Christian men then that which the holy Ghost this day spake in you Wee beseech O Emperour wee offer not to fight wee feare not to die wee intreat your clemency Oh it was seemely for Christian souldiers to desire the tranquility of peace and faith and to bee constant in truth even unto death Thus farre Ambrose Saint Augustine relateth the same of the Christian souldiers under Iulian the Apoâ—tate-Emperour Iulianus extitit Imperator infidelis Iulian was an unbeleeving Emperour was hee not an Apostata an Oppressour and an Idolater Christian souldiers served that unbeleeving Emperour When they came to the cause of Christ they would acknowledge no Lord but him that was in Heaven when they were commanded to adore Idoles and to offer sacrifice they preferred God before their Prince But when hee called upon them to warre 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 August in Psal 124. for his sake that was their eternall King So farre hee Optatus Milevitanus is another pregnant witnesse Cum super Imperatorem nemo sit nisi solus Deus Seing there is no man above the Emperour beside God alone which made the Emperour De schism Donatist l. 3. Donatus by advancing himselfe above the Emperour doth exceed the bounds of humanity and makeeh himselfe a God rather then man in that hee feareth and reverenceth him not whom all men should honour next after God So farre Optatus Saint Cyril is of the same judgement Com. in Evang Ioh l. 12. c. 36. Cuilegis prevaricatores liberare licet nisi legis ipsius authori Who can acquit them that breake the law from transgression beside the Law-giver as wee 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 to say to a King Thou doest amisse So farre hee And also Saint Chrysostome In 1. epist ad Timoth. c. 2 v. 1. What meaneth the Apostle saith hee to require prayers and supplications inter cessions and thansgiving to bee made for all men hee requireth this to bee done in the dayly service of the Church and the perpetuall rite of Divine religion For all the faithfull doe know in what manner prayers are powred out before the Lord morning and evening for all the world even for Kings and every man in authority Some man will peradventure say that for all must bee understood of all the faithfull Which cannot bee 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 obstinately in infidelity which by course of succession they had received Thus farre Chrysostome Our Moderne Reformers teach us that which Paul and Chrysostome neither knew nor beleeved See the preface before Basilic Dor. that wicked Princes are not to bee prayed for but to be resisted c. When the faction of Eutiches had prevailed against the Catholikes Leo the first had no other remedy then prayers to God sighes teares and Petitions to the Emperour Epist 24. ad Theod. Imper. Omnes partium nostrarum Ecclesiae c. All the Churches of these parts all wee Priests even with sighs and teares beseech your Majesty to command a generall Synod to bee held in Italy that all offences being removed there may remaine neither errour in faith nor division in love Favour the Catholiques grant liberty 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 Gregory the great was accused for the Murther of a Bishop in prison hee wrote to one Sabinianus to cleare him to the Emperour and Empresse Epist lib. 7. epist 1. Breviter suggeras serenissimis Dominis meis You may briefly enforme my soveraigne Lord and Lady that if I their servant would have busied my selfe with the death of the Lombards that nation would by this time have had neither Kings nor Dukes nor Earles and should have beene 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 farre Gregory These Lombards were Pagans Invaders of the Countrey Ransackers of the City Persecutours of the Saints Robbers of the Church Oppressours of the poore whom Gregory the first might and would not destroy Quia Deum timuit because hee feared God It is very like that his Successour Gregory the seventh feared either God nor man when hee erected the Papall Croisier against the regall scepter and read the sentence of deprivation against the Emperour Henry Ego authoritate Apostelica c. I by my power Apostolicall doe bereave Henry of the Germane Kingdome and doe 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 governe the Kingdome I grant all men that shall serve him against the Emperour Carol. Sigon de Regno Ital. lib. 9. in vita Hen. 3. forgivenesse of their sinnes in this life and in the life to come As I have for his pride dejected Henry from the Royall dignity so I doe exalt Rodolph for his humility to that place of authority Thus farre Gregory the seaventh It is no wonder Benno Card. in vit Gregor 7. that Gregory his chaire clave asunder 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 yeare of our Lord 604. Sabinianus did succeed him who lived but one yeare after whom came Boniface the third which obtained of Phocas to bee 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 Gregorius Turonensis Isidorus Damascenus Beda Fulgentius Leo 4. and the Fathers assembled in a Councell at Toledo in Spaine Gregory Turonensis acknowledgeth such an absolute power in Childerick a most wicked King of France as was free from all controll of man Histor l. 5. c. 1. Si quis de nobis Rex justitiae limites transcendere volâ—erit c. If any one of us O King doe passe the bounds of justice you have power to correct him but if you exceed your limit who shall chastice you Wee may speake unto you if you list not to hearken who can condemne you
but that Great God who hath pronounced himselfe to bee righteousnesse 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 bee advanced by faithfull Kings or dissolved by the unfaithfull hee will require a reckoning at their hands which hath left his Church in their power So farre Isidorus John Damascene pleadeth not onely for the exemption of wicked Kings themselves but also of their Deputies The Governours saith hee which Kings create Parallel l. 1. c. 21. though they bee wicked though they bee theeves though they bee 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 appointed our Governours So farre hee Fulgentius saith that no kind of sedition can stand with religion Cum pro nostra fide libere respondemus c. When wee answer freely for our profession wee ought not to bee taxed with the least suspition of disobedience or contumely seeing wee are not unmindfull of the Regall dignity and doe know that wee must feare God and honour the King according to the Doctrine of the Apostle Fulgent ad Thrasim reg Give to each one his due feare to whom feare honour to whom honour appertaineth Of the which feare and honour 1 Pet. 2.17 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 Fulgentius Our Countreyman Beda for his great learning called Venerable Lib 4. exposit in Samuel is of the same mind David saith hee for two causes spared Saul who had persecuted him most malitiously First 1 Sam. 21.6 for that hee was his Lord annointed with holy oile 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 lips nor presume slanderously to teare the hemme of their superfluous actions So farre hee Leo the fourth about the yeare 846. agnised all subjection to Lotharius the Emperour I doe professe and promise saith Leo to observe and keepe unviolably Cap. de capit dist 15. as much as lieth in me for the time present and to come your Imperiall ordinances and commandments together with the decrees of your Bishops my Predecessours If any man informe your Majesty otherwise know certainely that hee is a lier So farre Leo. The Bishops of Spaine assembled in a nationall Councell at Toledo Concil Tol. 5. Can. 2. circa annum Dom. 636. made this decree against perjury and treason Quicunque amodo ex nobis Whosoever among us shall from this time forward violate the oath which hee hath taken for the safegard of this Country the state of the Gothish 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 bee accursed before the holy Spirit before the blessed Saints let him bee cast out of the Catholique Church which hee 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 bee tied in the bond of damnation which were joyned in the society of sedition Thus farre 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 controll the actions of their Governours but their duty is onely 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 Crowne whether hee bee good or bad A right of deposing must bee 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 have because hee is a stranger nor the Peeres or people because they are subjects Bee 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 Councellour must advise him all must pray for him and no mortall man hath authority to disturbe or displace him as may evidently bee 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 themselves above all that is called God and upon private displeasures and quarrels did curse and banne Princes incensing their Neighbour-nations and perswading their owne subjects to make warre against them as if Christ had ordained his Sacraments not to bee seales of grace and helps of our faith but hookes to catch Kingdomes and rods to scourge such Potentates as would not or could not procure the Popes favour How farre these Popish practises did displease the godly and learned I will shew by Saint Bernard Walthramus Bishop of Nanumberg the Epistle Apolegeticall of the Church of Leige against Paschalis the Pope and the Authour 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 hee was shot into the body with an arrow and they that were about him desired him to bee bound untill the arrowes head were cut out for that the least motion of his body would endanger his life no quoth hee it doth not beseeme a King to bee bound let the Kings power bee 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 doe with your Kingdome Bernard Epist 221. your Soule or your Crowne wee that are the Children of the Church cannot endure or dissemble the injuries contempt and conculcation of our Mother Questionlesse wee 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 seaventh had deposed Henry the fourth hee gave away the Empire to one Rodolphus Duke of Saxony that was a sworne subject to that distressed Emperour which Rodolp 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 Kingdome but a little time for hee was slaine with a stone which
Henr. 4. quo supra an ancient a modest and an impartiall Relatour of such occurrents as happened in his time declareth his dislike of the Popes practises and the Germanes 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 hee feared not to violete his fidelity sworne 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 bee perceived Thus farre hee The sixth Chapter proveth the same by the testimony of the Writers from the 12. hundred yeares downeward I Will for conclusion produce Otho Frinsingensis Thomas Aquinas Gratianus Philip the faire King of France the Parliament of England in the time of Edward the first Vincentius and Aeneas Silvius that afterward was Pope by the name of Pius secundus Otho Frising in his Epistle Dedicatory before his Chronicle Otho Frisingensis hath an excellent saying in his Epistle Dedicatory to Frederick Barbarossa Cum nulla persona mundialis inveniatur quae mundi legibus non subjaceat c. Although no earthly man can bee found that is not subject to the Lawes of the World and in respect of subjection liable to correction Kings as it were placed over Lawes are not restrained by them but reserved to the examination of God according to the words of the King and Prophet Against thee onely have I sinned It becommeth therefore a King both in respect of the noble disposition of his mind Psal 51.5 and the spirituall illumination of his soule to have God the King of Kings and Lord of Lords ever in his mind and by all meanes possible to take heed that hee fall not into the hands of God seeing it is as the Apostle saith a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the living God It is more fearefull for Kings then for any other because Kings have none but God himselfe above them whom they need feare It shall bee so much more horrible for them by how much they may offend more freely then other men So farre Otho Thomas Aquinas if the Tractate De regimine Principum bee his maketh three sorts of Kings Aquin. de regimine Princ. lib. 1. cap. 6. Kings by election Kings by subordination and Kings by succession For the first hee saith that they which did establish may abolish for the second wee must have 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 wee 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 Divine permission are exalted to punish the sinnes of the people Tollenda est igitur culpa ut cessat Tyrannorum plaga Wee must therefore remove our sinnes that God may take away his punishment Thus farre Thomas Gratianus which compiled the decrees is very peremptory that the Bishop of Rome ought not to meddle with the temporall sword the state of Common-wealths or the change of Princes Hee saith nothing indeed De Regni ordinibus which in his time and a 100. yeares after him never dreamed of any such authority Cum Petrus qui primus Apostolorum à Domino fuerat electus materialem gladium exerceret When Peter whom the Lord had first chosen of all the Apostles drew the materiall sword to defend his Master from the injuries of the Iewes hee was commanded to sheath his sword Math. 26.52 For all that take the sword shall perish by the sword As if Christ should have said Hitherto it was lawfull for thee a thine Ancestours to persecute Gods enemies with the temporall sword hereafter thou must put up that sword into his place and draw the sword of the Spirit Caus 23. quest 8. parag 1. which is the word of God to slay the old man whosoever beside the Prince and without his authority that hath lawfull power and as the Apostle teacheth Rom. 13.4 Beareth not the sword in vaine to whom every soule must bee subject whosoever I say without or beside the Princes authority beareth the sword shall perish by the sword Thus farre Gratian. About the yeare a 1300. beganne a quarrell betweene Boniface the eight and Philippus Pulcher the French King about the collation of benefices Prebends and other Ecclesiasticall promotions Whereupon the Pope wrote unto the said King as followeth Boniface Bishop the servant of Gods servants to his wel-beloved Sonne Philip by Gods grace King of France Greeting and blessing Apostolicall Feare God and keepe his law Wee give thee to understand that thou art subject to us both in spirituall things and temporall and that no gift of benefices or Prebends belongeth to thee If thou have in thy hand any vacant keepe the profits of them to the Successours and if thou hast bestowed any wee decree the collation void and recall it how farre soever it hath proceeded Whosoever beleeveth otherwise wee account him a foole Dated at Lateran the fourth of the Calends of December and in the sixth yeare of our Papacy King Philip returned his haughtinesse a correspondent answer viz. Philip by tho grace of God King of France to Boniface bearing himselfe for Pope Salutem modicam sive nullam Sciat tua maxima fatuitas Little health or none at all Philip. Pulcher Let thy great fooleship know that in temporall things wee are subject to no man And that the gifts of Prebends and Ecclesiasticall promotions made and to bee made by us were and shall bee lawfull both in time past and in time to come For such collations belong to us in the right of our Crowne wherefore wee will manfully defend the Possessours of the said dignities and doe judge them that thinke otherwise fooles and mad men Given at Paris the Wednesday after Candlemasse 1301. Questionlesse this King that did so scornefully reject the Popes chalenge pretended from Christ would little regard the claime of the Nobles derived but from the people The same busie Boniface of whom some write that hee came in like a Fox craftely raigned like a Lyon cruelly and died like a Dogge miserably would take upon him the decision of a controversie betweene the Kings of England and Scotland and commanded King Edward of England either to cease his claime or to send his Procuratours to the Apostolike sea to shew his right and to receive such order from the Pope as justice and equity would require The Lords and Commons then assembled in Parliament at Lincolne sent Boniface this answer in the Kings behalfe Whereas our most dread
the ninth King of that name in France as for wayfairing men to resist and repell theeves cut-throats and wolves nay further I am saith hee of opinion with the old people of Rome that of all good actions the murther of a Tyrant is most commendable Thus farre hee 1577. Came forth the Vindiciae contra Tyrannos Pag. 206. with this resolution That Princes are chosen by God established by the people every private man is subject to the Prince the Multitude and the Officers of State which represent the Multitude are Superiours to the Prince yea they may judge his actions and if hee make resistance punish him by forcible meanes So farre hee 1584. Danaeus finished his booke of Christian policy wherein among many other hee propoundeth and answereth a Noble question Lib. 3. cap. 6. as hee termeth it Nobilis quaestio sequitur A noble question followeth whether it bee lawfull for subjects to change and alter their Government Yea whether it may bee done by godly men with a good conscience his answer is The chiefe Magistrate that notoriously and wilfully violateth the fundamentall Lawes of the Kingdome may bee displaced by godly subjects with a good conscience And this is his reason Reges summique Magistratus Kings and chiefe Magistrates are the Vassals of the Kingdome and of the Common-wealth where they rule Wherefore they may bee dispossessed and dejected when they shall obstinatly attempt any thing against the feudall Lawes of the Kingdome where they governe as Kings and chiefe Magistrates And it is truly said that as a generall Councell is above the Pope so the Kingdome or the Peeres of the Land are above the King Thus farre Danaeus 1585 De jure Reg. pag. 31. George Buchanan proclaimed Rewards as well for murthering Kings as killing Tygers If I saith hee had power to make a Law I would command Tyrants to bee transported from the society of men into some solitary place or else to bee drowned in the bottome of the Sea that the evill savour of dead Tyrants should not annoy living men Further more I would award recompence to bee given for the slaughter of Tyrants not onely of all in generall but of every one in particular as men use to reward them for their paines which kill Wolves 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 hee following the Common opinion of the Puritans maketh two sorts of Tyrants Tirannus sine titulo Lib. 5. cap. 13. pag. 185. and Tirannus exercitio For the Tyrant without title Hee is confident that any man may cut his throat Huic quisque privatus resistet etiam si potest è medio tollat Let every private man resist him and if hee can take away his life For the Tyrant exercent having described him to bee a Prince that doth wilfully dissolve all or the chiefest compacts of the Common-wealth hee concludeth against him Hunc tollant vel Pacifice vel cum Bello qui ea potestate donati sunt ut Regni 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 Haecille Anno. 1588. Hermanus Renecherus published observations upon the first Psalme wherein hee investeth the Presbitery with all the Popes Prerogatives Concerning the Presbiterian power over Kings this is his notable annotation God saith hee hath ordained the Civill Magistrate for the good of the Ecclesiasticall order Pag. 72. therefore the Ecclesiasticall State is the highest throne of Gods earthly Kingdome the supreame seate of all excellency and the chiefest Court wherein God himselfe is president to distribute eternall gifts to his servants Whereas the politicall Empire is but as it were an inferiour bench wherein justice is administred according to the prescription of the Ecclesiasticall soveraignty Thus farre Renecherus Robert Rollocke a man otherwise very learned is carried with the current of this errour and borrowed his affertion of Master Fenner whose words hee expoundeth by way of paraphrasis In Daniel cap. 5. pag. 150. in his commentaries on Daniel printed at Edenborough 1591. Though the chiefe lawfull Magistrate saith Master Rollock doe many things unjustly and tyrannously hee may not rashly bee violated by them especially which have not authority but the Nobles or the publike assembly of States must reduce him to his duty by reproofe and all other lawfull meanes 1 Sam. 14.46 If hee doe still persist in open and desperate tyranny wilfully dissolving all or the chiefest compacts of the Common-wealth private men must not yet meddle with him onely the Peeres or the publike assembly of all States to whom that charge belongeth must provide that the Church and Common-wealth come not to desolation though it cannot otherwise bee done then by the death and destruction of the tyrant Better it is that an evill King bee destroyed then the Church and State together ruined Thus farre Rollock For proofe hee referreth his Reader first to the 1 Sam. 14.46 viz. Then Saul came up from the Philistims and the Philistims went to their owne place ergo Kings that are wicked may bee reduced to their duty by the Peeres or assembly of States according to the rules of the new Puritan logicke Secondly for the killing and destroying of Kings hee referreth his Readers to the 2. Reg. cap. 11. verse 4.5.6.7 which place I thinke hee never vouchsafed to looke upon but set it downe as hee found it quoted in Fenners Divinity from whom hee 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. Loco 76. pag. 844. They saith Bucanus which have any part of office in the publike administration of the Common-wealth as the Overseers Senatours Consuls Peeres or Tribunes may restraine the insolency of evill Kings Thus farre hee This Puritan dangerous errour is directly repugnant to the Law the Gospell the Precepts of the Apostles the practise of Martyrs and the Doctrine of the Fathers Cōuncels and other classicall Writers as I have proved in the six 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 authority of Kings shall bee answered by the godly Protestants whose labour God used to reforme his Church since the yeare of our Lord 1517. and by the ancient Fathers and Orthodoxall Writers in every 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 Iesuites that have lived in our age as