faith but according to S. Cyprian punishments of your perfidiousnes Hauing spoken of your persecutions you represent your fidelitie and seruices such if we beleeue you that euen the king who persecuted you to vse your owne words had fully tasted the fauorable effectes therof To what pourpose is it to make those indebted vnto you to whom you owe all that you are To what end is it to bragge that you were a refuge to that great king in his afflictions and crosses Vvhy doe you represent his crowne fastened vpon his head by the cement of your blood spilt in many battaills Frenchmen being no strangers in France that is not being ignorant of what past therin I cannot see to what end you so magnifie your seruices if not to giue way to all the world to condemne you out of their owne knowledge for there are none at all be they neuer so sharpe sighted be they neuer so diligent in runing ouer historie that can find out the seruices you haue rendred vnder Francis the first and Henry the second who are those vnder whom you may pretend with most shew of reason to haue bene persecuted since vnder their raigne endeuour was vsed to stiffe your errour in its birth vnlesse it be that as there are some who deeme they doe well when they doe no euill you repute it seruice not to haue disserued which yet would not be the wining of your cause it being certaine that if a man be obliged to any one for an euill he did not it is to him who had power to doe it and it is euident that in the raigne of those first kinges if you had a will to hurt your infancie did not second you with power to put it in execution And if from the raignes of these kings one passe to those of Francis the second and Charles IX and that you pretend to haue serued them the conspiracie of Amboise against the first and the Bataills of Dreux S. Denis Iarnac and Moncontour against the last the enterprise which was made at Meaux to seaze vpon his person are they to be counted in the number of seruices Since you make shew to haue rendred good for euil there is no question of seeking place of excuse to those actions but in case one should presse you to it you should neuer be able to fetch out the stayne which they fastened vpon your Predecessours foreheads And as litle can you couer it by your blood spent in a bloodie day since this action following the others one may well auerre that it was caused by those but neuer that those were caused by it And concerning Henry the third the seruices which he receaued from you will appeare by those which you afforded to his successour the Battaill of Coutras the taking of many townes and diuers other actions clearely demonstrating that in seruing the one you did bad offices to the other Thence it appeares in deede that your predecessours had serued Henry the Greate marrie that which goes amisse for you is that it appeares withall that they serued him not as king but as Fauourer of their secte sithens their seruices went before his comeing to the Crowne while yet he did openly fauour them at which tyme they could not lawfully assiste him against their kinge and that since the royall scepter fell into his hands which was the tyme indeede in which they were to die for him yet abbeit he were their king because hauing imbraced the Catholik faith he stood not in matter of religion Promotour of their Cause their fire became ice whose coldnes he felt as with his owne mouth he witnessed at the seige of Amienns You cannot without temeritie affirme that you were his refuge but with veritie one may auerre that you were cause why he stood in neede therof you cannot say that you were cause of his prosperitie but well may you be said to haue bene the cause of his misfortunes for who had bene more prosperous or in greater assurance then he if you separating him from the Church had not put him in a way to loose his kingdome and life amidst the hazards of warre where a thousand thousand tymes he exposed himselfe in a way to be depriued of his earthly Crowne together with that of heauen He that should haue cast a man headlong into the sea with intention to drowne him and after conceauing his conseruation profitable to himselfe lends him his hand to fetch him out of the perill in which he had put him can draw no great glorie from that action If you contributed any thing to the establishment of this greate kinge who hauing bene cast downe by some of yours from the Peters-shippe of the Church into the sea of errour was coÌ„stituted in most emineÌ„t danger it is onely in this sense and yet it is so litle too that you ought not to put it to accompt In steed of seruing him you serue your selues of him he fought for you not you for him and so far were your armes and powre from â—aysing him to the Crowne that nothing did so powrefully concurre to establish him as the abiureing of your errours which had put him in perill and yet he stands indebted to you for all by your owne accompt wherupon I cannot but apply vnto you what was said of Moab in Isaie Vve haue heard his pride Isa 6. his pride and arrogancie greater then his povver Loe in a few words how yours haue serued the kings whom in lieu of pointing them out by odious names you ought to stile your benefactours sith it was vnder them that you began to get footing in this kingdome in libertie and that they haue made fauorable Edicts which euen to this day you enioy If I haue brought vpon the stage the comportemeÌ„ts of your Predecessours all trespasses being personall it was not to impute their faultes to you but onely to take notice by the way vpon the occasion which you administred of what hath past leauing to such as are addicted to reading to take a more ample View of them in our Histories And so far am I from desireing to denigrate you with the faultes of your forerunners that on the coÌ„trarie side I conceaue and hold for certaine that the king vnder whose authoritie we all liue shall receaue so good seruices both of the nobilitie who giues eare vnto you and the comon people who follow you and of your selues that France will haue occasion to burie in obliuion the actioÌ„s of your forefathers which were preiudiciall vnto it In the interim you will licence me to tell you that although yours had serued as you pretend yet by the vanitie you take therin you make your owne recompence wheras you were elswhere sufficiently rewarded wherin you commit a double fault to witt an extreame vanitie and withall a grosse misaccnowledgmeÌ„t complayning of set purpose of his Maiesties Predecessours in lieu of expressing a true feeling of the notable obligations by them heaped vpon you
which was left vs by the Apostles and which to this day is conserued in the Romane Church This moued S. Ambrose to obserue that as long as Constantinople did nourish the poyson of the Arians in her breast her walls were coÌ„tinually inuironed with the armyes of her enemyes and that hauing once imbraced the Catholike faith she was deliuered from them with triumphe The tragidies which are represented vpon the French stage proceeds not from the contempt of your religion but from the contempt which the professours of it shew to the law of God the authoritie of his Church and their dutie to their kings Heresie hath alwayes occasioned greatest calamities in the states wherin it hath gotten footing and the kings that haue abbandoned the Romane faith haue ordinarily bene vnfortunate Christiernus king of Denmarke the first king that was imbued with your errours was deposed from his kingdome put in an iron cage and finally according to the opinion of the tymes poysoned as I haue alreadie mentioned The Electour of Saxonie nephew to the first Abbettour of Luther was taken prisoner by the Emperour condemned to death and in the end by commutation of punishment lost his Electourshipe and the moictie of his estate in sequall wher of his sonne dyed in prison The Lantgraue of Hesse who sustayned the same cause remayned for a long tyme prisoner Of 28. hereticall Emperours of Constantinople thirteene were slayne Of the rest some had their eyes pulled out some were deposed all dyed most miserably Hist Vvand Of seauen Vvandall kinges subiect to the same errours three were miserably murthered Of thirteene which the Visigots had Annal. Hist twelue did violently dy Of seauen of the Ostrogots two onely escaped the enemys sword Hist Ital. Of seauen which were in Lonbardie one onely escaped an vntymly death So manifest it is that heresie is the source of all mischeife and that he that forsakes the Romane Church is ordinarily oppressed with miseries and misfortunes Vvherfore hauing â—ust occasion to feare that you might be vtterly ruined therby if you continue in your errours I thought good hoping to reclame you and to reduce you to the bosome of the Church hauing alreadie refuted your writing to propose vnto you some reasons which obliging all the world to hate your religion might administer you iust occasion to forsake it I could easily produce a great number yet I will content my selfe with fiue onely which doe conuince that your beliefe is worthy of horrour because it doth introduce schisme into the Church reuiues the old heresies which were condemned in the primitiue Church banisheth all vertue authoriseth all vice and will haue no law whether of the Churche or of Princes to haue power to oblige in conscience THE RELIGION PREtended to be reformed is vvorthy of hatred because it makes a schisme in the Church CHAP. XV. SInce we are diuided and seperated in communion wheras before we were vnited in one body it is euident that you or we haue made a schisme It rests to be examined who is guiltie of this crime wherof I assure my selfe that by the iudgement of the whole world and of your owne consciences you remayne conuinced by vndenyable proofes since they are the same by which the Fathers of old did conuince those whom you your selues accnowledge to be Schismatiques It is euident saith saint a Cypr. l. de vnit constat à Christo eius Euangelio seperari non enim nos ab illis sed illi 〈◊〉 nobis exieâ—unt Cyprian speaking of the Nouatians that they are seperated from Iesus Christ and his Gospell because we went not out from them but they from vs Caecilianus saith a Lib. cont Farmen non enim Cacilianus exiuit a Maiorino sed Maiorinus a Caeciliano vna erat Ecclesia antequaÌ„ diuideretur ab ordinationibus Maiorini videndum est quis in radice cum toto orbe manserit quis CathedraÌ„ sederit alteram quae ante non fuerat S. Optatus against the Donatists did not seperate himselfe from Maiorinus your greatgrand father but Maiorinus from Caecilianus nor did Caecilianus Sperate himselfe from the Chaire of S. Peter or of S. Cyprian but Maior in the chaire in which thou sittest a chaire which before Maiorinus had no origine And a litle after The Church was one till it was diuided by those who ordayned Maiorinus Vve must now see who remayned with the whole vniuers in its beliefe and in its roote who is seared vpon another chaire then that which was before These two passages doe shew that the Nouatians and Donatists were accompted Schismatiques both because they with drew themselues from the Catholikes not the Catholikes from them as also because they erected a new chaire and finally because they stayed not together with the vniuers in the roote whence they sprung Now all these things doe conuince you considering that you went out from Catholikes and not Catholikes from you that you set vp a Chaire at Vvitemberg and at Geneua which was not before your tyme and that you haue seperated yourselues from the roote which produced you in lieu of remayning together with the whole world in the Romane Church which brought you forth That you went out froÌ„ Catholikes is iustifyed by your owne confessions and it is euident in that you cannot name one of the first followers of Luthere who had not bene of ours That you your selues are the Architectes and Founders of your chaire it is cleare Confess Helueticac 16. Ecclesiae nostrae se à Romana separarunt Luther in c. 11. Gen. Nos sumus sancti Apostatae defecimus enim ab Antichristo Sathanae Ecclesia Calu. 4. Instit c. 2. §. 6. Abeorum Ecclesia recessimus Et cap. 6. §. 1. ZaÌ„chius tract de Eccles c. 8. since none before the coming of Luthere did know at Vvitemberg nor at Geneua before Farell and Caluin the Chaire where your doctrine is preached and that you will not affirme that they which preceeded those personages in those places taught therin the same doctrine which you teach That you remayned not in the roote from whence you sprunge t' is manifest since you are no more in the Romane Church where you tooke your origine therfore it is vndoutable that the arguments of the said Fathers doe conuince you of schisme Nor doth it serue your turne to say that our abuses were the cause you withdrew your selues for without examining the cause of your seperation it sufficeth to know that you are separated there being no cause at all which can exempt a Church from schisme which comes intire out of another This is manifest in that the Church hauing drawen her beeing from no other but Iesus Christ cast into a sleepe vpon the Crosse like as Eue was drawen from no other place then from the side of Adam layd a sleepe in Paradise in that it preceded euerie false Christian societie euen as the Architype precedes that which is copied from
de contribuer vos soins pour appaiser les troubles de la Chrestienté F. Leon de Paris Gardien of the Capueins of the Conuent of S. Honorie Fr. Archangell of Paris Gardien of the Capucins of S. Iameses Fr. Baltazar Langlois Prior of the Dominicains of S. Iames street F. Renault de Vault Prior of the great Conuent of the Carmelites of Paris Doctor of Diuinitie où nous prenons vn interest bien plus sensible qu'en ce qui nous pourroit concerner THE PRINCIPALL POINTS OF THE FAITH OF THE Catholike Church DEFENDED AGAINST the vvriting directed to the king by the foure Ministers of Charenton THE FIRST CHAP. MINISTERS SOVERAIGNE LORD The knovvledge which we haue of the mildnes of your naturall disposition makes vs hope that you will heare vs in our iuste complaintes and that to giue iudgement in an importāt cause you will not be satisfyed with hearing the accusation Againe the greatnes of your courage and the vigour of your witt which out run tyme and outstripe your age and wherof God hath alreadie made vse to restore peace to France fills your subiects vvith hope to see Peace and Pietie florish and Iustice maintayned vnder your raigne ANSWERE ONe may see that by experience in the first lines of your writing which is frequently noted by aunciēt historians Arrius in ep ad Constant apud Sozom. lib. 2. c. 26. Nestoriani tom 3. Conc. Ephes c. 18. that it is an ordinarie thing with such as erre in Faith to charme the eares of Princes with specious words that they may with more facilitie make glide into their hearts and imprint therin the opinions which they professe You extolle his Majesté thinking vnder the sweetnes of a truth to make him take downe that which is depraued in your beleifs and to couch vnder faire appearances the serpent which doth distroy soules as that Aegiptian hidde the aspe vnder figues which slew her The qualities which you attribute vnto the kinge doe truely appertayne vnto him nor haue I indeede any thinge to doe vpon this subiect but to approue the prayses wihich you asscribe vnto him and withall to adde to them euery one knowing not onely the strength of his witt and the fulnes of his courage but further the soliditie of his iudgement the inbred goodnes of his nature his pietie towards his people and zeale in point of Religion Yet in truth one that would be rigorous considering that a Respons ad epist Luth. Henry the eight king of England vvhom you so highy esteeme cōtemnes the prayses which Luther whom he condemnes of heresie ascribes vnto him might propose vnto his Maiestie to impose silence vpon you or at least to stop his eares against that which euen with truth you speake to his aduantage But I will nether indeuour the one nor the other the vehement desire and hope I conceaue of your conuersion There is nothing sayde in this Chapter of the Ministers inuiting the king to iudge of their cause ansvver being made thereto in 3. Chap. oblige me to treate you more mildly I will content my selfe to discouer vnto him your craft which consists in thinking to please him in euerie thing to thend you may please him in this point and vpon this I dwell praysing you for the prayses you giue him according to your dutie each subiect being obliged to speake and thinke well of his king CHAP. II. MINISTERS You haue SOVERAIGNE in your kingdome many thousands making profession of the old Christian Religion and such as Iesus-Christ did institute it and the Apostles did publish and put it downe in writing who for this cause haue suffered horrible persequutions which yet could neuer impeach their continuall loyaltie to their soueraigne Prince yea when the necessitie of the kingdome called they ran to the defence euen of those kinges who had persequuted them They DREAD SOVERAIGNE serued Henry the great your Father of most glorious memorie for a Refuge dureing his afflictions and vnder his conduct and for his defence gaue battaills and at the perill of their liues and fortunes brought hym by the point of the sword to his kingdome maugre the enemyes of the state Of which labours damages dangers others then they reape the revvard for the fruite which we reape therby is that we are constrayned to goe serue God far from Townes that the entrie to any dignities is become to vs for the most part impossibile or at least full of difficultie That our new borne children who are carried a far of to Baptisme are exposed to the rigour of the weather whence many die that we are hindred to instruct them yet that which doth most aggreeue vs is that our Religion is diffamed and denigrated with calumnies in your Maiesties presence while yet we are not permitted to purge our selues of those imputations in the presence of the said Maiestie ANSWERE IT is the custome of those that are tainted with errour to brage most of that which they least haue and to boast of it in aduātagious words which are ordinarie with them as S. a S. Hieron Osea cap. 10. Spumantibus verbis rumēt Hierome doth remarke This truely is your proceeding while you somme vp by millions your followers in France though now they be reduced to a far lesse number Imitating herin the Donatists who though but few in number brought downe to a part of Affrike and that a litle one too did yet make brages of the multitude of their followers You make vse of a deceipt yet easie to be discouered you see that the scripture and all the b Hieron tentra Lucif Fathers make the Catholike Church the lawfull Spouse of Iesus-Christ more fruitefull then any adulterer wherevpon you attribute to your selues many brethren but in vaine it being cleare euen vnto the blind that the number of yours are no more considerable in respect of the kings other subiects then all those that are of your professiō in the whole world being compared to those who in all christendome liue vnder the lawes of the Romane Church That this is so it is easie for me to proue by the same argument which a S. Aug. cap. 3. de vnitat◠Eccles lib. de Past c. 18. S. Augustine makes vse of against the Donatists for the vniuersall Church making onely appeare that your beleife hath no place in diuers townes and places of this kingdome where the Catholike Church is and that yet the Catholike Church is found in euery place where profession is made of your religion so it is not strange that when b Caluin 2. Colos 2. v. 19. videmus vt modo procer sit ac amplun Papae regnused prodigios magnitudine vrgeat Et in Praef. lib. de libero arbit Nos exiguun sumus home num manus illi Papistae ingentem faciunt exerc◠tum some of your owne men doe compare the number of their followers with the number of Catholikes they confesse that theirs is
but smale the other verie great For the rest though it were true that you could compt your selues by millions that you were spreade ouer all France yet should you get no greate aduantage S. c S. August serm 2. in Psal 36. Augustine compareing you by good reason to smoake which doth vanish so much the sooner by how much it is greater and more dilated abroade From the multitude of your brethren you make a passage to the antiquitie of your religion professing it to be Christian and such as Iesus-Christ did institute it and as the Apostles did publish and put it downe in writing vpon which I will obserne foure things First I say that ether your meaning is that you haue the ancient doctrine of the Church though receaued of new or that you had and conserued il from all ages by an vninterrupted succession If the first albeit indeede it is false suppose it were granted you it were yet vnprofitable the auncient and true doctrine being insufficient if a man haue not the Church which haue he cannot vnlesse he haue continually retayned the true doctrine If the second after you shall haue spent much labour to proue your assertiō yet shall you gather no other fruite ther of then to shew your antiquitie bounded with the terme of one age wheras that of the Church of Iesus-Christ hath sixteene ages vpon its heade It is true that your religion is auncient in a certaine sense sith as we shall se hereafter it is compounded of diuers heresies which were condemned in the primitiue Church yea euen from the tyme of the Apostles but you cannot stile it auncient as though the body of your beleife all the substance of your faith had from former ages bene beleeued it being euident that the Article of iustification by speciall faith which is a part of the life of your religion was vnknowen before the age in which we liue I adde this word speciall because though Eunomius and other more auncient a Apud S. Aug. haeres 54. Et lib. de fid oper c. 14. Heretiques said that man was iustified by onely faith speaking of dogmaticall Faith yet none before Luther held that this iustifying Faith did consiste in the speciall apprehension that each one of the faithfull made of the Iustice of Iesus Christ which is applyed by the beliefe they haue to be iustified For the rest you being able to name none who before b Luth. tom 7. Primus fui cui Deus ea quaevobis praedicata sunt reuelare dignatus est Luther made profession of your whole beliefe Luth. tom 2. in formula Missae ait Nostram rationem colen de Deum per Missam fuisse velerem inolitā suam verorecentem insuetam Luth. tom 2. ad Princip Bohem. Deus hoc tempore lucem sui Euāgelij rursus accendit Luth. tom 5. in cap. 1. 1. ad Corinth Absque sua opera nullum verbum neiota quidem de Euangelio fuisset auditum and that great prophete of your Law boasting in plaine termes that he was the first to whom God vout safed to reueale what he preached and further clearely accnowledging the manner of seruing and honoring God in the Masse to haue bene auncient and to haue taken roote and confessing his of the contrarie side to be now and vnaccustomed saying moreouer that God in his tyme had lightened of nevv the light of the Ghospell which without him one iota had not bene heard of And Againe a Caluine assureing vs that it was he that first vndertooke the cause of the Ghospell which is the first who shevved the way to others who can affirme that your religion hath more then an hundred years of antiquitie None as I conceaue Calu. in 2. defens contr Vuestphal ait de Luthero quod causam Euangelij agere caeperit viam primus demonstrauerit will dare to thinke it especially if they reflect vpon that which one of your brethren of the same Age with Luthere secretarie of the Elector of Saxonie first Abettour saith such a confession was neuer made not onely within these thousand yeares b Spalat in relat confess August Cont. Epistolam fundamentalem cap. 4. but euen since the worlds creation nor is the like confession found in any historie in any Father in any Authour Secondly I say that imitating Luther who puts the word Catholique out of the Creede you doe not in this place attribute it to your religion knowing in your consciences that the name Catholike a name of so greate waight that it euen retayned S. Augustine in the Church doth in no sorte appertayne vnto you It appertaynes not-vnto you as it doth determine that of all Christian societies which contaynes the greatest multitude as I haue alreadie shewen Nor yet as it signifies vniuersalitie and diffusion whether we regard tymes or places it being euident both because you deriue not your origine from Iesus Christ and his Apostles by an vninterrupted succession of your predecessours who haue subsisted in all tymes and withall for that you are reduced to so narrow bounds that you cannot be said to be spread ouer the greatest part of the world Thirdly I say that since you are no Catholikes you cannot be tearmed Christians if the Fathers may be beleeued for a Pacianus Epist 1. Christianus mihi nomē est Catholicus cognomen illud me nuncupat istud ostendit S. Pacian saith that the name of Catholike is the surname of Christians and b Catholica Ecclesia nomen propriū est huius sanctae Ecclesiae matris omniū nostrum S. Cyrille the proper name of the holy Church of Iesus-Christ You cannot trulie be Christians because as we haue shewen your beliefe is hereticall and consequently wholy opposite to Christian religion which cannot be such for which cause Tertullian S. Cyprian S. Athanasius S. Augustine and others affirme Lib. de pudicitia Lib. 4. ep 2. Serm. 2. cont Arr. Lib. de grat Christs c. 11. that an heretike is not to be tearmed Christian Fourthly I note that you doe impertinently sustayne that your religion was instituted by Iesus-Christ published and put downe in writing by the Apostles sithence being hereticall as I haue alreadie said and as shall be made manifest in the 16. Chap. of this booke it is contrarie to the institution of Iesus-Christ and that seeing at manifestly contradicteth the scripture in diuers points as I will presently iustifie though it be easie for you to affirme that it is conformable to that which the Apostles left in writing yet will you find it impossible to verifie the same or to hinder a man to accnowledge the contrarie The scripture saith that a Iacob 2. vers 24. Operibus iustificatur homo non ex fide tantū Confession Françoise article 20 Nous croyous que nous sommes faits participans de ceste Iustice par la seule foy a man is not iustified by faith onely you say that he
by his idle permission They that doe teach in expresse tearmes that God by his pure will of his owne free motion without all consideration of merite doth predestinate to dānation and damnes man doe they not speake yet more detestably then when they make God the Authour of sinne And yet this you doe God of his owne accord saith Luther d Luth. lib. de seru arbitrio Deus mera sua voluntate homines deserit indurat damnat abbandons hardens and damnes men In damning them saith e Et ibid. Non respicit merita en damnandis Et ib. Immeritos dānat itam seuerit atem spargit in immeritos he in another place he respects not merits be damnes those that haue not merited it He powres out his wroth and seueritie vpon such as haue not merited the same And yet in another passage he saith f Hic est sidei summus gradus credere illum esse iustum qui sua voluntate nos necessario damnabiles facit that the soueraigne degree of faith consistes in beleeuing that he is iust who by his sole will make vs necessarily damnable God saith he a Ibid. Deus absconditus operatur vitam mortē omnia in emnibus multa vult quae verbo suo non ostendit sese velle sic non vultmortem peccatoris verbo scilicet vult autem illam voluntate imperscrutabili wills many things which yet by his word he shewes not to will so he willeth not the death of sinners to witt in word but he wills it by his inscrutable will By his onely will saith Caluine b Calu. 3. Instit c. 23. §. 2. Nudo etus in arbitrio citra propriū meritum in aeternam mortem prae destinantur and without cōsideration of their owne merits they are predestinated to eternall death Caluine saith Paraeus c Paraeus li 2. de Grat. lib. arb cap. 16. ait Caluinus Apostolum sequutus praedestinationē peccati praeuisione priorem facit following the Apostle makes Predestination preceede the foresight of sinne How can you now purge your selues of blasphemie wherof you stand indited in making God Author and cause of sinne especially being conuicted therof by so many expresse testimonies of your owne principale Authours To what pourpose shoald you deny with your mouth so detestable à doctrine since it lyes still at your hart and since your writinges wch you should haue waighed in the waightes of the Sāctuarie ought rather to winne credit thē your words For if not to auouch ones crime were à sufficient meanes to be purged of it ther would none be found criminall though they stood conuicted of the fact What will you say to this that our senses deceaue vs and that we see what is not we appeale to your owne eyes which I dare be bold to say will aggree with ours if you will please to take the paines to open thē and looke vpon your booke to see therin the passages which I haue most faithfully coted You will say peraduenture that their meaning is onely that God is cause of sinne not that he is Authour therof But this answere is no defence for you since your Doctours doe say againe and againe that he is Authour of sinne ether in expresse tearmes or in words equiualent Adde that though there is indeede à difference betwixt these words Authour and cause in that the one doth signifie more then the other Authour signifying à first cause which doth moue of it selfe yet light you of nothing which can free you from crime since it it is blasphemie not onely to make God Authour of sinne but euen to hold him to be the cause therof You say that when yours doe make God the Authour and cause of sinne they speake of the acte not of the malice of sinne But you cannot haue recourse to this answere because you vse this reduplication sinne as sinne tearming him cause of the euill of saulte mali culpae and making him the fountaine whence flowes the efficacie of errour What haue you then to reply That though you deliuer in your writings that God is Authour of sinne yet doe not you beleeue it you will not gaine credit in this nether and againe which is yet worse it is à part of the Diuell and his disciples whose ayme is the destruction of soules to speake one thing and beleeue another in matter of saluatiō You condēne in one place what you professe in another or rather you blush vpon some occasiōs to make that good which you are not ashamed to beleeue at all tymes Indeuour your vtmost you shall neuer be able to persuade euen the most ignorant that those truthes which you miscall calumnies in your writings are calumnies indeede for euery one will easily discouer that if there be any calumnie and iniurie it is that which you impose vpon the Saints the B. Virgine Iesus-Christ good workes God him selfe Which calumnies and iniuries doe indeed make your religion odious for which yet you can iustly blame none but yourselues seeing it is euident that you are so far from refuting those blasphemies by your writings sermons and liues that contrariewise your writings preachings and liues doe teach them In this extreamitie and being reduced into these straights whither are you to betake your selues certes if you stand to your word you are to depart out of humane societie and to retire your selues into same corner of the world not yet inhabited Yet if you will please to let me haue credit with you you shall doe yet beter You shall accnowledge your faulte forsake your errours and then in steede of seperating your selues from the societie of men the Church shall receaue you againe into the societie of her children which you abandoned and in which onely saluation is to be found CHAP. VIII MINIST BVt principally we could make knowen to your Maiestie that we are hated and hardly dealt withall because we maintaine the dignitie of your crowne against vsurping strangers who doe defile and bring it into slauerie For your Maiestie may call to mynd that in the late assemblie of the states at Paris the question was handled whether the Pope Could depose our kings and whether it is in the Popes prower to dispose of your crowne and that by the faction of the Church-men who drew à long with them à parte of the Nobilitie you lost your cause Wherupon the Pope dispatched vnto them letters triumphant and full of prayse A thing which we and diuers of your Catholike Romane subiects would neuer endure knowing that we owe our liues and fortunes to the defence of the dignitie of your crowne especially to the defence of à right which God bestowes vpon your Matie and which is grounded vpon his word Hopeing that one day God will open your eyes to discouer that vnder this specious name of Romane Church the Pope doth establish vnto him selfe à temporall Moniarchie vpon earth and hath withdrawen from your obedience
the fift part of your subiects to witt the Church men who hold not themselues to belyable to the lawes of your Court yea for their temporallities they haue another whom they accnowledge soueraigne out of your kingdome To which adde that which the Pope pretends and that which he hath alreadie practised yea euen in our tyme to witt that he hath authoritie to depriue your Ma. of life and crowne what remaynes dread souueraigne but that your kingdome is held in homage to the Pope and that you liue and raigne at his discretion onely ANSWERE It is an old trike of craft when one is guiltie of à fault to put it vpon another Yet I stand astonishd to thinke how you dare make vse of if it against the whole Clergie of this kingdome whom you striue to make the king suspect accusing them of faction wherof they are wholy innocent and you generally knowen to be stickers in The nature of your Ministerie deptines you of credit in point of accusing priests for S. Augustine a Hareticorum accusationes coÌ„tra Catholicum prebyterum admittere nec possumâ—â— nec debemm doth teach vs that your accusations nether ought to be nether indeed can be admitted and that it is the trike of heretikes b Aug. Epist 137. Hoeretici non hahendo quod in causa sua defensionis defendant non nisi hominuÌ„ crimina colligere affectant ea ipsa plurafalsissime iactant vt quia ipsam diuine scripturae veritatem qua vbique diffusa Christi Ecclesia commendatur crimiuari obscurate non possunt homines per ques pradicatur adducant in odium de quibâ—â— fingere quitquid in mentem Generit possunt when they haue nothing to say to defende them selues in point of their diuision from the Catholike Church to make à list of meÌ„s faults and following their owne fancie falsly to inlarge them selues thervpon to bring them into hatred who teach the truth which they are notable to find faultie or to obscure Hauing alreadie sufficiently manifested in what manner you susteyned the dignitie of this crowne and how litle occasion you had to draw pride or vanitie from it I will onely obserue in this place that you doe too too far swarue from truth and modestie in saying that you are ill vsed in this kingdome and by assuring yourselues that if you were not hated and hardly treated for maintayning the dignitie therof you should for euer after be exeÌ„pt from all hatted and hard vsage To what purpose did you taxe the two first Orders of State accusing the one of factioÌ„ the other of weaknes preiudiciall to the kings Maiestie but to let the world see that when you beare à splene against any one wtih à wonderfull boldnes you faigne faults to diffame him though withont all fundation for none can beignorant but that if there were any faction it gott entrie by their meanes who out of tyme aÌ„d seasoÌ„ would needs moue à question wherof the Church Nobilitie and the greater part of the three states striue to stoppe the course moued therto by diuers reasons which in à few wonds I will deduce First because the questioÌ„ being meerly spirituall whether God had giueÌ„ power to the Church to depose kings in cases of heresie and in fidelitie when they doe not onely make profession of them but doe also shew theÌ„ selues persequutours of the name of Christ aÌ„d the true faith as also whether this power did aggree with the word of God or no finall whether it were lawfull to vrge all the people to take an oath wherby they should affirme that it was not according to Gods word which being handled in the assemblie a body composed of lay-persons could not intermeddle in it without sacriledge without intrenching vpon the liberties of others mounting into Moyses his chaire laying hand vpon the incensoir and consequently without exposing themselues to the desasters which are wont to follow such impious and sacrilegious enterprises Nay euen the Clergie it selfe of a particular Church as of the Church of France could not decide this point since it belongs to the vniuersall Church onely to define Articles of Faith Secondly because all the kings and states in Christendome hauing interest in this cause one onely kingdome could not iudge of it without the appouall and authoritie of all the rest Thirdly because the holy Sea being interressed in this matter your adherents who haue sworne its destruction and who esteeme the ruine therof their establishment could not be held impattiall iudges though some of them indeuoured to deale in it Fourthly because out of the definition which you aymed at there followed a most euident schisme by establishing an article of faith particular to the Churches of France not Catholike or common to the vniuersall Church whence there followed a diuision in faith Lastly because the decision of this question was not onely of no effect to the health and securitie of kings which was yet the sole end of the question but was euen preiudiciall vnto them as may be seene by that which that great Cardinall and honour of his age wrote vpon that subiect who doth most amply handle this matter with eloquence equall to the profunditie of learning which all the world admires in him These reasons being coÌ„sidered without passion will leaue no doubt in any man but that the Clergie-men were worthy of praise not of blame for refusing to decide a question which was proposed vnto them to a bad end nor did the decision therof belong vnto them And therfore it carries no colour but is quite contrarie to truth to accuse them of faction adding that they and a part of the nobilitie made the king loose his cause For how doe you not blush for shame to affirme this since it is notorious to the word that in all the articles of the Clergie and nobilitie there was no proposition made much lesse any determination of any thing that tends in any the least measure to the diminution of the soueraigne power of our kings and the dignitie of their crowne and that the article presented by the aduise of some of the third order was onely reiected without euer deliberating vpon the contents therof it is a grosse impertinence to say that we caused the king to loose a cause where no iudgment was past and to make his Maiestie a partie in a cause where he onely interposed himselfe by his authoritie to conserue things in the same state in which they stoode If any were cast in their cause it is you who vnder pretext of maintayning the authoritie of kings would haue brought inn a schisme amongst Catholikes As for the letters which the Pope wrote vpon this matter if it be a fault in a father to write to his children to receaue their fathers letters his holines is blame-worthy to haue done that honour to the two orders wherof we speake and they culpable in receauing them Marrie seeing common sense doth teach vs that there
is nothing in all this which is not most conuenient you wrong vs in vpbrading vs with it and in striuing to bring our holy Father into hatred as though forsooth by vertue of that letter he would haue made some aduantage ouer this state which is altogether ridiculous Your strife in this is to make the Popes power be suspected by all the kings of the earth But regall dignitie and the dignitie of the Church haue noe repugnancie the duties which we render to the holy Sea doe no wayes hinder vs to make appeare by effects what you professe in words to wit that a subiect owes his life and all his fortunes to the defence of the dignitie of his king's crowne In this you shall continually haue vs not for companions onely but euen for Guides And doubtlesse if you second vs as I beseech God grant and giue credit vnto vs France shall conserue her peace which hitherto hath bene too much troubled by yours But with what face can you affirme that the Pope hath the thirds of the the territories of France that he hath seduced the fift part of the knigs subiects from their obedience to him and that out of the kingdome we haue another soueraigne in pointe of temporalities It is false that the Pope hath the third part of France seeing he hath onely the Countie of Amgnion which his Predecessours bought of the Counts of that Prouince It is false that he withdrew the Clergie from their obedience to their king sith they preach obedience vnto and will preach it all the dayes of their life in word and worke It is false that we doe not esteeme our selues the kings subiects sithens in subiection to him we are readie to spend our liues for his seruice It is false that we did not submitt our selues to temporall iurisdiction as though to pretend exemptions in certaine cases by the concession and grant of our Princes whose authoritie is in question were to franchise our selues from their iurisdiction and to inioy a benefit granted by a king in vertue of his Grant were not rather an accnowledgment of his authoritie then a withdrawing from it It is false that we accnowledge any other soueraigne in our temporalls then our king It is false that the Pope pretends to haue authoritie to put kings to death False that he practised this pretended power false that he holds this kingdome to be a fief which holds on and owes homage to his chaire false to conclud that the king liues but at his discretion Kings would be immortall if their conseruation depended vpon Popes who wish their good as parents the good of their children Vvhy did he who to the great happines of all Christen dome sits now in the chaire of Peter The censure of Ianuarie 1613. cause Becanus to be censured who had put out seditious propositions and with all importing danger to kings but to prouide for their safetie Vvhy did he approue that the Clergie of France in the assemblie of the states and that Sorbone at other tymes did renew the publication of the article of the Councell of Constance which pronunceth a curse vpon those that doe attempt vpon kings vnlesse their liues were as deare to him as his owne You passe ouer these truthes in obliuion and not without reason seeing they discouer to all men that it is false to affirme that the Popes and Clergie of France doe not affect the kings prosperitie they doe and will alwayes doe in such a measure that the Pope will not omitt to indeuour any thinge which may tend to their good nor will the Clergie-men of France euer spare their owne liues to assure the life of their saueraigne If accusations were enough to make a man culpable none would be found without faulte innocencie would not be exempt You are bold in laying aspersions but that which is your disgrace is that you fall short in your proofes You make vs criminall in point of our dutie towards our France while to you she stands bound for benefits as though forsooth her defence were onely found in your hands and your weapons were her warrant against the vsurpations of strangers You doe wisely to tearme them strangers least your owne enterprises might be comprised which are so frequent and palpable that the weakest witt will with facilitie deserne that it is not your affection to your king which makes you so zealous of their greatnes but your hatred to the Pope and the vniuersall Church And that it may not seeme that I impose vpon you I will make clearly appeare that you grant a far greater power to the people then that which you deny the Pope which is exceedingly disaduantagious to kings for there is no man that doth not esteement a thing far more perilous to be exposed to the discretion of the rude multitude which doth easily though falsly esteeme it selfe oppressed and which is a many headed Hyder which is ordinarily gouerned by its owne passions then to be subiect to the correction of a tender Father whose hart is full of affection for his childrens aduantage The common people a Lib. de iure regni Popule ius est de sceptro regni disponends pro libito suo saith Bucanan whom b Epist. 78. Beza accnowledgeth to be excellent and a man of great merit haue right to dispose of the scepters of kingdomes at their will and pleasure Bad Princes saith an c In Apolog. Godman English man who was d Epist 306. Caluins intimate friend and whom he called brother according to the Law of God ought to be deposed and in case the Magistrates neglect to doe their dutie the people hath also as free libertie to doe it as though ther were no Magistrate at all and in those circunstances of tyme God enlargeth them with leaue to vse the sword a Goodman in Apolog. Reges ius regnandi à populo habent qui occasione data illud reâ—ocare potest The same Authour in the reigne of Marie Queene of England composed a booke intitled of obedience printed at Geneua approued by Beza and Caluine wherin these words are found Kings haue right to raigne from the people who vpon accasion can also reuoke it Nor are you content with saying that kings may be deposed you steppe on further teaching that they may be punished condemned and slayne That a reward is to be giuen to the executioners of so horrible and execrable crimes The People saith Vvicklefs followers as b Osiander in Epist centur art 17. Vulgus provoluntate sua punire potest principes peccantes Osian relates may as they shall please punish their Princes which offend The c Goodman in Apolog. Protestant booke wherof I made mention aboue printed at Geneua in the Raigne of Queene Marie of England saith that if Magistrates transgresse the law of God and oblige others to doe the like they fall from the dignitie and obedience which otherwise is due vnto them and
take not vpon thee to iudge the commands of thy betters Finally so b Greg. l. 2. c. 4. in 1. Regum Vera obedientia nec Praepositorum intentionem discutit nec praecepta discernit quia qui omne vitae suae iudicium maiori subdidit in hoc solo gaudet si quod sibi praecipitur operatur Nescit enim iudicare quisquis perfeclè didiceris obedire sainc Gregorie in these tearmes That true obedience doth nether examine the intention of Superiours nor discerne their commands because he that hath submitted all the iudgement of his whole life to one greater then himselfe hath no fairer way then to execute what he is commanded and he that hath learnt perfect obedience knowes not how to iudge Therfore the Iesuites are not to be blamed for making and obseruing a vowe which the Fathers of the primitiue Church doe not onely approue but euen ordayne as a thing necessarie for religious people You say further that they promis this blind obedience to a Generall who is alwayes subiect to the king of Spayne If you had informed your selues well of the truth of the busines you had learnt that it is false that their Generalls are ought to be or were alwayes such for euen Father Vitelesque who at this present is deseruedly possessed of that charge is a Romane borne and the last before him who lately deceased was a Liegois Next you vpbraid them with the Decrees which were made against them but it is sufficient that they were restored and established by the Edict of Henry the Great approued by all the Courts of Parlement in France Vvhich doth sufficiently iustifie the zeale of this order towards kings the affection therof towards the state and the profite which youthes reape of the care they take to instruct them Concerning their doctrine in point of power which they attribute to Popes ouer kinges you had spoken otherwise and more to the purpose if insteed of gathering it out of the writings of some particular men you had receaued it from the mouth of their Generall who in the yeare 1610. made a publike declaration wherby he doth not onely improue and disallow but absolutly prohibite those of his Order vnder most greeuous paines to maintayne vpon what pretext of tyrannie soeuer that it is lawfull to attempt vpon the persons of kings and Princes As touching the secrete of confession I haue not yet vnderstood that they hold any other opinion then that which the vniuersall Church holdeth But it is no wonder since you quarrell with the Sacrament that you imploy all your craft to make this become odious therby to hinder them whom you hold your enemyes because you are the enemyes of Gods Church from hauing accesse to kings persons and from the knowledge of secretes of their consciences wherat you ayme as the last words of your paragrafe doe testifie As for the Equiuocations which you say they vse and teach others to vse before their Iudges I referre you to the Answeres which they so often haue returned you vpon this subiect it shall suffice me onely to shew that blaming equiuocation in in them you practise it your selues nay euen most manifest lyes in matter of faith Vvicklef In the 2. booke on the life of â—videf by whom your french Martyrologe saith it pleased God to awake the world which was buried in the dreame of humane traditions being demanded an accompt of his faith did not he and his vse tergiuersations if we may credit your said Martyrologe who speakes of them in these words Striuing onely to find out tergiuersations and friuolous excuses therby to escape through ambiguitie of words Did not your Augustana Confessio vse equiuocation when it said Cap de Missa Our Churches were falsly accused of abolishing Masse for we doe yet retayne Masse and celebrate it with greatest reuerence Did not Melancton vse equiuocation Apud Hospiman part 2. hister an 25 41. when he did confesse that he and his had made the Articles at Asbroug ambiguous and easie to be turned To what end doth he say that the Articles made at Asbroug were to be changed and to be suted to occasions if he condemne equiuocation They framed ambiguous and guilefull formes of Transsubstantiation saith Caluine Epist 12. speaking of him and Bucere He indeuoured saith Chauaterus to setle a certaine concorde in an ambiguous kind of speach An. 1538. meaning Bucere Vve haue met with a confessing aduersarie For he himselfe teacheth vpon Erasmus that it is lawfull in the affaires of the Gospell to vse colours and clockes Bucere therfore and his fellowes when they grant to Luthere that the body of Christ is truly and substantially in the Eucharist and also that the vnworthy doe receaue it doe they not without compulsion for their owne pleasure yea and euen in matter of faith vse tergiuersatioÌ„s and equiuocations Doth not the same say that the Zuinglians differe from Luther though indeede it is false but in words onely Hospinian part 1. hist Sacram. Doth not Luther vpon this occasion tearme him a sower of words as saith Hospiniane 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doe not the same Hospiniane and Simblerus swethish authours relate that Martir did vse for a tyme obscure and ambiguous words in the matter of the last supper In a word your Authouâ—s confesse that your inuisible Church for the space of many ages did professe our religion though with hart and mouth they beleeued yours which they could not doe not onely not without equiuocation but euen not without denying God And yet where is any of ours who doth not accnowledge that he is rather a thousand tymes to dy then to vse equiuacatioÌ„ in matter of Faith or to deny him not onely in hart but euen in word whom we are bound to confesse with both Touching their bookes if cortaine particular men composed any which were burnt what need you to stirre in their ashes Doe not the same Decrees which adiudged them to the fire iudge many of yours worthy of the same flames since they handle the same argument The picture which you mention cannot any way aduantage you since you and they aggree not in the fact for they sustayne that he whom you esteeme conuicted of a conspiracie against his king is wholy innocent of the fact and hold that he dyed for the sole defence of the Catholike religion Vvhence in comes to passe that if there be any errour in this it is errour of fact de facto not of right non de iure of Fact as beleeuing he dyed for his vertue not for his vice not of right as though they sustayned that it were lawfull to murther kings and that to suffer death for that cause were martirdome Now to conclud this Chapter it onely remaynes that we beseech God to shewre downe vpon you the waters of the fountaines of his Grace because being the nature of calumnie to obscure and blacken its owne authours not him
whom they would but cannot stayne with it you stand in so much neede of washing that all the waters of this world are not able to blanch you CHAP. X. MINISTERS THese are they dread Soueraigne who to aduance their priuate designes doe stirre vp tumults and scandalls against vs to cloake their owne proceedings and to the end that the troubles which they make arise may be imputed to their Zeale of religion for they cannot indure a kinge though otherwise Romane Catholike vnlesse he turne Persequutour of his subiects and cause a combustion in his kingdome ANSWERE IT is a great signe of ignorance or malice when he to whom a benefit is done doth publish that he hath receaued an iniurie You complaine of the Iesuites and yet you receaue nothing but good offices of them for it is manifest that that wherin you apprehend your selues iniured by them is onely that they oppose your beliefe which indeede is to your great aduantage Saint Augustine doth teach vs August in Psal 30. Goncil 1. that by how much more we seeke the saltation of heretikes by so much the more we ought to place before their eyes the vanitie of their errours The â—esuites haue no other designe then the saluation of soules and Gods glorie All the meanes which they vse are referred to this end not to tayse tumultes to cause scandalls To labour to reduce you into the bosome of the Church is this to stirre vp troubles To confirme the king in his beliefe is it to moue him to persequute you To inuite you to quench the fire which one day will consume your soules call you this to set his kingdome on fire The hurt man hates the surgeon while he is yet lancing his legge but his hurt being healed his accnowledgments follow the beloued surgeon So one day I hope you will laude the Iesuites sith now you onely complaine of them because they affect your wellfaire and striue to procure your saluation They desire peace in this kingdome and in your consciences In which they differ far from yours who take a glorie in troubles and tumults conceauing the fairest fishing to be in troubled waters You will say peraduentures that I misse the marke of truth but to free my selfe of that imputation Luther loc cemm class 5 â—u quereris quod per EuaÌ„gelium nostruÌ„ mundus tumultuatur Respondeo Deo gratias baec voluifieri o me misevum sinon taâ—â—â— fierent I will ingage Luthere your first father in the quarell assuring my selfe that in the iudgement of all the world nor he nor you shall euer come off with your honour Thou complainst saith Luthere that by meanes of our Gospell all the world is in tumult I answere thankes be to God it was my wish that so it should be and woe be to me if so it were not CHAPT XI MINISTERS AT the least Soueraigne they cannot serue vp in our dish that any of our religion hath killed his king nor that any Minister of the word of God did ether in priuate or publike incite any to doe it But contrariwise after so many oppressions and persequutions we seeke no other reuenge but to pray to God for the prosperitie of such as hate vs and esteeme our selues happie enough in seeing your Maiestie a peaceable and happie possessour of his kingdome ANSWERE I Am constrayned against my will to omitt that which concernes your religion to examine that which toucheth your persons My aime in this is to please you by answering you point by point which of my selfe I had neuer vndertaken for feare of displeasing you I will passe ouer in silence to your confusion what Christiernus king of Denmarke and Marie Queene of Scots suffered by yours nor will I speake of the conspiracies made against king Francis the II. at Amboyle and against king Charles the IX at Meaux and others which are more ancient I will onely insiste vpon that which past in the person of the greatest king that euer was seduced by your errour Is it not to will to kill a king to strugle with him and hurle him downe vpon the ground as Gourrie did in Scotland treate the king of great Britanie whom he reduced to such an extreamitie that his sole courage of mynd and fortitude together with Gods assistance conserued him aliue Vvill you dare to say that the condemnation of my Lord Gobans brother was vniust who was conuicted of making an attemptvpon this sacred person These two examples doe clearly confirme that such as haue taken the tincture of your errours doe attempt vpon kings Yet if you be not satisfied with this proofe cast your eyes I beseech you vpon the Epistle monitorie of this great king of whom we speake you shall sind there how speaking of the puritaines of his kingdome who are Caluinists like you he sayth I haue not onely euer since my birth bene vexed continually with Puritanes but I was euen almost stifled by them in my mothers wombe before I had yet seene the world And in the next leafe I would rather trust my selfe in the hands of the robbers of the wilde mountaines or to borderers then to that sort of men Of whom he saith againe in his kingly Present that during his mmoritie they would haue brought on foote a dimocrasie in his kingdome that they calumniated him in their sermons not for any harme they found in him but euen because he was king Vvhat will you say to these authorities you dare not call them in doubt Nor indeed doth Moulins The R. Father Coeffeteau writing vpon this subiect against one of the most learned and famous religious men of his age deny them It is manifest therfore that yours doe attempt vpon the liues of kings It would yet remayne to be shewen whether it were done vpon the instigation of those that doe exercise your ministerie if the testimonies which I haue alreadie produced were not sufficient if any shame be left in you to cause as well your blush as silence vpon this subiect CHAP. XII MINISTERS NOw that which moued vs to make these our humble complaintes to your Maiestie was the last action of Monsieur Arnould Iesuite who openly braged in his sermon in your Maiesties presence that he would vndertake to shew that all the places coted in our Confession of Faith are falsly cited Your Maiestie had therupon a laudable curiositie to heare him deduce his proofes vpon this subiect which he did in his ensuing sermon in words which tended to make vs odious and execrable to your Maiestie condemning himselfe to eternall flames and to vndergoe all sorts of punishments if he did not clearly show that all that is coted in the margent of our confession touchnig our controuersies are false allegations seconding that with many odious words and proposing the example of the Princes of Germanie who doe onely allow of one religion in their contries yea not content her withall he hath put downe his proofes in writing and deliuered
them vnto a gentleman of our religion to bring them vnto vs. ANSWERE SInce Euery man vnderstands his owne busines best I haue nothing to say vpon this paragrafe which toucheth F. Arnould he hauing in his replie answered it himselfe onely this I will say he that knowes his merits learning Zeale and moderation of mynd will easily iudge him to be a man of greater performance then vndertaking and more prone to render your soules gratefull to God then your persons hatefull to men CHAP. XIII MINISTERS THis Soueraigne Lord did oblige vs to make answere for this confession hauing bene made to giue an accompt of our faith to our Soueraignes and to that effect being presented to king Henry the II. your predecessour we thought fitt to addresse the Defence of the same confession to his successour in whose presence it was calumniated And I wish to God we were licenced to propose our defence verbally in the presence of your Maiestie and were authorised publikly and in presence of the king which God hath bestowed vpon vs to mantayne the truth of the Gospell against those that doe diffame it which is a thing which your Maiestie ought also to desire For seeing a dissension amongst your subiects in point of religion what is more conuenient then that he who is the common father of vs all should know in what the difference consistes and see the ground of the processe and to this effect he should looke to the head of the fountaine to discouer what Christian religion was in its source For he that is established on earth to see that God be serued ought exactly to know the rule of Gods seruice he who in his charge represents God's royaltie ought in his actions to imitate his iustice which how can it be done without knowing the soueraigne rule of Iustice which is the word of God Vvher vpon it is that God commands kings continually to haue before their eyes the booke of the law therin to read all the dayes of their life But if they permitt themselues to be hood winked and be content to follow without seeing the way before them the Popes and Prelates haue faire occasion to accommodate religion to their priuate lucre and crect their owne greatnes vpon the ruines of the Ghospell For now religion is made a trafike and those our great Masters haue inuented rules of pietie which doth intrench not onely vpon the liuing but euen vpon the deade To no other end haue the Popes for some ages past probibited the kings your Maiesties Predecessours to read the holy Scripture but that their Empire is grounded vpon the ignorance of Gods word Neuer had it bene permitted to haue growen so great with the diminution of the greatnes of our Kings if they had not wrought vpon the aduantage of an obscure age wherin few people discouered their designe He could not haue made himselfe soueraigne Iudge in points of faith if the people had had the rule of faith before their eyes which God long agoe pronounced with his owne mouth ANSWERE IT is a great art in him that is feable and fearefull to fayne himselfe bold and valourous you put a good face vpon it and beare it boldly to make the world beleeue that you haue a great desire to appeare before the king to make good in his presence and in publike the truth of your new Gospell Your words which sound no other thing but a chalance wherby you prouoke all the Clergie of France to a publike disputation makes me call to mynd the Troian wherof mention is made in Homere Iliad 7 who boldly prouoked to combate marrie when it came once to blowes he stood in neede of a cloud to couer his flight and shame Vve could with facilitie if we pleased refuse to giue you battaile without the disaduantage of our dishonour or affording you occasion of complaint For Luther doth sustayne that we are not to dispute with such as renew old heresies which were long agoe condemned But we will not proceede so rigorously with you the Church of France by Gods prouidence being prouided of store of Prelates wherof I am the least and of an infinite number of Doctours who vpon all occasions will make appeare the veritie of her doctrine the vanitie of your errours The onely shadow of that great Cardinall will alwayes be able to defeate you for the same reason for which the Picture of Alexander made him quake vnder whose powerfull hand he had somtymes sunke to the grouÌ„d Is it not a mere flatterie to inuite a king to discerne differences in religion Vvill you haue princes to assume to themselues the authoritie of Iudges in such causes Though you would yet would not your brethren consent therto Princes themselues haue no such pretension The Holy fathers giue testimonie and the Scriptures teach that iustly they cannot doe it That your brethren will not haue it so they themselues shall speake Princes saith a Bezainconfess c. 5. art 15. Principes Synodo intersint non vt regnent sed vt seruiaÌ„t non vt leges condant sed vt ex Deiverbo per os ministrorum explicatas sibi aliis obseruandas proponant Beza are present in synods not to rule but to serue not to inact lawes but to propose those to be kept by themselues and the people which according vnto the word of God are explicated by the mouth of the Minister The Prince saith b Controu 5. lib. 2. c. 18. De sensu fidei mec cognoscit Princeps nec cognoscere officio Principali potest Iunius nether doth nor can by vertue of his charge iudge of the meaning of faith Vve say saith c Controu 1. q. 5. c. 4. Dicimus lites Ecclesiasticas decernendas esseex lege diuina per Ministrum Item cap. 6. Respondeo Martinum Ecclesiae vindicare iudicium de genere doctrinae non coÌ„cedere Imperatort c. Vhitakere that Ecclesiasticall differences are to be decided by the Minister in vertue of the diuine law In another place I answere that Martine doth ascribe the iudgement of points of doctrine to the Church he doth not grant it to the Emperour and who will deny that this iudgment appertaynes to â—ishopes Finally it belongs not to kings and Princes to confirme euen true doctrine but they are to be subiect to and obseruant of it saith Luthere That Princes doe not pretend to make themselues Iudges in matters of Faith the a Apud Soz. l. 6. c. 7. Mihiquisum de sorte plebis fas non est talia perserutari Sacerdotibus ista curae sunt Emperour Valentinian doth confirme in these words It is not lawfull for me who am of the ranke of the people to sound and search into those things they are committed to the Preistes care It belongs me not saith the same as b Epist 32. noÌ„ est mecum iudicare inter Episcopos S. Ambrose relates to iudge of the differences which rise amongst Bishops
The Emperour Basilius doth also intimate this when speaking to the layetie c In 8. Syn. nullo modo vobis licet de Ecclesiasticis causis sermonem mouere haec inuestig are quaerere Paetriarcharum Pontificum SacerdotuÌ„ est qui regiminis officium sortiti sunt Ecclesiastic as adepti sunt claues non nostrum qui pasci debemus c. he saith It is no way lawfull for you to medle with Ecclesiasticall causes to sound and examine them belongs to Patriarkes Bishopes priests who haue the gouerment and keyes of the Church It appertaynes not to vs who are to be fedd to be sanctified to be bound vnbound Of the same sense was Constantine in the Councell of Nice Gratiane in the Coun of Aquilea Theodosius the younger in the Ephesine Councell and diuers other Emperours in many other places In contemplation wherof a Lib. 5. epist 25. Scimus piisamos Dominus Sarerdoâ—â—â—tòus negottis non se immiscere S. Gregorie saith we know that our most pious Lords doe not meddle in the affaires of preists And that the Princes if they had any such pretention were not well grounded S. b Epist adsolit â—iâ—aÌ„ agentes Quandoae conatio aeuo anditum est quod indicium Ecclesiae authoritateÌ„ suaÌ„ ab Imperatore accepit Plurima antea Synodi fucre multa iudicia Eecâ—esiae habitae sunt sed neque Patres isliusmodires principi persuadere conati sunt nec Princeps se in Ecclesiasticis causis curiosum praebuit Athanasius doth witnesse Vvas it euer heard saith he from the creation of the world that the iudgment of the Church had authoritie from the Emperour Many Councells haue bene celebrated the Church hath often past her iudgment but nether would the Fathers persuade the Prince to any such thing nor did the Prince shew himselfe curious in causes of the Clergie and a litle after c Quis videns eum in decernendo principeÌ„ se facere EpiscoporuÌ„ praesidere iudiciis Ecclesiasticis â—â—on merito di â—at eum illam ipsam desolaetioneÌ„ esse quae a Daniele praedicta est who is he that seeing him he speakes of Constantius the Arian Emperour take vpon him to be Prince of Bishops to decree and preside in Ecclesiasticall iudgmeÌ„ts that will not say with iust reasoÌ„ that he is the desolation of abomination foretold by the Prophet Daniel S. Ambrose doth the like when writing to Valentinian the yonger who being corrupted by the Arians would iudge in matters of faith he vseth these words a Ambros l. 2. epist 13. Si vel scripturaruÌ„ se rieÌ„ diuinaruÌ„ vel vetera teÌ„porae retractemus quis abnuat in causae inquam fidei Episcopos solere de Imperatoribus Christianis noÌ„ Imperatores de Episcopis iudicare Eris Deofauente etiam insenectutis maturitateprouectior tunc de hoe censebis qualis ille Episcopi â—â— sit qui I aicis ills Sacerdotale substernit .... si confereÌ„dum de fide Sacerdotum debet esse istae collatio sicut factâ— est sabâ— onstaÌ„tino Augusta memâ—riae I 〈◊〉 cipe Et Tract de Basil non tradend Quid honorificentius quam vt Imperator Ecclesiae filius dicatur If we ether reflect vpon the order of Scripture or tymes by-past who will deny but that in points of faith in points of Faith I say the Bishopes were accustomed to iudge of Emperours not they of Bishops Vvith the helpe of God goes he on tyme will ripen thee and then you wilt iudge what kind of Bishope he is who will subiect Priestly right to laymen if a conference be to be had of faith it belongs to the Preists as it happened vnder Constantine Prince of sacred memorie Vvhat hath an Emperour more honorable then to be stiled the sonne of the Church That that which the Fathers say herin is verified by the Scripture the punishment which befell those who would needs lay hand vpon the Thurible doth confirme Further it would not b 2. Agg. 2. v. 12. command that things belonging to the law should be demaÌ„ded from the mouth of the Preist without making any mention at all of kings if both were equally lawfull It would not c 2. Paralypom say that Amarias should preside in things belonging vnto God marrie in those that apperi ayne to the office of a king Zabadias if their Courts were not distinguished To conclude d Ephes 4. v. 11. S. Paule making a long list of those who haue power in the Church had not begun with the Prophetes Euangelists Pastours and Doctours not mentioning kings if their authoritie had extended so far Againe put case the king had power to medle in such causes would you be content he should sitt vpon yours with obligation to stand to his iudgment Yes euen as the Donatists who appealed to Constantine stood to his you will stand to it if it fauour and like you appeale from it if it dislike or goe against you God saith e Vvhitak controu â— q. 5. c. 4. Iudicium sibi Deus reseruanit nulli hominum permisit one of your prime Authours following therin the donatists reserued the iudgement of religion to himselfe alone and did not grant it to any man why then will you haue the king to iudge But le ts see whether you haue a hart to enter into the lists as you make a flourish None will beleeue in my opinion that he that will not admitt of ordinarie weapons hath a desire to fight though otherwise he proclaime a loode chalance and who knowes not that in reiecting the authoritie of the Church Fathers Councells and Traditions you refuse the ordinarie weapons which are vsed in combats of Faith But oh you will admitt of the scripture and we also most willingly admitt of it yet not as it is in your hands that is Scripture not authenticall maymed corrupted interpreted according to your owne braine and most ordinarily against the true sense but the scripture preached and interpreted by the Church the pillar and rock of truth wherby we are to be deliuered from all errour Vvho could away with him that in a ciuile cause in a difficultie of importance would onely stand to the text of written lawes reiecting the explication of Doctours the credit of the historie practise and common custome in fine the authoritie of the Iudges who are appointed to doe iustice to all men But were he not yet more insupportable who onely admitting of written lawes should reiect those that are directly against him and interprete the rest following his owne fanticie In these termes are you wherby it well appeares that though you make shew to desire a conference yet indeed you flie it contenting your selues to haue occasion to bruit abroad amongst your friends that you offered a disputatioÌ„ concealing from them in the interim that you refused the iust and reasonable conditions therof apprehending that you haue done sufficiently in putting out some smale pampletes which decide nothing at all