first part vpon that subiect should haue ditted the mouth of the most enuious Momus that euer hell did hatch from barking at any other part of my booke vpon that ground except they would alledge me to be contrarie to my selfe which in so small a volume would smell of too great weakenesse and sliprinesse of memory And the second part of my booke teaches my Sonne how to vse his Office in the administration of Iustice and Politicke Gouernment The third onely containing a Kings outward behauiour in indifferent things what agreeance and conformitie hee ought to keepe betwixt his outward behauiour in these things and the vertuous qualities of his minde and how they should serue for trunsh-men to interprete the inward disposition of the minde to the eyes of them that cannot see farther within him and therefore must onely iudge of him by the outward appearance So as if there were no more to be looked into but the very methode and order of the booke it will sufficiently cleare me of that first and grieuousest imputation in the point of Religion since in the first part where Religion is onely treated of I speake so plainely And what in other parts I speake of Puritanes it is onely of their morall faults in that part where I speake of Policie declaring when they contemne the Law and souereigne authoritie what exemplare punishment they deserue for the same And now as to the matter it selfe whereupon this scandall is taken that I may sufficiently satisfie all honest men and by a iust Apologie raise vp a brasen wall or bulwarke against all the darts of the enuious I will the more narrowly rip vp the words whereat they seeme to be somewhat stomacked First then as to the name of Puritanes I am not ignorant that the style thereof doeth properly belong onely to that vile sect amongst the Anabaptists called the Family of loue because they thinke themselues onely pure and in a maner without sinne the onely trwe Church and onely worthy to be participant of the Sacraments and all the rest of the world to be but abomination in the sight of God Of this speciall sect I principally meane when I speake of Puritans diuers of them as Browne Penry and others hauing at sundrie times come into Scotland to sow their popple amongst vs and from my heart I wish that they had left no schollers behinde them who by their fruits will in the owne time be manifested and partly indeede I giue this style to such brain-sicke and headie Preachers their disciples and followers as refusing to be called of that sect yet participate too much with their humours in maintaining the aboue mentioned errours not onely agreeing with the generall rule of all Anabaptists in the contempt of the ciuill Magistrate and in leaning to their owne dreams and reuelations but particularly with this sect in accounting all men profane that sweare not to all their fantasies in making for euery particular question of the policie of the Church as great commotion as if the article of the Trinitie were called in controuersie in making the scriptures to be ruled by their conscience and not their conscience by the Scripture and he that denies the least iote of their grounds sit tibi tanquam ethnicus publicanus not worthy to enioy the benefite of breathing much lesse to participate with them of the Sacraments and before that any of their grounds be impugned let King people Law and all be trode vnder foote Such holy warres are to be preferred to an vngodly peace no in such cases Christian Princes are not onely to be resisted vnto but not to be prayed for for prayer must come of Faith and it is reuealed to their consciences that GOD will heare no prayer for such a Prince Iudge then Christian Reader if I wrong this sort of people in giuing them the stile of that sect whose errours they imitate and since they are contented to weare their liuerie let them not be ashamed to borrow also their name It is onely of this kinde of men that in this booke I write so sharply and whom I wish my Sonne to punish in-case they refuse to obey the Law and will not cease to sturre vp a rebellion Whom against I haue written the more bitterly in respect of diuers famous libels and iniurious speaches spred by some of them not onely dishonourably inuectiue against all Christian Princes but euen reprochfull to our profession and Religion in respect they are come out vnder coulour thereof and yet were neuer answered but by Papists who generally medle aswell against them as the religion it selfe whereby the skandale was rather doubled then taken away But on the other part I protest vpon mine honour I meane it not generally of all Preachers or others that like better of the single forme of policie in our Church then of the many Ceremonies in the Church of England that are perswaded that their Bishops smell of a Papall supremacie that the Surplise the cornerd cap and such like are the outward badges of Popish errours No I am so farre from being contentious in these things which for my owne part I euer esteemed as indifferent as I doe equally loue and honour the learned and graue men of either of these opinions It can no wayes become me to pronounce so lightly a sentence in so old a controuersie Wee all God be praised doe agree in the grounds and the bitternesse of men vpon such questions doeth but trouble the peace of the Church and giues aduantage and entry to the Papists by our diuision But towards them I onely vse this prouision that where the Law is otherwayes they may content themselues soberly and quietly with their owne opinions not resisting to the authoritie nor breaking the Law of the Countrey neither aboue all sturring any rebellion or schisme but possessing their soules in peace let them preasse by patience and well grounded reasons either to perswade all the rest to like of their iudgements or where they see better grounds on the other part not to bee ashamed peaceably to incline thereunto laying aside all praeoccupied opinions And that this is the onely meaning of my Booke and not any coldnesse or cracke in Religion that place doeth plainely witnesse where after I haue spoken of the faults in our Ecclesiasticall estate I exhort my sonne to be beneficiall vnto the good-men of the Ministrie praising God there that there is presently a sufficient number of good men of them in this kingdome and yet are they all knowne to be against the forme of the English Church Yea so farre I am in that place from admitting corruption in Religion as I wish him in promoouing them to vse such caution as may preserue their estate from creeping to corruption euer vsing that forme through the whole Booke where euer I speake of bad Preachers terming them some of the Ministers and not Ministers or Ministrie in generall And to conclude this point of Religion
ceased seeing I could doe you no other good to commend your labouring most painfully in the Lords Vineyard in my prayers to God And I doubt not but that I haue liued all this while in your memory and haue had some place in your prayers at the Lords Altar So therfore euen vnto this time we haue abidden as S. Iohn speaketh in the mutuall loue one of the other not by word or letter but in deed and trewth But alate message which was brought vnto vs within these few dayes of your bonds and imprisonment hath inforced mee to breake off this silence which message although it seemed heauie in regard of the losse which that Church hath receiued by their being thus depriued of the comfort of your pastorall function amongst them yet withall it seemed ioyous because you drew neere vnto the glory of Martyrdome then the which gift of God there is none more happy That you who haue fedde your flocke so many yeeres with the word and doctrine should now feed it more gloriously by the example of your patience But another heauie tidings did not a little disquiet and almost take away this ioy which immediatly followed of the aduersaries assault and peraduenture of the slip and fall of your constancie in refusing an vnlawfull Oath Neither trewly most deare brother could that Oath therefore bee lawfull because it was offered in sort tempered and modified for you know that those kinde of modifications are nothing else but sleights and subtilties of Satan that the Catholique faith touching the Primacie of the Sea Apostolike might either secretly or openly be shot at for the which faith so many worthy Martyrs euen in that very England it selfe haue resisted vnto blood For most certaine it is that in whatsoeuer words the Oath is conceiued by the aduersaries of the faith in that Kingdome it tends to this end that the Authoritie of the head of the Church in England may bee transferred from the successour of S. Peter to the successour of King Henry the eight For that which is pretended of the danger of the Kings life if the high Priest should haue the same power in England which hee hath in all other Christian Kingdomes it is altogether idle as all that haue any vnderstanding may easily perceiue For it was neuer heard of from the Churches infancie vntill this day that euer any Pope did command that any Prince though an Heretike though an Ethnike though a persecutour should be murdered or did approue of the fact when it was done by any other And why I pray you doeth onely the King of England seare that which none of all other the Princes in Christendome either doeth feare or euer did feare But as I said these vaine pretexts are but the traps and stratagemes of Satan Of which kinde I could produce not a fewe out of ancient Stories if I went about to write a Booke and not an Epistle One onely for example sake I will call to your memory S. Gregorius Nazianzenus in his first Oration against Iulian the Emperour reporteth That hee the more easily to beguile the simple Christians did insert the Images of the false gods into the pictures of the Emperour which the Romanes did vse to bow downe vnto with a ciuill kinde of reuerence so that no man could doe reuerence to the Emperours picture but withall hee must adore the Images of the false gods whereupon it came to passe that many were deceiued And if there were any that found out the Emperours craft and refused to worship his picture those were most grieuously punished as men that had contemned the Emperour in his Image Some such like thing me thinkes I see in the Oath that is offered to you which is so craftily composed that no man can detest Treason against the King and make profession of his Ciuill subiection but he must bee constramed perfidiously to denie the Primacie of the Apostolicke Sea But the seruants of Christ and especially the chiefe Priests of the Lord ought to bee so farre from taking an vnlawfull Oath where they may indamage the Faith that they ought to beware that they giue not the least suspicion of dissimulation that they haue taken it least they might seeme to haue left any example of preuarication to faithfull people Which thing that worthy Eleazar did most notably performe who would neither eate swines flesh nor so much as faine to haue eaten it although hee sawe the great torments that did hang ouer his head least as himselfe speaketh in the second Booke of the Machabees many young men might bee brought through that simulation to preuaricate with the Lawe Neither did Basil the Great by his example which is more fit for our purpose cary himselfe lesse worthily toward Valens the Emperour For as Theodoret writeth in his Historie when the Deputy of that hereticall Emperour did perswade Saint Basil that hee would not resist the Emperour for a little subtiltie of a few points of doctrine that most holy and prudent man made answere That it was not to be indured that the least syllable of Gods word should bee corrupted but rather all kind of torment was to be embraced for the maintenance of the Trewth thereof Now I suppose that there wants not amongst you who say that they are but subtilties of Opinions that are contained in the Oath that is offered to the Catholikes and that you are not to strius against the Kings Authoritie for such a little matter But there are not wanting also amongst you holy men like vnto Basil the Great which will openly auow that the very least syllable of Gods diuine Trewth is not to bee corrupted though many torments were to bee endured and death it selfe set before you Amongst whom it is meete that you should bee one or rather the Standard bearer and Generall to the rest And whatsoeuer hath beene the cause that your Constancie hath quailed whether it bee the suddainenesse of your apprehension or the bitternesse of your persecution or the imbecilitie of your old aage yet wee trust in the goodnesse of God and in your owne long continued vertue that it will come to passe that as you seeme in some part to haue imitated the fall of Peter and Marcellinus so you shall happily imitate their valour in recouering your strength and maintaining the Trewth For if you will diligently weigh the whole matter with your selfe trewly you shall see it is no small matter that is called in question by this Oath but one of the principall heads of our Faith and foundations of Catholique Religion For heare what your Apostle Saint Gregorie the Great hath written in his 24. Epistle of his 11. Booke Let not the reuerence due to the Apostolique Sea be troubled by any mans presumption for then the state of the members doeth remaine entire when the Head of the Faith is not bruised by any iniurie Therefore by Saint Gregories testimonie when they are busie about disturbing or diminishing or taking
conclusion of all his examples The Cardinals paire of Martyrs weighed he reckoneth his two English Martyrs Moore and Roffensis who died for that one most weightie head of doctrine as he alledgeth refusing the Oath of Supremacie I must tell him that he hath not been well informed in some materiall points which doe very neerely concerne his two said Martyrs For it is cleare and apparantly to be prooued by diuers Records that they were both of them committed to the Tower about a yeere before either of them was called in question vpon their liues for the Popes Supremacie And that partly for their backwardnesse in the point of the establishment of the Kings succession whereunto the whole Realme had subscribed and partly for that one of them to wit Fisher had had his hand in the matter of the holy 8 Called Elizabeth Barton See the Act of Parliament maide of Kent hee being for his concealement of that false prophets abuse found guiltie of misprision of Treason And as these were the principall causes of their imprisonment the King resting secure of his Supremacie as the Realme stood then affected but especially troubled for setling the Crowne vpon the issue of his second mariage so was it easily to be conceiued that being thereupon discontented their humors were thereby made apt to draw them by degrees to further opposition against the King and his authoritie as indeede it fell out For in the time of their being in prison the Kings lawfull authoritie in cases Ecclesiasticall being published and promulged as well by a generall decree of the Clergie in their Synode as by an Acte of Parliament made thereupon they behaued themselues so peeuishly therein as the olde coales of the Kings anger being thereby raked vp of new they were againe brought in question as well for this one most weighty head of doctrine of the Pope his supremacy as for the matter of the Kings mariage and succession as by the confession of one of themselues euen Thomas Moore is euident For being condemned he vsed these words at the barre before the Lords Non ignoro cur me morti adiudicaueritis videlicet ob id Histor aliquet Martyrum nostri seculi Anno 1550. quòd nunquam voluerim assentiri in negotio matrimonij Regis That is I am not ignorant why you haue adiudged mee to death to wit for that I would neuer consent in the businesse of the new mariage of the King By which his owne confession it is plaine that this great martyr himselfe tooke the cause of his owne death to be onely for his being refractary to the King in this said matter of Marriage and Succession which is but a very fleshly cause of Martyrdome as I conceiue And as for Roffensis his fellow Martyr who could haue bene content to haue taken the Oath of the Kings Supremacie with a certaine modification which Moore refused as his imprisonment was neither onely nor principally for the cause of Supremacie so died hee but a halting and a singular Martyr or witnesse for that most weighty head of doctrine the whole Church of England going at that time in one current and streame as it were against him in that Argument diuers of them being of farre greater reputation for learning and sound iudgement then euer he was So as in this point we may well arme our selues with the Cardinals owne reason where he giueth amongst other notes of the trew Church Vniuersalitie for one wee hauing the generall and Catholique conclusion of the whole Church of England on our side in this case as appeareth by their booke set out by the whole Conuocation of England called The Institution of a Christian man the same matter being likewise very learnedly handled by diuers particular learned men of our Church as by Steuen Gardiner in his booke De vera obedientia with a Preface of Bishop Boners adioyning to it De summo absoluto Regis Imperio published by M. Bekinsaw De vera differentia Regiae Potestatis Ecclesiasticae Bishop Tonstals Sermon Bishop Longlands Sermon the letter of Tonstall to Cardinall Poole and diuers other both in English and Latine And if the bitternesse of Fishers discontentment had not bene fed with his dayly ambitious expectation of the Cardinals hat which came so neere as Calis before he lost his head to fill it with I haue great reason to doubt if he would haue constantly perseuered in induring his Martyrdome for that one most waighty head of doctrine And surely these two Captaines and ringleaders to Martyrdome were but ill followed by the rest of their countreymen for I can neuer reade of any after them being of any great accompt and that not many that euer sealed that weighty head of doctrine with their blood in England So as the trew causes of their first falling in trouble whereof I haue already made mention being rightly considered vpon the one part and vpon the other the scant number of witnesses that with their blood sealed it a point so greatly accompted of by our Cardinal there can but smal glory redound thereby to our English nation these onely two Enoch and Elias seruing for witnesses against our Antichristian doctrine And I am sure the Supremacie of Kings may The Supremacy of Kings sufficiently warranted by the Scriptures wil euer be better maintained by the word of God which must euer be the trew rule to discerne all waighty heads of doctrine by to be the trew and proper office of Christian Kings in their owne dominions then he will be euer able to maintaine his annihilating Kings and their authorities together with his base and vnreuerend speaches of them wherewith both his former great Volumes and his late Bookes against Venice are filled In the old Testament Kings were directly 1 2. Chron. 19.4 Gouernours ouer the Church within their Dominions 2 2. Sam. 5.6 purged their corruptions reformed their abuses brought the 3 1. Chron. 13.12 Arke to her resting place the King 4 2. Sam. 6.16 dancing before it 5 1. Chron. 28.6 built the Temple 6 2. Chron. 6. dedicated the same assisting in their owne persons to the sanctification thereof 7 2. King 22.11 made the Booke of the Law new-found to bee read to the people 8 Nehe. 9.38 Dauid Salomon renewed the Couenant betweene God and his people 9 2. King 18.4 bruised the brasen serpent in pieces which was set vp by the expresse commandement of God and was a figure of Christ destroyed 10 1. King 15.12 2. king 13.4 all Idoles and false gods made 11 2. Chron. 17.8 a publike reformation by a Commission of Secular men and Priests mixed for that purpose deposed 12 1. King 2.27 the high Priest and set vp another in his place and generally ordered euery thing belonging to the Church-gouernment their Titles and Prerogatiues giuen them by God agreeing to these their actions They are called the 13 2.
Platina and a number of the Popes owne writers beare witnesse And 3 Lib. de Clericis Bellarmine himselfe in his booke of Controuersies cannot get it handsomely denied Nay the Popes were euen forced then to pay a certaine summe of money to the Emperours for their Confirmation And this lasted almost seuen hundreth yeeres after CHRIST witnesse 4 In Chron. ad ann 680. Sigebert and 5 In vit Agathen Anast. in vit eiusd Agath Herm. Contract ad ann 678. edit poster dist 63. c. Agathe Luitprandus with other Popish Historians And for Emperours deposing of Popes there are likewise diuers examples The Emperour 1 Luitpr Hist lib 6. ca. 10.11 Rhegino ad an 963. Platin. in vit Ioan. 13. Ottho deposed Pope Iohn the twelfth of that name for diuers crimes and vices especially of Lecherie The Emperour 2 Marianus Scot. Sigeb Abbas Vrsp ad ann 1046 Plat in vit Greg. 6. Henry the third in a short time deposed three Popes Benedict the ninth Siluester the third and Gregorie the sixt as well for the sinne of Auarice as for abusing their extraordinarie authoritie against Kings and Princes And as for KINGS that haue denied this Temporall Superioritie of Popes First wee haue the vnanime testimonie of diuers famous HISTORIOGRAPHERS for the generall of many CHRISTIAN Kingdomes As 3 Walthram Naumburz in lib. de inuest Episc Vixit circa ann 1110. Walthram testifieth That the Bishops of Spaine Scotland England Hungarie from ancient institution till this moderne noueltie had their Inuestiture by KINGS with peaceable inioyning of their Temporalities wholly and entirely and whosoeuer sayeth hee is peaceably solicitous let him peruse the liues of the Ancients and reade the Histories and hee shall vnderstand thus much And for verification of this generall Assertion wee will first beginne at the practise of the KINGS of France though not named by Walthram in this his enumeration of Kingdomes amongst whom my first witnesse shall bee that vulgarly knowne letter of 4 See Annales Franciae Nicolai Gillij in Phil. Pulchro Philip le Bel King of France to Pope Boniface the eighth the beginning whereof after a scornefull salutation is Sciat tua maxima fatuitas nos in temporalibus nemini subesse And likewise after that 5 Anno 1268. ex Arrestis Senatus Parifiens Lewes the ninth surnamed Sanctus had by a publique instrument called Pragmatica sanctio forbidden all the exactions of the Popes Court within his Realme Pope Pius 6 Ioan. Maierius lib. de Scismat Concil the second in the beginning of Lewes the eleuenth his time greatly misseliking this Decree so long before made sent his Legate to the saide King Lewes with Letters-patents vrging his promise which hee had made when hee was Dolphin of France to repeale that Sanction if euer hee came to bee King The King referreth the Legate ouer with his Letters-patents to the Councell of Paris where the matter being propounded was impugned by Iohannes Romanus the Kings Atturney with whose opinion the Vniuersitie of Paris concurring an Appeale was made from the attempts of the Pope to the next generall Councell the Cardinall departing with indignation But that the King of France and Church thereof haue euer stoken to their Gallican immunitie in denying the Pope any Temporall power ouer them and in resisting the Popes as oft as euer they prest to meddle with their Temporall power euen in the donation of Benefices the Histories are so full of them as the onely examples thereof would make vp a bigge Volume by it selfe And so farre were the Sorbonistes for the Kings and French Churches priuiledge in this point as they were wont to maintaine That if the Pope fell a quarrelling the King for that cause the Gallican Church might elect a Patriarch of their owne renouncing any obedience to the Pope And Gerson was so farre from giuing the Pope that temporall authority ouer Kings who otherwise was a deuoute Roman Catholike as hee wrote a Booke de Auferibilitate Papae not onely from the power ouer Kings but euen ouer the Church And now pretermitting all further examples of forraigne Kings actions I will onely content me at this time with some of my owne Predecessors examples of this kingdome of England that it may thereby the more clearely appeare that euen in those times when the world was fullest of darkened blindnes and ignorance the Kings of England haue oftentimes not onely repined but euen strongly resisted and withstood this temporall vsurpation and encrochment of ambitious Popes And I will first begin at 1 Matth. Paris in Henr. 1. anno 1100. King Henry the first of that name after the Conquest who after he was crowned gaue the Bishopricke of Winchester to William Gifford and forthwith inuested him into all the possessions belonging to the Bishopricke contrary to the Canons of the new Synod 2 Idem ibid. anno 1113. King Henry also gaue the Archbishopricke of Canterbury to Radulph Bishop of London and gaue him inuestiture by a Ring and a Crosiers staffe Also Pope 3 Idem ibid. anno 1119. Calixtus held a Councell at RHEMES whither King Henry had appointed certaine Bishops of ENGLAND and NORMANDIE to goe Thurstan also elected Archbishop of YORKE got leaue of the King to goe thither giuing his faith that hee would not receiue Consecration of the Pope And comming to the Synode by his liberall gifts as the fashion is wanne the ROMANES fauour and by their meanes obtained to bee consecrated at the Popes hand Which assoone as the King of ENGLAND knewe hee forbade him to come within his Dominions Moreouer King Edward the first prohibited the Abbot of 4 Ex Archiuis Regni Waltham and Deane of Pauls to collect a tenth of euery mans goods for a supply to the holy Land which the Pope by three Bulles had committed to their charge and the said Deane of Pauls compeering before the King and his Councell promised for the reuerence he did beare vnto the King not to meddle any more in that matter without the Kings good leaue and permission Here I hope a Church-man disobeyed the Pope for obedience to his Prince euen in Church matters but this new Iesuited Diuinitie was not then knowen in the world The same Edward I. impleaded the Deane of the Chappell of Vuluerhampton because the said Deane had against the priuiledges of the Kingdome giuen a Prebend of the same Chappell to one at the Popes command whereupon the said Deane compeered and put himselfe in the Kings will for his offence The said Edward I. depriued also the Bishop of Durham of all his liberties for disobeying a prohibition of the Kings So as it appeareth the Kings in those dayes thought the Church-men their Subiects though now we be taught other Seraphicall doctrine For further proofe whereof Iohn of Ibstocke was committed to the goale by the sayde King for hauing a suite in the Court of Rome seuen yeeres
Sheweth such Princely courage and resolution in those times when all that stood and suffered for the Popes Temporall pretensions against Kings were enrowled Martyrs or Confessors The Pope takes the matter in fowle scorne and great indignation shuts the King by his excommunicatory Bulls out of the Church stirres vp his Barons for other causes the Kings heauy friends to rise in armes giues the Kingdome of England like a masterlesse man turned ouer to a new master to Philippus Augustus King of France bindes Philip to make a conquest of England by the sword or else no bargaine or else no gift promises Philip in recompence of his trauell and Royall expences in that conquest full absolution and a generall pardon at large for all his sinnes to bee short cuts King Iohn out so much worke and makes him keepe so many yrons in the fire for his worke that he had none other way none other meanes to pacifie the Popes high displeasure to correct or qualifie the malignitie of the Popes cholericke humour by whom he was then so entangled in the Popes toyles but by yeelding himselfe to become the Popes vassal and his Kingdome feudatary or to hold by fealty of the Papall See By this meanes his Crowne is made tributary all his people liable to payment of taxes by the poll for a certaine yeerely tribute and he is blessed with a pardon for all his sinnes Whether King Iohn was mooued to doe this dishonourable act vpon any deuotion or inflamed with any zeale of Religion or inforced by the vnresistable weapons of necessitie who can be so blind that he doeth not well see and clearely perceiue For to purchase his owne freedome from this bondage to the Pope what could he bee vnwilling to doe that was willing to bring his Kingdome vnder the yoake of Amirales Murmelinus a Mahumetan Prince then King of Granado and Barbaria The Pope after that sent a Legat into England The King now the Popes vassall and holding his Crowne of the Pope like a man that holds his land of another by Knights seruice or by homage and fealtie doeth faire homage for his Crowne to the Popes Legat and layeth downe at his feet a great masse of the purest gold in coyne The reuerend Legat in token of his Masters Soueraigntie with more then vsuall pride falls to kicking and spurning the treasure no doubt with a paire of most holy feet Not onely so but likewise at solemne feasts is easily entreated to take the Kings chaire of Estate Heere I would faine know the Lord Cardinals opinion whether these actions of the Pope were iust or vniust lawfull or vnlawfull according to right or against all right and reason If he will say against right it is then cleare that against right his Lordship hath made way to this example if according to right let him then make it knowen from whence or from whom this power was deriued and conueyed to the Pope whereby hee makes himselfe Souereigne Lord of Temporalties in that Kingdome where neither he nor any of his predecessours euer pretended any right or layd any claime to Temporall matters before Are such prankes to be played by the Pontificiall Bishop Is this an act of Holinesse to set a Kingdome on fire by the flaming brands of sedition to dismember and quarter a Kingdome with intestine warres onely to this end that a King once reduced to the lowest degree of miserie might be lifted by his Holinesse out of his Royall prerogatiue the very soule and life of his Royall Estate When began this Papall power In what aage began the Pope to practise this power What! haue the ancient Canons for the Scripture in this question beareth no pawme haue the Canons of the ancient Church imposed any such satisfaction vpon a sinner that of a Souereigne and free King he should become vassall to his ghostly Father that he should make himselfe together with all his people and subiects tributaries to a Bishop that shall rifle a whole Nation of their coine that shall receiue homage of a King and make a King his vassall What! Shall not a sinner be quitted of his faults except his Pastor turne robber and one that goeth about to get a booty except hee make his Pastour a Feoffee in his whole Estate and suffer himselfe vnder a shadow of penance to freeze naked to be turned out of all his goods and possessions of inheritance But be it granted admit his Holinesse robs one Prince of his rights and reuenewes to conferre the same vpon another were it not an high degree of tyrannie to finger another mans estate and to giue that away to a third which the second hath no right no lawfull authoritie to giue Well if the Pope then shall become his owne caruer in the rights of another if he shall make his owne coffers to swell with anothers reuenewes if he shall decke and aray his owne backe in the spoiles of a sinner with whom in absolution he maketh peace and taketh truce what can this be else but running into further degrees of wickednesse and mischiefe what can this be else but heaping of robbery vpon fraud and Impietie vpon robbery For by such deceitfull craftie and cunning practises the nature of the Pontificiall See meerely spirituall is changed into the Kings-bench-Court meerely temporall the Bishops chaire is changed into a Monarchs Throne And not onely so but besides the sinners repentance is changed into a snare or pit-fall of cousening deceit and S. Peters net is changed into a casting-net or a flew to fish for all the wealth of most flourishing Kingdomes Moreouer the King a hard case is driuen by such wiles and subtilties to worke impossibilities to acte more then is lawfull or within the compasse of his power to practise For the King neither may in right nor can by power trans-nature his Crowne impaire the Maiestie of his Kingdome or leaue his Royal dignitie lesse free to his heire apparant or next successor then he receiued the same of his predecessour Much lesse by any dishonourable capitulations by any vnworthy contracts degrade his posteritie bring his people vnder the grieuous burden of tributes and taxes to a forreine Prince Least of all make them tributary to a Priest vnto whom it no way apperteineth to haue any hand in the ciuill affaires of Kings or to distaine and vnhallow their Crownes And therefore when the Pope dispatched his Nuntio to Philippus Augustus requesting the King to auert Lewis his sonne from laying any claime to the Kingdome of England Philip answered the Legat as we haue it in Matth. Paris No King no Prince can alienate or giue away his Kingdom but by consent of his Barons bound by Knights seruice to defend the said Kingdome and in case the Pope shall stand for the contrary error his Holines shall giue to Kingdomes a most pernicious example By the same Author it is testified that King Iohn became odious to his subiects for such dishonourable and vnworthy
World euen our Aduersaries as Moses said being Iudges And praysed be GOD the present time passeth a long with the like felicity and much more Securitie for let me recount a little for the Glory of GOD and encouragement of his Maiestie to goe on in his happie Course begunne the Blessings of GOD we receiue by him And then let our Aduersaries tell vs whether we be a miserable People or no as some of late haue gone about to perswade vs. Neither doe J stand in feare of any mans reprehension for J will speake nothing but trewth and I haue my President from GOD his owne Booke wherein the good Actes of euery good King are to their eternall praises trewly recounted First to beginne with Religion as the Generall to the Armie Of all Gods Blessings wee haue it without any alteration or change contynued vnto vs. His Maiesties first Care was for the Confirmation of the Gospell for at his Maiesties first comming in who knowes not the endeauours of men to haue made a change either to the Papists or to the Puritanes His Maiestie therefore to quiet the State and Peace of the Church called a Conference at Hampton-Court where passing ouer the one as being neuer in his heart to giue the least way vnto He so tempered the other as the Harmony hath bene the better euer since The Religion thus ratified His Maiesties next Care was for the Translation of the Bible it being the ground of our Religion His Maiestie was desirous his People should haue it in as much perfection as the Jndustrie and Labors of the best Learned were able to afford it them Hauing done what was necessary for the Spirituall part of the Church his Maiestie tooke into consideration the Temporal State thereof No sooner came the Parliament but finding what spoile had bene made of the Lands thereof in the tyme of his Predecessors by a libertie they had to take the Landes of the Church for a longer Terme then others could doe Cut himselfe off from that libertie and equalled himselfe to a common person in the taking of any State in the Churches Landes When his Maiestie had done this in England he looked backe into Scotland and reforming the State of the Church there as farre as in his Princely-Wisedome he thought conuenient for the time restored the Bishops there as to their Spirituall Keies so to their temporall Estates though it were to the great losse and dammage of his owne Reuennue and Crowne From Scotland his Maiestie came to Ireland that forlorne Kingdome both for Temporall and Spiritual estate till be looked into it There his Maiestie hath reduced the Bishoppricks not only to their old Rents but added vnto them many new Reuennues so that many places there are answerable to the best Liuings here Neither hath his Care bene onely on these high places of the Church but hath descended to the lowest in the same hauing both protected the Benefices from being raysed to any higher Taxe and hindred all courses that might giue his Cleargie molestation or trouble His Maiesties Bountie hath not bene wanting to Colledges and Hospitalls hauing parted with his owne Tenures to giue them power of larger Indowments whereby there hath bene works of more sumptuousnes and cost done in his Maiesties time then there hath bene in any one aage before J may not forget one thing that since his Maiesties comming to this Crowne he hath neuer put into his Coffers the meane proffitts of any Ecclesiasticall liuing but hath bene a Fidus-Depositarius and euer giuen them to the next Jncumbent Let me descend a little from these workes of Piety to Peace Neuer hath there bene so vniuersall a Peace in Christendome since the time of our Sauiour Christ as in these his Dayes And I dare say as much if not more by the procurement of his Maiestie then by any other earthly meanes in this world A Peace to let forraigne partes passe so entertayned at home that in his Maiesties three Kingdomes apt enough by constitution and not vnaccustomed by practise to be at variance there hath bene no Ciuill dissension at all With Peace GOD hath giuen vs Plentie So that if Peace and Plenty haue not made vs too too wanton I know not what wee want Neither is there any crying out for lacke of Iustice in our Courtes for neuer was there Iustice administred with more liberty from the King nor more vprightnes from the Judges And yet in the free dispensation of Iustice Mercie did neuer more triumph If this bee to bee miserable J know not what on earth they call Happinesse GOD continue these still vnto vs and then let them call Happinesse what they please But I know wherefore all is miserable because there is no more Mercy shewed to their Catholiks J will put it as a Crowne vpon all his Maiesties Mercies There was neuer King that had so great a cause giuen him that euer tooke so little bloode extending his Mercy to all that were not personall workers in that Powder-Plot And before that you had hatched that Monster neither was the person or purse of any your reputed Catholicks touched And since that time you may doe well to complaine of your Miseries but the Church and Comonwealth both doe trauaile and groane vnder the burthen of your disobedience But the worst J wish you is that at length by his Maiesties long Patience you may bee drawne to Repentance for as we are come out from you lest we should bee partakers of your plagues so we pray for you that you may come in to vs that you may be participants of our felicities To Conclude this Preface GOD hath giuen vs a Solomon and GOD aboue all things gaue Solomon Wisedome Wisedome brought him peace Peace brought him Riches Riches gaue him Glory His wisedome appeared in his wordes and Workes his Peace he preserued by the power of his Army His riches he raysed as by his Reuennue so by the Trade of his Nauie His Glory did accrue from them all Now as in these GOD exalted him beyond all the Kings that euer were or should be after him So had he in other things Humiliations not farre behind the proportion of his Exaltations the fearefullest fall that the Scripture affords an Example of the most vnchast life and immoderate excesse of Women that we read of the weakest Posterity for Wisedome and Gouernment that we finde in all the Line of his Succession GOD would haue it so that he should no more be set out as a Type of the Glory of his owne Sonne in the felicity of his State one way then he would haue him proposed as a patterne of Humane frailty an other way Therefore though we may not approach him in his Typicall State yet GODS Name be blessed that hath giuen vs to goe farre beyond him in his personall Condition For we haue already blessed be GOD seene the Constancie and perseuerance of his Maiesty in his Holy Profession without any Eclipse or Shaddow of
away of the Primacie of the Apostolique Sea then are they busie about cutting off the very head of the faith and dissoluing of the state of the whole body and of all the members Which selfe same thing S. Leâ—â— â—â—th confirme in his third Sermon of his Assumption to the Popedom when he saith Our Lord had a special care of Peter praied properly for Peters faith as though the state of others were more stable when their Princes mind was not to be ouercome Whereupon himselfe in his Epistle to the bishops of the prouince of Vienna doth not doubt to affirme that he is not partaker of the diuine Mysterie that dare depart from the solidity of Peter who also saith That who thinketh the Primacy to be denied to that Sea he can in no sort lessen the authority of it but by being puft vp with the spirit of his owne pride doth cast himselfe headlong into hel These and many other of this kind I am very sure are most familiar to you who besides many other books haue diligently read ouer the visible Monarchy of your owne Sanders a most diligent writer and one who hath worthily deserued of the Church of England Neither can you be ignorant that these most holy and learned men Iohn bishop of Rochester and Tho. Moore within our memory for this one most weighty head of doctrine led the way to Martyrdome to many others to the exceeding glory of the English nation But I would put you in remembrance that you should take heart and considering the weightines of the cause not to trust too much to your owne iudgement neither be wise aboue that is meet to be wise and if peraduenture your fall haue proceeded not vpon want of consideration but through humane infirmity for feare of punishment and imprisonment yet do not preferre a temporall liberty to the liberty of the glory of the Sonnes of God neither for escaping a light momentanie tribulation lose an eternal weight of glory which tribulation it selfe doeth worke in you You haue fought a good fight a long time you haue wel-neere finished your course so many yeeres haue you kept the faith do not therefore lose the reward of such labors do not depriue your selfe of that crowne of righteousnes which so long agone is prepared for you Do not make the faces of so many yours both brethren and children ashamed Vpon you at this time are fixed the eyes of all the Church yea also you are made a spectacle to the world to Angels to men Do not so carry your selfe in this your last act that you leaue nothing but laments to your friends and ioy to your enemies But rather on the contrary which we assuredly hope and for which we continually powre forth prayers to God display gloriously the banner of faith and make to reioyce the Church which you haue made heauy so shall you not onely merite pardon at Gods hands but a Crowne Farewell Quite you like a man and let your heart be strengthened From Rome the 28. day of September 1607. Your very Reuerendships brother and seruant in Christ Robert Bellarmine Cardinall THE ANSWERE TO THE CARDINALS LETTER ANd now that I am to enter into the field against him by refuting his Letter I must first vse this protestation That no desire of vaine-glory by matching with so learned a man maketh me to vndertake this taske but onely the care and conscience I haue that such smooth Circes charmes and guilded pilles as full of exterior eloquence as of inward vntrewths may not haue that publike passage through the world without an answere whereby my reputation might vniustly be darkened by such cloudie and foggie mists of vntrewths and false imputations the hearts of vnstayed and simple men be misse-led and the trewth it selfe smothered But before I come to the particular answere of this Letter A great mistaking of the state of the Question and case in hand I must here desire the world to wonder with me at the committing of so grosse an errour by so learned a man as that he should haue pained himselfe to haue set downe so elaborate a Letter for the refutation of a quite mistaken question For it appeareth that our English Fugitiues of whose inward societie with him he so greatly vaunteth haue so fast hammered in his head the Oath of Supremacie which hath euer bene so great a scarre vnto them as he thinking by his Letter to haue refuted the last Oath hath in place thereof onely paied the Oath of Supremacie which was most in his head as a man that being earnestly caried in his thoughts vpon another matter then he is presently in doing will often name the matter or person he is thinking of in place of the other thing he hath at that time in hand For as the Oath of Supremacie was deuised for putting a difference betweene Papists and them of our profession so was this Oath The difference betweene the Oath of Supremacie and this of Allegiance which hee would seeme to impugne ordained for making a difference betweene the ciuilly obedient Papists and the peruerse disciples of the Powder-Treason Yet doeth all his Letter runne vpon an Inuectiue against the compulsion of Catholiques to deny the authoritie of S. Peters successors and in place thereof to acknowledge the Successors of King Henry the eight For in K. Henry the eights time was the Oath of Supremacie first made By him were Thomas Moore and Roffensis put to death partly for refusing of it From his time till now haue all the Princes of this land professing this Religion successiuely in effect maintained the same and in that Oath onely is contained the Kings absolute power to be Iudge ouer all persons aswell Ciuill as Ecclesiastical excluding al forraigne powers and Potentates to be Iudges within his dominions whereas this last made Oath containeth no such matter onely medling with the ciuill obedience of Subiects to their Soueraigne in meere temporall causes And that it may the better appeare that whereas by name hee seemeth to condemne the last Oath yet indeed his whole Letter runneth vpon nothing but vpon the condemnation of the Oath of Supremacie I haue here thought good to set downe the said Oath leauing it then to the discretion of euery indifferent reader to iudge whether he doth not in substance onely answere to the Oath of Supremacie but that hee giues the child a wrong name I A B. doe vtterly testifie and declare in my conscience that the Kings Highnesse is the onely Supreame Gouernour of this Realme and all other his Highnesse Dominions and Countries aswell in all Spirituall or Ecclesiasticall things or causes as Temporall And that no forraine Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to haue any Iurisdiction Power Superioritie Preeminence or Authoritie Ecclesiasticall or Spirituall within this Realme And therefore I doe vtterly renounce and forsake all forraine Iurisdictions Powers Superiorities and Authorities and doe promise that from
thereof since those which immediatly follow are so much derogatorie to the diuine Maiestie And againe My 6 Epist 52. writings be strengthened by the authoritie and merit of my Lord most blessed S. Peter We 7 Epist 89. beseech you to keepe the things decreed by vs through the inspiration of God and the Apostle most blessed S. Peter If 8 In serm 2. in die anniuer assum suae any thing be well done or decreed by vs If any thing be obtained of Gods mercy by daily prayers it is to be ascribed to S. Peters workes and merits whose power doeth liue and authoritie excell in his owne Sea Hee 9 Serm. 3. in die anniuer assump suae was so plentifully watered of the very fountaine of all graces that whereas he receiued many things alone yet nothing passeth ouer to any other but hee was partaker of it And in a word hee was so desirous to extoll Saint Peter that a messenger from him was an 10 Epist 24. embassage from Saint Peter 11 Epist 4. any thing done in his presence was in S. Peters presence Neither did he vse all this Rhetoricke without purpose for at that time the Patriarch of Constantinople contended with him for Primacie And in the Councell of 12 Concil Chalceden Act. 16. Can. 28. Chalcedon the Bishops sixe hundred and more gaue equall authoritie to the Patriarch of that Sea and would not admit any Priuiledge to the Sea of Rome aboue him but went against him And yet he that gaue so much to Peter tooke nothing from Caesar but gaue him both his Titles and due giuing the power of calling a Councell to the Emperour as it may appeare by these one or two places following of many If it may please your 13 Epist 9. Theodosie godlinesse to vouchsafe at our supplication to condiscend that you will command a Councell of Bishops to be holden within Italy And writing vnto the Bishop of Constantinople Because the most clement 1 Epist 16. Flan. Emperour carefull of the peace of the Church will haue a Councell to be holden albeit it euidently appeare the matter to be handled doeth in no case stand in neede of a Councell And againe Albeit 2 Epist 17. Theodosie my occasions will not permit me to be present vpon the day of the Councell of Bishops which your godlinesse hath appointed So as by this it may well appeare that hee that gaue so much to Peter gaue also to Caesar his due and prerogatiue But yet he playeth not faire play in this that euen in all these his wrong applied arguments and examples hee produceth no other witnesses but the parties themselues bringing euer the Popes sentences for approbation of their owne authoritie Now indeed for one word of his in the middest of his examples I cannot but greatly commend him that is that Martyrs ought to endure all sorts of tortures and death before they suffer one syllable to be corrupted of the Law of God Which lesson if hee and all the rest of his owne profession would apply to themselues then would not the Sacrament be administred sub vnâ specie directly contrary to Christs institution the practise of the Apostles and of the whole Primitiue Church for many hundred yeeres then would not the priuate Masses be in place of the Lordes Supper then would not the words of the 3 Bellar. de sacra Encharist lib. 4. cap. 14. Canon of the Masse be opposed to the words of S. Paul and S. Luke as our Aduersarie himselfe confesseth and cannot reconcile them nor then would not so many hundreths other traditions of men be set vp in their Church not onely as equall but euen preferred to the word of God But sure in this point I feare I haue mistaken him for I thinke hee doeth not meane by his Diuina Dogmata the word of the God of heauen but onely the Canons and Lawes of his Dominus Deus Papa otherwise all his Primacie of the Apostolike Sea would not be so much sticken vpon hauing so slender ground in the word of God And for the great feare he hath that the suddennes of the apprehension the bitternesse of the persecution the weaknesse of his aage and other such infirmities might haue been the cause of the Arch-priests fall in this I haue already sufficiently answered him hauing declared as the trewth is and as the said Blackwell himselfe will yet testifie that he tooke this Oath freely of himselfe without any inducement thereunto either Precibus or Minis But amongst all his citations Some of Sanders his worthy sayings remembred hee must not forget holy Sanderus and his visibilis Monarchia whose person and actions I did alreadie a little touch And surely who will with vnpartiall eyes reade his bookes they may well thinke that hee hath deserued well of his English Romane-Church but they can neuer thinke but that hee deserued very ill of his English Soueraigne and State Witnesse his owne books whereout I haue made choice to set downe heere these fewe sentences following as flowers pickt out of so worthy a garland 4 Sand de visib Monar lib. 6. cap. 4. Elizabeth Queene of ENGLAND doeth exercise the Priestly acte of teaching and preaching the Gospel in ENGLAND with no lesse authority then Christ himselfe or Moses euer did The supremacie of a 5 Sand de clau Dauid li. 6. c. 1. woman in Church matters is from no other then from the Deuill And of all things in generall thus he speaketh The 1 Sand. de visib Monar lib. 2. cap. 4. King that will not inthrall himselfe to the Popes authoritie be ought not to be tolerated but his Subiects ought to giue all diligence that another may be chosen in his place assoone as may be A King that is an 2 Ibidem Heretike ought to be remooued from the Kingdome that hee holdeth ouer Christians and the Bishops ought to endeauour to set vp another assoone as possibly they can Wee doe constantly 3 Ibidem affirme that all Christian Kings are so farre vnder Bishops and Priests in all matters appertaining to faith that if they shall continue in a fault against Christian Religion after one or two admonitions obstinately for that cause they may and ought to be deposed by the Bishops from their temporall authoritie they holde ouer Christians 4 Ibidem Bishops are set ouer temporall kingdomes if those kingdomes doe submit themselues to the faith of Christ We doe iustly 5 Sand. de clan Dauid li. 5. c. 2. affirme that all Secular power whether Regall or any other is of men The 6 Ibidem anoynting which is powred vpon the head of the King by the Priest doeth declare that hee is inferiour to the Priest It is altogether against the will of 7 Sand. de clan Dauid li. 5. c. 4. Christ that Christian kings should haue supremacie in the Church And whereas for the crowne and
of this businesse and of their sincere intention therein hee would according to his high wisedome prudence and benignitie conceiue fauourably of them and their proceedings whereof the Lords States Generall are no lesse confident and the rather for that the said Deputies haue assured them that the Lords States of Holland and Westfrizeland their Superiors would proceede in this businesse as in all others with all due reuerence care and respect vnto his Maiesties serious admonition as becommeth them And the Lords States Generall doe request the said Lord Ambassadour to recommend this their Answere vnto his Maiestie with fauour Giuen at the Hage in the Assembly of the said Lords States Generall 1. October 1611. BVt before wee had receiued this answere from the States some of Vorstius books were brought ouer into England and as it was reported not without the knowledge and direction of the Authour And about the same time one Bertius a scholler of the late Arminius who was the first in our aage that infected Leyden with Heresie was so impudent as to send a Letter vnto the Archbishop of Canterbury with a Booke intituled De Apostasia Sanctorum And not thinking it sufficient to auow the sending of such a booke the title whereof onely were enough to make it worthy the fire hee was moreouer so shamelesse as to maintaine in his Letter to the Archbishop that the doctrine conteined in his booke was agreeable with the doctrine of the Church of England Let the Church of CHRIST then iudge whether it was not high time for vs to bestirre our selues when as this Gangrene had not onely taken holde amongst our neerest neighbours so as Nonsolùm paries proximus iam ardebat not onely the next house was on fire but did also begin to creepe into the bowels of our owne Kindome For which cause hauing first giuen order that the said bookes of Vorstius should be publikely burnt as well in Pauls Church-yard as in both the Vniuersities of this Kingdome wee thought good to renew our former request vnto the States for the banishment of Vorstius by a Letter which wee caused our Ambassadour to deliuer vnto them from vs at their Assembly in the Hage the fifth of Nouember whereunto they had referred vs in their former answere the tenor of which Letter was as followeth HIgh and mightie Lords Hauing vnderstood by your answere to that Proposition which was made vnto you in our name by our Ambassadour there resident That at your Assembly to bee holden in Nouember next you are resolued then to giue order concerning the businesse of that wretched D. Vorstius Wee haue thought good notwithstanding the declaration which our Ambassadour hath already made vnto you in our name touching that particular to put you againe in remembrance thereof by this Letter and thereby freely to discharge our selues both in point of our duetie towards God and of that sincere friendship which wee beare towards you First We assure Our selues that you are sufficiently perswaded that no worldly respect could moue Vs to haue thus importuned you in an affaire of this nature being drawen into it onely through Our zeale to the glory of God and the care which Wee haue that all occasion of such great scandals as this is vnto the trew reformed Church of God might bee in due time foreseene and preuented Wee are therefore to let you vnderstand that Wee doe not a little wonder that you haue not onely sought to prouide an habitation in so eminent a place amongst you for such a corrupted person as this Vorstius is but that you haue also afforded him your license and protection to print that Apologie which he hath dedicated vnto you A booke wherein he doeth most impudently maintaine the execrable blasphemies which in his former hee had disgorged The which wee are now able to affirme out of our owne knowledge hauing since that Letter which wee wrote vnto our Ambassadour read ouer and ouer againe with our owne eyes not without extreme mislike and horrour both his bookes the first dedicated to the Lantgraue of Hessen and the other to you We had well hoped that the corrupt seed which that enemie of God Arminius did sowe amongst you some few yeeres since whose disciples and followers are yet too bold and frequent within your Dominions had giuen you a sufficient warning afterwards to take heed of such infected persons seeing your owne Countrey men already diuided into Factions vpon this occasion a matter so opposite to vnitie which is indeed the onely prop and safetie of your State next vnder God as of necessitie it must by little and little bring you to vtter ruine if wisely you doe not prouide against it and that in time It is trew that it was Our hard hap not to heare of this Arminius before he was dead and that all the Reformed Churches of Germanie had with open mouth complained of him But assoone as Wee vnderstood of that distraction in your State which after his death he left behind him We did not faile taking the opportunitie when your last extraordinary Ambassadors were here with Vs to vse some such speeches vnto them concerning this matter as We thought fittest for the good of your State and which we doubt not but they haue faithfully reported vnto you For what need We make any question of the arrogancie of these Heretiques or rather Atheisticall Sectaries amongst you when one of them at this present remaining in your towne of Leyden hath not onely presumed to publish of late a blasphemous Booke of the Apostasie of the Saints but hath besides beene so impudent as to send the other day a copie thereof as a goodly present to Our Arch-Bishop of Canterbury together with a letter wherein he is not ashamed as also in his Booke to lie so grossely as to auowe that his Heresies conteined in the said Booke are agreeable with the Religion and profession of Our Church of England For these respects therefore haue Wee cause enough very heartily to request you to roote out with speed those Heresies and Schismes which are beginning to bud foorth amongst you which if you suffer to haue the reines any longer you cannot expect any other issue thereof then the curse of God infamy throughout all the reformed Churches and a perpetuall rent and distraction in the whole body of your State But if peraduenture this wretched Vorstius should denie or equiuocate vpon those blasphemous poynts of Heresie and Atheisme which already hee hath broached that perhaps may mooue you to spare his person and not cause him to bee burned which neuer any Heretique better deserued and wherein we will leaue him to your owne bristian wisedome but to suffer him vpon any defence or abnegation which hee shall offer to make still to continue and to teach amongst you is a thing so abominable as we assure our selues it will not once enter into any of your thoughts For admit hee would proue himselfe innocent which neuerthelesse he cannot
Papal power whatsoeuer and yet saith withall the Pope winketh at the French by his toleration to hold this dogmaticall point for problematicall And by this meanes the Martyrdome that hee affecteth in this cause will prooue but a problematicall Martyrdome whereof question might grow very well whether it were to be mustered with grieuous crimes or with phreneticall passions of the braine or with deserued punishments Fiftly he denounceth Anathema dischargeth maledictions like haile-shot against parricides of Kings and yet elsewhere hee layes himselfe open to speake of Kings onely so long as they stand Kings But who doeth not know that a King deposed is no longer King And so that limme of Satan which murthered Henry the III. then vn-king'd by the Pope did not stabbe a King to death Sixtly he doeth not allow a King to be made away by murder and yet he thinks it not much out of the way to take away al meanes whereby he might be able to stand in defence of his life Seuenthly Pag. 95.97 hee abhorreth killing of Kings by apposted throat-cutting for feare lest body and soule should perish in the same instant and yet he doth not mislike their killing in a pitcht field and to haue them slaughtered in a set battaile For he presupposeth no doubt out of his charitable mind that by this meanes the soule of a poore King so dispatched out of the way shall instantly flie vp to heauen Eightly he saith a King deposed retaineth stil a certaine internal habitude and politike impression by vertue and efficacie whereof he may being once reformed and become a new man be restored to the lawfull vse and practise of Regalitie Whereby hee would beare vs in hand that when a forraine Prince hath inuaded and rauenously seised the kingdome into his hands he will not onely take pittie of his predecessour to saue his life but will also proue so kind-hearted vpon fight of his repentance to restore his kingdome without fraud or guile Ninthly he saith euery where in his Discourse that he dealeth not in the cause otherwise then as a problematicall discourser and without any resolution one way or other and yet with might and maine hee contends for the opinion that leaues the States and Crownes of Kings controulable by the Pope refutes obiections propounds the authoritie of Popes and Councils by name the Lateran Councill vnder Innocent III. as also the consent of the Church And to crosse the Churches iudgement is in his opinion to bring in schisme and to leaue the world without a Church for many hundred yeeres together which to my vnderstanding is to speake with resolution and without all hesitation Tenthly he acknowledgeth none other cause of sufficient validitie for the deposing of a King besides herefie apostasie and infidelitie neuerthelesse that Popes haue power to displace Kings for herefie and apostasie hee proueth by examples of Kings whom the Pope hath curbed with deposition not for heresie but for matrimoniall causes for ciuill pretences and for lacke of capacitie Eleuenthly hee alledgeth euery where passages as well of holy Scripture as of the Fathers and moderne histories but so impertinent and with so little trewth as hereafter wee shall cause to appeare that for a man of his deepe learning and knowledge it seemeth not possible so to speake out of his iudgement Lastly whereas all this hath bene hudled and heaped together into one masse to currie with the Pope yet hee suffereth diuers points to fall from his lips which may well distast his Holinesse in the highest degree As by name where he prefers the authoritie of the Councill before that of the Pope and makes his iudgement inferiour to the iudgement of the French as in fit place hereafter shal be shewed Againe where he representeth to his hearers the decrees of Popes and Councils already passed concerning this noble subiect and yet affirmes that he doth not debate the question but as a Questionist and without resolution As if a Cardinal should be afraid to be positiue and to speake in peremptory straines after Popes and Councils haue once decided the Question Or as if a man should perorate vpon hazard in a cause for the honour whereof he would make no difficultie to suffer Martyrdome Adde hereunto that his Lordship hath alwayes taken the contrary part heretofore and this totall must needs arise that before the third Estate his lips looked one way and his conscience another All these points by the discourse which is to follow and by the ripping vp of his Oration which by Gods assistance J will vndertake tending to the reproch of Kings and the subuersion of kingdomes J confidently speake it shal be made manifest Yet doe J not conceiue it can any way make for my honour to enter the lists against a Cardinall For J am not ignorant how farre a Cardinals Hat commeth vnder the Crowne and Scepter of a King For well J wot vnto what sublimitie the Scripture hath exalted Kings when it styles them Gods Whereas the dignitie of a Cardinall is but a late vpstart inuention of man In the Preface to my Apologie as J haue elsewhere prooued But J haue imbarqued my selfe in this action mooued thereunto First by the common interest of Kings in the cause it selfe Then by the L. Cardinall who speaketh not in this Oration as a priuate person but as one representing the body of the Clergie and Nobilitie by whom the cause hath bene wonne and the garland borne away from the third Estate Againe by mine owne particular because he is pleased to take me vp for a sower of dissention and a persecutour vnder whom the Church is hardly able to fetch her breath yea for one by whom the Catholikes of my Kingdome are compelled to endure all sorts of punishments and withal he tearmes this Article of the third Estate a monster with a fishes taile that came swimming out of England Last of all by the present state of France because France being now reduced to so miserable tearmes that it is now become a crime for a Frenchman to stand for his King it is a necessary duetie of her neighbours to speake in her cause and to make triall whether they can put life into the trewth now dying and ready to be buried by the power of violence that it may resound and ring againe from remote regions J haue no purpose once to touch many prettie toyes which the ridges of his whole booke are sowen withall Such are his allegations of Pericles Agesilaus Aristotle Minos the Druides the French Ladies Hannibal Pindarus and Poeticall fables All resembling the red and blew flowers that pester the corne when it standeth in the fields where they are more noy some to the growing crop then beautifull to the beholding eye Such pettie matters nothing at all beseemed the dignitie of the Assembly and of the maine subiect or of the Orator himselfe For it was no Decorum to enter the Stage with a Pericles in his mouth but with the
the peace of his Kingdome will beare in mind the great and faithfull seruice of those who in matter of religion dissent from his Maiestie as of the onely men that haue preserued and saued the Crowne for the King his father of most glorious memorie I am perswaded my brother of France wil beleeue that his liege people pretended by the L. Cardinall to bee heretikes are not halfe so bad as my Romane Catholike subiects who by secret practises vndermine my life serue a forreine Souereigne are discharged by his Bulls of their obedience due to me their naturall Souereigne are bound by the maximes and rules published and maintained in fauour of the Pope before this full and famous assemblie of the Estate at Paris if the said maximes be of any weight and authoritie to hold mee for no lawfull King are there taught and instructed that Pauls commandemement concerning subiection vnto the higher Powers aduerse to their professed religion is onely a prouisionall precept framed to the times and watching for the opportunitie to shake off the yoake All which notwithstanding I deale with such Romane-Catholikes by the rules and wayes of Princely clemencie their heinous and pernicious error in effect no lesse then the capitall crime of high treason I vse to call some disease or distemper of the mind Last of all I beleeue my said brother of France will set downe in his tables as in record how little hee standeth ingaged to the L. Cardinall in this behalfe For those of the reformed Religion professe and proclaime that next vnder God they owe their preseruation and safetie to the wisedome and benignity of their Kings But now comes the Cardinall and he seekes to steale this perswasion out of their hearts He tells them in open Parliament and without any going about bushes that all their welfare and securitie standeth in their multitude and in the feare which others conceiue to trouble the State by the strict execution of lawes against Heretikes He addeth moreouer Note by the way that here the Church of Rome is called a Sect. that In case a third Sect should peepe out and growe vp in France the professors thereof should suffer confiscation of their goods with losse of life it selfe as hath bene practised at Geneua against Seruetus and in England against Arians My answere is this That punishments for heretikes duely and according to Law conuicted are set downe by decrees of the ciuill Magistrate bearing rule in the countrey where the said heretikes inhabite and not by any ordinances of the Pope I say withall the L. Cardinall hath no reason to match and parallell the reformed Churches with Seruetus and the Arians For those heretikes were powerfully conuicted by Gods word and lawfully condemned by the ancient Generall Councils where they were permitted and admitted to plead their owne cause in person But as for the trewth professed by me and those of the reformed Religion it was neuer yet hissed out of the Schooles nor cast out of any Council like some Parliament bills where both sides haue bene heard with like indifferencie Yea what Council soeuer hath bene offered vnto vs in these latter times it hath bene proposed with certaine presuppositions as That his Holinesse beeing a partie in the cause and consequently to come vnder iudgement as it were to the barre vpon his triall shall be the Iudge of Assize with Commission of Oyer and Determiner it shall bee celebrated in a citie of no safe accesse without safe conduct or conuoy to come or goe at pleasure and without danger it shall be assembled of such persons with free suffrage and voyce as vphold this rule which they haue already put in practise against Iohn Hus and Hierome of Prage that faith giuen and oath taken to an Heretike must not be obserued Now then to resume our former matter If the Pope hitherto hath neuer presumed for pretended heresie to confiscate by sentence either the lands or the goods of priuate persons or common people of the French Nation wherefore should hee dare to dispossesse Kings of their Royall thrones wherefore takes he more vpon him ouer Kings then ouer priuate persons wherefore shall the sacred heads of Kings be more churlishly vnciuilly and rigorously handled then the hoods of the meanest people Here the L. Cardinal in stead of a direct answer breakes out of the lists alledging cleane from the purpose examples of heretikes punished not by the Pope but by the ciuill Magistrate of the Countrey But Bellarmine speakes to the point with a more free and open heart hee is absolute and resolute in this opinion that his Holinesse hath plenary power to dispose all Temporall estates and matters in the whole world I am confident saith Bellarmine and I speake it with assurance Contr. Barclaium cap. 27. that our Lord Iesus Christ in the dayes of his mortalitie had power to dispose of all Temporall things yea to strip Souereigne Kings and absolute Lords of their Kingdomes and Seignories and without all doubt hath granted and left euen the same power vnto his Vicar to make vse thereof whensoeuer hee shall thinke it necessary for the saluation of soules And so his Lordship speaketh without exception of any thing at all For who doth not know that Iesus Christ had power to dispose no lesse of priuate mens possessions then of whole Realmes and Kingdomes at his pleasure if it had beene his pleasure to display the ensignes of his power The same fulnesse of power is likewise in the Pope In good time belike his Holinesse is the sole heire of Christ in whole and in part Sess 9. The last Lateran Council fineth a Laic that speaketh blasphemie for the first offence if he be a gentleman at 25. ducats and at 50. for the second It presupposeth and taketh it for graunted that the Church may rifle and ransacke the purses of priuate men and cast lots for their goods The Councill of Trent diggeth as deepe for the same veine of gold and siluer It ordaines That Emperours Kings Dukes Princes Sess 25. cap. 19. and Lords of cities castles and territories holding of the Church in case they shall assigne any place within their limits or liberties for the duell betweene two Christians shall be depriued of the said citie castle or place where such duell shall be performed they holding the said place of the Church by any kind of tenure that all other Estates held in fee where the like offence shall be committed shall forthwith fall and become forfeited to their immediate and next Lords that all goods possessions and estates as well of the combatants themselues as of their seconds shall bee confiscate This Councill doeth necessarily presuppose it lieth in the hand and power of the Church to dispose of all the lands and estates held in fee throughout all Christendome because the Church forsooth can take from one and giue vnto an other all estates held in fee whatsoeuer as well such as hold of the
had altered it And this I speake to root out the conceit and misapprehension if it be in any heart that I would change damnifie vilifie or suppresse the Law of this Land GOD is my Iudge I neuer meant it And this confirmation I make before you all To this I ioyne the point of Iustice which I call Vnicuique suum tribuere All my Councell and Iudges dead and aliue can and could beare mee witnesse how vnpartiall I haue beene in declaring of Law And where it hath concerned mee in my owne inheritance I haue as willingly submitted my interest to the Lawe as any my Subiects could doe and it becomes mee so to doe to giue example to others much lesse then will I be partiall to others where I am not to my selfe And so resolue your selues Iustice with mee may bee moderated in point of clemencie for no Iustice can be without mercie But in matters of Iustice to giue euery man his owne to be blinde without eyes of partialitie This is my full resolution I vsed to say when I was in Scotland if any man mooued mee to delay Iustice that it was against the Office of a King so to doe But when any made suite to hasten Iustice I told them I had rather grant fourtie of these suits then one of the other This was alwayes my custome and shall be euer with Gods leaue Now what I haue spoken of Law and Iustice I meane by the Lawe kept in her owne bounds For I vnderstand the inheritance of the King and Subiects in this land must bee determined by the Common Law and that is by the Law set downe in our forefathers time expounded by learned men diuers times after in the declaratory Comments called Responsa Prudentum Or else by Statute Law set downe by Acte of Parliament as occasion serues By this I doe not seclude all other Lawes of England but this is the Law of inheritance in this Kingdome There is another Law of all Lawes free and supreame which is GODS LAVV And by this all Common and municipall Lawes must be gouerned And except they haue dependance vpon this Law they are vniust and vnlawfull When I speake of that Law I onely giue this touch That that Law in this Kingdome hath beene too much neglected and Churchmen too much had in contempt I must speake trewth Great men Lords Iudges and people of all degrees from the highest to the lowest haue too much contemned them And God will not blesse vs in our owne Lawes if wee doe not reuerence and obey GODS LAVV which cannot bee except the interpreters of it be respected and reuerenced And it is a signe of the latter dayes drawing on euen the contempt of the Church and of the Gouernours and Teachers thereof now in the Church of ENGLAND which I say in my Conscience of any Church that euer I read or knew of present or past is most pure and neerest the Primitiue and Apostolicall Church in Doctrine and Discipline and is sureliest founded vpon the word of God of any Church in Christendome Next vnto this Law is the Law of Nations which God forbid should bee barred and that for two causes One because it is a Law to satisfie Strangers which will not so well hold themselues satisfied with other municipall Lawes Another to satisfie our owne Subiects in matters of Piracie Marriage Wills and things of like nature That Law I diuide into Ciuil and Canon And this Law hath bene so much encroched vpon sithence my comming to the Crowne and so had in contempt that young men are discouraged from studying and the rest wearie of their liues that doe professe it and would be glad to seeke any other craft So speaking of the Common Law I meane the Common Law kept within her owne limits and not derogating from these other Lawes which by longer custome haue beene rooted here first the Law of GOD and his Church and next the Law Ciuill and Canon which in many cases cannot be wanting To conclude this charge which I giue my selfe I professe to maintaine all the points of mine Oath especially in Lawes and of Lawes especially the Common Law And as to maintaine it so to purge it for else it cannot bee maintained and especially to purge it from two corruptions Incertaintie and Noueltie Incertaintie is found in the Law it selfe wherein I will bee painefull to cleare it to the people and this is properly to bee done in Parliament by aduice of the Iudges The other corruption is introduced by the Iudges themselues by Nicities that are vsed where it may be said Ab initio non fuit sic Nothing in the world is more likely to be permanent to our eyes then yron or steele yet the rust corrupts it if it bee not kept cleane which sheweth nothing is permanent here in this world if it be not purged So I cannot discharge my conscience in maintaining the Lawes if I keepe them not cleane from corruption And now that I may bee like the Pastor that first takes the Sacrament himselfe and then giues it to the people So I haue first taken my owne charge vpon me before I giue you your Charge lest it might be said Turpe est doctori cùm culpa redarguit ipsum NOw my Lords the Iudges for your parts the Charge I haue to giue you consists likewise in three parts First in generall that you doe Iustice vprightly as you shall answere to GOD and mee For as I haue onely GOD to answere to and to expect punishment at his hands if I offend So you are to answere both to GOD and to mee and expect punishment at GODS hands and mine if you be found in fault Secondly to doe Iustice indifferently betweene Subiect and Subiect betweene King and Subiect without delay partialitie feare or bribery with stout and vpright hearts with cleane and vncorrupt hands When I bid you doe Iustice boldly yet I bid you doe it fearefully fearefully in this to vtter your owne conceites and not the trew meaning of the Law And remember you are no makers of Law but Interpretours of Law according to the trew sence thereof for your Office is Ius dicere and not Ius dare And that you are so farre from making Law that euen in the higher house of Parliament you haue no voyce in making of a Law but only to giue your aduice when you are required And though the Laws be in many places obscure and not so wel knowen to the multitude as to you and that there are many parts that come not into ordinary practise which are knowen to you because you can finde out the reason thereof by bookes and presidents yet know this that your interpretations must be alwayes subiect to common sense and reason For I will neuer trust any Interpretation that agreeth not with my common sense and reason and trew Logicke for Ratio est anima Legis in all humane Lawes without exception it must not be Sophistrie or straines of wit
will neuer goe And as he hath promised me to take no other Iurisdiction to himselfe so is it my promise euer to maintaine this Iurisdiction in that Court Therefore I speake this to vindicate that Court from misconceipt and contempt It is the duetie of Iudges to punish those that seeke to depraue the proceedings of any the Kings Courts and not to encourage them any way And I must confesse I thought it an odious and inept speach and it grieued me very much that it should be said in Westminster Hall that a Premunire lay against the Court of the Chancery and Officers there How can the King grant a Premunire against himselfe It was a foolish inept and presumptuous attempt and fitter for the time of some vnworthy King vnderstand mee aright I meane not the Chancerie should exceed his limite but on the other part the King onely is to correct it and none else And therefore I was greatly abused in that attempt For if any was wronged there the complaint should haue come to mee None of you but will confesse you haue a King of reasonable vnderstanding and willing to reforme why then should you spare to complaine to me that being the high way and not goe the other way and backe-way in contempt of our Authoritie And therefore sitting heere in a seat of Iudgement I declare and command that no man hereafter presume to sue a Premunire against the Chancery which I may the more easily doe because no Premunire can bee sued but at my Suit And I may iustly barre my selfe at mine owne pleasure As all inundations come with ouerflowing the bankes and neuer come without great inconuenience and are thought prodigious by Astrologers in things to come So is this ouerflowing the bankes of your Iurisdiction in it selfe inconuenient and may proue prodigious to the State Remember therefore that hereafter you keepe within your limits and Iurisdictions It is a speciall point of my Office to procure and command that amongst Courts there bee a concordance and musicall accord and it is your parts to obey and see this kept And as you are to obserue the ancient Lawes and customes of England so are you to keepe your selues within the bound of direct Law or Presidents and of those not euery snatched President carped now here now there as it were running by the way but such as haue neuer beene controuerted but by the contrary approued by common vsage in times of best Kings and by most learned Iudges The Starre-Chamber Court hath bene likewise shaken of late and the last yeere it had receiued a sore blow if it had not bene assisted and caried by a few voyces The very name of Starre-Chamber seemeth to procure a reuerence to the Court. I will not play the Criticke to descant on the name It hath a name from heauen a Starre placed in it and a Starre is a glorious creature and seated in a glorious place next vnto the Angels The Starre-Chamber is also glorious in substance for in the composition it is of foure sorts of persons The first two are Priuie Counsellours and Iudges the one by wisedome in matters of State the other by learning in matters of Law to direct and order all things both according to Law and State The other two sorts are Peeres of the Realme and Bishops The Peeres are there by reason of their greatnesse to giue authority to that Court The Bishops because of their learning in Diuinitie and the interest they haue in the good gouernment of the Church And so both the learning of both Diuine and humane Law and experience and practise in Gouernment are conioyned together in the proceedings of this Court There is no Kingdome but hath a Court of Equitie either by it selfe as is heere in England or else mixed and incorporate in their Office that are Iudges in the Law as it is in Scotland But the order of England is much more perfect where they are diuided And as in case of Equitie where the Law determines not clearely there the Chancerie doeth determine hauing Equitie belonging to it which doeth belong to no other Court So the Starre-Chamber hath that belonging to it which belongs to no other Court For in this Court Attempts are punishable where other Courts punish onely facts And also where the Law punisheth facts easily as in case of Riots or Combates there the Starre-Chamber punisheth in a higher degree And also all combinations of practises and conspiracies And if the King be dishonoured or contemned in his Prerogatiue it belongeth most properly to the Peeres and Iudges of this Court to punish it So then this Court being instituted for so great causes it is great reason it should haue great honour Remember now how I haue taught you brotherly loue one toward another For you know well that as you are Iudges you are all brethren and your Courts are sisters I pray you therefore labour to keepe that sweete harmonie which is amongst those sisters the Muses What greater miserie can there bee to the Law then contempt of the Law and what readier way to contempt then when questions come what shall bee determined in this Court and what in that Whereupon two euils doe arise The one that men come not now to Courts of iustice to heare matters of right pleaded and Decrees giuen accordingly but onely out of a curiositie to heare questions of the Iurisdictions of Courts disputed and to see the euent what Court is like to preuaile aboue the other And the other is that the Pleas are turned from Court to Court in an endlesse circular motion as vpon Ixions wheele And this was the reason why I found iust fault with that multitude of Prohibitions For when a poore Minister had with long labour and great expence of charge and time gotten a sentence for his Tithes then comes a Prohibition and turnes him round from Court to Court and so makes his cause immortall and endlesse for by this vncertaintie of Iurisdiction amongst Courts causes are scourged from Court to Court and this makes the fruit of Suits like Tantalus fruite still neere the Suiters lips but can neuer come to taste it And this in deed is a great delay of Iustice and makes causes endlesse Therefore the onely way to auoyd this is for you to keepe your owne bounds and nourish not the people in contempt of other Courts but teach them reuerence to Courts in your publique speaches both in your Benches and in your Circuits so shall you bring them to a reuerence both of GOD and of the King Keepe therefore your owne limits towards the King towards other Courts and towards other Lawes bounding your selues within your owne Law and make not new Law Remember as I said before that you are Iudges to declare and not to make Law For when you make a Decree neuer heard of before you are Law-giuers and not Lawtellers I haue laboured to gather some Articles like an Index expurgatorius of nouelties new