his fellowes where he saith that the rebellion of a Clergie man against his King cannot be treason in that he is not subiect to the King which agreeth with that which is written by the Iesuite Saunders in his second booke of his visible Monarchie whereof the King of great Britaine in his first booke cyteth many passages Now whereas the Iesuites of France did make a booke intituled * In the pag. 70. of the Edition of the bigger print 1595. you shall finde these wordes The Pope pretendeth nothing ouer Souerainty but to correct as a father as a Iudge such as are pernitious to the Church For then he may not alone but he is bound to shew himselfe their Superior Security wold make thee peruerse froward but thou must be kept down be made to confes that thou hast neyther reason nor conscience For it is fit that Princes shold be often held in and curbed by feare of their temporalities The defence of the truth against the pleading of Anthony Arnold In which they maintaine at large that the Pope may as Iudge depriue Princes of their temporalties This is wholly to be imputed to the times for then it was fit to speake in that manner but now they reserue those Maximes for fitter seasons Diuinity is to be applyed as occasions serue and wee are now in an age that if wee would know how wee were to teach and moue the people we must first looke into the Aâ—minake and accommodate our selues to the affaires of the Common wealth and therefore it is to be hoped that such * The which are produced in the Chapter following passages of Bellarmine that do make the liues and Crownes of Kings subiect to the Pope will be mended in the next Edition And as for the troubles and seditions which these Fathers haue stirred in Polonia which hath cost Demetrius his life and as for the causes which haue moned the Venetians to banish them out of their estate this a thing wholly to be imputed to the Climate or to the strange humors of the Country which is farre differing from Fraunce All this being considered it is to be hoped that the King of great Britaine following the counsell of Doctor Coeffeteau will take them to be neare about his person The other Reasons which are brought to recommend them seeme not to me of any great weight It is said that they carefully instruct youth if it be so how commeth it to passe that since they haue vndertaken to teach learning is so much decayed I would willingly that one could shew mee in Fraunce any of their Disciples that were of exact and exquisite learning or whom haue they in their society that may bee compared with those that were the Schollers of Turnebus or of Cuias Who are yet as many of them as are left the very lights and ornaments of the Court where is now the Vniuersitie of Paris which had wont to haue in it thirty thousand schollers but hath declined towards barbarisme euer since this kinde of people haue vndertaken to teach by their abridgements and Epitomies the which haue beene framed and composed by a rable of Pedants that teach all by rote in stead of drawing their instructions from the Fountaines of the Greeke and in stead ofâ—etling their iudgements by the course of auncient Philosophy And as for humane learning Scaliger Casaubon Passerate Lipsius and diuers like vnto them were they brought vp in their schooles Or indeede whom haue they brought vp comparable to them But Coeffeteau saith that the most Christian King is serued by them dealeth well with them and taketh them neere vnto his person our condition is too low and our vnderstanding too weake to search out the Counsels of so great a King whom God hath endued with an incomparable wisedome but yet I thinke that this serues not to iustifie them for who can tell whether his Maiesty doth this onely to put in practise that rule of the Gospell which is To doe well to those that hate vs Or whether he endeauoureth by his goodnes to master and ouercome their wickednesse and so by that meanes to binde them to fidelity Or who can tell whether his Maiestie herein imitateth the example of God who imployeth the wicked spirits for such causes and to such purposes as are best knowne to his diuine wisedome Or who knoweth whether in this he doth like Vlisses who for auoyding of tempests would keepe the winds with him shut vp in a leather bagge This great King whose paines and industry procureth our generall repose whose vigilancy makes vs to sleepe securely who bereaueth himselfe of himselfe and bestoweth himselfe on the publique and who maketh peace to flourish vnder the shaddow of his victories Long may hee enioy that quiet and repose which he hath broght euen to those that hate him Let his Counsels be euer blessed with happy successe his life with safety his subiects with fidelity his Crowne with glory and his Kingdome with prosperity CHAP. V. Of the power of the Pope ouer the temporalities of Kings and that he cannot take from Kings their Crownes nor free subiects from the Oath of fidelity And thereupon the reasons of Bellarmine are examined THe King of great Britaine in his Apology complayneth of two Breues or letters Apostolique of Clement the eight sent into England a little before the death of the late Queene ELIZABETH which were produced at the arrainment of Garnet the Iesuite by which the said Pope excludeth him from the succession of the Kingdome by a generall debarring of all such as were not of the Romane Religion This thing being so notoriously vniust and so publique yet notwithstanding Coeffeteau saith that there hath beene a wrong interpretation made of this Popes intentions and that it hath beene some particular mens drift to put it into his Maiesties head that he went about to hinder his establishment in the Kingdome These are insurious speeches to say that the King of great Britaine hath beene circumuented and that men haue only made him beleeue things but that he hath not seene any such Breues but speaketh this onely vpon trust There likewise turning to the side of Kings against the consent of the whole Romish Church he speaks thus It is a thing without doubt Fol. 6. pag. 2. that if the Pope would inuade Kingdoms and giue them in prey to whom he pleaseth deuesting the right possessors of them he well deserueth that Princes should stand stiffe against his viosence and should ioyntly runne vpon him as vpon a robber and spoiler of their inheritances And a litle after The Popes pretend nothing ouer the temporalties of Kings are contented only to make their authority appear ouer the crimes of men which he bindeth or looseth without stretching of it tyranically to dispose of their possessions otherwise then such as are fallen vnto him what causes here moued Coeffeteau thus to fauour Kings and to pare the Popes nayles so neare
and the other Monarchy And in the Chapter Venerabilem de Electione Innocent the third maintayneth that it is in him to aduance to the Empire whom he pleaseth Apostolica sedes Romanum Jmperium à Graecis transtulit in Germanos and that it was the Apostolique Sea that translated the Empire from the Greekes to the Germanes And that we may spare to produce the clauses of Sixtus Quintus his Bull Anno 1585. which was the first thunder-clap that caused all the confusions in these later times and which speake more arrogantly and insolently then all this that hath beene said Let vs appeale to Cardinall Bellarmine for Iudge These are his wordes De Rom. Pontif. li. 5. c. 6. § Quartum Papa potest mutare regna vni auferre atque alteri conferre tanquaÌ„ summus princeps spiritualis si id necessarium sit ad animaruâ—â— salutem The Pope can change Kingdomes he can take them from one and giue them to another as a Soueraigne spirituall Prince when it shall be necessary for the saluation of soules Of which necessity he will haue the Pope also to be Iudge Consonant whereto one Alexander Pesantius a Doctor of the Citie of Rome hath written a booke of the immunities of Ecclesiasticall persons and of the power of the Pope dedicated to the now-Pope Paul the fift where he saith p. 45. The Soueraine Bishop hath by Diuine right a most full power ouer all the earth as well in causes Ecclesiasticall as Ciuill adding in the margent Papa iure diuino est directe Dominus orbis The Pope by diuine right is directly Lord of the world Yea within these few dayes there haue beene certaine Theses printed and defended at Naples in which were figured the Turkes Turbanes the Imperiall and Regall Crownes Le Cornet Paulo 5. Vice-Deo Christiani orbis Monarchae Pontificiae omnipotentiae assertori c. and the Coronet of the Dukes of Venice to hang in labels from the Popes Miter and wherein the Pope is styled Vice-God Monarch of the Christian world and defender of the PAPALL OMNIPOTENCY where the Pope hath accepted the bargaine which our Sauior refused at the Diuels hands Mat 4.9 Which was to become Monarch ouer all the Kingdomes of the earth Thus is the Church become an Hierarchie and the spirituall kingdome conuerted into a temporall Monarchy In witnesse whereof the Popes triple Crowne is called by no other name then Il regno the Kingdome And the last Lateran Councell calleth the Pope in the first Session Prince of the whole world in the third Session Priest and King and in the ninth and tenth Session his charge is called His Holinesse Empire Who will now make any doubt but that Coeffeteau pleadeth the Popes cause vpon good warrant and approbation And he goeth about to teach them more modesty in speach then they are willing to learne vnlesse that perhaps to tumble downe a Prince from the height of his Empire with flashes of lightning or to skimme away the whole wealth of his Countrey be not to be termed a touching of their temporalties And indeede there is some reason for that for temporall goods when they come into his Holinesse handes they become spirituall according to the stile which this witty age vseth who by a Bishops spiritualties vnderstandeth the rents and reuenues of his Bishoppricke The misery of Princes in this case is that if the Pope for their sinnes impose this penance vpon them to lay down their Crownes and to giue place to another yet this Penance once done is neuer followed with Absolution for he that seizeth vpon their place by a right of conueniency Droit de bienseance doth neuer quit or forgoe it but by force There be steppes and degrees indeede to clymbe vp to a kingdome but there is no other discent then a headlong downe-fall It is a thing seldome seene that a Prince should suruiue his kingdome or that he should saue life or liberty after he is diuested of Maiesty And that which is more Coeffeteau hauing taken from the Pope the power of disposing of the temporalties of Kings pag. 13. Doth he not in the next leaf following restore it to him againe in these wordes If Kings depart from their Duty and in stead of defending the faith seeke to ruine it then it is in the Popes power to reclaime them being in errour and to bring forth his iust censures to the end to turne away the mischiefe which threatneth Religion Now these censures are the degrading of the Prince the absoluing his subiects from their Oath of Alleageance and interdicting his Kingdome And to shew that hee ought to proceede forcibly and by way of fact Coeffeteau addeth That the Pope ought to oppose himselfe herein euen to the perill of his life And if we will exactly weigh the wordes of this Doctrine fol. 7. we shall easily finde that where he saith that the Pope doth not pretend any thing ouer the temporalties of Princes hee meaneth all the while Romish Catholicke Princes who obey the Pope that is to say that if they bee not such as are now a dayes called Catholicks the Pope may depriue them of their Kingdomes True it is that he reporteth vpon vs by way of recrimination Pag. 15. That those Princes who haue shaken off the yoake of the spirituall power of the Church that is of the Pope see themselues exposed to the rigour of their Ministers whom by way of honor he calleth Tyrans I looked all the while when hee would produce examples of Ministers who had eyther degraded or murthered their Kings or who had beene trumpets of rebellion or fire-brands of sedition or who had skummed a Countrey of their money or punished sinnes by the purse Or who after the example of Innocent the third This is found in the Bull of Innocent 3. at the end of the Lateran CouÌ„sell Salutis aeternae pollicemur augmentum Ad Scapulum cap. 2. Nunquam Albiniani nec Nigriani nec Cassiani inueniri potuerunt Christiani sed ijdem ipsi qui per genios Imperatorum iurauerant haue giuen to those who haue armed themselues at their commaundement a degree of honour in Paradise aboue others who haue nothing for their reward but bare life euerlasting But of all this he could alleadge no one example For vnto vs agreeth that commendation which Tertullian giueth to the Christians we neuer were saith he of the league and conspiracy of Albinius Niger or Cassius but those rather who sware by the life and Genius of the Emperour The faithfull Pastors hauing stripped themselues of all this tyrannicall pride haue only reserued to themselues the censuring of mens manners by publicke and priuate reprehensions and in case men stand out and rebell against the word of God after many rebukes they haue reserued onely the power of excluding them out of the Church as Pagans and Publicans vntill such time as by true humiliation they haue made their repentance to appeare These sentences
be perfect vnlesse they had the meanes to dispose of spirituall things for that otherwise wicked Bishops might without feare of punishment be vitious mutinous Necromancers and firebrands of sedition against Princes of all which enormities the Sea of the Bishop of Rome can alone furnish a multitude of examples yea after Baronius Coeffeteau himselfe doth confesse Coeffeteau in his booke entituled A Refutation of falshoods fol. 68. pag. 1. that many monsters haue sitten vpon that seate The Churches perfection doth not consist in a strength able by force to defend it selfe but in the purity of prescribing the wholsome meanes of saluation No otherwise then the perfection of Philosophy dooth not consist in hauing a strong house or a good sword able to represse those that should hinder her from being taught and professed but rather in the certainty perspicuity and sufficiency of her Demonstrations God who hath neuer suffered that his Church should be extinguished by false teachers which infect the soules will not permit that it shall be abolished by wicked Princes which offer violence to the bodies for whatsoeuer necessity any man can alleadge why he should plucke the Crowne from a lawfull Princes head yet can there be no necessity of doing any thing contrary to the will of God as there is no necessity that doth binde a man to bee disloyall there can be no dispensing with the law of God God sayth by the mouth of his Apostle Rom. 13.1 That euery person ought to be subiect to superior powers for there is no power but of God Where it is cleare that he speaketh of Princes and temporall Lords because he addeth that they beare the sword as being the Ministers of God ordeyned for iustice And a little after he commaundeth to pay them tribute and customes Now at the time when the Apostle spake this neyther the Bishoppe of Rome nor any other did eyther carry the sword or receiue any tribute Who is he then that can dispense with so precise a commaundement Or what thing can be more necessary then to obey God And note moreouer that if the Pope be the Iudge of this case of necessity for which Princes ought to be dispossest it will bee easie for him at any time to say that it is necessary that this or that King be degraded to the end to make himselfe by that means King of Kings and disposer of their Crownes Howbeit let vs a little weigh and consider what this necessity may be which carrieth on the Pope to plucke from a King his Scepter and to giue his Crowne to another Bellarmine alleadgeth but one to wit if it be necessary to saluation As in case a King be an Hereticke an Infidell or a persecutor of the Church or a fauourer and vpholder of errour But he would faine hide and conceale from vs that the Pope doth aswell intrude himselfe to dispossesse Kings that are of his Religion and no way in fault So in the Decrees of the Romish Church in the 15. Cause Quaest. 6. in the Canon which beginneth Alius Romanus Pontifex Zacharias scil Regem Fran corum non tam pro suis iniquitatibus quà m pro coquod tantae potestati erat inutilis à regno deposuit c. And the Canonists who haue made the Glosse dispute vpoÌ„ that place whether a man ought to pay his debts to one excommunicated Probabiliter dici potest quod excommunicato non sit soluendii cum nemo debeat participate cum en Lib. 5 cap. 7. §. Tertia Non licet Christianis tolerare Regem infidâ—leÌ„ aut hereticum c. the Pope speaketh in this manner Zachary the Bishop of Rome hath deposed the French King not so much for his iniquities as for that he is not fit for nor capable of so great a power and hath set vp Pippin the faher of Charles Emperour in his place and hath discharged all the French-men from their Oath of fidelity 〈◊〉 Iulius the second could not accuse Lewes the twelfth nor Iohn King of Nauarre of heresie nor yet Sixtus the fift the late king Henry the third who notwithstanding were by the Popes thundering Bulles declared to haue beene fallen from their kingdomes I freely indeede confesse that in an Electiue kingdome when question is made of choosing a new king they to whom that charge belongeth ought in no wise to chuse a king that is an Infidell or an Idolater But it is one thing to speake of a king who is chosen by his subiects and another of a king who is a lawfull inheritour and who is beholding to his birth for his Crowne and to whom ouer and aboue his subiects haue taken the Oath of Alleageance And therefore the Argument which Bellarmine draweth from the one to the other to proue that Subiects are at no hand to endure a king that is an Heretick or an Infidel doth not follow vpon good consequence It auayleth not to say that the danger is like both in the one and the other for it may so fall out that two things may be alike dangerous whereof the one may be bad and the other not as for example for a man to receiue in his body the shot of an harquebuse from one that did aime to hit him from another that did it by chance is alike dangerous but not alike wicked And indeede euen in humane pollicy and without any relation to the commandements of God it is not expedient that subiects should shake off the yoake of their Prince which is of a different Religion for this were the next way to estrange Princes and Monarches from Christian Religion and to make them to haue it in detestation as that which counselleth and perswadeth to rebellion and maketh piety the cause of mutiny Moreouer the question here is not of the danger but of the duety nor yet what may arriue but what ought to be done we must not do euill that good may come of it Many things are lawfull which are not expedient but there is nothing expedient which is not lawfull When we haue done what we ought to doe then God will doe what pleaseth him and he will doe nothing but for the good of his Church which he cherisheth as the apple of his eye he hath bought it too deare that he should be of the minde to destroy it Now if this rule of the Cardinall be necessary that it is not permitted to Christians to suffer a King that is an Hereticke or an Infidell Saint Paul was very much mistaken in giuing commaundement to obey Nero an Infidell and a persecutor and the Christians then did not as they ought to haue done in that they did not stabbe him or make a myne of powder vnder his house Bellarmine answereth that they might iustly haue done it but that they wanted forces that is to say Lib. 5. de Rom. Pontif. cap. 7. §. Quod si Christiani olim non deposuerunt Neronem c. Id fuit quia deeraÌ„t vires
is that the Fathers being so vnresolued in this point and so tainted with erronious opinions which our aduersaries reiect as well as we they are no way fit to be Iudges to decide this matter 2. The other is that the prayers which they make for the dead are condemned by the Church of Rome seeing that it receiueth no other prayer for the dead but that which is made to ease the soules in Purgatorie and by consequent also doth reiect the prayers of the Auncients for the resurrection and refreshing of the soules that lie and sleepe in their supposed receptacles As also the prayers vsed in the auncient Church for the Saints and Martyrs Whence the Reader may informe his iudgement with what care and circumspection the Fathers ought to be read seeing it is so hard a matter to vnderstand their termes and to finde out their meaning But we now liue in an admirable age in which all the world is become learned without study and in which they who scarcely vnderstand their Pater noster speake of the Fathers both Greeke and Latine with an incredible assurance Among these such men as Coeffeteau is doe easily beare sway and do Lesson and Lecture them at large See here a notable proofe hereof which we haue not hitherto touched Coeffeteau alleadgeth this passage out of S. Austin Pol. 71. pag. 2. de Ciuit. Dei lib. 21. cap. 16. Let no man thinke that there are any Purgatorie paines but such as be before the last and fearefull iudgement These words seeme very plaine and such as may easily make an ignorant man to rest vpon them but the iugling cousenage is manifest for if hee had but turned the leafe he should haue found that S. Austen speaketh of such purgatory and expiatory paines as a man suffereth in this life and before his death We confesse saith he that in this mortall life there be certaine purging paines Nos vero etiam in hac quidem morrali vita esse quasdam poenas purgatorias cimfitemur non ijs qui affliguntur quorum vita non inde fit melior vel polê° inde fit peior sed illis sunt purgatoriae qui illis coerciti corriguntur but they are purgatiue onely to those who being chastised and exercised by them they become bettered and amended thereby And cap. 26. The FIRE OF AFFLICTION shal burne away such delights and earthly loues as are not condemnable by reason of the bond of Matrimony To which fire also belong the losse of friends and kinsfolke and all other calamities which take away these things from vs. Yea the very next lines before this place cyted by Coeffeteau shew that he speaketh of a clensing done in the life present for hee saith Hee that desireth to escape the euerlasting paines let him not onely be baptized but also let him be iustified that so by forsaking the diuell he may betake himselfe to Christs side Hereunto he will haue certaine purging paines to be added without waiting for the day of iudgement So likewise S. Cyprian lib. 4. Epist 2. calleth that affliction of an offendor whom the Church doth for a long time detaine among the Penitents a purging fire But aboue all S. Austens irresolution in this matter is very considerable who sometimes as in the sixteenth chapter before alleadged saith that besides the Purgatory-paines of this life there are others after this life sometimes as chapt 26. hee saith that he doubteth whether it be so or no and it may be that it is true In many other places hee saith plainely that there is none at all and that the soules are in an instant transported into heauen ARTICLE XXII Of Anarchy and of the degrees of superiority in the Church AFter the refutation of so many abuses the King of great Britaine setteth downe for the shutting vp of his confession the Article of the Monarchy of the Church and of the primacy of the Pope the which his Maiesty affirmeth to be the cheefe of all other Controuersies and indeede vppon iust cause for all other errors serue to vphold this superstition helpeth to support tyranny Other pointes there are but this is that for which we dispute Whosoeuer shal examine al our Controuersies with a iudgement not forestalled nor pre-occupied shall finde that euery errour is a pillar of the Popes Empire and a prop of his Dominion and that the Articles of Faith haue beene skilfully bended and fitted to the aduantage of his Holinesse To this may be also added that if the Pope cannot erre in the decision of doubts the case is then cleare without further difficulty Neyther shall it be needefull hereafter to assemble Councels nor to search into Scriptures but onely to consult this Papall Oracle and so to content our selues with what it determineth It is therefore vpon iust cause that his Maiesty saith this point is the principall Controuersie and therefore insisteth vpon it more then vpon any other and therein displayeth the admirable ability of his wit of which I confesse I am rather a learner then a defender hauing first learned to speake of him before I did speake for him But before he entreth into the matter he saith that to haue Bishops in the Church is an Apostolique Institution and appointed by God and saith that he hath alwayes abhorred Anarchie and that in heauen the blessed spirits are distinguished by diuers degrees and that the very diuels themselues are digested and parted into Legions and haue their Princes that by the same reason no humane society can subsist without this order and difference in degrees and thereupon complayneth of certain turbulent persons that haue persecuted him euen from his mothers wombe pursuing his death before he entred into life But who these persons were that with so hasty murther would not haue expected his birth it is best knowne vnto his Maiesty and it is not to bee doubted but they haue beene punished according to the lawes And for such any punishment is too little But it is true that there is nothing so turbulent as an Anarchy in which there is no Master because euery one is such a one where euery one by being too free becommeth a slaue for in a State it is better to be vnder an ill Master then vnder none at all and Tyrannie is more tollerable then such a freedome which vnder the title of liberty introduceth licentiousnesse and this licentiousnesse bringeth in extreame seruitude So is it in Families and Common-wealths in Armies yea euen amongst the Angels themselues yea if we discend to Bees and Cranes wee see not these meaner creatures without a naturall pollicy and a kinde of superioritie The Church is no way exempt from this order in which God hath established Pastors and Bishops and aboue them Assemblies which the auncient Church called Synodes and Councels of which it is likewise necessary that some one should be President to direct and order the businesses But if one demaund what differences of degrees these should be
vnto him in the Conclaue presently after his election for so soone as hee is named Pope by the Cardinals shut vp in the Conclaue he is stript out of his ordinary habites and there are others giuen him amongst other things redde hose and redde shoes hauing a Crosse of golde a redde girdle with buckles of golde a redde bonet and a rochet And thus being armed at all points with his redde cloake and triple Crowne See this Ceremony described in the first booke of the Ceremonies Sect. 1. cap. 6. glittering with Diamonds they lift him vp as a sacred body and set him on the Altar there the Cardinals kisse his hands and feete This is vulgarly called among the Italians Adoratione which is the more to be noted because they set him vpon the Altar which is the place where they place their Masse-god and it is the place appointed for diuine adoration So that this manner of adoration cannot be taken for ciuill adoration By this also it is euident that forasmuch as Kings are more mighty and powerfull then Popes in ciuill causes if this were a ciuil worship then coÌ„sequently they ought the rather to be worshipped But they are so farre from being worshipped as that themselues are enforced to worship the Popes And if a King should call himselfe God it should little auaile him to alleadge places of the old Testament where Princes are called Gods for that would no way serue his turne but that among Christians he would be accounted a blasphemer for now the Pope taketh this Title vpon himself exclusiuely shutting out al other Princes because with him it carrieth a religious sense and that importeth adoration Againe Princes in respect that they are called Gods doe not arrogate to themselues a liberty of being free 〈…〉 reprehension or of being iudged of any man as doth the Pope in the Canon Satis dist 96. the words whereof are these It is euidently shewed that the Pope can neyther be bound nor vnbound by any secular power Satis euidenter ostenditur à seculari potestate nec solui prorsus nec ligari pontificem quem constat à pio principe Constantino quem longè superê memorauimê Deum appellatum cum nec posse Deum ab hominibus iuiudicari manifestum sit because we know he hath beene called God by that religious Prince Constantine before mentioned and God cannot be iudged by man He excludeth Princes from the Title of Gods to reserue it to himselfe and approuing the saying of Constantine that called him God hee inferreth thereupon that the Pope cannot be iudged of any man But let vs note by the way that Constantine said in the Councell of Nice speaking to all the Bishops there present You are Gods but he neuer spake this particularly to the Bishop of Rome In consequence also of this Title the Pope calleth his Decrees and Canons Oracles Oracle signifieth the answer of God Extra de Maioritate obed Titulo 33. cap. Per tuas Rom. 3.2 11.4 With like modesty hee termeth his Decretall Epistles Canonicall Scriptures Dist. 19. in the Canon In Canonicis the inscription whereof is this Inter Canonicas Scripturas Decretales Epistolae connumerantur The Decretall Epistles are numbred among the Canonicall Scriptures Hee boasteth himselfe to haue all power in heauen and vpon earth in the last Councell of Lateran Sess 9. and 10. and attributeth it vnto himselfe in his booke of sacred Ceremonies Sect. 7 Cap. 6. according to which power Innocent the third in his Bull Adliberandam In retributionem iustorum salutis aeternae pollicemur augmentum which is at the end of the second Councell of Lateran giueth vnto Pilgrims that came from beyond the Seas an encrease of glory aboue the rest Among all these I finde none so odious as that Title which he taketh of being the Spouse of the vniuersall Church which belongeth particularly to Iesus Christ as S. Paul sayth 2. Cor. 11. For I haue married you vnto one man to present you as a chaste Virgin vnto Christ Extrauag de immunitate Eccles Tit. 22. Capite Quoniam in 6 And yet this is the quality which the Pope taketh vnto himselfe in more then thirty places in his Decrees and Decretals and in the last Councell of Lateran And to the end you may know his bookes in what sense he is called the Spouse of the Church Bellarmine who wrote at Rome § Ac ne fortè l. 1. de Rom. Pont. c. 9. sayth that the Pope is the Spouse of the Church etiam Christo excluso Christ being excluded And albeit Christ were not excluded yet in matter of marriage we are not accustomed to accept of a Deputy Whosoeuer would here heape vp places in which both the Pope and his flatterers attribute vnto him that he is aboue the law and aboue all right and that he may dispense against the Apostles nay against the Gospell it selfe that likewise he hath power to dispense with oathes made vnto God and a thousand things of the like nature whereby he setteth himselfe aboue God might well of these things compose a great volume and grieue the heart of the godly Reader who is touched with a zeale of Gods house But this shall suffice to shew that Coeffeteau wrongeth the Pope much in saying that he is called God onely in that sense that Princes are that is to say for ciuill considerations for in all that is abouesaid there is no one thing spoken of ciuill respect all is built vpon consideration of Religion I should haue said against Religion And as little grace hath hee in defending the Popes triple crowne when he is driuen to say that the title of Maiesty is very fit to bee giuen to the holy things For certainly S. Peter was farre more holy then the Pope and consequently ought to haue had the greater Maiesty and yet neyther Peter nor any other Prelate many ages after him did euer weare three crownes or adorned their heads with Diamonds This lustre well becommeth worldly Maiesty but not spirituall holinesse which ought to shine in vertues and not in pretious stones and to appeare rather in Martyrdome then in pompe and to edifie mens hearts in stead of dazeling their eyes yet all the Maiesty of Kings was neuer comparable to this worldlinesse neuer did any of them thinke it fit to weare three Crownes The onely name of this Head-tire teacheth vs what to iudge for in Italy it is called It regno The Kingdome and the booke of holy Ceremonies doth ordinarily so call it to shew that the Pope weareth that Crowne as a King and not as a Bishop or Pastor of the Church The marke of the Bishopricke in the Church of Rome is the Pastorall staffe which they call the Crosier But the Pope carrieth none such as Innocent the third teacheth vs in his first booke of the mysteries of the Masse cap. 42. Because saith he S. Peter sent his Crosier to Eucharius Bishop of Treuers
A DEFENCE OF THE CATHOLICKE FAITH CONTAINED IN THE BOOKE OF THE MOST Mightie and most Gracious King IAMES the first King of Great Britaine France and Ireland Defender of the FAITH AGAINST THE ANSWERE OF N. Coeffeteau Doctour of Diuinitie and Vicar Generall of the Dominican Preaching FRIARS Written in French by PIERRE DV MOVLIN Minister of the word of God in the Church of PARIS Translated into English according to his first Coppie by himselfe reuiewed and corrected LONDON Printed by W. Stansby for Nathaniel Butter and Martin Clerke 1610. To the KINGS most Excellent MAIESTIE I Take mine Authors word and mine owne experience for warrant from beyond the Seas most Dread Soueraigne that your Maiesties excellent knowledge and learning haue wonne you admiration among forraine Nations And for home-affections it is well knowen that your Maiesties sincere loue to the truth of Religion and constant Confession of the Catholicke Faith whereof your Maiestie is worthily stiled The Defender haue knit the hearts of your people vnto you Who well perceiue by your Kingly Apology directed to the Princes of Christendome that God hath made your Maiesty such a one as was DAVID The sweet Singer of Israel euen a Propheticall King 2. â—am 23.1 and a Kingly Prophet whose bold profession it is Psal 119. I will speake of thy testimonies Psal 119.46 euen before Kings and will not be ashamed Such as the Kings also among the Heathen are said to haue beene both Princes and Prophets Rex Anius Virg. Aeneid 3. rex idem hominum Phoebique Sacerdos Concerning the Authour and Pen-man of this booke I neede not say any thing Authorem commendat opus Touching my selfe vpon whom this taske was secundarily imposed I know the Translation will blab out mine imperfections Your Maiesty is apt to pardon greater offences and therfore I hope these The ground worke is your Maiesties owne which maketh me bold to vse that saying toward your Maiesty my Soueraigne Lord wherewith Paulus Orosius dedicateth his Story to S. Austin his Master and Tutor Totum tuum sit quod ex te In initio ad te redit It is all your Maiesties owne doing which comming from you I returne it back againe vnto you And so I dedicate you to your selfe In Apologet. cap. 30. concluding with that which Tertullian reporteth to haue beene the auncient Christians Prayer for the safety of their Emperours and is now in vse also in the Church of Rome if we may beleeue Doctor Coeffeteau but I feare me not with like true affection Fol. 5. Vitam Maiestati tuae prolixam Imperium securum domum tutam exercitum fortem Senatum fiaelem populum probum regnum quietum obnixè precor Your Maiesties most humble and faithfull Subiect IOHN SANFORD To the most Mighty and Gracious King IAMES the first King of great Brittaine and of Ireland SIR AS your greatnesse no way needeth our seruice so your exquisite learning wants not any defence For your greatest enemies to whom your power is redoubtable haue your learning in admiration But were it so that you had vse of any mans pen yet should you haue litle cause to seeke further then your owne kingdomes since amongst your subiects there is so great a number of learned men to whom we are in all regards inferiour Yet notwithstanding we haue held it necessary to declare vnto the world that that religion which you defend is the same which we professe and that it befits vs to make resistance to such as in your particuler person assault the generall truth This vndertaking of mine is great and my abilities but ordinarie besides my vocation very laborious neither is a tempest a fit time to write in or a banke of an vnquiet torrent a fit place for serious meditation But SIR the perfection of your worke may supply my defect for to fight after you cannot be properly termed fighting but the pursuite of your victory for though the point of truth be euer sharpe yet it entreth and pierceth more or lesse according to the force and vigour of the arme It is not then to be maruelled if it strike cleane through errors being guided by so strong and powerfull a hand To you then SIR belongs the glory of this holy worke to vs remaines the good and benefit of following your example for the easiest way to speake well for you is to speake that which we haue learned of you neither is it possible that any one should write well in your defence that writes not in your imitation Wherein these my paines can no way merit to be compared For your Maiesty poureth out largely with a royall hand into the Threasury of the Sanctuary whilest I like the poore widow make offer of my mite the which I do with the more affection boldnesse in respect that our Kings participate with you in the cause and that we do see our crowne already foiled and our kings life endangered for want of considering those things which your Maiesty in your booke propoundeth and God grant that your Maiesties warnings be not prophesies and that our good mercifull and victorious king who flourisheth equally in peace as he is feared in warre being endued with an admired vigor both of body and mind may be long preserued amongst vs who hauing had so good experience and in so many places of our fidelity will not we hope be displeased with this our liberty in defending of our religion to which we are not drawne by the hatred of any but by our zeale to the cause of God and through compassion of the poore peopla who being carried along with the streame of custome thinke they do God good seruice to hate vs yea so farre are they transported as they are become iealous and suspitious of the holy Scriptures fearing lest by the word of God they should be misled and seduced for the saluation of whose enthralled soules we would willingly expose our liues and will not cease daily to pray to God to enlighten them in the truth whom we likewise pray that he will preserue your Maiesty from all euill and blesse your person and kingdomes and the Church that liueth vnder the shade and quiet of your gouernment with praier from my heart I recommend to God remaining From Paris the 20. of Ianuary 1610. Your Maiesties most humble and most obedient seruant P. D. M. The Translator to the Reader Gentle Reader I here present thee a worke very worthy of thy study and Meditation if eyther thou beare a loue to Gods truth or good affection towards thy Soueraigne Onely let me intreat thee out of a common feeling of humane frailty to pardon and before thou reade to amend the faults that haue herein escaped through ouersight of the Printers my sickenesse at that time and the distance of place not giuing me leaue to be alwayes present to preuent the same In the Translation I haue not nicely tyed my selfe to the wordes neyther was it requisite
ART 18. Of Images Pag. 329. ART 19. Of the Image of God Pag. 356. ART 20. Of the Crosse Pag. 361. ART 21. Of Purgatory Pag. 375. ART 22. Of the Anarchy and degrees of Superiority in the Church Pag. 406. ART 23. Of the Popes Supremacy Pag. 413. THE THIRD BOOKE ¶ Of the accomplishment of Prophesies OF THE VSVRPATION OF POPES Ouer KINGS THE FIRST BOOKE CHAP. I. The occasion that moued IAMES the first King of great Britaine to write his booke with the iudgement on COEFFETEAV his booke IT happeneth often that the Lightning falling vpon a man without hurting the flesh breaketh the bones because they onely in the body do make resistance to it and herein the lightning which GOD sends from aboue imitates the nature of him that sendeth it who bruseth the proude and such as withstand him but taketh mercy on the humble which bow vnder his iudgments and tremble at his word But the fulminations of the Bishop of Rome are of a contrary nature for they hurt none but such as feare them nor breake none but such as bow vnder them but he that sets them light is neyther endamaged by them nor breaketh his sleep for them but they fall like the Thunder-bolt into the Sea nay they rather drawe from God a blessing vpon the heads of those that are thus threatned according to that of Dauid Psal 109.28 Though they curse yet wilt thou blesse The happy raigne of the late Queene ELIZABETH will furnish vs with a faire example thereof who notwithstanding the excommuniations of Pope Pius the fift by whom England was interdicted she long time enioyed a Peace without any disturbance or interruption and a prosperity almost beyond example And finally when it pleased God to take her to peace and to gather her to his rest many supposed that the end of her life would be a beginning of troubles and confusions in England and thereupon the opinions and feares were diuers according to the diuersitie of mens desires For the English that were of the Romane Church attentiue and heedy to all occasions had conceiued hope of some great chaunge whether it were that they were led into their hope vpon false grounds or that after the death of a soueraine Prince better things are euer expected from the succeffor or whether that such as are discontented are euer desirous of a change so it was that in this Crisis of humours the spirits of the English waued and floated betwixt hope and feare till by the happy arriuall of IAMES the first the lawfull Successor all things were appeased and cleared euen as by the rising of the Sunne mists and fogges are dispersed and scattered He in the sweetnesse and fairenesse of his owne nature enclined to giue content vnto all his subiects with free liberty of conscience But this his in clination was ouer-ruled by necessity when his wisedome entred into consideration that the matter now in question was not onely Religion but the peace of his estate and the security of his crowne for that it was a thing dangerous to permit publike Assemblies of such persons as had taken Oath to others then himselfe who hold that the Pope may pull downe Kings from their Thrones and dispense with subiects for the oath of their alleageāce Moreouer he called to his remembrance the kings his predecessors whom the Popes had reduced to extream seruitude so farre as to make England parte of the Popes Demaines and in Fee to the Church of Rome and further to make it pay impost and to cause the King to goe beneath his Legats and to giue vp the Crowne into their handes These are considerations that one cannot square or apply to those of the Reformed Religion which liue vnder a Soueraigne of a contrary profession for they take oath to no other but to their Soueraigne Prince They cast their eyes vpon no Forrainer they maintaine that it belongs not to the subiect out of the Religion of the Prince to frame occasions of disobedience making piety the match and kindler of rebellion We are ready to expose our liues for the defence of our King against whomsoeuer though he be of our owne Religion and whosoeuer should doe otherwise should not defend Religion but giue way to his owne ambitions and should draw a great scandall vpon the truth of the Gospell Notwithstanding his Maiestie hath vsed his subiects of the Romane Church in such sorte that excepting the liberty of publique exercise he desired to haue them in like and equall condition with others being vnwilling to haue them disturbed for matter of conscience knowing well that Religion is not by force but by perswasion to take impression and that in this case men will rather follow then be drawne and that persecutions begin when Arguments are at an end Notwithstanding this gentle proceeding those of the Church of Rome now fallen from great hopes which they had imagined turned their despaire into choller and indignation and thereupon plotted an enterprise that should haue enfoulded the King the Queene their children his Maiesties Councell and the Parliament in one and the same destruction the plot was to make a Mine vnder the house of Parliament and so to send the King and his royal family with the chiefe of his Countrey to heauen by a new found way Hatred is an ingenious Mistris of inuention for neyther ancient nor moderne Histories can parallel this with any example The Prince of the world reserued to our times which are the very sinke of former ages something more exquisitely cruell and horrible then euer before hath beene mentioned In the meane time through all their houses there was a certaine forme of prayer prescribed by the Priests and Iesuites for the happy successe of this enterprise to whom the complices did mutually binde themselues by oath sworne vpon the holy Sacrament both for secrecie and perseuerance in the designe The Mine was already finished and the Gun-powder laid ready and nothing wanting but the execution when God who as he is himselfe a King so consequently he is the protector of Kings whom he hath established miraculously discouered this treason the conspiratours being taken suffered according vnto law and amongst others two Iesuites Garnet and Ouldcorne who are now inserted into a catalogue of * It is a table printed at Rome Anno 1608. apud Paulum Mauperinum Matheum Gruterum dedicated to R. Farnesius Prince of Parma in which are the pictures of such Iesuits as haue beene killed and executed sinc◠the yeare 1549. Martyrs imprinted at Rome which is the Spring-head and Forge of all such enterprises Lesse cause would haue sufficed an impatient King to haue exterminated all their complices and to haue let loose the raines of his iust anger but hee with a rare example of clemency suffered punishment to passe no further then to the principall delinquents inuenting and framing to himselfe Causes and Reasons how he might pardon he considered that Superstition might alter
and stirre vp the mildest spirits and was desirous by pardoning the wicked to make them become good and though he could not find cause in them why to pardon he fouÌ„d it in himselfe for though they no way deserued mercy yet he shewed himself worthy of his greatnesse in doing good to those of so euill demerite He considered that God whom hee represents sendeth raine vpon the Bryers and Thistles as well as on fruit Trees and makes the Sunne to rise alike to the good and to the euill or else it may be that his clemency was accompanied and assisted with a neglect of his enemies esteeming many of them not worthy of his wrath But for the better preuenting of such conspiracies in future times the Parliament together with the King framed a forme of Oath to be administred to all his Maiesties subiects which is to this effect That they acknowledge IAMES the first King of great Britaine for their lawfull King and that the Pope cannot by any right whatsoeuer depose him from his Kingdomes nor discharge his subiects of their obedience to him nor giue them licence to beare Armes against him Also that notwithstanding any Declaration or Sentence of ExcoÌ„munication made or granted or to be made or granted against the said King his Successors they wil beare faith and true alleageance to him his heyrs Successors him and theÌ„ wil defend to the vttermost of their power against all attempts conspiracies whatsoeuer And that they wil reueale al treasons and trayterous Conspiracies which they shall know or heare of against him or any of them And that they do abhor detest and abiure this damnable position that Princes which be excommunicated by the Pope may be deposed or murdered by their subiects And that they beleeue and in conscience are resclued that the Pope hath no power to absolue them of this Oath or any part thereof And renounce all pardons and dispensations to the contrary And that without any Equiuocation mentall Euasion or secret Reseruation whatsoeuer they doe sincerely acknowledge and sweare all these things and doe make this acknowledgement heartely willingly and truely So helpe them God This Oath being offered to those of the Romish Church diuers of them tooke it without difficulty and amongst the rest Blackwell the Arch-Priest who then was and still remaines in England These things being come to the knowledge of the Bishop of Rome Paul the fift that raignes at this present he dispatches presently for England a breue or as they terme it letters Apostolique bearing date the two twentieth of September 1606. by which he declares That this Oath cannot be taken with good conscience exhorting them rather to vndergoe all cruell torments whatsoeuer yea Death it selfe rather then to offend the Maiestie of God by such an Oath and to imitate the constancy and fortitude of the other English Martyrs willing them to haue their loynes girt about with verity and to haue the Brest-plate of righteousnes and to take the shield of faith That God that hath begunne this good worke might finish it in them who wil not leaue them Orphants c. And finally willeth them exactly to put in practise that which is commaunded in the Letters of Clement the eight his Predecessor written to Mr. George Black well the Arch-priest of England by which Letters all Princes of any Religion contrary to their owne are excluded from the kingdome of England These Letters being come into England were not receiued by those of the Romish Church with such respect as the Pope expected for many iudged them ridiculous as exhorting them to suffer Martyrdome for ill doing since none can be a Martyr but for hauing done well As also for that they declare that this Oath is contrary to the Catholique faith without telling why or wherefore as likewise for that the exhortations of holy Scripture to shun vice and to perseuere in the profession of the Gospell and to resist the Diuell are in this Papall breue drawne to a contrary sense to kindle sedition and to incite subiects to disobedience And aboue all for that these Letters ingaging the subiects to reuolt doe necessarily plucke vpon them persecution and the iust anger of their natural Prince who being vnwilling to require any caution of them in any thing contrary to their beliefe demaundeth no more of them but fidelity and ciuill obedience For these considerations some part of the Priests and Friers of England said that these Letters of the Pope were shufled in by their Aduersaries and forged by the Heretiques for so they of their goodnes are pleased to tearme vs to kindle the anger of the King against them which was already prouoked by the plot of the Powder-mine which onely fell out to ruine the vndertakers By reason whereof the same Pope being aduertised that through these doubts whether they were true or fained the Authority of his Letters were infringed hee writ others more expresly bearing date the three and twentieth of August 1607. In which he seemeth to wonder that they any way suspect the truth of the Apostolique letters Non solum motu proprio exceâ—â—a nostra scientia verum etiam post longam grauem deliberationem that vnder that pretence they might exempt themselues from his commaunds and therefore declareth vnto them that those letters were written not onely vpon his proper motion and of his certaine knowledge but also after long and weighty deliberation and therfore again inioyneth them fully to obserue them for such is his will and pleasure To these letters giuing the Alarums to rebellion for their greater confirmation were added the letters of Cardinall Bellarmine to George Blackewell the Arch-Priest In which after he had put him in minde of their auncient acquaintance hee greatly blameth him for taking the Oath the which vnder colour of modifications hath no other aime or drift but to transferre the authority of the Pope the head of the Church to a Successor of HENRY the eight by the examples of his Predecessors he exhorreth him constantly to defend the primacy of the Pope whom he calleth the head of the faith But he sheweth neyther what wordes or clauses in this Oath are contrary to the faith of the Romish Church nor wherefore this Arch-Priest should rather chuse to die then to obliege himselfe by Oath to be loyall to his King in things meerly ciuill and which no way meddle with the Primacy of the Pope and yet this is the onely thing whereof question is made and whereof proose is expected These letters both of the Pope and Cardinall being fallen into the handes of his Maiestie might wel haue kindled the anger of a very patient Prince and haue armed and stirred him vp against those with whom these Papall letters were of more power then eyther their faith to their King or their obedience to God For what Prince can permit in his Kingdome subiects that acknowledge him not or that to retaine
receiue some lustre from his reflection But those that desire to make themselues knowne by the greatnesse of their Aduersaries are alwaies such as haue little in themselues why the world should take note of them This Doctor in his booke handleth the King of great Britaine as a Nurce doth her nurce-childe who after shee hath dandled it beates it mingling curstnesse and flattery For in humble termes hee wrongeth him and giueth him respectfull lyes flatters him with iniuries accuseth him to speake vpon trust and that he busieth himselfe with quirkes and subtleties and sayes that he makes S. Paul an Interpreter of the Apocalips This is the forme of his writing as for the matter and substance of his booke I finde that he hath ill measured his owne strength and that with the weakenesse and meanenesse of his skill he hath made the strength of his Maiesties reasons more manifest Gyants are not to be ouerthrown with a breath neyther is a Lion to be fought against with a Festue Other kind of forces are necessary to make resistance to so exquisite a doctrine that is euer abundantly sustained by the truth And indeede he clearely confesseth his weakenesse in this that hee neuer cyteth the Text of the Kings booke but only reporteth the sense thereof disguised and weakened that he may giue himselfe greater scope and liberty forming to himself Chimera's which he impugneth with other Chimera's of his owne as will sufficiently appeare by the examination of his booke to which we now will enter God herein enlighten vs since that which wee say is for his truth which is the light of our soules CHAP. II. Certaine Remonstrances of COEFFETEAV his iudgement touching the Treasons and attempts vppon the life of the King of England ARISTOTLE in the second booke of his Rhetoriques Chap. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith that the Countrey people vse to haue their speeches very full of sentences but folly is more sufferable then vnseasonable wisedome Coeffeteau beginneth his booke much after such fashion making to the King of great Britaine many sententious Remonstrances interlaced and mingled with threats and commendations But whilst he representeth to Kings their duties he goeth beyond his owne for S. Ierome forbids Monkes to be teachers saying in his booke against Vigilantius Monachus non docentissed plangen tis habet officium wishing Monks rather to bewaile and be sorrowfull for their owne faults then to reprehend those of other men But chiefly his Remonstrances are ill employed to a King that is better read in the Bible then he is in his Missall and that hath carefully put in practise the commaundement of God in the seuenteenth of Deuteronomy where hee commaunds Kings to read the booke of the law all the dayes of their liues verse 19. The exhortation that Luther often vsed by his Letters to Pope Leo the tenth to renounce the papacy and to liue of his owne and to come and doe as he did had more grace with it then this of Coeffeteau for it is more probable of the two Sleidan li. 2. that the Pope was the likelier to haue followed Luthers counsell This Doctor hauing thus employed the seuen first pages of his book in these exhortations which haue no other fault but that they are ill applyed comes to those motiues which estrange and keepe the King of England from the Romane Religion supposing the conspiracies that haue beene against his person to be the causes of it thereupon protesteth Fol. 5. pag. 1. that the Romane Church no way approueth such attempts but condemnes them as parricides and wisheth to Princes secure gouernement victorious armes obedient people and faithfull Councell And after addeth That for these considerations the head of the Church which is the Pope cannot disaproue the courses that your Maiestie holaeth to secure your authority and person against the miserable enterprizes so that they bee not repugnant to that Religion which he is bound to desend To this I say Coeffeteau hath beene very ill enformed for the conspiracies against the King of Englands life haue not with-held or kept him from Popery since euen from his Infancy he hath made open profession of the true Religion and before this conspiracy had published the confession of his faith conformable to that which we professe And whereas he condemnes such attempts as are made vpon the liues of Kings we greatly commend him for it and thereby suppose that he no way approued the enterprize of Iames Clement who was domesticke with him and his companion From thence I likewise gather that when the Iesuite Mariana in the sixt Chapter of his booke De Regno prayseth the Act of Iames Clement saying that he was perswaded and enduced thereunto by Diuines with whom hee had conferr'd I gather that Coeffeteau was none of those Diuines and that when this Parricide Saint and Coeffeteau went a begging together hee made him not acquainted with his secret And further it is no small vertue in this Doctor that he feareth not in so iust a cause to condemne many Iesuites who were complices or instigators of this last conspiracy and haue been executed for it Nay more it sheweth a magnanimity in Coeffeteau that hee dares so couragiously oppose himselfe to the Pope and Bellarmine who by their letters before mentioned incite the English to rebellion which could neuer take effect so long as the Kings life should be in safety By the same meanes he likewise condemneth the Authors of the Legend of S. Iames Clement which wee haue seene with our eyes but not without much wonder and admiration The successe of things haue grudged him this honor and men haue beene nothing fauourable and propitious to this Saint otherwise doubtlesse hee had before this beene put into paradice It is likewise a cause of iust ioy vnto vs to see that a Doctor of the Sorbons dare approue the sentence of the Court of Parliament against Iohn Chastell though the Pope of late hath newly censured it By which it dooth also follow that he doth not thinke it well done that Garnet and Ouldcorne Iesuites and parties in the gunpowder treason are at Rome inserted in a roll of Martyres Whosoeuer prayseth and approueth an acte already done will questionlesse counsel and aduise the doing of it for that which is wicked in the vndertaking cannot be good in the execution But the Pope in his breue before mentioned calleth the punishment of Treason and rebellion by the name of Martyrdom which is a dangerous speech able to make Kings tremble when the people shall be taught by Murders and Treasons to seeke the Crowne of Martyrdome An abhominable and detestable doctrine can there be any so colde and frozen zeale that will not hereby be warmed and moued to a iust anger that this so sacred name of Martyr so much reuerenced in the Church should in such sort be prostituted that whereas the holy Scripture calleth them Martyrs which suffer for the testimony of the
Gospell now a dayes those which haue their handes stayned and soyled with the blood of Kings should be honoured with that Title It is not the suffering but the cause that maketh a Martyr otherwise the diuell might likewise haue his Martyrs but such paines are crymes and are not onely vnworthy of praise but are likewise vnworthy of pardon and such pains and torments as are againe to be punished with future torments Is it then fit that the holy squadron of Martyrs where S. Stephen marcheth first and S. Iames neare vnto him and after them the rest of the Apostles followed by so many of the faithfull who haue bin prodigall of their bloods but careful and thriftie of the glory of God Is it fit amongst them to finde Incendiaries and Parricides with fire and sword in hand not like vnto S. Paul and S. Lawrence that is to say not representing their punishments but as testimonies of their crymes not to signifie the death by which they died but to declare the manner how they murdered Vnhappy age that styleth villaines with title of vertue and that by the corrupting of words and names depraueth the things themselues and so by a new kinde of Grammer introducteth a new kinde of Diuinity But God be praised that he hath not permitted the Pope by his skill and arte to plant this perswasion generally in the hearts of the people but that euen amongst our aduersaries themselues there are very many that no way approue this seditious and bloody doctrine Amongst which number I would willingly place the Doctor Coeffeteau because of his protestations were it not that he allayes them with such modifications and restrictions as giues vs cause to doubt of them And which testifie that those Kings with whose liues and Crownes he would not haue medled are onely such Kings as are obedient to the Bishop of Rome for he saith That the Church of Rome wisheth to Princes an assured Empire victorious Armes and an obedient people Now it is most certaine that the Pope desireth not that those Kings which condemne him should bee victorious or that their people should remain in their obedience since he deposeth them from their Thrones and dispenseth to their subiects the Oath of their Alleageance And a little while after he saith that hee speaketh of such estates wherein the Church meaning the Church of Rome subsisteth which is as much to say that where it cannot subsist there hee approueth this rebellion and murther which he more clearely sheweth after Fol. 6. pag. 1. where after these wordes That the Pope cannot disapproue the courses that you hold to secure your Authority and person he addeth So that they be not offensiue to that Religion which he is bound to defend So that hereof it followeth that if the Romane Religion doe receiue any offence in England Then the Pope doth no longer approue the courses that the King holdeth for his conseruation But he giueth after more certaine proofes of his intention the which wee will remarke in their due places Besides we doubt not but a prudent person knoweth how to fashion himselfe to the times and to reserue his bloody propositions for fitter occasions And many times enterprizes are onely blamed because they are not succesfull and vices are turned to vertue by happy euents Multa sunt quae non nisi peracta Laundantur And the iudgements of those whose malice is accompanied with doubt and feare are framed according to the successe But in respect of our friendship I am rather enclined to thinke well of him and to free him of this suspition I will therefore conclude this Chapter with an obseruation which I thinke not fit to be omitted and it is that in the time of S. Paul Nero was then Emperour which Monster God eyther for the scorne of men or for their punishment had placed in the Empire who by his example declared to what height absolute and exquisite wickednesse assisted with Soueraigne power could ascend who likewise was the first that stirred vp persecution amongst the Christians Had the Christians euer greater cause to rebell Or serued they euer vnder a more vnworthy Master Now I would demaund of my Masters the Papists if S. Paul should haue made a Myne vnder his house or vnder colour of salutations should haue strucken him to the heart with a Poniard or had beene taken in any of these enterprizes and so put to death for them whether had he beene a Martyr or whether had his death beene acceptable or tended to the edification of the Church But because this is a question full of difficulties it is fit we should leaue it vndecided and that we expect some resolution from the Doctors or some decision from his Holinesse After this Coeffeteau Fol. 6. speaketh by the way of the Popes power ouer the temporality of Kings and promiseth afterwards to speake more at large Wee therefore to auoyde the repetition of things twice will set aside that subiect till he commeth to the place where hee fully handleth it And now let vs heare what he saith of the dignity of Cardinals Fol. 8. CHAP. III. Of Cardinals FOrasmuch as Bellarmine vnder the name of Tortus compareth the dignity of Cardinals to the Maiestie of Kings That is to say the Cardinals Cappe with the Regall Crowne the charge of a seruant of the seruant of seruants to the dignity of the ruler of Nations The King of great Britaine speaketh thus in his Apology I was neuer the man I confesse that could thinke a Cardinall a meete match for a King especially hauing many hundreth thousands of my subiects of as good birth as he As for his Church-dignity his Cardinalship I meane I know not how to ranke or value it eyther by the warrant of God his word or by the Ordinance of Emperours or Kings it being indeed onely a new Papall erection tolerated by the sleeping Conniuence of our predecessors I meane still by the plurall of Kings To this Coeffeteau maketh a milde replie intreating his Maiesty to iudge more fauourably of the intentions of so modest and learned a person as Bellarmine is Fol. 8. beseeching him to remember that Caluine acknowledged that the Cardinals flourished in the time of S. Gregory which is one thousand yeares since and that euen in the Councell of Rome vnder Siluester the first there is mention made of the seuen Deacon Cardinals as of no new Institution then And addeth that their charge was to instruct the people and to minister the Sacraments And since they hauing gotten vnto themselues the election of the Pope and being alwayes neere about him their glory is growne and increased by which the Church hath receiued much ease and furtherance the head of the Church hauing alwayes about his person his Councell in affaires of greatest importance Hee likewise saith that Kings reuerence them but they are so farre from making themselues equall with Kings that Princes finde none that beare themselues with more respect towards
weake in the mouth of a Iesuite who holdeth that a Pope Bellar. l. 2. de Rom. Pont. c. 29 be he neuer so wicked and a destroyer of the Church cannot be deposed no not by a general Councell and yet there is greater apparant danger in this then in the former That which Bellarmine addeth seemeth to haue beene written by him being asleepe and is nothing else but a quippe to make men laugh He proueth that a faithfull people may free themselues from the yoake of a Prince that is an Infidell that is to say may rebell against him and that by the example of the beleeuing wife which by the iudgement of the Apostle 1. Cor. 7. is not bound to abide with an husband that is an Infidell when hee will not dwell with her Whereunto I answere first that Similitudes are no proofes Secondly this Similitude being rightly taken doth not hurt vs for as a beleeuing wife is not bound to follow her husband when he forsaketh her and wil no longer co-habite with her so I will freely confesse that subiects are not bound to acknowledge a King that abandoneth his subiects and will no longer be King ouer them but renounceth his Realme and this is all that may be drawne from this Comparison Thirdly this Similitude is aduantageous vnto vs for if we admit the Comparison betweene the condition of a wife and of subiects then will it definitiuely determine our Controuersie and make vs gain the cause For as while an husband that is an Infidell will abide with his beleeuing wife she may not forsake him nor shake off her yoake so while a King that is an Infidell will retayne his soueraignty ouer beleeuing subiects they may not abandone him nor rebell against him The wordes of the Apostle are directly to this purpose If any woman haue an vnbeleeuing husband and he consent to dwell with her let her not forsake him All that which Bellarmine addeth is nothing else but as his manner is suppositions without proofes We graunt him that Princes who against their promise doe warre against the true fayth deserue to be depriued of their Kingdome but wee denye that this power of depriuing them is in the Pope VVe must reserue that iudgement to God seeing it is he that hath established them and that as Tertullian sayth they are inferiour to GOD alone Tertul. ad Scapulam in Apolog. cap. 30. A quo sunt secundi post quem primi Cap. 30. Cum dixit Petro Amas me Pasce oues meas idem dixit caeteris As touching these wordes spoken to S. PETER Feed my sheepe to omit for the present that which S. AVSTIN sayth in his booke of the Christian combate that Iesus Christ saying to S. Peter Feede my lambes spake the same to the rest as all the auncients with one accord doe say that the power of binding and loosing was giuen to the Apostles and to the whole Church in the person of S. Peter to omit this because I will treat of it in his proper place I onely say that albeit this had beene spoken to the Pope yet might he not for all that chastise Princes with depriuation of their estates or by raising a commotion among his subiects or by imposing fines and amercements vpon his countreyes This is to enterprete the word Feede too licentiously we had neede of new Grammer for this new Diuinity for the word Feede which in times past signified to teach and to guide dooth now a dayes signifie to blast whole kingdomes with the lightning of excommunications to ouerthrow great Monarches and to sucke and draw out the very substance of the poore people Beare with our simplicity herein for so great an abuse in wordes maketh vs to feare a greater in the matter it selfe To speake barbarously were an euill somewhat tollerable were it not that Barbarismes doe sometymes passe into Heresies and incongruities in wordes into incongruity in fayth Thus the Bishop of Rome calleth himselfe the Pylot and Steer-man of S. Peters Shippe but he imployeth that barke to trafficke his owne gayne and S. Peters nets to fish for Princes Crownes and to entramell whole States and Common-weales His keyes now a dayes serue onely to open Cofers His power of loosing only to loose the bonds of fidelity through a mutinous piety and a factious Religion which maketh it self Iudge ouer the consciences of kings which euen hateth their Religion because it hateth their rule gouernment and maketh that to be a good subiect to be a good Christian are things that cannot subsist together Bellarmines reasons hauing beene very feeble the examples which he produceth in the Chapter following are lesse currant He sayeth that Osias king of Iuda was dryuen out of the Temple by the High Priest and depryued of his kingdome The text of Scripture is direct to the contrary It is said 2. King 15.2 that Osias began to raigne in the sixteenth yeare of his age and hee raigned fifty two yeates so that he liued threescore and eyght years whence it appeareth that he was King euen vntill his death In the fift verse Iotham his son during the time of his fathers separation because of his leprosie he is not called King but gouernor of his house And ver 7. the beginning of the raigne of Iotham is reckoned only from the death of Osias his father The example of Athalia driuen from the Kingdome by Iehoiada the high Priest is as little to the 2. King 11. purpose For wee speake here of lawfull Princes deposed and he brings vs an example of a woman thâ—t vsurped anothers Kingdome by force and tyranny in which case euery man is allowed to employ himselfe to expel the vsurper and to preserue the Kingdome to the lawfull King The example of S. Ambose Bishoppe of Millan who would not receiue the Emperour Theodosius to the communion by reason of that great slaughter which his souldiers at his commaundement committed at Thessalonica maketh expresly against the Bishop of Rome For would the Pope now a dayes indure that a Bishoppe of Millan or Colleyne should intrude himselfe to excommunicate Emperours and to declare them to be fallen from their Empire without his permission Did Ambrose this by the counsaile or commaundement of the Bishop of Rome And were it so that Ambrose had beene that the Pope now sayth himselfe to be where will Bellarmine finde that Ambrose did degrade the Emperour or that he dispensed with his subiects for the Oath of fidelity Let a man read his three and thirtieth Epistle and he shall see with how great humilty he submitteth himselfe to an Arrian Emperour so farre from preaching any reuolt of his subiects from him that indeede hee willingly offered to dye and to suffer persecution if such were the will of the Emperour As touching the law which Theodosius imposed vpon himselfe by the Counsell of S. Ambrose which was that from thence forward he would stay the execution of any sentence of death
themselues wormes dust and his petty-seruants as did Gregory the first writing to Mauricius CHAP. VI. Of the Clergie and of their Liberties and Exemption § Tertia Cleriâ—i non possunt a Iudice politico puniri vel vllo modo trahi ad secularis magistratus tribunal CArdinall Bellarmine cap. 28. of his booke De Clericis sayth That Clergie men may not at any hand be punished by the politique Iudge or be drawne before the iudgement seat of the Secular Magistrate He saith also that the cheife Bishop hauing deliuered Clerkes from the subiection of Princes § Respondeo summus Pontifex Clericos exemit a subiectione Principum non sunt amplius Principes clericorum superiores Kings are no longer Superiours ouer Clerkes In the same place also he maintayneth that the goods as wel of the Clergy as of secular men are and ought to be exempted from the taxe and tribute of Secular Princes § Quarta Bona Clericorum tam Ecclesiastica quam secularia libera sunt ac merito esse debent a Tributis Principum secularium Hereunto the King of great Britaine speaking to the Emperour to the Kings and Princes of Christendome sayth in this manner And when the greatest Monarches amongst you will remember that almost the third part of your Subiects and of your Territories is Church-men and Church-liuings I hope ye will then consider and weigh what a feather he puls out of your winges when he denudeth you of so many Subiects and their possessions in the Popes fauour nay what bryers and thornes are left within the heart of your Dominions when so populous and potent a party shall haue their birth education and liuelyhood in your Countries and yet owe you no Subiection nor acknowledge you for their SOVERAIGNES So as where the Church-men of old were content with their tythe of euery mans goods the Pope now will haue little lesse then the third part of euery Kings Subiects and Dominions To these words so full of weight and euidence Coeffeteau answereth very softly and sillily He saith that Catholicke Kings do not apprehend any such calamitie seeing that amongst them Ecclesiasticall Persons liue vnder their Lawes and acknowledge their authority euen the Pope himselfe beeing aware of it That in France the Cardinals and Byshops performe vnto the King the Oath of Fidelity coÌ„mendeth the Kings for hauing giueÌ„ to Clerks great immunities notwithstanding which he sayth that they doe not let to be bound to ciuill Lawes These wordes are full of timerousnesse and lurking ambiguity Answere Hee saith that Clerkes indeede liue vnder the lawes of Princes but hee doth not tell vs that in case of disobedience the King may punish them for otherwise there is no subiection He sayth that the Bishops yeeld the Oath of Fidelity but the question now is not touching fidelity but touching subiection and obedience He speaketh of immunities granted by Princes but he doth not tel vs what these immunities be for this is one as Bellarm. witnesseth and we will shew hereafter that Clerks are no longer subiects to Kings that the King is no longer their Superiour Thus can we learne nothing of this Doctor So that indeede his Maiesties complaint is so iust that if we holde our peace threin the cause wil proclaime it selfe Euery man knoweth what a Diminution to the Crowne and greatnesse of Kings these immunities of Clergy men do bring all which they couer and rabble vp vnder the Title of the liberty of the Church vnworthily transporting this sacred name of Christian liberty which signifieth in the word of God the deliuerance from the curse and malediction and from the yoake of sinne and from the heauy burthen of the ceremonies of the law to ciuill pretences and dispensations with that naturall duety which wee owe vnto our Prince vnder whom we had the happinesse first to behold the Sunne This is a thing that belongeth euen to the law of Nations and besides that is authorised by the word of God that euery person be subiect to the Soueraigne Magistrate But here now see how in one kingdome as in Fraunce there will be found aboue three hundred thousand persons who vnder the title of Clergy-men haue shaken off the yoake of the Princes authority yea euen children that are entred Nouices into that Body exempted from all obedience towards their parents This body of the Clergie hath its Iudges and officers their prisons likewise apart Their causes are not called to be answered before Royall Iudges but receiue hearing and determination in the great State chamber at Rome called La Zuota or in the consistorie There is a third parte of the Lands of this kingdome in the hands of Clergy men to the great preiudice of our kings For it often commeth to passe that the proprietarie owners and possessors of lands doe sell their inheritances whence accureth profite to the Prince by the Kings fine which ariseth of euery first part or first prime of such fales and other rights belonging to the cheefe Lord which Rights are lost when once immoueable goods enter into the possession of the Clergy The king doth also lose his right of Aubaine which is an escheate to the king of all such goods as any stranger dying in Fraunce is possessed of also the right of confiscation and in case of desertion when a man doth quit his owne estate The Clergy being a body that neuer dyeth that neuer confiscateth and in which body inheritances dye by Mortmaine Vpon whom the secular persons conferre euery day new Donations but we neuer see the sharing of Ecclesiasticall goods made to the profite and behoofe of any Lay-man for goods finde many gates open to enter into the Clergy but neuer a one to get our from thence like those footings of the wilde beasts which all turned inward towards the Lyons denne but there appeared no trace of any that euer returned from thence And hence it commeth to passe that as in mans body the thighs and armes grow lesse and lesse by how much the bigger the belly swelleth through excesse so in the body of a Common wealth The Nobility and the Commonalty who are as the armes and legges of that State they are brought low by the increase of the Clergy To this end also they haue obtained that the Church shal alwayes be held in non-age and in her minority that if she shall at any time haue made promise or contract that may turne to her disaduantage she may vnder that pretence be releeued And whereas in common course of law thirtie yeeres are sufficient to keepe possession by way of Prescription De Praescript Cap. 2. in Serto. Contra ipsam Romanam Ecclesiam Centenaria vel contra alias Ecclesias quadragenaria prescriptro Legitima sit completa Against the Church of Rome and against the Templaries no Prescription can be of force vnder one hundred yeares which is in effect as much as that against them there is no Prescription The other
and Solitary Monkes and not to Seculars onely And that which is yet more he addeth Be thou an Apostle be thou an Euangelistor a Prophet or whosoeuer Whence appeareth that if the Pope be an Apostle as indeed he calleth his charge an Apostleship notwithstanding by S. Pauls rules he should be liable to taxes and rallages and subiect to the ciuill Magistrate Now because some perhaps may vse this exception This is Bellarmines owne exception cap. 3. de exemptione Clericorum That Christian Clerks were forced of necessity to be subiect to Paynim Princes to pay them taxe and tribute to appeare before their Ciuill and Criminal Iudges for feare of drawing by such their refusall persecution vpon the whole Church but vnder a Christian Prince Clerkes ought to be exempt from this subiection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The same Chrysostome addeth in the same Sermon That if the Epostle established this law at what time Princes were Paynims How much more then ought this to be vnder beleeuing Princes Si omnis vestra Quis vos excipit ab vniuersitate Likewise S. Bernard in his two and fortieth Epistle to the Archbishop of Sens Giue honour to whom honour belongeth Let euery soule be subiect to the higher powers if euery soule then yours also for who can except you from that which is vniuersall Si quis tentat excipere conatur decipere He would daceiue you that would except you This worthy personage had a sensible feeling of the excessiue abuses which alleadged in his time were growne vp in these exemptions S. Ambrose in his Oration of surrendering vp Churches saith De tradendis Basilicis Si tributum petit non negatur Agri Ecclesiae soluuÌ„t tributum Veri ministri Dei legibus nostris subij ciuntâ—r If the Emperour demaund Tribute we doe not refuse it In the fourth booke of Theodorets Story cap. 7. Valentinian the elder writing to the Bishops of Asia he saith That the true Ministers of God are subiect to the lawes of Emperours And it is in the very same Emperour who being ioyned with Valens made that law of which * Pudet dicere Sacerdotes ido lorum aurigae mimi scorta haereditates capiunt solis Clericis monachis hoc lege prohibetur probbetur non a persecutoribus sed a principibus Christianis Nec de lege conqueror sed dolâ—o cur meruimus hanc legem S. Ierome speaketh in his Epistle to Nepotian which did forbid Ecclesiasticall persons to receiue any heretages or to take any thing from women which law is found in the Code of Theodosius in the title De Episcopis Clericis Whence appeareth that the Emperiall lawes did in those dayes subiect Clerkes to many things from which the seculars themselues were exempted Which was not reckoned any Tyranny seeing that S. Ierome sayth in the same place that he doth not complaine of that law but rather of the Auarice of the Clergy who had worthely deserued to be curbed and repressed by that law made VVhat shall I say more Pope Vrban and the Romane Decree in the Cause 23. Quest 8. in the Canon Tributum speaketh in this manner †De exterioribus suis quae palam cunctis apparent Ecclesia tributum reddit The Church payeth her tribute of all her outward goods Againe * Pâ—o pace quiete qua nos tueri defensare principes debent imperatoribus persoluendum est We must pay to Emperours in recognisance of the peace and quiet in which they ought to maintaine and defend vs. Let a man read the Canon †Pontâ—sices procursu tempor alium rerum imperialib is legibâ— vterentur Quoniam and the Canon De Capitulis in the tenth Distinction and there a man shall see how much the Popes do acknowledge themselues subiect to the Emperours and bound to obey no other lawes then the Imperiall in temporall affaires In Sigonius his fift booke Ansbert Archbishop of Pauia crowned Carolus Caluus King of the Romanes saying vnto him Wee haue chosen you with ioynt consent Protector Lord and King and we yeelde our selues your subiects with all our bearts As touching the punishment of crimes it is found at large in the * De Episcopis Clerâ—cis Code of Theodosius that about the yeare 315. Constantine discharged certaine Clerkes from publique functions which they had executed in person and yet without discharging their possessions But as well he as his successours retayned and reserued to themselues the punishment of crimes For in the twentieth chapter of the first booke of the Story of Theodoret he sent Eustathius Bishoppe of Antioch into banishment The Emperour * Sulpitius Seuerus in the second booke of his Story Maximus put certaine Bishops to death for hauing beene infected with the Herefie of the Gnosticks contrary to the counsel of S. Martin who did not approue that cruelty But S. Martin doth not reprehend him for hauing set in his foote ouer the Clergy or for that hee had thrust himselfe in injuriously to the iudgement of their crymes yea about the yeare 1560 the Emperour Iustinian established a law Iustinianus in Nouellis 79. 83.123 by which he permitted Ecclesiasticall persons in ciuill causes to proceede before their owne Bishop but in criminall matters his pleasure is that they should vndergoe the jurisdiction of secular Magistrates the indulgence of the succeeding Emperors hath exempted them from al secular jurisdiction contrary to the dignity and security of the Empire yea and contrary to the rules and examples of the worde of God it selfe Vnder the Law the Leuites had no prisons apart nor Iudges apart they were subiect to the Kings who sometimes chastised the high Priests themselues as Salomon deposed Abiathar from the Priesthood Iesus Christ appeared before the iudgement seat of Pilate Io. 19.11 and he giues this testimony that it is giuen him of God to be Iudge in this cause S. Paul did not appeale to S Peter but to Caesar Act. 23 11. and he doth it by the counsel of the holy Ghost to the end that men should not thinke that it was an euasion which hee followed out of necessity without approuing it as lawfull S. Paul himselfe doth subiect euery soule to the powers that beare the sword and by consequent he dooth subiect them also vnto corporall punishments Some perhaps will say I graunt you that the Clergy haue now a dayes many more exemptions then they haue had in former times But the Emperours and Kings haue giuen them immunities and freedomes which now are irreuocable Concil Chalced can 9. Si Clerieus aduersus â—â—lericum negotium habeat non relinquat Episcopum suum ad secularia Iudicia non recurrat I answere that if Kings haue giuen to Clergy men such immunities they may take them away from them againe when they shal see it to be necessary for the preseruation of their State So all that men are wont to alleadge
Fraunce were vnder Marcus Aurelius the sonne of Anthony that is to say in the yeare of our Lord 162. threescore and fiue yeares after the death of Domitian whosoeuer shall calculate the times shall find that Denis the Ariopagite was then Iudge in Ariopagus at the time when S. Paul conuerted him whence it is to be presumed that he was at least thirty or fiue and thirty yeare olde which time if you extend as farre as to the raigne of Marcus Aurelius he should haue liued some hundred and fiftie yeares and also should die by torment before that he was broken by olde age We could produce others in this point but this sufficeth to iustifie the King of great Britaine who though he should haue called the Saints that neuer were Tutelary gods yet should there not bee iust cause to reprehend him After this Caeffeteau comes to the authorities of the Fathers surely this matter should well deserue some commaundement from God One Ordinance of God had cut off al difficulty and had been more of value then a thousand testimonies of men But Coeffeteau could finde none for indeede there is none Being not able then to draw out of the Diuine spring he seekes heere and there for the Cesternes of men Our aduersaries tell vs that they receiue the Fathers for interpreters of the Scripture but the passages are drawne out of phrases of the Fathers in which they doe not interprete the scripture but what will become of the matter if these quotations be to no purpose if indeede they be false And that is it which we are to shew Basill in his oration of the 40. Martyrs saith indeed that some in their necessity had recourse vnto them but he doth nor commaund to doe it as Bellarmine will haue it in b Where he pâ—â—â—teth confugiat for confugit and oret for orat falsifying this place Aliud est quod docemus aliud quod sustinemus donec emendemus tolarare compellimur a man must not maruaile if a people newly crept out of Paganisme did retaine something of their owne Custome and oftentimes the Bishops caryed away with the terrent of popular zeale were constrained to tollerate these abuses Saint Austine in his twentieth booke against Faustus the Manichee Chap. 21 confesseth that many dranke drunke ouer the Sepulchres of the dead but withall he addeth it is one thing that we teach another that we tollerate it is one thing that which we are commaunded to teach another thing we are commaunded to correct and which we are constrained to beare withall vntill that it bee amended And in the first booke of the manners of the Catholicke Church Chap. 24. I know many saith hee who doe adore the Sepulchres and pictures I know many who drinke most excessiuely ouer the dead The good Bishops saw these maladies in their flockes which being desirous to amend they haue beene often hindred by the sedition of the people as appeareth by the Counsell of Carthage where the Bishops of Affrica being desirous to abolish the abuse which was committed at the sepulchres of the Martyrs they feare to be hindred by the tumult of the rude people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If say they men be hindred to doe this by the vprore of the people at least wise let the multitude be admonished not to assemble in these places Coeffeteau then had alleadged this to purpose if he had the generall custome of the Church of those times or some prayer to Saints made in the publicke seruice instead of producing the misguided deuotion of some particular men In the second place he aleadgeth the oration of Gregory Nyssen in the praise of the Martyr Theodore which we haue heretofore evicted of falsehood After this he produceth the oration of Grogory Nazianzen vpon Saint Basill And here againe his vnfaithfull dealing appeareth for hee dessembleth the wordes going before which serue for a solution where Saint Gregory sheweth that that which he saide to Saint Basill being deceased is onely by opinion and by coniecture These are his wordes And now Basill is in the heauens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 offering as I thinke sacrifices for vs and praying for the people hee speaketh as being assured thereof we know also that the custome of Orators who speake in praise of any man is to make Rhetoricall appellation to the dead and to speake to the absent as to men present The Bookes of the Paynims are full of these examples See how Plinie speaketh to Ciciro long before deceased in his seauenth booke and thirtyeth Chapter Salue primus omnium parens patriae appellate To Gregory Coeffeteau addeth the Catechisme of Cyrill which are falâ—ely attributed vnto him Gesner in his Bibliotheca witnesseth that this booke is found in written hand vnder the name of one Iohn of Ierusalem Gretzer a Germiane Iesuit in his booke for Pilgrimages page 354. witnesseth the same Harding in his Treatise of Accidents without subiect Section the 6. saith that in his time this booke was not fouâ—d but manuscript and knowne to a fewe And the foolery which is found in the 24. Catechise when he saith that the wood of the Crosse doth increase and multiply in such fort that the earth is full thereof sheweth that this booke was written many ages since doubtlesse by this Iohn of Ierusalem an aduocate for Images who liued in the yeare 767. See the Ecclesiasticall Stories of Vigner in the yeare 767. Afterwards commeth a place of Saint Austine It is iniurie to pray for a Martyr by whose prayers wee on the other side ought to be recommended This place is found indeed in his 17. Sermon De verbis Apostoli but not in the 80. Tract vpon Iohn as Coeffeteau alleadgeth it who spake by other mens report Now this place is not to the purpose for hee saith onely that the Saints pray for vs which thing wee haue neuer denyed we doe out of Godly considerations presume that albeit they know not the necessity of particular men yet they pray for the Church in generall But that wee should for this cause inuocate them or yeeld them any religious seruice Saint Austine doth not avouch Lastly Coeffeteau addeth Saint Ambrose who in his booke of Widdowes exhorteth Widdowes to pray to the Angells and Martyrs whom he calleth beholders of our liues and actions Here a man may see the humour of our Aduersaries which is to passe by the vertues of the Fathers and to set forth nothing but their vices and blemishes like Flyes who cast themselues vpon gaules and botches of bodies rather then vpon the sound parts The Reader then shall be aduertised that Saint Ambrose was chosen Bishop before he was baptised Hauing thus cast himselfe at the first iumpe into a charge to the which hee was no way prepared no man ought to maruaile if in his beginnings he said somthings for which he afterwards corrected himselfe The booke of Widdowes is one of his first works wherein you may
to no purpose For in his 10. Epistle to Gregory Nazianzen after he had aduised him to take heede that hee vsed no requests or intreatyes towards the Bishop of Rome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for feare lest hee waxe proud thereupon he addeth these words If the wrath of God continue what helpe shall we receiue from these Westerlings who neither know the truth neither can they indure to bee taught it Coeffeteau subioyneth that S. Chrysostome beeing banished and driuen from his Bishoppricke he had recourse to Pope Innocent and implored the assistance of his authority But he should also haue added that Innocent taking the defence of Chrysostome in hand wrote two Letters which are found in Sozomen lib. 8. cap. 26. The first of which is nothing but a Consolatorie Epistle to Chrysostome exhorting him to patience without promising him any assistance which hee would doubtlesse haue done if it had bin in his power to haue re-established him into his charge The second Letter was written to the people Clergie of Constantinople in which there is no commandement giuen to restore Chrysostom to the possessioÌ„ of his charge but onely a complaint of infringing the Canons of the Church an aduise to summon a generall Councell Sozomen further addeth in the 28. chapter Ioannis hostes apud Constantinopolim hanc rem quasi in contumeliam eius imperij fieret calumaiati sunt vt illi tanquam transmarini imperij turbator s ablegarentur effâ—cerunt tum etiam vt ipse Iobâ—naâ—s etiam vlteâ—â—us Pâ—â—yâ—atem scilicet exulatum transferretuâ— pro. urarunt that the Deputies sent by the Pope to sollicite Chrysostomes restitution were sent backe without preuailing any thing and were further * accused towards the Emperour Arcadius as hauing medled in this busines with contempt of the Empire and as troublers of the state of the transmarine Empire And indeede were the cause why Chrysostome was sent farther away into banishment So little did men then care for the Counsells or aduertisements of the Bishop of Rome So also al his intercession was onely by way of aduise and request and not by commaundement neither shall you finde that S. Chrysostome or his successours did euer demaund the Bishop of Romes Letters of Inuestiture or euer receiued the Pall from him Our Doctor addeth Lib. 3. cap. 7. that Iulius the first restored Athanasius Patriarch of Alexandria Paul Bishop of Constantinople and many others because saith Sozomen that the care of all things belonged to the Bishop of Rome by reason of his Sea he restored their Churches to each of them It would be in vaine to expect from this Doctor any passages faithfully alleadged the course and order of the story sheweth that they were not restored at all and that the Easterne Churches made little account of the Bishop of Rome For in the lines following it appeareth that the Easterne Bishops did nothing at all of what Iulius wrote vnto them but returned Letters of mockerie taxing his pride They spake indeede honourably of the Church of Rome by reason of the greatnesse of the Citie and because that the Apostles had taught there but withall they adde Tamen indignati sunt se posteriores ideo ferre quod magnitudine Ecclesiae superarentur idque cum virtute viuendi instituto longè superiores essent That they were moued with indignation that they should be thought to be of a lower rancke vnder a pretence that their Church was not so great seeing that if they respected vertue or gouernement of life they were farre before the Church of Rome And to the end that the Bishop of Rome should not be doing with their affaires they tell him that they intermedled not with his And that the Bishops and Priests of the East their predecessors did not oppose themselues to the Bishop of Rome when he cut off Nouatus from the Church And further the same Sozomen cap. 10. witnesseth that the same Orientall Bishops deposed Iulius Bishop of Rome with Osius Maximus and others They were indeed Arrians and proceeded vniustly against Iulius who defended the truth but yet we shall not finde that this hath beene reckoned among the errours of the Arrians that they did not acknowledâ—e the Bishop of Rome to be head of the Church They were ignorant of the true nature of Iesus Christ but they well knew what was the Ecclesiasticall policy and how farre the bounds of the Bishop of Rome did extend And if it be found in story that Iulius Bishop of Rome wrote his Letters to re-integrate any expulsed Bishops into their Charges we finde also that Liberius Bishop of Rome Scribunt literas Faelici tum Ecclesiae Romanae Antistiti Clero eiusdem Ecclesiae vti Liberium recipiant ambo pariter Ecclesiam Apostolicam administrent being put from his Bishopricke is sent backe with the letters of the Easterne Bishops and by their commaundement re-established as Sozomen witnesseth lib. 4. cap. 14. And yet this is not taken vp for a proofe of superiority of the Easterne Bishops ouer the Bishops of Rome but to testifie the mutuall helpe which the Churches lend one to another in their necessities no more then when we read in the story of Socrates l. 7. cap. 33. that Cyrill of Alexandria deposed Nestorius Bishop of Constantinople that Nestoriê° degraded Cyrill as also that Iohn of Antioch and Cyrill condemne excommunicate one another this is not a proof of Superiority So S. Hilary Bishop of Poictiers in the fragments of his Epistles oftentimes saith Anathema tibi a me Liberi and so excommunicateth the Bishop of Rome without any pretence of Superiority ouer him As for that which Sozomen saith that the Bishop of Rome had the care of all Churches by reason of the dignity of his Sea this is true not onely in the Bishop of Rome but also of all the Patriarches Thus haue we heretofore seene that Basil saith that Athanasius Patriarch of Alexandria had the care of all Churches as Basil had of his particular Church and that the Patriarch of Antioch was ouer the whole body of the Church We haue also but euen now produced an example in which the Bishops of the East shew to haue had care of the West But this point hath neede of more cleare demonstration To fetch the matter then a little higher we must vnderstand that from the first Nicene Councell held Anno 328. the Histories doe make manifest that in the auncient Church Bishops had precedency each of other according to the dignities of their Cities which precedency was without any Superiority or Iurisdiction ouer one another No more nor lesse then the Counsellors of the Court goe in rancke according as they were admitted although they be equall in charge Or as when Christian Princes or their Ambassadours meete together to deliberate of the affaires of Christendome one hath precedencie and place before another yet without rule or dominion one ouer another So fared it with
the Bishops of the world We graunt then willingly that the auncient Bishops of Rome before the corruption of Doctrine and vsurpation of the Monarchie in the Church were successors of S. Peter in the Bishoppricke of Rome onely euen as the Bishop of Corinth was successor to S. Paul but withall we adde this that through the corruption of Doctrine which hath by little little crept into the Church of Rome euery age hauing added and contributed thereunto hee is now wholy and iustly falne from that succession For he may not in no wise be called Peters successor who oppugneth the Doctrine preached by S. Peter and who in the Chaire of verity doth establish a lie The Turke may not bee called successor to the Emperour of Greece albeit he be seated in his place seeing that he is rather his subuerter I would haue one shew me that euer S. Peter preached any other purgatory then the bloud of Iesus Christ or any other satisfaction to the iustice of God then his obedience any other sacrifice propitiatory then his death That euer he gaue pardons for an hundred thousand yeares or drew soules out of Purgatory with buls and indulgences that he euer degraded Emperours that he tooke away from the people the reading of the holy Scriptures or the Communion of the Cup or that he commaunded the worshipping of Images and publique Seruice to bee said in an vnknowne tongue or that he euer constrayned other Bishops to take from him letters of Inuestiture and to pay vnto him Annates Or that euer S. Peter was called God on earth the Spouse of the Church and caused himselfe to be worshipped or that euer he sung Masse or commaunded the Host to be adored or that euer he left off preaching the Gospell or quitted the Crosier-staffe to take vnto him a triple Diaderne If I say they can shew me that S. Peter euer did these things then though the Pope were Bishop but of one Village alone I will willingly acknowledge him for S. Peters Successor but still in the Bishopricke only and not in the Apostleship which ended in his person and is not deriued vnto his Successors in particular Churches THus doth the confession of the King of Englands faith remain firme and vnshaken against which Coeffeteau hath armed himselfe with humane testimonies being vtterly destitute of any authority out of the booke of God For as they that are ready to drowne catch hold on any thing so these men in a desperate cause embrace all defences but least of all those that be good Againe whatsoeuer this Doctor alleadgeth out of the Fathers is found to be eyther false or clipt or vtterly counterfeit This payment is not currant especially to such a Prince who hath consecrated his penne to the defence of the truth But this is not to be imputed to Coeffeteaus disability but to the vnlawfulnesse of the cause vnto which we haue in such sort satisfied as whosoeuer shall examine my worke he shall finde an answere to Bellarmines booke also which he hath not long since made against the said booke of the King of great Britaine with more weakenesse and lesse dexterity then Coeffeteau hath done There remayneth the last part of his Maiesties booke wherein with a straine of admirable wit assisted by the spirit of God hee openeth the booke closed with seuen seales and piercing into the secrets of sacred Prophesies he findeth in the seat of Rome the full accomplishment of the Apocalyps When hate and bitternesse shall be extinguished through time Posterity shall admire both the worke and the person and looking backe into ages past for the like patterne shall not be able to finde any thing to be compared with it We will not feare then to enter into these darkenesses vnder so great a guide for it is hard eyther to stumble or to stray where so faire a Torch doth light and shine before vs. But we must here take breath a while before we enter into this taske For the sudden death of our King like a great cracke of Thunder benummeth our handes with astonishment and troubleth our spirits with griefe and anguish Let vs then giue place to necessity and leaue to write that we may haue leisure to lament and let Posterity carefully bethinke it selfe of remedies and hold it for a thing most certaine that hee that setteth light by his owne life is master of another mans and that there is nothing so forcible to make vs to contemne our owne liues as this new doctrine which by the murther of Kings openeth the way to the Kingdome of heauen FINIS Faults necessarily to bee corrected The first number noteth the Page the second the Line The letter R. standeth for Reade L. signifieth the line in the same PAGE PAge 13.25 r. Siloe 14.20 r. Enfant 17.19 r. Armies l. 24. r. these 20.15 r. villanies 42.13 for that r. as l. 19. r. State 49.25 r. things that appeare are more feared c. 56. l. vlt. r retorted 62.2 r. infinity of businesses 71.3 for or r. and. 74.2 r. differents 79.24 r. in the Bookes of the Acts and Charters 81.1 r. See and in the margent paulum annixus 82.1 r. whom l. 3 r. giue it l. 20. r. Ostia 84.25 r. deuolued 90.27 r. Ruota 91.4 r. fifth part or fifth penny 95.14 blot out he l. 25. r. Distinction 97.23 for alleadged r. already 99.18 make it 560.100.26 r. no wayes for now adayes 101.24 for take r. make 102 17. r. aboue 104.24 for Sinnes r. Summes 106.25 r Bellisarius 107.20 r. Conon 108.4 r. debonnaire l. 7. for to r. doe 110.1 for penalty r. priuity 119.12 Consiglio l. 17. r. retchlesse 125.7 for which is r. with l. 11. r. Augustin l. 25. for as r. and. in the margent Ponticus verunnius 127.20 r. different 136.24 blot out kinde in the marg r. communia debere 140.9 r messieurs l. 12. r. of for or 147.15 r. receiued them 158.2 r. or no more 160.25 r. Nattiers 161.1 blot out the. 168.4 r. Doctors l. 17. madonna 27. Letanies 169.22 for Fathers r. saluation 173.11 r. the brecz-flies 174.9 r. discourse l. 19. r. she for he 177. l. the last r. Antonine 178 27. r. places for phrases 180.18 r. as not being 182.18 r. lauour l. 20. r. washed 188.18 r. but saith 193.11 r no prescription 197.27 for toward r. ouer vs. 203.20 r. out of the 217.23 for ouer turnes r. powreth out of l. the last r. therefore 221.1 blot out the. 229.28 r. they saw well that if they should breake 261.3 for tongues r. Fire-tongs 281.11 r. commanded 300.1 r. meditation 301.8 for defectiue r. wanting 305.4 r. another 307.22 blot out that l. 23. r. should 308.1 blot out bad 309.25 r. with l. 28. r. istud 349.14 for if r. though 369.28 r. Suppositions