of the world Therefore after hee had vers 15. Vers 15. described her ouerthrow he adioyned both counsell and comfort counsell the ver 16. Vers 16.17.18.19.20 17.18.19.20 that they that were in Iury should shift for themselues by speedy flight and that women great with childe should pray that their flight bee not in the winter or on the Sabbaoth day Comfort wherin he promiseth that for the Elect Iewes sake the time of the siege shall be shortned and that otherwise no Iew should escape as Chrysostome expounds the 22. verse This exposition of Chrysostome is notably confirmed by the collation of Luke with Matthew For as in Matth. 24.15 Christ doth propound those words out of Daniel When you shall see the abomination of desolation which Daniel cals the abominable wings desolating to stand in the holy place Luc. cap. 21. 20. expounds it thus When you shall see Ierusalem enuironed with armies What the abomination of desolation in Daniel meaneth which Daniel termes abominable wings then vnderstand that the desolation and destruction is at hand both to the holy city and the holy Temple and hee warneth the Iewes that they auoyd these calamities hanging ouer their heads with flying away vers 23. Vers 23. 24. But whereas Christ Matth. vers 23. begins to prophesie of the end of the world Vers 34. and of his comming to iudgement vers 34. where there seemeth to be the greatest mixtures of ech of the prophesies hee speaketh so distinctly when hee foresheweth the signes seuerally going before the destruction of Ierusalem and the end of the world that he defines a certaine time of the one and leaueth the other vncertaine Of that verily I say vnto you this generation shall not passe away before all those things be fulfilled pointing his finger at Ierusalem as hee sate vpon the Mount of Oliues But of this i. The vncertaine certainty of the end of the world of the end of the world as he noteth the certainty of the thing so the vncertainty of the houre and the day which neither any Angell or the sonne of man knew but the father alone By which the consequence of Bellarmines proposition is found out to be very vaine and foolish which sets 14 15. The preaching of the word dispersed ouer the whole world out of those verses to be the signe forerunning the comming of Antichrist against the literall sense of the prophesie most cleerely set downe not onely by Chrysostome but by Christ himselfe Luke being the interpreter You see the inconsequence of the proposition now marke the falshood of the assumption But the Gospell is not preached ouer all the world as Paul Coloss 1. vers 6. The Gospell preached in the world saith that the Gospell was preacht in all the world in his time and therfore before the destruction of Ierusalem which hapned two yeeres after the Apostles death as Eusebius writeth lib 4. and the Apostle addes that the Gospell came so into the wolrd that it brought forth fruit True saith Bellarmine The Gospell was virtually then in the whole world but not actually No How then could it bring foorth fruite if it were not in the whole world actually but the Apostle there speaketh more significantly vers 23. That the Gospell was preached to euery creature vnder heauen Whom shall we beleeue Paul or Bellarmine the Apostle or the Cardinall Their sound is gone thorough the whole world saith the Apostle that is shall goe out saith Bellarmine But Chrysostome by the same testimonies of the Apostle doth prooue that the prophesie of Christ was then fulfilled the Gospell was preached all ouer the world Chrysost homil in Matth. 24. before the destruction of Ierusalem So by Fame the Gospell could come to all nations saith Bellarmine not by seuerall preachings Paul saith not the report of the Gospell in all lands but that their fruit by their preaching was dispersed which could not bee without Preachers Yet by the whole world euery little and obscure corner of the world is not meant but the greatest part of the knowen and habitable world Luc. 2.1 Neither by all nations are ment all seueral nations but all in generall that is both Iewes an Gentiles For in this place as elsewhere there is an opposition betweene all Nations and the Iewes At that time the Gospell was onely heard of in Iury wherein the Church at that time was enclosed but the partition-wall being broken downe and the hedge being broken vp it made such a sound euery way with such a number of Preachers and with such admirable efficacy of preaching that it is easie to be beleeued that the sound of the Gospell could goe into all lands within the compasse of forty yeeres for so many yeeres at the least came betweene the prophesie expounded and fulfilled Lastly although it was preached to all it was not receiued of all therefore left as a testimony to all nations that being offered to all and reiected of some it might make them inexcusable Doe you not see the foolish consequence of Bellarmines proposition and the apparant vntruth of his assumption Therfore I do retort the argument vpon him thus Christ himselfe prophesying Paul interpreting and Chrysostome assisting The Gospell was preached in all the world before the sacking of Ierusalem Therfore by the consent of Bellarmin Antichrist is already come And Caluine seems to me with very deep iudgement to set the vniuersall preaching of the faith before the vniuersall defection from the faith the head whereof by the Apostle is said to be Antichrist The preaching of the Gospell hindered by Mahumet in the east and Antichrist in the west for there could not be a generall falling from the faith before there were a generall preaching of the faith which when it was interrupted as in the east by Mahomet so in the west by Antichrist it was true that the succession being interrupted diuers men of God were extraordinarily raised vp by God I say Angells of God who by the sincere preaching of the Gospell did restore and repaire the visible Church miserably torne in peices by him who did cast downe the wall of the westerne Babylon as of Iericho and did tread downe the glorie of Antichrist as of Dagon so that by the noise of the Euangelicall Trumpet Babylon seemed to fall in the middest of men and the world began now not to doubt of the comming of Antichrist The decay of Antichrist but to deliberate of his departure For with the greatest part of the Christian world the swelling title of Antichrist failed his great power fainted his spirituall by the iudgement of others ☜ his temporall by his owne his markets of indulgences deceased his golden Euphrates was at an ebbe his great streames of money running into that Church wholy dried vp being brought backe againe into their owne chanels not without great loue shewed to that Tyberine Bishoppe to whom Luther and Caluixe and other preachers of the
iustification and of the saluation of the Elect by the grace of Christ before Peter gaue his sentence and that not sitting but arising and that very modestly and gently Afterward Iames did onely yeeld his opinion but pronounced and set downe in writing the decree it selfe which all the assembly of Apostles and Preists did follow It seemed good also not to Peter alone but to the Apostles and Preists with the whole Church to send certaine choice men to Antioch with the Apostle Paul and Barnabas and the Synodall Epistle did not beare the name of Peter but of all the Apostles Preists and Brethren And if Peter had receiued the primacy of iurisdiction from Christ the other Apostle had done him great wrong that suffered not Peter to bee President of the Councell that they sent Peter as inferior into Samaria that they took accompt of his doing that they met not together by his appointment that they suffered him not to sit aboue others to propound the decree to send Legates and to seale vp the Synodall Epistle in his owne name But the Apostles did no wrong to Peter It followeth then that Peter receiued no primacy of iurisdiction from Christ but was equall to the rest of the Apostles and inferiour to the whole Councell The Papists doe grant a double gouernment to Peter § 201 Peters double pretended gouernment Galat. 2. Paul nothing inferiour to Peter They make him Lord of the spirituals and temporals Therefore the Apostle Paul did ill bee it spoken with reuerence who made himselfe equall to Peter and gaue out that he was inferiour in nothing vnto Peter and which was more reprehended him sharpely to his face as his equall and fellow-seruant and that publikely when hee tooke him in a fault For the Gospell saith he was committed to me ouer the Gentiles as it was to Peter ouer the Iewes For hee that was powerfull through Peter in the Apostleship of the Iewes the same was powerfull in mee ouer the Gentiles And when as Iames Cephas and Iohn who seemed to bee pillers knew that grace was giuen me then they gaue the right hands of fellowship to me and Barnabas See Cephas doth acknowledge Paul his fellow hee had him not for a subiect neither did hee challenge to himselfe the highest top of gouernment but gaue the right hand of fellowship which was done by Peter not only in respect of humilitie of minde but for equalitie of office Farre be it from vs to thinke it was written by Paul for pride of minde but for the truth of the matter And if Christ had appointed Peter the vniuersall Bishop Prince of his Church how durst Peter and Paul couenant betweene them-selues in the 18. yeare after Christ his passion that Peter should exercise the Apostleship ouer the Iewes and Paul ouer the Gentiles not only but chiefly whereby Paul by the Antients is called the Prince of the Apostles as well as Peter But the equall hath no gouernment ouer his equall Peter would be are no rule ouer the clergie 1 Pet 5. Neither could Peter himselfe beare rule ouer the Clergie that he might not seem to permit that to other which he would not take to himselfe when hee called himselfe not a chiefe Priest but a fellow Priest Much lesse did he vse the sword and ciuill gouernment and iudge Caesar to be subiect vnto him but admonished himselfe with all other Christians to submit themselues to Caesar as to the most excellent and to other Magistrates as sent from him neither did at any time exercise ciuill gouernment He had it not therefore for that is not a power which is neuer brought into act Therefore Peter was no more ouer Kings than hee was ouer Apostles § 202 Nay Christ himselfe as a man was not aboue the Emperour Christ himselfe as man not aboue Emperors As he is God he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords as he was man he did not only submit himselfe to Tiberius but to Pilate Tiberius Deputie in Iurie You had no power said he ouer me if it were not giuen you from aboue Againe he saith that his kingdome was not of this world when he was demanded of Pilate what kingdome he laid claime vnto Whereby it appeareth that Christ was to haue not a temporall August in Psal 47. but a spirituall kingdome as Austin gathereth out of those words Harken to this ô yee Kings and enuy not Christ is a King after another fashion than you are who said my kingdome is not of this world Feare not therefore if the kingdome of this world be taken from you you shall haue another giuen vnto you and that a heauenly one whereof he is King If Christ had not a temporall kingdome was it for Peter to haue it what is this else but to make the seruant aboue his master and the embassador aboue him that sent him and if it did not belong neither to Christ nor to Peter do you thinke that not only the temporall kingdome but the chiefe gouernmēt ouer all temporal kingdoms was giuen to the Pope Christs supposed Vicar Peters counterfeit successor fie vpon such foolish pride fie vpon such loftie vanitie which Christ did reprehend in many places in the the Apostles when he said the Kings of the earth beare rule ouer them but you not so And as my father sent me so I send you And my kingdome is not of this world And yet Bellarmine dares to write Bellarmine contrary to Christ that the supreme temporall power was giuen to the chiefe Bishop which Christ himself by his owne confession did not exercise Christ saith the Kings of the earth beareth rule ouer them but you not so Bellarmine contrary but you so Christ as my Father sendeth me so I send you Bellarmine contrary not as my Father sendeth me do I send you The Father sent me in humilitie and ignominie I send you in pompe and maiestie Christ my kingdome is not of this world Bellarmine contrary yea it is of this world and of all this world So manifestly doth the Cardinall contradict Christ But although Christ as man did not exercise temporall § 203 power he might if he had so liked saith Bellarmine Here the question is not what Christ could haue done but what he did Neither is the authoritie of Peter to be grounded vpon that which Christ could haue done but vpon that which Christ did indeed Christ could if he had pleased haue made the world in an instant but he would not the Scripture witnesseth he would not because it is said that hee tooke to him six daies to bring forth that worke He could if he would haue redeemed the world with one drop of blood without death but he would not that hee would not the Scripture beareth witnes wherein it is said that he must die for vs. So he could if hee would as man exercise the dominion of temporall things but hee would not that hee would not truth it selfe
such trifling toyes of the same kinde In the meane time the crafty teachers and the vnhappy hearers being vtterly voyd of true faith and repentance when they haue done all they can doe for all that inwardly feele inwardly I say feele the horror of Gods diuine iudgement and the most greeuous torment of the afflicted conscience and this falleth out after those scorpions haue strucken them with their stings whereupon their greefe is like the greefe of a scorpion when it hath stung a man For as when a Scorpion stings a man with the sting of his taile the wound is not presently felt but the deadly poison doth afterward spred it selfe abroad So those that be hurt by these Loyolane Scorpions doe not presently feele the hurt but doe by little and little perish without sense assoone as they sucke in the venome of their poysonfull doctrine So these Locusts doe hurt men with their number venome and sting CHAP. XIII Other properties of Locusts 11. THese be strange Locusts that are resembled to horses prepared for battell What comparison can there be betweene a base Locust and a warre-like Horse Thus notwithstanding the strength of this vild Locust is expressed 12. The Locusts doe likewise weare crownes vpon their heads heere hee setteth downe the cunning and the craft It is worth the noting that the heads of those Locusts are sayd to be crowned when the hornes of the Sea-beast afterward are sayd to bee crowned why so Because the Priests haue more preuailed with their subtilty and craft then the Ethnicke Emperours with their power and force 13. But the crownes the Locusts weare are not of golde but like to gold Heere hee sets out their pride true and golden crownes are fit for Kings false and couterfet for Priests and therefore are sayd not to bee golden but as it were golden Whereat as if they were true and their owne they waxe very proud for by the sufferance of Princes they are growen to that power that they haue often cast off their golden crownes 14. The faces of the Locusts are as the faces of men wherewith they deceiue men 15. They haue womens lockes which signifie the diuerse enticements and deceipts of false doctrine where againe their cunning is described 16. Teeth as it were of Lyons wherewith like their Master that roaring Lyon they rend asunder tear in peeces those with their iawes whom they caught with their guile Heere you haue their fiercenesse and their cruelty 17. They had habergions like habergions of iron These noble Locusts very warlike with crownes vpon their heades mens faces womens haire Lyons teeth armed at all points are elegantly and liuely described by the holy Ghost Some will happily obiect that all this place is not to be vnderstood of Antichrist and his Ministers but of the Turkes I answere that cannot bee For whereas at the sound of the 4. Trumpet Cap. 9. v. 1. the Angell had foreshewed the Arch heretikes the forerunners of Antichrist at the sound of the 5. Trumpet the Angell bringes in the King of the Arch-heretikes before which the Angell beginneth with that dreadful Proem in the 8. chap about the end crying with a loud voice wo wo wo vpon the inhabitants of the earth By the first wo signifying the darke kingdome of Antichrist by the second wo the violent tyrannie of the Turke which cannot be one and the same because he saith in the 12. vers one wo is past and behold two woes follow after This is not therefore the same but an other wo. By the third wo the terrible appearance of the last iudgement But Bellarmine saith but proues it not Bellarmines lewde dealing with the King of England Bellarmine Christana vic Pacenius Becanus Personius Cidonius Garnettus Gerardus Grenwellus Creswellus Reynaldus and infinite other That Luther is that falling starre and that Lutheranes and Protestants are those Locusts Hauing forgotten that Paul the fift that Prince is the Captaine Generall of those warlike Locusts Who after hee had compared the most renowned King IAMES to Iulian the Apostata doth secretly signifie that hee is denounced excommunicate and may be slaine by his Subiects in bataile but not by cutthroates Bloody Cardinall fitly painted out by a Pasquill a Lyon in the caue with this Motto well appllied Open the caue and you shall see his disposition This iest is too bitter will some say to bestow vpon that great learned Cardinall Is it so he that allowes the murther of a King in fighting doth not he deserue a sharpe reproofe in writing Hee doth not deale with our most worthy IAMES as a King and wee doe not meane to deale with him as a Cardinall Hee was learned heretofore now he is malitious heretofore he was a cheife man in disputation now in rebellion Heretofore a close enemie now an open Heretofore the scorpions venome was not wanting in him but lurckt in him Cardinall Comensis set on Parry that Cutthroate to murther Queene ELIZABETH with his dagger Cardinall Bellarmine nothing the honester but the cunninger denieth that the King may bee dispatcht by a murtherer but by a Souldier he denieth not As if there were any difference in the case of murther whether one kill a King in a Campe or vnder a canopie by open warre or secret treacherie That may be rightly spoken of Bellarmine that Cicero spake of a great Lawyer hee must kill a King that will vse his helpe Therefore that may be well said to this slippery Sophister this armed and bloody Locust which Martiall said to a certaine Cobler Good Tortus be not angrie with my iest I taxe thy craft I meane thy life none ill Indure it man from mirth I will not rest When thou dost thinke that others thou maist kill The cruell dealing of the Papists with Hen 4. the French King How ready a Scholler Mariana this mans Auditor found of Rauiliake the death of that illustrious French King Henry the 4. neuer sufficiently to bee lamented neuer of kings sufficiently to be reuenged doth too too well declare The first of his Schollers strooke out his tooth the second tooke away his life themselues buried his heart A magnanimous and valiant King murthered of a base rascally parricide like to Caesar in his life like in his death for so hee is bemonde of a Christian Poet. Caesar and Heâ— 4. compared Caesar in valour I was like to thee In kinde of death we likewise do agree The knife before thee tooke away thy breath The knife behinde me brought me to my death Thou by the handes of Senators didst fall I by a base and Sauage Caniball But this Rouge you will say was not Marians scholler no more then Catsby Percy Write and Faux were schollers to Garnet Parsons Gerard and Grenwell 18. But let vs returne to Saint Iohn Vers 16. who giueth the Locusts stings in their tailes and a short time to hurt 19. Whose King being the Angell of the bottomlesse pit he brings in
of Babylon not the materiall is to be vnderstood which being weakned and shaken by the preaching of the word while as yet the walls were standing fell in mens mindes and was wholy cast downe For who is there but of small vnderstanding to whom the iniquitie of the Church and Court of Rome doth not appeare to whom their impietie is not euident to whom shee seemes not to be the mother of fornication the receptacle of spoiles the queene of pride the shop of sinnes and the sinke of all filthinesse In what accompt the Pope was heretofore A hundred and threescore yeeres since one that was no Heretike as a Lutherane is termed but a Roman-Catholike writ thus of the Pope as it is recited in the catalogue of the witnesses of truth Iupiter is below In heauen is Plutoes place Vpon a brutish animal Bestowed is all grace It is as Iewells in the mire And durt vpon the face And if he were so hatefull when the darknes did couer his filthinesse how much more hatefull doth he seeme to all since the light of the Gospell hath laid him open and naked to the view of all men The third Angell followed them The third Angell Apo 14.10.11 crying with a loud voice If any shall adore the beast and her image and beare her marke in his forehead or in his hand he shall drinke of the wine of his wrath which is mingled with wine in the cup of his wrath And he shall be tormented with fire and brimestone in the sight of the Angells and before the face of the Lambe and the smoke of their torment doth ascend vp for euer This Angell doth threaten eternall destruction not onely to Rome and the beast but to all that loue Rome or adore the beast whether they carrie the marke of the beast either openly in their forhead or closely in their hand An exhortation to Ministers Here I admonish euery man of God euery messenger of God my selfe being the least and last of all Christs seruants that they seeke not after ease to make them idle or after wealth to make them couetous or after pleasures to make them luxurious or after preferment to make them proud but that they haue a continuall care to recouer soules fallen to the beast or preserue them that stand vpright to whom being stampt with the marke of the beast the Angell of God doth denounce so greeuous and endlesse torments There is no doubt but as soone as any of you doe earnestly vndertake this businesse of God and Christ but he shall endure many wrongs not onely from outward enemies but which is more greeuous from false brethren those following the quarrell of Antichrist these couering their owne with the name of Christ so that they can looke for nothing from these but molestation and trouble from those nothing but death and destruction But let him for his comfort heare that voice which Iohn heard from heauen write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord so saith the Spirit that they rest from their labours and their works follow them And if those dead be blessed that liue and die in the Lord .i. in the faith of the Lord how much more happy be they that liue and die for the Lord .i. for the faiih of the Lord We haue three witnesses testifying this happinesse Three witnesses of happinesse 1. The voice from heauen 2. The Scripture in the Church 3. The spirit in the consciences all testifying that the sense of our miserie is short but the sense of our happinesse euerlasting that the life weakned by sicknesse is necessarily to be laid downe and that it is not greatly materiall whether a man die vnder a canopie or in a campe so he die in Christ and for Christ that a momentanie life is here granted to vs but that the reward of a life well spent is immortall And whereas it is appointed that all shall die Gods seruants may rather wish that their life which must necessarily be ended be rather spent in a holy cause then reserued for a naturall end especially against seducing and bloody Antichrist and all his adherents who now if euer are most wrung and grumble threatning fire and sword to the Saints of God The wicked therefore when they fall shall be most greeuously punished in hell for all their impieties and abominations but these that are washed and redeemed with the blood of Christ shall presently from their death in great triumph enioy a place and rest in heauen The sixt Angell Apoc 16.12 For after in the sixt Viol which the sixt Angell powreth out into that great riuer Euphrates there is mention of a great battaile to which those 3. vncleane spirits cōming in the likenes of frogs out of the mouth of the Dragō out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false Prophet doe summon the Kings of the earth against the great day of the Almightie God who shall gather them together into a place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon In which words the malice of Satan and of Antichrist and the Antichristian Synagogue is plainly set downe as likewise of the Iesuites those frogs who croking out of their caues prouoke the Kings of the earth to warre against Christ and the Church but with what successe the place and day doth declare That is the day wherein the right hand of Almightie God shall be great and glorious by the fall of Antichrist The place where the Popish frogs shall be destroyed The place is called in Hebrew the hill of theeues and robbers as Aquinas or a cursed armie prepared to battaile or an armie of destruction which shall both bring destruction and endure it Vnlesse that be better as diuers read Charmagaddon that is a troupe appointed to the slaughter or Gnarmageddon which signifies a craftie kinde of killing so that the sense is that Princes are to be brought into that place by the cunning sleight of Satan and Antichrist where they may vtterly perish Although another farre otherwise and farre better doe take it not for a noune appellatiue but proper Megiddo it was a hilly city in the land of Canaan and because Har in Hebrew is a hill and that was scituated vpon an hill it was called Harmageddon That place was renowned for the slaughter of the Canaanites where where Iabin and Sisera fighting against the people of God were daunted and vanquished vnder the gouernment of Deborah for whom the starres were sayd to fight in their courses as the windes and seas did fight for our Elizabeth of blessed memorie against the Spanish inuincible Armado to whom that distichon of Claudian doth fitly agree O much belou'd of God for whom the seas doe fight And winds conspire to blow to put the foe to flight The seuenth Angell Therefore Harmageddon was the place of this battell that the enemies of the Church with Iabin and Sisera gathered together by God might expect
of two sorts answering the double couenant One legale which beleeueth the promises and threatnings of the law to bee true the other Euangelicall which is rightly called iustifying faith which doth beleeue the promises of the Gospell grounded vpon my selfe not onely to be true in generall but doth apply them to euery beleeuer in particular to eternall life Now saluation is to be expected of you not out of the forme of each of these couenants but out of one of them The forme of the Legale couenant is as I said Do this and thou shalt liue the forme of the Euangelicall couenant is beleeue and thou shalt be saued If therefore you looke for saluation out of the legall couenant you must wholely and entirely and at all times doe that which is commanded You do it not you shall die therefore If you looke for saluation by the Gospell you must certainely beleeue that which is promised These bee the distinct formes of each couenant for the procuring saluation by no meanes to bee confounded yet the Pope hath confounded them Doe and beleeue and so hath brought in a third couenant which holy writ doth not acknowledge Thus the Prince of the couenant hath broken Gods couenant It is not to bee denied that faith and good workes are to bee ioyned together in a man that is iustified but to mingle and confound these two formes Doe this and beleeue that thereby a man is to be iustified is vtterly to bee denied as my Apostle Paul hath deliuered For as the Law doth not admit the least transgression so the Gospell doth not admit your least satisfaction Now what is more euident then that this hypocriticall enemie who vants himselfe to be a faithfull keeper of my will hath not onely in many places â—ased my will The Dominicans brought in a new Gospell but which is farre more heinous shuffled in a new will As when the Dominicans printed their new Gospell by the sufferance and conniuency of the Pope as when Paul the fift caused the conformities of Saint Francis that typicall Iesus my ape S. Francis typicall Iesus to be reprinted A meere forger who hauing abrogated my will hath brought in one of his owne A manâ— testament which is ratified by the death of the testator admitteth not either addition or detraction saith the Apostle much lesse Gods testament which is confirmed with my bloud and death But my testament say they is of two sorts The first nuncupatiue The second writen The last doth abrogate the former as my Apostle teacheth The Pope deuiseth Christs nuncupatiue will But I know what vexeth them The Legacies set downe in writing they thinke not sufficient to serue their turnes and therfore they haue deuised a will nuncupatiue not out of my Sermons but out of their decretals A fit similitude between the bodâ— of man Scripture of God How farre better did the old Rabins who compared the fiue bookes of Moses for the absolute knitting of the parts thereof within themselues to the body of man whereto if you adde a part as as finger to a hand you bring in a deformitie if you take away a part as a iaw from the face you bring in infirmitie if you shut vp a part as the mouth which nature hath opened or open a part as the side which nature hath shut vp you bring danger to the life So if the Pope do adde vnnaturall parts to the written will of God hee doth corrupt Gods booke as when he addeth Apocryphall and decretall Epistles if hee take away naturall parts he doth deceiue the soule of man as when he taketh the second commandement out of the decalogue and taketh the cuppe from the supper if he open those things that should be shut he offers wrong to God if he shut vp those that should be opened he offers wrong to men The Rabins shall rise vp in iudgement and condemne both the Pope and all Popelings who accuse all the written will of God of imperfection when as they iudge the fiue bookes of Moses to bee a volume most perfect They who diminish adde change euery thing at their pleasure shaue away with their censure what they mislike and what they like restore that curiously open secrets so that their owne Clergie thinkes basely of them and of enuie shut vp things to be reuealed that they bee not knowne of the people of God They I say are contumelious to God whose last will they haue either corrupted or abolished They are iniurious to the sonnes of men from whom they haue either openly stolne away or priuily filcht away God heauenly Legacies Here I appeale to all learned and ingenuous Papists It is no smale matter that is in hand but one of the greatest that euer was the thing in controuersie is Gods Testament The legacies of all the sonnes of God are in question which cannot be of force vnlesse Gods testament be safely kept Herein the sonnes of God must maintaine their right against men and Diuels Your Masters grant that Rome is Babylon the context and euent conuince it to be Byshoply Rome against whom my seruant Iohn doth denounce most certaine destruction Come foorth of her therefore assoone as possibly you can Yea out of the Catholike Church doth some of you say he is euer harping on this string he should say from the Catholike or common whore if he would harken to Iohn Bid her therefore farewell whose wellfare shee cannot endure I hartily beseech you that you would be pleased to be saued Saued you cannot be vnlesse Gods last will and testament wherein the saluation of man is conteyned be kept safe and sound from the corruptions of Antichrist The parts of the Testament are two Remission of sinnes The sanctifying of a sinner which consisteth in the true enlightning of the minde and the reforming of the heart The parts forme and Legacies of he new Testament The forme of the Testament is I will be your God You shall be my people Vpon these three Legacies doe depend The remission of your sinne The imputation of my grace The gift of eternall glory The forgiuenes of sinne is free is perfect is eternall It is free I blot out your sinnes for my owne sake not for your sakes but for my owne names sake I am that lambe that was slaine who alone take away your sinnes Are you then so mad that you will goe from the Lambe that is staine to the golden Calfe that is set vp that you beleeue the sinne of man can be forgiuen by the man of sinne The dispensing of grace is not in his power much lesse the forgiuenesse of sinne which as it is free so it is perfect For I doe not remit some sinnes and reteyne others I doe not remit the fault and reteyne the punishment but I wash away all your sinnes and forgiue all your punishment if your confession be earnest my pardon is perfect What Is it not also euerlasting Righteousnes
and went about to perswade others to do the same And he had almost preuailed with me but that the most Holy Father did interpose his greater authoritie A third guest Argentines shadow I will conceale by your leaues vnlesse you will assure me that you will procure him no harme which cannot well be without my danger It is his part to dispute against the obedience of subiects which in his minde hereticall Kings doe vniustly exact of them and to obiect the strongest reasons he can for the authoritie of the Pope in deposing such Kings and releasing their subiects from the oath of Allegeance And if you can wipe away and weaken his obiections you shall easily perswade me and my Argentine too I thinke to performe the oath of fealtie and obedience to our King Then Patriotta truly said he so he attempt nothing § 3 against the King and kingdome and dispute as it were in the schoole to search out the truth and not in an assembly to moue sedition I giue you my honest promise I will not take on me the part of a spie and leaue of to be a guest nor cast off the dutie of a friend while I reteyne the dutie of a subiect Here Regius as one that knew the danger of the law better pausde a while yet following his purpose that I may gaine a lost sheep to the King I will said he borrow so much of the law that I may heare a Iesuite disputing And vpon this condition said Calander smiling I will name you my third guest in habite a Courtier in profession a Iesuite Father Robert Saturnine And thus all the guests meeting together in the Parlor Patriotta said that after they had courteously saluted one another as the manner is they sate downe to a costly supper and that it might not be a dumbe feast the Priests did wisely dissemble their inward griefe of minde with forced and pleasant discoursing When supper was ended they were all brought into a gallerie and there sometime walking and sometime sitting they continued their conference about the matters in question till it was late in the night § 4 Here Calander beginning whereas your comming said he was euer welcome to me Velbacel and Saturnine then neuer more welcome then in this dangerous time wherein there is a great and a greeuous controuersie not onely betweene Catholikes and Heretikes but betweene Catholikes and Catholikes about the oath of Allegeance and the Popes authoritie in deposing hereticall Kings and the absoluing the subiects from their obedience due to them as it is thought As it falls out betweene you two one of you disswades me that I should not sweare the other perswades me that I should sweare Thus we Laicke-Catholikes are torne asunder by you the Priests and so distracted in this quarrell betweene the Bishop and the King that we know not in the world what to doe Wherefore when I was desirous that you should discusse your contrarie reasons in this matter of difference and by the discourse and bending of your wits some sparkes of truth might appeare to the satisfaction of our consciences see of a sodaine there are met two great learned men Antonius Patriotta and Carolus Regius two shrewd Aduersaries that I may say the truth in the whole busines of Religion but yet without malice vnknowne happily to you but very friendly to me so that you need not feare that your conference come abroad so it be done freely not licentiously § 5 Then said Saturnine your promise made to me CalaÌ„der doth make me feare no danger from these Gentlemen your friends Therefore I lay aside that person and habit which the necessitie of the time not mine owne will and desire hath cast vpon me and I take to me the person of a Iesuite Although I haue not forgot the last Tearme of all that an holy Priest condemned by the Queenes Law was cruelly put to death O Dracos Law written with bloody letters Good words I pray you saith Patriotta it was not § 6 the Queenes law but the Popes Bull that hanged that Priest For when there were two Priests condemned for one offence the King offered life to them both if they would take the oath of Allegeance The one of them tooke it thother refused it The one of them liues by the mercy of the King the other died by the commandement of the Pope Now tell me whether it were the Queenes law or the Popes Bull did hang him O Hipponactean Bull whose seuerall lines Hipponax a Poet of Ephesus who being painted by Bubalus in such manner that he was laught at made such bitter verses against the Painter that foâ— shame he hung himselfe The Iesuites deceiued the Pope with false alarmes Câ—â— lib. 1. cap. 11. as seuerall lambickes brought the Priest to the gallowes But in the forefront of it he wisheth health and apostolicall benediction to his sonnes the Roman Catholikes but within it there is conteyned a curse and destruction to you all Belike your Pope did sweeten the edge of the cup that the poyson within might go downe more merily This bitter cup the Pope hath mingled for you Calander and Argentine and the rest of the Lay-Papists The Iesuite hath wisht it to you who being the Popes intelligencer signified that the power of the English Papists was greater then the Protestants if hee would that outward forces were ioyned with them as Cominaeus writes that the Burgundian spies being deceiued with the mist and darknesse of the night deceiued the Duke of Burgundie telling him that the forces of France were greater and neerer when as they tooke the longer bryars and brambles in the field for iauelins lances So the false reports of the Iesuites deceiued the Bishop whereby he tooke rash and vntimely counsell to send his Bulls vnto you Hence the Pope as Pius the fift had done before him compiled an horned argument wherewith hee strooke his sonnes on both sides and droue them to that exigent that either they must runne vpon the point of the Queenes law if they obeyed not the King or incurred the Popes curse if they obeyed him For he driues them whose calamities vndertaken for the Catholike faith he doth miserably deplore either to hell or the gallowes For of necessitie they must either be damnde or hangd if you beleeue the Pope damned vnlesse they obey the inhibition or hangd if they obey it Is this the saluation of Paul the fift that he sendeth to his sonnes is this his Apostolicall blessing Doth the pitifull Father thus blesse his sonnes that haue hitherto endured so great afflictions for reteyning as he writes the Catholike faith He hath well rewarded your holinesse that hath sent his Papists in a bad cause with a false feare of hell to certaine death vpon the gallowes § 7 And the Roman-Catholikes Saturnine may not only thanke the false messages sent to the Pope The Iesuites false doctrine hath troubled the Papists but the pestilent doctrine broached by
the scepter the myter the crowne No maruell you say for then the Christian Byshops wanted temporall forces They might wel haue excommunicated and deposed Princes Ala contâ—exec Angli inst pa 167. if the Church had had power enough to resist As two great Masters of not building vp but of destroying diuinitie haue taught Alan and Bellarmine Bellar de Rom. Pont. lib. 5. cap. 7. So I beleeue the Apostle Paul when he saw the antient Christians to be few in number and weak in power § 58 taught them then not to resist the power How Paul vsed Princes belike he serued the time not the truth when he taught that subiects should be subiect to Nero for conscience sake For when they were encreased in number and power if wee beleeue these Cardinalls they should no more suffer as patient Martyrs but take vpon them like boasting souldiers For so they haue corrected the Apostles discipline with their worthy interpretation and put out the crowes eyes as the prouerbe is and haue wisely altered the rules of the holy Ghost which ought to be perpetuall and immutable to the practise of the Church as the case required But one thing I doubt much they cannot wipe away It is damnation to resist the power saith the Apostle Moses what is it then to lay violent handes vpon him Moses forbad that the people should not speake euill of their Gouernour would hee haue suffered Salomon if they could to resist him Salomon forbad that none should curse the king secretly in his conscience did hee grant by force to cast him off if they had might to do it Iudas Iudas the Apostle did stile them fitly Dreamers that spake ill of gouernment and despise such as bee in authoritie would he take these Cardinalls for holy Doctours who perswade the people to driue the king out of his kingdome if they can Let vs beleeue it if it be possible that Moses Salomon § 59 and Iudas the Apostle when they would haue the subiects tongues to bee tied vp they would leaue their hands to be loose Ieremy the Prophet exhorted the exiled Iewes that they should offer vp their prayers for the life of the King of Babylon Paul the Apostle did aduise the persecuted Christians to pray to God for the safety of Nero. Is it eredible that the Prophet and the Apostle for whom they would haue subiects praiers poured out that they would haue their blood to bee poured out vnlesse you thinke the Apostle was like to Charles the fift who commanded that publike prayers should bee made for the deliuerance of Clement the 7. whenas his owne legions kept him captiue I expect that the Cardinals doe thus expound the place of the Apostle to haue commanded them to haue prayed for Nero because they wanted force to resist which if they had got they might iustly haue gone from praying to violence and from orizons to weapons O warlike priests In the meane while what wrong do they offer to Peter and Peters successors who suffered death for Christ whom they insinuate not to haue wanted courage but power to resist And they make goodly Martyrs if when they died for the truth deliuered rebellious soules out of their afflicted bodies Tertul. in Apo. leget And I wonder that two so learned Cardinals were so ignorant of the historie to say that Christians might lawfully haue resisted if they had had strength when Tertullian doth alleage that they had power but might not lawfully resist Which if it may bee truely said of the second age after Christ how much more in the fourth fift and sixt age whenas Christians being graced by Princes and defended by lawes might professe the § 60 Catholike religion openly and freely It is an not able saying of Austen August in Ps 124. that the Christian souldiers did obey Iulian the Apostata their temporall Lord not because as these men dreame they wanted power to resist Christian souldiers obeyed Iulian. but for the Lord eternall For the souldiers in their warre against the Persians might easily haue surprised Iulian being farre from home Sâ—cra lib. 3. cap. 22. and succour But they were you will say Pagane souldiers Yea forsooth as Socrates tells vs the next day after Iulians death when Iouinian was chosen Emperour by them he refused that honor because he suspected the greater part of the armie to be heathenish all of them cryed out with one voice that they were Christians The Fathers writ against Iulian they fight not they vsed their pennes not their armes they strooke the Apostata with their arguments not with their weapons as they dealt afterward with Constantius and Valens hereticall Emperors But your Cardinals and Fathers do vndertake the § 61 businesse against Princes not with the penne but with the sword assoone as they bee denounced excommunicate for heresie and releasing their subiects from the Oath of allegeance tell them they may beare armes against them hauing beene sometimes their Princes and doe obtrude this as a principall head of Catholicke Religion making much for the saluation of their soules Although I haue lighted vpon some who before the sentence denounced by the Church hold that an hereticall Prince by right for the very act Caietane is to be remoued forcibly by the subiects But Caietane denieth that the subiects may be absolued before the sentence bee publickely denounced Very franckly that he will allow somewhat to an hereticall Prince But Alanus will haue all Heretickes not only after they be by name particularly denounced Alanus but by law and ipso facto as they say assoone as they beginne to appeare hereticall or be by law excommunicated should be put from their kingdomes For as Fame so Heresie Gathers strength by going forward Alanus is somewhat more earnest in the matter then Caietane who pronounceth that warre to be holy iust and honourable which subiects vndertake against their hereticall Prince and doth aduise the valiant Englishmen to take part with the enemie against the Queene But after our Cardinall had deliuered his opinion as Apollo from his three footed stoole Philop. 194. Philopater doth boldly affirme that it is an opinion certaine and of faith and vndoubtedly held of all the learned and agreeable to Apostolicall doctrine that euery Christian Prince if he flatly fall from the Catholicke religion and call others from the same to fall presently from all his power and dignitie by the force of Gods law and mans law and that before the sentence of the supreame Pastor and Iudge be denounced against him and that all manner of subiects are free from euery bond of Oath which they should by obedience haue performed to a lawfull Prince and that they may and ought if they haue power cast out from the gouernment of Christians such a man as an Apostata or Hereticke and a Renegate from Christ the Lord and an vtter enemie to the common weale § 62 There is an
Empire was translated out of Greece into Germanie when it did reside in the family of Charles the great who had left the Pope great possessions in Italy Caus 2. quest 7 cap. Sic nos how dutifull and humble did the Pope shew himselfe to Ludouike his sonne and Lotharius his nephew The submission of Leo the fourth Bishop that wee may make short is famous and notorious which hee shewed to Ludouike and Lotharie Wee if wee haue done any thing Leo the Bishop writing to Lodouike and haue not dealt iustly with them ouer whom we be placed whatsoeuer is done amisse we will amend at the discretion of your Excellencie beseeching your Maiestie that you would bee pleased to send those who in the feare of God may strictly examine not onely those things whereof we are accused but all other our dealings both great and small Heere we haue the Emperour the Popes correctour in great matters and small But this was you will say no part of the Popes duty Ibi ca. Petrâ— but a dispensation of the Popes humility Indeede Gratian doth speake so ridiculously as if the Bishop had submitted himselfe in iest for a mocke to the Emperor and not in earnest and of bounden duty Distinct 10. de capi Caro. Ludo La. ha Did he afterward in iest or with voluntarie humility submit himselfe to Lotharius and not rather in all duty obseruancie when he promised that he would inuiolably obserue all the Ecclesiasticall lawes of Charles Ludouike and Lotharius and did sweare not onely present obedience but for euer after The Bishop of Rome was then as you see the Emperours subiect and seruant He did humbly supplicate the Emperour as his Lord hee did not proudly command him as his seruant He did obey hee did not resist and that not a Catholike onely but an hereticke also and that an Arrian Hee gaue honour to his person he offered no wrong to his crowne Hee kept his lawes hee did not gaine-say them And hee receiued Ecclesiasticall canons from him himselfe set downe none He did performe the Oath of obedience he did not then free others from keeping it The Emperours themselues were not onely but their Lieutenants also were the Bishops of Rome Iudges and Correctours in all matters both small and great The Popes therefore were not then their Iudges and Controllers They were not as yet Lords of the spiritualties much lesse of the temporalties as they are now tearmed by their Claw-backes § 101 Popes grew greater by abundance diuision of the Empire At the last being enriched and furnished with the temporalties of Bishops Kings by little little they began to wax proud against their Lords Patrones grew very great by the diuision of the Empire the departure of the Emperour out of Italy the dissention of Kings and the rebellions of the people Gregorie the 7. was the first as Frisingensis testifieth Gregorie the 7. the first that excommunicated curst Emperours 1600. yeares after Christ that curst Henry the 4. Emperour with excommunication and assayed to set him beside his kingdome and to that end loosed his subiectes from their oath of obedience Whos 's next successors followed his franticke humour Who as Hilde brand had stirred vp first Rodolphus then Hermanuus after that Ecbertus all seruants against their Soueraigne and lastly Courad and Henry sonnes against their father all of them being bound with an Oath of fealtie and these besides with the bond of nature But the Author of this tragedie Gregorie Sigeb in ann 1â—84 Vesserg in an 1089. Gregories fall foure years after being forsaken by his owne people with a ioynt consent of all was cast out of his Popedome And being at the point of death as Sigebert found it written of him one of his twelue Cardinals whom he chiefly fauoured being cald vnto him hee confest to God to S. Peter and the whole Church that hee had greiuouslie sinned in the administration of the pastorall charge committed vnto him In the life of Greg. 7. and that by the instinct of the Deuill he had raised discordes and warres among men as Benno the Cardinall writeth I am not ignorant that the Italian writers of malice against the Emperor did go about to hide and dissemble the faults of their Pope with the greatest skill of lying that might be Who can giue credit to Blondus Fulgofius Trithemius and other writers of small accompt either of a later time who were borne some hundred yeares after these things were done that eitheâ— for fauour or hatred as Bloudus or for ignorance as Fulgosius and Trithemius the Abbot they might easily ouer-reach who I say can credite these men as ribing false praise to Hildebrand when as his owne Abbote and Cardinals who were not onely earewitnesses but eyewitnesses of the whole tragedie who had a purpoâ—e not to honour the faultes of men but defend the ordinance of God branded him with deserued infamie and writ that the chief Authour of rebellion and periurie was put besides his Popedome and that hee troubled the world being moued by the instinct of the Deuill as hee confest vpon his death bed And may we not now maruell that this Byshop who followeth his outrage may not feare his ruine Who hath stirde vp Tirone against King Iames a most mercifull Prince as he stirred vp Rodolphe against Henry the Emperour § 102 But Rodolphe the cheife Actour when he beheld his right hand cut off in the skirmish Rodulphus ruine and repentance Vrsbergene in ann 1080. and ready to giue vp the Ghost fetching deepe sighes is said to speake thus to the Byshops that stood about him as Vrspergensis recordes Behold this is that right hand wherewith I sware fealty to Henry my soueraigne Lord and now as you see shewing the truncke of his arme I leaue both his Kingdome and this present life Whose end I wish to Tirone that most treacherous Traytor but I wish him his repentance also In ann 1080. Hildebrands reuelation Sigebert writeth that Hildebrand by a reuelation from heauen as he said foretould the death of a false King that yeare wherein Rodolphe was slaine He vnderstood him to be Henry But Henry fighting with his Saxons returned Conquerour and Rodolphe the false King died If this were a true Reuelation as Gregorie said God as he foretould did thus punish Rodolphe the false King whom Gregorie had raised vp against his Lord if it were not a diuine Reuelation but some diuelish familiaritie with the spirits what a holy Saint was this man whom you so commend who had such acquaintance with the Deuill who deceiued and betraied the franticke humor of this his hellish Scholler § 103 That same treacherous head likewise of Hermannus being broken by a stone cast from a tower by a womans hand Hermannus ruine his braine being dasht in peeces and running about his eares frighted and scattered the armie following the ensignes of his treacherie
Egyptian Byshoppes to byshoppe Marcus wherein they doe complaine forsooth that the true copies were burnt by the Arrians at Alexandria and therefore required the true coppie of the seuentie Cannons Athanasius Epistle forged And as one lye commonly begets another they counterfeit Marcus answere to Athanasius and the Egyptians giuen the tenth before the Calendes Nouember when Nepotian and Secundus were Consuls which day was neere the end of the 13. yeare of the raigne of Constantine as wee may see in Sozomen the first booke cap. 25. and 28. in which yeare he writeth that Athanasius was absent out of Egypt in the Councell of Tyre and returned not home but fledde to Constantinople and remained there till he was banished into France How then could Athanasius send this Epistle to Marcus out of Egypt where hee was not when the Epistle was sent Againe in Marcus Epistle is mention of the persecution of Egypt which was not at all in Constantines time but long after vnder Constantius when Marcus was dead Tusc 1. Cicero laughes heartily at a Fellow who said hee remembred what was done before hee was borne Who can choose but laugh at your Marcus remembring the persecution in Egypt raised after his death Sozom. lib. 1. ap 17. Beda distinct 16. Nicene canons burnt before they were made Now Marcus went next before Iulius Iulius was byshoppe of Rome when the Nycene Councell was gathered as Sozomen and Bede write Therefore your Athanasius who is said to write to Marcus writes that the Nycene Cannons were burnt before they were made Besides whereas there were twentie Cannons afterward made they were preserued vncorrupt in the publicke § 195 and authenticke recordes of Churches wherein the Creede of the Nycene faith was contained and the Arrian heresie was confuted the other 50. were said suddainely to haue perished through the malice of the Arrians O foolish Arrians who blotted out 50. Cannons which touched no part of the Arrian heresie and spared the Nycene creed and the Epistle sent to them of Alexandria which condemned that whole heresie The Orator doth make himselfe merry with certaine witnesses of Doris Orat. pro Flac. who being produced against Flaccus when they had lost nothing said they had lost the publicke tables O Shepheardes said hee desirous of letters for they tooke nothing from them but letters if they had brought foorth those that had beene true there had beene no fault if false there had beene a punishment for corrupting the letters They thought it best to say they were lost These popish witnesses are not much vnlike The Papists like foolish Shepheards who faine that the Arrians stole 50. Cannons out of the Nycene Councell which hurt them nothing at all and left twentie sound and vntoucht whereby they were to be condemned If the Papists bring foorth the true Cannons they hurt their cause if false they hurt their credit They thinke it the safest course to say that 50. were burnt and that by them who could receiue no profit by this their dealing But if the Arrians were so foolish the Romanistes were wiser then to suffer 20. Canons to remaine among them which did restraine their supremacie and suffer 50. to perish which did enlarge it But we see so little likelihood in the tale The former forgerie reiected by Bellarmine that Bellarmine himselfe hist it out For hee writeth that the burnings of the bookes hapned in the time of Constantius the Emperour whenas Athanasius being banished one George an Arrian was ordained in his place as Athanasius witnesseth in his Epistle to all the Orthodoxe Marcus receiued an Epistle after he was dead But it appeareth saith he by Ieromes Chronologie that Marcus the Pope was dead at that time Therefore Marcus after he was dead receiued an Epistle from Athanasius And therefore being dead made answere to Athanasius if we giue credit to Bellarmine It is good sport to see how these lying Papists doe couer this tale with their mutuall contradictions But Iulius answer doth confirme Marcus Epistle § 196 wherein there is mention of seuen and twenty Nycene canons A counterfet Iulius besides those twenty which are reckoned vp by Ruffinus Heere wee haue a counterfet Iulius not onely lying for the supremacies sake but also forswearing himselfe though he that is a common lier as it is sayd is a common for-swearer Hee doth not onely counterfet false canons but ratifies them with an oath That I sayd true the God-head is my witnesse as he saith in that counterfet answer But if the answer of the true Iulius sent to the Councell of Antioch in Athanasius quarrell mentioned by Athanasius in his second Apology if it bee compared with this it will lay open all the circumstances of this vntruth and periury I will not goe farre for proofe this blinde and bastardly decretall doth plainly reprooue it selfe It was giuen the first of Nouember as it is written when Felician and his Colleague were Consuls Socrat. l. 1. c. 40 that very yeere wherein Constantine died Now the Councell of Antioch that deposed Athanasius Sozom. l. 3. c. 5. and to which Iulius writ was gathered together by Constantius fiue yeeres after Constantines death So this answer was sent to the Synode of Antioch fiue yeeres before that Synode was assembled Doe you not see with your eyes and feele with your fingers how grosse this lie is Beside Iulius in his answer writeth that Athanasius remained with him at Rome a yeere and a halfe waiting for the presence of the Antiochians after hee had cited them with his first processe whereto is ascribed the calends of October as to the latter the calends of Nouember of the same yeere So betweene the two daies of appearance were one and thirty daies in which short time to goe from Rome to Antioch Pegasi bee horses with wings and returne againe the Popes Paritours had neede to bee Pegasi who were not to gallop but flie But if Iulius sixe canons did more cleerely set out the Popes prerogatiue then that one canon of Sozimus truely you make Sozimus to bee a very wise man who chose one canon and the worst when hee could haue alleadged sixe and those farre better For whereas you bring many other canons of the Nycene Councell as you cal them beside those twenty recited by great authors let your Iesuites make you an answer who distinguish the decrees of the Councell of Neece into two kindes The first kinde they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is constitutions as they interpret them The other they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is properly canons as they with vs confesse They are ignorant as they confesse of the number § 197 of the constitutions and acts But of the canons properly so called they grant that the number is rightly set downe by Ruffinus To the first kinde they refer those your canons improperly so called whereof some they affirme are among the acts of the
doth witnes which said my kingdom is not of this world From a possibilitie to a deed the argument is not of force in Christ much lesse in Peter O pleasant madnes of Bellarmine wherby he dreameth that the temporall power in possibilitie as hanging in the ayre is bestowed vpon his Bishop § 204 But marke the mans reason God hath appointed Christ to be heyre of all things How the temporall rule forsooth descendeth vpon the Pope Therfore if he would he could haue cast Tiberius out of his throne and Pilate out of his iudgement seate for he was the heyre of all things Peter could if hee would haue wrested Nero's scepter out of his hands for he was heyre to Christ And the Pope can if he will cast of the Crowne from the head of any King heretike or catholike if he begin to go astray for he is Peters heyre For all comes to this at last that the temporall dominion of the whole world descends from Christ to Peter from Peter to the Pope That the Pope forsooth might haue and exercise power ouer Kings which Christ had but vsed not but might haue vsed if hee had been so pleased A vant with all these foolish quiddities which inferre such dangerous consequences Austin and Maldonate against Bellarmine But if hee had consulted not only with Austin but also with Maldonat on of his owne side hee should haue vnderstood that that place was to be interpreted of the spirituall not temporall inheritance of the world granted to Christ by the Father For what he that refused the iudgement of diuiding a priuate inheritance would he take to him the publike inheritance of the whole world And he that willingly submitted himselfe to the authoritie of Pilate giuen from aboue euen to the death of the Crosse did hee shew himselfe a temporall Lord both ouer Tiberius and the whole world The power of Pilate saith Bellarmine was not ordeyned § 205 but permitted And this is the sense of the place that Pilate could do nothing against Christ if God had not permitted it As that place is also vnderstood this is your houre and power of darknesse Luc 22. but because S. Thomas saith he vpon the 13 to the Romanes vnderstandeth the place of the ordinarie power we do not disagree But that this power did extend it selfe to Christ we thinke that to be done out of Pilates ignorance who not knowing the worthines of Christ iudged him as some priuate Citizen of the country As if in our dayes a Clergie man were brought to the bar of a Secular Iudge vnder the name and habite of a Lay-man hee may be condemned by that power wherewith a Laicke may out of the ignorance of the Iudge yet it doth not follow thereby that Clarkes by law are subiect to the iudgement of Lay-men or that Christ was subiect to the iudgment of Pilate Thus far Bellarmine But Christ said that Pilates power was not permitted § 206 but giuen from aboue The permitted power was that power of darknes whereby God suffred that the Iewes should kill the Lord of Glory wherein they sinned most greiuously And therefore it is called the power of darknesse not giuen from aboue as was Pilates the Iudge which Austin called not an vsurped but an vniust power Which place saith he when I heard it to be expounded by S. Thomas of a lawfull power I do not withstand it Bellarmine contradicteth himselfe It is well that which before you did wickedly affirme being instructed by Thomas you honestly deny The man speakes out of a boate now enclining to this side now to that neither doth he somtime contradict others so much as himselfe But marke how by turning himselfe into all parts he hath found a starting hole to escape by Whereas Pilate did stretch out this power against Christ it was out of Pilates ignorance that knew not the worth of Christ As if a Clerke vnder the habite of a Lay man should bee brought before a lay-Iudge he might by the ignorance of the Iudge be condemned as a Lay-man which notwithstanding the Law doth not allow c. That which he imputes to the ignorance of Pilate Austin imputes it to his feare lest he should offend Caesar in loosing of Christ. But this may be ascribed to his ignorance that he beggeth the question Bellarmine begs the question For he takes it as granted which is in question that a Clerke may not by law be condemned by a secular Iudge though out of the Iudges ignorance he may being attired like a Layman As if he should say that Alexander the 3. being in his pontificalibus might not rightly be iudged by Fredericke the Emperor Alexander 3. but being in his cookes apparell he might by ignorance or that Bishop who bare armes against Richard the first King of England An English Bishop in K Richard the first dayes Odo brother to W. Conqueror could not be hanged in his Bishops attire but being found in a coat-armour hee might by ignorance Or that Odo the brother of William the first a very wicked traytor could not be committed to ward as Bishop of Bayon but as Earle of Kent Or that some trayterous Iesuite imagine some Garâ—et or Oldcorne could not bee hanged in his massing robes but might by ignorance being clad in a Courtiers attire I could wish rather that such Clerkes were vnknowne than knowne But he doth very vntowardly make Christ his innocencie a cloake for a harmefull Clerke that because Christ could not be rightly condemned by Pilate therefore euery Clerke is exempted from the iudgement of a secular Iudge It is as I said a manifest begging of the thing in question For I can better dispute after a contrary manner There was no exempting of the person of Christ from the iudgement of Pilate Therefore there is no exempting of Paul the fift from the iudgment of the Emperor For if Christ the chiefe Bishop was not exempted from the iudgment of the Emperor whose power was from aboue then certainely the Bishop of Rome ought not to be exempted from the iudgement of the Emperors power The actions of Christ are rules for the Pope the actions of Popes are not rules for Christ But whereas the Cardinall brings in his Clearke in § 207 a Lay-mans weede before a secular Iudge hee doth very ill apply it to his purpose For he hauing got this freedome or exemption as is taught he should not say to the Iudge that hee hath power from heauen against him but the contrary you haue no power against me froÌ„ aboue for I am a Clerke but when Christ said not this but the cleane contrary you haue power against me froÌ„ aboue he allowed not the exeÌ„pting of a Clerke vnles the prerogatiue of a Clerke be greater than the prerogatiue of Christ But you haue brought in a very dull-pated Clerke who being endowed with a priuiledge as you call it cannot vtter it that he may be safe from danger being