by their Constitutions haue exempted them without asking leaue of Princes but they pretend text of Scriture though detorted and mis-vs'd to proue this Exemption And for the Persons they pretend many but with no more directnes then that by which they proue exemption of their goods from secular charges and burdens which is Domini est terra plenitudo eius and since it is the Lords it is theirs 117 But all Princes grow weary and iealous of that claime and a Catholique Writer hath obserued that many of the Writers of the Spanish Nation in these later times haue resisted that opinion of which he names Medina Victoria Soto Ledesma and Bannes And if that Nation grow into iealousies and feele her right as France hath done before all the Italian Writers will be but weake euidence to proue this exemption to bee Iure Diuino But as though all this were not enough and that the states of Princes were not enough infirm'd by withdrawing of all these they teach That a Subiect by remouing into another Prouince hath deuested his allegeance and subiection And that euery man is free concerning his owne person And that the band is stronger between a Creditor and a Debtor then between a Prince and subiect Vpon all which what mischieuous conclusions will follow is euident and obuious enough 118 To conclude therefore this point this Ecclesiastique immunity which they clayme is the debasing of Princes And the defence of this immunity and consequently of this debâ—sing of Princes is so iust a cause of Martyredome that Baronius saies The Students in the English Colledge haue good title to two Crownes of Martyrdome because they return into England both to defend the Catholique faith and the immunity of the Church Where we will content our selues till wee come to a â—urther exagitation of that point with this confession from Baronius that they are by your doctrin receiued in that Colledge incited to Martyredome for the Immunities of the Churche which himselfe in the same place distinguishes from the Catholique faith And thus farre I was willing to extend this point That the Romane Doctrine by extolling Church Priuiledges aboue Princes and by an absolute and direct auiling them doth mis-prouoke her disciples to a vicious affectation of imaginarie Martyrdome In the two other points of Merite and Purgatory which produce the same effect I may haue leaue to contract my selfe into a shorter roome because of those many others haue spoken more abundantly then of this last point which I vndertooke THE SECOND PART OF MERIT THe next Doctrine which I noted to mis-incite men to an imagined Martyrdome is the Doctrine of Merites In euery good worke you say there is somewhat of merite and somewhat of satisfaction The first is said to belong to our selues and that by it we establish our saluation So that the passion of our Sauiour is but as Baptisme to vs and our owne workes as Confirmation Which Sacrament you say confers more grace then baptisme dooth for strengthning vs against the Diuell And that the holy Ghost is giuen more fully therein And accordingly you teach that iustice of workes doth giue the forme and life to faith And the second which is Satisfaction is reserued in the common stocke the treasury of the Church and husbanded and dispensed by the generall steward thereof the Bishoppe of Rome 2 But for that Merite which you teach to say That our workes of their owne nature without considering any Couenant or Contract with GOD deserue Heauen dooth not onely diminish CHRISTS Passion by associating an Assistant to it and determine his Priesthood which is euerlasting by vsurping that office our selues but it preferres our worke before his because if wee could consider the passion of Christ without the eternall Decree and Couenant and Contract with his father his worke sauing the dignity which it had by Acceptation by which the least step of his humiliation might worthily haue redeemed tenne thousand worlds had not naturally merited our saluation 3 Now betwixt God and vs there is no such Couenant our best plea is The sinner must repent and God will blotte out his sinnes If a Prince should so farre prostitute his mercie as to proclaime a veniall Pardon by which for certaine money any Malefactor might be pardoned no such Malefactor as by the nature of his fault had at that instant forfaited and confiscated all his estate should haue benefite by that pardon because he had nothing to giue All these dis-aduantages and infirmities oppresse vs no good worke is naturally large enough to reach heauen no promise nor acceptation of God hath changed the nature of a good worke And lastly we can do no perfit good work for originall sin hath poisoned the fountaines our hearts and those degrees and approaches which we seeme to make towards good workes are as if a condemned man would make a large will to charitable vses For as that which hee giues is not his owne so that goodnesse of good workes is not ours and as it is in the Princes pleasure and allowance whether his will shall take any effect or no so is it in the pleasure of God whether any workes of ours shal be accepted 4 Yet there is more Deuotion in our Doctrine of good works then in that of the Romane Church because wee teach as much necessity of them as they doe and yet tye no reward to them And we acknowledge that God doth not onely make our faith to fructifie and produce good workes as fruits thereof but sometimes beginnes at our workes and in a mans hart morally enclined to doe good dooth build vp faith for if an Angell could transport Abacuc for Gods seruice by onely taking hold of his haire God can take such holde of our workes and carrie vs further by them And fuâ—ther then this I see not that moderate men may goe and they startle too easilie that dare not come so farre And if it had beene expedient for Bellarmine to haue spoken plaine I thinke he would haue come to that when hee was so neere towards it as to say That it is the safest way to place all our confidence in the onely mercy of God by reason of the incertainety of our owne righteousnesse and the danger of vaine-glory for he seemes else where to be so farre from doubting that a man may not be sure of his owne righteousnesse that himselfe had such an assurance of righteousnesse in another man that vpon his Oath before a publique Notarie he affirmes That hee verily beleeues that Gonzaga who left the dignitie and inheritance of a Marquisate neuer coÌ„mitted mortall sin and that from his age of seuen yeares he is certaine of it 5 The Doctrine of good workes in the Reformed Churches is vniforme and consonant For though Luther to relieue and succour the doctrine of faith which then languish'd desperately in the Romane Church for iust dignification thereof sometimes
of the Popes Authoritie they haue pronounced this infallibilitie of iudgement to bee onely then in the Pope When he doeth applie all Morall meanes to come to the knowledge of the trueth As hearing both parties aud waighing the pressures and afflictions which he shal induce vpon them whom he inflames against their Pâ—ince and proceeding mildly and dispassionately and not like an interessed person and to the edification not destruction of them whom onely he esteemes to be his Catholicke Church 18 And this seemes so reasonable that though the Iesuite Tannerus at first cast it away as the opinion onely Quorundam ex Antiquioribus Scholasticis yet afterwards hee affoords an interpretation to it but such a one as I think any Catholique would be loth to venter his Martyrdome thereupon if he were to die for obedience to a Breue For thus he saies In euery matter when a Hypotheticall proposition is made of the condition whereof we are certaine then the whole proposition must not be said to be Hypothetically and Conditionally true but absolutely And this he exemplifies by this Proposition If Christ doe come to iudgement there shall be a resurrection which proposition is absolutely and not conditionally true because we are certaine that Christ will come to Iudgement And so he saies That it is the meaning of all them who affirme that the Pope may erâ—e except he vse ordinarie meanes onely to inferre that hee dooth euer vse those meanes without all doubt and question But with what conscience can this Iesuite say That this was the meaning of these Schoolemen when in the same place it appeares that the purpose of those Schoolemen was â—o bring the Pope to a custome of calling Councels in determining waighty causes for when they say He may erre except hee vse Ordinarie meanes and they intended generall Councels for this oâ—dinary meanes can they bee intended in sâ—yinâ— soâ— to meane that the Pope did euer in such cases vse Generaâ—l Councels when they reprehended his neglecting that ordinary meanes and laboured to â—educe him â—o the practise thereof 19 And though most of these infirmities incident to Breues in generall doe so reflect vppon these two Breues in question that any man may apply them ye it may doe some good to come to a neerer exagitation and triâ—lâ— of the necessary obligaâ—ion which they are imaâ—ined to imposed It is good Doctrine which one of your men teaches That euen in lawes euery particular man hath power to interprete the same to his aduantage and to dispence with himselfe therein if there occurre a sudden case of necessity and there be no open way and recourse to the Superiour The first part of which Rule would haue iustified them who tooke the oath before the Breues though they had had some scruples in their conscience by reason of the great scandall to the cause and personall detriment which the refusall was liâ—ely to draw on 20 Nor can the Catholiques be said to haue had as yet recourse to their Superiour when neither their reasons haue beene aunswered or heard which thinke the oath naturally and morally lawâ—ull nor theirs who thinke that in these times of imminent pressures and afflictions all inhibitions ought to haue beene forborne and that any thing which is not ill in it selfe ought to haue been permitâ—ed for the sweetning and mollifying of the state towards them 21 Their immediate Superiours here in England haue beene in different opinions and therefore a recourse to them cannot determine of the matter And for recourse to the Pope the partie of Secular Priests haue long since complained that all waies haue beene precluded agâ—inst them And if they had iust or excusable reasons to doubt that the first Breue issued by Subreption they had more reasons to suspect as many infirmities in â—he second because one of the reasons of suspecting the first being That their Reasons were not heard but that the Pope was mis-informed and so misledde by hearking to one partie onely the second Breue came before any remedy or redresse was giuen or any knowledge taken of the complaint agaâ—nst â—he first 22 Certainely I thinke that if he had had true inâ—ormation and a sensible apprehension that the sâ—ffeâ—ing of his party in this Kingdome was like to bâ— so heauie as the lawes threatned and a pertinacy in this reâ—usall was likely to extort hee had beene a lauish and prodigall steward of their liues and husbanded their bloods vnthriftily if he had not reserued them to better seruices heereafter by forbearing all inhibitions for the present and confiding and relying vpon his power of absoluing them againe when any occasion should present it selfe to his aduantage rather then thus to declare his ambitions and expose his seruants and instruments to such dangers when by this violence of his the state shall be awakened to a iealous watchfulnes ouer them 23 It is not therefore such a disobedience as contracts crinduces sinne which it must be iâ— it be matter enough for Martyrdome not to obey these Breues though thus iterated for it is not the adding of moâ—e Cyphars after when there is no figure before that giues any valew or encrease to a number Nauarrus vpon good grounds giues this as the Resultance of many Canons there by him alleadge That it is not sinne in a man not to obey his Superiour when hee hath probable reasons to thinke that his Superiour was deceiued in so commaunding or that he would not haue giuen such a command if he had knowne the truth And can any Catholique beleeue so profanely of the Pope as to thinke that if hee had seene the effects of the powder treason euery Church filled with deuout and thankfull commemorations of the escape euery Pulpit iustly drawing into suspition the Maisters which procured it and the Doctrine wherewith they were imbued euery vulgar mouth extended with execrations of the fact and imprecations vppon such as had like intentions euery member of the Parliament studying what clauâ—es might be inserted for the Kings security into new lawes and the King himselfe to haue so much moderated this common iust distemper by taking out all the bitternesse and sting of the law and contenting himselfe with an oath or such obedience as they were borne vnder which iâ— they should refuse there could be no hope of farther easinesse or of such as his Maiestie had euer shewed to them before Might any Catholique I sayâ— beleeue that the Pope if he had seene this would haue accelerated these afflictions vpon them by forbidding an Act which was no more but an attestation of a morall truth that is ciuill obedience and a profession that no man had power to absolue them against that which they iustly auerred to be such a Morall indelible truth Might he not reasonably and iustly haue applied to the Pope â—hat which Anselmus is said to haue pronouÌ„ced of God himselfe Minimum inconueniens est Deo impossible and concluded thereupon that
two Breues of Paulus the fift cannot giue this assurance to this Conscience First for the generall infirmities to which all Rescripts of Popes are obnoxious And then for certaine insufficiencies in these CHAP. XII That nothing requir'd in this Oath violates the Popes spirituall Iurisdiction And that the clauses of swearing that Doctrine to bee Hereticall is no vsurping vpon his spirituall right either by preiudicating his future definition or offending any former Decree CHAP. XIII That all which his Maiesty requires by this Oath is exhibited to the Kings of Fraunce And not by vertue of any Indult or Concordate but by the inhaerent right of the Crowne CHAP. XIIII Lastly That no pretence eyther of Conuersion at first Assistance in the Conquest or Acceptation of any Surrender from any of our Kings can giue the Pope any more right ouer the Kingdome of England then ouer any other free State whatsoeuer AN ADVERTISEMENT TO the Reader THough I purposed not to speake any thing to the Reader otherwise then by way of Epilogue in the end of the Booke both because I esteemed that to be the fittest place to giue my Reasons why I respited the handling of the two last Chapters till another time and also because I thought not that any man might well and properly be called a Reader till he were come to the end of the Booke yet because both he and I may suffer some disaduantages if he should not be fore-possessed and warned in some things I haue changed my purpose in that point For his owne good therefore in which I am also interessed I must first intreat him that he will be pleased before hee reade to amend with his pen some of the most important errors which are hereafter noted to haue passed in the printing Because in the Reading he will not perchance suspect nor spy them and so he may runne a danger of being either deceiued or scandalized And for my selfe because I haue already receiued some light that some of the Romane profession hauing onely seene the Heads and Grounds handled in this Booke haue traduced me as an impious and profane vnder-valewer of Martyrdome I most humbly beseech him till the reading of the Booke may guide his Reason to beleeue that I haue a iust and Christianly estimation and reuerence of that deuout and acceptable Sacrifice of our lifes for the glory of our blessed Sauiour For as my fortune hath neuer beene so flattering nor abundant as should make this present life sweet and precious to me as I am a Moral man so as I am a Christian I haue beene euer kept awake in a meditation of Martyrdome by being deriued from such a stocke and race as I beleeue no family which is not of farre larger extent and greater branches hath endured and suffered more in their persons and fortunes for obeying the Teachers of Romane Doctrine then it hath done I did not therefore enter into this as a carnall or ouer-indulgent fauourer of this life but out of such reasons as may arise to his knowledge who shall be pleased to read the whole worke In which I haue abstained from handling the two last Chapters vpon diuers reasons whereof one is that these Heads hauing beene caried about many moneths and thereby quarrelled by some and desired by others I was willing to giue the Booke a hasty dispatch that it might cost no man much time either in expecting before it came or in reading when it was come But a more principall reason was that since the two last Chapters depend vpon one another and haue a mutuall Relation I was not willing to vndertake one till I might perseuere through both And from the last chapter it became me to abstaine till I might vnderstand their purposes who were formerly engaged in the same businesse For the first Discouerie giues some title to the place and secludes others without the Discouerers permission And in men tender and iealous of their Honour it is sometimes accounted as much iniurie to assist as to assault When therefore I considered that the most Reuerend and learned Sir Edward Coke Lord chiefe Iustice of the coÌ„mon Pleas whom they which are too narrow to comprehend him may finde arguments enow to loue and admire out of the measure and proportion of his malice who hath written againsâ— him since wee ought to loue hâ—m so much as such men hate him had in this point of Iurisdiction laid so solid foundations raised so strong walls perfited his house vpon so sure a Rocke as the lawes of this Kingdome are And when I saw that as the diuell himselfe is busiest to attempt them who abound in strength of Grace not forbearing our Sauiour himselfe so an ordinary Instrument of his whose continuall libels and Incitatorie bookes haue occasioned more afflictions and drawne more of that bloud which they call Catholique in this Kingdome then all our Acts of Parliament haue done had oppugned his Lordships Booke and iterated and inconculcated those his oppositions I could not know whether his Lordship reserued any farther consideration of that matter to his owne leasures or had honoured any other man with his commandement or allowance to pursue it Till therefore I might know whether any such were embarqued therein as would either accept my Notes and dignifie them with their stile or submit their Notes to my method and the poore apparell of my language or vndertake it entirely or quit it absolutely as a body perfit already by that forme which his Lordship hath giuen it I chose to forbeare the handling thereof at this time One thing more I was willing the Reader should be forewarned of which is that when he findes in the printing of this Booke oftentimes a change of the Character hee must not thinke that all those words or sentences so distinguished are cited from other Authors for I haue done it sometimes onely to draw his eye and vnderstanding more intensly vpon that place and so make deeper impressions thereof And in those places which are cited from other Authors which hee shall know by the Margine I doe not alwayes precisely and superstitiously binde my selfe to the words of the Authors which was impossible to me both because sometimes I collect their sense and expresse their Arguments or their opinions and the Resultance of a whole leafe in two or three lines and some few times I cite some of their Catholique Authors out of their owne fellowes who had vsed the same fashion of collecting their sense without precise binding themselues to All or onely their words This is the comfort which my conscience hath and the assurance which I can giue the Reader that I haue no where made any Author speake more or lesse in sense then hee intended to that purpose for which I cite him If any of their owne fellowes from whom I cite them haue dealt otherwise I cannot be wounded but through their sides So that I hope either mine Innocence or their own fellowes guiltinesse
omitted sometimes spoke remissely of good workes yet betweene those who seuerely adhere to him other Churches which in some other things depart a little from them in this point I haue obserued no dissention 6 But the Romane Church at this present is tempested with a violent storme in this maâ—ter that is by what way and meanes man can be enabled to doe any meritorious worke In which Controuersies after the Dominicans and the Iesuites had with much earnestnesse prouoked and with much bitternes replied vpon one another Benius in a booke as moderate and elegant as any these later ages haue affoorded proiecting a way in his Epistle to Clement the eight how these dissentions might be re-vnited and reconciled obserues that all the Controuersies betweene them ariseth out of presuming a false ground and foundation to be true which is the famous Distinction of Sufficient and Efficient Grace And so he dooth not onely demolish all that they had diuersly built thereupon but defeats and destroies that foundation which Bellarmine himselfe was most confident in and euicts that that distinction which that Church hath vsed of late yeares against all opposition is neither containd nor conueniently deriued either from Scriptures Councels or Fathers but is refeld resisted by the Councell of Trent it â—elfe Noâ— can they extenuate this matter as though it were oâ—â—maâ—l consequence since neither small matters should produce amongst Religious men so much and so bitter Argumenâ—ation nor can it bee in it selfe esteemed a small matter vpon which Benius saies the questions of Predestination Iustification Merite Perseuerance Glorification and many more depend and that all Diuinitie is shaken therein 7 And if they thinke howsoeuer they suffer an intestine war to make vs beleeue that all is peace and that this variety is onely De modo they must remember that that for which they burne and damne men which is Transubstantiation is but a question De modo which may be sometâ—mes so essentiall That if the Arrians had agreed with the Orthodox of the maner of the generatioÌ„ of the Soâ— or the Greeke Church would agree yet with the westernâ— of tâ—e maner of the proceeding of the Holy Ghost there could be no diffrence in tâ—ese points and therfore these dâ—ffreÌ„ces controuersiâ—s irresolutioÌ„s in the Roman Church caâ—not be â—xcuâ—'d or diminished by this that they are De modo since they are not De modo probâ—tionis which is when a certaine truth is illustrated by diuers waies of proofe but they are so De modo essendi or existendi So as if you remoue these wayes by which they are said to be they are not at all 8 And howsoeuer those Doctors whome they stile Seraphicos and Illustratos and Irrefragabiles Fontes vitae with which transcendent Titles they enamell so many of the writers in the Franciscan Families so are in so high a piâ—ch as dazles vs or diue so low as we cannot discerne what they â—old in this matter of Merit yet what the vulgar doctâ—ine is in this point the Expurgatory Inâ—ices shall sufficâ—ently informe vs for no opinion of any Faâ—her or Doctor or of any vniuersity can be of so mâ—ch crediâ—e and authority as those books since they are compiled by a commission issuing from the Pope himselfe who was either authorized or entreated to that office by a generall Councell So that in these bookes there are all these approaches to an infallibility that they were determined and prouided by a Councel executed by a Popes Buls and iustified by him when they were perfited â—nd accomplished 9 And those bookes haue not bestowed so much diligence vpon any point as this that nothing remaine in any Authour which may prefâ—rre Christs passion before our merits And therfore to omit innumerable instances to this purpose in that Catholique booke imprinâ—ed in a Catholique state wâ—ich is stiled Ordo Baptizandi Modus Visitandi they haue expunged these wordes Doost thou beleeue to come to glory not by thine owne merites but by the vertue and passion of our Lord Iesus Christ And a little after they haâ—e cut off this question Dost thou beleeue that our Lord Iesus Christ died for our saluation and that no man can be saued by his owne merits or any other way but in the merite of the passion of Christ And though they might haue excuse to extoll our merites yet they might haue spared the first part of the sentence and giuen vs leaue to beleeue That our Lord Iesus Christ died for our saluation 10 Amongst these great works pregnant both of Merite for our selues and satisfaction for others Martyrdome is in theâ—r Doctrinâ— that Opus priuilegiatum which takes away al sinne by occasion of which wordes To take away I cannot forâ—beare to warne you in this place of one ordinarie indirect dealing in Bellarmine which is thaâ— in his Indices and Tables he presents wordesâ— veâ—ie fâ—râ—e from the sense of the place to which they relate As in this point of merite where his Index saies Martyrium tollit peccata S. Hierome out of whom the Text â—o which he relates is drawnâ— sâ—ies only per martyrium peccata non imputantur which is nothing to the naturall condignitâ—e of the woâ—â—e it selâ—e And I should haue neglected to haue noted Bellarmines Index but that I obserue that they are so seuere vpon the Indices made by some of their owne Church that pretending stâ—ll to haue rased nothing in the body of the fathers they expunge in the Indices many sentences though the very wordes be in the Text it selfe as in tâ—is point of Merite Iunius hath noâ—ed that these wordes Meritum nullum nisi quod a Christo confertur are cut out of the Index to Chrysostome though the same wordes be in the text 11 To proceede then for the dignity of this woâ—ke Bellarmine against Soâ—o and Ledesmo maintaines that martyrdome doth saue a man ex opere operato And that there is required in the martyre no further disposition nor other preparation then in one who is to be baptized For saies he though Charity be required it is not precedent Charity but it is because a Martyr cannot depart without Charity because by a couenant from God Grace is infâ—s'd and so Charity and therefore it abolishes originall sinne and actuall sinne and both eternall and temporall punishment belonging thereunto And in another place Bellarmine saies That it is euident that martyredome is so full a satisfaction that it expiates all guiltinesse contracted by all sinnes how huge soeuer the number or haynousnes therof be and if any milder man of that Church would say otherwise as Ferus doth directly the Passions in this life are not worthy of future glorie hee must be detorted to the other sense as Senensis saies of this place I am of opinion that Ferus his wordes might bee deflected to the other sense Or if the wordes will
of my title to land I am not bound to restore it though that were the safest way because in doubtfull matters Melior est Conditio possidentis And but for this helpe I wonder with what conscience the Catholiques keepe the possession of such landes as belong to the Church for they cannot be without some scruples of an vniust title and it were safest to restore theÌ„ Another example in Carbo is If my superior command a difficult thing and I doubt whether he command lawfully or no though it were safer to obey yet I am not bound to doe so And he giues a Rule which will include a thousand examples That that Rule That the safest part is to be embraced is then onely true when by following this safer part there ensues no notorious detriment And Soto extends this Doctrine farther for he saies Though yoâ— beleeue the precept of your Superior to be iust which creates Conscientiam Opinantem yet you may doe against it Because saies he it is then onely sinne to doe against your conscience when to do according to your conscience is safe and that no danger to the state or to a third person appeares therein So that Tutius in a spirituall sense that is in a doubtfull matter rather to beleeue a thing to be sinne then not must yeelde to Tâ—tius in a temporall sense that is when it may be done without notorious detriment For when it comes to that we shall finde it to be the common opinion of Casuists which the same Summist deliuers That there is no matter so waighty wherein it is not lawfull for me to follow an opinion that is probable though I leaue the opinion which is more probable yea though it concerne the right of another person as in our case of obedience to the King or the Pope And then wheresoeuer I may lawfully follow an opinion to mine aduantage if I will leaue that opinion with danger of my life or notorious losse I am guilty of all the damage I suffer For these circumstances make that Necessary to me then which was indifferent before the reasons vppon which Carbo builds this Doctrine of following a probable opinion and leauing a more probable which are That no man is bound Ad mâ—lius perfectius by necessity but as by Counsell And that this Doctrine hath this commoditie opinionâ— shew euidently that these Rules giue no infallible direction to the conscience and yet in this matter of Obedience considering the first natiue certaâ—ntie of subiection to the King and then the damages by the refusall to sweare it they encline much more to strengthen that ciuill obedience then that other obedience which is plainly enough claimed by this forbidding of the Oath So that in these perplexities the Casuists are indeede Nubes Testium but not in that sense as the holy Ghost vsed the Metaphore For they are such clouds of wiâ—nesses as their testimonie obscures the whole matter And they vse to deliuer no more then may beget farther doubts that so euery man may from the Oracle of his Conâ—fessors resolution receiue such direction as shall be fit at that time when hee giues the aunsweâ—eâ— Which Nauarrus expresses fully when he confesses That hauing beene consulted fiftie yeares before whether they who defrauded Princes in their customes were bound to restitution he once gaue an aunswere in writing but hauiâ—g recouered that writing backe a-againe he studied twentie yeares for his owne satisfaction and found no ground whereupon he might rest And all that while he counsailed Confessors to absolue thâ—ir penitents vpon this condition That they should retaine a purpose to doe so as they should vnderstand hereafter to be iust These spirituall Physitians are therefore like those Physitians which vse to erect a figure by that Minute in which the patâ—ents Messenger comes to them and therâ—by giue their iudgment For the Confessours in England in such resolutions as these consider first the Aspects and Relations and diuerse predominancies of Superiours at that time and so make their determinations seasonableâ— and appropriate But to insist more closely vpon this point in hand your Simancha speaking out of the law saies That that witnesse which deposes any thing vpon his knowledge must also declare and make it appeare how he comes to that knowledge And if it bee of a thing belonging to the vnderstanding hee must make it appeare by what means and instrument his vnderstanding was instructed And that which he assignes for the reason must be of that nature that it must certainely and necessarily conclude and prooue it If then you will subscribe with your blood or testifie by incurâ—ing equiualent dangers this Doctrine vpon your Knowledge you must bee able to tell the Christian world how you arriâ—'d to this Knowledge If you will say you haue it Ex Iure Diuino and meane by that out of the Scriptures you must remember that you are bound by Oath neuer to accept nor interâ—rete Scriptures but according to the vnanime consent of the Fathers And can you produce such a consent for the establishing this Doctrine in interpreting those places of Scripture which are offâ—ed for this matter If you extend this Ius Diuinum as Bellarmine doeth not onely to Scriptures but to Naturall light and reason and the Law of Nature in which he is no longer a Diuine as he vses to professe himselfe but a Canonist who gaue this large interpretation of Ius Diuinum whereas Diuines carie it no further then to that which God hath commanded or forbidden as Azorius tels vs this cannot bee so strong and constant and inflexible a Rule but that the diuers obiects of sense and images of the fancie and wayes of discourse will alter and vary it For though the fiâ—st notions which wee haue by the light of nature are certaine yet late conclusions deduced from thence are not so If you pretend common consent for your ground and Criterium by which you know this truth and so giue it the name of Catholicke Doctrine and say that Faith is to be bound to that and Martyrdome to be indur'd for Faith you must also remember that that which is so call'd Catholicke is not onely a common consent of all persons at one time but of the Catholicke Church euer For Quod vbique quod semper is the measure of Catholicke Doctrine And can you produce Authors of any elder times then within sixe hundred yeares to haue concurr'd in this And in these later times is not that Squadron in which Nauarrus is of persons and voyces enow to infringe all reasons which are grounded vpon this vniuersall consent He proclaimes confidently That the Pope take him despoiled and naked from all that which Princes haue bestowed vpon him hath no tempoâ—all power Neque supremam neque mediam neque infimam Doe noâ— some Catholiques confesse that they are readie to sweare to the integrity of the Romane faith according to the Oath