which doe make no account of it which both put together doe make a great number On the other side let us behold how easily some are brought to obedience through a spirituall feare Since God then hath given the Prince these two meanes to cause him to bee obeyed vid. for feare of temporall punishments and for conscience sake for so St. Paul teacheth it were a great losse to forgoe the second of these meanes which is not least necessary with letting the contrary bee spread abroad contrary to Catholicke Doctrine Recapitulating then the heads gathered in this matter of bookes they will be ten The first that those which are contained in the Index of the yeare 1595. what cause soever they are prohibited for the Princes consent having bin to it are alwayes to be held for such The second that for the time to come no prohibition bee suffered what clause soever there be in it although it bee with censure if it be not admitted by publicke authority as it was agreed The third that if the Ecclesiasticall shall desire the publicke consent for prohibition of bookes which treate of matters of Faith so they containe 〈…〉 their proposition being verified shall be agreed unto The fourth that heede shall be alwayes taken that under pretence of Religion Christian Doctrine be not forbidden which defends temporall authority The fifth that it shall not bee granted to the Inquisitor to prohibit bookes for any other cause but onely of Heresie but if any behad for any other respects it shall be prohibited by the Magistrate The sixt that books printed elsewhere though approved by any one else by what authority soever if they be hurtfull to the Common-wealth they shall bee prohibited by the Secular Magistrate or by a publick Edict according to the occasion The seventh that in the printing againe of bookes heed be taken that those things be not taken away which favour temporall power The eight that if any of those that are gelded in which the Doctrine maintaining temporall power is taken out be new printed they shall be printed againe according to the old Coppies The ninth that if the Index of the yeare 1595 be new printed care be taken that no new names be inserted The tenth that together with the same Index the agreement be printed There remaines another poynt to be briefly touched in this matter which is not of so great importance and yet such as of it selfe merits some consideration Which is that the prohibition not being used with due moderation is hurtfull to the sale of bookes and to the Art of printing for if a booke be printed which hath bin seene by the Inquisitor and the Bishop and by them approved yet if at Rome any thing be found though of small moment not against Religion for in such a matter nothing can be of small moment but against somewhat touching the Court which the Inquisitor hath not entred into who granted the Licence They prohibit the booke to his losse who caused the booke to be printed and is in no fault having the Inquisitors approbation and this disorder is frequent and would be more frequent if they did not feare that upon the Booke-sellers complaints Princes would give eare unto it for every Courtier to get credit sheweth himselfe carefull in marking the prejudices of the Court and also the shadowes of them not onely in bookes printed out of Italy but in them also which are approved by the Inquisition and even in them which are printed in Rome it selfe It were just that if any thing were found contrary to Religion in a booke printed with approbation the charges should be paid by him that hath approved it since the Booke-seller is not in fault But if any thing bee found which for its owne proper respects is displeasing to the Court it seemeth not reasonable that a prohibition should be granted which seemeth also to be so resolved on by the agreement of the yeare 1595. when it saith that for the time to come no bookes be prohibited but forraigne ones or printed without Licence or with false Licence although such words might be cavilled upon because they have made no exception of Religion but the agreement beeing Construed in this Sence cannot chuse but bee Commended The Exposition of the 30. and 31. Chapters THe thirtieth and one and thirtieth Chapters which speake of Secular Arts and of Artificers faults can never bee too exactly observed Every well ordered Common-wealth when some cruell kinde of offence ariseth doth make a Magistrate a purpose to take notice of that onely that the care of other things may not divert him For this cause in the Christian Common-wealth was the office of the Inquisition appointed which should tend onely to the rooting out of Heresie It is most naturall for every one who hath the universall jurisdiction to put over many things to him that hath the particular jurisdiction or suffer him to usurpe it and it useth to be easily done because of the great power that is given him and because that he who hath the universall jurisdiction employed in many businesses sometimes doth not give heede and sometimes if he he not a man of good knowledge thinkes that it is a helping of him so that he doth not onely not withstand the inconvenience but doth favour it A cause not belonging to him that hath the particular jurisdiction being once taken serves for example to take it the second time and from divers times a Custome is framed which afterwards serves for a Law and cannot be taken away without many difficulties and the universall jurisdiction comes to be diminished and the way is opened to the disturbing of the government By these wayes and occasions the Inquisitors against Heresie have not onely strived to draw divers other causes to their Office but also to appropriate unto themselves the government of the trade of Bookes and to command divers others alleadging therefore two kindes of reasons The one is that they doe not command any new thing and that which without their command ought to bee done for if they doe enjoyne the Butcher that he shall not sell flesh in Lent hee is bound without that to not sell it so that the command ement is an admonishing them of their duties So likewise they say that they doe not cause such persons to sweare any thing but what they are bound to doe For if they cause Booke-sellers to sweare that they will not sell prohibited Books they are already tyde to doe it so there is nothing done but to adde a greater provocation to performe their owne duties But this reason is cavillous it being one thing to warne one of his duty and another to command it him The Preacher and the Confessor doe admonish without usurping others authority because they impose no penalty nor use any meanes to make them obey this is onely a teaching which is not joyned with constraining That commanding which carryeth in consequence a revenge against the disobeyer
and the blasphemy to be left unto their judging and they give two reasons for it The one is that when in the offence there is the principall and the accessory the principall draweth the other unto it but in hereticall blasphemies suspition of Heresie being the principall and belonging to the Inquisition the blasphemy also ought to belong unto it which is but the accessory The other is because it seemeth too cruell to them to have one offence punished with two sentences and doe alledge the common saying that there are not two Iudgements allowed against the same fault but these oppositions are easily answered The first because that suppose the suspition of Heresie were the principall which thing St. Thomas doth not allow yet neverthelesse it is not necessary that it should draw the blasphemy along with it since they are not so connexed together that they may not be severed and that one may not have judiciall knowledge of the one without knowledge of the other but the Secular may very well admit the Persons and examine him that is accused concerning the injurious words uttered against the Divine Majesty without going any further to examine what is his beliefe and what hee beareth in his minde Therefore there is no such connexion betweene the blasphemy and the enquiring of the Heresie but that they may be separated and each judged in the right and competent Court The like is to be said when holy and Divine words are had in derision as in transformed Psalmes in which the Secular takes notice onely of the injury done to God leaving it to the Inquisition to seeke whether it may thereby be supposed that the offender hath a perverse beliefe And in the offences done against holy Images with wounds and other stroakes it is a great deale plainer seeing that the Magistrate punisheth nothing but that externall act whereby Christ hath bin injuried in his Image leaving it to the Inquisition to search whether the offender have sinned because hee beleeveth some false Doctrine or onely through wilfull malice And to this purpose it is good to consider that Hereticall blasphemy is not the same as a sincere or cruell blasphemy most cruell is that which is most grievous and most abusive Most Hereticall that whence groweth the greatest suspicion of Heresie though in himselfe not so great The Inquisition regardeth the greatest suspicion which carrieth with it the greatest signification of there being an errour in the mind though in it selfe it were not so abusive and for this cause sometimes will make more matter of words spoken against Saints than against the divine Majesty The greatest punishment the Inquisition inflicts upon a blasphemer is Abjuration which punishment if it bee on a person of low degree may be said to be no punishment at all And therefore because offences of such importance should not passe unpunished with scandall and evill example the publicke determination that the Magistrate should punish the blasphemy and leave to the Inquisition the matters of Heresie is both just and necessary But that which seemeth absurd to some vid. that two Judgments should bee made in one cause is not inconvenient when the punishments which are inflicted are not of the same kind and the end of the wrongs is different the same Cause may be judged as civill and afterwards as criminall The end of a civill Judgment is to give every owne his owne the end of the criminall is to punish the Usurper So in cases of Blasphemy the end of the Inquisition is if the blasphemer have a false beleefe to teach him the true and absolve him from the censures he hath incurred by holding of the false The end of the Magistrate is no other but to punish the injury done to the divine Majesty The punishments which the Inquisition imposeth are spirituall as Abjurations Absolutions or Advisements The punishment which the Magistrate inflicts are corporall yea it may be said moreover that they doe not make two judgments in one Cause but in two severall Causes the Magistrate judging the offence of Blasphemy and punishing it with corporall punishment whereas the Inquisition forgoing the offence judgeth of the quality of the suspicion and punisheth it with spirituall punishment The Exposition of the two and twentieth Chapter THe two and twentieth Chapter mentioneth that some Inquisitors to extend their jurisdiction pretended that the offence of having two Wives did belong to their Office who doe alledge for reason that it is an abuse of Matrimony which is a Sacrament and that in Spaine the case is reserved to the Office of the Inquisition Contrary is the common Opinion of Civilians who seeing the the Lawes have imposed no punishment on this offence and the Canon Lawes doe not speake of it they conclude by necessary consequence that it belongeth to the Secular jurisdiction and this is observed in all Tribunals also in the state of Milan where the Inquisition hath more extended her Authority than in any other place of Italy the reason brought to the contrary that it is an abuse of the Sacrament of Matrimony concluded nothing for the first Wife taken in true matrimony hath the Sacrament annexed to it and in this there happeneth no abuse at all Then in taking of the second there is no Sacrament nor Matrimony nor any manner of Spirituall contract but a meere nullity done de facto non de jure so that there cannot be said to be any abuse of the Sacrament neither in the first nor in the second act Well may it be said that by the second wicked act of taking another Wife there is an injury done to the first which was a Sacrament and this is most true but the injury done to the Sacrament of Matrimony doth not belong to the Inquisition for adultery is an injury done to the Sacrament and yet it doth not belong to the Inquisition to judge of it And if any one would make having of two Wives a token of Heresie inferring that hee that doth it beleeves it to bee lawfull with this reason hee might draw all cases to the Inquisition for it may as well be said that the adulterer or the thiefe doe commit those wickednesses beleeving that they are lawfull things and amongst the rest wee should put into the Inquisition all Gipsies who get their life by stealing and much more your high-way robbers But contrariwise wee must alwayes suppose that every sinner hath a true beliefe and Catholicke Doctrine but doth sin either through frailty or through malice or through humane compassion and so ought to bee punished by his ordinary Iudge which ought also to bee observed in him that hath two Wives if there appeare no other token of a perverse beliefe And it is not true that in Spaine the case is absolutely reserved to the Inquisition yea it is ordinarily punished by the Secular by branding in the fore-head with a hot Iron But because the Iewes and Moores hold plurality of Wives to bee lawfull those
manners By St. Pauls Doctrine publicke quiet and honour are given into the custody of Secular power the Inquisition ought not to put her sickle into another mans harvest This conclusion needs no subtilnesse to make it bee understood of it selfe it is plaine and easie To the same man belongeth to judge and punish deeds words and writings of the same matter none can make question but that the offending of ones reputation favouring of Tiranny and dishonesty either with deeds or with words are offences subject to the Secular Iudgement Therefore those which are committed in writing also shall belong to the same By what reason can he pretend to censure the bookes of any of the foresaid causes who confesseth of himselfe to have no power to censure the words and the deeds Since that by the Princes Ministers such a disorder is put in practise vid. that under pretence of favroring honesty and Iustice and preserving a good name temporall authority comes to bee usurped peradventure because it is a very new thing that the Ecclesiasticall power should prohibite bookes for any other cause besides that of Religion since no Pope ever attempted it before the yeare 1550. therefore as a fresh thing it hath not yet beene well examined or because that some who give attendance upon publicke affaires thinke it not ill to discharge themselves of this burthen of looking over bookes and leave it to them as desire it But as every Government requires watchfulnesse and carefulnesse and he that discharges himselfe of these dispoileth himselfe also of his authority and doth not perceive it till it be lost and cannot be recovered againe so the most renowned Common-wealth which hath ordered that her Officers should over-see every booke which is Printed to prevent any inconvenient Doctrine from comming to light hath knowne very well that this care belongeth to the Prince and thence is necessarily inferred that his Deputies ought also to see whether that there be any inconveniences in bookes already printed which may hinder the reprinting of them To the same Person belongeth the preventing of evill to whom the reforming of an evill already sprung belongeth If the Prince may Lawfully by the authority he hath from God forbid the printing of a booke because it containes blasphemy against the God-head favoureth Tiranny offends publicke honesty teacheth evill manners or takes away another mans authority and reputation Hee may also Lawfully and by the same authority prohibit them that are already printed and doe containe the like inconveniences The Index of the bookes made in the yeare 1595. is already received with publicke authority by agreement therefore the bookes contained in it are to be prohibited without exception But if hereafter it be propounded by Ecclesiasticall Persons to have bookes prohibite for any of the aforesaid reasons it must not be granted that they should doe it but notice may be taken and the booke prohibited by Temporall authority onely leaving it to the Ecclesiasticall power onely when the booke is prohibited for cause of Religion There remaines the third prejudice which is new but of greater annoyance than the other two because that to bee deprived of ones authority and to lose good bookes are indeede very great evils but tollerable in respect of this to be constrained to endure within their owne Dominions a booke knowne to bee hurtfull The Court of Rome though it hath assumed to itselfe to prohibite bookes also for causes which concerned not Religion and did not belong to Ecclesiasticall power yet before these last yeares they have not dared to goe so farre as to say that the Prince may not also forbid those bookes which he seeth doe breede scandall evill example sedition or other perturbance within his Dominion Cardinal Baronius would be the first that should free this passe and speake it boldly who being conveniently opposed by that Prince who was particularly touched none ever since hath dared to this houre to maintaine the Cardinall his enterprize But because hereafter some may attempt the like with greater Art or upon an opportunity when mens eyes shall not be so open the businesse being of such moment requireth to have the successe of that businesse briefly set downe for a generall example and document adding thereunto the true Doctrine with her Grounds answering the objected cavillations That Cardinall in the beginning of the yeare 1605. printed his eleventh Tome of the Ecclesiasticall Annals wherein hee inserted a very long discourse against the Monarchie of Sicily Of which discourse what concerneth the Truth of the relation is not fitting now to be spoken of but to be left to his proper place This onely belongeth to the present purpose that the discourse is full of slanders and eagernesse against many Kings of Arragon of famous memory and especially against King Ferdinand the Catholicke and the progenitors on the Fathers side of him who now Reigneth The booke comming to Naples and to Milan was by the Kings Officers there prohibited that it should not be sold nor had there for the respects of their Prince which were too apparent to every vulgar person The Cardinall having notice of it assembled the Colledge of Cardinals in the vacancy of the Sea of Clement the eight and made an invictive against those Officers that in prohibiting of that booke had laid hands on Ecclesiasticall authority And afterwards when Paul the fifth was made Pope he writ unto the King of Spaine a long Letter dated the 13. of June in the same yeare with this conclufion amongst the rest That to the Pope onely belongeth the approving of bookes of all kinds much more Ecclesiasticall ones complaining greatly that in contempt of Ecclesiasticall authority the Kings Officers in Italy had prohibited his booke The wisedome of that King thought it best to answer with deeds and let the prohibition runne on which was published by his Officers The Cardinall could not containe himselfe but that printing his 12. Tome in the yeare 1607. he must insert to small purpose a discourse of the same matter saying formally that it was an impious and abhominable thing that in these our most unfortunate dayes the Kings Officers should dare to censure bookes approved by the Pope not suffering them to bee sold by the Booke-sellers but with their Licence which they would grant but when they pleased yea and would absolutely forbid the sale of them that they doe it because the bookes rebuke their unjust acts and that it was to take out of St. Peters hands and putting into the Princes one of the Keyes given him by Christ vid. that of knowledge to discerne good customes from bad The Counsell of Spaine proceeded still with their wonted staidnesse and resolution nor did not move for the third time but let three yeares more run on And in the yeare 1610. the King made an Edict whereby hee condemned and forbad the booke in so grave a manner that hee aptly touched Cardinall Baronius as well as he had touched the Kings his Progenitors
shall happen in Townes or Villages shall bee decided in the Cities to which they are subject CHAP. XXXV That a case happening in a place whereto no Inquisition properly belongeth the delinquent shall be sent to the place where hee is questionable for spirituall matters CHAP. XXXVI That contumacious persons shall be banished either diffinitively or for a time as it shall seeme best to the Inquisitors CHAP. XXXVII That the Inquisitors shall make such Proclamations as they shal please against such as are escaped out of their Prisons CHAP. XXXVIII That those which are Inquisited or Cited for Heresie flying within the State shall bee condemned for foure yeares to prisons separate from other Prisons CHAP. XXXIX That the Inquisition shall punish false accusers and false witnesses when the false-hood appeares by the same Processe otherwise it shall belong to the Governours BEhold heere most illustrious Prince the summe of all the aforesaid nine and thirty Chapters now resteth to shew unto your Highnesse the reason of them all but first that we may discourse more soundly it will be needfull for me to relate when how and for what cause the office of th'inquisition was instituted in Christendome and at what time and in what forme it was admitted into this famous City of Venice Beginning therefore from thence I will say that although Heresies by Divine permission were sowne in the World for the exercise and triall of good Catholicks even in those times as the Church began c. after our Lords Ascension yet the particular office of th ' Inquisition against Hereticks did not beginne till after the yeare one thousand two hundred The Holy Apostles left for a remedy to this pestilence that the Heretick should be ad monished once or twice and that perishing in his obstinacy Catholicks should separate themselves from his fellowship and excommunicate him Nor was there any further proceeding untill Constantines time who embraced the holy Faith and was after imitated by his successors Then amongst other things the Saints taught Princes that they having two callings the one of Christians the other of Princes were bound in both of them to serve God as Christians in observing of the Divine precepts as every other private Person but as Princes serving his Divine Majesty with well ordering of Lawes and directing their subjects to Piety Honesty and Justice punishing all such as transgresse the Divine Commandements and especially those of the Decalogue For those that sinne against the first Table which concerneth Divine honor are worse than they who sin against the Second which concerneth Justice among men Wherefore Princes are more bound to punish Blasphemies Heresies and perjuries than murthers and thefts For this cause were divers Lawes made against Heresies which are Registred in the Iustinian Theodosian Codes imposing upon the guilty pecuniary mulcts banishments privation of part or of all their goods according to the circumstances of the offence the execution of which Lawes was committed to their secular Officers Every criminall Iudgement hath three parts the Cognisance of the cause of the delict the Cognisance of the fact and the sentence In the Iudgement for Heresie the Cognisance of the reason is whether such an opinion be Hereticall or no The Cognisance of the fact is whether a Person so accused or denounced hath defended or held or shewed any token of holding that opinion The sentence consisteth either in absolving the guiltlesse from an imputation or condemning him that he is found guilty The first Cognisance what opinion is Hereticall was alwayes Ecclesiasticall neither can it any way belong to the secular Power and when in those dayes there grew any difficulty upon some opinion the Emperours did require the judgement of Bishops and if neede were did call Counsels But the Cognisance of the fact whether the accused Person were innocent or guilty that he might have the punishment ordained by the Lawes and the sentence of Condemnation or Absolution did all belong to the secular Power Some of the holy Bishops and Prelates of those times after they had declared what opinions were Hereticall and had separated from the Church as excomunicate and anathematized those that did hold them enter-medled no further nor durst give notice thereof to the Magistrates holding it to be no worke of entire Charity Others having perceived that feare of the secular Magistrate did overcome the pertinacy of the obstinate and did worke that which love of the Truth could not doe held it as their duty to make knowne the Hereticall Persons unto secular Iudges together with their erronious opinions and to excite them to put the Imperiall Lawes in execution But because sometimes a Heretick Preacher did cause some notable trouble the Iudges regarding the sedition more than the heresie did proceede also to Capitall punishments the Church-men did in these cases forbeare to appeare before the tribunall and did alwayes use unfeigned exhortation to the Iudges that they should inflict no punishments of blood upon the delinquents St Martin in France excommunicated a Bishop because he had accused certaine Hereticks to Maximus Usurper of the Empire which by him were put to death St Augustine also most zealous of the purity of the Church to cleare it of this evill seede did often and earnestly desire the Proconsuls Counts and other Imperiall Ministers in Africk for to execute the Princes Lawes and would make knowne unto them the places where Hereticks held their conventicles and did discover the Persons But alwayes when hee saw any Iudge inclined to proceede against the life hee earnestly prayed him by the mercies of God by the love of Christ and such like urging intreaties that hee should desist from punishments of blood And in an Epistle to Donatus Proconsul of Africke hee tels him plainely that if hee doe persevere in punishing of Hereticks with the losse of their lives then the Bishop would forbeare giving notice of them and not being made knowne by others they would rest unpunished and the Imperiall Lawes unexecuted Whereas proceeding mildly and without blood-shed they would have bin vigilant in discovering them and notifying of them for the Service of God and execution of the Lawes In this manner were things handled in the Church for causes of heresie under the Roman Empire untill the yeare of our Salvation 800. when the Easterne Empire being divided from the Westerne this forme rested in the Easterne untill the end of it In the Westerne the Princes needed not make any Lawes nor take much care about this businesse seeing that for the space of three hundred yeares from 800. to 1100. there were very few Hereticks found in these parts and when any case did happen which chanced but very seldome the Bishop did Iudge of it in the same manner as he proceeded against Ecclesiasticall Persons as against infringers of the Holy-dayes breakers of Fasts and such like judging and punishing them themselves in those places where they had jurisdiction granted them by the Princes and
who are of Iewish or Moorish race are examined at the Inquisition for the suspition of Heresie and punished with branding for the offence If a Turke or Iew become a Christian be found to have two Wives hee may bee tried in the Inquisition for his suspected beliefe and for the offence in the ordinary Court of Iustice But when either for carnality or to steale the portion or for any such ends any one hath taken a second Wife they ought without any circumstance to proceed doing Iustice in the ordinary Secular Court punishing the offence as the quality of the particular circumstances shall require preferring the common opinion of Lawyers and the Universall custome of Courts to cavils onely invented to confound jurisdictions The Exposition of the three and twentieth Chapter IN cases of usury as it is said in this Chapter it is questionlesse that the Inquisition ought not to meddle in them So have many Popes of Rome answered Inquisitors who have purposed to draw cases and questions of Usury unto their Office and the Decree is also Registred in the Canon Law where to exclude absolutely all cases of usury out of the Inquisition and to provide that by no indirect way nor under any good colour it might be attempted to judge of any the Pope saith That though the Inquisition had enjoyned some converted Hereticke such pennance as if hee had beene an Usurer he should make restitution yet for all that not so much as against him can they meddle in such cases It is behoovefull both for Gods Service and the reputation of the Inquisition Office with all diligence to keepe many causes from them So this Chapter being cleare wee neede not say any more of it The Exposition of the foure and twenty Chapter IN this Chapter is set downe that Iewes nor other Infidels shall for no cause be subject to the Inquisition Office but onely to the Secular Court It was said by the Apostle St. Paul plainely that the Ecclesiasticall Power doth not extend to judge those that are not of the Church And so much hath bin held and observed also in these latter times Pope Innocent the third declared that they were not subject to the Pope neither to the Law nor yet to bee judged since that by vertue of the Law the Iudge doth exercise his Office Besides the Infidels of what kind soever they be are not capable of Spirituall punishments and therefore are not subject to the Church which punisheth with such In the Body of the Civill Law there be prohibitions and punishments against Iewes which blaspheme or injury Religion or draw Christians to Iudaisme or to offend Iewes which are become Christians And the Popes of Rome themselves have not used any other remedy against Iewes and other Infidels who have offended in wronging or slandering Religion but onely to excite Princes and Secular Magistrates to doe their duty in punishing them To this purpose there be many Decrees in the Canon Law Some Princes to discharge themselves of the trouble of judging such causes have delegated them to the Bishops which hath not pleased the Popes very well The King of Sicily having delegated power to some Bishops of his Kingdome to punish the Sarazens of his Kingdome in certain cases where they offend Religion Pope Alexander the third did write to them that they should onely punish such offences for which was sufficient a pecuniary Mulct or whipping without blood-shed But if the offence did deserve any greater punishment they should not meddle with it but should leave the judging of it to the temporall Power This authority established by the saying of St. Paul confirmed by the Canon and Civill Lawes and by Customes none should attempt to contrary it But the desire of enlarging authority doth so blinde some men that without regarding so much plainenesse they turne themselves to cavils of no moment saying That if God doth punish and hath punished Infidels the Pope and the Inquisitors his Delegates may and ought also punish them A reason which would prove that they might punish both Christians and Infidels and all manner of offenders for all manner of offences though never so concealed and also sinnes onely conceived in the minde for God doth punish all these The truth is that Christ hath not given his Vicars any power but onely over his Church and in spirituall things and therefore they can judge none but Christians nor punish them but onely with spirituall punishments The temporall punishments God hath committed to the Secular power for punishing all manner of offences and against all offendors be they of what Religion they will And certainly to make an argument from the Divine Omnipotencie to humane authority it agreeth not with the reverence due to the Divine Majesty But another thing must bee considered for they say that although Infidels be not subject to Ecclesiasticall power yet when they doe offend the Church reason will that she may defend her selfe by punishing them it being a terme of Law That he who is not subject to a Territory by reason of an offence committed in it becomes subject to it which things well understood are all most true yet doe they not conclude in this purpose For the Church must not be denyed the defence of her selfe if she be offended but she ought to doe it with all offenders by meanes of the Magistrate The Infidell who violates holy things and offends Religion must not remaine unpunished and the Church may defend it selfe but not with its owne forces but with the authority of the Magistrate to inflict punishment doth not belong to him that is offended but alwayes to the Iudge and when by an offence the Delinquent should have his Court of Iudgement allotted him hee becommeth not subject to him that is offended otherwise every private man might chastise him that doth offend him but he becommeth subject to the Iudge of the place where the offence is committed Wherefore these reasons prove nothing but that the offence done by the Infidels to the Church ought to bee punished by the ordinary Secular Court of judgement and so much the rather ought this to be observed because both Divine and Humane Lawes doe order it so when such sorts of offences deserve greater punishments as indeed such offences for the most part are so grievous that they will deserve greater punishment than the Inquisition would inflict upon them In the yeare 1581. Pope Gregory the thirteenth framed a Bull against Jewes in which he did subject both them and all other Infidels to the Inquisition in tenne cases so fully set downe that if it should be observed no Infidell might inhabite nor trade within Christian Dominion This Bull although it were imprinted yet was it published or received but in very few places and it were impossible to observe it Yea Pope Sixto the fifth and Clement the eight not regarding it did give Infidels safe conducts to come to the City of Ancona And that which is most
plaine that the office of the Inquisition within this dominion was appoynted by order of the greater Councell and by consent of the Pope in the yeare 1289. with Covenants then established Wherefore no new thing which hath happened since can alter it if the same who agreed in the institution doe not likewise agree in the alteration And therefore if the Court of Rome decrees any new thing concerning that matter it cannot extend its force upon that Office but onely with the Prince his consent This is the true reason why Bulls and Orders made since that time at Rome cannot binde Neither can it be aleadged to the contrary that diverse times doe require divers Orders and that Popes for the better government have made other reasonable Lawes which ought to be received for the answer to this plaine that as in the world nothing can bee held unchangeable and every custome ought to be accommodated to the times and persons so it is to be done to them whom in reason it concernes to doe it and by no others If any one would rule common businesse of himselfe though he did doe it with a good intent and happy issue yet did he neverthelesse transgresse Divine and Humane Lawes the same reason which caused the Inquisition to be first instituted by agreement doth now also suffer no new Laws or orders to be made but by agreement To give force unto a Law it is not sufficient that it be convenient and reasonable but it is also essentiall that it be made by those who have full power Neither is that said onely for the preservation of power and jurisdiction but also for the necessity of a good government The Inquisition was not then instituted with the same Conditions as in the rest of Italy because the considerations of this Common-wealth and other States were different So now likewise divers considerations cause that which is expedient at Rome sometimes not to bee expedient here Wherefore it may not be convenient presently to execute in this state that which the Pope for his owne respects hath ordered but first ought to be considered whether it agree with the respects of this place which thing none but the Prince can doe as one who alone knoweth what is needfull for the publicke affaires And therefore although the new or old Bull should seeme unto the Governour honest and profitable yet ought not he therein to follow his owne judgement it being proper to the Prince alone to know what is expedient Neither ought it to seeme grievous to the Bishops or Inquisitors to have that which is just and lawfull executed in due manner judgement and forme The Inquisition of Spaine which is likewise ordained by agreement proceedes in the selfe same manner It hath its owne Lawes and proper Customes by which it is governed neither is it altered or receiveth new Orders from Rome but if for any publicke respects the Court beleeveth that it were good to bring up some new thing in Spaine they write to the Generall Royall Counsell over the Inquisition where it is consulted of and according as the respects of Spaine will beare it is received either in part or in all or in part or in all laid aside But that the observance of this Chapter is necessary not onely for the maintaining of the proper Power and jurisdiction but also to withstand infinite inconveniences hee may finde it plainly that shall consider these things following First speaking of Bulls already made many are contrary to the Institutions of this most renowned Common-wealth as those that command Hereticks to be burned openly and alive The confiscation of goods with censures to those Princes who doe not admit of them The demolishing of a house where a Heretick is found although it be none of his owne That the Inquisition may cause any that it suspecteth to give it a pecuniary security to live a good Catholicke That the Inquisition have an armed Court properly belonging to that office All these are Pontificiall Ordinances contrary to the Customes of this State some doe give Inquisitors excessive authority as those which will have them have power to give leave to weare Armes and to make Crocesegnati which things could not bee put in practice without great confusion some are so severe that they cannot agree with the government of this State as that of Paul the fourth which will not have him pardoned his life that will come home againe having held any one of those five Articles which by him are named And another of Pio the fifth that no sentence given in the behalfe of one that was accused and found innocent should transire in rem Iudicatam although it were given after the Canonicall purgation but that the Office may alwayes take the same cause in hand againe upon the same proofes which order if it were in use would bee a continuall torment to those wretches And that other of the same Pope that whosoever should offend or but onely threaten a Notary or other Officer of the Inquisition or a Witnesse examined in that Office besides the Excommunication should be guilty of High Treason and should be punished with Capitall punishment his goods confiscated his children infamous and uncapable to succeede others by will To which punishment should also be subject whosoever should not onely case one to escape out of Prison but he also that should but attempt it although the effect did not follow and also whosoever should favour any such or mediate for them with other clauses of most cruell temerity comprehending also titular Persons and Princes Yet this is that Bull which was made in the yeare 1569. but was never received nor published in this State The Cardinall Arrigoni eight and forty yeares after that vid. in the yeare 1617. commanded the Inquisition of this City of Venice that it should print it and publish it and it had beene done if the most renowned Reformators of those times by order of the most excellent Counsell had not hindered it Any one may consider how many Processes might be made for every word that should be spoken to one of the notaries witnesses or denouncers who had thought themselves wronged and how many wretches would have bin daily vexed It were long to rehearse all those things which are contrary to the customes of these Countries but the above said are sufficient to shew that without the disturbance of the publicke authority and peace they cannot be all generally admitted But if any be necessary or profitable for the punishment of Hereticks it is fitting that it should be received but to know which is such a one belongeth properly to the prince nor can any one else know it Neither ought any one to be confident that they may bee received without confusion because they are of force in Rome and yet things there are quietly carryed the State of Rome being different from that of other Princes The Romans say they are above these Ordinances if they thinke fit they
may observe them if not they may omit them or dispence with them and they doe wonderfully serve for their ends as well when they are observed as when they are disobeyed because they are not to bee ruled by the Lawes but they doe rule the Lawes Contrariwise in other States when they are once published or received they are no more in the Prince his power They must then runne to Rome to seeke a remedy when they are heard and either they doe get remedy or not they regarding not what is behoovefull to another State but to their owne And this is that which the court of Rome would have and every day attempted vid. to have in their hand under colour of Religion the administration of some certaine things without which States cannot be governed by which meanes it would become judge of all governments For this cause the Popes say daily when they would cause their Decrees to be admitted that if there be any inconvenience they should have recourse to them and they will helpe it but the remedy which commeth not from the same Prince but from them who have their proper interests is worser than the sore God whose workes are perfect and who is the Author of all Principalities gives to every one as much power as is necessary to governe well neither will he have it acknowledged from any other but from his Divine Majesty All that which a Prince acknowledgeth from others but from God is slavery and subjection So much is said generally of the consideration which ought to bee had in publishing or receiving Pontificiall Orders made of old in matters of Heresie But much greater care ought to bee had concerning those which shall be made hereafter Of them which are made already the number is certaine it is knowne whether they be received in other places or no how they are observed what construction they receive what is their aime what consequence of good or evill effects they bring with them But for the time to come if the Court might have her liberty the number would grow to be infinite When one newly appeares it is not knowne whether the World will admit of it or no the aime of him that made it is not yet discovered experience hath not shewne what effects it may bring forth and therefore all delay and maturity in receiving of it will bring forth aboundance of conveniency with it It is not said that new reasonable orders are not to bee accepted but that they ought not to be received as of duty or as subjects but by agreement and publicke treaty the institution of that Office requiring it as it is said and with much consideration because of the great dangers that novelties doe bring with them The Court of Rome in making new Buls taketh no great advice with ease they are made because with ease they are revoked or derogated from or dispensed with as it fals to be most commodious for their businesses wherein they regard their owne ends But that which is profitable for one State is not profitable for another The safety of this Dominion requireth that Religion should bee kept inviolate in all her parts withstanding all change and novelty whatsoever The respects of Rome require that no change shall be made through which Pontificiall power may be diminished nor the Court lose any of her profits which she draweth out of other Statues But those novelties whereby the profit of the Court may be increased or temporall authority may bee diminished with the exaltation of the Ecclesiasticall are not to bee abhorred but procured and that wee see daily This most renowned Common-wealth as well as other Catholicke Kingdomes finds it selfe betweene two contraries The Protestants who have no other aime but to diminish Ecclesiasticall authority and the Court of Rome which hath no other aime but to increase it and to make the temporall her servant Whence your Catholicke States and Kingdomes to preserve themselves doe withstand all novelties on the on the other side and doe keepe Religion without any change at all being knowne by experience that either of the novelties are pernicious That reverence which deservedly is given to Religion is the cause that those abuses have easie admittance which come covered with that sacred Mantle For the maintaining of Religion the office against Heresie is respected and for this cause when Rome will bring in some novelty it willingly makes use of that office supposing that the true end will not appeare And that hath beene wrought in the selfe same manner in times past but very slightly in regard of what was done at this present Neverthelesse the Senators of those times were alwayes carefull They would have the Office against Heresie to bee mixt they have opposed themselves against all novelties they have not suffered Ecclesiasticall Persons to doe any thing unknowne unseene or unexamined By these foot-steps must he walke that will have the Common-wealth preserved not suffering new Buls or Decrees to bee accepted within the State if first by mature deliberation it be not made knowne that they will bring in no inconveniences Which deliberation is proper to the Prince who alone comprehendeth the estate of publicke things The Exposition of the nine and twentieth Chapter THe nine and twentieth Chapter which treateth of publishing a prohibition of bookes since the agreement of the yeare 1596. stands in force there can no doubt be made of it But it will be necessary to consider that the agreement being made with so much consideration and maturity as well of the Apostolicall Seas side as of the most renowned Common-wealths side the matter ought to be held of weight This conference lasted foure Moneths on the Pontificiall side there was the Cardinall the Nuntio and the Inquisition and on the other side the chiefe Senators of the Common-wealth cleare arguments that the businesse on both sides was held to be of great weight and neverthelesse though it was determined by common consent yet did it not take away all hope from the Ecclesiasticall Persons to have it forgotten againe and out of use Wherefore then they treated that there should bee but three score coppies Printed of the agreement for nothing else but because there being an innumerable number of the coppies of the Indexes of the forbidden bookes which passe through all mens hands every one might see those documents which give the authority over the bookes to Ecclesiasticall Persons onely but the moderation of the agreement might not be knowne but by few and so finally it might bee lost And treading these steps in Rome there is not a yeare but there comes forth a Catalogue of new prohibition under the name of the Master of the sacred Palace with clauses that it shall take place in all Cities Townes and places of every Kingdome Nation or People and that it shall bind all men although there be no publication who shall come any way to have notice of the Edict This Index is sent to the
in the yeare 1595. in the Index published a rule that all Catholicke Writers Bookes written after the yeare 1515 might be corrected and amended not onely by taking away what is not conformable to the Doctrine of Rome but also with adding to it This Precept hath beene put in practice and executed continually these seventy yeares though it hath beene done publickly but some few yeares since So that if in Authors wee finde no good Doctrine favouring Temporall authority wee know who hath taken it away If wee finde any that favoureth the Ecclesiasticall we know who hath put it in and finally we may be assured to have no booke true Wherefore since the onely aime is to extinguish or corrupt those Bookes by which onely well minded men might receive necessary instruction The Secular Magistrate ought also to be circumspected and not suffer himselfe under faigned pretexts to bee deprived of more than heretofore hee hath beene and when new mention is made of prohibiting any booke which treateth not of Articles of Beliefe to informe himselfe well of the Doctrine which it containes and of the ends for which the Court of Rome would forbid it before he gives his consent And if any good and famous Authors Booke should be new Printed to see that the good Maximes be not taken out or new ones inserted contrary to the Authors intention Yea publicke service justice and honesty would require that good Maximes should bee printed againe and that those Bookes which have beene corrected by taking away or altering things favouring Temporall Authority given by God should againe be restored according to the first and uncorrupted Coppies according to the Authors meaning And because by new prohibitions sent out under hand the force of the agreement may not be deluded or diminished when the Index of the yeare 1595. is printed the agreement also should be printed at the end of it Taking notice of the prohibiting of Bookes is not onely necessary to prevent the extinguishing of good Doctrine in Italy which beginneth now to be done but also because that under the pretence of good the Inquisition may not usurpe that authority which doth not belong to it forbidding of Bookes which though they be evill yet have nothing to doe with Religion which is the second prejudice The Ecclesiasticals have declared unto us that they prohibit books for eleven causes of which there be five that doe in no wise belong unto them The first of them is when the Booke containeth any thing against his neighbouts reputation especially Ecclesiasticall Persons or Princes The second if it containes any thing against Ecclesiasticall liberty immunity and jurisdiction The third if with politick propositions of ancient Princes or Historians they favour tyranny The fourth if the Booke containes conceites or quippes against any ones reputation The fifth if they containe lasciviousnesses and other things against honesty There is no question but those Bookes wherein such absurdnesses are found ought to be condemned but every one may not doe it it were breeding a confusion in the World if every one who knoweth an order to be good might Decree it That belongeth to publicke authority which onely can make a Law upon that which belongeth to her Government He that is zealous and seeth the evill which is in a booke let him procure the suppressing of it and hee doe well by his authority that may lawfully doe it The diligence in seeking out and discovering of an evill is commendable but to goe about to remedy it when it doth not belong unto him is usurpation and ambition If by a booke the neighbours reputation bee touched though he bee an Ecclesiasticall man it belongeth not to the Inquisition to right it That Office is against Heresie and is not to protect any mans reputation The Secular power is protector of mens honours and he is to defend it and to punish any one that doth wrong it with deeds words or writings Let the Inquisition be carefull that by bookes there is no Doctrine sowne against the Faith and God hath provided a Magistrate to give a remedy if by deeds words or bookes any mans reputation is wronged If Ecclesiasticall Persons doe see any injury done to themselves or to others it is just that they may crave the Magistrates helpe and expect amends through him If any thing bee written against Ecclesiasticall liberty and immunity because it is enjoyed by priviledge from the Princes it belongeth to the Prince to maintaine it to them as farre as the publicke Service will permit it were not good that every priviledged Person might out of his owne power defend his priviledges Would God there were Bookes which might deserve prohibition for being against Ecclesiasticall liberty rather than Bookes that doe deserve it for extending it so farre as it doth confound all government It usurpeth and taketh away that which belongeth to the Secular and shameth Christs Ministery which is for Celestiall things and not to become masters of Terrestriall committed by God unto others It is not a lesser but a greater evill to extend Ecclesiasticall liberty so farre as it may become irregular then to restraine it more than it ought to bee What is the cause that no booke is censured Because it vaunts it too much and taketh away the temporall The best way to maintaine it is not to prohibite those bookes which keepes it within the bounds but rather those which doe make it hideous for the absurdnesse of it wherefore it ought not to bee denyed but if any one should write in this behalfe contrary to truth the Magistrate ought to proceed against the author and the booke and observe the decency and authority due to the Ecclesiasticall order but it is not just that they should right themselves If politicke things be written according to the maximes of Princes and ancient Historiographers according to all mens opinions it belongeth not to the Ecclesiasticall to judge of them if they be tirannicall that belongeth onely to Princes to whom is proper the Government of States Private men doe not understand it and much lesse the Ministers of Christ to whom is severely forbidden to entermeddle in it and if any one will goe further hee must not thinke to remedy it with his owne authority but to signifie it to him to whom it belongs to helpe it As it is also most plaine that those who desire to have an unresistioned liberty doe give the name of Tiranny to the lawfull power given by God to that Doctrine which opposeth it self to their attempts so that under pretence of Religion they will become arbitrators of all Governments The same is to be said of bookes containing conceites or biting quippes which directly or indirectly doe offend in any one and if they doe teach ill manners laciviousnesse surfeits which offend the publicke dignity none of these excesses is Heresie that they should belong to the Inquisition The Inquisitor is made a Iudge of the beleefe and not a censurer of