will adde courage to every Seditious spirit and so will make themselves the Heads and Ringleaders of sedition by which Princes have oftentimes been brought into very great Straits and which is more have sometimes also lost their Lives thereby An example of this kind may be Mahomet who stirred up the People against Heraclius the Emperour The like whereof hath of late years been practised by Luther and Calvin against an Infinite number of Princes and these two have done more mischief with their Tongue then either Marcus Sciarra or Ninus Martinus did with their Swords Thus again on the contrary Menenius Agrippa with his Tongue only suppressed the Mutinying Commons of Rome and made them again to yield Obedience to the Senat against whom they had shamefully risen up The Pope also hath often by his Preachers repressed Rebellions that were now broken out and grown high Nay He by this means preserved and upheld the Western Empire when by the Rhetorick of his Divine Tongue he diverted Attila the Hunne from destroying all Italy and made him return home again King Ahab also was brought to destruction by the Tongue of the Prophet Elijah as Ieroboam was by Ahijah's And therefore Good Preachers ought to be had in high estimation especially if they be Good Men and are able to confirm that which they say both by Miracles and by strong Reasons like as Moses confounded Pharaoh and the Pope the Emperours Frederick and Henry and as the Emperour Constantine performed that which He had conceived by Divine Inspiration It is certain therefore that Tumults and Mutinies may be stirred up among the People by the Eloquence of such persons as are Powerful with them and in high esteem among them and therefore such are to be had in reverence whether they be Good men or Bad and they are to be made your friends For if they be Good men they are then so powerful by their Divine Authority as that there can be no Opposition made against them Look upon Samuel who set Saul upon the Throne and shortly after deposed Him again and set up David upon it And so likewise what is it that the Pope is not able to do in this kind For as much as His Supream Authority joyned with Sermons is of much greater force and power And Bishops in this case would also be very powerful if they would but take upon themselves to discharge the duty of Preachers How stoutly did St. Chrysostome oppose the rage and fury of the Empresse Eudoxia and her Party And St. Bernard also made himself very formidable both to the Cardinals and to the Popes themselves setting at oddes and reconciling Princes and their People as he pleased himself as his Epistles do sufficiently testifie And I am verily perswaded that if all Princes and Nations should joyn their Forces together for the Overthrowing of the Popedome they would not be able to effect it for thus much Christ hath also promised to his Church Whatsoever ye bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye loose on earth c. And again The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against It. And if there were but one Expedition onely of Croisades appointed to be set forth all persons that are of any Religious Orders whatsoever and of these there are certainly many Millions would questionlesse immediatly flock together with their Armes and making use both of their Tongues and Swords would be able to make resistance against and to strike a terrour into the Whole World For indeed all people would be afraid to make use of their Armes against persons that are in Sacred Orders and yet if some few of them should dare to do this yet would the Major part of them lay down Their Armes and so the rest being by this means disheartned would not make any Opposition against them Do but take notice if you please how Moses alone being accompanied onely with the Levites and Priests yet took up armes against the Rebellious People of Israel and against their Princes who together with their Wives were above a Million in number and how with the Armes of one single Tribe onely and that too of the Priests he killed tâ—irty three Thousand men in one day and reduced the rest into Obedience For where the True Religion joyneth Armes and Preaching together there is no Power so great as to be able to make resistance against it The Romans so soon as ever they perceived the Power of the New growing Christian Religion they presently took up Armes against It killing and imprisoning the Christians every where yet were they fain at last to give way to It until at length Themselves also in the time of the Emperour Constantine the Great embraced the Christian Faith And although that a Bishop or the Pope himself should chance to be a Wicked person yet if any Prince shall draw his Sword against him he shall be overcome though the Conquerour Of which we had a plain example in Roger Guiscard King of Naples who though he got the Victory in the Battel yet was he afterwards compelled to kisse the Popes Foot A Remedy against which some Kings conceiving they had found out among which number was Henry the VIII King of England they betook themselves to Apostasy and yet neverthelesse did They also come to Ruin and this very thing would bring if it should be attempted the most certain destruction upon Spain also as we have formerly shewed Some others have thought it the best course to cast the Popes into Prison which Philip K. of France made bold to practise upon Pope Boniface the Eighth and in like manner St. Câ—rysostom was heretofore sent into banishment by The Emperour Arcadius which yet was destructive to both these Princes For Chrysostome was called home again and restored to his Seat with greater honour by occasion of Gaina the Goth his taking up Armes against the said Emperour notwithstanding that Gaina himself could not be preserved in the Church because he was an Opposer of that Religion that Chrysostome was of And the King of France after he had by Boniface's means brought it so about that a Frenchman was chosen Pope hoping by this meanes His Offence would escape unpunished he fomented and kept up the Breach that at that time was risen in the Church and sent Clement V. the new Elected Pope to Avignon to keep his residence there but all to no purpose For this very Pope Clement by the advice of Cardinal Brateus deceived his Kings expectation in not keeping those Promises that he had made to him And indeed from that time forward the Kingdome of France seems to have been continually in declining as appears plainly out of History It is therefore a Profane Remedy to lay hands upon or to attempt any thing against the person of a Priest Other Princes again have elected Anti-popes as did the Duke of Bavaria by which meanes they were afflicted worse then before Others have summoned such Bishops and
be of good use to you nor will ever scatter abroad any Pestilent Opinions such as were Cato and Socrates among the Gentiles and St. Bernard and Thomas Aquinas among the Christiansâ— There are also other Good men to be found that are able to act powerfully on either part such as were among the Heathen Alcibiades and Coriolanus both which were the Authors of much good and as much evil to their Countries accordiâ—g as they were led by the Occasion and present necessity upon them as among the Christians were Luther and Sergius who afterwards recanted as it were all that ever they had before Rightly Preached and taught And therefore it concerns the Prince that he shew himself Favourableâ— and Gracious to all Learned Men seeing that he cannot be able to see so far into them as to know what their â—nclinations are And let him use all the means he can to know who are the most excellent for Learning in his Dominions and having notice of them let Him invite them to him and find Imployments for them preventing even the Pope himself in bestowing perferments on them and these he shall encourage and provoke to shew their abilities against the Infidels One only Monk converted all England to the Christian Faith and Charles the Great that extraordinary favourer and Patron of all that were Eminent for Learning and Eloquence whether they were Laicks or Clergy-men subdued Gotland Norway and Denmarkâ— with a great part of Germany also by the means of these Men whom also He rewarded most magnificently In the Conquest also of the New World the Monks were of more use and did more good then the Souldiers And the like might also be effected both in China Ethiopia and Persia. Wherefore New Sciences are to be introduced and New Sects of Philosophers together with the Mathematicks as likewise the study of the Arabick Tongue is to be taken up seeing that the Empires of the Greeks and of the Hebrews are now quite extinct that so by the use thereof the Turks may be the better convinced of their Errour Let there be also certain Assemblies erectedâ— consisting of the wisest persons that can be pickt out both of the Religious Order of the Friers and out of the Laity whose businesse it shall be to deliberate about such things as concern the State that so their Wits being wholly taken up with the meditating about these things they may wholly serve the Prince and him only and not design any thing to his disadvantage while their own only Ambitions will be who shall deserve best of the Prince and so will have no other thoughts And let him make it his businesse to get together as many of these men as he can and withal let him be sure that they be all honest good men For should there be never so many of them yet if they were such as those were that Iezabel had about her one Elijah because he is a Good man would easily confound them all and bring them to nothing Antiochus also erected Greek Schooles at Ierusalem to the end that by that means he might abolish the Wholsome Doctrine and Lawes that Moses had given the Jewes but all in vain because the Macchabees opposed themselves against him In like manner ought the King to set up many Christian Catholick Schoolesâ— and that against the Enemies of Religion for by so doing he shall render Himself secure both from the Pope and from his Enemies and shall besides reduce the Netherlands and bring them under his subjection as I have before declared Neither would I have this one thing to be omitted namely that He erect certain Colledges through all the Provinces of his Dominions in which should be placed all the most Ingenious Boyes of the said Provinces and who are such may easily be known by their first Masters that taught them their Grammers and other the First Rudiments and these being thus câ—lled out of all Grammer Schools I would have to be brought up and maintained at the Kings Charge and there should be a New Order set up of them like that of St. Dominick which Order I would have called The Austrian Order And when any of these were come to be 18. years old they should then be commanded to Preach and these I would have to be called The Kings Preachers and they should then be sent abroad some into Germany and others into England where if they have managed their businesses rightly and well at their return they should have Bishopricks conferred upon them by the King of those that are in the Kings own gift for by so doing he shall render himself secure both from the Pope and also against all perfidious Preachers and Hereticks and by this meanes such persons only shall be maintained at His charge as do him service for it and advance His affairs Neither can it be expressed by words what great advantages He shall reap to himself hereby For among all sorts of Hereticks that are there are none that are farther out of the way of Truth then the Calvinists are who sow abroad the Seeds of Sedition wheresoever they come and endeavour to break asunder the bonds of that Peace which was made known unto the world by Angels and publickly preached by Christ himself and who having neither any respect to Learning nor regarding the Authority of the Fathers do defend their own Sect by their Armes only as the Turks do There is need therefore here of the most Effectual Medicines that can be against this Evil these kind of Men and that is Principiis obstare To stop them in their Beginning which course is to be observed in the Prevention of all Evils whatsoever and then afterwards are those other Remedies to be applied which are before set down namely for the converting of them for which work there must be chosen out honest and painful Labourers who by the Purity of their Doctrine and holinesse of their Life may reduce and winne back such wandring sheep as have gone astray out of the Way of Truth The Kings of Portugal and especially Iohn the Third erected in India certain Colledges and Seminaries wherein are educated a great number of young Youths of all sorts under the Discipline of the Iesuits who also have by this meanes done very much good both in Germany and in the New World For those Cities of Germany in which these Jesuits live have alwaies stood firm in the Faith and those other which have been infected with the Venom of Heresie are cured thereof by their Means But if there be no hopes at all left of reducing these men and bringing them back again into the True Way and making them to submit themselves to our Government and Doctrine then must the King embrace that counsel which was given by Terentius Varro to Hostilius for the keeping of the Tuscans within the bounds of their Duty and Obedience namely let him so order the matter as that they should not be able to shake off the yoak
the Princes of Italy and that by reason of their Union in point of Religion I say moreover that He cannot suffer any Notable Overthrow â—nlesse it be by some very Potent Prince such a One as the great Turk is who yet lying so very far remote from him as Alexander the Great of old did from the Romans cannot so quickly ruin him whereas on the Contrary any Peaceable Agreement of the Christians among themselves if so be it were but Firm and Lasting would utterly confound the Turk And therefore I say that although King Philips Kingdomes lye scattered far and near yet his enemies also lye far asunder one from another and therefore it is clear that his Emulators the Italians Tuscans and Venetians will never enter into a Combination against him unlesse he First give them some evident cause and wrong them very much Neither indeed will the Pope ever suffer any acts of Hostility to be done against His Catholick Majesty and besides it is also most certain that the Catholick Princes both out of fear of the Hereticks and also of the Authority of the Pope will never attempt any such thing And the Hereticks are at very great Variance also amongst themselves and for this reason Germany being divided into severall small Republicks cannot do him any harm at all and it is besides part of it made subject to the House of Austria and the Archdukes thereof by the Emperours and part also to certain Archbishops who are withall secular Princes as namely the Archbishops of Mâ—ntz of Colen Trevers Salsburg Strasburg and Bamberg and part also to the Dukes of Bavaria so that the Protestants can by no meanes make any Insurrection against the King of Spain The Lower Germany also is divided into more Common-Wealths then the other all which bear Armes against the King of Spain though it be only to defend themselves and not to offend Him And of this number are the Provinces of Holland Frisland and Zealand Besides the Upper and the Lower Germanies differ very much in their Religion which we may also say of the Danes Norwegians Transylvanians Gotlanders Polonians French Switzers and Grisons so that the King hath no need at all to fear that these should ever all joyn together against him and besides the King retains a great part of these Nations in pay and by that means keeps them his friends and then the King of Poland and the Prince of Transylvania are allied to him by Marriage and so are in league and amity with him So that He hath no body to stand in fear of but only the King of France and the King of England which two Princes by reason of their being of different Religions can never agree together Now although the King of Spain cannot as yet subdue the King of France yet it makes very much for His Interest that the King of France being absolved by the Pope is returned again to the Obedience of the Church For otherwise he would have been the Head of all the Transalpine Hereticks and would have marcht with an Army of them over into Italy to the great Prejudice both of the Pope and of our King which None of the Hereticks hath to this day adventured to do merely for want of a Powerful General to head them Then besides there is a Division broken out in France betwixt the Catholicks and the Hereticks and which is the chiefest thing of all there are in that Kingdome many Potent Bishops who would not by any means see Spain ruined And lastly our Kings Subjects do not come into the field with Lances Swords and Horses as the French use to do but they come into it armed with Guns which are a kind of Arms that are fitter for the defending of strong Holds and Fortifications then for the setting upon an Enemy in an open Field And hence it is that the French are able indeed to resist all the Spaniards Attempts but they cannot overcome them for in this case the very Princes and States of Italy who have to this day alwaies held with the French would go over to the Spaniard for it is their Design to keep the Ballance alwaies so even betwixt these two Nations as that neither of them may preponderate and bear down the Scales and so make a Prey of the Other which Hiero King of Syracuse heretofore laboured to do betwixt the Romans and the Carthaginians although he failed of his purpose Besides the King of France cannot march with an Army into Spain by reason of the Fortified Places and Castles that lye in his way and are kept by the Spaniards who are very well skilled in defending such Places Neither can he so soon march out with an Army against Millan or Naples but that the King of Spain can be much sooner in France with an Army and shall so force him to return back again and defend his own Kingdom Neither did the King of France ever passe over into Italy unlesse when he was assisted by the Pope as the Expedition of Charles of Anjou testifies or except he were called in by some Prince or State of Italy as Charles the Eighth was called in by the Duke of Millan which yet at this time can hardly be done again For the Italians were now afraid that they would bring in a New Religion with them And besides it is a usual thing that that Prince that first calls Forraigners in to his aide shall be first ruined by them for he must necessarily entertain them and allow them Quarters who after they have overcome the adverse Party will joyn with them and so drive out Him who called them first in Examples of this we have in the Sforza's Castruccio's and the Florentines with many others and also in the Pope himself although his own Papal Authority restored him again And therefore the Spaniard hath no need to fear the King of France much And as for the English he hath much lesse reason to stand in fear of them seeing they are shut up within an Island and we seldome see Islanders get any sure footing and make themselves Masters of any part of a Forraign Continent And therefore it is sufficient for them if they can keep their own only they send out their Ships to fetch in Prizes by Sea but for this Mischief I shall hereafter set down a Remedy Only let the King of Spain take care that the English joyn not their Navy with the Hollanders Scots Danes Norwegians and Danzickers for if they should they might then be able to overrun all Spain as the Alans Goths and Vandals did of old And yet seeing that these Nations differ all in Religion and the King of Spain doth craftily under hand sow new seeds of Dissention amongst them there is no great cause to fear that they should joyn their forces together â—pon any design Let us now see what Spain is able to do within it self and by what means it may become Greater and enlarge its Territories laying down this
probably have been next to have been swallowed up by them This very Slownesse of his was the reason why the Spaniard gained the lesse and was also the longer held in expectation and besides by gaping in this manner after what belonged to others became hated by all So true is that Common Saying namely That there is no place Inexpugnable into which an Asse laden with Gold can but get in But then this is also to be added to that Saying namely that That Golden Asse or that Asse laden with Gold must have many Horses laden with Iron to come after it that so while the Citizens are all busied in weighing and telling out their Mony Thou mayest in the mean time make use of thy Iron in the subduing and taking in of that Place To this we may adde that the Spanish Commanders as well as the French plaid booty as we say neither of them fighting for the Victory but for Gain onely And the reason of this was because that neither the King himself nor his Son were present in person in the Army And besides the Duke of Parma durst not at first in the beginning of the War hazard all in a Battel without Commands from the King by which means the King of Navarre had time given him to gain over to him the French Nobility whom the Spaniard had before wrought over by his Mony to His side only by an Opinion they had conceived of his Military Valour And in this He imitated those other most Valiant Princes who neglecting the Common People made it their only businesse to oblige the Nobles to them only Which hath been the Ancient Custome with the Polonians Persians and French And because that the Nobles think it a thing too much below them to march with Foot Souldiers hence it is that these very Nations have alwaies been very strong in Horse but have still been but weak in Foot And seeing the businesse is come to this passe that the King of France hath now won to himself the Affections both of his Subjects the French and of the Pope also and hath thereby got himself more Renown then if he had beaten the King of Spain himself it is now to be feared that He may sometime or other attempt to take in some part of Spain also For He is of a Turbulent Unquiet Spirit neither can the French hold while they have well settled a Country that they have newly taken in but they must on still and fall upon some other and this the King of France must the rather do because that being out of Mony He is forced to forrage abroad and take from others that he may haâ—e to pay his own men And therefore it will be necessary that the King of Spain take care that the Frontiers of Spain and the Duchy of Millan also be well guarded and fortified and also that he carefully observe these following Rules The first whereof is that he enter into a League with the French who are his Competitors and the Second is that He hinder the coming of any Assistance to him either from England or from Italy both which things may be effected one and the same way namely if He do but perswade the Pope that the King of France hath a purpose of Assisting the Hereticks and that should he but once come into Italy he would scatter abroad the Poyson of his Heresie every where and that Tuscany and the Venetian Territories will first be the Seat of the War and afterwards will be his Prey Let the King of Spain therefore deal with the Pope that He would interdict the King of France the contracting of any League or Friendship either with the Queen of England or with any other of the Hereticks such as are the Genevians Helvetians and Rhetians or Grisons for these would be able to assist him very much Let the Pope also make Him swear that He will go to the Holy Land and there joyn with the Italians in the Defence of the Christian Faith But the best course of all would be that the Nobility of France and of Italy should all joyn together and should be sent in an Expedition against Greece and that there should also be another Association made betwixt the Princes of the House of Austria against the Hereticks For if that the Christian Princes were but thus dispersed and kept at a distance one from another the Kingdom of Naples together with that of Spain and the Duchy of Millan also would have none to stand in fear of but would be secure on all sides and besides the King of Spain might in the mean time bethink himself what waies were the best to be taken for the reducing of the Netâ—erlands over whom were he but once Conquerour the forenamed Princes would be so much astonished at the report of that his Victory and of his Military Strength that they would never dare to attempt any thing against Him no though they should return home Lords of all Asia For although Pompey was a Conquerouâ— in Assia yet he was not able to stand against Caesar that had now subdued the Belgick Provinces For the Belgians by reason of their Fiercenesse in War put Caesar much more to it to subdue them then those of Asia did Pompey who was for this reason also inferiour to Caesar in Power Now in case that Henry the Fourth should die as he begins now to be an old man and hath neither Successor nor Wife or if he should marry and should leave a Son behind him yet probably he would be under Age and so Conde would either be the next Heir to the Crown or else would at least have the Administration of the Government put into his hands during the Minority of the Prince whose Ancestors having alwaies been the Leaders and indeed the stirrers up of the Hereticks of France in all their Wars were the Authors of shedding so much Catholick blood I say should things come to thiâ— passe it would then concern the King of Spain to lay hold on that Opportunity in proposing to the Consideration of the Catholicks of France whether they thought would be the better course to make choyce of Conde or else of some Catholick to be their King remembring that He is the Son of that Father that acted so much Cruelty upon the Catholicks which this Prince suckt in with his Nurses Milk The King of Spain must also so order the matter as that if He cannot bring it about that the Kingdome of France should be divided in Judgment upon this particular he must then deal with them that it may be conferred upon some one that they shall pitch upon by way of Election Or else in the last place He must speedily have recourse to the Arts before set down which King Philip failed in before And this manner of Electing a King upon condition that he be a Catholick would very much please the Italians and the Catholick Princes of France also would very willingly assent
be sufficient if He could but bring it about that the Hollander and the Freezlander should with their Fleets fall upon the English Forces at Sea as I shall by and by make it plainly appear But seeing He is so far from doing thisâ— that his own Navies are very often damaged by the English ships the only Remedy that is left him is to provide himself of some Vast Fleets of ships which should lie at Corugna and Lisbon that when ever the Spanish Fleet shall return from the Indies they may serve as convoys to It and may bring it home safely or else they may be sent forth either against Ireland or England and so may divert them from lying in wait for and infesting of the Spanish Navies And because the King of Spain is to be Lord of the Seas it is very necessary that He build himself many Wooden Cities that is to say great Navies for the securing of His Treasure that he recieves out of the New World It would also be a very good course for him to hire those that are of the greatest strength among the Hollanders though it cost him a Million of mony to guard such Fleets of his as are to passe to and fro in the Northern Seas and to deal in the like manner with such Nations as are better skilled in Nautical affaires then the English themselves are as namely the Danzickers by means of the King of Poland who is allied to the house of Austria likewise with the Gutlanders Swedes Finlanders and the rest that are of Scandinavia Denmark Pomerania and Borussia procuring them to declare against the English and either to set upon some of their Islands or else to invade England it self that so they may divert them from falling upon the Spanish Fleets or else if the King shall think it better to set upon the English Navy it self If I say He would but be at so great a charge as to hire the said Nations to fall upon the English and would besides but give them all the Booties that they should take from the English He might compasse all his desires and besides the seeds of such a Feude once sown would spread far and near and would never be killed and choaked again And therefore I conceive that Mony alone would be able to set these People at Variance and make them fall foul one upon the other And it is certain that England stands in fear of no other Nations so much as of those above named because they are both more fierce and more Populous Nations and also more powerful at Sea then the English themselves are For Spain cannot it self make any considerable opposition against the English unlesse it be by makig use of some such Artifice seeing that they are better acquainted with those Northern Seas then the Spanish are And then England is an Island whose Inhabitants are both very Numerous and they are also a diligent and subtle People and it is besides very strongly fortified both by Sea and Land and withall a deadly enemy to Spain partly by reason of their different Religions and partly because the English claime a kind of Right to that Crown by reason of the Castilian Line which is derived by the House of Lancaster besides diverse of the former Kings of England of the Family of York and others have been allied to Spain Now as concerning the weakning of the English there can no better way possibly be found out then by causing Divisions and Dissentions among themselves and by continually keeping up the same which will quickly furnish the Spaniard with better and more advantageous Opportunities And as for the Religion of that People it is that of Calvin though very much Moderated and not so rigid and austere as it is at Geneva which yet cannot so easily be extinguished and rooted out there unlesse there were some certain Schooles set up in Flanders with which People the English have very great commerce by meanes of which there should be scattered abroad the Seeds of Schisme and Divisions in the Natural Sciences as namely betwixt the Stoicks Peripateticks and Telesians by which the Errours of the Calvinists might be made manifest For the truth of it is That Sect is Diametrically contrary to the Rules of Policy for they teach that whether a Man do well or ill he doth all by Divine Impulsion which Plato Demonstrates against Homer to be opposite to all Sounder Policy which sayes that every Man hath Free Liberty of Will either to do Well or Ill so that it is in our own Power either to observe or not observe what is commanded us and from hence we are to expect either our Rewards or Punishments according as I have most evidently demonstrated in my Dialogue touching Policy where I have discoursed of this Point though but briefly and without any flourish of Language which They since they have become Hereticks are grown somewhat subtle in and yet being of a Nature that is still desirous of Novelties and Change they are easily wrought over to any thing As concerning their Dominions and Private Estates the English are divided and live in several Countries whence some time or other the Spaniard may easily light upon some convenient Opportunity of advantage against them For the King of Englands Dominion is divided into Ireland and England which together with Scotland maketh up the Isle of Great Brittain Now Scotland it self hath also many small Islands belonging to it which are called the Orcades And hence it is that the Isle of Great Brittain had alwaies two Kings reigning over it namely one of them was King of England and the other of Scotland who by reason of their lying so near to each other were in a manner continually at wars and invading one anothers Territories for their Kingdomes are severed only by a little small River and some few hills But now the King of Scots hovers as it were at this time over England not only by reason of his Neighbourhood to it but also because of His Right of Succession for His Mother was Niece to King Henry the Eighth who was Father to Queen Elizabeth that now reigneth and if we should confesse the truth there is none so near in blood to the Crown of England as He is And therefore the time now draweth on that after the death of the said Queen Elizabeth who is now very old the Kingdom of England must fall into the hands of their Ancient and continuall Rivals the Scots We may here add that the Peers of the Land who when they are assembled together in a Body are called in their Language the Parliament carry a great sway with them and have very great Power in so much that they seem to desire to set up an Oligarchy or an Aristocratical State according to the example shewed them by the Netherlandeâ—s For all Northern Nations are Naturally impatient of Monarchy or Absâ—lute Power in Princes and the Kings of England were alwaies kept under by
and Pythagoras for otherwise he must needs come to ruine by changing the Auspicia Regni the Fortune of the Kingdom as I may call it whose dependance is from Faith in Christ and then the People will immediately betake themselves to their Armes and revolt from him Neither indeed have any Monarchies been either more certainly or more miserably brought to destruction then when they have changed their Religion as is testified by Histories And then again the Pope and the rest of the Princes of Christendom would joyn their whole strengths together and would in a very litle time root him out of his Kingdom of Naples Millan and consequently also of the New World the rest of his Dominions And although these things were not done to Henry the VIII of England nor yet to the Duke of â—â—xony because their Territories were encompassed within small though well fortified Bounds yet for all that did they fail of succession and so their States went away from them And we have examples hereof also in Ieroboam Iehu Iulian the Apostate and others who for having changed their Religion incurred the hatred of their People and brought destruction upon themselves Unlesse we shall say that the Pope hath no power at all in Temporal things nor is any whit above either any other of the Bishops or theirs Surrogates or Chaplains in Authority or degree which is evidently contradictory to Gods Ordination by which He hath been constituted a Regal Priest and hath been armed with both the Swords as well the Civill as the Spiritual For were it otherwise Christ should be a very mean Law-giver and should be lesse then Melchisedech who was both King and Priest together which addeth both the greater Majesty as well as security to any Kingdom as I have proved in my Treatise Touching Monarchy against Dante who looking only upon the Priesthood of Aaron allowes to the Pope nothing but Spiritualties and Tithes only And which is more this impugnes also all Reasons of Policy because the Pope can never want those that will take up Armes in His defence in case He should not be able to defend Himself and that either by being moved thereunto through Zeal to Religion as the Countesse Matilda did against the Emperour Henry or else out of Emulation or some interest of Faction as it was in the Case of the Venetians making war upon the Emperour Frederick whom they compelled to kisse the Popes Foot or for both these reasons as when King Pipin and Charles the Great took up Armes in assistance of the Pope against the Lombards and others who waged war against him Thus we see that the Constantinopolitan Empire came to be destroyed for the Apostasy of Iulian and Constantius in like manner as all the Fredericks Henries and other Kings also of Naples suffered for the same Cause as often as they denied their Obedience to the Pope And certainly the Opinion and Beliefe which hath prevailed upon the Minds of all People touching the Christian Religion is of very great force and moves them to defend It to the utmost of their power so that whensoever the Pope hath excommunicated any Prince He doth at the same instant ruine him also Do but observe I pray you to what state Ferraria is reduced at this day But we have discoursed more copiously of this in the Treatise of Monarchy It is lastly against all Policy too for the Pope withholds the rest of the Princes of Christendom from invading Spain as he doth the King of Spain from invading them by continually composing their differences in like manner as he divided India betwixt the Portugals and the Spaniards and thus hath several times made peace betwixt the Spaniards and the French Venetians and Genowaies and so likewise betwixt Pisa and Florence which yet he would not so easily be able to do by the meer Reverence they bear to Religion For here in these Cases they have an eye as well to the force of Armes as to Religion for He that is in the wrong Cause may justly suspect the Popes joyning of his strength to that of his Antagonist and so for this reason he will the more readily obey the Popes Injunction as I have declared formerly in the forementioned Treatise And the King of Spain if he but declare himself for and stand up in the defence of the Pope shall be sure to have alwayes the assistance of His Forces at his devotion at any time which will be a good means of confirming his Kingdom to him And therefore I conceave it very necessary according to the Fate of Christendom that if the King of Spain would arrive to an Universal Monarchy He must declare himself publiquely to have his dependance from the Pope and command it to be published all abroad throughout the World that himself is the Cyrus that was before typified and the Catholick King that is the Universal Monarch of the World declaring this his Monarchy by his Religious Counsels and pious Actions and passing also by many litigious Controversies which he hath with the Pope and dwelling in the Tents of Sem making it appear to all the World that He is the Chief Defender of Christian Religion that depends wholly upon the Pope of Rome calling together also the Christian Princes to consult about the recovery of those Countreys they have lost and are at this day in the hands of Hereticks and Turks and He must proceed to the causing of such to be excommunicated as shall deny their assistance herein and lastly he must also take care that Pious and diligent Preachers be sent abroad into the World to promote this businesse For the Plain truth of it is that the Pope picks quarrels sometimes with the King of Spain for no other reason but only because he is afraid that in case he should subdue the King of France and the Princes of Italy hee would then make Him only as his Chaplain And this is the reason why He desires that they should alwayes be at variance one with another that so in case either of them should fall off from Himâ— by reason either of Apostasy or some quarrel or other He might have the other to assist him And this is the reason why he stirred up the Western Empire against the Eastern onely because they had forsaken their former Religion had had many Clashings with the Pope about It. But now if King Philip will but do that which is his duty as is before declared and will but give way to the Pope in some things which he pretends His Right and will besides send some Bishops and Cardinals into the Belgiâ—k Provinces and to the New world to dispose of and order things there he will by this meanes both free the Pope from this suspition and shall withall effect his own desires seeing that it is evident that the Pope by his Indulgencies and Croysados brings him in more mony then those Dignities which he bestowes upon Cardinals Archbishops Bishops and
Popes as have been obstinate perverse Persons and enemies to them to appear before a General Councel but this devise of theirs the Pope hath now eluded it being openly delared to all the World that a Generall Councel hath no power at all over the Pope and a Decree being also made That No Councel shall be called but by the Pope alone And for this reason did Pope Leo X. ruine those Cardinals that were present at the Councel of Pisa and yet neither did their friends the Princes obtain what they desired Eclesiastical Princes have alwaies been wiser then Secular some of whom have found a remedy for this Evil by yeilding and submitting themselves as Theodosius the Emperour humbled himself before that Good Bishop St Ambrose and the Kings of the Goths left Rome and went to Ravenna to reside giving way to the Popes as well to the Bad as the Good And That King of England also by whose command Thomas Beckâ—t Archbishop of Canterbury was murdered made choyce rather to enter into Conditions of Peace with the Pope then to lose his Kingdom and so was forced to pay yearly to the Pope forty Thousand Marks of Gold and besides at his death he made the Pope his heir to the Kingdom by his last Will and Testament After the Example of these Princes it will behoove the King of Spain also to give way to the Pope whether He be Good or Bad and to lay aside what Controversies soever he shall have with him and to leave such Bishops as are his enemies to be chastised by the Pope to whom He must wholly unite himself by those waies which are before set down Alexander the King of the Iewes having drawn upon himself the hatred of the Pharises and being now upon his death bed persuaded his wife as Iosephus testifies that by all meanes she should take him and throw him down headlong out at the Window telling her that by so doing she should give full satisfaction to the Incensed Pharises who after she had done that Act would suffer her to succeed him in the Kingdom giving her Counsel besides that she should ever take head how she fell out with any Religious persons least she suffered that which himself had done But if such men as are Authorised by no Superiour Power especially if they be Clergy men such as were Arrius Savanaâ—ola and Luthâ—r shall rise up against any State this is a very dangerous case and it must then be enquired into whether these men have any encouragement from the Pope to do so or not for if so be they have and He contradicts them not then is the Evill in a manner Incurable but if they have not Him for their Abettor then may an order be very easily taken with them For here it is necessary that it be considered whether these Men be Good or Bad for both may prove very dangerous and if they are Bad they must then be rooted out by the Authority of the Pope but if they are Good men they must then be cited to appear before a General Councel where by the Authority of the Pope being also interposed they may be openly convinced in like manner as Berengarius being convinced of his Errour yeilded to the Truth and submitted and this is the Course that ought to be taken where the Parties are sincerely and really Good men and not meer Hypocrites onely But if they maintain a Good Cause those Faults which they did inveigh against in their Sermons are to be mended and they themselves are to be sent for away to Rome where they should afterwards spend the rest of their Lives as was done by Bartholomaeus Miranda Archbishop of Toledo and the Bishop of Curzola who was expelled from his Bishoprick by the Venetians If they are Lay-men as was Iohn of Leyden and Philip Melancthon there is no great danger to be feared from them For these two after the breach had been first made by Luther at length rose up and when now Luther had already setled his Erroneous Religion and false Priesthood in Germany But in our Dominions no One Lay-man whatsoever would be able to bring about such a businesse without the assistance of some one of the Clergy It is an Infallible Rule that no Heresie did ever do any hurt in a Countâ—y unlesse the Prince himself of that Country for some Reasons of State afforded some Patronage to the same as I have shewed where I discoursed touching the Monarchyâ— It will therefore concern all Princes to take care that their Nobles also be not infected with the said Heresie which they may prevent by taking them off with Employments and so diverting their Minds from any such thoughts as I have delivered before Now these Rules are to be diligently observed with these aforesaid Hereticks You must be careful that you do not fall to dispute with them about Minute Quirks and subtilties in Divinity but only that you require them to give you a good account of their Calling and to produce the Names of their Authors after this manner suppose Who commanded you to teach these things publickly Were they Men or Divels rather For we cannot believe they should be any other And then if they shall answer that Godâ— let them then make the same appear to you by doing some Miracles or other such as God heretofore armed His Messengers with namely Moses Elijah and the Apostles And if they are not able to do any such things you should then bring them to the Stake and burn them if you can and render them as Infamous as possibly you may But be sure you avoid all Grammatical Disputations and Logical Subtilties but dispute with them only according to the Principles of Divine Logick as St. Francis did in Egypt and St. Iohn Guidalbert and as I my self have endeavoured to do in my Dialogues against the Lutherans and Calvinists laying down a way how they are to be convinced by an Apostolical and Political way least out of multiplying idleâ— and vain words one Controversie may still be started out of another which â—o perverse and Malicious spirits will be taken for a kind of Victory I would also have them condemned to be Burnt out of the Imperial Constitutions for as much as they rob Persons in Authority of their Goods and Good name such as are the Pope and other Religiousâ— and Pious men who have confirmed the Faith of the Church and sealed it with their Blood which indeed is more precious then what ever other Treasures in the World and therefore whosoever they are that are Refractory to and perversly oppose such Persons and seduce others to do the like they justly deserve to be punished A second Rule is that all care be taken that there be no fruits suffered to spring from such branches for the hindering whereof the best course would be to prefer only men of excellent parts to Bishopricks and Benefices and withal you are to consider that such if they be good Men will
for as I have shewed before these Women would willingly yeild to love such Husbands And indeed it is a wonderful thing to imagine how Advantageous a matter it is to such Princes as have conquered any Nations to have their Subjects contract Marriages with the Women of the said Nations For Alexander the Great himself marrying Roxane a Persian Lady and giving to others of his Army a hundred other women of the same Nation for Wives got Himself a great deal of good Will among the Persians who hereupon perswaded themselves that they should find Alexander a very courteous and loving Prince to them And Livy writes of those of Capua that nothing did more hinder them from joyning with Hannibal then the Affinity that had been contracted betwixt them and the Romans Ninthly let Him endeavour to weaken the Heads of their Factions by making War upon them from several parts at once and let all diligent care be used that they may be more distracted every day then other and divided among themselves that so through their own dissentions and their envy at the mutual Concord and Prosperity of their Enemies they may even despond and lose all heart and courage And this course of making your own Advantages out of your Enemies Sufferings is a most useful one and was very much practised by Queen Elizabeth of England Tenthly seeing that it is only the fear they have of the Spaniard and especially the hatred they bear to the Pope that keeps them at Unity among themselves because they do all unanimously agree in this that the Pope is Antichrist though in all other of their Tenets they are at sufficient difference among themselves there must therefore care be taken that all fear of War being removed That Controversie only be proposed to be publickly disputed on for upon this do all the rest depend Neither would I have any other Nice or Frivolous Questions to be at all proposed to them to be discussed but only that one Touching the Novelty of the Papal Authority as I have touched before and whereof I treated sufficiently in my Dialogue against These Men. In the Eleventh place it must be Unanimously and stoutly maintained against them that All Commentaries whatsoever that have been written upon the Bible whether by Catholicks or Hereticks ever since S. Augustin's time are to be suspected and not to be trusted to and that the only Authors that are to be received are S. Clemens Romanus S. Cyprian Clemens Alexandrinus S. Chrysostome Basil and Tertullian For the Heresie of Denying Free Will and the like are to be better understood out of the Ancients to whom also these people are most of all addicted then out of Later Writers whom they cannot endure to hear of as appears plainly out of Clemens Romanus I would have that controversie therefore to be discussed touching the Original of that Evil that moved Epicurus and some others to deny that there was a God for they perswaded themselves that He was excluded by reason of Evil. Others there were that believed there were Two Gods of which number were Manes and perhaps Pythagoras too Others as the Libertines have boldly declared that their Opinion was that there was no such thing as either Evil or Sin Others have taught that God is the Authour and Cause of all Evil and that he is a Tyrant and of this Opinion are Calvin Zuinglius Bullinger Luther and Beza namely while they will have God to be the Authour of All Things Which Opinion certainly as both Cicero and Plato teach must needs tend to the disturbance of every Well Ordered Common-Wealth for as much as it deprives Men of all Freedom of doing either well or ill and so in effect destroyes all Law and Discipline And the long Canvasing and dwelling upon the Examination of this Opinion hath made all those on the other side the Alpes Atheists and Epicureans who have therefore denied that there is a God because they would not assent to yield Obedience to the Pope of Rome And therefore my judgement is that in disputing with these men in the presence of Learned men they should have Political and Natural Arguments urged against them And again before the Common People they should be required to give an account whence they had their Calling as I have shewed more at large in my Dialogue and my Political and Theological Questions written against These Men. For the Multiplying of Books and the Spinning out of Controversies do but add Authority to a Bad Cause and besides also shew like a kind of Victory Twelfthly these Hereticks after they had put forth New Bibles into the World and wresting all the Fathers and Historians as they pleased put such interpretations upon the same as they thought good they then began in order thereunto to apply themselves to the study of the Hebrew and Greek Tongues and started a thousand Grammatical Niceties wherewith they have filled up many great Volumes in so much that the whole North in a manner makes a Grammatical War upon us rather then a Spiritual whereas We have long since laid aside the study of the Languages ever since we overcame the Hebrews Greeks and Latines and have made them submit themselves to Christianity or else have devested them of the power of discharging all Political and Sacerdotal Administrations as it is with the Iewes at this day And therefore we intend not now to trouble our selves any further with Petite Sophistical Niceties and Grammatical Quirks but relying only upon our own strength of Wit we let alone all Prolixe Courses of Disciplines and the tediousnesse of writing huge Volumes mean while that these men spend their time herein and weary us out almost with their Cavillings although they do not get the better of us I conceive therefore that these men should be taken off from these their Grammatical Heresies namely by some New Arts and Sciencesâ— and such wherein we are excellent our selves And to this end the King should erect certain Schools in all the Principal Cities wherein the Arabick Tongue should be taught that so by this meanes there may be such among his subjects as shall be able to dispute with the Turks Moors and Persians who by the use of that Tongue spread their Maâ—umetanisme as We do Christianity by the Latine Tongue and so by this meanes our Intestine Wars may be laid aside and our Armes turned against Forreign Enemies There should also Schools be erected for the Mathematicks and Astrology unto which these Northern People should be invited to come by proposing some Salaries for such of them as shall apply themselves to the Discovering and giving an Account of such Starsâ— and Constellations as are found in the other Hemisphere in the New World For by this means there would redound to the Spanish Empire both Honoâ—r and Profit I would also have the Schools of the Old Philosophers to be opened again as of the Platonists and Stoicks and of the Telesins that so the People