commanded to adore Idoles and to offer sacrifice they preferred God before their prince But when he called upon them to war August in Psal 124. and bad them invade any Nation they presently obeyed They did distinguish their eternall Lord from the temporall King yet they submitted themselves to their temporall Lord for his sake that was their eternall King Deschism Donatist Lib. 3. So far he Optatus Milevitanus is another pregnant witnesse Cum super Imperatoren nemo sit nisi solus Deus Seeing there is no man above the Emperor beside God alone which made the Emperor Donatus by advancing himselfe above the Emperour doth exceed the bounds of humanity and maketh himself a God rather than man in that he feareth and reverenceth him not Com. in Evang Ioh l. 12. c. 36. whom all men should honor next after God So far Optat. S. Cyril is of the same judgment Cui legis prevaricatores liberare licet nisi Legis ipsius authori Who can acquit them that break the Law from transgression beside the Law-giver As we see by experience in all humane States no man can without danger breake the Law but Kings themselves in whom the crime of prevarication hath no place For it was wisely said of one that it is a wicked presumption In Epist. ad Timoth. c. 2. v. 1. to say to a King Thou doest amisse So far he And also S. Chrysostome What meaneth the Apostle saith he to require Prayers Supplications Intercessions and Thanksgiving to be made for all men He requireth this to be done in the dayly service of the Church and the perpetuall rite of Dive Religion For all the faithfull do know in what manner prayers are powred out before the Lord morning and evening for all the word even for Kings and every man in authority Some man will peradventure say that for all must be understood of all the faithfull Which cannot be the Apostles meaning as may appeare by the words following viz for Kings seeing that Kings neither did then nor in many ages after serve the living God but continued obstinatly in infidelity which by course of succession they had received Thus far Chrysost See the preface before Basilic Dor. Our Modern Reformers teach us that which Paul and Chrysost neither knew nor beleeved that wicked Princes are not to be prayed for but to be resisted c. When the faction of Eutiches had prevailed against the Catholikes Leo the first had no other remedy than Prayers to God sighs teares and petitions to the Emperor Omnes partium nostrarum Ecclesiae c. All the Churches of these parts Bpist 24. ad Theod. Imper. all we Priests even with sighs and teares beseech your Majesty to command a generall Synode to be held in Italy that all offences beeing remooved there may remaine neither error in Faith nor division in Lâ—â—e Favor the Catholiques grant liberty to protect the Faith against Heretiques defend the state of the Church from ruin that Christ his right-hand may support your Empire Thus far Leo. When Gregory the great was accused for the murther of a Bishop in prison he wrote to one Sabinianus to cleare him to the Emperor and Empresse Breviter suggeras serenissimis Dominis meis Epist. lib. 7. Epist 1. You may briefly enforme my soveraigne Lord and Lady that if I their servant would have busied my self with the death of the Lombards that Nation would by this time have had neither Kings nor Duks nor Earles and should have been in great confusion and division but because I stood in aw of God I was ever afraid to meddle with the shedding of any mans bloud So far Gregory These Lombards were Pagans invaders of the Countrey ransackers of the City persecutors of the Saints robbers of the Church oppressors of the poore whom Gregory the first might and would not destroy quia Deum timuit because he seared God It is very like that his successor Gregory the 7 feared neither God nor man when he erected the papall croisier against the regall scepter and read the sentence of deprivation against the Emperor Henry Ego authoritate Apostolica c. I by the power Apostolicall do bereave Henry of the German Kingdome and do deprive him of all subjection of Christian men absolving all men from the allegiance which they have sworne unto him And that Rodolph whom the Peeres of the Empire have elected may govern the Kingdome I grant all men that shall serve him against the Emperor forgivenesse of their sins Carol. Sigon de Regoo Itâ— l. 9. in vita Hen. 3. in this life and in the life to come As I have for his pride dejected Henry from the Royall dignity so I do exalt Rodolph for his humility to that place of Authority Thus far Gregory the 7. Benno Gard in vit Greg 7. It is no wounder that Gregory his chaire clave a sunder as some writers affirme at the giving of this sentence because the proud Pope and his wicked sentence were too heavy a burthen for Peters stoole of humility to beare The fourth Chapter proveth the Immunity of Kings by the Fathers of the third 300 yeares AFter the death of Gregory the great which was about the year of our Lord 604. Sabinianus did succeed him who lived but one yeare after whom came Boniface the 3 which obtained of Phocas to be called Vniversall Bishop since that time periit virtus Imperatorum pietas Pontificum the Emperours waxed weake and the Bishops wicked What the judgement of those Fathers then was concerning subjection to wicked Kings I will make evident by the testimony of of Gregorius Turonensis Isidorus Damascenus Beda Fulgentius Leo the 4 and the Fathers astembled in a Councell at Toledo in Spaine Gregory Turonensis acknowledgeth such an absolute power in Childerick a most wicked King of France Histor lib. 5 cap. 1. as was free from all controll of man Si quis de nobis Rex justitiae limites transcendere voluerit c. If any one of us O King do passe the bonds of justice you have power to correct him but if you exceed your limit who shall chastice you We may speake unto you if you list not to hearken who can condemn you but that great God who hath pronounced himself to be righteousnes Hactenus ille Isidorus saith no lesse for the immunity of the Kings of Spaine Let all earthly Princes know that they shall give account of the Church which Christ hath committed to their protection Yea whether the peace and discipline Ecclesiasticall be advanced by faithfull Kings or dissolved by the unfaithfull he will require a reckoning at their hands which hath left his Church in their power So far Isidor John Damascene pleadeth not only for the Exemption of wicked Kings themselves but also of their Deputies Parallâ—l 〈◊〉 1. c. 21. The Governours saith he which Kings create though they be wicked though they be theeves though they be
unjust or otherwise tainted with any crime must bee regarded Wee may not contemne them for their impiety but must reverence them because of their authority by whom they were appoynted our Governours So farre he Fulgentius saith that no kind of Sedition can stand with Religion Cum pro nostra fide libere respondemus c. When we answer freely for our profession we ought not to be taxed with the least suspition of disobedience or contumely seeing we are not unmindfull of the Regall dignity and do know that we must feare God and honour the King according to the Doctrine of the Apostle Give to each one his due feare to whom feare Fulgent ad Thrasim Reg. 1 Pet. 2.7 honour to whom honour appertaineth Of the which feare and honour Saint Peter hath delivered unto us the manifest knowledge saying As the servants of God honour all men love brotherly fellowship feare God honour the King Thus farre Fulgent Our Countriman Beaa for his great learning called Venerable Lib. 4 expos in Samuel â— Sam. 24.6 is of the same mind David saith he for two causes spared Saul who had persecuted him most maliciously First for that he was his Lord annoynted with holy oyle And secondly to instruct us by morall precepts that wee ought not to strike our governours though they unjustly oppresse us with the sword of our liâ—s nor presume slanderously to teare the hemme of their superfluous actions So far he Leo the fourth about the yeare 846. agnised all subjection to Lotharius the Emperours Cap. de 〈◊〉 dist 5. I do professe and promise saith Leo to observe and keepe unviolably as much as lieth in me for the time present and to come your Imperial ordinances and commandements together with the decrees of your Bishops my predecessors It any man inform your Majesty otherwise know certainly that he is a lyer So far Leo. The Bishops of Spaine assembled in a Nationall Councell at Toledo made this Decree against Perjury and Treason Concil Tol. 5. Can. 2 〈◊〉 ann Dom. 636. Quicunque amodo ex nobis Whosoever among us shall from this tune forward violate the oath which he hath taken for the safegard of this Countrey the state of the Gotish nation and the preservation of the Kings Majesty whosoever shall attempt the Kings death or deposition whosoever shall by tyrannicall presumption aspire to the Regall Throne let him be accursed before the Holy Spirit before the blessed Saints let him be cast out of the Catholike Church which he hath polluted by perjury let him have no Communion with Christian men nor portion with the just but let him be condemned with the Devill and his angels eternally together with his complices that they may be tyed in the bond of damnation which were joyned in the society of sedition Thus far the Fathers in that Synod I conclude therefore with these learned Fathers that it is not for the people otherwise then with humility and obedience to control the actions of their Governors but their duty is only to call upon the God of Heaven and so submit themselves to his mercy by whose ordinance the Scepter is fallen into his hand and power that enjoyeth the Crown whether he be good or bad A right of deposing must be either in him that hath an higher power which is only God or in him that hath better right to the Crown which the Pope cannot have because he is a stranger nor the Peeres or people because they are subjects Be the King for his Religion impious for his Government unjust for his Life licentious the subject must endure him the Bishop must reprove him the Councellor must advise him all must pray for him and no mortall man hath authotity to disturbe or displace him as may evidently be seene by the Chapter following The fift Chapter confirmeth this Doctrine by the Fathers of the fourth 300 yeares IN this age of the Church the Popes exalted themselves above all that is called God and upon private displeasures and quarrels did curse and ban Princes incensing their neighbour-Nations and perswading their own Subjects to make war against them as if Christ had ordeined his Sacraments not to be seales of Grace and helps of our Faith but hookes to catch Kingdoms and rods to scourge such Potentates as would not or could not procure the Pope's favour How far these Popish practises did displease the godly and learned I will shew by S. Bernard Waltramus Bishop of Nanumberg the Epistle Apolegeticall of the Church of Leige against Paschalis the Pope and the Author of Henry the fourth his Life Saint Bernard in one of his Sermons upon the words of Christ I am the Vine commendeth the answer of a certaine King Bene quidam Rex cum percussus humana sagitta c. It was well said of a King when he was shot into the body with an arrow and they that were about him desired him to be bound untill the arrow's head were cut out for that the least motion of his body would endanger his life no quoth he it doth not beseem a King to be bound let the Kings power be ever safe and at liberty And the same Father in an Epistle to Ludovicus Crassus the King of France teacheth subjects how to rebell and fight against their Princes Quicquid vobis de Regno vestro de anima Corona vestra facere placuerit Whatsoever you please to do with your Kingdom Bernard Epist 221. your soule or your Crown we that are the children of the Church cannot endure or dissemble the injuries contempt and conculcation of our mother Questionlesse we will stand and fight even unto death in our mothers behalfe and use such weapons as wee may lawfully I meane not Swords and Speares but Prayers and Teares to God When Gregory the 7 had deposed Henry the 4 he gave away the Empire to one Rodolphus Duke of Saxony that was a sworn subject to that distressed Emperor which Rodolph in a battaile against his Soveraigne Lord lost his right-hand and gained a deadly wound After his death the Pope made one Hermanus King of Germany who enjoyed his Kingdom but a little time for he was slaine with a stone which a woman threw upon him from a turret as he made an assault in sport against his own castle Ex vita Henr. 4. quae habetur in fasciculorerum scienâ—io um Colâ—â—â—ae impresso to try the valour of his Souldiers Then did Egbertus by the Popes encouragment ascend the Imperiall Throne whereon he sat but a while for as he stepped aside from his Army into a Mill to rest himself in the heat of the day he was discovered by the Miller to the Emperor's friends and lost his life for his labour During this hurly-burly in that State Walthramus a godly Bishop wrote to one Ludovicus an Earle of the Empire diswading him from partaking with the seditious against that good Emperor whom the Pope had deposed Walthram by
the grace of God that he is to Lewes the noble Prince with instance of prayer offreth himselfe in all things serviceable Concord is profitable to every Realme and Iustice much to be desired these vertues are the mother of devotion and the consecration of all honesty But whosoever seeketh after civill dissention and incenseth other to the effusion of bloud he is a murtherer and partaketh with him who gaping for bloud goeth about seeking whom he may devoure The worthy vessell of election that was taken up to the third Heaven protesteth saying Let every soule submit himselfe to the higher power there is no power but from God He that resisteth power resisteth the ordinance of God If that be true which some men prate among women and the vulgar sort that we ought not to be subdued to the Kingly power Then it is false which the Apostle teacheth that every soule must submit himselfe under power and superiority Can the truth lye Epist Wald. quae habetur in appendice Marian Scot. Did not Christ the Lord speake by the Apostle Why do we provoke the Lord Are we stronger than he Doth not he thinke himselfe stronger than the Lord the resisteth the ordinance of God Seeing there is no power but of God What saith the Prophet Confounded be they that strive against the Lord and they that resist him shall perish Rodolphus Hermanus Egbertus with many other Princes resisted the ordinance of God in Henry the Emperor but loe they are confounded as though they had never beene for as their end was ill their beginning could not be good c. Haec ille Pope Paschalis seeing the bad successe of those seditious subjects which his predecessors Gregory and Vrbanus had armed against Henry that worthy Emperor did perswade the Emperor's own son against all Law of God Nature and Nations to rebell against his father The Bishop of Leige tooke the Emperors part against this young Prince for the which he was excommunicate his Church interdicted and Robert Earle of Flaunders commanded by the Pope as he hoped to have the forgivenesse of his sins and the faof the Church of Rome to destroy that Bishop and his false Priests The Churchmen of Leige terrified with the Popes excommunication and fearing the Earles oppression wrote an Apology for themselvs about the yeare 1106. Epist Leodiensium apud Simonem Scard We are excommunicate say they because we obey our Bishop who hath taken part with his Lord the Emperor These are the beginnings of sorrow for Satan beeing loosed compasseth the earth and hath made a division between the Prince and the Priest who can justly blame the Bishop that taketh his Lords part to whom he hath sworn allegiance Perjury is a great sin whereof they cannot be ignorant that by new schisme and novell traditions do promise to absolve subjects from the guilt of perjury that forsweare themselves to their Lord the King c. In the progresse of their Apology they determine three great questions First whether the Pope hath power to excommunicate Kings Secondly to whom it belongeth to inflict temporall punishment when Church-men offended against Faith unity or good manners And thirdly what remedy subjects have against their Kings that are impious or tyrannous Si quis respectu sancti Spiritus c. If any man having respect to the Spirit of God shall turn over the old and new Testament he shall plainly find that Kings ought not at all or very hardly be excommunicate whether we consider the etimology of their names or the nature of their excommunication Even til this day hath this point been questioned and never determined Kings may be admonished and reproved by such as be discreet and sober men for Christ the King of Kings in earth who hath placed them in his own stead hath reserved them to his own judgement c. Their answer to the second question is grounded on the testimony of Saint Augustine the practise of Princes and the authority of Paul Kings say they and Emperors by their publique Lawes have forbidden heretiques to enjoy any wordly possession Wherfore seeing we are no heretiques and that it belongeth not to the Pope but to Kings and Emperors to punish heresies why doth our Lord Paschalis send Robert his armour-bearer to destroy the possessions and to overthrow the villages of the Churches which in case they deserved destruction ought to be destroyed by the Edict of Kings and Emperors which cary the sword not without good cause c. For answer to the third question they shew by sundry places of Scripture that there is no other helpe against evill Princes than prayer and patience Nihil modo pro Imperatore nostro dicimus c. We will for the present say nothing in defence of our Emperor but this we say though he were as bad as you report him to be wee would endure his government because our sins have deserved such a Governor Even such a Prince ought not to be resisted by violence but endured by patience and prayer Moses brought many plagues upon Pharaoh whose heart God had hardened but it was by prayer and the lifting up his hands to heaven And S. Paul requireth prayers to be made for all men for Kings and such as are in authority which Kings were neither Catholikes nor Christians Baruch also from the mouth of the Prophet Jeremy wrote unto the Iews which were captives unto the King of Babylon that they must pray for the life of Nabuchadnezzar the King of Babylon and Balthazar his son that their dayes in earth may be as the dayes of Heaven Epist Leod. c. S. Paul teacheth why we ought to pray for evill Kings namely that under them we may lead a quiet life It would becom an Apostolike man to follow the Apostles doctrin it were propheticall to follow the Prophet c. Thus far they in their Epistle Apologeticall He that wrote the life of this Emperor Henry the 4 Vita Hen. 4 quo supra an auncient a modest and an impartiall relator of such occurrents as happened in his time declareth his dislike of the Popes practises and the Germaines tumults against their said Soveraigne Lord. Magnum mundo documentum datum est A great instruction was given to the World that no man should rise against his master For the hand of Rodolph being cut off shewed a most just punishment of perjury he feared not to violate his fidelity sworn to the King and his right hand was punished as if other wounds had not beene sufficient to bring him to his death that by the plague of the rebellious the fault of rebellion might be perceived Thus far he The sixth Chapter proveth the same by the testimony of the Writers from the 1200 yeares downward I Will for conclusion produce Otho Frisingensis Thomas Aquinas Gratianus Philip the faire King of France the Parliament of England in the time of Edward the 1 Vincentius and Aeneas Silvius that afterward was Pope by