THE BRVTISH THVNDERBOLT or rather FEEBLE FIER-FLASH of Pope SIXTVS the fift against HENRIE the most excellent King of Nauarre and the most noble HENRIE BORBON Prince of CONDIE Togither with a declaration of the manifold insufficiencie of the same Translated out of Latin into English by CHRISTOPHER FETHERSTONE Minister of Gods word Nahum 3. I wil reueale thy filthines vpon thy face and wil shew thy nakednes amongst the nations and thy shame in the kingdoms Imprinted at London by Arnold Hatfield for G. B. and R. Newbery 1586 TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE LORD ROBERT DVDLEY Earle of Leicester Baron of Denbigh Knight of the most noble orders of the Garter and of S. Michael Maister of the Queenes horse one of hir Highnesse most honourable priuie Councel and Lord Lieutenant and Captaine general of hir Maiesties forces in the Low countries THE EXPERIence of your honorable acceptation of my last simple trauell in translating Maister Caluins Commentaries vpon Saint Iohns Gospell hath imboldened me further to present your Honor with another slender fruit of the same Which though it be not of like qualitie with the former yet I doubt not but it shal prooue profitable to as manie as with diligence and indifferencie shall vouchsafe it the pervsing The Author albeit not specified heerin by name seemeth to be a man of great reading singular iudgement and excellent dexteritie in handling the matter which he vndertooke The worke a notable discouery of that Abaddon or destroieng enimie the sonne of perdition that sitteth in the temple of God as God wherein both his defacing of the glorie of the sonne of God in heauen whose vicegerent he would be counted and his trampling vnder feete whatsoeuer is called God amongst men besides his manifold violences committed against the Church and Saints of God are most liuelie depainted and set before our eies Many woorthie wits of rare gifts haue trauelled in laieng open his vsurpations villanies and outrages with the originall and processe causes and effects precedents and consequents of the same acording as they were occasioned But this man hath drawen into one entire bodie a great manie memorable points which are dispersedly found in others so that he that listeth may at once take a view as it were of such an vglie monster as would trouble the strongest fantasie in the world to imagine and the most curious hand to pourtray the like Howbeit it is not much to be hoped for that the Italianate atheists and discontented Papists of which there are such swarmes amongst vs will any thing at all be mooued with the cleere light of these most euident demonstrations to reforme their iudgements and preiudicate opinions alreadie conceiued and rooted within them touching his pretended supremacie ouer Gods Church For it is greatly to be feared least by a iust iudgement of the almightie they are become past feeling so that they grope as the blind at noone day giuen ouer to all deceiueablenes of vnrighteousnes through a strong spirit of delusion bicause they would not receiue the loue of the truth that they might be saued But howsoeuer their harts be as hard as the adamant and their eies couered with the mist of palpable darknes euen to this day yet wisedom shal be iustified of hir children Whom God hath foreappointed to be beholders of his glorie they shall in their due time be inlightened with the knowledge of his sauing truth and come out of Babylon with as great speede as euer the Israelites posted out of Egypt Yea they shall clap their hands at the ruine of that Antichristian synagog which being now tottering and readie to fall to the ground laboreth with might and maine by force and fraud by treacherous attempts by cruell practises and open inuasions as it were by mingling heauen and earth togither to vphold it selfe as may be seene in most places of Europe at this day But he that sitteth in heauen laugheth them to scorne the Lord shall haue them in derision Whose words touching the ouerthrow of Babylon cannot fall to the ground but must be fulfilled in their time For doubtles Babylon must fal be rewarded according to hir works the kings of the earth shall loath and persecute this vniuersall strumpet to make hir desolate naked to eate hir flesh consume hir with fire Thrise blessed are they that band themselues togither bend their whole forces to execute these iudgements of the Lord which he hath decreed vpon hir In which respect your H. hath great cause to magnifie the Lord for his gratious mercies toward you in that he hath vouchsafed you this honor to stand in armes against one of hir principall louers in so iust and holie a quarell as is the maintenance of his sacred religion and the deliuering of the helplesse out of the hands of the oppressor so aduisedly and necessarily vndertaken by hir excellent maiestie A thing iustifiable by the lawes of God and man of nature and nations yea warranted by the like practise of most Christian Emperors in former ages and sundrie other good presidents of antiquitie Now seeing God hath dealt so mercifully with you it is your H. part to behaue your selfe valiantly and to fight the Lords battels with courage He is on your side therefore you are on the mountaines and your enimies in the vallies he shall be a brasen wall to defend you on euerie side if you set his feare before you and repose your trust in him The garde of his holie Angels shall be a surer protection vnto you than any trench bulwarke or fortresse you can deuise The praiers of all the godlie in the land being deeply touched with an inward sympathie and fellow-feeling of their neighbors calamities are powred out continually for your safetie and happie successe in this noble enterpise and your H. may be well assured that they shall procure more fauour to you at the hands of the Lord than any either aduersarie forces or associations of the holy Tridentine league shal be able to preuaile to the contrarie Wherfore my Lord arme your selfe with Christian courage policie and warines against these vncircumcised Philistins remember that they with whom you fight are deuowed vassals to that beast which is described in this booke whose power God be thanked hath been found too weake to shake the throne of our gratious Souereigne notwithstanding his often assaults His thunderbolts of excommunications and bannings haue beene esteemed as paper-shot by those noble Princes of the house of Borbon and Vendosme in France He sitteth in his Vaticane as one at his wits end destitute of counsel knowing that the assurance of his kingdom standeth but vpon one or two such Egyptian reedes as are mentioned by the prophet of no great safetie or suretie to be leaned vpon Should not the consideration of these things increase your fortitude and magnanimitie that you neuer faint nor giue ouer before you see a blessed end of your labors Which the Lord of heauen in a
Constantine * dist 66. c. Constant. wherin it is said that Constantine gaue him the principalitie ouer all the churches of the whole world But let vs sée whether the pope be not fallen into that error which is not woont to be tollerated in law and iudgements neither can it by any meanes be suffered that a pleader should alledge contrarie causes of his intention But these l. si quis 7. D. de petit hered l. 1. c. de fur l. Titius 99. D. de cond demonst things are contrarie one to another that Christ gaue the pope principalitie ouer all Churches which he doth most plainly affirm in the places aboue written and that The same principalitie was giuen him by Constantine bicause that which is euerie mans owne cannot be his by more and especially by contrarie causes For their inuention l. an eadem 14. § penult D de except rei iud l. non vt ex plurib 159. de reg iur is intollerable which dispute that that principalitie was first giuen to the pope of Rome by Christ and that Constantine confirmed that donation and that so soon as the first emperor became a Christian he gaue Syluester the pope the voide possession therof First bicause a false Constantine writeth in plaine words that he giueth the gifts of two most great things of the ecclesiasticall iurisdiction ouer all priests that are in Christendome which the popes call the spirituall principalitie and the lordship of the whole west empire which the same call the Temporall lordship Of the former the false Constantine writeth thus Constantine gaue this priuilege to the bishop of the church of Rome that in all the Romane circuit the priests haue him to be their head as iudges haue the king for their head And streightway We decree that he beare rule as well ouer the fower seas of Alexandria Antioch Hierusalem and Constantinople as also ouer all Churches of God thoroughout the whole world What could he write more plainly to shew that he did attribute to the pope a certaine new kind of authoritie Who is he that knoweth not that a priuilege is opposite to common authoritie And that if Constantine gaue a priuiledge to the pope the pope had before like and the same authoritie which all bishops did vse But if Constantine could giue an vniuersall principalitie ecclesiasticall surely he must néeds haue béen lord of that principalitie by full right Which euen all the Canonists do grant to be most absurd that a secular prince should possesse a spiritual principalitie that is an vniuersall bishoprike ouer all churches séeing he hath not the priesthood or bishoprike of so much as of one little church But if Constantine had no bishoprike at al how could he giue the vniuersall bishoprike of all the whole world to Syluester séeing no man can giue more right or authoritie to another than he himself hath And we sée that this argument was obiected two hundred yéeres ago to the pope by Marsilius of Patauium who writeth thus In the decrees Indefens pacis cap. 11. there is found a certaine priuilege of the emperor Constantine approoued by the popes wherin he gaue to S. Syluester bishop of Rome the coactiue iurisdiction ouer all churches of the world and ouer all the rest of the priests or bishops And seeing the pope of Rome and with him the rest of the priests or bishops doth grant that the said grant was firme they must consequently grant that the same Constantine had altogither the same iurisdiction or power ouer them But let vs returne to the proposed Dilemma For whether the pope hold that he had that principalitie from God as he professeth in the places of late cited or he hath it by Constantine his gift we will prooue both to be false First by that repugnance or contrarietie whereof we spake euen now Secondly bicause he cutteth his owne throte with his owne sword For in the decrée he citeth this place out of Chrysostome Whosoeuer he be that will desire principalitie vpon earth shall find confusion in heauen neither shall he be reckoned among the seruants of Christ which wil intreat of the primacie * l. 7. l. 8. de iureiur in l. priuil 27. c. de decur l. 10. Also Let not the bishop of the chiefe Dist 4. c. multi §. quicunque sea be called the prince of priests or the highest priest or any such thing but onelie the bishop of the chiefe sea But let not euen the bishop of Rome be called the vniuersall bishop Which selfe same thing is repeated againe and againe c. primae sedis dist 99. in a maner in as manie words in the two chapters following But if we must dispute out of the ciuil law it is most euident that there be thrée sorts of successors For some be successors of right and such be heires which are called vniuersall successors others be successors of the thing as those to whom legacies be giuen buiers those to whom gifts be giuen which are called particular successors * l. qui ius 177. D. de reg iu. cum simil lib. Last of all l. vlt. D. de excep rei vend l. 1. §. in locum D. quod legat some be successors of a personall office which are called Functionis succedanei Successors in an office * The successors of the former sort haue their right and cause from those whom they succéed whether they be vniuersall or particular * But the third haue not their right and claime from their predecessors but frō those by whom they are chosen and are put in their place such as the successors of magistrates tutors curates be For it is a personall office l. 1. §. 1. l. 6. §. vlt. l. vlt. D. de muner hon l. 1. §. Sciendum l. 4. l. 6. D de magist con l. 6. §. vlt. D. de his qui not in fam that is vpholden by carefulnes and watchfulnes of mind Therefore when a magistrate or tutor is dead one succéedeth him in inheritance another in office These things being thus set downe séeing the pope holdeth that he is Christs successor we may aske him of what kind of successor he professeth himselfe to be For he cannot be called an heire and a successor of all the right séeing that the inheritance of one that is aliue cannot so much as be l. 1. D. de her vend imagined * But Christ is not dead but he liueth both a blessed and euerlasting life No more can he be called the successor of a particular thing séeing the kingdome of Christ hath neither communion nor diuision Heb. 1. 5. no not among the Angels bicause God hath placed him as Paul saith farre aboue all gouernement and power and principalitie and hath put al things vnder his féete and hath made him head ouer all Eph. 1. 21. 22. things to the church But how can he haue a successor or vicar in his vniuersall office séeing
a certaine and set day to make certaine little images like to a lamb of white wax tempered with oile He affirmeth that these if they be hoong about the neck do in like sort purge mens sinnes euen as the blood of Christ doth purge them he affirmeth that they driue away lightening that they helpe women in childbirth and that they saue men from burning and shipwrack What more wicked thing can be spoken or thought vpon But these are called the traditions of the elders deliuered to this pope by his predecessors as from hand to hand For in the booke of the popes Ceremonies it is written thus Balme and pure waxe with holie oile Togither mixt a lambe do make 1. Sect 7. Which gift of price and vertue great To the beloued I betake As borne of fountaine and adiured By sacred words Whose power is great For flashing lightnings it depels And euery euill away doth beat It breaketh sinne like Christs owne blood It vexeth it It doth preserue Women with childe and infant saues It giues those gifts that do deserue The fires force it will destroy And faire doth saue from flouds annoy Let this then be the first tradition of the popes which is deliuered to vs with like the same authoritie as the holie scripture There followeth another The holie scripture teacheth vs that the sacrament of baptism is the sprinkling of the blood of Christ Iesus for the remission of our sins and the Acts. 22. Rom. 6. 1. Cor. 6. 15. imputation of his righteousnes But the popes traditions doe grant baptisme to bels and the priests of the papacie do abuse so great a sacrament euery where so wickedly and vngodlily that the emperor Maximilian the first wrote a complaint concerning that matter which is extant among his grauamina or burdenings in these words Also the suffragans haue inuented that they alone and none other priest should baptise bels That done the simpler sort do beleeue the suffragans affirming the same that such bels thus baptised do driue away diuels and tempests Wherefore they haue sometimes an infinite companie of God-fathers and especially those that are of wealth are intreated In the time of which baptising they touch the rope wherwith the bell is tied and then the suffragan he singeth first as they vse to do at the baptising of infants and then they altogither make answer and do double the name of the bell and they put a new garment vpon it as they vse to do to Christians And shortly after Therefore a thing so wicked and vnlawfull ought to be abolished Maximilian saith excellently and cléerly But as the sow in wallowing so are the popes delighted in this filth and corruption And concerning this most filthy customary pollution of the In tract de super num 3. nu 9. num 14. sacrament let vs read Martin de Arles Go to now let vs prosecute other corruptions of religion The scripture teacheth vs that there is but one mediator of God and 1. Tim. 2. 1. Ioh. 2. Rom. 8. Heb. 7. Amb. in epist. ad Heb. men Iesus Christ * And therefore Ambrose saith They are woont to vse a miserable excuse saieng that by iust men we may go vnto God as by earles vnto the king Go to now is any man so mad and so vnmindfull of his safetie that he will attribute the maiestie of the king to an earle seeing that if any be found but euen to talke of this matter they may by good right be condemned as guiltie of treason And these men will not thinke those to be guiltie that giue the honor of the name of God to a creature and forsaking the Lord do worship their fellow seruants as if they could do God any greater seruice For therefore do men go to a king by tribunes and earles bicause surely the king is a man and he knoweth not to whom he ought to commit the cōmon-welth But to please and intreat God who is ignorant of nothing for he knoweth all mens merits we need no spokes-man but a deuout mind For wheresoeuer such a one shall speake he will answer nothing at all This saith Ambrose What How religiously doth the papacie kéepe this ordinance of the holie scripture and the old Church It denieth that there did euer any saint depart this life which was receiued into the place of the blessed which doth not execute the office of a mediator and intercessor Only so Nay whatsoeuer bawds Francisses Dominiks and other deceiuers and coseners they would canonize among the saints they brought vs in the same for mediators and spokesmen The scripture teacheth vs that there be onely two places for soules of the dead Iohn 5. Matth. 25. after this life heauen for the blessed hell for the cursed Therfore Augustine saith * Lib. hypognost The faith of the catholiks by the authoritie of God beleeueth the first place to be the kingdome of heauen the second hell where euerie reuolt and stranger from the faith of Christ is punished Of any third we are altogither ignorant neither do we find in the holy scripture that there is any such Thus writeth he But the papacie feigneth that there is a third place where the soules of certaine that are guiltie of light and as they terme them of veniall sinnes are purged before they go vp into heauen which place for this cause they call the fire of purgatorie as if ouer and besides the blood of Christ that was shed for our sinnes to purge vs we néed either those pictures of lambs or this supposed fire whereas notwithstanding the scripture doth euidently teach vs that our soules are purged by the onely blood of Christ and that their blots are washed away by this medicine alone 1. Ioh. 1. His blood purgeth vs from al sin And Mat. 26. My blood shall be shed for many for the remission of sinnes Finally these are the words of the Tridentine Councell that There is a purgatorie Sess 25. and that the soules that are there kept are holpen by the praiers of the faithfull and especially by that acceptable sacrifice of the altar We sée how great corruptions the papacie hath brought into Christian religion Item sess 6. ca. 30. Sess 22. ch 2. c. 3. But besides these innumerable other may be reckoned vp The scripture teacheth vs that there be onely two sacraments namely baptisme and the supper the former whereof was instituted Matt. 28. Mark 16. and the latter Matth. 26. Mark 14. Luc. 22. and 1. Corin. 11. 23. Therefore Augustine saith Christ knit togither Ep. 218. ad Ianuar the societie of the new people with sacraments in number fewest in obseruation easiest in signification most excellent as baptisme consecrate to the Trinitie and the communicating of the bodie and blood of Christ. Also The Lord and the apostolike doctrine gaue but a Lib. de doctr Christ. ca. 9. few signes as is the sacrament of baptisme and the celebration of the bodie
prouince whereby the priests of Christ may both wisely discerne and constantly hold equitie especially bicause it is granted to euerie one if he shall be offended at the iudgement of those that are appointed to heare causes to appeale to the councels of his prouince or also the generall councell vnlesse peraduenture there be any man which doth beleeue that God doth giue by inspiration to some one man the iustice of hearing and examining matters and doth denie it to infinit priests assembled in a synod Or how shall the iudgement giuen beyond the seas be firme whereunto the necessarie persons of witnesses cannot be brought either for infirmitie of sexe or of old age or for many other hinderances that come betweene And as concerning those thrée legats there are grieuous complaints made of them in those verie same letters and especiallie of Faustinus that they had greatly troubled the assemblie when as they feigned that they mainteined the priuileges of the church of Rome Then we sée that euen at that time the wickednes trecherie and impudencie of the pope of Rome was reuealed and that it was conuict and condemned by a generall councell Do we thinke that he did any thing hauing taken away al his enimies or familiars of out Africa and Asia that he might establish in his west parts the power that he did euen then affect And thus much hitherto touching the first cause of the nullitie and incompetencie or insufficiencie of the iudge which notwithstanding that they may be more apparent to the most excellent senators of the kings parlement and to other lawyers we will confirme them with the authoritie of the doctors And first of all with that cōmon saieng of the canonists that The pope is no méete iudge euen in the onely crime of heresie but that it ought to be iudged by others * And Philip Decius C. si papa dist 40. doth constantly auouch that in that case a councell ought not to be gathered by the popes authoritie * The same doth Panormitanus in c. cum venis num 37. extra de iudic and Decius affirme in c. significasti num 4. num 9. de elect But of al other Ludouike of Rome doth most copiouslie and constantly auouch * out of the authoritie of the decrée it selfe that he that in Concil vlt. nu 15. seqq liueth rebelliouslie and refuseth to learne and do good things is rather a member of C. nullus dist 38. in concil 95. vol. 4. Decius cons 115. the deuil than of Christ that he is shewed to be rather an infidel than a beléeuer * The same saith Iason * and Decius * The second Nullitie by reason of the falsenes of the Allegation THerefore we say that the second cause of the nullitie doth consist in the falsenes of the allegation that is in a false cause alleaged which the pope followed in cōceiuing his sentence For the rule of the law is knowen that a sentence pronounced according to false causes false allegations false instruments is voide in law and without any appeale especially where the l. 1. pass C. si ex fals instru l. si praetor 7. D de iudic l. cum vero 2. §. Subuentum De fideic libert l. Seiae 26. D. de tutor cur dat l. 1. §. haec verba D. ne vis siat ei l. 1. C. si ex fals alleg sentence had for the principall cause and foundation the falsenes of the allegation * But pope Sixtus saith that he hath therfore proscribed the king of Nauarre and the prince of Condee bicause they be as he saith notorious heretikes Finely For by this reason if those princes be notorious heretiks then they must be procéeded against with arms and war if they be not notorious heretiks then the proscription and execration is of none importance Let vs sée then for what cause and allegation the foresaid Princes are condemned for heretiks For so great a crime must not be laid to the charge euen of a man of base estate without a great and weighty cause much lesse of so great princes and the kinsmen of so great a king The emperors Gratian Valentinian and Honorius decréed that they be counted heretiks which shall be detected euen by a light argument to erre and go astraie from the iudgement and path of catholike religion * Who can l. 2. c. de haeret Manich. like of and allow that definition For Augustine doth not account those heretiks which defend their opinion though false and pernitious with no stubborne wilfulnes especially which they haue not brought foorth through boldnes of their presumption but haue receiued it from their parents being seduced and fallen into errors and do seeke the truth with warie carefulnes being readie to be reformed when they haue found it as he saith text 24. dist 3. c. dixit Againe Iohn Auentine in the third book of his chronicles left in writing that a certaine bishop of Germanie called Virgil being skilful in mathematical arts was therefore accused of heresie and was called to Rome by pope Zacharie bicause he affirmed that there were Antipodes * That is such as go with their feete toward ours The canonists decréed that he should bée counted an heretike that should not obey all and singular the popes decrées * The gloss dist 10. c. nulli dist 21. pope himselfe hath decréed that he that denieth emperors kings princes and finally euery humane creature to be subiect to the temporall and materiall sword of the bishop of Rome be counted an heretike bicause it is vpon necessitie of saluation to beléeue this that is it is one of the articles C. 1. in fin extr de maior obedient of faith * In the yéere of Christ cxc 8. Victor pope of Rome did therefore pronounce that the East churches were heretiks bicause they thought not the same concerning Easter which his church thought For which cause Ireneus bishop of Lyons did sharpely reprooue that pope as Eusebius doth witnes in his fift booke 26. and Epist 24. What néede many words He is defined to be an heretike in popery which doth not beléeue al those things which are taught for truth in the church of Rome * But we haue before C. nulli dist 19 shewed that this doctrine was deliuered to the Church of Christ of it to be beléeued by the authority and commandement of the popes that Dominic wrought more miracles than Christ and all his apostles that the same Dominic was much more excellent than Christ and all his apostles That Iohn Baptist to whom the holy scripture gaue this title that there was neuer any mortall man vpon earth greater than he was by many degrées inferior to Dominic that cosener We haue shewed furthermore that the popes haue approoued that fable touching the marks of Francis Bernardo and that it is deliuered to the church of Rome to be beléeued and that that wise man that opposeth himselfe
vnder the garment of the virgin Marie touching more and greater miracles done by Dominic and Francis than either by Christ or his Apostles which are such wicked hainous and vngodlie blasphemies that the minds of al the godly do abhor the rehearsal therof Secondly bicause hauing taken to himselfe lordship and princely power ouer the whol church and vsing ministers and officers dukes and purpled cardinals to defend him and furnish him he professed himselfe to be the captaine and prince of a new faction and synagog Last of all bicause being about fower hundred whole yéers ago requested by the praiers of al Christian princes and admonished to admit some amendement and reformation he did prowdlie reiect their request and precepts Of which not to fet testimonies far surely the memorie of our fathers and grandfathers may be a witnes out of the councell of Constance Basil Florence and Trent in which last false and erronious doctrines were not only not taken away but also more and more confirmed so that no man can now doubt but that these thrée markes whereby we said a little before an heritike is discerned from one whose iudgement is sound do most euidently appéere in the pope of Rome Which things séeing they are so we thinke that it is now euident enough of what importance this accusation of pope Sixtus ought to be with the counsellers of the French king whereto the most part of Europe hath subscribed it selfe also we vnderstand of what authoritie this accusation by him made against the king of Nauarre and prince of Condie ought to be with them For to cut his throat as they saie with his owne sword lo in his owne decrées 24. distinct 1. it is euerie where in manie testimonies set downe that he that is fallen into heresie cannot depriue any man of his office or insnarle him in any sentence as in c. acasius If therefore a bishop saith he be fallen into an heresie alreadie condemned being condemned by an ancient excommunication he cannot condemn others For he that is excōmunicate cannot excommunicate others Which self-same thing is confirmed in that which followeth by this reason being added thereto For the power to binde or loose was giuen by the Lord to true not to false priests And in the chapter following Peters priuilege remaineth wheresoeuer sentence is giuen according to his equitie Hereto belongeth that which Iason writeth in his 145. councell requisitus num 3. vol. 2. That the pope cannot depose any man placed in dignitie without cause bicause the power granted to Peter to feed the sheepe of Christ is not extended to kill them c. in nouo 21. dist for Peters power continueth so long as he iudgeth truely and doth not erre with the keies * The self-same writeth d. c. manet c. Abba * Also Iason writeth more plain in in c. vlt. col pe vlt. de confi vtil vel inut in c. constitutus col 3. de relig dom in c. vlt. de postul praelat in c. de multa de praebend his 95. councell requisitus vol. 4. When as saith he the pope is guiltie of heresie seeing he may for this crime be deposed c. si papa 40. dist by this he ceaseth to be pope seeing he is without the catholike church according to the notes by Innocentius in c. ex parte de verb. sig in like sort when the pope shal be a notorious criminal person intangled in greeuous crimes so that he doth offend the church c. Also col 3. But the old glosse held more strōgly than the whole world alleageth in d. c. si papa that the pope may be accused for another fault as symonie or adulterie which is notorius and the pope being admonished cannot be reformed so that he offendeth the church of God seeing he is counted as an heretike and so the pope may be accused and punished not onely for the cause of heresie but also for anie other crime wherein the pope committeth excesse offending the church if it be notorious and the pope cannot be reformed bicause notable disobedience is counted heresie wherefore as the pope may be accused for heresie and condemned so likewise for any notorious crime wherein he is incorrigible Moreouer Felinus saith * The pope which is not canonicallie in c. Ego N. de iureiur elect is a deuill not hauing the keies of the kingdome of heauen but of hell The third Nullitie by reason of the want of iudiciall order LEt vs now come to the third cause of nullitie which we said to be the want of forme iudiciall order For as in times past the great orator saide what is more vnséemely than that iudgement should be giuen of his life and of all his goods who was neither commanded to be present nor yet cited nor accused We shewed before that this forme and order of ecclesiasticall iudgement was appointed by Christ and his Apostles in iudging heretikes first that they should be sometimes conuict of their error then if they would not obey not one but many and often admonitions of the church but would as saith Augustine stubburnely resist and perseuere in their error then they should be counted as enimies and profane persons Therefore admonitions are necessarie and a solemne and lawful hearing of the cause God was not ignorant what Adam and Eua had committed against his commandement or inhibition Yet he called both of them foorth and made as it were a question and hearing of the cause and then at length he gaue sentence against them after they were conuict The same God being a most seuere punisher of wickednes was not ignorant with how great and how vile wickednes the Sodomites and Gomorrheans had defiled themselues But yet notwithstanding that he might shew an example of equitie to mortall men that are iudges he tooke vpon him to heare the cause and he said that he would descend and know Which thing likewise the canonists haue in many words euery where deliuered in 1. q. 2. but specially in c. Deus omnipotens But moreouer the same scripture doth in another place testifie that the elders of the people of the Iewes who iudged matters at the foote of the mount Sinay gaue not sentence before they had heard both parties and vntill both parties had laied downe their matter Moreouer the Iewes though they did malitiously séeke to put Christ to death and to destroie him yet they kept the vsual order of iudgements so that they accused him before Caiphas the highest priest and a competent iudge and then they did bring him before the iudgement seat of the same high priest after they had caught him and also they did bring foorth witnesses for their accusation Therefore both sides laid downe their cause and the opinions of those that sat with the highest priest were asked and then at length iudiciall order being kept the condemnation was pronounced But what néed more testimonies When the woman was taken in adulterie as
of Nauarre his kinsman and subiect For in the yéere M. DXI. at which time that war whereof we spake before waxed hot betwéen pope Iulius the second and Ludouike the 12. king of France who was called father of his countrie and that same furious tyrant went about to terrifie him with his vaine thunderbolts and had made his kingdome a praie and spoile to him that could get it Iohn great grandfateer to this our Henrie reigned in Nauarre He forasmuch as he both was in the realme of France and was neighbor to the French king and also by reason of the great fées he had in his realme was his client and vassall was requested by king Ludouike that he would aide him against his enimie according to the right of senioritie and ordinances of seruiceable clientships The king of Nauarre being not vnmindfull of his dutie toward the king hauing with all spéed mustered and gathered bands of footemen and horsemen in his kingdom he brought so great an armie into the borders of France that he left his realme in a maner naked and destitute of men Which thing being knowen pope Iulius determined foorthwith to deale by messengers with Ferdinando king of Spaine to whom he then first of all gaue the sirname of Catholike anno 1492. that with all spéede he should make readie an armie and should inuade the dominion of the king of Nauarre who was absent and he promiseth that for his part he would both proscribe Nauarre for an heretike and schismatike and would also giue him his kingdome for a reward Ferdinandus hauing gotten so fit an opportunitie to do an exploit determined not to be wanting to himselfe After the curse was pronounced and published against the king of Nauarre he assembled his forces and entering the borders of the king his neighbor being absent he tooke first the principall citie of the kingdome named Pompiopolis and then afterward the most part of the whole realm hauing as we said pope Iulius for his author a good one and without all doubt a fit one if in the rule of the law wherin it is written that He possesseth vniustly which possesseth hauing the pretor for his author it were written the pope for his author in stead of the pretor for his author Soone after the king of France being not ignorant that the senior ought to deliuer his vassall from the danger of that euent which thing euen Bellaius Langaeus somtimes a most excellent light of France doth plainely testifie in his first booke of commentaries sent his armie to recouer Pompiopolis ouer which he set as captaine Dunosius chiefe gouernor of Aquitania and duke of Longouilla But it séemeth more conuenient to defer vntil some other time what happened both at that time and many yéeres after and to set it downe in a booke written of those things For it is sufficient for vs to vnderstand at this time that the king of Nauarre great grandfather to him that now is was spoiled of his kingdome for none other cause saue onely bicause he aided as he ought the king of France his neighbor his senior being excommunicate by pope Iulius proscribed and pronounced to be an heretike and schismatike Whereof not onely the French historiographers are witnesses and amongst these Arnoldus Ferronus and Bertrandus Helias but also the Italians and Spaniards and chiefly Stephen Garibaius in his 29. book Francis Tarapha and Anthonie Nebrissensis in his booke concerning the war of Nauarre * In which places me thinks we 1. c. 1. 2. 3. should not omit the arrogancie of a Spanish peasant as we say commonly who railed vpon and slandered the most wise and moderate king of France that euer was and that in these words Ludouike saith he the French king a man most inconstant Ch. 2. after the maner of his nation being not content to kéepe himselfe within his owne little skin that is within the borders of his own kingdom set his mind toward Italie And shortly after Therefore pope Iulius the second being angrie tooke the sword out of Peters hands and drew it against the rebellious and stubborne he declareth them to be schismatiks and therefore heretiks he maketh their goodes common for the execution of which sentence he calleth vpon Christian princes chiefly vpon our prince Also chap. 3. Therefore the gouernor of the countrie of Spaine fearing the rage of the French men doth exhort Henrie king of the Britans to whom Aquitania did belong to require it againe by war and that he might haue iuster cause to aske it againe the apostolike authoritie commeth betweene whereby he depriueth the French king of Aquitania let the senators and kings counsellers in France marke and giueth it to the king of Britane to possesse and enioie And by and by in that place where he bringeth in the pope conferring with his cardinals The king of Spain saith he must be holpen We must draw out both our swords against the common enimies of all good men the kings of France and Nauarre and whiles that we whet the one that is the secular in the meane season let vs bend the other namely the spirituall against the necks of schismatiks Therfore by the common decree of the cardinals the king of Nauarre was declared to be a schismatike and therefore an heretike bicause being often admonished he was waxen stubborne and he did openly professe that he was French He was fined in his kingdome and all his goods not onely he but also his wife and his sonnes with all their posteritie and all his right of being king was translated vnto Spain The Spanish Nebrissensis saith thus in as manie words wherby we vnderstand by what right by what author and for what cause the king of Nauarre was robbed of his kingdome Indéed Guicciardin in his 11. booke of his Italian historie setteth downe his iudgement touching this matter in these words When the king of Spaine saith he could not affirme that he did lawfully possesse the kingdome of Nauarre for any other cause or by any other title he reasoned that he had possession by the right of the popes commandement and authoritie of the holie sea For the pope being not well content with things that fell out happily in Italie had a little before published a decree against the king of France wherin calling him no more most Christian but most noble he made him and all that tooke his part subiect to the penalties of heretiks and schismatiks and hauing granted power by right to take and enioy their goods kingdoms and all that they had he declared them to be condemned To the same effect also writeth Arnoldus Ferronus a most learned historiographer in matters of France and sometimes senator of the Parleament holden at Burdeaux in these words Ferdinandus saith he king of Spaine so soone as he vnderstood of the league made betweene the kings of France and Nauarre turned his forces prepared against the French king against the king of Nauarre and