not to die we entreat your clemencie Oh it was seemely for Christian souldiers to desire the tranquilitie of peace and faith and to be constant in truth euen vnto death Thus farre Ambrose S. Augustine relateth the same of the Christian souldiers vnder Iulian the Apostata-Emperour Iulianus extitit imperator infidelis Iulian was an vnbeleeuing Emperour was he not an Apostata an oppressor and an Idolater Christian souldiers serued that vnbeleeuing Emperour When they came to the cause of Christ they would acknowledge no Lord but him that was in heauen when they were commanded to adore Idoles and to offer sacrifice they preferred God before their Prince But when he called vpon them to warre bad them inuade any nation they presently obeyed They did distinguish their eternall Lord from the temporall king yet they submitted themselues to their temporal Lord for his sake that was their eternall king August in Psal 124. So farre he Optatus Milevitanus is another pregnant witnesse Cum super Imperatorem nemo sit nisi solus Deus Seeing there is no man aboue the Emperour beside God alone which made the Emperour Donatus by advancing himselfe aboue the Emperour De schism Donatist l. 3. doth exceede the bounds of humanitie and maketh himselfe a God rather then man in that he feareth and reuerenceth him not whom all men should honour next after God So farre Optat. Com. in evang Ioh. l. 12. c. 36. Saint Cyril is of the same iudgement Cui legis preuaericatores liberare licet nisi legis ipsius authori Who can acquit them that breake the law from transgression beside the law-giuer as we see by experience in all humane states no man can without danger breake the law but kings themselues in whom the crime of preuarication hath no place For it was wisely said of one that it is a wicked presumption to say to a king Thou doest amisse So farre he In 1. epist ad Timoth c. 2. ◠1. And also Saint Chrisostome What meaneth the Apostle saith he to require prayers and supplications inintercessions and thanksgiuing to be made for all men he requireth this to be done in the daily seruice of the Church and the perpetuall rite of diuine religion For all the faithfull do knowe in what manner prayers are powred out before the Lord morning and euening for all the world euen for kings and euery man in authoritie Some man will peradventure say that for all must be vnderstood 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 serue the liuing God but continued obstinately in infidelitie which by course of succession they had receiued Thus farre Chrysost Our Moderne reformers teach vs that which Paul and Chrysostome neither knewe nor beleeued See the preface before Basilic Dor. that wicked Princes are not to be prayed for but to be resisted c. When the faction of Eutiches had preuailed against the Catholikes Leo the first had no other remedie then prayers to God sighes teares and petitions to the Emperour Omnes partium nostrarum ecclesiae c. Epistol 24. ad Theodos Imperat. All the Churches of these parts all we Priests euen with sighs and teares beseech your Maiestie to command a generall Synode to be held in Italie that all offences beeing remooued there may remaine neither error in faith nor diuision in loue Fauour the catholiques grant libertie to protect the faith against heretiques defend the state of the Church from ruine that Christ his right-hand may support your Empire Thus farre Leo. When Gregorie the great was accused for the murther of a Bishop in prison he wrote to one Sabinianus to cleare him to the Emperour and Empresse Breuiter suggeras serenissimis dominis meis Epist l. 7. epist 1. You may briefly enforme my soueraigne Lord and Ladie that if I their seruant would haue busied my selfe with the death of the Lombards that nation would by this time haue had neither Kings nor Dukes nor Earles should haue bin in great confusion and diuision but because I stood in awe of God I was euer afraid to meddle with the shedding of any mans blood so farre Gregorie These Lombards were Pagans invaders of the countrey ransackers of the citie persecutors of the Saints robbers of the Church oppressors of the poore whom Gregorie the first might and would not destroy quia deum timuit because he feared God It is verie like that his successor Gregorie the seauenth feared neither God nor man when he erected the papall croisier against the regall scepter and read the sentence of depriuation against the Emperour Henrie Ego authoritate apostolica c. I by my power apostolicall doe bereaue Henrie of the Germaine kingdom and do depriue him of all subiection of Christian men absoluing all men from the allegiance which they haue sworne vnto him And that Rodolph whom the Peeres of the Empire haue elected may gouerne the kingdome I grant all men that shall serue him against the Emperor forgiuenesse of their sinnes in this life and in the life to come Carol. Sigon de Regno Ital lib. 9. in vita Hen. 3. As I haue for his pride deiected Henrie from the royall dignitie so I doe exalt Rodolph for his humilitie to that place of authoritie Thus farre Gregor 7. Benno Card in vit Greg. 7 It is no wonder that Gregorie his chaire claue a sunder as some writers affirme at the giuing of this sentence because the proud Pope and his wicked sentence were too heauie a burthen for Peters stoole of humilitie to beare The fourth Chapter prooveth the Immunitie of Kings by the Fathers of the third 300. yeares AFter the death of Gregorie the great which was about the yeare of our Lord 604. Sabinianus did succeede him who liued but one yeare after whome came Boniface the 3. which obtained of Phocas to be called Vniversall Bishop since that time perijt virtus Imperatorum pietas Pontificum the Emperours waxed weake and the Bishops wicked What the iudgemēt of those Fathers then was concerning subiection to wicked Kings I will make euident by the testimonie of Gregorius Turonensis Isidorus Damascenus Beda Fulgentius Leo 4. and the Fathers assembled in a Councell at Toledo in Spaine Gregorie Turonensis acknowledgeth such an absolute power in Childericke a most wicked king of France as was free from all controll of man 〈…〉 lib 5. cap. 1. Si quis de nobis Rex iustitiae limites transcendere voluerit c. If any one of vs O King doe passe the bounds of iustice you haue power to correct him but if you exceede your limit who shall chastice you We may speake vnto you if you list not to harken who can condemne you but that Great God who hath pronounced himselfe to be righteousnes hactenus ille Isidorus saith no lesse for the immunitie of the
Kings of Spaine Let all earthly Princes know that they shall giue account of the Church which Christ hath committed to their protection Yea whether the peace and discipline Ecclesiasticall be aduanced by faithfull Kings or dissolued by the vnfaithfull he will require a reckoning at their hands which hath left his Church in their power So farre Isidor Iohn Damascene pleadeth not onely for the exemption of wicked kings themselues but also of their Deputies Parallel lib. 1. c. 21. The gouernours saith he which Kings create though they be wicked though they be theeues though they be vniust or otherwise tainted with any crime must be regarded We may not contemne them for their impietie but must reuerence them because of their authoritie by whome they were appointed our gouernours So farre he Fulgentius saith that no kinde 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 vnmindfull of the Regall dignitie and doe know that we must feare God and honour the King according to the doctrine of the Apostle â—ulgent ad Thrasim reg Giue to each one his due feare to whome feare honour to whome honour appertaineth Of the which feare and honour S. Peter hath deliuered vnto vs the manifest knowledge 1. Pet. 2.17 saying As the seruants of God honour all men loue brotherly fellowship feare God honour the King Thus farre Fulgent Our countrie man Beda for his great learning called Venerable is of the same minde Dauid saith he for two causes spared Saul lib. 4. exposit in Samuel who had persecuted him most malitiously First for that he was his Lord annointed with holy oile 1. Sam. 24. â— And secondly to instruct vs by morall precepts that we ought not to strike our gouernours though they vniustly oppresse vs with the sword of our lips nor presume slanderously to teare the hemme of their superfluous actions So farre he Leo the fourth about the yeare 846. agnised all subiection to Lotharius the Emperour I doe professe and promise saith Leo to obserue and keepe vnuiolably Cap. de capitulis dist 15. as much as lieth in me for the time present and to come your imperiall ordinances and commandements together with the decrees of your Bishops my predecessors If any man informe your Maiestie otherwise know certainely that he is a lier So farrre Leo. The Bishops of Spaine assembled in a nationall councell at Toledo made this decree against periurie and treason Quicunque amodo ex nobis Concill Tol. 5. Canon 2 circa annum Dom. 636. Whosoeuer among vs shall from this time forward violate the oath which he hath taken for the safegard of this countrie the state of the Gothish nation the preseruation of the Kings Maiestie whosoeuer shall attempt the Kings death or deposition whosoeuer 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 catholique Church which he hath polluted by periurie let him haue no communion with Christian men nor portion with the iust but let him be condemned with the deuill and his angels eternally together with his complices that they may be tied in the bond of damnation which were ioyned in the societie of sedition Thus farre the fathers in that Synod I conclude therfore with these learned Fathers that it is not for the people otherwise then with humilitie and obedience to controll the actions of their gouernours but their dutie is onely to call vpon the God of heauen and so submit themselues to his mercie by whose ordinance the scepter is fallen into his hand and power that enioyeth the crowne whether he be good or bad A right of deposing must be either in him that hath an higher power which is onely God or in him that hath better right to the crowne which the Pope cannot haue because he is a straunger nor the Peeres or people because they are subiects Be the king for his religion impious for his gouernment vniust for his life licentious the subiect must endure him the Bishop must reprooue him the counsellor must aduise him all must praie for him and no mortall man hath authoritie to disturbe or displace him as may euidently be seene by the chapter following The fifth chapter confirmeth this Doctrine by the fathers of the fourth 300 yeares IN this age of the Church the Popes exalted themselues aboue all that is called god vpon priuate displeasures and quarrels did curse and ban Princes incensing their neighbour-nations and perswading their owne subiects to make warre against them as if Christ had ordeyned his Sacraments not to be seales of grace and helpes of our faith but hookes to catch kingdoms and rods to scourge such Potentates as would not or could not procure the Popes fauour How farre these Popish practises did displease the godly and learned I will shew by S. Bernard Walthramus Bishop of Nanumberg the epistle Apolegeticall of the Church of Leige against Paschalis the Pope and the author of Henrie the fourth his life S. Bernard in one of his sermons vpon 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 bodie with an arrowe and they that were about him desired him to be bound vntill the arrowes head weare cut out for that the least motion of his bodie would endanger his life no quoth he it doth not beseeme a King to be bound let the kings power be euer safe and at libertie And the same father in an epistle to Ludovicus Crassus the king of France teacheth subiects how to rebell and fight against their Princes Quicquid vobis de regno vestro de anima corona vestra facere placuerit Been epist 221. Whatsoeuer you please to doe with your kingdome your soule or your crowne we that are the children of the Church cannot endure or dissemble the iniuries contempt and conculcation of our mother Questionlesse we will stand and fight euen vnto death in our mothers behalfe and vse such weapons as we may lawfully I mean not swords and speares but praiers and teares to God When Gregorie the 7. had deposed Henrie the 4. he gaue away the Empire to one Rodolphus duke of Saxonie that was a sworne subiect to that distressed Emperour which Rodolph in a battaile against his soueraigne Lord lost his right-hand and gained a deadly wound After his death the Pope made one Hermanus king of Germanie who enioyed his kingdome but a little time for he was slaine with a stone which a woman threwe vpon him from a turret as he made an assault in sport against his owne castle to trie the valour of his
practises and the Germaines tumults against their said soueraigne Lord. Magnum mundo documentum datum est A great instruction was giuen to the world that no man should rise against his master For the hand of Rodolph beeing cut off shewed a most iust punishment of periurie he feared not to violate his fidelitie sworne to the King and his right hand was punished as if other woundes had not beene sufficient to bring him to his death that by the plague of the rebellious the fault of rebellion might be perceiued thus farre he The sixth Chapter prooveth the same by the testimonie of the Writers from the 12. hundred yeares downeward 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 Sylvius that afterward was Pope by the name of Pius Secundus Otho Frising in his epistle dedicatorie before his Chronicle Otho Frisingensis hath an excellent saying in his epistle dedicatorie to Frederick Barbarossa Cum nulla persona mundialis inveniatur quae mundi legibus non subiaceat c. Although no earthly man can be found that is not subiect to the lawes of the world and in respect of subiection liable to correction Kings as it were placed ouer lawes are not restrained by them but reserued to the examination of God according to the words of the King and Prophet Against thee onely haue I sinned Psal 51.5 It becommeth therefore a king both in respect of the noble disposition of his minde and the spirituall illumination of his soule to haue God the king of kings and Lord of lords euer in his minde and by all meanes possible to take heede that he fall not into the hands of God seeing it is as the Apostle saith a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the liuing God It is more fearefull for kings then for any other because kings haue none but God himselfe aboue them whome they neede feare It shall be so much more horrible for them by how much they may offend more freely then other men So farre Otho Thomas Aquinas Aquin. de regimine prin lib. 1. c. 6. if the tractare de regimene principum be his maketh three sorts of kings Kings by election Kings by subordination and Kings by succession For the first he saith that they which did establish may abolish for the second we must haue our recourse to him that did surrogate the subordinate King as the Iewes did to Caesar against Herod for the last his resolution is Recurrendum esse ad omnium regem deum that we must flie to God the King of all kings in whose onely power it is to mollifie the cruell heart of a tyrant And that men may obtaine this at the hands of God they must cease from sinne for wicked Princes by diuine permission are exalted to punish the sinnes of the people tollenda est igitur ouâ—pa vt cesset tyrannorum plagâ— we must therefore remooue our sinnes that God may take away his punishment Thus farre Thomas Gratianus which compiled the decrees is verie peremptorie that the Bishop of Rome ought not to medle with the temporall sword the state of common wealthes or the change of Princes He saith nothing indeede de Regni ordinibus which in his time and a 100. yeares after him neuer dreamed of any such authoritie Cum Petrus qui primus apostolorum à domino fuerat electus materialem gladium exerceret When Peter whom the Lord had first chosen of all the Apostles drewe the materiall sword to defend his Master from the iniuries of the Iewes he was commanded to sheath his sword for all that take the sword Matth. 26.52 shall perish by the sword As if Christ should haue said Hitherto it was lawfull for thee and thine auncestors to persecute Gods enemies with the temporall sword hereafter thou must put vp that sword into his place Caus 23. quest 8. parag 1. and drawe the sword of the spirit which is the word of God to slay the old man whosoeuer beside the Prince and without his authoritie that hath lawfull power and as the Apostle teacheth beareth not the sword in vaine Rom. 13.4 to whom euerie soule must be subiect whosoeuer I say without or beside the Princes authoritie beareth the sword shall perish by the sword Thus farre Gratian. About the yeare a 1300. began a quarrell betweene Boniface 8. and Philippus Pulcher the French king about the collation of benefices prebends and other ecclesiasticall promotions Whereupon the Pope wrote vnto the said king as followeth Boniface Bishop the seruant of Gods seruants to his wel-beloued sonne Philip by Gods grace king of France Greeting and blessing Apostolicall Feare God and keepe his lawe We giue thee to vnderstand that thou art subiect to vs both in spirituall things and temporall and that no gift of benefices or prebends belongeth to thee If thou haue in thy hand any vacant keepe the profits of them to the successors and if thou hast bestowed any we decree the collation voide and recall it how farre soeuer it hath proceeded Whosoeuer beleeueth otherwise we account him a foole Dated at Lateran the fourth of the Calends of December and in the 6. yeare of our Papacie King Philip returned his haughtinesse a correspondent answear viz. Philip by the grace of God King of Fraunce to Boniface bearing himselfe for Pope Philip. Pulcher Salutem modicam siue nullaÌ„ Sciat tua maxima fatuitas Little health or none at all Let thy great fooleship know that in temporall things we are subiect to no man And that the gifts of prebends and ecclesiasticall promotions made and to be made by vs were and shall be lawfull both in time past and in time to come For such collations belong to vs in the right of our crowne wherefore we will manfully defend the possessours of the said dignities and doe iudge them that thinke otherwise fooles and madmen Giuen at Paris the wednesday after Candlemasse 1301. Questionlesse this King that did so scornefully reiect the Popes chalenge pretended from Christ would little regard the claime of the Nobles deriued but from the people The same busie Boniface of whom some write that he came in like a fox craftely raigned like a lyon cruelly and died like a dogge miserably would take vpon him the decision of a controversie between the Kings of England Scotland and commanded King Edward of England either to cease his claime or to send his procurators to the apostolike sea to shewe his right and to receiue such order from the Pope as iustice and equitie would require The Lords and commons then assembled in Parliament at Lincolne sent Boniface this answear in the kings behalfe Whereas our most dread Lord Edward by the grace of God the Noble King of England caused your letters to be read openly before vs touching certaine occurrents of state betweene him and
with the old people of Rome that of all good actions the murther of a tyrant is most commendable Thus farre he pag. 206. 1577. came forth the Vindicia contra Tyrannos with this resolution That Princes are chosen by God established by the people euery priuate man is subiect to the Prince the Multitude and the officers of state which represent the Multitude are superiours to the Prince yea they may iudge his actions and if he make resistance punish him by forcible meanes So farre he 1584. Danaeus finished his booke of Christian policie wherein among many other he propoundeth and answereth a Noble question lib. 3. c. 6. as he termeth it Nobilis quaestio sequitur A noble question followeth whether it be lawful for subiects to change and alter their gouerment Yea whether it may be done by godly men with a good conscience his answer is The cheefe Magistrate that notoriously and willfully violateth the fundamentall lawes of the kingdome may be displaced by godly subiects with a good conscience And this is his reason Reges summique Magistratus Kings and cheefe Magistrates are the vassalls of the kingdome and of the Common-wealth where they rule Wherefore they may be dispossessed deiected when they shall obstinatly attempt any thing against the feudall lawes of the kingdome where they gouerne as Kings and cheefe Magistrates And it is truly said that as a generall councell is aboue the Pope so the kingdome or the Peeres of the Land are aboue the King Thus farre Danaeus 1585. de iure Reg. pag. 31. George Buchanan proclaimed rewards aswell for murthering kings as killing tygres If I saith he had power to make a law I would command tyrants to be transported from the societie of men into some solitarie place or els to be drowned in the bottome of the sea that the euill sauour of dead tyrants should not annoy liuing men Furthermore I would award recompence to be giuen for the slaughter of tyrants not onely of all in generall but of euery one in particular as men vse to reward them for their paines which kill wolues or beares and destroy their young ones haec ille The same yeare Thomas Cartwright commended Dudley Fenners his Sacra Theologia as they call his booke to the world wherein men are warranted by sundry texts of Scripture most miserably abused to destroy tyrants Therein he following the common opinion of the Puritans maketh two sorts of tyrants Tyrannus sine titulo lib. 5. cap. 13. pag. 185. and Tyrannus exercitio For the tyrant without title He is confident that any man may cut his throat Huic quisque priuatus resistet etiam si potest è medio tollat let euerie private man resist him and if he can take away his life For the Tyrant exercent hauing described him to be a Prince that doth wilfully dissolue all or the chiefest compacts of the commonwealth he concludeth against him Hunc tollant vel Pacifice vel cum Bello qui ea potestate donati sunt vt rgeni Ephori vel omnium ordinum conventus publicus The Peeres of the kingdome or the publique assembly of states ought to destroy him either by peaceable practises or open warre haec ille Anno 1588. Hermanus Renecherus published obseruations vpon the first Psalme wherein he investeth the Presbiterie with all the Popes prerogatiues Concerning the Presbiterian power ouer kings This is his notable annotation pag. 72. God saith he hath ordained the Ciuill Magistrate for the good of the ecclesiasticall order therefore the ecclesiastical state is the highest throne of Gods earthly kingdome the supreame seate of all excellencie and the chiefest court wherin God himselfe is president to distribute eternall gifts to his servants Whereas the politicall Empire is but as it were an inferiour bench wherein iustice is administred according to the prescription of the ecclesiasticall soueraigntie Thus fatre Renecherus Robert Rollocke a man otherwise verie learned is caried with the current of this error and borrowed his assertion of M. Fenner whose words he expoundeth by way of paraphrasis In Daniel c. 5. p. 150. in his commentaries on Daniel printed at Edingburge 1591. Though the chiefe lawfull Magistrate saith M. Rollocke doe many things vniustly and tyrannously he may not rashly be violated by them especially which haue not authoritie but the Nobles or the publike assemblie of states must reduce him to his dutie by reproofe and all other lawfull meanes 1. Sam. 14.46 If he doe still persist in open and desperate tyrannie wilfully dissoluing all or the chiefest compacts of the common wealth priuate men must not yet medle with him onely the Peeres or the publike assemblie of all states to whom that charge belongeth must prouide that the Church and Commonwealth come not to desolation though it cannot otherwise be done then by the death and destruction of the tyrant Better it is that an euill king be destroyed then the Church and state together ruined Thus farre Rollocke For proofe he referreth his reader first to the 1. Sam. 14.46 viz. Then Saul came vp from the Philistims and the Philistims went to their own place ergo Kings that are wicked may be reduced to their dutie by the Peeres or assemblie of states according to the rules of the newe Puritan logique Secondly for the killing and destroying of kings he referreth his readers to the 2. regum c. 11. v. 4.5.6.7 which place I thinke he neuer vouchsafed to looke vpon but set it downe as he found it quoted in Fenners diuinitie from whom he hath taken all the rest I will make an end with William Bucanus whose booke was published at the request and with the approbation of Beza and Goulartius maine pillars of the Church of Geneva 1602. 〈…〉 pag. 〈…〉 They saith Bucanus which haue any part of office in the publike administration of the Commonwealth as the Ouerseers Senators Consuls Peeres or Tribunes may restraine the insolencie of euill kings Thus farre he This Puritan-dangerous error is directly repugnant to the Law the Gospel the precepts of the Apostles the practise of Martyrs and the doctrine of the Fathers Councels and other classicall Writers as I haue prooued in the sixe former Chapters and will more directly shew by the grace of God in my other booke wherein the holy texts of Scripture which the Papists and Puritans doe damnably abuse against the Ecclesiasticall and Civill authoritie of Kings shall be answered by the godly Protestants whose labour God vsed to reforme his Church since the yeare of our Lord 1517. and by the ancient Fathers and orthodoxall Writers in euery age of the Church This Puritan-position which authoriseth Nobles and assemblies of States against wicked kings is the very assertion of the most seditious Iesuits that haue liued in our age as I will demonstrate by two or three Iohannes Mariana whose booke seemeth to be written in defence of Clement the fryer who stabbed Henrie the 3. king of France The