesse to a Priest and in that action the Priest is greater then the Pope for he hath power tobinde and loose him It also appeareth by a Councellat Constance See the Councels of Coustance and Basil and another at Basil that many Popes haue beene subiect to Bishops and by them conuented iudged excommunicated and deposed from their Papacie according to that of your Canon law Cum again de fide Dist 19. Anastasius in glossa tum Synodus maior est quam Papa When a controuersie is concerning faith then a Councell is aboue the Pope Therefore the Iesuit deceiueth by Elench a dicto secundum quid ad dictum simpliciter Wee teach that our Kings are not Primats but priuate men in respect of Sacerdotall functions and by that meanes not onelie are â—â—feriour to Bishops but also to euery other Minister According to that vvorthy saying of Valentinian the Emperour Egosemin sonil Plebis EtenÌ„ collocato in Pontisicale solio cui nos quoque maderatores imperij nostracapita submittamusâ—â— also an Emperor Sozome lib. 6. â—â— 7 The doâ—eâ— lib. 4. cap. 5. am like one of the common people Place such a man in the Bishops throne to whom we that are managers of the Empire may submitour necks The Popes excommunications of any the meanest subiects of
HARRIS Reply WHata malicious scoffing Sycophant is this who being perswaded in his coÌ„science that I euen in this straine ascribe too much to our Primate the King saith I detract too much from the King heerein First this rude and ignorant Iesuit must be taught that according to the lawes and customs of this kingdome though the King be heere immediatly next vnder Christ the supreme Gouernor Ecclesiasticall and Ciuill yet it pertaineth not to his Maiestie alone without consent of the Orders of the kingdom in Parlament to make any law euen ciuill thereby absolutely to binde all the subiects of his Kingdom which all Statutes made by the vniform consent of the said Orders in the Parliament with the approbation of the Kings Maiestie doe manifest Touching the supposed Iarre betweene Hainric mee Hainric writing generally of the power of all Christian Kings and Emperours to make Ecclesiasticall lawes asserted that the said Kings and Emperours laudably by their owne power made such lawes which I also auerre And I heere writing of the power of his Maiestie therein as it is vsed and limited by the lawes and customes of this Land assert that his Maiestie by consent of the Orders or States of the Kingdome in Parliament may make Ecclesiasticall lawes by force whereof such and such should be excommunicated which Hainric will averre to be very true So this seeming Iarte in the view of the goggle eyed Iesuit is in very deed a sound concord Further I reply that Queene Elizabeth of blessed memory by her own authority set forth Iniunctions as Ecclesiasticall lawes And our gracious King Iames by his owne authority confirmed the last Ecclesiasticall law-Canons made in the Conuocation house Lastly I say That by the lawes of this kingdom his Maiestie by his owne authoritie and letters Patents may authorize any persons beeing naturall borne subiects to his Highnes whom he shall thinke meet to exercise vse occupy and execute vnder him all manner of Iurisdictions priuiledges preheminences in any wise touching or concerning any spirituall or Ecclesiasticall Iurisdictions within his Reasmes to visit reforme redresse order correct and amend all such errors heresies schismes abuses offences contempts and enormities whatsoeuer which by any manner sprituall or Ecclesiasticall power authority or Iurisdiction can or may lawfully be reformed ordered redressed corrected restrained or amended to the pleasure of Almightie GOD for increase of vertue c. Will the vile Iesuite call this vilifying of our Ecclesiasticall Gouernour Questionlesse it grindeth his hart that our Church the true visible Church of Christ Iesus ascribeth so much vnto his Maiestie BECAN Exam. Pag. THat which you adde is a new Paradox viz. That Ecclesiastic all lawes made by the King haue force to excommunicate and yet that the King cannot excommunicate It is the most certaine rule of Lawyers that vvhoseuer hath power to make apenall law hath also power to punish This common rule holds in matters Ciuill and Ecclesiasticall vvhy exempt you your King from the common rule confine him into such straights Dr. HARRIS Reply TO an vnlearned Iesuit plaine vulgar things seeme Paradoxes Date the Iesuit deny that Clergie men haue power to make lawes for putting to death of Hereticks and against such such erroncous obstinate persons as hereticks and dare he affirme that Clergy men may giue the sentence of death or shed the bloud of any heretick sith by their triuiall and vulgarly known popish Canon they may not sit vpon the bench when the sentence of death is pronouÌ„ced by the ciuil Iudges That most certain rule of his Lawyers is most plainly false viz. That whosoeuer hath power to make a penall law hath power to punish vnlesse the meaning be of power to punish by commaunding such Officers to punish vnto whom the inflicting of such punishment appertaineth In which sense our King also may be said to excommunicate or absolue that is to coÌ„mand Bishops to excoÌ„municate or absolue men according to the lawes prouided in that behalfe Yea further the Kings writ of prohibition absolueth that subiect of his which is wrongfully excommunicated by Ecclesiasticall censure And this is not to straighten but to enlarge much more then the Iesuit would haue it his Maiesties supreme power heerein Who knowes not that Christian Kings and Empeperours haue made Ecclesiasticall lawes by vertue whereof such and such Priests should be suspended depriued degraded and others chosen and instituted into their Benefices and yet it pertained not to those Emperours to suspend depriue degrade choose or institute the same in their own persons And that this rule holdeth not in ciuil matters was shewed before BECAN Exam. Pag. 196 MY second Argument was this The King giues vnto another power to excommunicate therefore himselfe hath power to excommunicate or if he haue not that power he cannot giue it to another You deny the Argument alleaging Bernard to shew the invalidity thereof But Bernard rather hindereth then helpeth your cause for he reasâ—noth as I doe thus Peter had no temporall possessions therefore he could not giue them to another Hee had care of the vvhole Church therefore he gaue it to his successor Bernard saith nothing of this consequent but of a double power of the Pope the one temporall indirectly all offices of which power Bernard denieth that the Pope by himselfe way execute the other his power spirituall directly vvhich hee granteth may be executed by the Pope himselfe This Position viz. No man can giue to another that which hee hath not himselfe Bernard and I assert to which you answere nothing Dr. HARRIS Reply THe Iesuit is heere ensnarled by the testimony of Bernard as one fallen into a quagmire who the more hee struggleth to get out plungeth himselfe deeper into it Bernard asserteth the right and power of both swords equally to be in the Pope for that of Directly and Indirectly is not Bernards distinction but the Iesuits vaine and new found fiction and therefore be may giue power to others ad nutum ipsius to execute the Materiall sword yet by himselfe cannot vse or draw out the same What is this else but that one may giue power to another to doe that which hee cannot doe himselfe The Iesuit is intolerably ignorant if he know not that by their Canon law the Pope is made Lord of the whole vvorld in temporalibus by vvhom Kings raigne and of vvhom they hold their Scepters In popish books printed and allowed They who hold the materiall sword to be in the Pope not directlie but indirectlie are censured for Politilian Hereticks these times-seruers But what if I should vse the same distinction heere and say that supreme Iurisdiction Ecclesiasticall were it the King indirectly to weet in or dine ad custodiam vtriusque tabulae to pronide and procure that all Ecclesiasticks performe their duties according to the prescript of Gods law Were not this Iesuits Argument according to his owne dispute heere dasht in peeces For as the Pope
key hee open to the Pope that is remit his sinne then heab solueth the Pope For wherefore is one excommunicated but because his sinnes are bound wherefore is one absolued but because his sinnes are remitted If it bee not in respect thereof the King may be said to haue power to excoÌ„municate that is to say to keep men from the Communion viz. when he committeth some to close prison where neither any can speake to them nor they to any Now therefore if the Priest may be the cause of the cause that is if hee can binde the Popes sinnes vvhy may he not be the cause of the effect that is why may he not excommunicate the Pope or which with S. Paul is all one deliuer him to Sathan According to that of Saint Hierome to Heliodore of the Eremiticall life God for bid that I should speak any euill of those who succeeding the Apostolike degree make the body of Christ vvith their sacred mouth vvho hauing the keyes of the kingdome of heauen in sort iudge before the day of Iudgement It is not lawfull for mee to sit before a Priest hee may if I sinne deliuer mee to Sathan for the destruction of the flesh that the Spirit may be saued And so Saint Rasil of the solitarie life cha 23. Peter inquit Amas me c. Christ said vnto Peter Louest thou mee Feed my sheep And in like sort vnto all Pastors and Doctors hee gaue the same power A token vvhereof is this that all binde and loose equally as vvell as Peter If euery Pastor and Doctor binde and loose equally as well as Peter vvhy not in Court exteriour as well as Peter sith the sheep are committed vnto them as well as vnto Peter The Minor Proposition I also deny heere as I did in the English Concord That is I deny that any Bishoppe hath power to throwe the King out of the Church or to excommunicate him according to canonicall excommunication so properly called and defined And further I denied that the supposed excommunication of Theodosius by Ambrose was canonicall excommunication yeelding there some reasons thereof Whereunto though very materiall this silly Iesuit answereth not one word and yet with Iesuiticall that is with brasen face is bold to set before thee Christian Reader his loathsome Coleworts twise yea thrise sodden ⧠Becans Iarre XI Question Whether the King may be Iudge of all Controuersies in the Church 1. COntrouersies that arise in the Church are of two sorts some are about faith and Religion others are concerning Ecclesiasticall affaires The former of these questions then is Whether the King by vertue of his Primacy bee supreame Iudge of all Controuersies vvhich pertaine vnto faith and Religion Maister Salclebridge saith be is pag. 163. in these vvords Sic luce clarius est Christianos Principes cum laude Controuersias fidei dijudicasse diremisse etiam in vniuersalibus octo Concilijs c. So as it is more cleare then the Sunne that Christian Princes vvith praise haue iudged of and decided controuersies of faith and that in eight Generall Councells c. Which is as much to say in the first of Nice the first of Constantinople that of Ephesus Chalcedon the second third and fourth of Constantinople and the second of Nice vvherein diuerse controuersies concerning matters of faith vvere iudged of and decided especially cuncerning the diuinitis of Christ against the Hereticke Arius of the diuinitie of the holy Ghost against Macedonius of one person of Christ against Nestorius of two Natures in Christ against Eutiches and Dioscorus and so of others All these Controuersies saith Maister Saclebridge were iudged of and decided by Kings and Emperours 2. Maister Tooker now hee affirmeth the quite contrarie vvho by no meanes vvill haue Kings or Emperours to bee Iudges of Controuersies of faith For thus hee vvriteth pag. 3. of his books Olere autem malitiam ac clamitare audaciam tuam illud videtur cùm Regem caput Ecelesiae Primatemque confingas omniumque causarum controuersiarum quae ad sidem Religionem pertinent iudicem tribuas It may seeme to sauour of malice cry out vpon your sausinesse vvhen as you faine the King to be head of the Church Iudge of all causes and controuersies vvhich pertaine vnto faith and Religion c. And againe pag. 50. Rexin suo Regno omnibus superior sit nullisubditus Fidei iudex no appelletur quidem Although the King in his owne Kingdome be aboue all subiect to none yet hee may not be called in any case the Iadge of our Faith c. And pag. 313. Reges Christiani non sunt fidei ac Religionis Iudices Christian Kings are not Iudges of faith and Religion 3. So as if now in England there should chaunce to arise a dissension or debate concerning any point of Faith or Religion as for Example concerning the reall presence of Christ in the Eucharist vvhat should your Academicks heere do To vvhom should your Cittizens and the rest of the subiects haue recourse Should they goe vnto the King as Iudge in this point and aske his sentence determination Maister Tooker you see vvould not goe to the King What should they goe to some other Iudge then But Maister Salclebridge hee vvill admit no other What then vvere best to bee done in this case Truly euen that vvhich hitherto hath been done in the debate of the Kings supremacy to vvit alwaies to braule and iarre thereabout and neuer end the controuersie And vvhat 's the cause In very deede no other but for that some thinke one thing some another and they cannot or rather vvill not finde out the certaine and true Iudge vvho can decide the matter And this is the propertie of hereticks 4. The other Question is Whether the King be Iudge of all Controuersies that concerne other Ecclesiasticall affaires Maister Salclebridge saith that hee is pag. 165. in these vvords Audin ' Controuersias Episcopales ab Imperatore diremptas Doe you not heare Sir that Episcopall Controuersies haue been decided by Emperours c. is hat Ma. Tooker thinketh of this point is not vvell knowne For sometimes hee affirmes it as for example pg. 24 thus Nemini dubiuÌ„ est quin in Primitiua Ecclesia de rebus personis Ecclesiasticis â—us dicerent Imperatores No man can doub but that in the Primitiue Church Emperours iudged of matters and persons Ecclesiasticall c. And yet pag. 23. hee seemeth to deny it Non est Princeps supra res sed supra personas The Prince saith he is not aboue the matters but abone the persons c. And then againe pag. 49. Rex in suo Regno supremus est non supra res sed supra homines The King in his owne Kingdome is the chiefe or principall but yet not chiefe ouer things but ouer men And thus you see euery vvhere nothing but iarring and disagreement English Concord BOth Doctor Tooker and Hainric deny the King to be supreme Iudge in
not reâ—â—le when hee suffered hee threatned not but deliuered himselfe to him that iudged him vniustly c. 10. And Heb. 11. 36. Others had triall of reproaches and stripes moreouer also of bands and prisons they were stoned they were hewed they were tempted they died in the slaughter of the sword they went about in sheep-skins in goate-skinnes needy in distresse afflicted of whom the world was not worthy wandring to deserts in mountaines and dennes and in caues of the earth c. 11. And againe in the 12. Chapter and 1. verse And therefore by patience let vs runne to the Combat proposed vnto vs looking on the Author of Faith and the consummator Iesus who ioy beeing proposed vnto him sustained the Crosse contemning confusion and sitteth on the right hand of the seat of God For thinke diligently vpon him who sustained of sinners such contradiction against himselfe that you be not wearied fainting in your mindes For you haue not yâ—trelisted vnto bloud c. 12. And yet more a. Cor. 11.23 In very many labours in prisons more abouÌ„dantly in stripes abone measure in deathâ— often Of the Ievves fiue times did I receine forty stripes sauing one Thrice was I beaten with rodds once I was stoned thrice I suffered shipwrack night and day haue I beene in the depth of the Sea in ionrnying often in perils of waters perils of thieues perils of my Nation perils of Gentiles perils in the Citie perils in the Wildernesse perils in the sea perils among false brethren in labour and miserie in much watching in hunger and thirst in fastings often in cold and nakednes c. 13. And yet more in the 12. Chapter and 9. verse Gladlie will I glory in my owne infirmity that the power of Christ may dwell in mee For which cause I please my selfe in infirmities in contumelies in neceâ—sities in persecutions in distresses for Christ For when I am weake then am I mightie c. 14. With these and the like testimonies of holy Scriptures vvere armed Sir Thomas More and the Bishop of Rochester when they rather chose to die then to take an impions wicked Oath With these places vvere others also animated who followed them in their glorious fight And lastly with these are they encouraged who now in England are kept in prisons bound in fetters spoyled of their goods and linings and purpled in their owne bloud S. Cyprian Epist 9. Pretiosa mors haec est quae emit immortalitatem pretio sanguinis sui Pretions is that death which buyeth immortality with the price of it bloud And in the end of the same Epistle O beatam Ecclesiam nostram quam temporibus nostris gloriosus Martyrum sanguis illustrat Erat antea in operibus fratrum candida nunc facta est in MartyruÌ„ cruore purpurea O happy is our Church which the glorious bloud of Martyrs doth in these our dayes illustrate It was made white before in the works of our brethren but novv is it made purple in the bloud of Martyrs And yet more in Epist 24. Quid gloriosius aut felicius vlli hominum poterit ex diuina dignatione contingere quà m inter ipsos carnifices interritum confiteri Dominum Deum quà m inter saeuientia saecularis potestatis tormenta etiam extorto excruciato excarnificato corpore Christum Deâ— filium ersi recedente sed â—amen libero spiritu confiteri quà m relicto mundo caelum petisse quà m desertis hominibus inter Angelos stare quà m collegam passioniscum Christo in Christi nomine factum esse What can happen vnto any man through Gods diuâ—ne bountifulnesse more glorious or more prosperous then without all feare to confesse our Lord God then amidst the cruell torments of secular power to confesse Christ the Sonne of God with a free spirit though now departing from the body yea from the body tortured tormented and all to bemangled then by leaning the vvorld to goe to heanen then by for saking the company of men to be conuersant with Angells and bee made partaker of the Passion of Christ in Christ his Name English Concord IT is very true that both the oath of Supremacie and the oath of Allegiance are contained in the Kings Apologie but this is a very false plainlie a Iesuiticall lye that in both those oathes viz. the oath of Allegiance The subiects are required publiquely and openlie to professe and acknowledge that King Iames is the supreme Gouernour and Lord of all England not onely in politique and temporall matters but in spirituall Ecclesiasticall also and that neither the Pope nor any other forrainer hath any power or inrisdiction in or oner the Church of England Heere I begin with the Iâ—suit taking him napping in a grosse falsification of the oath of Allegiance for there is no such thing contained therein Which is also testified by his excellent Maiestie in his Preface Monitory pag. 11. Vt certioribus iudicijs per ditam horum coÌ„uitiatoruÌ„ malitiam deprehendere pos sit is c. That with more certaine and assured tokens you may espy the desperate malice of these raylers as the Pope Paul 5 Cardinall Bellarmine and Becane who impudently affirme that this Oath was deuised to entrap and beguile the consciences of improuident Papists in matters of faith I will declare the vvhole passage of the matter in few vvords As soone as this for me of the Oath of Allegiance vvas conceined the lower house of Parliament thought good to insert that clause vvhereby all power should bee taken from the Pope to excommunicate the King But I presently caused the same to be razed out to the end that it might appeare that this Oath had no other force or respect then that the Popes excommunication should be no iust or lawfull cause vnto my subiects by secret or open practises to attempt any thing against my person or my kingdome because I thought that this sentence of excommunication of a spirituall censure was by vniust vsurpation of Popes made a secular pretence and so exorbitant beyond all bounds With so great care and studie I did auoide that nothing should be contained in this Oath but that profession sion of ciuill allegiance and temp or all obedience vvhich nature it selfe prescribeth to all them vvhich are borne vnder any kingdom adding onely a firme promise wherby I demaund of my subiects ayde and assistance against the breach of due allegiance and fidelitie Wherefore I faw it appertained to the cause that I should make an Apologie for this Oath vvherein I haue taken vpon mee to proue that nothing is contained heerein but that vvhich concerneth meere ciuill and temporall obedience such as is due to all soueraigne Princes And againe in the 53. page of the Apology Iuramentum primatus excogitatum est ad discrimen faciendum c. The Oath of supremacy was deuised to discerne and put a difference betwixt the Papists and those of our religion but the Oath of Allegiance was inuented to distingutsh
betwixt the Papists vvho hold obedience fidelitie to the King in things ciuill from those that were indiutdually affected to the Gun-powder treason Concerning your glorious Martyrs as you stile Bishoppe Fisher and Sir Thomas More you might haue learned out of Tortura Torti pag. 360. how the worthy Bishop of Ely stoppeth Tortus his mouth saying Dixerat Apologiae author c. The Author of the Apologie said that it was not any spirituall Primacy but a carnall matrimony that brought the supposed Martyr dome to Sir Thomas More and the Bishop of Rochester and this he spake not amisse But then replyed Tortus Then it vvas a carnall matrimany that caused holy S. Iohn Baptist to suffer martyrdome when he freely reproued King Herods mariage With this example Tortus woundeth himselfe For tell mee O Tortus vvhat was that mariage vvas it not with his brothers wife vvas not this the vvord that cost the Baptist his life It is not lawful for thee to haue thy brothers wife But what was the cause of the death of More and Fisher was it not cleane contrary It is lawful for thee to haue thy brothers wife it is not lawful for thee to put her away So that if Saint Iohn Christs forerunner died vniustly they died most iustly and if hee vvere a Martyr as he was then vvere they some other thing vvhich I will not tell you For he dyed that the King should not keepe his brothers vvife but these dyed that the King should not put away his brothers vvife Hee told King Herod it vvas not lawfull they told King Henry it was lawfull and hee must not doe otherwise Could Tortus any vvaies marre their martyr dome more deepely So far the Bishop of Ely And giue mee leaue to adde something more O glorious Martyrs who had rather consent together to die then to confesse the royall supremacy of Kings established in the Scriptures vsed and practised by all the most commended Christian Kings and withall to establish the Papall Primacy which Christ himselfe expresly forbad which the Fathers of the Councell of Ephesus called the smoake of worldly power and they of Carthage with all care and diligence admonished the Church to beware of as Typhum saeculi the arrogancie of this present vvorld Concerning that notorious fact of Pope Paul the fift and Bellarmine which heere the Iesuit remembreth full of inhumanitie impietie and audaciousnesse that excellently learned man Ma. Causabon in his Epistle to Front Ducaeus hath taught him pag. 167. thus De fidelitatis iuramento cui occasionem praebuit pulueraria coniuratio c. Concerning that Oath of Allegiance first occasioned by the Gun-powder treason I maruell vvhy the English Papists so much complaine They haue much more cause to complaine of Cardinall Bellarmine some fevv others vvho hardened the hart of Pope Paul the fift to yeeld vnto them vvho at the first vvith stood them for I speake not rashly but haue good Authours for my assurance that all the Catholicks in England should heere perish rather then a matter so iust and equall should be permitted For vvhat can be more equall then that subiects should promise fidelity to their Soueraigne especially after a treason so barbarous and notable for crueltie The King in the Common-wealth is the same that a householder is in his priuate house and doe you thinke that such a man were well advised to keepe in his family any seruaunts of whose fidelity he was not perswaded or rather whose disposution hee greatly suspecteth I thinke no bodie that is not mad would grant such a thing Wherfore either King Iames hath lesse power in his Kingdome then a householder in his house or else these complaints about the subiects Oath of Allegiance are all vniust and friuolous For in good sooth I haue met with many Papists both in France and England and I haue also read the writings of many vvho deeme this Oath not onely most iust but also most holie Wherefore many of your side some of them Priests yea the Arch-priest Black well haue taken the same without all scruple of conscience not against their wills and by their publique writings learnedly and truly though sharply against the Pope and the Iesuits haue perswaded others to doe the like such are Maister Sheldon and Maister Warmington But yet there are some vvith whom the Popes Bulls and Bellarmines Letters preuaile more then the law of God the law of nature of all Nations or the examples of vvise men And if the Law run vpon these vvhat place is there left for complaint And you your selues which call this a persecution of Catholicks cannot tell for vvhat cause and by vvhat example of antiquitie you so tearme it It was neuer done nor heard of that Christian people said they suffered persecution if they vvere commaunded to sweare Allegiance to their Soueraigne But wee read the contrary in the Councells vvhere they are accursed that breake faith to their Kings vvhich they had voxed to them for the preseruation of the slate of their Countrey and of their King And you know the fourth Councell of Toledo declareth all such excōmunicat from the Church Heere is worke for the Iesuit let him satisfie these things and in the meane time let him vnderstand that that Catholique faith is accursed with all maledictions as inhumane impious sacrilegious Antichristian diabolicall whereof this is one Article That Christian people ought not to sweare allegiance to their lawfull Soueraigne to weet that which as hath been declared the law of God the law of nature and the Canons of Councells haue ordained as most equall and most holy Orelse thus to speake after Becans manner That for Christian people to sweare allegiance to their lavvfull Prince is to deny the Catholick faith And this reason being very sound all good Catholicks admit saith Becane but in truth this reason as very rotten is onely admitted by Antichristian Catholicks but we Protestants the onely true and proper orthodoxall or right belieuing Catholicks will neuer admit it And I saith the Iesuit will adioyne two other reasons on the behalfe of Catholicks against the Oath of Supremacie which by the Aduersary cannot bee reiected Hee should rather haue said thus And I for the destruction of my friends the Romish Catholicks will adioyne two other reasons vvhich may be most iustly refused exploded by all our Aduersaries the Protestants But hath Martin the Iesuit heere forgotten himselfe were not the reasons of Pope Paul and Bellarmine lately alledged expresly brought against the oath of Allegiance which onely was in controuersie and will he now dispute against the oath of Supremacie which is distinct and seuerall from the Oath in question Martin therefore should rather say thus I haue determined for the ruine of Catholicks in England to adioyne two reasons more nothing differing from the former Well then let vs heare these two prettie reasons his first reason is this 1. It is manifestly false or at least