made use of to cheat King John out of his right served likewise to delude King Philip of his vain hopes which Instrument bringing so much honour and profit to the See of Rome was afterwards with great insultation and triumph glased in Gold and was called the Golden Bull and Pope Innocent the third having so good successe against these Kings he procured presently after in a Gouncell of Lâ—teran that the Popes should be declared above Kings as appears in the 14 chapter This is that Magna Charta by which his Holinesse claimes a superintendency in England who please duly to consider will find that it is a thing of scorn and mockery to Rome and of no dishonour or damage to the Crown of England For King John subscribing that Bull and making the Kingdome tributary was against the Law of the Land For the King cannot dispose of those things that are inherent in the Crown much lesse of the Crown it self to make it tributary and this Moore a great Roman Catholike confessed that unless it were by consent of the Nobles And the Commons of the Land it could not bind the successours of the King which is the true Rule of our Law and agreeable to the antient Constitutions of our Land and whereas Steph. Langton was confirmed Bishop that confirmation unlesse it had been by the Kings consent gave him no right to that place for the consent of the Monks to his election without a Conge deslier against the Kings consent who had sole right to collate to the See of Canterbury in respect that of that time the Bishops were not elegible did not at all help the matter for Stephen Langton was admitted anno 1205. and the Roll for making them elegible was not till the 17 of King John which was 12 years after his installment so that had it not been that the King consented to it and did repell his electing of Grey Langton had been an usurper notwithstanding the election of the Monks befides the Monks could not elect him nor any other without the Kings Writ of Conge Deslier This Langton as I have said before was a man so much qualified that he could not want his Holinesse favor for he was a second Hildebrand a meer State incendiary and knew how to trouble the clear waters and make them fit for his Holinesse to fish for gudgeons Pâ—â— Favors Railors And would the Doctor but conspire to plot some mischief against his mother Country no doubt he might be preferred as Allen was to the dignity of a Cardinall But I hear he is a man of another temper and therefore I much honour him and am sorry he hath betaken himself to the company of those whose respects towards him will grow cold for as he is a meek and sober man he is uselesse to his Holinesse and must never think to find any extraordinary favour or honour from him for it is a Papall maxime not to Canonize Innocents amongst Saints time hath made the Popes experienced and master builders of their Spiritual Babell they are grown Cunning architectors and know how to fit every piece serviceably in the rearing up of the Babilonish Tower The Doctour was presently discovered not to be fit for an ignation of whom it is required to be active stirring and turbulent But he would serve for a Carthusian who spend their time in more confined and retirednesse Ex quovis ligno non fit mercurius But this by the way I return to the Golden Bull. As the installing of Langton had been void notwithstanding the election had not the King consented to a new Conge Deflier so was the donation of that tribute to the Pope void and null notwithstanding the Golden Bull The Golden Bull. which Bull though it received so much honour as to be entombed in Gold and laid up for an everlasting Monument of Romes acquired wealth and dignity Yet in my judgement serves for no other use but to take up a room in the Treasury of their Superstitious Trumperies and instead of being consecrate to the memory of Pandulphus and serves to put posterity in mind of his course imployment to cheat Princes and the Popes wickedness to set him a work about unlawfull designes which when they were at chieved to their desire became of no validity and so this sacred Monument instead of Glory becomes a lasting Record of their shame and foolery I wonder in what forme this Magna Charta was enclosed when it received its Golden-outside The Golden Bull Anno 1217. sure it is was made like a Nut and did thereby Hierogliphick its short continuance for it was not long preserved it proved deaf presently after For that very year it was Sealed King John dyed and Hen. 3d his sonne succeeded him who sent Hugh Biggod a Noble man and others to the Generall Councell at Lyons in France to require that Bull to be Cancelled in respect that it passed not by consent of the Councell of the Realm which the Pope put off for that time under pretence of more weighty affairs and still keeps the same amongst his other Monumentall Trophies nor did England at any time since seek to have the Nut restoâ—ed but waves all interest to it and freely proclaims that any who please may crack it and take the Kernell for their pains By vertue of this grand Charter the Pope had in conceit under his jurisdiction the Kingdome of England but it was but in conceit for he regained no more benefits or vertuall prerogative from thence then the Turk doth who tacitely by his title of being Lord of Europe stiles himself Lord thereof Hen. 3d never paid any tribute nor acknowledged it due nor any of the three succeeding Edwards and Anno 6. R. 2. all the Kingdome willingly bound themselves by a Law to maintain the Crown of England against all Papall citation suspension excommunications and censures whatsoever which they judged free and subject to none save God The power of Magistracy being innate not affixed to England The next Argument the Papists make to prove the Popes Ecclesiastical power in England The King styled Defender of the Faith by the Pope is from Hen. 8. his accepting the style of Defender of the Faith as an honour proceeding from his Holinesse whereby they would perswade that the King is not to meddle with matters of Faith within his own Realms unlesse by deputation or consent of his Holinesse to which I answer I have proved that by the antient Lawes of the Kingdome the King is superintendent within his own Dominions as well in cases Ecclesiasticall as Civill in Scripture Kings are called Nursing Fathers of the Church Isai 49.23 and this right was in the Crown before ever Hen. 8. had it promulged by the Pope for R. 2. in a Commission granted by him used these words Nos zelo fides Catholicae cujus sumus esse volumus defensores in omnibus c. wherefore for the Pope to give this stile
but was reduced back and centred again in its own proper sphear and that not by any compulsive power but as if the succeeding Pope Adrian had felt som compunction of Spirit for detaining that which of Right belonged to the Civill Magistrate he did freely and by consent of a Councell at Lateran give power to Charles the Great to appoint the Bishop of Rome and to dispose of his See Apostolick which so remained in him and his Successours for a long time and since diverse Popes of Rome by vertue hereof have been deposed as Benedict 5th by Otho the first and Leo placed in his roome and Gelasius deposed by Hen. 5. and several others which came not in in right of the Emperours as may appear by the German and Italitan Histores wherefore the pretence of some Popes Parasite that Ludovious Pius successour to Charles the Great should release this priviledge of Collation back again is vain and utterly false as is evident by these transactions of succeeding Ages The Romans bound themselves to Henry 3d the Emperour by Oath not to meddle with the appointing the Emperour which after within four years when the Emperour was absent was violated the Clergy of Rome choosing Stephen 9th anno 1057. which being but an usurpation in the Clergy so to doe the Cardinalls thought they had as much right as those Clergy-men and therefore upon the Rule that one Thief may rob another did by the assistance of Pope Nicholas 2d and Hildebrand his Cardinal Chaplain take it to themselves so that whosoever is Pope by their Election hath no right to the Chair for that the Title of the Cardinalls is surreptitious and illegall in its Commencement Et quod ab initio valet in tractu Temporis non convaliscat For the Pope being a Spiritual man ought not to plead possession when as his claim is by Intrusion and prescribe he cannot for that these Records are extant to the contrary since therefore by primitive right and by reduction after a separation thereof and that made good by Authority of Pope and Councell and after by Oath confirmed it doth belong to the Emperour of the West or the King of France to appoint the Bishop of Rome Let the present Emperour look to his Right as he will be served and let him beware of too long a discontinuance of this priviledge for should the gnawing rusty teeth of time worm-eat and rase all his Records and Testimonies that prove him a right to this Collation he shall never repair his losse when as he may be sure the Vactitan Hill shall be stored with old and new additions to the Bishop of Rome a right to appoint Germany an Emperour And as the Emperour had right to Collate to the See of Rome so likewise had he the same right to other Metropolitan Sees of Germany till over looking his Right to Rome the rest fall from him according to the Rule Dato uno absurdo mille sequuntur But I return back to England and will shew what right the Civill Magistrate hath to appoint Bishops in England without consent of the Pope By the Antient Lawes and Constitutions of this Kingdome The Kings of England appoint Bishops without the Pope the King was Patrone of all the Bishopricks in the Land for the Rule is Patronum faciunt dos edificatio fundus they were all donative and of the Kings gift Per traditionem annuli Pastoralis baculi as appears by the Law-books 7 Edw. 4. Cook 10. Report 73. and Matthew Paris History fol. 62. The King by Edward the Confessours Lawes cap. 19. is declared to be Vicarius which was long before acknowledged by Eleutherius in his Epistle before recited summus persona mixta cum sacerdote Constitutus est ut Populum dominii super omnia ecclesiastica Regat By the Judges of old it was declared that Papa non potest mutare leges Angliae none can Found or Erect a Colledge Church Abbey c. without the Kings Warrant Dyer 271. the Priviledges of the Church were growing out of the Civil Magistrates power and therefore by the Articles Super clerum made 9 Edw. 2. no suite was to be before the Bishops for any matter whatsoever but a prohibition lay and there it is expressed in what cases it shall be allowed 16 Edw. 3. Excom 4. and 2 R. 3.22 Excom by the Pope is no disability of any suit within this Kingdome which resolutions are grounded upon the Common Law of this Kingdome which Common Law is but certain reasonable Customes and usages of the Land refined by the experience of succeeding Ages and drawn into forme by Edward the Confessor which gathered it out of Divine natural and moral principles and as I said the antient reasonable usages of the precedent Ages and that the King is by antient Custome Vicarius sumus and with the advice of his nobles did appoint Bishops is proved by Eleutherius who was the first Bishop of Rome that ever had any entercourse concerning Church affaires in this Land which was onely to assist and further the Ministry but in no means to take from the King what was his right or what formerly belonged to him nor was this Antient right ever invaded till Beckets businesse that I can find 't is true that some strangers were sent hither and recommended by the Bishop of Rome to be by him preferred to English Benefices which were out of courtesie accepted but this did not prove any right of Collation in the Bishop of Rome at all nor did ever he set up his pretence to that Right till Hen. 2. time Which quarrel the advantage of the troubled times did occasion not the Justice of the Popes Cause to spur him to clear his title thereto he knew well enough that the King had the sole Power and just Title without him to set up what Bishops he pleased And whereas it may be objected that the Bishops of England are elegible it is true they are so but that was by the consent of King John for before that they were not elegible but were made elegible by a Roll 15 Jan. 17. of K. John but notwithstanding that grant is so restrained that they cannot be elected without the Kings Writ of Conge Deslier As for the Pope excommunicating the King about Beckets quarrell Tho. Becket that doth not prove the Popes power so to do For to argue de facto ad jus brings with it an absurd consequence it pleased the King to submit to it not being able to oppose the Factions then stirred up against him Infra 90. 11 chap. But it cannot from thence be evinced that the Kings voluntary submission out of policy of State doth make the Popes claim to excercise that power in anothers Province lawfull I have more at large treated of this particular businesse in the 11 chapter to which I refer you But the main businesse insisted upon by the Papists is the grand contest between Innocent the third and
the case stands with the Eastern Churches they I am perswaded would not bogle to condescend hereunto but by no means let her ever hope to have a supremacy of Iurisdiction she may force it but never by argument evince it and so according to its first beginning prosecute to rear up her tower of Universality with the cement of bloud which whilst she prosecutes she forges her Keys into a two-edged sword and when she has done she like a Heathen Roman destroys her self by cutting off some of her fellow-members robbing them of what belongs to their office and makes them uselesse pieces of the mysticall body Christ Jesus of which all the Churches upon earth are fellow-members and though many yet make but one body being all baptized into one body by one Spirit 1 Cor. 12.12 Let us therefore follow the truth in love and in all things grow up unto him which is the Head that is Christ by whom all the body being compleat and knit together by every joynt for the forniture thereof according to the effectuall power which is in the measure of every part receiveth encrease of the body unto the edification of it self in love Ephes 4. The Doctor confesses that Christ is the Head originally but the Pope is the Head derivatively for sayes he with as much reason may we deny a King to be Head of his Kingdome because the Scripture saith God is King over all the earth as deny the Pope to be Head of the Church because Christ is so To which I answer Christ is the Head of the Catholike Church that is comprehensive of all the Elect Pope not Universall Head Saints Angells and men of which the particular Churches on earth are but members and the people the Saints of God assembled together to worship God and call upon him in his Sacraments make a Church Christ being their Head and as they are a people not convened to that purpose their severall Princes and Magistracy is to rule over them which I judge to be the principall reason of the Law of Sanctuaries Now for the Pope to claim an universall headship over them is either to rob Christ of his office or to deny Caesar his due for as Head of the whole Catholike Church he candot be and to be Head of the Universall Church upon earth is not consistent with the plantations of the other Apostles nor was any such universall headship delegated to any one of the Apostles Christ sent out his Apostles to all Nations and they ordained spirituall heads and Governors over their severall plantations none being to intrude upon anothers foundation and ever since Christ there have been superintendents over the severall Churches yet those superintendents were equal amongst themselves none lording it over another but only within their distinct territories did equally exercise the authori y of their headship and every one within his own Province being representative in point of order of Christ the mysticall Head without ascribing a single universality to any one of them although by this means there be many headships over the severall plantations yet it doth no more destroy the representative headship of Christ here on earth then the Spanish French c. acknowledging obedience to their distinct Princes are against Monarchy because the Turk claims to be Soveraign Lord of the Universe Wherefore if the Church of Rome wil needs have the Catholike Church to be understood only of a Universall Church upon earth and some one Bishop to be the governing head thereof I must tell her that she can lay no just claim hereto because if Peter had any power above the other Apostles it doth not appear to succeed to the Bishop of Rome for that it is not proved Peter to have been Bishop there and if he was Bishop there yet there wants a cleare and perfect deraigning of succession from him some affirming Linus some Clemens some Anacletus to succeed him and some Bishops of Rome claiming as Successors to Paul some to Peter or if they could perfect their Succession yet it is not evident that Peters power did succeed to them in respect it was Apostolically in him and either died in him or survived to Iohn besides they cannot agree in the manner how this power of supremacy should be in them for if they have it as universall Bishops Gregory declares it and the Doctor confesses it to be Antichristian for that hereby they deny others to be Bishops and so rob them of their divine order and Ecclesiastique Jurisdiction granted by consent of Councells to Metropolitans to govern within their provinciall precincts without appealing to Rome and if they will have it in respect of Rome see how they make Rome the Rock not Peter and go against the Symbole of our faith The Apostles who composed the Creed as the Doctor confesses 148. and professing faith in the Catholike Church did publish that Creed at Jerusalem before ever the faith was preached at Rome and when her Church was invisible or not in rerum natura and did not therefore intend Rome for the Catholique Church Wherefore for these reasons I hope I may without incurring a censure of presumption with confidence affirm that Rome is not the Catholique Church nor the Pope the universall Head of the Catholike Church either in respect of any Jurisdiction derived from Peter or by the consent of Councells lawfully deraigning any title thereto CHAP. III. That the name Church is proper to England as well as to Rome THe Doctor is pleased in his fifth and thirteenth chapters to take notice of severall definitions of a Church which are distinctions of severall Sectaries that are in England and elswhere but never glanced upon that which is maintained and professed in the Church of England which belike he omitted on purpose to make people believe that we had no Church at all properly distinguished by her self apart from those Sectaries and therefore he fled to Rome to find one if he have forgotten I will put him in mind of it The Church of God is a company of men chosen by him to call upon his name and therefore did the Apostles term it Ecclesia alluding to the custome of Arkens to call together the people to hear the promulgation of any Law or any publike Oration and not Synagogue that is an inordinately met assembly without a lawfull calling together wherefore we say that Ecclesia in the most proper and genuine signification is Vniversitas fidelium credentium invocantium nomen Christi By which interpretation if we be in the faith of Jesus and have our solemn assemblies to worship and call upon his name we may properly be called a Church and a member of the Catholique Church which as I said before is comprehensive of all the Elect of God which have been are or shall be The Doctor cannot deny but that we maintain the Apostles Creed and I may say so doth not Rome The Church of Rome abuses the Apostles
King John about an election of a Bishop of Canterbury the King electing John Grey and the Pope Stephen Langton which Stephen Langton was in right of the Pope set up against the Kings election Which case if truly weighed with discretion and due consideration it will neither tend much to disparage the King nor to advantage the Pope in point of claim The busines was briefly thus as it is recorded by feverall Authors domestick and forrain There was a controversie started between the King and the Monks Saint Austins who against the Kings right the opinion of Hubert the Archbishop did withhold the Kings Presenter out of possession of the Church of Feversham insomuch that the King was forced to make use of the posse commitatus and by force to expulse them from their unjust possession which was presently reported to his holinesse who never examining the Kings right did conceive a grudge against King John and as time and opportunity served did vent his spleen against him insomuch as he after the death of Hubert did upon his own score and both against the King the Monks of Christ Church elect Steph. Langton A man that was a great friend and familiarly entertained by the French King who was an utter enemy to King John and whom the Pope had wrought to compass a revenge against King John to prepare a numerous and powerful Army to invade England and this upon no other Quarrell but because King John had by force expulsed the said Monks from their unjust detaining possession of the Church of Feversham pretending that that force which was used for the gaining of the Kings Right was a violation of the Rights and Priviledge of the holy Church and so did make use of that liberty for a cloak of malitiousnesse and not as the Servants of God 1 Pet. 2.16 Stephen Langton And the crafty Pope having thus prepared the French King to flie into hostility against King John he thought he might with more confidence oppose the King in his election of Grey and did after a time work so with the Monkes of Christ Church that they were induced to adhere to the Popes Election of Stephen Langton This Langton saith Mathew Paris was Virum strenuum a man that could exact of the Clergy keep in awe the Laiety and encounter the King and Nobility he was a man after the Popes own heart and therefore such a man must not want a Bishoprick Yet King John did heartily enveigh against his admission and the rather because he was so great a Favorite of the French Kings who then lay at Calice ready to invade him The Pope having thus broke the Kings head by bringing these innumerate troubles and dangers upon him That he might appear to the world to be notwithstanding a Holy Father and one who minded the peace and welfare of Christian soules he gives a plaister to the wound he himself had made and steps in to mediate between the two Kings who then stood in a mutuall posture of Armes ready to expose the lives of many thousands to the hazard of the Sword in this their quarrel which quarrel being meerly fomented by the Pope and not proceeding from nationall interests which was unknown to King John For the French pretended their Invasion upon the score of Kingship and Conquest the Pope knew how to take Philip the French King off because he was meerly put on by him upon his blessing and pardon of sins and promise of the Kingdome of England if he could catch it and upon such promises of reward and such indulgences he had poysoned some of the Nobility of England who thereupon made defection and seemed to incline to the King of France his side The Pope I say stept in as a peace-maker betwixt them and sunt his Legate Pandulphus to King John who insinuating unto him the danger he then stood in and how his Kingdom stood open to a powerfull enemy then ready to invade and was like to be made a prey unto them for that the King went against his Holiness recōmendation of Langton and had violated the priviledge of the holy Church and for this many of his Subjects were in France with the French King ready to engage against him and likewise that there were many in the Host and severall of his Nobility which if it proceeded to a war would desert him and therefore his holinesse out of the love and affection he bore to the King and the tender care of his Christian sons in England came thither to entreat his Majesty which word Majesty though it was not familiarly applyed to our Kings before Hen. 8. time yet it was an antient attribute long before King John as may appear by Bracton Britton and other antient writers to be reconciled to his Holinesse and he would undertake to divert the French and restore a generall quiet and peace to his Realme of England The King warily suspecting the danger of forrain and treachery of Domestick Enemies and wisely recounting with himself the grounds he had to suspect the dangers at hand did for to avoid that mischief more then out of any fear he then stood in of the French King agree to serve the time and did admit of Langton and taking the Legate to Dover with him did there signe a Bull of submission The Golden Bull. by which Bull he acknowledged his Crown to be held of the Popes Myter promising to pay yeerly 1000 marks for England and Ireland to his Holinesse and his successours for ever which promise might have been performed as to that payment would that yeerly stipend have satisfied the Popes and have been allowed as a free donation like to the former grants of Iva offa and Ethelwolf of the yeerly Peter-pence But 't was not that he looked for The crafty Pope having thus wrought his ends against King John got double honour by his enterprise for by his peace made with King John he had utterly spoiled the ground of the French King his Quarrell his Army being raised upon the Score of the Holy Church which the Pope declaring his peace with K. John the French King Philip in great choller partly for that he was thus deluded and partly for that he had lost his Navie which the Ear I of Salisbury had set on fire in the Haven at Calice did retire he now being out of hopes by this Quarrell any further to promote his own interest in respect he found defections at home not onely the English but his own subjects not being willing to engage in a nationall quarrell against England besides the discords of England by this peace made with the Pope being reconciled all hopes of prevailing against K. John forsook him and in a discontented mind rage he retired back to Paris And thus the Pope at once fooled two Kings for the Bull of delusion which was thrown at King John did rebound into the face of King Philip the same Instrument that was
be taxed for negligence herein so neither hath she heretofore been careless in this point It is true according to that of S. Paul 1 Cor. 11.19 that there must be heresies that they which are approved might be known But she was never wanting friendly to admonish and with motherly reasons to perswade her Christian sons to obedience as witnesseth the several publike Conserences had at Hampton and elsewhere which was all that of her self she was able to do Bishops cannot reform without approhation from the Parliament She may decree things in her Convocation and Church-assemblies but they are no binding Rules by the Laws of the Land without the approbation of the Civil power and therefore is it ordinarily that the Convocation sits when there is a Parliament that if there be any new Rules of Faith to be declared they may receive the approbation and allowance of the Temporal Magistrate by force whereof they become obligatory to the people As for the Bishops their sitting in Parliament they do not sit there as Bishops to judge but as Barons they judge as Bishops they onely advise left any Moral Law be made repugnant to Gods Word and so likewise the Judges sit in Parliament to advise lest any new Law be made either in it self irregular or contradictory to the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom but neither the Bishops as Bishops or the Judges sit in Parliament as Judges to decree and vote in the legislation of any new Rule Whereas in old Presidents it is said By assent of the King Bishops siâ— as Barons not as Bishops in Parliament by the advice of the Lords spiritual and temporal c. it is not hereby to be understood that as Spiritual Lords they judged in the making of the Municipal Law onely they were named before the Temporal Lords for that they were the greater number and all Barons or Peers were alike The Bishops Abbots and Priors which had Baronies annexed to them were far exceeding the number of the Temporal Lords as may appear by ancient Rolls there were 27 Abbots and 2 Priors which had Baronies annexed to their Spiritualties by vertue whereof both they and the Bishops which likewise had Baronies annexed to their Sees sate on Parliament in a distinct capacity from the Spiritualty as to the matter of Judicature Now that they were the greater number appears by this The Abbots Priors and Bishops which held by Barony were fifty and there were but few Noble-men of the Laity there were none or few Earls but of the Blood Royal Noble-men in England and therefore to this day they are termed by the Kings Writs Consanguinei nostri in after-time they were made more common insomuch that whereas Alfred had divided the Kingdom into Shires and committed the Government of every Shire and appointed a Lieutenant to every Shire to govern it and to rule and controul the outrageous subjects at home as well as to defend it from forraign enemies That Officer in after-times became a Count and the country over which he was appointed Governour was called a County which since was changed the King taking from the Earl or Count that power he not liking that this power should remain main in one hereditary and which had it not immediately from himself And because the Earl to whom such charge was committed was not so ready to be corrected if he did amiss and that the administration of justice might immediately proceed from the King himself it was therefore taken from the Earl and given to one yeerly appointed thereto who because he did execute that power which the Earl formerly had is called Vice-comes quia vicem Comit is suppleat Mirror cap. 1. sect 3. By which it appears that there were not many Peers of the Laytie And as for any other degrees of Nobility as Duke Marquess Nobility in England or Viscount they were but puisne names of titular dignity and doth not make them Peers or Judges of Parliament unless they have Baronies annexed to them as it is resolved by the Law of England 14 H. 4.7 and therefore in Parliament all Peers votes are equal without distinction of their titular dignities For as for the name Duke there was none in England after the Conquest before the Black Prince Edward son of Rich. 2. nor any Marquess before Robert Earl of Oxford was made Marquess of Dublin by R. 2. nor any Viscount before John de bello monte was made Viscount Bellamont or Beaumont by H. 6. By which it is manifest that the Nobility was but few in ancient time and therefore the Lords Spiritual being the greater number of Peers are named before the Lords Temporal not that they either have any superiority in Judicature or that they sit there as Judges in their Spiritual capacity as may likewise appear by Roll of Parliament 18 H. 3. m. 17. The Bishops sitting in a Convocation at Gloucester were inhibited to meddle of the Temporal state of the King or his Nobles c. upon pain of having their Baronies confiscate for they had distinct capacities as they are Bishops they were not to meddle with Temporal affairs wherefore were they inhibited in that Assembly at Gloucester which was meerly of spiritual men to proceed in matters temporal and as they are Barons and therefore sit in Parliament they may not there judge of things spiritual all transactions of that nature being to receive debate in the Convocation of the Clergie Wherefore it may not be laid to the charge of the Bishops that they sitting in Parliament did not reform the Schisms in the Church for that they were not proper Judges thereof as they sate in Parliament but onely when they sate in the Convocation which Convocation was prevented to be convened according to the old Rules and Customs of this Nation by the popular sort which then not knowing what they would have at all adventure cried down Episcopacie and having pulled down that stately glorious fabrick all that ever the then-busie Reformers could frame out of the timber of the old building was but to patch and cobble up a Presbyterian cottage and that so weakly joynted and set together that it was judged by the most of them that it could not stand above three yeers A pitiful change It is an evil bird defiles its own nest and must our English Sion which was the glory of this Land and the envie of other Nations be made a scorn unto her enemies by her own adopted sons If children live honestly says Solomon Ecclus 22. they shall put away the shame of their parents but if they be proud with haughtiness and foolishness they defile the nobility of their own kindred Wherefore I humbly beg of the chief Governours and Rulers of the people to reflect upon their mother-Church and to consider her in her sufferings to pray for her and to endeavour her peace Pray for the peace of Jerusalem they shall prosper that love her And to put to their helping
by approved of as most good and convenient And some there be which though made trim and comely by kings favours legal Liveries given by good and bounteous Princes as heirboons to them and their posterity could wish a Royal Master to go in and out before them in defence of such hereditary freedom concurring with the other in opinion That Monarchy is the best and safest Government for avoiding of factions in the Commonwealth and preserving a muâ—â—al confidence and alacrity betwixt the Magistracie and the People for that the king is but one and trusted by them and consented unto to govern whereas oftentimes in Democratical States the major part sways and perhaps disposes of particular interests when the party concerned neither ever heard of or trusted any particular man of that major part nor had any vote to elect any one of the same qualification of that major part Besides as the king is but one he is sooner perswaded to Justice and moved to Mercy then a multitude they might as well make choice of such heirs as of any other and that the rather because they had formerly prayed and in faith were perswaded that God would give righteousness to the kings son And when he is installed in the Throne notwithstanding he succeed his father yet he may not properly be said a king by descent but made so by the consent of the People Now sith the title and power of Governing is given by consenting to have such power over them I will consider how far the king and how far the people are bound each to other First for the People I conceive that sith this power of the King 〈◊〉 derived from the stipulation of the People the People on their parts as they expect to have the King to govern them with regardfulness stand firmly bound to observe their Covenant made with the King Wherefore if they submitted themselves under Absolute Kings as the kings of Judah or the Emperours of Rome c. those kings were to take their sons and appoint them to their chariots c. and shall command their servants young men c. and when they cry the Lord will not hear them for that they have covenanted for him so to do they being thereof advertised before 1 Sam. 8. and that Covenant is not to be cancelled without the Prince his allowance Plutarch records how that Lysander and Dionysius two Heathens had an Apophthegm That children were to be mockt with toys and men with oathes But I hope Christians will hearken to the holy Ghost which both by the mouth of Moses and S. Paul commands them to perform their promises as in the sight of the Lord. Moses in Numb 30.3 commands that he that makes a promise should not break it but do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth for it is saith one Vinculum animae according to that of S. Paul Gal. 3.15 Though it be but a mans covenant yet when it is confirmed no man doth abrogate it or addes any thing thereto Wherefore the people having by stipulation put themselves under that Government and that Government over them being Absolute they may nor so much as say unto that absolute king What dost thou but are as Joshua says Chap. 1.27 to obey him in all that he commands Again Kings bound As by that stipulation the People are bound to submit to the will of that Absolute Monarch so on the other side if between the King and the People when the King is appointed over them by their crowning and acclamations of Vive le Roy it be conditioned and agreed that such a king shall be over them yet nevertheless subject to such and such qualifications the king is bound to perform those unto them for it 's his Covenant and the people are onely bound by the pledge of their faith to obey him upon those terms and not else And therefore if such a king on his part break his conditions with such a people they may having power to convene a Dyet or Parliament the commencement and determination of such Assembly not depending upon the will of the Prince depose such a king and proceed to a new election and this I conceive with submission to better judgements is not against any texts of Scripture for that obedience generally enjoyned to kings in Scripture is meant of absolute Kings to whom the people having submitted themselves could upon no terms disclaim their subjection to them however every one stands bound for conscience sake to any qualified Monarch indispensably according to the condition of his stipulation to be obedient to him As the power of Kings is meerly from this stipulation with the People who put themselves in subjection to such a mans government None bound to obey onely such as promise to obey so this mutual personal Contract as it shall not extend to the heirs of the king so neither to the heir of the party promising That it doth not extend to the heir of the king is manifest because of the personal confidence of the peopole in such an one to go in and out before them and to be over them and likewise because of their personal promise onely to that king which promise if it had extended to the heir the people needed not to have met at Shechem to make Rehoboam son of Solomon king And in all countries and kingdoms the people meet and crown their new king for that he personally is to govern them and they personally submit to him which obedience had it grown from the faith pledged to the old king it had been needless to have had a meeting to make a new king I must confess that quilibet potest renunciare juri per se introducto the people may make a Covenant to be obedient to such a King and his heir and his heir by vertue of that Covenant shall be over them and according to the connditions of that stipulation both such heir as king and such people engaged as subjects are indispensably bound But yet such stipulation to obey the heir of the king doth not binde the heir of the party promising for that as I said before the power of governing the people is derived from their voluntary subjection to be under that Government which subjection is personal and bins no further then the party promising It is true that such were the conditions of the kings of Israel and Judah that by the promise of the people their sons and servants were bound that being foretold them by Samuel and so they condescending unto it it becomes de modo concessionis due and to be obeyed And thus it was with the Jews under the Romane Emperours in which respect all the Land of Jewry was bound it being taxed under Augustus Cesar Luk. 2. and this being generally proclaimed and known and the sons and servants not gainsaying it they as it were represented by their parents and masters are likewise bound to this obedience though not personally
against him As for Saul he was not cast out by Samuel Samuel onely denounced Gods will which was to him revealed how that Saul should be cast from his kingdom and he did therefore by divine appointment anoint David in his steed But notwithstanding it appears by the Scripture that although Saul stood excommunicate as being rejected of God yet he continued still king and both David and the Israelites did obey him David calling him his Lord and Anointed 1 Sam. 24.7 God forbid saith he that I should lay hands upon him for who shall smite the Lords anointed and be guiltless 1 Sam. 26.9 And the like was of Jeroboam the Priest did not impose the punishment onely denounce the judgement that was to come upon him by way of Prophecie And whereas Azariah was shut from men being a leper and his son Jotham set up to rule in his stead this doth not prove that Excommunication which the Jesuites would perswade to be the figure of the spiritual leper doth ipso facto dethrone a King Azariah continued King till his death he was called King in the 22 yeer of his Raign which was the last yeer of his Raign 2 Kin. 15. So that Jotham was not King but Vice-gerent during his fathers leprosie and then his father dying he claimed an absolute power in his own right not by vertue of his fathers seclusion And whereas Athaliah was deprived of her kingdom by Jehoiada the Priest that was by vertue of Joash whom the Priest preserved in the Temple he being the right heir and Athaliah an Usurper and murderer of old Azariahs children onely Joash escaped her bloody treachery and after that the people did adhere to make Joash their king and did promise to put themselves under his Government whereupon the high-Priest did command Athaliah the usurper to be put from the throne for that Joash was both heir in blood and had the general approbation of the people 2 King 11. They clapped their hands and said God save the king And for Elijahs withstanding King Ahab it was because of his Baalitish Prophets whom by a miracle he demonstrated to Ahab to be the cause of the famine and the drought which he shewed by prayer for rain and Ahab being herewith convinced gave consent that the Baalitesh Priests should be delivered up which by consent of the people by a publike Decree were put to death by Elijahs hands But none of these examples do prove that Priests have a right to depose Kings though the contrary may be proved that Kings deposed Priests as Saul slew Abimelech for taking part with David Joash commanded Jehoiadahs sons to be put to death and Solomon displaced Abiathar the high-Priest from his primacy and dignity for following Adonijahs faction The Scripture recites nineteen Kings of Israel and fourteen of Judah who brake the Covenant made with the Lord and followed strange gods and drave the people to apostacie yet was not one of them deposed by a Priest or a Prophet for they knew that they â—eld their authority from God not from them and therefore with David all agreed to subscribe Who can lay his hand upon the Lords anointed and be guiltless Now as there can be no proof produced from the Old Testament so much less from the New but positively and plainly to the contrary Christ himself commanding tribute to Caesar and Rom. 13. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers and 1 Tim. 2. Let prayers and supplications be made for princes and 1 Pet. 2. Submit your selves for the Lords sake whether to the king as supreme or unto governours sent by him Again Christ said to his Apostles The kings of the Gentiles bear rule and exercise dominion Vos autem non sic Luke 22.25 There must be no strivings amongst them who should be the greatest which Christ manifesteth by setting a childe amongst them Matth. 18. By all which texts of Scripture it is plain that Ministers of the Gospel and successors of the Apostles are to submit to pray for but not oppose kings neither are they to look after worldly power and lordship Christ himself denying to meddle with the dividing of the land betwixt the two brethren Luke 12. For this was praeter his business he came about Now if the Pope would be thought to be Peters successor let him follow Peters precept and let him imitate Christ who commanded Peter to follow him let him do his Masters business Let him never think to intangle himself with the temporal affairs of this world let him never think of disposing of earthly Crowns but seed his flock and instruct them in the ways of godliness that they may with meekness temperance patience and snffering attain to a crown of glory being strengthned through the might of Christ his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness Col. 1.11 For such is the will of God that by well doing they may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men 1 Pet. 2.15 Let him not think to turn Peters keys into Hercules club and when a Prince will not hearken to him he may dethrone him for he hath no warrant for his so doing And the power of the keys given to Peter did not extend to this nor may the Pope claim any such priviledge by vertue thereof When Christ said to Peter The power of the keys doth not warrant the Popes deposing of Kings Whatsoever thou shalt binde on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven He did not thereby give him power to pull down kings for that after he enjoyned Cesars tribute and Peter himself after submitted and taught rules of obedience Nor was this power given to Peter alone of binding and loosing but to the rest of the Apostles also John James Bartholomew c. had the like power as I have shewed in the second Chapter And admit Kings be so included under the power of the Keys yet that doth not prove any power in the Priest to dethrone him onely to denounce Gods judgements against his sin and to admonish him and to pray for him but he must not meddle with his Temporal Regiment nor so far extend his Ecclesiastical power as to dis-engage Subjects from their Allegiance to such a Prince for that is against the practice of the Apostles and against the precepts of Christ And certainly if the Apostles or Peter had had any such power by vertue of the Keys they would never have suffered it to have been depressed without giving testimony to the world of the injury done unto them Peter if he suffered at Rome and Paul whom all stories agree to have suffered under Domitius Nero never so much as denouncing him Ethnick or uncapable to rule because a persecutor of Christs Saints nay they were so far from this that they commanded others for conscience sake to obey Heathen Princes and that because of their power which is from God which power as
after Christ and hereupon he has quite spoyled the Doctor for by this means he has hudwinkt his marks of Romes truth to wit Antiquity Universality Unity in Doctrine c. But my Cardinal thinks to salve up this errour by another trick and that almost as gross as this onely this reflects upon the Divinity that upon the Apostles personally He takes upon him to make known to us what was the secret opinion of Peter and Paul c. which have suffered for Religion to wit that they suffered because they wanted power to resist not that it was the will of God they should do so and so he makes the blessed Apostles and holy Martyrs dissemblers speaking one thing and thinking another For saith he as soon as a Prince begins to appear heretical ipso facto though Excommunication be not denounced he shall be put from his Kingdom for as Fame so Heresie gathers strength by going forward Which Axiome of his is verified in this for that since he wrote Bellarmine plows with his heifer and perswades the same Doctrine So that hereby S. Paul is accused of dissimulation That he should bid the Romanes obey for fashion-sake to please the times and so he makes the blessed Apostle an object of scorn not pity That he should be a time-server and yet play his cards so badly that he could not humour Domitius Nero better Is it likely that the Apostles would have commanded others to pray for them if they would have taken their blood if they could Unless these Cardinals would have them like the Presbyters of England who prayed for King Charles whilst their Armies kept him in prison or like Charles the fifth who commanded prayers to be made for Clement the seventh his deliverance and suffered his own Bands to confine him Is it likely S. Peter preaching the Word would bid them submit which Word he said should endure for ever 1 Pet. 1.25 even that Word which was preached amongst them if he knew that it was lawful for them to resist if they had power This were to ascribe want of faith to Peter that God would never deliver his Church out of the hands of Persecutors but suffer her to be always under Tyrants or else that Peter taught one thing and thought another And why should both Peter and Paul press this duty of obedience and submission and that not for wrath but for conscience sake were it lawful to resist This affertion of the Cardinal is therefore gross and impious It is plain by the Scripture that this duty of submission to the Civil power was a precept enjoyned by God not proceeding from any fear the production of a base nature And whenas Paul and Peter did practise and recommend this duty to others it was to give a testimony of their faith in Jesus who as he had laid down his life for them who wanted no power to have withstood the Jews he might have commanded legions of Angels to have come and rescued him out of their hands in obedience to the will of the Father so they as obedient sons of Christ Jesus whom he had in his blood adopted would according to his precepts and example lay down their lives for the testimony of the Gospel Solomon forbade that any should curse the King secretly in his conscience which sure he never would have done if it had been lawful having power to cast him off Saint Jude calls them filthy dreamers that speak evil of Government and despise such as be in Authority I wonder what he would think of those two Cardinals were he alive who would have the Pope drive Kings out of their Kingdomes if he can There are some Roman Catholicks who being with Agrippa half perswaded to be Christians and being touched in Conscience decline these gross absudities of Allen and Bellarmine as being pernitious and tending to the injury of Christ and his A postles and the holy Scripture and in that injurious to the holy Ghost Scripture being nothing else but the dictates of that holy Spirit But yet for all that they are so bewitched to the Roman Faith out of a blind conceit of its Antiquity and therefore of its truth that they will not leave her but strive to justifie her in all things and to excuse this point for that it is a point controverted by some of their owne Church and not yet decreed by any publique Councel nor ever must it be decided may the Pope chuse Besides should it be referred to a Councel there is no credit to be given to the result of that Councel for that none must sit there but such as first must swear to maintain the Pope in the very point to be controverted and so it would be coram non judice or if it should be decreed against his holiness yet by the prerogatives Spiritual of his late Laterane and Trent-assemblies he might notwithstanding repeal that Decree or chuse to obey it for that he is by them declared to be above Councels And till this be rectified this error can receive no reformation from a Councel nor can any satisfaction from thence redound to clear the scruples of any mans conscience in this particular In the mean time Popery is like the Religion of the Pharisees Councels declare one thing de fide the Pope is found contrary de facto so that as our Saviour said of the Pharisees Matth. 23.3 so say I of these Roman Catholicks All that such a Councel should so decree observe and keep but after their works do not for they say and do not The last shift that the Jesuites have to maintain this point of Papal prerogative is The Pope 〈◊〉 a temporal Prince that the Pope is more then the Apostles having acquired a Principality on earth and so by Jus belli he may pull downe one Prince and set up another for say they the Apostles had no charge but onely to preach the Gospel but his holiness the Pope has other fish to fry then what Saint Peter left him he is a temporal Prince he weares a triple Crown he disposes of Kingdomes Crowns Emperours Grants Dispensations sends Indulgences receives Appeals answers Ambassadours takes Homages releases Oaths dissolves Leagues interposes in the Election of Princes has an Emperour to hold his stirrop bring up his first dish a King to serve him at Dinner and many a glorious matter more which Saint Peter never dreamed on so that for him to depose Kings he being more then ever Peter was is no such a strange thing To which I answer 'T is strange so great a Potentate should be thrust up into so little a Corner of the Earth as the Territories of the Papacie are and yet that his Jurisdiction over other Princes should be of such vast latitude I perswade my self that as our Saviour said a Prophet is nothing worth in his owne Country so the Popes power is made more glorious afar off then it is in Italy taken to be whence it is that
he is bearded and confronted by his neighbouring petty Princes and puisne States and it is an observation that his thundering excommunions are forceless where they meet with resistance so that this his greatness is caused through the debased Spirits of other Princes that suffer him to tyrannize over them not that he has any right or due so to do whether in relation to any temporal title or in reference to any Spiritual claim It remains therefore to examine how he can derive any right of title to make other Crowns as it were Homagers and holden of his holiness and that he has an Universal power to dispose of them Baronius and others affirm this power to be inherent in the Pope The Popepower to depose Kings is in ordine ad spiritualia and absolutely in him as he is Pope But Card. Bellarmin sayes it is in ordine ad spiritualia for saith he although he be not the Lord of all temporalties directly and as Pope hath absolute power to dethorne Kings yet saith he it is in him indirectly that is in order to the Spiritualties he being universal head of the Catholick Church Bellarmine by this distinction has quite overthrowne the Popes direct Authority for the Pope is no otherwise spiritual Vicar but as he is Pope and if he cannot as Pope dethrone Kings he cannot do it as Universal Vicar That this power is not in ordine ad spiritualia of right belonging to the Priest I have already proved in the fourth Chapter and by what follows Ante ch 4. where I have proved that Kings are vicarii summum infra regna And I may further add these examples out of the Scripture Infra ch 14 The Israelites obeyed Nebuchadonosor Pharaoh and Cyrus in matters of Spiritual services Moses and Aaron did offer Sacrifice unto the Lord by the Kings appointment Moses was their spiritual Governour yet in the fifth of Exodus he desired of Pharaoh that he as well as the people might have leave to go and offer Sacrifice It was the duty of the Priest so to do it was their Office and yet they asked the King leave that they might at such a time do it Kings have spiritual power The commandment of Cyrus was in a cause meerly Ecclesiastical to wit the building of the Lords House and the transporting thither the Consecrate Vessels and the Priests and Levites at his appointment went and without that refused it Ezra 1. I might produce many examples more to prove that the power of spiritual things belongs to the King as to govern and command the Priests But sith the Papists differ among themselves and cannot agree how the power over Kings should be in the Pope whether directly or indirectly others affirming that he hath it not at all as Pope I will try whether he can claim it as Prince Franciscus a Victoria de potest Eccl. relect 1. sect 6. saith that many absurd things have been affirmed by the Popes Parasites to please him Dederunt dominium papae cum ipsi essent pauperes amongst which of his flattered attributes this is the chief to depose Kings and translate Kingdomes I will now for better satisfaction to the Reader that this is an unjust practice both in the Popes exercising the power and in his Jesuites which bolster him up in so doing describe their several risings and steps of advancement towards that present Lordly state they now stand in whereby it may plainly appear that as it is already made manifest that by any divine rule he cannot claim this priviledge no more may he by vertue of any civil title arising either out of lawfulness of Custom or property by Donation And being a Spiritual man it is improper in him to plead Usage if at first not lawful as I have already said in the fourth Chapter The first means which gave an advantage to the Popes to lay hold of any Temporal dominion or rule The History of the Pope was the removing of Constantine from Rome to Constantinople which gave an occasion to the Popes to lord it over the people of Rome in the absence of the Emperour for that then there was none appointed above them and they in the absence of the Prince drew the eyes of the people upon them and that the rather because Constantine and his successors gave great respect and honor to the Bishop of Rome in honour to that City which formerly was the seat of the Empire And even as the Moon gives no shine as long as the Sun is visible in the same Horizon but he being removed thence she becomes a glorious Lamp and soveraign Lady over the lesser Stars so the Popes borrowing their light from the Emperour were nothing illustrious before his face but he having withdrawn the rays of his presence from the Italian clime the Pope became the onely admired Lord and Governour over the common people during the residence of the Emperours at Constantinople and did still steal by degrees into an opinion of greatness amongst the people of Rome And although Theodosius anno 399. divided the Empire to his two sons Arcadius and Honorius yet the Western Empire stood not long but like a branch slipt off the main bulk began presently to wither wanting that sap and nutriment it formerly received from its old root whilst it continued entire and unseparate from the same so that in less then fourscore yeers the Western Empire proved Occidental and setting in Augustulus for above three hundred yeers bade goodnight to the world This obscurity and privation of the lustre of the Imperial Diademe gave again opportunity to the Bishops of Rome to grope about in the dark for Rome's forsaken Sword and Scepter and making strict and diligent search at last they found out some splinters of the late Emperours Staff of Majestie which Staff was shattered into many pieces and having none to own it they became a prey to any that could lay hold first In this scattering of the Eagles Princely plumes all people strove to gather up those noble Ensignes that they might be the honorable ornaments of their own stock and families And in this general striving to share those imperial portions it happened so that the busie and stirring Visigoths laid hold of part of the Empire in Spain The Abtenes in Guien and Gascoigne The French in the rest 〈◊〉 France And in this general happacappa the Vandals in Africk the Saxons in Britain and the Herule◠in Italy shared the rest amongst them A bundle of Arrows is not easily broken but take one by one and any childe may snap it in pieces Even so whilst the Empire stood united the Pope was afraid to attempt any thing against it but now that such divisions were run upon it first making the Eagle Monster-like with two heads after that her left side being pluckt bare whilst her left eye was shut and her feathers scattered thorow all the Western parts his Holiness in these divisions assumes the