thereof since those which immediatly follow are so much derogatorie to the diuine Maiestie And againe My 6 Epist 52. writings be strengthened by the authoritie and merit of my Lord most blessed S. Peter We 7 Epist 89. beseech you to keepe the things decreed by vs through the inspiration of God and the Apostle most blessed S. Peter If 8 In serm 2. in die anniuer assum suae any thing be well done or decreed by vs If any thing be obtained of Gods mercy by daily prayers it is to be ascribed to S. Peters workes and merits whose power doeth liue and authoritie excell in his owne Sea Hee 9 Serm. 3. in die anniuer assump suae was so plentifully watered of the very fountaine of all graces that whereas he receiued many things alone yet nothing passeth ouer to any other but hee was partaker of it And in a word hee was so desirous to extoll Saint Peter that a messenger from him was an 10 Epist 24. embassage from Saint Peter 11 Epist 4. any thing done in his presence was in S. Peters presence Neither did he vse all this Rhetoricke without purpose for at that time the Patriarch of Constantinople contended with him for Primacie And in the Councell of 12 Concil Chalceden Act. 16. Can. 28. Chalcedon the Bishops sixe hundred and more gaue equall authoritie to the Patriarch of that Sea and would not admit any Priuiledge to the Sea of Rome aboue him but went against him And yet he that gaue so much to Peter tooke nothing from Caesar but gaue him both his Titles and due giuing the power of calling a Councell to the Emperour as it may appeare by these one or two places following of many If it may please your 13 Epist 9. Theodosie godlinesse to vouchsafe at our supplication to condiscend that you will command a Councell of Bishops to be holden within Italy And writing vnto the Bishop of Constantinople Because the most clement 1 Epist 16. Flan. Emperour carefull of the peace of the Church will haue a Councell to be holden albeit it euidently appeare the matter to be handled doeth in no case stand in neede of a Councell And againe Albeit 2 Epist 17. Theodosie my occasions will not permit me to be present vpon the day of the Councell of Bishops which your godlinesse hath appointed So as by this it may well appeare that hee that gaue so much to Peter gaue also to Caesar his due and prerogatiue But yet he playeth not faire play in this that euen in all these his wrong applied arguments and examples hee produceth no other witnesses but the parties themselues bringing euer the Popes sentences for approbation of their owne authoritie Now indeed for one word of his in the middest of his examples I cannot but greatly commend him that is that Martyrs ought to endure all sorts of tortures and death before they suffer one syllable to be corrupted of the Law of God Which lesson if hee and all the rest of his owne profession would apply to themselues then would not the Sacrament be administred sub vnâ specie directly contrary to Christs institution the practise of the Apostles and of the whole Primitiue Church for many hundred yeeres then would not the priuate Masses be in place of the Lordes Supper then would not the words of the 3 Bellar. de sacra Encharist lib. 4. cap. 14. Canon of the Masse be opposed to the words of S. Paul and S. Luke as our Aduersarie himselfe confesseth and cannot reconcile them nor then would not so many hundreths other traditions of men be set vp in their Church not onely as equall but euen preferred to the word of God But sure in this point I feare I haue mistaken him for I thinke hee doeth not meane by his Diuina Dogmata the word of the God of heauen but onely the Canons and Lawes of his Dominus Deus Papa otherwise all his Primacie of the Apostolike Sea would not be so much sticken vpon hauing so slender ground in the word of God And for the great feare he hath that the suddennes of the apprehension the bitternesse of the persecution the weaknesse of his aage and other such infirmities might haue been the cause of the Arch-priests fall in this I haue already sufficiently answered him hauing declared as the trewth is and as the said Blackwell himselfe will yet testifie that he tooke this Oath freely of himselfe without any inducement thereunto either Precibus or Minis But amongst all his citations Some of Sanders his worthy sayings remembred hee must not forget holy Sanderus and his visibilis Monarchia whose person and actions I did alreadie a little touch And surely who will with vnpartiall eyes reade his bookes they may well thinke that hee hath deserued well of his English Romane-Church but they can neuer thinke but that hee deserued very ill of his English Soueraigne and State Witnesse his owne books whereout I haue made choice to set downe heere these fewe sentences following as flowers pickt out of so worthy a garland 4 Sand de visib Monar lib. 6. cap. 4. Elizabeth Queene of ENGLAND doeth exercise the Priestly acte of teaching and preaching the Gospel in ENGLAND with no lesse authority then Christ himselfe or Moses euer did The supremacie of a 5 Sand de clau Dauid li. 6. c. 1. woman in Church matters is from no other then from the Deuill And of all things in generall thus he speaketh The 1 Sand. de visib Monar lib. 2. cap. 4. King that will not inthrall himselfe to the Popes authoritie be ought not to be tolerated but his Subiects ought to giue all diligence that another may be chosen in his place assoone as may be A King that is an 2 Ibidem Heretike ought to be remooued from the Kingdome that hee holdeth ouer Christians and the Bishops ought to endeauour to set vp another assoone as possibly they can Wee doe constantly 3 Ibidem affirme that all Christian Kings are so farre vnder Bishops and Priests in all matters appertaining to faith that if they shall continue in a fault against Christian Religion after one or two admonitions obstinately for that cause they may and ought to be deposed by the Bishops from their temporall authoritie they holde ouer Christians 4 Ibidem Bishops are set ouer temporall kingdomes if those kingdomes doe submit themselues to the faith of Christ We doe iustly 5 Sand. de clan Dauid li. 5. c. 2. affirme that all Secular power whether Regall or any other is of men The 6 Ibidem anoynting which is powred vpon the head of the King by the Priest doeth declare that hee is inferiour to the Priest It is altogether against the will of 7 Sand. de clan Dauid li. 5. c. 4. Christ that Christian kings should haue supremacie in the Church And whereas for the crowne and
vnking'd by deposition is not killing of a King For the present I haue one of that Iesuiticall Order in prison who hath face enough to speake this language of Ashdod and to maintaine this doctrine of the Iesuites Colledges The L. Cardinall harpes vpon the same string He can like subiection and obedience to the King whilest he sitteth King but his Holinesse must haue all power and giue order withall to hoyst him out of his Royall Seat I therefore now answer that in very deed the former passages of S. Paul and S. Peter should come nothing neere the question if the state of the question were such as he brings it made and forged in his owne shop But certes the state of the question is not whether a King may doe some acte by reason whereof hee may fall from his right or may not any longer be acknowledged for King For all our contention is concerning the Popes power to vn-authorize Princes wheras in the question framed and fitted by the L. Cardinal not a word of the Pope For were it granted and agreed on both sides that a King by election might fal from his Kingdom yet stil the knot of the question would hold whether he can be dispossessed of his Regal authoritie by any power in the Pope whether the Pope hath such fulnes of power to strip a King of those Royall robes rights and reuenewes of the Crowne which were neuer giuen him by the Pope as also by what authoritie of holy Scripture the Pope is able to beare out himselfe in this power and to make it good But here the L. Card. stoutly saith in his owne defence by way of reioinder Page 71. As one text hath Let euery soule be subiect vnto the higher powers in like maner an other text hath Obey your Prelates and be subiect vnto your Pastors for they watch ouer your soules as men that shall giue an accompt for your soules This reason is void of reason and makes against himselfe For may not Prelates be obeyed and honoured without Kings be deposed If Prelates preach the doctrine of the Cospell will they in the pulpit stirre vp subiects to rebell against Kings Moreouer whereas the vniuersall Church in these daies is diuided into so many discrepant parts that now Prelates neither doe nor can draw all one way is it not exceeding hard keeping our obedience towards God to honour them all at once with due obedience Nay is not here offered vnto me a dart out of the L. Cardinals armorie to cast at himselfe For as God chargeth all men with obedience to Kings and yet from that commaundement of God the L. Cardinall would not haue it inferred that Kings haue power to degrade Ecclesiasticall Prelates euen so God giueth charge to obey Prelates yet doeth it not follow from hence that Prelates haue power to depose Kings These two degrees of obedience agree well together and are each of them bounded with peculiar and proper limits But for so much as in this point we haue on our side the whole auncient Church which albeit she liued and groned for many aages together vnder heathen Emperours heretikes and persecuters did neuer so much as whisper a word about rebelling and falling from their Soueraigne Lords and was neuer by any mortall creature freed from the oath of allegiance to the Emperour the Cardinall is not vnwilling to graunt that ancient Chrisuans in those times were bound to performe such fidelity and allegiance for as much as the Church the Cardinall for shame durst not say the Pope then had not absolued them of their oath No doubt a pleasant dreame or a merry conceit rather to imagine the Bishop of Rome was armed with power to take away the Empire of the world from Nero or Claudius or Domitianus to whom it was not knowen whether the citie of Rome had any Bishop at all Is it not a master-iest of a straine most ridiculous to presuppose the Grand-masters and absolute Lords of the whole world had a sent so dull that they were not able to smell out and to nose things vnder their owne noses that they saw so little with other mens eies and their owne that within their capitall citie they could not spie that Soueraigne armed with ordinary and lawfull authority to degrade and to turne them out of their renowned Empire Doubtlesse the said Emperours vassals belike of the Popes Empire are to be held excused for not acknowledging and honouring the Pope in quality of their Lord as became his vassals because they did not know there was any such power in the world as after-times haue magnified and adored vnder the qualitie of Pope For the Bishops of Rome in those times were of no greater authoritie power and meanes then some of the Bishops are in these daies within my Kingdomes But certes those Popes of that primitiue aage thought it not expedient in the said times to draw their swords they exercised their power in a more mild and soft kind of carriage toward those miserable Emperours for three seuerall reasons alledged by the L. Cardinall The first because the Bishops then durst not by their censures whet and prouoke those Emperours for feare of plunging the Church in a Sea of persecutions But if I be not cleane voide of common sense this reason serueth to charge not onely the Bishops of Rome but all the auncient professors of Christ besides with deepe dissimulation and hypocrisie For it is all one as if he had professed that all their obedience to their Soueraignes was but counterfeit and extorted or wrong out of them by force that all the submissiue supplications of the auncient Fathers the assured testimonies and pledges of their allegiance humilitie and patience were but certaine formes of disguised speech proceeding not freely from the suggestions of fidelity but faintly and fainedly or at least from the strong twitches and violent conuulsions of feare Whereupon it followes that all their torments and punishments euen to the death are wrongfully honoured with the title and crowned with the crowne of Martyrdome because their patience proceeded not from their owne free choice and election but was taught by the force of necessitie as by compulsion and whereas they had not mutinously and rebelliously risen in armes to asswage the scorching heat and burning flames of tyrannicall persecuters it was not for want of will but for lacke of power Which false and forged imputation the Fathers haue cleared themselues of in their writings Tert. Apol. cap. 37. Hesterni sumus omnia restra impleuimus Tertullian in his Apologet All places are full of Christians the cities isles castles burroughs armies c. If we that are so infinite a power and multitude of men had broken from you into some remote nooke or corner of the world the cities no doubt had become naked and solitarie there had beene a dreadfull and horrible filence ouer the face of the whole Empire the great Emperours had beene driuen
that of the Workes of GOD for workes of Nature haue their roote from within vs and bring with them a radicall kinde of vertue that neuer suffers them to rest till they haue produced their fruite to perfect forme and perfection Workes of deliberation and Art haue their foundation from without vs and giue vs occasion to worke vpon them as our phantasies thinke fittest for the present time Hence proceeds it that the workes of Nature haue so few errors in them those of Art so many They of Nature so constant they of Arte so variable they of Nature so permanent they of Art so soone perish they of Nature so well accepted and approued of all they of Art accepted or reiected as it pleaseth the seuerall apprehensions of men to conceiue of them Now albeit the workes of men be of Errors so full of nature so different subiect to so many Jnterpretations published at so diuers times Yet hath it bene euer esteemed a matter commendable to collect them together and incorporate them into one Body that we may behold at once what diuers Off-springs haue proceeded from one braine and how various Conceptions the wit of man is able to afford the world To instance in a few of them beginning a little higher then the writings of ordinarie Men. The seruants of Hezekiah are commended in Scripture for collecting together the Sentences of Solomon Iesus the sonne of Sirach is praised for searching out the Copies of his Grandfathers workes But principally Ezra is had in great honour for setting in order the whole Bookes of the Old Testament and deuiding them into Chapters and Verses which before were caried along in a scroule by a continuall Series without any distinction at all S. Iohn is reported to haue searched out the Copies of the three former Euangelists and to haue added his owne for the fourth in that order as now they are extant And the Primitiue Church was curious to gather together the Epistles of the Holy Apostles which they being not able by reason of persecution perfectly to performe in euery place gaue occasion to after-times to call the authority of so many of them into question But to descend How are we bound to those who haue laboured in setting out the Counsells and Works of the Fathers together Jnsomuch that we thinke our selues as much bound to Eusebius and Hierom and of later times to Peter Crab and Erasmus and diuers others who haue laboured in that kinde as wee doe almost to the Authors themselues Traian commended Plutark for gathering the Apothegmes of wise men together Constantinus the sonne of Leo collected out of all Histories both in the East and West one Corpus Historicum which they counted an inestimable Treasure Iustinian by the helpe of Tribonianus did the like in the Lawes Gratian compiled the Decrees out of the Epistles of Popes Councells and Fathers Damascen collected into one body of Diuinitie the Sentences of the Greeke Fathers And Peter Lumbard 400. yeeres after him by his example did the like in the Latine Fathers And how doe wee labour to recouer Bookes that are lost The Bookes of Origen that amounted to sixe thousand as Epiphanius witnesseth were much laboured for by Eusebius and others The Bookes of Cicero de Repub. were much sought for by Cardinall Poole and great summes of money haue bene spent to recouer the lost Decades of Liuie Wherefore since it hath beene heretofore the practise of all aages to collect the workes of Men of worth and preserue them from perishing to labour much in recouering those that haue bene lost to giue to euery childe the owne Father to euery Booke the trew Author for there neuer had bene halfe so many birds to haue flowen about the world with false feathers if euery Author had set out his owne workes together in his owne time J hope then it shall not be now a matter of reproofe in a Seruant to trauaile in the setting foorth of the Works of his Master and for giuing you that together which before yee could hardly get asunder and for preseruing that in a Masse from perishing that might easily be lost in a Mite But while I am collecting workes one way I heare others scattering wordes as fast an other way affirming it had beene better his Maiestie had neuer written any Bookes at all and being written better they had perished with the present like Proclamations then haue remayned to Posterity For say these Men Little it befitts the Maiesty of a King to turne Clerke and to make a warre with the penne that were fitter to be fought with the Pike to spend the powers of his so exquisite an vnderstanding vpon paper which had they beene spent on powder could not but haue preuayled ere this for the Conquest of a Kingdome For a King say they to enter a Controuersie with a Scholler is as if he should fight a Combate with a Kerne he doth no more descend from his Honour in the one then he bringes vpon himselfe Disgrace by the other And since that Booke-writing is growen into a Trade It is as dishonorable for a King to write bookes as it is for him to be a Practitioner in a Profession Jf a King will needs write Let him write like a King euery Lyne a Law euery Word a Precept euery Letter a Mandate Jn good trewth I haue had my eares so oft dung through with these Obiections and the like as I know not whether I conceiued amisse of my selfe or no thinking I had more ability to answere these Calumnyes then I had patience to heare them And therefore hauing so fit opportunity J shall not let to deliuer my opinion Whether it may sorte with the Maiestie of a King to be a writer of Bookes or no. First I could neuer reade that there was any Law against it and where we haue no Law the best is to follow good Examples And many Diuines are of opinion that examples that are not contrary to any Precept doe binde vs in practise at least so farre that though they doe not inforce vs to the doing yet they warrant the deede when it is done And if Examples will serue the turne wee haue Examples enough First to beginne with the King of Kings God himselfe who as he doth all things for our good So doeth he many things for our Jmitation Jt pleased his Diuine wisedome to bee the first in this Rancke that we read of that did euer write Hee wrote and the writing was the writing saith Moses of God the maner was after the maner of engrauing the matter was in Stone cut into two Tables and the Tables were the worke of God written on both sides Diuines hold that the Heart is the principall Seate of the Soule which Soule of ours is the immediate worke of God as these Tables were the immediate worke of his owne fingers The Stone the expresse represent of the hardnesse of our heart the engrauing the worke of God so deepely impressed
is euer to argue our selues of ignorance then to accuse GOD of improuidence But if so much Scripture be lost as is alleadged farewell GOD his prouidence farewell the fidelitie of the Church to whose care was concredited the Oracles of GOD. Let vs come to the writings of Kings where we shall not incurre any danger of this controuersie that were so farre from being acted by GOD his Spirit that they were more like those Disciples of Iohn that had not heard whether there were an Holy-Ghost or no that knew nothing of GOD though they felt neuer so much of his Goodnesse that neuer beleeued his Omnipotencie though they had neuer so much experience of his Power To beginne with the Assyrians whose first Monarch was Nimrod and his chiefe Citie Babel from his time to Sardanapalus the last of that Monarchie there was no King amongst them that gaue himselfe to Letters for as their Kingdome was founded in Tyrannie so they laboured to keepe it in Barbaritie neither must we euer looke to see Learning flourish where Tyrannie beareth the Standerd for Learning hath no more a facultie to bring the minde to vnderstanding then it hath with it a power that workes the will to libertie neither of which can euer consist with Tyrannie And therefore it is no wonder that this aage affoorded no learned Kings for in that State which continued thirteene or foureteene hundred yeeres yee can scarce reade of a learned man Therefore let either Histories or Poets paint that out for a Golden aage as they please there was neuer any aage that hath left so little memory of the Golden tincture of their Witts After the time of Sardanapalus in the dayes of Phull Tiglath-Philasar and Salmanasar of whom mention is made in Scripture and to whom as it is thought Ionas preached and with whom some of the Prophets were conuersant when as these Kings came into the land of Israel as they did in the dayes of Menahem who gaue to Phul-Belochus a thousand Talents of Siluer for a Tribute And in the dayes of Hezechiah came Salmanasar and besieged Samaria three yeeres and caried away a great part of the people of the Kingdome of Israel From that time forward their Kings gaue themselues to Letters insomuch as in the dayes of Nabucodonolor who set vp the Monarchy of the Babylonians within one hundred yeeres of Salmanasar King of the Assyrians learning was in great estimation and the Kings Court was a Schoole for the best witts of the Kingdome to be bred in that they might bee able to stand before the King furnished with all learning and vnderstanding And if Stories do not intollerably deceiue vs Daniel and his companions instructed fiue great Monarches as in the trew knowledge of GOD so in the vnderstanding of all excellent Arts and Sciences Namely Nabuchodonosor Euilmerodack Baltazar Darius of the Medes and Cyrus of the Persians And it were no hard matter to proue the trewth of this out of Daniel himselfe Come to the Persians who conuersed more with the Prophets as with Ezra Nehemiah Zachary Malachy and the people that were in captiuitie we shall finde them giuen much to Letters Cyrus the first Monarch is recorded to haue written large Commentaries of all his diurnall Actions amongst those Books are found saith Esdras the Edicts of reducing of the Iewes to their Countrey He wrote diuers Letters for the same purpose to all the chiefe Cities of Asia some whereof we haue in the 11. of Iosephus Chap. the first Many things likewise are reported to haue bene written of Artaxerxes Darius and some others of those Monarches as wee may partly conceiue by the Canonicall Bookes of Ezra and Nehemiah and more by the Apocriphal Esdras who reports it to haue bene a custome of those Kings so much to delight in learning and in the sayings of wise men that they vsed for an exercise in their greatest Solemnities to haue solemne Orations made in the presence of the King and State of sundry purposes which whoso performed to the liking of the King was rewarded with the highest Preferments that so mighty a Monarch could aduance them vnto Come we to the Graecians and there we shall finde Learning in the Tropicke of Cancer at such a height as it neuer was before nor euer that we read of since And surely it is worth the obseruing that when that extarordinary Diuine Light went out humane Learning came in and the ende of the Prophets was the beginning of the Poets The last of the diuinity of the one the first of the Philosophy of the other for from the end of the Captiuity till the Comming of our Sauiour Christ the space of foure hundreth yeares and more in which there was no Prophet that euer J reade of there were so many Orators Poets and Philosophers of such singular giftes in all kindes as wee are onely their Schollers since and can neuer attaine to the Excellency of our Master Jn this time Alexander the Great was as famous for his Learning and writings as he was for his Victories He wrote to Antipater of all his owne Actions in Asia and in India as Plutark reports in his Life S. Ciprian in his Tractate of the vanitie of Jdoles saith that Alexander the Great wrote Insigne Volumen to his Mother wherein he signifies vnto her how it was tolde him by a certaine Egyptian-Priest that all the Gods of the Gentiles had bene but men And S. Augustine also in his twelft Booke De ciuitate Dei makes mention of other of the writings of Alexander to Olimpias his Mother about the Succession of the Monarchies Amongst the Kings of Syria Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes writ many Bookes and sent them into Iudea about changing the Rites and Ceremonies of the Iewes into the Religion of the Grecians The principall heades of his Bookes may be found in the Bookes of Machabes and in Iosephus Amongst the Romans which of their Emperours did not aduance his fame by Letters Iulius Caesar besides many other things writ his Commentaries after the example of Cyrus Octauius as Suetonius reportes writ many Volumes The historie of his owne life Exhortations to Philosophie Heroick Verses Epigrams Tragedies and diuers other things of whom I will only relate two Stories not impertinent to my purpose He is reported to haue bene a very diligent searcher out of all such Bookes as appertayned to the Roman-Ethnick-Religion All the Bookes Fatidicorum of Fortune-tellers that proceeded not from approued Authors both of Greeke and Latin he cast in the fire to the number of two thousand Onely he reserued the writings of the Sibills but with that choise as hee burnt all such of them as he thought to bee counterfeit J relate this Story the rather for that J thinke it were a good President for our Augustus to follow to make a diligent search of all good and profitable Authors As for all Hereticall Pamphlets slaunderous Libells and impertinent writings to commit them to Vulcane for one of
likewise you cannot without most euident and grieuous wronging of Gods Honour bind your selues by the Oath which in like maner we haue heard with very great griefe of our heart is administred vnto you of the tenor vnder-written viz. I A. B. doe trewly and sincerely acknowledge The Oath professe testifie and declare in my conscience before God and the world That our Soueraigne Lord King IAMES is lawfull King of this Realme and of all other his Maiesties Dominions and Countreyes And that the Pope neither of himselfe nor by any authority of the Church or Sea of Rome or by any other meanes with any other hath any power or authoritie to depose the King or to dispose of any of his Maiesties Kingdomes or Dominions or to authorize any forreigne Prince to inuade or annoy him or his Countreys or to discharge any of his Subiects of their Allegiance and obedience to his Maiestie or to giue Licence or leaue to any of them to beare Armes raise tumults or to offer any violence or hurt to his Maiesties Royall Person State or Gouernment or to any of his Maiesties subiects within his Maiesties Dominions Also I doe sweare from my heart that notwithstanding any declaration or sentence of Excommunication or depriuation made or granted or to be made or granted by the Pope or his successors or by any Authoritie deriued or pretended to be deriued from him or his Sea against the said King his heires or successors or any absolution of the said subiects from their obedience I will beare faith and trew Allegiance to his Maiestie his heires and successors and him and them will defend to the vttermost of my power against all conspiracies and attempts whatsoeuer which shal be made against his or their Persons their Crowne and dignitie by reason or colour of any such sentence or declaration or otherwise and will doe my best endeuour to disclose and make knowne vnto his Maiestie his heires and successors all Treasons and traiterous conspiracies which I shall know or heare of to be against him or any of them And I doe further sweare That I doe from my heart abhorre detest and abiure as impious and Hereticall this damnable doctrine and position That Princes which be excommunicated or depriued by the Pope may be deposed or murthered by their Subiects or any other whatsoeuer And I doe beleeue and in conscience am resolued that neither the Pope nor any person whatsoeuer hath power to absolue me of this Oath or any part therof which I acknowledge by good and full authoritie to bee lawfully ministred vnto mee and doe renounce all Pardons and Dispensations to the contrarie And all these things I doe plainely and sincerely acknowledge and sweare according to these expresse words by mee spoken and according to the plaine and common sense and vnderstanding of the same words without any Equiuocation or mentall euasion or secret reseruation whatsoeuer And I do make this Recognition and acknowledgment heartily willingly and trewly vpon the trew faith of a Christian So helpe me GOD. Which things since they are thus it must euidently appeare vnto you by the words themselues That such an Oath cannot be taken without hurting of the Catholike Faith and the saluation of your soules seeing it conteines many things which are flat contrary to Faith and saluation Wherefore wee doe admonish you that you doe vtterly abstaine from taking this and the like Oathes which thing wee doe the more earnestly require of you because wee haue experience of the constancie of your faith which is tried like gold in the fire of perpetuall tribulation Wee doe well know that you will cheerefully vnder-goe all kinde of cruell torments whatsoeuer yea and constantly endure death it selfe rather then you will in any thing offend the Maiestie of GOD. And this our confidence is confirmed by those things which are dayly reported vnto vs of the singular vertue valour and fortitude which in these last times doeth no lesse shine in your Martyrs then it did in the first beginning of the Church Stand therefore your loynes being girt about with veritie and hauing on the brest-plate of righteousnesse taking the shield of Faith be ye strong in the Lord and in the power of his might And let nothing hinder you Hee which will crowne you and doeth in Heauen behold your conflicts will finish the good worke which hee hath begun in you You know how hee hath promised his disciples that hee will neuer leaue them Orphanes for hee is faithfull which hath promised Hold fast therefore his correction that is being rooted and grounded in Charitie whatsoeuer ye doe whatsoeuer ye indeuour doe it with one accord in simplicitie of heart in meekenesse of Spirit without murmuring or doubting For by this doe all men know that we are the disciples of CHRIST if we haue loue one to another Which charitie as it is very greatly to be desired of all faithfull Christians So certainely is it altogether necessary for you most blessed sonnes For by this your charitie the power of the diuel is weakened who doeth so much assaile you since that power of his is especially vpheld by the contentions and disagreement of our sonnes Wee exhort you therefore by the bowels of our Lord IESVS CHRIST by whose loue we are taken out of the iawes of eternall death That aboue all things you would haue mutuall charitie among you Surely Pope Clement the eight of happy memory hath giuen you most profitable precepts of practising brotherly charitie one to another in his Letters in forme of a Breue to our welbeloued sonne M. George Arch priest of the Kingdome of England dated the 5. day of the moneth of October 1602. Put them therefore diligently in practise and be not hindered by any difficultie or doubtfulnesse We command you that ye doe exactly obserue the words of those letters and that yee take and vnderstand them simply as they sound and as they lie all power to interpret them otherwise being taken away In the meane while we will neuer cease to pray to the Father of Mercies that he would with pitie behold your afflictions and your paines And that he would keepe and defend you with his continuall protection whom wee doe gently greet with our Apostolicall Benediction Dated at Rome at S. Marke vnder the Signet of the Fisherman the tenth of the Calends of October 1606. the second yeere of our Popedome THE ANSWERE TO THE FIRST BREVE FIrst the Pope expresseth herein his sorrow for that persecution which the Catholiques sustaine for the faiths sake Wherein besides the maine vntrewth whereby I am so iniuriously vsed I must euer auow and maintaine as the trewth is according to mine owne knowledge that the late Queene of famous memory neuer punished any Papist for Religion but that their owne punishment was euer extorted out of her hands against her will by their owne misbehauiour which both the time and circumstances of her actions will manifestly make proofe of
ceased seeing I could doe you no other good to commend your labouring most painfully in the Lords Vineyard in my prayers to God And I doubt not but that I haue liued all this while in your memory and haue had some place in your prayers at the Lords Altar So therfore euen vnto this time we haue abidden as S. Iohn speaketh in the mutuall loue one of the other not by word or letter but in deed and trewth But alate message which was brought vnto vs within these few dayes of your bonds and imprisonment hath inforced mee to breake off this silence which message although it seemed heauie in regard of the losse which that Church hath receiued by their being thus depriued of the comfort of your pastorall function amongst them yet withall it seemed ioyous because you drew neere vnto the glory of Martyrdome then the which gift of God there is none more happy That you who haue fedde your flocke so many yeeres with the word and doctrine should now feed it more gloriously by the example of your patience But another heauie tidings did not a little disquiet and almost take away this ioy which immediatly followed of the aduersaries assault and peraduenture of the slip and fall of your constancie in refusing an vnlawfull Oath Neither trewly most deare brother could that Oath therefore bee lawfull because it was offered in sort tempered and modified for you know that those kinde of modifications are nothing else but sleights and subtilties of Satan that the Catholique faith touching the Primacie of the Sea Apostolike might either secretly or openly be shot at for the which faith so many worthy Martyrs euen in that very England it selfe haue resisted vnto blood For most certaine it is that in whatsoeuer words the Oath is conceiued by the aduersaries of the faith in that Kingdome it tends to this end that the Authoritie of the head of the Church in England may bee transferred from the successour of S. Peter to the successour of King Henry the eight For that which is pretended of the danger of the Kings life if the high Priest should haue the same power in England which hee hath in all other Christian Kingdomes it is altogether idle as all that haue any vnderstanding may easily perceiue For it was neuer heard of from the Churches infancie vntill this day that euer any Pope did command that any Prince though an Heretike though an Ethnike though a persecutour should be murdered or did approue of the fact when it was done by any other And why I pray you doeth onely the King of England seare that which none of all other the Princes in Christendome either doeth feare or euer did feare But as I said these vaine pretexts are but the traps and stratagemes of Satan Of which kinde I could produce not a fewe out of ancient Stories if I went about to write a Booke and not an Epistle One onely for example sake I will call to your memory S. Gregorius Nazianzenus in his first Oration against Iulian the Emperour reporteth That hee the more easily to beguile the simple Christians did insert the Images of the false gods into the pictures of the Emperour which the Romanes did vse to bow downe vnto with a ciuill kinde of reuerence so that no man could doe reuerence to the Emperours picture but withall hee must adore the Images of the false gods whereupon it came to passe that many were deceiued And if there were any that found out the Emperours craft and refused to worship his picture those were most grieuously punished as men that had contemned the Emperour in his Image Some such like thing me thinkes I see in the Oath that is offered to you which is so craftily composed that no man can detest Treason against the King and make profession of his Ciuill subiection but he must bee constramed perfidiously to denie the Primacie of the Apostolicke Sea But the seruants of Christ and especially the chiefe Priests of the Lord ought to bee so farre from taking an vnlawfull Oath where they may indamage the Faith that they ought to beware that they giue not the least suspicion of dissimulation that they haue taken it least they might seeme to haue left any example of preuarication to faithfull people Which thing that worthy Eleazar did most notably performe who would neither eate swines flesh nor so much as faine to haue eaten it although hee sawe the great torments that did hang ouer his head least as himselfe speaketh in the second Booke of the Machabees many young men might bee brought through that simulation to preuaricate with the Lawe Neither did Basil the Great by his example which is more fit for our purpose cary himselfe lesse worthily toward Valens the Emperour For as Theodoret writeth in his Historie when the Deputy of that hereticall Emperour did perswade Saint Basil that hee would not resist the Emperour for a little subtiltie of a few points of doctrine that most holy and prudent man made answere That it was not to be indured that the least syllable of Gods word should bee corrupted but rather all kind of torment was to be embraced for the maintenance of the Trewth thereof Now I suppose that there wants not amongst you who say that they are but subtilties of Opinions that are contained in the Oath that is offered to the Catholikes and that you are not to strius against the Kings Authoritie for such a little matter But there are not wanting also amongst you holy men like vnto Basil the Great which will openly auow that the very least syllable of Gods diuine Trewth is not to bee corrupted though many torments were to bee endured and death it selfe set before you Amongst whom it is meete that you should bee one or rather the Standard bearer and Generall to the rest And whatsoeuer hath beene the cause that your Constancie hath quailed whether it bee the suddainenesse of your apprehension or the bitternesse of your persecution or the imbecilitie of your old aage yet wee trust in the goodnesse of God and in your owne long continued vertue that it will come to passe that as you seeme in some part to haue imitated the fall of Peter and Marcellinus so you shall happily imitate their valour in recouering your strength and maintaining the Trewth For if you will diligently weigh the whole matter with your selfe trewly you shall see it is no small matter that is called in question by this Oath but one of the principall heads of our Faith and foundations of Catholique Religion For heare what your Apostle Saint Gregorie the Great hath written in his 24. Epistle of his 11. Booke Let not the reuerence due to the Apostolique Sea be troubled by any mans presumption for then the state of the members doeth remaine entire when the Head of the Faith is not bruised by any iniurie Therefore by Saint Gregories testimonie when they are busie about disturbing or diminishing or taking
hencefoorth I shall beare faith and trew Allegiance to the Kings Highnesse his Heires and lawfull Successours and to my power shall assist and defend all Iurisdictions Priuiledges Preeminences and Authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Highnesse his Heires and Successours or vnited and annexed to the Imperiall Crowne of the Realme So helpe me God and by the Contents of this booke And that the iniustice as well as the error of his grosse mistaking in this point may yet be more clearely discouered I haue also thought good to insert here immediatly after the Oath of Supremacie the contrary conclusions to all the points and Articles whereof this other late Oath doeth consist whereby it may appeare what vnreasonable and rebellious points hee would driue my Subiects vnto by refusing the whole body of that Oath as it is conceiued For he that shall refuse to take this Oath must of necessitie hold all or some of these propositions following That I King IAMES am not the lawfull King of this Kingdome and of all other my Dominions That the Pope by his owne authoritie may depose me If not by his owne authoritie yet by some other authoritie of the Church or of the Sea of Rome If not by some other authoritie of the Church and Sea of Rome yet by other meanes with others helpe he may depose me That the Pope may dispose of my Kingdomes and Dominions That the Pope may giue authoritie to some forreine Prince to inuade my Dominions That the Pope may discharge my Subiects of their Allegiance and Obedience to me That the Pope may giue licence to one or more of my Subiects to beare armes against me That the Pope may giue leaue to my Subiects to offer violence to my Person or to my gouernement or to some of my Subiects That if the Pope shall by Sentence excommunicate or depose mee my Subiects are not to beare Faith and Allegiance to me If the Pope shall by Sentence excommunicate or depose me my Subiects are not bound to defend with all their power my Person and Crowne If the Pope shall giue out any Sentence of Excommunication or Depriuation against me my Subiects by reason o◠that Sentence are not bound to reueale all Conspiracies and Treasons against mee which shall come to their hearing and knowledge That it is not hereticall and detestable to hold that Princes being excommunicated by the Pope may be either deposed or killed by their Subiects or any other That the Pope hath power to absolue my Subiects from this Oath or from some part thereof That this Oath is not administred to my Subiects by a full and lawfull authoritie That this Oath is to be taken with Equiuocation mentall euasion or secret reseruation and not with the heart and good will sincerely in the trew faith of a Christian man These are the trew and naturall branches of the body of this Oath The affirmatiue of all which negatiues Touching the pretended Councell of Lateran See Plat. In vita Innocen III. doe neither concerne in any case the Popes Supremacie in Spirituall causes nor yet were euer concluded and defined by any complete generall Councell to belong to the Popes authoritie and their owne schoole Doctors are at irreconciliable oddes and iarres about them And that the world may yet farther see ours and the whole States setting downe of this Oath The Oath of Allegiance confirmed by the authoritie of ancient Councels did not proceed from any new inuention of our owne but as it is warranted by the word of GOD so doeth it take the example from an Oath of Allegiance decreed a thousand yeeres agone which a famous Councell then together with diuers other Councels were so farre from condemning as the Pope now hath done this Oath as I haue thought good to set downe their owne wordes here in that purpose whereby it may appeare that I craue nothing now of my Subiects in this Oath which was not expresly and carefully commaunded then by the Councels to be obeyed without exception of persons Nay not in the very particular point of Equiuocatiō The ancient Councels prouided for Equiuocation The difference betweene the ancient Councels and the Pope counselling of the Catholiques which I in this Oath was so carefull to haue eschewed but you shall here see the said Councels in their Decrees as carefull to prouide for the eschewing of the same so as almost euery point of that action this of ours shal be found to haue relation agreeance one with the other saue onely in this that those old Councels were careful and strait in cōmanding the taking of the same whereas by the contrary he that now vanteth himselfe to be head of al Councels is as careful strait in the prohibition of all men from the taking of this Oath of Allegiance The words of the Councell be these Heare our Sentence Whosoeuer of vs Concil Tolet. 4 can 47. Anno 633. or of all the people thorowout all Spaine shall goe about by any meanes of conspiracie or practise to violate the Oath of his fidelitie which he hath taken for the preseruation of his Countrey or of the Kings life or who shall attempt to put violent handes vpon the King or to depriue him of his kingly power or that by tyrannicall presumption would vsurpe the Soueraigntie of the Kingdome Let him bee accursed in the sight of God the Father and of his Angels and let him bee made and declared a stranger from the Catholique Church which hee hath prophaned by his periurie and an aliant from the companie of all Christian people together with all the complices of his impietie because it behooueth all those that bee guiltie of the like offence to vnder-lie the like punishment Which sentence is three seuerall times together and almost in the same wordes repeated in the same Canon After this the Synode desired That this Sentence of theirs now this third time rehearsed might bee confirmed by the voyce and consent of all that were present Then the whole Clergie and people answered Whosoeuer shall cary himselfe presumptuously against this your definitiue sentence let them be Anathema maranatha that is let them bee vtterly destroyed at the Lords comming and let them and their complices haue their portion with Iudas Iscarioth Amen And in the fifth 1 Concil Tolet. 5. Can. 7. anno 636. Councell there it is decreed That this Acte touching the Oath of Allegiance shall bee repeated in euery Councell of the Bishops of Spaine The Decree is in these wordes In consideration that the mindes of men are easily inclined to euill and forgetfulnesse therefore this most holy Synode hath ordained and doeth enact That in euery Councell of the Bishops of Spaine the Decree of the generall 2 Synod Tolet 4. vniuersalis magna Synodus dicta Synod Tolet. 5. cap 2. Councell which was made for the safetie of our Princes shall bee with an audible voyce proclaimed and pronounced after the
Platina and a number of the Popes owne writers beare witnesse And 3 Lib. de Clericis Bellarmine himselfe in his booke of Controuersies cannot get it handsomely denied Nay the Popes were euen forced then to pay a certaine summe of money to the Emperours for their Confirmation And this lasted almost seuen hundreth yeeres after CHRIST witnesse 4 In Chron. ad ann 680. Sigebert and 5 In vit Agathen Anast. in vit eiusd Agath Herm. Contract ad ann 678. edit poster dist 63. c. Agathe Luitprandus with other Popish Historians And for Emperours deposing of Popes there are likewise diuers examples The Emperour 1 Luitpr Hist lib 6. ca. 10.11 Rhegino ad an 963. Platin. in vit Ioan. 13. Ottho deposed Pope Iohn the twelfth of that name for diuers crimes and vices especially of Lecherie The Emperour 2 Marianus Scot. Sigeb Abbas Vrsp ad ann 1046 Plat in vit Greg. 6. Henry the third in a short time deposed three Popes Benedict the ninth Siluester the third and Gregorie the sixt as well for the sinne of Auarice as for abusing their extraordinarie authoritie against Kings and Princes And as for KINGS that haue denied this Temporall Superioritie of Popes First wee haue the vnanime testimonie of diuers famous HISTORIOGRAPHERS for the generall of many CHRISTIAN Kingdomes As 3 Walthram Naumburz in lib. de inuest Episc Vixit circa ann 1110. Walthram testifieth That the Bishops of Spaine Scotland England Hungarie from ancient institution till this moderne noueltie had their Inuestiture by KINGS with peaceable inioyning of their Temporalities wholly and entirely and whosoeuer sayeth hee is peaceably solicitous let him peruse the liues of the Ancients and reade the Histories and hee shall vnderstand thus much And for verification of this generall Assertion wee will first beginne at the practise of the KINGS of France though not named by Walthram in this his enumeration of Kingdomes amongst whom my first witnesse shall bee that vulgarly knowne letter of 4 See Annales Franciae Nicolai Gillij in Phil. Pulchro Philip le Bel King of France to Pope Boniface the eighth the beginning whereof after a scornefull salutation is Sciat tua maxima fatuitas nos in temporalibus nemini subesse And likewise after that 5 Anno 1268. ex Arrestis Senatus Parifiens Lewes the ninth surnamed Sanctus had by a publique instrument called Pragmatica sanctio forbidden all the exactions of the Popes Court within his Realme Pope Pius 6 Ioan. Maierius lib. de Scismat Concil the second in the beginning of Lewes the eleuenth his time greatly misseliking this Decree so long before made sent his Legate to the saide King Lewes with Letters-patents vrging his promise which hee had made when hee was Dolphin of France to repeale that Sanction if euer hee came to bee King The King referreth the Legate ouer with his Letters-patents to the Councell of Paris where the matter being propounded was impugned by Iohannes Romanus the Kings Atturney with whose opinion the Vniuersitie of Paris concurring an Appeale was made from the attempts of the Pope to the next generall Councell the Cardinall departing with indignation But that the King of France and Church thereof haue euer stoken to their Gallican immunitie in denying the Pope any Temporall power ouer them and in resisting the Popes as oft as euer they prest to meddle with their Temporall power euen in the donation of Benefices the Histories are so full of them as the onely examples thereof would make vp a bigge Volume by it selfe And so farre were the Sorbonistes for the Kings and French Churches priuiledge in this point as they were wont to maintaine That if the Pope fell a quarrelling the King for that cause the Gallican Church might elect a Patriarch of their owne renouncing any obedience to the Pope And Gerson was so farre from giuing the Pope that temporall authority ouer Kings who otherwise was a deuoute Roman Catholike as hee wrote a Booke de Auferibilitate Papae not onely from the power ouer Kings but euen ouer the Church And now pretermitting all further examples of forraigne Kings actions I will onely content me at this time with some of my owne Predecessors examples of this kingdome of England that it may thereby the more clearely appeare that euen in those times when the world was fullest of darkened blindnes and ignorance the Kings of England haue oftentimes not onely repined but euen strongly resisted and withstood this temporall vsurpation and encrochment of ambitious Popes And I will first begin at 1 Matth. Paris in Henr. 1. anno 1100. King Henry the first of that name after the Conquest who after he was crowned gaue the Bishopricke of Winchester to William Gifford and forthwith inuested him into all the possessions belonging to the Bishopricke contrary to the Canons of the new Synod 2 Idem ibid. anno 1113. King Henry also gaue the Archbishopricke of Canterbury to Radulph Bishop of London and gaue him inuestiture by a Ring and a Crosiers staffe Also Pope 3 Idem ibid. anno 1119. Calixtus held a Councell at RHEMES whither King Henry had appointed certaine Bishops of ENGLAND and NORMANDIE to goe Thurstan also elected Archbishop of YORKE got leaue of the King to goe thither giuing his faith that hee would not receiue Consecration of the Pope And comming to the Synode by his liberall gifts as the fashion is wanne the ROMANES fauour and by their meanes obtained to bee consecrated at the Popes hand Which assoone as the King of ENGLAND knewe hee forbade him to come within his Dominions Moreouer King Edward the first prohibited the Abbot of 4 Ex Archiuis Regni Waltham and Deane of Pauls to collect a tenth of euery mans goods for a supply to the holy Land which the Pope by three Bulles had committed to their charge and the said Deane of Pauls compeering before the King and his Councell promised for the reuerence he did beare vnto the King not to meddle any more in that matter without the Kings good leaue and permission Here I hope a Church-man disobeyed the Pope for obedience to his Prince euen in Church matters but this new Iesuited Diuinitie was not then knowen in the world The same Edward I. impleaded the Deane of the Chappell of Vuluerhampton because the said Deane had against the priuiledges of the Kingdome giuen a Prebend of the same Chappell to one at the Popes command whereupon the said Deane compeered and put himselfe in the Kings will for his offence The said Edward I. depriued also the Bishop of Durham of all his liberties for disobeying a prohibition of the Kings So as it appeareth the Kings in those dayes thought the Church-men their Subiects though now we be taught other Seraphicall doctrine For further proofe whereof Iohn of Ibstocke was committed to the goale by the sayde King for hauing a suite in the Court of Rome seuen yeeres
is the former Vision interpreted and expounded and there is the Antichrist represented by a Woman sitting vpon that many-headed Beast because as CHRIST his trew Spouse and Church is represented by a Woman in the twelfth Chapter so here is the Head of his adulterous spouse or false Church represented also by a woman but hauing a cup full of abominations in her hand Verse 4. as her selfe is called a Whoore for her spirituall adulterie Verse 1. hauing seduced the Kings of the earth to be partakers of her Spirituall fornication Verse 2. And yet wonderfull gorgious and glorious was she in outward shew but drunken with the blood of the Saints Verse 6. by a violent persecution of them And that shee may the better bee knowen hee writeth her name vpon her forehead agreeable to her qualities A Mysterie that great Babylon the Mother of whoredomes and abominations of the earth A Mysterie is a name that belongeth vnto her two maner of wayes Verse 5. One as shee taketh it to her selfe another as shee deserueth indeed To her selfe shee taketh it in calling her selfe the visible Head of the mysticall Body of CHRIST in professing her selfe to bee the dispenser of the mysteries of GOD and by her onely must they bee expounded This great God in earth and Head of the Faith being a Mystes by his profession that is a Priest And if the obseruation of one be trew that hee had of old the word Mysterie written on his Myter then is this Prophecie very plainely accomplished Now that indeed shee deserues that name the rest of her Title doeth beare witnesse that sheweth her to bee the Mother of all the whoredomes and abominations of the earth Vers 5. and so is she vnder the pretext of holinesse a Mystery indeed of all iniquitie and abominations vnder the maske of pretended feeding of Soules deuouring Kingdomes and making Christendome swimme in blood Now after that this scarlet or bloody Beast and her Rider are described by their shape garments name and qualities the Angel doeth next interprete this vision vnto Iohn expounding vnto him what is signified both by the Beast and her Rider telling him Verse 9. the seuen heads of the Beast are seuen Hilles meaning by the situation of that Citie or seat of Empire and that they are also seuen Kings or formes of gouernment in the said Citie whereof I haue told you my conceit already As for the ten Hornes Verse 12. which hee sheweth to be tenne Kings that shall at one houre receiue their power and kingdome with the Beast I take that number of ten to be Numerus certus pro incerto euen as the number of seuen heads and ten hornes vpon the Dragon the Deuill cannot but be an vncertaine number And that hee also imitates in those ten hornes the ten hornes of the seuen headed Beast in the seuenth of Daniel and therefore I take these ten Kings to signifie all the Christian Kings and free Princes and States in generall euen you whom to I consecrate these my Labours and that of vs all he prophesieth that although our first becomming absolute and free Princes should be in one houre with the Beast for great Christian Kingdomes and Monarches did but rise and receiue their libertie by the ruines of the Ethnicke Romane Empire and at the destruction thereof and at the very time of the beginning of the planting of the Antichrist there Verse 13. and that we should for a long time continue to worship the Beast hauing one Catholike or common consenting minde in obeying her yeelding our power and authoritie vnto her and kissing her feete drinking with her in her cup of Idolatrie Verse 14. and fighting with the Lambe in the persecution of his Saints at her command that gouerneth so many Nations and people yet notwithstanding all this wee shall in the time appointed by GOD Verse 16. hauing thus fought with the Lambe Verse 16. but being ouercome by him that is conuerted by his Word wee shall then I say hate the Whore and make her desolate and make her naked by discouering her hypocrisie and false pretence of zeale and shall eate her flesh and burne her with fire And thus shall the way of the Kings of the east bee prepared Reuel 16.12 as ye heard in the sixteenth Chapter And then doeth hee subioyne the reason of this strange change in vs for saith hee GOD hath put it in their hearts to fulfill his will Verse 17. and with one consent to giue their Kingdomes to the Beast till the words of GOD be fulfilled according to that sentence of Solomon That the hearts of Kings are in the handes of GOD Prou. 21.1 to bee turned at his pleasure And hauing thus interpreted the Beast or Empire hee in a word expounds Verse 18. that by the Woman that rode vpon her or Monarch that gouerned her was meant that great Citie that reigned ouer the Kings of the earth by the Scate of the Empire pointing out the qualitie of the persons that should sit and domine there Then is the greatnesse of her fall Chap. 18. and the great lamentation that both the Kings and Merchants of the earth shall make for the same proclaimed by an other Angel in the eighteenth Chapter Verse 9.10 The Kings lamenting her fall because they liued in pleasure with her which no Kings could doe with Ethnicke Rome who conquered them by her sword for shee honoured them with Titles and dispensed with their lustes and vnlawfull marriages Verse 11 15 16 17 18. And the Merchants of the earth and all Shipmasters and traffikers vpon the Sea shall lament the fall of that great Citie which neuer had a fellow for the losse of their riches and traffique which they enioyed by her meanes Verse 12 13. And there he describeth all sorts of rich wares whereof that great Citie was the Staple for indeed shee hath a necessary vse for all such rich and glorious wares as well for ornaments to her Churches and princely Prelates as for garments and ornaments to her woodden Saints for the blessed Virgin must be dayly clothed and decked in the newest and most curious fashion though it should resemble the habit of a Curtizane And of all those rich wares Verse 13. the most precious is last named which is the Soules of men for so much bestowed vpon Masses and so much doted to this or that Cloyster of Monkes or Friers but most of all now to that irregular and incomprehensible order of Iesuites shal both redeeme his owne Soule and all his parents to the hundreth generation from broyling in the fire of Purgatory And I hope it is no small merchandise of Soules when men are so highly deluded by the hopes and promise of Saluation as to make a Frier murther his 1 Henry 3. K. of France Soueraigne a yong knaue attempt the murther of his next 2 Henry 4. Successour
not onely worke the intended remedy for the danger of Kings out of all the vertue and efficacie thereof by weakening of doctrine out of all controuersie in packing it vp with a disputable question but likewise in stead of securing the life and estate of Kings he shall draw both into farre greater hazards by the traine or sequence of warres and other calamities which vsually waite and attend on Schismes The L. Cardinall spends his whole discourse in confirmation of these foure heads which wee now intend to sift in order and demonstratiuely to prooue that all the said inconueniences are meere nullities matters of imagination and built vpon false presuppositions But before wee come to the maine the reader is to be enformed and aduertised that his Lordship setteth a false glosse vpon the question and propounds the case not onely contrary to the trewth of the subiect in controuersie but also to the Popes owne minde and meaning For he restraines the Popes power to depose Kings onely to cases of Heresie Apostasie and persecuting of the Church whereas Popes extend their power to a further distance They depose Princes for infringing or in any sort diminishing the Priuiledges of Monasteries witnesse Gregorie the first in the pretended Charter granted to the Abbey of S. Medard at Soissons the said Charter beeing annexed to his Epistles in the rere The same hee testifieth in his Epistle to Senator by name the tenth of the eleuenth booke They depose for naturall dulnesse and lacke of capacitie wether in-bred and trew indeed or onely pretended and imagined witnesse the glorious vaunt of Gregory VII that Childeric King of France was hoysted out of his Throne by Pope Zachary Caus 15. Can. Alius Qu. 6. Not so much for his wicked life as for his vnablenesse to beare the weightie burden of so great a Kingdome They depose for collating of Benefices and Prebends witnesse the great quarrels and sore contentions betweene Pope Innocent III. and Iohn King of England as also betweene Philip the Faire and Boniface VIII They depose for adulteries and Matrimoniall suites witnes Philip I. for the repudiating or casting off his lawfull wife Bertha and marrying in her place with Bertrade wife to the Earle of Aniou Paul Aemil. in Phil. 3. Finally faine would I learne into what Heresie or degree of Apostasie either Henry IV. or Frederic Barbarossa or Frederic II. Emperours were fallen when they were smitten with Papall fulminations euen to the depriuation of their Imperiall Thrones What was it for Heresie or Apostasie that Pope Martin IV. bare so hard a hand against Peter King of Arragon that he acquitted and released the Aragonnois from their oath of Alleagiance to Peter their lawfull King Was it for Heresie or Apostasie for Arrianisme or Mahumetisme that Lewis XII so good a King and Father of his Countrey was put downe by Iulius the II Was it for Heresie or Apostasie that Sixtus V. vsurped a power against Henrie III. euen so farre as to denounce him vnkingd the issue whereof was the parricide of that good King and the most wofull desolation of a most flourishing Kingdome But his Lordship best liked to worke vpon that ground which to the outward shew and appearance is the most beautifull cause that can be alleaged for the dishonouring of Kings by the weapon of deposition making himselfe to beleeue that he acted the part of an Orator before personages not much acquainted with ancient and moderne histories and such as little vnderstood the state of the question then in hand It had therefore beene a good warrant for his Lordship to haue brought some authenticall instrument from the Pope whereby the French might haue beene secured that his Holinesse renounceth all other causes auouchable for the degrading of Kings and that he will henceforth rest in the case of Heresie for the turning of Kings out of their Free-hold as also that his Holinesse by the same or like instrument might haue certified his pleasure that hee will not hereafter make himselfe Iudge whether Kings bee tainted with damnable Heresie or free from Hereticall infection For that were to make himselfe both Iudge and Plaintiffe that it might be in his power to call that doctrine Hereticall which is pure Orthodoxe and all for this end to make himselfe master of the Kingdome and there to settle a Successour who receiuing the Crowne of the Popes free gift and grant might be tyed thereby to depend altogether vpon his Holinesse Hath not Pope Boniface VIII declared in his proud Letters all those to be Heretiques that dare vndertake to affirme the collating of Prebends appertemeth to the King It was that Popes grosse errour not in the fact but in the right The like crime forsooth was by Popes imputed to the vnhappy Emperour Henrie IV. And what was the issue of the said imputation The sonne is instigated thereby to rebell against his father and to impeach the interrement of his dead corps who neuer in his life had beate his braines to trouble the sweet waters of Theologicall fountaines Annal. Beio Lib. 3. Iâ—â—â—anen Episcop It is recorded by Auentine that Bishop Virgilius was declared Heretique for teaching the Position of Antipodes The Bull Exurge marching in the rere of the last Lateran Councel sets downe this Position for one of Luthers heresies A new life is the best repentance Optima poenitentia noua vita Conc. Constan Sess 2. Among the crimes which the Councel of Constance charged Pope Iohn XXIII withall one was this that hee denied the immortalitie of the soule and that so much was publiquely manifestly and notoriously knowen Now if the Pope shall be caried by the streame of these or the like errours and in his Hereticall prauitie shall depose a King of the contrary opinion I shall hardly bee perswaded the said King is lawfully deposed THE FIRST INCONVENIENCE EXAMINED THE first inconuenience growing in the Cardinall his conceit by entertaining the Article of the third Estate whereby the Kings of France are declared to be indeposeable by any superiour power spirituall or temporall is this It offereth force to the conscience vnder the penaltie of Anathema to condemne a doctrine beleeued and practised in the Church in the continuall current of the last eleuen hundred yeeres In these words he maketh a secret confession that in the first fiue hundred yeeres the same doctrine was neither apprehended by faith nor approoued by practise Wherein to my vnderstanding the L. Cardinall voluntarily giueth ouer the suite For the Church in the time of the Apostles their disciples and successors for 500. yeeres together was no more ignorant what authoritie the Church is to challenge ouer Emperours and Kings then at any time since in any succeeding aage in which as pride hath still flowed to the height of a full Sea so puritie of religion and manners hath kept for the most part at a lowe water marke Which point is the rather to be considered for that during the first
and vile monsters This custome continued this practise stood in force for diuers aages euen vntill the times of Gregorie 7. by whom the whole West was tossed and turmoiled with lamentable warres which plagued the world and the Empire by name with intolerable troubles and mischiefes For after the said Gregorian warres the Empire fell from bad to worse and so went on to decay till Emperours at last were driuen to beg and receiue the Imperiall Crowne of the Pope The Kingdome of France met not with so rude entreatie but was dealt withall by courses of a milder temper Gregorie 4. about the yeere of the Lord 832. was the first Pope that perswaded himselfe to vse the censure of Excommunication against a King of France This Pope hauing a hand in the troublesome factions of the Realme was nothing backeward to side with the sonnes of Lewis surnamed the Courteous by wicked conspiracie entring into a desperate course and complot against Lewis their owne father as witnesseth Sigebert in these words Pope Gregorie comming into France ioyned himselfe to the sonnes against the Emperour their Father Bochel Decret Eccles Gallican lib. 2. tit 16. But Annals of the very same times and hee that furbushed Aimonius a Religious of S. Benedicts Order doe testifie that all the Bishops of France fell vpon this resolution by no meanes to rest in the Popes pleasure or to giue any place vnto his designe and contrariwise In case the Pope should proceed to Excommunication of their King hee should returne out of France to Rome an excommunicate person himselfe The Chronicle of S. Denis hath words in this forme The Lord Apostolicall returned answere that hee was not come into France for any other purpose but onely to excommunicate the King and his Bishops if they would bee in any sort opposite vnto the sonnes of Lewis or disobedient vnto the will and pleasure of his Holinesse The Prelates enformed heereof made answere that in this case they would neuer yeeld obedience to the Excommunication of the said Bishops because it was contrary to the authoritie and aduise of the ancient Canons After these times Pope Nicolas 1. depriued King Lotharius of Communion for in those times not a word of deposing to make him repudiate or quit Valdrada and to resume or take againe Thetberga his former wife The Articles framed by the French vpon this point are to bee found in the writing of Hinemarus Archbishop of Reims and are of this purport that in the iudgement of men both learned and wise it is an ouerruled case that as the King whatsoeuer hee shall doe ought not by his owne Bishops to be excommunicated euen so no forreine Bishop hath power to sit for his Iudge because the King is to be subiect onely vnto God and his Imperiall authoritie who alone had the all-sufficient power to settle him in his Kingdome Moreouer the Clergie addressed letters of answere vnto the same Pope full of stinging and bitter termes with speaches of great scorne and contempt as they are set downe by Auentine in his Annals of Bauaria Annal. Boiâ— lib. 4. not forbearing to call him thiefe wolfe and tyrant When Pope Hadrian tooke vpon him like a Lord to command Charles the Bald vpon paine of interdiction that hee should suffer the Kingdome of Lotharius to bee fully and entirely conueyed and conferred vpon Lewis his sonne the same Hincmarus a man of great authoritie and estimation in that aage sent his letters conteining sundry remonstrances touching that subiect Among other matters thus he writeth The Ecclesiastics and Seculars of the Kingdome assembled at Reims haue affirmed and now doe affirme by way of reproach vpbraiding and exprobation that neuer was the like Mandate sent before from the See of Rome to any of our predecessours And a little after The chiefe Bishops of the Apostolike See or any other Bishops of the greatest authoritie and holinesse neuer withdrew themselues from the presence from the reuerend salutation or from the conference of Empererours and Kings whether Heretikes or Schismatikes and Tyrants as Constantius the Arrian Iulianus the Apostata and Maximus the Tyrant And yet a little after Wherefore if the Apostolike Lord bee minded to seeke peace let him seeke it so that he stirre no brawles and breed no quarrels For we are no such babes to beleeue that we can or euer shall attaine to Gods Kingdome vnlesse wee receiue him for our King in earth whom God himselfe recommendeth to vs from heauen It is added by Hincmarus in the same place that by the said Bishops and Lords Temporall such threatning words were blowen forth as hee is afraid once to speake and vtter As for the King himselfe what reckoning hee made of the Popes mandates it appeareth by the Kings owne letters addressed to Pope Hadrianus as we may reade euery where in the Epistles of Hincmarus For there after King Charles hath taxed and challenged the Pope of pride and hit him in the teeth with a spirit of vsurpation hee breaketh out into these words What Hell hath cast vp this law so crosse and preposterous what infernall gulph hath disgorged this law out of the darkest and obscurest dennes a law quite contrary and altogether repugnant vnto the beaten way shewed vs in the holy Scriptures c. Yea he flatly and peremptorily forbids the Pope except he meane or desire to be recompensed with dishonour and contempt to send any more the like Mandates either to himselfe or to his Bishops Vnder the reigne of Hugo Capetus and Robert his sonne a Councell now extant in all mens hands was held and celebrated at Reims by the Kings authoritie There Arnulphus Bishop of Orleans then Prolocutor and Speaker of the Councel calls the Pope Antichrist and lets not also to paint him forth like a monster as well for the deformed and vgly vices of that vnholy See which then were in their exaltation as also because the Pope then wonne with presents and namely with certaine goodly horses then presented to his Holinesse tooke part against the King with Arnulphus Bishop of Reims then dispossessed of his Pastorall charge When Philip 1. had repudiated his wife Bertha daughter to the Earle of Holland and in her place had also taken to wife Bertrade the wife of Fulco Earle of Aniou yet being aliue hee was excommunicated and his Kingdome interdicted by Vrbanus then Pope though he was then bearded with an Antipope as the L. Cardinal here giueth vs to vnderstand But his Lordship hath skipt ouer two principall points recorded in the historie The first is that Philip was not deposed by the Pope whereupon it is to be inferred that in this passage there is nothing materiall to make for the Popes power against a Kings Throne and Scepter The other point is that by the censures of the Pope the course of obedience due to the King before was not interrupted nor the King disauowed refused or disclaimed but on the contrary that Iuo of Chartres taking Pope
the said Clergie were driuen to sue vnto the Pope for their pardon Bibliotheca Patrum Tom. 3. Hildebert Bishop of Caenomanum vpon the riuer of Sartre liuing vnder the reigne of King Philip the first affirmeth in his Epistles 40. and 75. that Kings are to bee admonished and instructed rather then punished to be dealt with by counsell rather then by command by doctrine and instruction rather then by correction For no such sword belongeth to the Church because the sword of the Church is Ecclesiasticall discipline and nothing else De consider lib. 1. cap. 6. Bernard writeth to Pope Eugenius after this manner Whosoeuer they bee that are of this mind and opinion shall neuer be able to make proofe that any one of the Apostles did euer fit in qualitie of Iudge or Diuider of lands I reade where they haue stood to bee iudged but neuer where they sate downe to giue iudgement Againe Your authoritie stretcheth vnto crimes not vnto possessions because you haue receiued the keies of the kingdome of heauen not in regard of possessions but of crimes to keepe all that pleade by couin or collusion and not lawfull possessors out of the heauenly kingdome A little after These base things of the earth are iudged by the Kings and Princes of this world wherefore doe you thrust your sickle into an others haruest wherefore doe you incroach and intrude vpon an others limits Lib. 2. cap. 6. Elsewhere The Apostles are directly forbid to make themselues Lords and rulers Goe thou then and beeing a Lord vsurpe Apostleship or beeing an Apostle vsurpe Lordship If thou needes wilt haue both doubtlesse thou shalt haue neither Iohannes Maior Doctor of Paris Dist 24. quest 3 The Soueraigne Bishop hath no temporall authoritie ouer Kings The reason Because it followes the contrarie being once granted that Kings are the Popes vassals Now let other men iudge whether he that hath power to dispossesse Kings of all their Temporalties hath not likewise authoritie ouer their Temporalties The same Author Comment in l. 4. Sent. Dist 24 fol. 214. The Pope hath no manner of title ouer the French or Spanish Kings in temporall matters Where it is further added That Pope Innocent 3. hath beene pleased to testifie that Kings of France in Temporall causes doe acknowledge no superiour For so the Pope excused himselfe to a certaine Lord of Montpellier who in stead of suing to the King had petitioned to the Pope for a dispensation for his bastard But perhaps as he speaketh it will be alledged out of the glosse that hee acknowledgeth no superiour by fact and yet ought by right But I tell you the glosse is an Aurelian glosse which marres the text Amongst other arguments Maior brings this for one This opinion ministreth matter vnto Popes to take away an others Empire by force and violence which the Pope shall neuer bring to passe as we reade of Boniface 8. against Philip the Faire Saith besides That from hence proceede warres in time of which many outragious mischiefes are done and that Gerson calls them egregious flatterers by whom such opinion is maintained In the same place Maior denies that Childeric was deposed by Pope Zacharie The word Hee deposed saith Maior is not so to bee vnderstood as it is taken at the first blush or fight but hee deposed is thus expounded in the glosse Hee gaue his consent vnto those by whom he was deposed Iohn of Paris De potest Regia Papali cap. 10. Were it graunted that Christ was armed with Temporall power yet he committed no such power to Peter A little after The power of Kings is the highest power vpon earth in Temporall causes it hath no superiour power aboue it selfe no more then the Pope hath in spirituall matters This author saith indeede the Pope hath power to excommunicate the King but he speaketh not of any power in the Pope to put downe the King from his regall dignity and authority He onely saith When a Prince is once excommunicated hee may accidentally or by occasion be deposed because his precedent excommunication incites the people to disarme him of all secular dignity and power The same Iohn on the other side holdeth opinion that in the Emperour there is inuested a power to depose the Pope in case the Pope shall abuse his power Almainus Doctor of the Sorbonic schoole Almain de potesi Eccl Laica Quest 3. cap. 8. De deminio naturali ciuil Eccl. 5. vlt. pars It is essentiall in the Lay-power to inflict ciuill punishment as death banishment and priuation or losse of goods But according to diuine institution the power Ecclesiasticall can lay no such punishment vpon delinquents nay more not lay in prison as to some Doctors it seemeth probable but stretcheth and reacheth onely to spirituall punishment as namely to excommunication all other punishments inflicted by the spirituall power are meerely by the Lawe positiue If then Ecclesiasticall power by Gods Lawe hath no authoritie to depriue any priuate man of his goods how dares the Pope and his flatterers build their power to depriue Kings of their scepters vpon the word of God The same author in an other place Quaest 1. de potest Eccles laic c. 12. 14 Bee it graunted that Constantine had power to giue the Empire vnto the Pope yet is it not hereupon to bee inferred that Popes haue authority ouer the Kingdome of France because that Kingdome was neuer subiect vnto Constantine For the King of France neuer had any superiour in Temporall matters A little after It is not in any place to bee found that God hath giuen the Pope power to make and vnmake Temporall Kings He maintaineth elsewhere that Zacharie did not depose Childeric Quaest 2. c. 8. sic nond posuit autoruat 〈◊〉 but onely consented to his deposing and so deposed him not as by authoritie In the same booke taking vp the words of Occam whom he styles the Doctor The Emperour is the Popes Lord in things Temporall and the Pope calls him Lord Quae. 3. c. 2. Quaest 11. can Sacerd. as it is witnessed in the body of the Text. The Lord Cardinall hath dissembled and concealed these words of Doctor Almainus with many like places and hath beene pleased to alledge Almainus reciting Occams authoritie in stead of quoting Almainus himselfe in those passages where he speaketh as out of his owne opinion and in his owne words A notable piece of slie and cunning conueiance For what heresie may not be fathered and fastened vpon S. Augustine or S. Hierome if they should be deemed to approoue all the passages which they alledge out of other authors And that is the reason wherefore the L. Cardinall doeth not alledge his testimonies whole and perfect as they are couched in their proper texts but clipt and curtaild Thus he dealeth euen in the first passage or testimonie of Almainus he brings it in mangled and pared he hides and conceales
be more cruel or more voyd of reason then to seeke to stop the strong and violent streame of tyrannie by sedition These words me thinke doe make very strongly and expresly against butchering euen of Tyrannical Kings And whereas a little after the said passage he teacheth to expell Tyrannie he hath not a word of expelling the Tyrant but onely of breaking and shaking off the yoke of Tyrannie Yet for all that he would not haue the remedies for the repressing of Tyrannie to be fetcht from the Pope who presumeth to degrade Kings but from Philosophers Lawyers Diuines and personages of good conuersation It appeareth now by all that hath bin said before that whereas Gerson in the 7. Considerat against Flatterers doeth affirme Whensoeuer the Prince doeth manifestly pursue and prosecute his naturall subiects and shew himselfe obstinately bent with notorious iniustice to vexe them of set purpose and with full consent so farre as to the fact then this rule and law of Nature doeth take place It is lawfull to resist and repell force by force and the sentence of Seneca There is no sacrifice more acceptable to God then a tyrant offered in sacrifice the words doeth take place are so to be vnderstood as he speaketh in another passage to wit with or amongst seditious persons Or else the words doeth take place doe onely signifie is put in practise And so Gerson there speaketh not as out of his owne iudgement His Lordship also should not haue balked and left out Sigebertus who with more reason might haue passed for French then Thomas and Occam whom hee putteth vpon vs for French Sigebertus in his Chronicle vpon the yeere 1088. speaking of the Emperours deposing by the Pope hath words of this tenour This Heresie was not crept out of the shell in those dayes that his Priests who hath said to the King Apostata and maketh an hypocrite to rule for the sinnes of the people should teach the people they owe no subiection vnto wicked Kings nor any alleagiance notwithstanding they haue taken the oath of alleagiance Now after the L. Cardinal hath coursed in this maner through the histories of the last aages which in case they all made for his purpose doe lacke the weight of authority in stead of searching the will of God in the sacred Oracles of his word and standing vpon examples of the ancient Church at last leauing the troupe of his owne allegations he betakes himselfe to the sharpening and rebating of the points of his aduersaries weapons For the purpose he brings in his aduersaries the champions of Kings Crownes makes them to speake out of his own mouth for his Lordship saith it will be obiected after this maner Pag. 52. sequentibus It may come to passe that Popes either caried with passion or misled by sinister information may without iust cause fasten vpon Kings the imputation of heresie or apostasie Then for King-deposers he frames this answere That by heresie they vnderstand notorious heresie and formerly condemned by sentence of the Church Moreouer in case the Pope hath erred in the fact it is the Clergies part adhering to their King to make remonstrances vnto the Pope and to require the cause may be referred to the iudgement of a full Councel the French Church then and there being present Now in this answere the L. Cardinall is of another mind then Bellarmine his brother Cardinall Aduers Barclaium For hee goes thus farre That a Prince condemned by vniust sentence of the Pope ought neuerthelesse to quit his Kingdome and that his Pastors vniust sentence shall not redound to his detriment prouided that hee giue way to the said sentence and shew himselfe not refractarie but stay the time in patience vntil the holy Father shall renounce his error and reuoke his foresaid vniust sentence In which case these two material points are to be presupposed The one That he who now hath seized the kingdome of the Prince displaced wil forthwith if the Pope shall sollicit and intercede returne the Kingdome to the hand of the late possessor The other That in the interim the Prince vniustly deposed shall not need to feare the bloody murderers mercilesse blade and weapon But on the other side the Popes power of so large a size as Bellarmine hath shaped is no whit pleasing to the L. Cardinals eye For in case the King should be vniustly deposed by the Pope not well informed he is not of the minde the Kingdome should stoupe to the Popes behests but will rather haue the Kingdome to deale by remonstrance and to referre the cause vnto the Council Wherein he makes the Council to be of more absolute and supreme authority then the Pope a straine to which the holy father will neuer lend his eare And yet doubtlesse the Council required in this case must be vniuersall wherein the French for so much as they stand firme for the King and his cause can be no Iudges and in that regard the L. Cardinal requireth onely the presence of the French Church Who seeth not here into what pickle the French cause is brought by this meanes The Bishops of Italie forsooth of Spaine of Sicilie of Germanie the subiects of Soueraignes many times at professed or priuie enmitie with France shall haue the cause compremitted and referred to their iudgement whether the Kindome of France shall driue out her Kings and shall kindle the flames of seditious troubles in the very heart and bowels of the Realme But is it not possible that a King may lacke the loue of his owne subiects and they taking the vantage of that occasion may put him to his trumps in his owne Kingdome Is it not possible that calumniations whereby a credulous Pope hath beene seduced may in like maner deceiue some part of a credulous people Is it not possible that one part of the people may cleaue to the Popes Faction another may hold and stand out for the Kings rightfull cause and ciuill warres may be kindled by the splene of these two sides Is it not possible that his Holinesse will not rest in the remonstrances of the French and will no further pursue his cause And whereas now a dayes a Generall Councill cannot be held except it be called and assembled by the Popes authority is it credible the Pope will take order for the conuocation of a Council by whom he shall be iudged And how can the Pope be President in a Councill where himselfe is the party impleaded and to whom the sifting of his owne sentence is referred as it were to Committies to examine whether it was denounced according to Law or against Iustice But in the meane time whilest all these remonstrances and addresses of the Council are on foot behold the Royall Maiestie of the King hangeth as it were by loose gimmals and must stay the iudgement of the Council to whom it is referred Well what if the Councill should happe to be two or three yeeres in assembling and
the Oath of Allegiance Doeth not his Holinesse by this meanes draw so much as in him lyeth persecution vpon the backes of my Papists as vpon rebels and expose their life as it were vpon the open stall to be sold at a very easie price All these examples either ioynt or seuerall are manifest and euident proofes that feare to draw mischiefe and persecution vpon the Church hath not barred the Popes from thundering against Emperours and Kings whensoeuer they conceiued any hope by their fulminations to aduance their greatnesse Last of all I referre the matter to the most possessed with preiudice euen the very aduersaries whether this doctrine by which people are trained vp in subiection vnto Infidel or hereticall Kings vntill the subiects be of sufficient strength to mate their Kings to expell their Kings and to depose them from their Kingdomes doth not incense the Turkish Emperours and other Infidell Princes to roote out all the Christians that drawe in their yoke as people that waite onely for a fit occasion to rebell and to take themselues ingaged for obedience to their Lords onely by constraint and seruile feare Let vs therefore now conclude with Ozius in that famous Epistle speaking to Constantius an Arrian heretike Apud Athanâ—in Eâ—â—st ad solitâ—â— vitam aâ—gentes As hee that by secret practise or open violence would bereaue thee of thy Empire should violate Gods ordinance so bee thou touched with feare least by vsurping authoritie ouer Church matters thou tumble not headlong into some hainous crime Where this holy Bishop hath not vouchsafed to insert and mention the L. Cardinals exception to wit the right of the Church alwaies excepted and saued when she shall be of sufficient strength to shake off the yoke of Emperours Neither speaks the same holy Bishop of priuate persons alone or men of some particular condition and calling but hee setteth downe a generall rule for all degrees neuer to impeach Imperiall Maiestie vpon any pretext whatsoeuer As his Lordships first reason drawne from weakenesse is exceeding weake so is that which the L. Cardinall takes vp in the next place The 2. reas Pag. 77. He telleth vs there is very great difference betweene Pagan Emperours and Christian Princes Pagan Emperours who neuer did homage to Christ who neuer were by their subiects receiued with condition to acknowledge perpetuall subiection vnto the Empire of Christ who neuer were bound by oath and mutuall contract betweene Prince and subiect Christian Princes who slide backe by Apostasie degenerate by Arrianisme or fall away by Mahometisme Touching the latter of these two as his Lordshippe saith If they shall as it were take an oath and make a vowe contrary to their first oath and vow made and taken when they were installed and contrary to the condition vnder which they receiued the Scepter of their Fathers if they withall shall turne persecutors of the Catholike religion touching these I say the L. Cardinal holds that without question they may bee remooued from their Kingdomes He telleth vs not by whom but euery where he meaneth by the Pope Touching Kings deposed by the Pope vnder pretence of stupidity as Childeric or of matrimoniall causes as Philip I. or for collating of benefices as Philip the Faire not one word By that point he easily glideth and shuffles it vp in silence for feare of distasting the Pope on the one side or his auditors on the other Now in alledging this reason his Lordship makes all the world a witnes that in deposing of Kings the Pope hath no eye of regard to the benefit and securitie of the Church For such Princes as neuer suckt other milke then that of Infidelitie and persecution of Religion are no lesse noisome and pernicious vermin to the Church then if they had sucked of the Churches breasts And as for the greatnesse of the sinne or offence it seemes to me there is very little difference in the matter For a Prince that neuer did sweare any religious obedience to Iesus Christ is bound no lesse to such obedience then if he had taken a solemne oath As the sonne that rebelliously stands vp against his father is in equall degree of sinne whether he hath sworne or not sworne obedience to his father because he is bound to such obedience not by any voluntarie contract or couenant but by the law of Nature The commaundement of God to kisse the Sonne whom the Father hath confirmed and ratified King of Kings doeth equally bind all Kings as well Pagans as Christians On the other side who denies who doubts that Constantius Emperour at his first steppe or entrance into the Empire did not sweare and bind himselfe by solemne vowe to keepe the rules and to maintaine the precepts of the Orthodox faith or that he did not receiue his fathers Empire vpon such condition This notwithstanding the Bishop of Rome pulled not Constantius from his Imperiall throne but Constantius remooued the Bishop of Rome from his Papall See And were it so that an oath taken by a King at his consecration and after violated is a sufficient cause for the Pope to depose an Apostate or hereticall Prince then by good consequence the Pope may in like sort depose a King who beeing neither dead in Apostasie nor sicke of Heresie doeth neglect onely the due administration of iustice to his loyall subiects For his oath taken at consecration importeth likewise that he shall minister iustice to his people A point wherein the holy Father is held short by the L. Cardinall who dares prescribe new lawes to the Pope and presumes to limit his fulnesse of power within certaine meeres and head-lands extending the Popes power only to the deposing of Christian Kings when they turne Apostats forsaking the Catholike faith and not such Princes as neuer breathed any thing but pure Paganisme and neuer serued vnder the colours of Iesus Christ Meane while his Lordship forgets that King Attabaliba was deposed by the Pope from his Kingdome of Peru and the said Kingdome was conferred vpon the King of Spaine though the said poore King of Peru neuer forsooke his heathen superstition and though the turning of him out of his terrestriall Kingdome was no way to conuert him vnto the faith of Christ Pag. 77. Yea his Lordship a little after telleth vs himselfe that Be the Turkes possession in the conquests that he maketh ouer Christians neuer so auncient yet by no long tract of time whatsoeuer can he gaine so much as a thumbes breadth of prescription that is to say the Turke for all that is but a disseisor one that violently and wilfully keeps an other man from his owne and by good right may be dispossessed of the same whereas notwithstanding the Turkish Emperours neuer fauoured nor sauoured Christianitie Let vs runne ouer the examples of Kings whom the Pope hath dared and presumed to depose and hardly will any one be found of whom it may be trewly auouched that he hath taken an oath
the peace of his Kingdome will beare in mind the great and faithfull seruice of those who in matter of religion dissent from his Maiestie as of the onely men that haue preserued and saued the Crowne for the King his father of most glorious memorie I am perswaded my brother of France wil beleeue that his liege people pretended by the L. Cardinall to bee heretikes are not halfe so bad as my Romane Catholike subiects who by secret practises vndermine my life serue a forreine Souereigne are discharged by his Bulls of their obedience due to me their naturall Souereigne are bound by the maximes and rules published and maintained in fauour of the Pope before this full and famous assemblie of the Estate at Paris if the said maximes be of any weight and authoritie to hold mee for no lawfull King are there taught and instructed that Pauls commandemement concerning subiection vnto the higher Powers aduerse to their professed religion is onely a prouisionall precept framed to the times and watching for the opportunitie to shake off the yoake All which notwithstanding I deale with such Romane-Catholikes by the rules and wayes of Princely clemencie their heinous and pernicious error in effect no lesse then the capitall crime of high treason I vse to call some disease or distemper of the mind Last of all I beleeue my said brother of France will set downe in his tables as in record how little hee standeth ingaged to the L. Cardinall in this behalfe For those of the reformed Religion professe and proclaime that next vnder God they owe their preseruation and safetie to the wisedome and benignity of their Kings But now comes the Cardinall and he seekes to steale this perswasion out of their hearts He tells them in open Parliament and without any going about bushes that all their welfare and securitie standeth in their multitude and in the feare which others conceiue to trouble the State by the strict execution of lawes against Heretikes He addeth moreouer Note by the way that here the Church of Rome is called a Sect. that In case a third Sect should peepe out and growe vp in France the professors thereof should suffer confiscation of their goods with losse of life it selfe as hath bene practised at Geneua against Seruetus and in England against Arians My answere is this That punishments for heretikes duely and according to Law conuicted are set downe by decrees of the ciuill Magistrate bearing rule in the countrey where the said heretikes inhabite and not by any ordinances of the Pope I say withall the L. Cardinall hath no reason to match and parallell the reformed Churches with Seruetus and the Arians For those heretikes were powerfully conuicted by Gods word and lawfully condemned by the ancient Generall Councils where they were permitted and admitted to plead their owne cause in person But as for the trewth professed by me and those of the reformed Religion it was neuer yet hissed out of the Schooles nor cast out of any Council like some Parliament bills where both sides haue bene heard with like indifferencie Yea what Council soeuer hath bene offered vnto vs in these latter times it hath bene proposed with certaine presuppositions as That his Holinesse beeing a partie in the cause and consequently to come vnder iudgement as it were to the barre vpon his triall shall be the Iudge of Assize with Commission of Oyer and Determiner it shall bee celebrated in a citie of no safe accesse without safe conduct or conuoy to come or goe at pleasure and without danger it shall be assembled of such persons with free suffrage and voyce as vphold this rule which they haue already put in practise against Iohn Hus and Hierome of Prage that faith giuen and oath taken to an Heretike must not be obserued Now then to resume our former matter If the Pope hitherto hath neuer presumed for pretended heresie to confiscate by sentence either the lands or the goods of priuate persons or common people of the French Nation wherefore should hee dare to dispossesse Kings of their Royall thrones wherefore takes he more vpon him ouer Kings then ouer priuate persons wherefore shall the sacred heads of Kings be more churlishly vnciuilly and rigorously handled then the hoods of the meanest people Here the L. Cardinal in stead of a direct answer breakes out of the lists alledging cleane from the purpose examples of heretikes punished not by the Pope but by the ciuill Magistrate of the Countrey But Bellarmine speakes to the point with a more free and open heart hee is absolute and resolute in this opinion that his Holinesse hath plenary power to dispose all Temporall estates and matters in the whole world I am confident saith Bellarmine and I speake it with assurance Contr. Barclaium cap. 27. that our Lord Iesus Christ in the dayes of his mortalitie had power to dispose of all Temporall things yea to strip Souereigne Kings and absolute Lords of their Kingdomes and Seignories and without all doubt hath granted and left euen the same power vnto his Vicar to make vse thereof whensoeuer hee shall thinke it necessary for the saluation of soules And so his Lordship speaketh without exception of any thing at all For who doth not know that Iesus Christ had power to dispose no lesse of priuate mens possessions then of whole Realmes and Kingdomes at his pleasure if it had beene his pleasure to display the ensignes of his power The same fulnesse of power is likewise in the Pope In good time belike his Holinesse is the sole heire of Christ in whole and in part Sess 9. The last Lateran Council fineth a Laic that speaketh blasphemie for the first offence if he be a gentleman at 25. ducats and at 50. for the second It presupposeth and taketh it for graunted that the Church may rifle and ransacke the purses of priuate men and cast lots for their goods The Councill of Trent diggeth as deepe for the same veine of gold and siluer It ordaines That Emperours Kings Dukes Princes Sess 25. cap. 19. and Lords of cities castles and territories holding of the Church in case they shall assigne any place within their limits or liberties for the duell betweene two Christians shall be depriued of the said citie castle or place where such duell shall be performed they holding the said place of the Church by any kind of tenure that all other Estates held in fee where the like offence shall be committed shall forthwith fall and become forfeited to their immediate and next Lords that all goods possessions and estates as well of the combatants themselues as of their seconds shall bee confiscate This Councill doeth necessarily presuppose it lieth in the hand and power of the Church to dispose of all the lands and estates held in fee throughout all Christendome because the Church forsooth can take from one and giue vnto an other all estates held in fee whatsoeuer as well such as hold of the
Church as of secular Lords and to make ordinances for the confiscation of all priuate persons goods By this Canon the Kingdome of Naples hath need to looke well vnto it selfe For one duell it may fall into the Exchecquer of the Romane Church because that Kingdome payeth a Reliefe to the Church as a Royaltie or Seignorie that holdeth in fee of the said Church And in France there is not one Lordship not one Mannor not one farme which the Pope by this meanes cannot shift ouer to a new Lord. His Lordship therefore had carried himselfe and the cause much better if in stead of seeking such idle shifts he had by a more large assertion maintained the Popes power to dispose of priuate mens possessions with no lesse right and authoritie then of Kingdomes For what colour of reason can bee giuen for making the Pope Lord of the whole and not of the parts for making him Lord of the forrest in grosse and not of the trees in parcell for making him Lord of the whole house and not of the parlour or the dining chamber His Lordship alleadgeth yet an other reason but of no better weight Betweene the power of priuate owners ouer their goods and the power of Kings ouer their estates there is no little difference For the goods of priuate persons are ordained for their owners and Princes for the benefit of their Common-wealths Heare me now answere If this Cardinal-reason hath any force to inferre that a King may lawfully be depriued of his Kingdome for heresie but a priuate person cannot for the same crime be turned out of his mansion house then it shall follow by the same reason that a Father for the same cause may bee depriued of all power ouer his children but a priuate owner cannot be depriued of his goods in the like case because goods are ordeined for the benefit and comfort of their owners but fathers are ordeined for the good and benefit of their children But most certain it is that Kings representing the image of God in earth and Gods place haue a better and closer seate in their chaires of Estate then any priuate persons haue in the saddle of their inheritances and patrimonies which are dayly seene for sleight causes to flit and to fall into the hands of new Lords Whereas a Prince being the Head cannot bee loosed in the proper ioynt nor dismounted like a cannon when the carriage thereof is vnlockt without a sore shaking and a most grieuous dislocation of all the members yea without subuerting the whole bodie of the State whereby priuate persons without number are inwrapped together in the same ruine euen as the lower shrubs and other brush-wood are crushed in pieces altogether by the fall of a great oake But suppose his Lordships reason were somewhat ponderous and solide withall yet a King which would not bee forgotten is endowed not onely with the Kingdome but also with the ancient Desmenes and Crowne-lands for which none can be so simple to say The King was ordeined and created King which neuerthelesse he loseth when hee loseth his Crowne Admit againe this reason were of some pith to make mighty Kings more easily deposeable then priuate persons from their patrimonies yet all this makes nothing for the deriuing and fetching of deposition from the Popes Consistorie What hee neuer conferred by what right or power can he claime to take away But see heere no doubt a sharpe and subtile difference put by the L. Cardinall betweene a Kingdome and the goods of priuate persons Goods as his Lordship saith are without life they can be constrained by no force by no example by no inducement of their owners to lose eternall life Subiects by their Princes may Now I am of the contrary beliefe That an hereticall owner or master of a family hath greater power and meanes withall to seduce his owne seruants and children then a Prince hath to peruert his owne subiects and yet for the contagion of Heresie and for corrupt religion children are not remoued from their parents nor seruants are taken away from their masters Histories abound with examples of most flourishing Churches vnder a Prince of contrary religion And if things without life or soule are with lesse danger left in an heretikes hands why then shall not an hereticall King with more facilitie and lesse danger keepe his Crowne his Royall charge his lands his customes his imposts c For will any man except he bee out of his wits affirme these things to haue any life or soule Or why shall it bee counted folly to leaue a sword in the hand of a mad Bedlam Is not a sword also without life and soule For my part I should rather be of this minde that possession of things without reason is more dangerous and pernicious in the hands of an euill master then the possession of things endued with life and reason For things without life lacke both reason and iudgement how to exempt and free themselues from being instruments in euill and wicked actions from being emploied to vngodly and abominable vses I will not deny that an hereticall Prince is a plague a pernicious and mortall sickenesse to the soules of his subiects But a breach made by one mischiefe must not bee filled vp with a greater inconuenience An errour must not be shocked and shouldered with disloialtie nor heresie with periurie nor impietie with sedition and armed rebellion against GOD and the King GOD who vseth to try and to schoole his Church will neuer forsake his Church nor hath need to protect his Church by any proditorious and prodigious practises of perfidious Christians For he makes his Church to be like the burning bush In the middest of the fire and flames of persecutions hee will prouide that she shall not be consumed because hee standeth in the midst of his Church And suppose there may be some iust cause for the French to play the rebels against their King yet will it not follow that such rebellious motions are to be raised by the bellowes of the Romane Bishop to whose Pastorall charge and office it is nothing proper to intermeddle in the ciuill affaires of forraine Kingdomes Here is the summe and substance of the L. Cardinals whole discourse touching his pretence of the second inconuenience Which discourse hee hath closed with a remarkeable confession to wit that neither by the authoritie of holy Scripture nor by the the testimonie and verdict of the Primitiue Church there hath bene any full decision of this question In regard whereof he falleth into admiration that Lay-people haue gone so farre in audaciousnesse as to labour that a doubtfull doctrine might for euer passe currant and be taken for a new article of faith What a shame what a reproach is this how full of scandall for so his Lordship is pleased to cry out This breakes into the seueralls and inclosures of the Church this lets in whole herds of heresies to grase in her greene and sweet pastures
of our Catholike Religion then if it should bee granted the Church hath decided the said points without any authoritie c. Mee thinkes the L. Cardinal in the whole draught and course of these words doeth seeke not a little to blemish the honour of his Church and to marke his religion with a blacke coale For the whole frame of his Mother-Church is very easie to be shaken if by the establishing of this Article she shall come to finall ruine and shall become the Synagogue of Satan Likewise Kings are brought into a very miserable state and condition if their Souereigntie shall not stand if they shall not bee without danger of deposition but by the totall ruine of the Church and by holding the Pope whom they serue to be Antichrist The L. Cardinall himselfe let him be well sifted herein doeth not credit his owne words For doeth not his Lordship tell vs plaine that neither by Diuine testimony nor by any sentence of the ancient Church the knot of this controuersie hath bene vntied againe that some of the French by the Popes fauourable indulgence are licensed or tolerated to say their mind to deliuer their opinion of this question though contrary to the iudgement of his Holinesse prouided they hold it onely as problematicall and not as necessary What Can there be any assurance for the Pope that hee is not Antichrist for the Church of Rome that she is not a Synagogue of Satan when a mans assurance is grounded vpon wauering and wilde vncertainties without Canon of Scripture without consent or countenance of antiquitie and in a cause which the Pope by good leaue suffereth some to tosse with winds of problematicall opinion It hath beene shewed before that by Gods word whereof small reckoning perhaps is made by venerable antiquitie and by the French Church in those times when the Popes power was mounted aloft the doctrine which teacheth deposing of Kings by the Pope hath bene checked and countermanded What did the French in those dayes beleeue the Church was then swallowed vp and no where visible or extant in the world No verely Those that make the Pope of Soueraigne authoritie for matters of Faith are not perswaded that in this cause they are bound absolutely to beleeue and credit his doctrine Why so Because they take it not for any decree or determination of Faith but for a point perteining to the mysteries of State and a pillar of the Popes Temporall Monarchie who hath not receiued any promise from God that in causes of this nature hee shall not erre For they hold that errour by no meanes can crawle or scramble vp to the Papall See so highly mounted but grant ambition can scale the highest walls and climbe the loftiest pinacles of the same See They hold withall that in case of so speciall aduantage to the Pope whereby he is made King of Kings and as it were the pay-master or distributer of Crownes it is against all reason that hee should sit as Iudge to carue out Kingdomes for his owne share To bee short let his Lordship be assured that he meeteth with notorious blocke-heads more blunt-witted then a whetstone when they are drawen to beleeue by his perswasion that whosoeuer beleeues the Pope hath no right nor power to put Kings beside their Thrones to giue and take away Crownes are all excluded and barred out of the heauenly Kingdome But now followes a worse matter For they whom the Cardinall reproachfully calls heretikes haue wrought and wonne his Lordship as to mee seemeth to plead their cause at the barre and to betray his owne cause to these heretikes For what is it in his Lordship but plaine playing the Praeuaricator when he crieth so lowd that by admitting and establishing of this Article the doctrine of Cake-incarnation and priuie Confession to a Priest is vtterly subuerted Let vs heare his reason and willingly accept the trewth from his lips The Articles as his Lordship granteth of Transubstantiation auricular Confession and the Popes power to depose Kings are all grounded alike vpon the same authoritie Now he hath acknowledged the Article of the Popes power to depose Kings is not decided by the Scripture nor by the ancient Church but within the compasse of certaine aages past by the authoritie of Popes and Councils Then he goes on well and inferres with good reason that in case the point of the Popes power be weakened then the other two points must needs bee shaken and easily ouerthrowen So that hee doeth confesse the monstrous birth of the breaden-God and the blind Sacrament or vaine fantasie of auricular confession are no more conueyed into the Church by pipes from the springs of sacred Scripture or from the riuers of the ancient Church then that other point of the Popes power ouer Kings and their Crownes Very good For were they indeed deriued from either of those two heads that is to say were they grounded vpon the foundation of the first or second authoritie then they could neuer bee shaken by the downefall of the Popes power to depose Kings I am well assured that for vsing so good a reason the world will hold his Lordship in suspicion that he still hath somesmacke of his fathers discipline and instruction who in times past had the honour to be a Minister of the holy Gospel Howbeit he playeth not faire nor vseth sincere dealing in his proceeding against such as he calls heretikes when hee casts in their dish and beares them in hand they frowardly wrangle for the inuisibilitie of the Church in earth For indeed the matter is nothing so They freely acknowledge a visible Church For howsoeuer the assembly of Gods elect doth make a body not discerneable by mans eye yet we assuredly beleeue and gladly professe there neuer wanted a visible Church in the world yet onely visible to such as make a part of the same All that are without see no more but men they doe not see the said men to be the trew Church Wee beleeue moreouer of the vniuersall Church visible that it is composed of many particular Churches whereof some are better fined and more cleane from lees and dregs then other and withall we denie the purest Churches to be alwayes the greatest and most visible THE FOVRTH AND LAST INCONVENIENCE EXAMINED THE Lord Cardinall before he looketh into the last Inconuenience vseth a certaine preamble of his owne life past and seruices done to the Kings Henry the III. and IIII. Touching the latter of which two Kings his Lordship saith in a straine of boasting after this manner I by the grace of God or the grace of God by mee rather reduced him to the Catholike religion I obtained at Rome his absolution of Pope Clement 8. I reconciled him to the holy See Touching the first of these points I say the time the occasions and the foresaid Kings necessary affaires doe sufficiently testifie that he was induced to change his mind and to alter his religion vpon the strength of other
shewing that he by no meanes doeth approue those prophane and heathenish Lawes whereby secret practises and conspiracies against a Tyrant by administration are permitted His reason Because after deposition there is a certaine habitude to Royall dignitie and as it were a kinde of politicke Character inherent in Kings by which they are discerned from persons meerely priuate or the common sort of people and the obstacle crosse-barre or sparre once remooued and taken out of the way the said Kings deposed are at length reinuested and endowed againe with lawfull vse of Royall dignitie and with lawfull administration of the Kingdome Is it possible that his Lordship can speake and vtter these words according to the inward perswasion of his heart I beleeue it not For admit a King cast out of his Kingdome were sure to escape with life yet being once reduced to a priuate state of life after hee hath wound or wrought himselfe out of deadly danger so farre he is from holding or retayning any remainder of dignity or politike impression that on the contrary he falleth into greater contempt and misery then if he had bene a very peasant by birth and had neuer held or gouerned the sterne of Royall estate What fowle is more beautifull then the peacocke Let her be plumed and bereft of her feathers what owle what iacke-daw more ridiculous more without all pleasant fashion The homely sowter the infamous catchpol the base tincker the rude artificer the pack-horse-porter then liuing in Rome with libertie when Valentinian was detain'd captiue by Saporas the Persian King was more happie then that Romane Emperour And in case the L. Cardinall himselfe should bee so happie I should say so vnfortunate to be stript of all his dignities and Ecclesiasticall promotions would it not redound to his Lordships wonderfull consolation that in his greatest extremity in the lowest of his barenesse and nakednesse he still retaineth a certaine habituall right and character of a Cardinall whereby to recouer the losse of his former dignities and honours when hee beholds these prints and impressions of his foresaid honours would it not make him the more willing and glad to forsake the backe of his venerable mule to vse his Cardinals foot-cloath no longer but euer after like a Cardinall in print and character to walke on foot But let vs examine his Lordships consolation of Kings thrust out of their kingdomes by the Pope for heresie The obstacle as the L. Cardinall speaketh being taken away that is to say when the King shall be reformed thâ—â— habituall right and character yet inherent in the person of a King restores him to the lawfull administration of his Kingdome I take this to be but a cold comfort For here his Lordship doeth onely presuppose and not prooue that after a King is thrust out of his Throne when hee shall repent and turne trew Romane Catholike the other by whom he hath bene cast out and by force disseised will recall him to the Royall seat and faithfully settle him againe in his ancient right as one that reioyceth for the recouery of such a lost sheepe But I should rather feare the new King would presse and stand vpon other termes as a terme of yeeres for a triall whether the repentance of the King displaced be trew sound to the coare or counterfeit dissembled and painted holines for the words the sorrowfull and heauie lookes the sad and formall gestures of men pretending repentance are not alwayes to bee taken to be respected to be credited Againe I should feare the afflicted King might be charged and borne downe too that albeit hee hath renounced his former heresie hee hath stumbled since at an other stone and runne the ship of his faith against some other rocke of new hereticall prauitie Or I should yet feare he might be made to beleeue that heresie maketh a deeper impression and a character more indeleble in the person then is the other politike character of Regal Maiestie Alas good Kings in how hard in how miserable a state doe they stand Once deposed and euer barred of repentance As if the scapes and errors of Kings were all sinnes against the Holy Ghost or sinnes vnto death for which it is not lawfull to pray Falls a pruiate person he may be set vp and new established Falls a King is a King deposed his repentance is euer fruitlesse euer vnprofitable Hath a priuate person a traine of seruants He can not be depriued of any one without his priuitie and consent Hath a King millions of subiects He may be depriued by the Pope of a third part when his Holinesse will haue them turne Clerics or enter Cloisters without asking the King leaue and so of subiects they may be made non-subiects But I question yet further A King falling into heresie is deposed by the Pope his sonne stands pure Catholike The Regal seat is empty Who shall succeed in the deposed Kings place Shall a stranger be preferred by the Pope That were to doe the innocent sonne egregious and notorious wrong Shall the sonne himselfe That were a more iniurious part in the sonne against his father For if the sonne bee touched with any feare of God or mooued with any reuerence towards his father hee will diligently and seriously take heed that hee put not his father by the Kingdome by whose meanes he himselfe is borne to a Kingdome Nor will hee tread in the steps of Henry the V. Emperour who by the Popes instigation expelled and chased his aaged father out of the Imperiall dignitie Much lesse wil he hearken to the voice and aduise of Doctor Suares the Iesuite Lib. 6. cap. 4. Si Papa Regem depenat ab illis tantum poterit expells vet interfics quibus ipse id commiserit who in his booke written against my selfe a booke applauded and approoued of many Doctours after hee hath like a Doctour of the chaire pronounced That a King deposed by the Pope cannot bee lawfully expelled or killed but onely by such as the Pope hath charged with such execution falleth to adde a little after If the Pope shall declare a King to bee an heretike and fallen from the Kingdome without making further declaration touching execution that is to say without giuing expresse charge vnto any to make away the King then the lawfull successour beeing a Catholike hath power to doe the feate and if he shall refuse or if there shall be none such then it appertaineth to the comminaltie or body of the Kingdome A most detestable sentence For in hereditarie Kingdomes who is the Kings lawfull successour but his sonne The sonne then by this doctrine shall imbrew his hands in his owne fathers blood so soone as he shall be deposed by the Pope A matter so much the neerer and more deepely to bee apprehended because the said most outragious booke flyeth like a furious mastiffe directly at my throat and withall instilleth such precepts into the tender disposition of my sonne as if hereafter hee shall
trāsgressors of diuine humane lawes If the French king in the heart of his kingdom should nourish and foster such a nest of stinging hornets and busie wasps I meane such a pack of subiects denying his absolute Soueraignty as many Romane Catholiks of my Kingdome do mine It may wel be doubted whether the L. Cardinal would aduise his king stil to feather the nest of the said Catholiks stil to keep them warme stil to beare them with an easie and gentle hand It may wel be doubted whether his Lordship would extol their constancie that would haue the courage to sheath vp their swords in his Kings bowels or blow vp his King with gun-powder into the neather station of the lowest regiō It may wel be doubted whether he would indure that Orator who like as himselfe hath done should stir vp others to suffer Martyrdome after such examples and to imitate parricides traitors in their constancy The scope then of the L. Cardinall in striking the sweet strings and sounding the pleasant notes of praises which faine he would fil mine eares withal is only by his excellent skil in the musick of Oratory to bewitch the harts of my subiects to infatuate their minds to settle them in a resolution to depriue me of my life The reason Because the plotters and practisers against my life are honoured and rewarded with a glorious name of Martyrs their constancie what els is admired when they suffer death for treason Wheras hitherto during the time of my whole raigne to this day I speake it in the word of a King and trewth it selfe shall make good the Kings word no man hath lost his life no man hath indured the Racke no man hath suffered corporall punishment in other kinds meerely or simply or in any degree of respect for his conscience in matter of religion but for wicked conspiring against my life or Estate or Royall dignitie or els for some notorious crime or some obstinate and wilfull disobedience Of which traiterous and viperous brood I commanded one to be hanged by the necke of late in Scotland a Iesuite of intolerable impudencie who at his arraignment and publike triall stiffely maintained that I haue robbed the Pope of his right and haue no manner of right in the possession of my Kingdome His Lordship therefore in offering himselfe to Martyrdome after the rare example of Catholiks as he saith suffering all sort of punishment in my Kingdome doeth plainely professe himselfe a follower of traytors and parricides These be the Worthies these the heroicall spirits these the honourable Captaines and Coronels whose vertuous parts neuer sufficiently magnified and praysed his Lordshippe propoundeth for imitation to the French Bishops O the name of Martyrs in olde times a sacred name how is it now derided and scoffed how is it in these daies filthily prophaned O you the whole quire and holy company of Apostles who haue sealed the trewth with your dearest blood how much are you disparaged how vnfitly are you paragoned and matched when traytors bloody butchers and King-killers are made your assistants and of the same Quorum or to speake in milder tearmes when you are coupled with Martyrs that suffer for maintaining the Temporall rites of the Popes Empire with Bishops that offer themselues to a Problematicall Martyrdome for a point decided neither by the authorities of your Spirit-inspired pens nor by the auncient and venerable testimonie of the Primitiue Church for a point which they dare not vndertake to teach otherwise then by a doubtfull cold fearefull way of discourse and altogether without resolution In good sooth I take the Cardinall for a personage of a quicker spirit and clearer sight let his Lordship hold mee excused then to perswade my selfe that in these matters his tongue and his heart his pen and his inward iudgement haue any concord or correspondence one with another For beeing very much against his minde as hee doeth confesse thrust into the office of an Aduocate to pleade this cause he suffered himselfe to bee carried after his engagement with some heat to vtter some things against his conscience murmuring and grumbling the contrary within and to affirme some other things with confidence whereof hee had not beene otherwise informed then onely by vaine and lying report Of which ranke is that bold assertion of his Lordship That many Catholiks in England rather then they would subscribe to the oath of allegiance in the forme thereof haue vndergone all sorts of punishment For in England as we haue trewly giuen the whole Christian world to vnderstand in our Preface to the Apologie there is but one forme or kind of punishment ordained for all sorts of traytors Hath not his Lordship now graced me with goodly testimonialls of prayse and commendation Am I not by his prayses proclaimed a Tyrant as it were inebriated with blood of the Saints and a famous Enginer of torments for my Catholikes To this exhortation for the suffering of Martyrdome in imitation of my English traytors and parricides if wee shall adde how craftily and subtilly hee makes the Kings of England to hold of the Pope by fealty and their kingdome in bondage to the Pope by Temporall recognizance it shall easily appeare that his holy-water of prayses wherewith I am so reuerently besprinkled is a composition extracted out of a dram of hony and a pound of gall first steeped in a strong decoction of bitter wormewood or of the wild gourd called Coloquintida For after he hath in the beginning of his Oration Page 10. spoken of Kings that owe fealtie to the Pope and are not Soueraignes in the highest degree of Temporall supremacie within their Kingdomes to explaine his mind and meaning the better he marshals the Kings of England a little after in the same ranke His words be these When King Iohn of England not yet bound in any temporall recognizance to the Pope had expelled his Bishops c. His Lordship means that King Iohn became so bound to the Pope not long after And what may this meaning be but in plaine tearmes and broad speach to call me vsurper and vnlawfull King For the feudatarie or he that holdeth a Mannor by fealty when he doeth not his homage with all suit and seruice that he owes to the Lord Paramount doeth fall from the propertie of his fee. This reproach of the L. Cardinals is seconded with an other of Bellarmines his brother Cardinall That Ireland was giuen to the Kings of England by the Pope The best is that his most reuerend Lordship hath not shewed who it was that gaue Ireland to the Pope And touching Iohn King of England thus in briefe stands the whole matter Betweene Henry 2. and the Pope had passed sundry bickerments about collating of Ecclesiasticall dignities Iohn the sonne after his fathers death reneweth vndertaketh and pursueth the same quarrell Driueth certaine English Bishops out of the Kingdome for defending the Popes insolent vsurpation vpon his Royall prerogatiue and Regall rights
Sheweth such Princely courage and resolution in those times when all that stood and suffered for the Popes Temporall pretensions against Kings were enrowled Martyrs or Confessors The Pope takes the matter in fowle scorne and great indignation shuts the King by his excommunicatory Bulls out of the Church stirres vp his Barons for other causes the Kings heauy friends to rise in armes giues the Kingdome of England like a masterlesse man turned ouer to a new master to Philippus Augustus King of France bindes Philip to make a conquest of England by the sword or else no bargaine or else no gift promises Philip in recompence of his trauell and Royall expences in that conquest full absolution and a generall pardon at large for all his sinnes to bee short cuts King Iohn out so much worke and makes him keepe so many yrons in the fire for his worke that he had none other way none other meanes to pacifie the Popes high displeasure to correct or qualifie the malignitie of the Popes cholericke humour by whom he was then so entangled in the Popes toyles but by yeelding himselfe to become the Popes vassal and his Kingdome feudatary or to hold by fealty of the Papall See By this meanes his Crowne is made tributary all his people liable to payment of taxes by the poll for a certaine yeerely tribute and he is blessed with a pardon for all his sinnes Whether King Iohn was mooued to doe this dishonourable act vpon any deuotion or inflamed with any zeale of Religion or inforced by the vnresistable weapons of necessitie who can be so blind that he doeth not well see and clearely perceiue For to purchase his owne freedome from this bondage to the Pope what could he bee vnwilling to doe that was willing to bring his Kingdome vnder the yoake of Amirales Murmelinus a Mahumetan Prince then King of Granado and Barbaria The Pope after that sent a Legat into England The King now the Popes vassall and holding his Crowne of the Pope like a man that holds his land of another by Knights seruice or by homage and fealtie doeth faire homage for his Crowne to the Popes Legat and layeth downe at his feet a great masse of the purest gold in coyne The reuerend Legat in token of his Masters Soueraigntie with more then vsuall pride falls to kicking and spurning the treasure no doubt with a paire of most holy feet Not onely so but likewise at solemne feasts is easily entreated to take the Kings chaire of Estate Heere I would faine know the Lord Cardinals opinion whether these actions of the Pope were iust or vniust lawfull or vnlawfull according to right or against all right and reason If he will say against right it is then cleare that against right his Lordship hath made way to this example if according to right let him then make it knowen from whence or from whom this power was deriued and conueyed to the Pope whereby hee makes himselfe Souereigne Lord of Temporalties in that Kingdome where neither he nor any of his predecessours euer pretended any right or layd any claime to Temporall matters before Are such prankes to be played by the Pontificiall Bishop Is this an act of Holinesse to set a Kingdome on fire by the flaming brands of sedition to dismember and quarter a Kingdome with intestine warres onely to this end that a King once reduced to the lowest degree of miserie might be lifted by his Holinesse out of his Royall prerogatiue the very soule and life of his Royall Estate When began this Papall power In what aage began the Pope to practise this power What! haue the ancient Canons for the Scripture in this question beareth no pawme haue the Canons of the ancient Church imposed any such satisfaction vpon a sinner that of a Souereigne and free King he should become vassall to his ghostly Father that he should make himselfe together with all his people and subiects tributaries to a Bishop that shall rifle a whole Nation of their coine that shall receiue homage of a King and make a King his vassall What! Shall not a sinner be quitted of his faults except his Pastor turne robber and one that goeth about to get a booty except hee make his Pastour a Feoffee in his whole Estate and suffer himselfe vnder a shadow of penance to freeze naked to be turned out of all his goods and possessions of inheritance But be it granted admit his Holinesse robs one Prince of his rights and reuenewes to conferre the same vpon another were it not an high degree of tyrannie to finger another mans estate and to giue that away to a third which the second hath no right no lawfull authoritie to giue Well if the Pope then shall become his owne caruer in the rights of another if he shall make his owne coffers to swell with anothers reuenewes if he shall decke and aray his owne backe in the spoiles of a sinner with whom in absolution he maketh peace and taketh truce what can this be else but running into further degrees of wickednesse and mischiefe what can this be else but heaping of robbery vpon fraud and Impietie vpon robbery For by such deceitfull craftie and cunning practises the nature of the Pontificiall See meerely spirituall is changed into the Kings-bench-Court meerely temporall the Bishops chaire is changed into a Monarchs Throne And not onely so but besides the sinners repentance is changed into a snare or pit-fall of cousening deceit and S. Peters net is changed into a casting-net or a flew to fish for all the wealth of most flourishing Kingdomes Moreouer the King a hard case is driuen by such wiles and subtilties to worke impossibilities to acte more then is lawfull or within the compasse of his power to practise For the King neither may in right nor can by power trans-nature his Crowne impaire the Maiestie of his Kingdome or leaue his Royal dignitie lesse free to his heire apparant or next successor then he receiued the same of his predecessour Much lesse by any dishonourable capitulations by any vnworthy contracts degrade his posteritie bring his people vnder the grieuous burden of tributes and taxes to a forreine Prince Least of all make them tributary to a Priest vnto whom it no way apperteineth to haue any hand in the ciuill affaires of Kings or to distaine and vnhallow their Crownes And therefore when the Pope dispatched his Nuntio to Philippus Augustus requesting the King to auert Lewis his sonne from laying any claime to the Kingdome of England Philip answered the Legat as we haue it in Matth. Paris No King no Prince can alienate or giue away his Kingdom but by consent of his Barons bound by Knights seruice to defend the said Kingdome and in case the Pope shall stand for the contrary error his Holines shall giue to Kingdomes a most pernicious example By the same Author it is testified that King Iohn became odious to his subiects for such dishonourable and vnworthy
of his life in the city of Tours Certaine it is they neuer abandoned that Henry 3. nor his next successor Henry 4. in all the heat of reuolts and rebellions raised in the greatest part of the Kingdome by the Pope and the more part of the Clergie but stood to the said Kings in all their battels to beare vp the Crowne then tottering and ready to fall Certaine it is that euen the heads and principalls of those by whom the late King deceased was pursued with all extremities at this day doe enioy the fruit of all the good seruices done to the King by the said Protestants And they are now disgraced kept vnder exposed to publike hatred What for kindling coales of questions and controuersies about Religion Forsooth not so but because if they might haue equall and indifferent dealing if credit might be giuen to their faithfull aduertisements the Crowne of their Kings should bee no longer pinned to the Popes flie-flap in France there should bee no French exempted from subiection to the French King causes of benefices or of matrimonie should bee no longer citable and summonable to the Romish Court and the Kingdome should bee no longer tributarie vnder the colour of annats the first fruits of Benefices after the remooue or death of the Incumbent and other like impositions But why doe I speake so much in the behalfe of the French Protestants The Lord Cardinall himselfe quittes them of this blame when he telleth vs this doctrine for the deposing of Kings by the Popes mace or verge had credit and authoritie through all France vntill Caluins time Doth not his Lordship vnder-hand confesse by these words that Kings had beene alwaies before Caluins time the more dishonoured and the worse serued Item that Protestants whom his Lordship calls heretikes by the light of holy Scripture made the world then and euer since to see the right of Kings oppressed so long before As for those of the Low Countries and the subiects of Swethland I haue little to say of their case because it is not within ordinary compasse and indeed serueth nothing to the purpose These Nations besides the cause of Religion doe stand vpon certaine reasons of State which I will not here take vpon me like a Iudge to determine or to sift Iunius Brutus Whom the Lord Cardinall obiecteth is an author vnknowne and perhaps of purpose patcht vp by some Romanist with a wyly deceit to draw the reformed Religion into hatred with Christian Princes Buchanan I reckon and ranke among Poets not among Diuines classicall or common If the man hath burst out here and there into some tearmes of excesse or speach of bad temper that must be imputed to the violence of his humour and heate of his spirit not in any wise to the rules and conclusions of trew Religion rightly by him conceiued before Barclaius alledged by the Cardinall meddles not with deposing of Kings but deals with disavowing them for Kings when they shal renounce the right of Royalty and of their owne accord giue ouer the Kingdome Now he that leaues it in the Kings choice either to hold or to giue ouer his Crowne leaues it not in the Popes power to take away the Kingdome Of Gerson obtruded by the Cardinal we haue spoken sufficiently before Where it hath beene shewed how Gerson is disguised masked and peruerted by his Lordship In briefe I take not vpon me to iustifie and make good all the sayings of particular authors We glory and well we may that our religion affordeth no rules of rebellion nor any dispensation to subiects for the oath of their allegiance and that none of our Churches giue entertainement vnto such monstrous and abhominable principles of disloyaltie If any of the French otherwise perswaded in former times Richcrius now hauing altered and changed his iudgement doth contend for the Soueraignty of Kings against Papall vsurpation He doubtles for winding himselfe out of the Laborinth of an error so intricate pernicious deserueth great honour and speciall praise He is worthy to hold a place of dignity aboue the L. Cardinall who hath quitted and betrayed his former iudgement which was holy and iust Their motions are contrary their markes are opposite The one reclineth from euill to good the other declineth from good to euill At last his Lordship commeth to the close of his Oration and bindes vp his whole harangue with a feate wreath of praises proper to his King He styles the King the eldest Sonne of the Church a young shoot of the lilly which King Salomon in all his Royaltie was not able to match He leades vs by the hand into the pleasant meadowes of Histories there to learne vpon the very first sight and view That so long so oft as the Kings of France embraced vnion and kept good tearmes of concord with Popes and the Apostolike See so long as the spouse of the Church was pastured and fed among the lillies all sorts of spirituall and temporall graces abundantly showred vpon their Crownes and vpon their people On the contrary when they made any rent or separation from the most holy See then the lillies were pricked and almost choaked with sharpe thornes they beganne to droope to stoope and to beare their beautifull heads downe to the very ground vnder the strong flawes and gusts of boystrous windes and tempests My answere to this flourishing close and vpshot shall be no lesse apert then apt It sauours not of good and faithfull seruice to smooth and stroake the Kings head with a soft hand of oyled speech and in the meane time to take away the Crowne from his head and to defile it with dirt But let vs try the cause by euidence of Historie yea by the voice and verdict of experience to see whether the glorious beauty of the French lillies hath beene at any time blasted and thereupon hath faded by starting aside and making separation from the holy See Vnder the raigne of King Philip the Faire France was blessed with peace and prosperity notwithstanding some outragious acts done against the Papall See and contumelious crying quittance by King Philip with the Pope Lewis 12. in ranged battell defeated the armies of Pope Iulius 2. and his Confederates proclaimed the said Pope to be fallen from the Popedome stamped certaine coynes and pieces of gold with a dishonourable mot euen to Rome it selfe Rome is Babylon yet so much was Lewis loued and honoured of his people that by a peculiar title he was called the Father of the Country Greater blessings of God greater outward peace and plenty greater inward peace with spirituall and celestiall treasures were neuer heaped vpon my Great Brittaine then haue beene since my Great Brittaine became Great in the greatest and chiefest respect of all to wit since my Great Brittaine hath shaken off the Popes yoke since she hath refused to receiue and to entertaine the Popes Legats employed to collect S. Peters tribute or Peter-pence since the Kings of England
my Great Brittaine haue not beene the Popes vassals to doe him homage for their Crowne and haue no more felt the lashings the scourgings of base and beggarly Monkes Of Holland Zeland and Friseland what neede I speake yet a word and no more Were they not a kinde of naked and bare people of small value before God lighted the torch of the Gospel and aduanced it in those Nations were they not an ill fedde and scragged people in comparison of the inestimable wealth and prosperity both in all military actions and mechanicall trades in trafficke as merchants in marting as men of warre in long nauigation for discouerie to which they are now raysed and mounted by the mercifull blessing of God since the darknes of Poperie hath beene scattered and the bright Sunne of the Gospel hath shined in those Countryes Behold the Venetian Republique Hath shee now lesse beautie lesse glory lesse peace and prosperitie since she lately fell to bicker and contend with the Pope since she hath wrung out of the Popes hand the one of his two swords since she hath plumed and shaked his Temporall dominion On the contrarie after the French Kings had honoured the Popes with munificent graunts and gifts of all the cities and territories lands and possessions which they now hold in Italy and the auncient Earledome of Auignon in France for an ouer-plus were they not rudely recompenced and homely handled by their most ingratefull fee-farmers and copy-holders Haue not Popes forged a donation of Constantine of purpose to blot out all memory of Pepins and Charlemaignes donation Haue they not vexed and troubled the State haue they not whetted the sonnes of Lewis the Courteous against their owne Father whose life was a patterne and example of innocencie Haue they not by their infinite exactions robbed and scoured the Kingdome of all their treasure Were not the Kings of France driuen to stoppe their violent courses by the pragmaticall sanction Did they not sundry times interdict the Kingdome degrade the Kings solicite the neighbour-Princes to inuade and lay hold on the Kingdome and stirre vp the people against the King whereby a gate was opened to a world of troubles and parricides Did not Rauaillac render this reason for his monstrous and horrible attempt That King Henry had a designe to warre with God because he had a designe to take armes against his Holinesse who is God This makes me to wonder what mooued the L. Cardinall to marshall the last ciuill warres and motions in France in the ranke of examples of vnhappy separation from the Pope when the Pope himselfe was the trumpetor of the same troublesome motions If the Pope had bene wronged and offended by the French King or his people and the Kingdome of France had been scourged with pestilence or famine or some other calamitie by forraine enemies it might haue beene taken in probabilitie as a vengeance of God for some iniurie done vnto his Vicar But his Holinesse being the roote the ground the master-workeman and artificer of all these mischiefes how can it be said that God punisheth any iniurie done to the Pope but rather that his Holinesse doth reuenge his owne quarrell and which is worst of all when his Holinesse hath no iust cause of quarrell or offence Now then to exhort a Nation as the L. Cardinall hath done by the remembrance of former calamities to curry fauour with the Pope and to hold a strict vnion with his Holinesse is no exhortation to beare the Pope any respect of loue or of reuerence but rather a rubbing of memory and a calling to minde of those grieuous calamities whereof the Pope hath been the only occasion It is also a threatning and obtruding of the Popes terrible thunder-bolts which neuer scorched nor parched any skinne except crauens and meticulous bodies and haue brought many great showres of blessings vpon my Kingdome As for France if she hath enioyed prosperity in the times of her good agreement with Popes it is because the Pope seekes the amity of Princes that are in prosperitie haue the meanes to curbe his pretensions and to put him to some plunge Kings are not in prosperity because the Pope holds amitie with Kings but his Holinesse vseth all deuises seeketh all meanes to haue amitie with Kings because he sees them flourish sayle with prosperous winds The swallow is no cause but a companion of the spring the Pope is no worker of a Kingdoms felicity but a wooer of kings when they sit in felicities lap he is no founder but a follower of their good fortunes On the other side let a Kingdome fall into some grieuous disaster or calamitie let ciuill warres boile in the bowels of the Kingdom ciuil wars no lesse dangerous to the State then fearefull and grieuous to the people who riseth sooner then the Pope who rusheth sooner into the troubled streames then the Pope who thrusteth himselfe sooner into the heate of the quarrell then the Pope who runneth sooner to raise his gaine by the publike wrack then the Pope and all vnder colour of a heart wounded and bleeding for the saluation of soules If the lawfull King happen to be foyled to be oppressed and thereupon the State by his fall to get a new master by the Popes practise then the said new master must hold the Kingdome as of the Popes free gift and rule or guide the sterne of the State at his becke and by his instruction If the first and right Lord in despite of all the Popes fulminations and fire-workes shall get the honourable day and vpper hand of his enemies then the holy Father with a cheerfull and pleasant grace yea with fatherly gratulation opens the rich cabinet of his iewells I meane the treasurie of his indulgences and falls now to dandle and cocker the King in his fatherly lap whose throat if he could he would haue cut not long before This pestilent mischiefe hath now a long time taken roote and is growne to a great head in the Christian world through the secret but iust iudgement of God by whom Christian Kings haue beenesmitten with a spirit of dizzinesse Christian Kings who for many aages past haue liued in ignorance without any sound instruction without any trew sense and right feeling of their owne right and power whilest vnder a shadow of Religion and false cloake of pietie their Kingdomes haue beene ouer-burdened yea ouer-borne with tributes and their Crownes made to stoope euen to miserable bondage That God in whose hand the hearts of Kings are poised and at his pleasure turned as the water-courses that mighty God alone in his good time is able to rouze them out of so deepe a slumber and to take order their drowzy fits once ouer and shaken off with heroicall spirits that Popes hereafter shall play no more vpon their patience nor presume to put bits and snaffles in their noble mouthes to the binding vp of their power with weake scruples like mighty buls lead about by
minds the reformation whereof must onely come of God and the trew Spirit But the other ranke of Layicks who either through Curiositie affectation of Noueltie or discontentment in their priuat humours haue changed their coates onely to be factious stirrers of Sedition and Perturbers of the common wealth their backwardnesse in their Religion giueth a ground to me the Magistrate to take the better heed to their proceeding and to correct their obstinacie But for the part of the Clerickes I must directly say and affirme that as long as they maintaine one speciall point of their doctrine and another point of their practise they are no way sufferable to remaine in this Kingdome Their point of doctrine is that arrogant and ambitious Supremacie of their Head the Pope whereby he not onely claimes to bee Spirituall head of all Christians but also to haue an Imperiall ciuill power ouer all Kings and Emperors dethroning and decrowning Princes with his foot as pleaseth him and dispensing and disposing of all Kingdomes and Empires at his appetite The other point which they obserue in continuall practise is the assassinates and murthers of Kings thinking it no sinne but rather a matter of saluation to doe all actions of rebellion and hostilitie against their naturall Soueraigne Lord if he be once cursed his subiects discharged of their fidelitie and his Kingdome giuen a prey by that three crowned Monarch or rather Monster their Head And in this point I haue no occasion to speake further here sauing that I could wish from my heart that it would please God to make me one of the members of such a generall Christian vnion in Religion as laying wilfulnesse aside on both hands wee might meete in the middest which is the Center and perfection of all things For if they would leaue and be ashamed of such new and grosse Corruptions of theirs as themselues cannot maintaine nor denie to bee worthy of reformation I would for mine owne part be content to meete them in the mid-way so that all nouelties might be renounced on either side For as my faith is the Trew Ancient Catholike and Apostolike faith grounded vpon the Scriptures and expresse word of God so will I euer yeeld all reuerence to antiquitie in the points of Ecclesiasticall pollicy and by that meanes shall I euer with Gods grace keepe my selfe from either being an hereticke in Faith or schismatick in matters of Pollicie But of one thing would I haue the Papists of this Land to bee admonished That they presume not so much vpon my Lenitie because I would be loath to be thought a Persecuter as thereupon to thinke it lawfull for them dayly to encrease their number and strength in this Kingdome whereby if not in my time at least in the time of my posteritie they might be in hope to erect their Religion againe No let them assure themselues that as I am a friend to their persons if they be good subiects so am I a vowed enemie and doe denounce mortall warre to their errors And that as I would be sory to bee driuen by their ill behauiour from the protection and conseruation of their bodies and liues So will I neuer cease as farre as I can to tread downe their errors and wrong opinions For I could not permit the encrease and growing of their Religion without first betraying of my selfe and mine owne conscience Secondly this whole Isle aswell the part I am come from as the part I remaine in in betraying their Liberties and reducing them to the former slauish yoke which both had casten off before I came amongst them And thirdly the libertie of the Crowne in my posteritie which I should leaue againe vnder a new slauery hauing found iâ— left free to me by my Predecessors And therefore would I wish all good Subiects that are deceiued with that corruption first if they find any beginning of instinction in themselues of knowledge and loue to the Trewth to foster the same by all lawfull meanes and to beware of quenching the spirit that worketh within them And if they can find as yet no motion tending that way to be studious to reade and conferre with learned men and to vse all such meanes as may further their Resolution assuring themselues that as long as they are disconformable in Religion from vs they cannot bee but halfe my Subiects bee able to doe but halfe seruice and I to want the best halfe of them which is their soules And here haue I occasion to speake to you my Lords the Bishops For as you my Lord of Durham said very learnedly to day in your Sermon Correction without instruction is but a Tyrannie So ought you and all the Clergie vnder you to be more carefull vigilant and diligent then you haue bene to winne Soules to God aswell by your exemplary life as doctrine And since you see how carefull they are sparing neither labour paines nor extreme perill of their persons to diuert the Deuill is so busie a Bishop yee should bee the more carefull and wakefull in your charges Follow the rule prescribed you by S. Paul Bee carefull to exhort and to instruct in season and out of season and where you haue beene any way sluggish before now waken your selues vp againe with a new diligence in this point remitting the successe to God who calling them either at the second third tenth or twelfth houre as they are alike welcome to him so shall they bee to mee his Lieutenant here The third reason of my conuening of you at this time The third reason of assembling the Parliament which conteineth such actions of my thankefulnesse toward you as I may either doe or leaue vndone yet shall with Gods grace euer presse to performe all the dayes of my life It consists in these two points In making of Lawes at certaine times which is onely at such times as this in Parliament or in the carefull execution thereof at all other times As for the making of them I will thus farre faithfully promise vnto you That I will euer preferre the weale of the body and of the whole Common-wealth in making of good Lawes and constitutions to any particular or priuate ends of mine thinking euer the wealth and weale of the Common-wealth to bee my greatest weale and worldly felicitie A point wherein a lawfull King doeth directly differ from a Tyrant But at this time I am onely thus farre to forewarne you in that point That you beware to seeke the making of too many Lawes for two especiall reasons First because In corruptissima Republica plurimae leges and the execution of good Lawes is farre more profitable in a Common-wealth then to burden mens memories with the making of too many of them And next because the making of too many Lawes in one Parliament will bring in confusion for lacke of leisure wisely to deliberate before you conclude For the Bishop said well to day That to Deliberation would a large time be giuen but to
generall and maine grounds the principall things that haue bene agitated in this Parliament and whereof I will now speake First the Arrand for which you were called by me And that was for supporting of my state and necessities The second is that which the people are to mooue vnto the King To represent vnto him such things whereby the Subiects are vexed or wherein the state of the Common wealth is to be redressed And that is the thing which you call grieuances The third ground that hath bene handled amongst you and not onely in talke amongst you in the Parliament but euen in many other peoples mouthes aswell within as without the Parliament is of a higher nature then any of the former though it be but an Incident and the reason is because it concernes a higher point And this is a doubt which hath bene in the heads of some of my Intention in two things First whether I was resolued in the generall to continue still my gouernment according to the ancient forme of this State and the Lawes of this Kingdome Or if I had an intention not to limit my selfe within those bounds but to alter the same when I thought conuenient by the absolute power of a King The other branch is anent the Common Law which some had a conceit I disliked and in respect that I was borne where another forme of Law was established that I would haue wished the Ciuill Law to haue bene put in place of the Common Law for gouernment of this people And the complaint made amongst you of a booke written by doctour Cowell was a part of the occasion of this incident But as touching my censure of that booke I made it already to bee deliuered vnto you by the Treasurer here sitting which he did out of my owne directions and notes and what he said in my name that had he directly from me But what hee spake of himselfe therein without my direction I shal alwayes make good for you may be sure I will be loth to make so honest a man a lyer or deceiue your expectations alwayes within very few dayes my Edict shall come forth anent that matter which shall fully discouer my meaning There was neuer any reason to mooue men to thinke that I could like of such grounds For there are two qualities principally or rather priuations that make Kings subiect to flatterie Credulitie and Ignorance and I hope none of them can bee iustly obiected to mee For if Alexander the great for all his learning had bene wise in that point to haue considered the state of his owne naturall body and disposition hee would neuer haue thought him selfe a god And now to the matter As it is a Christan duety in euery man Reddere rationem fidei and not to be ashamed to giue an account of his profession before men and Angels as oft as occasion shall require So did I euer hold it a necessitie of honour in a iust and wise King though not to giue an account to his people of his actions yet clearely to deliuer his heart and intention vnto them vpon euery occasion But I must inuert my order and begin first with that incident which was last in my diuision though highest of nature and so goe backward THe State of MONARCHIE is the supremest thing vpon earth For Kings are not onely GODS Lieutenants vpon earth and sit vpon GODS throne but euen by GOD himselfe they are called Gods There bee three principall similitudes that illustrate the state of MONARCHIE One taken out of the word of GOD and the two other out of the grounds of Policie and Philosophie In the Scriptures Kings are called Gods and so their power after a certaine relation compared to the Diuine power Kings are also compared to Fathers of families for a King is trewly Parens patriae the politique father of his people And lastly Kings are compared to the head of this Microcosme of the body of man Kings are iustly called Gods for that they exercise a manner or resemblance of Diuine power vpon earth For if you wil consider the Attributes to God you shall see how they agree in the person of a King God hath power to create or destroy make or vnmake at his pleasure to giue life or send death to iudge all and to bee iudged nor accomptable to none To raise low things and to make high things low at his pleasure and to God are both soule and body due And the like power haue Kings they make and vnmake their subiects they haue power of raising and casting downe of life and of death Iudges ouer all their subiects and in all causes and yet accomptable to none but God onely They haue power to exalt low things and abase high things and make of their subiects like men at the Chesse A pawne to take a Bishop or a Knight and to cry vp or downe any of their subiects as they do their money And to the King is due both the affection of the soule and the seruice of the body of his subiects And therefore that reuerend Bishop here amongst you though I heare that by diuers he was mistaken or not wel vnderstood yet did he preach both learnedly and trewly annent this point concerning the power of a King For what he spake of a Kings power in Abstracto is most trew in Diuinitie For to Emperors or Kings that are Monarches their Subiects bodies goods are due for their defence and maintenance But if I had bene in his place I would only haue added two words which would haue cleared all For after I had told as a Diuine what was due by the Subiects to their Kings in general I would then haue concluded as an Englishman shewing this people That as in generall all Subiects were bound to relieue their King So to exhort them that as wee liued in a setled state of a Kingdome which was gouerned by his owne fundamentall Lawes and Orders that according thereunto they were now being assembled for this purpose in Parliament to consider how to helpe such a King as now they had And that according to the ancient forme and order established in this Kingdome putting so a difference betweene the generall power of a King in Diuinity and the setled and established State of this Crowne and Kingdome And I am sure that the Bishop meant to haue done the same if hee had not bene straited by time which in respect of the greatnesse of the presence preaching before me and such an Auditory he durst not presume vpon As for the Father of a familie they had of olde vnder the Law of Nature Patriam potestatem which was Potestatem vitae necis ouer their children or familie I meane such Fathers of families as were the lineall heires of those families whereof Kings did originally come For Kings had their first originall from them who planted and spread themselues in Colonies through the world Now a Father may dispose of his
THE WORKES OF THE MOST HIGH AND MIGHTIE PRINCE IAMES BY THE GRACE OF GOD KING OF GREAT BRITAINE FRANCE AND IRELAND DEFENDER of the FAITH c. PVBLISHED BY IAMES BISHOP of Winton and Deane of his MAIESTIES CHAPPEL ROYALL 1. REG. 3. VERS 12. Loe I haue giuen thee a wise and an vnderstanding heart LONDON PRINTED BY ROBERT BARKER AND IOHN BILL PRINTERS TO THE KINGS most Excellent MAIESTIE ANNO 1616. ¶ Cum Priuilegio HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE DIEV ET MON DROIT ILLUSTRISS ET POTEN PR CAROLUS MAGNAE BRITAN ET HYB PR EB ET AL DUx TO THE THRICE ILLVSTRIOVS AND MOST EXCELLENT PRINCE CHARLES THE ONELY SONNE OF OVR SOVERAIGNE LORD THE KING SIR I Haue humbly sought leaue of his most Excellent MAIESTIE to present your Highnesse with this Volume of his MAIESTIES WORKES I durst not but make the Suite and his MAIESTIE could not well deny it I will not say that it had beene a peece of Iniustice in the KING to haue denyed you this right But I dare say it had beene a point of Sacriledge in a Churchman to haue stolne from you such a portion of your Inheritance which consists as much in the WORKES of his Royall Vertues as in the wealth of his mighty Kingdomes Basilius wrote de Jnstitutione Principis to his Sonne Leo Constantinus to his Sonne Romanus Manuell to his Sonne Iohannes and Charles the fift to his Sonne Philip The workes of the three former are extant both in Greeke and Latine His Maiestie after the Example of those Emperours and sundry other Kings wrote his ΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΟÎ-ΔΩΡΟΠto Prince Henry your Highnesse most worthy Brother His part by GOD his Prouidence is falne to your Lot and who may iustly detaine from you the rest The rule in Scripture is that if the first fruits be holy so is the whole lumpe and to whom the first was giuen to him all the rest was due To your Highnes therefore are these offered as to the trew Heire and Inheritor of them And that I may make you the better accompt of them May it please your Highnesse to vnderstand that of these Workes some were out before some other of them neuer saw light before and others were almost lost and gone or at least abused by false copies to their owne disgrace and his Maiesties great dishonour Now it being the duetie of all Deanes in their Churches Dispersa colligere I thought it might sort well with the nature of my place in the Chappel wherein I haue had the Honour so many yeeres to serue his Maiestie to gather these things that were scattered and to bring to light those that too long had lien in darkenes and to preserue in one body what might easily haue bin lost in parts In this Presentment I must humbly craue of your Highnes not to be mistaken in the trew meaning and maner of it For these Workes come not to you as vsually Bookes doe to men of great Dignitie for Patronage and Protection for Protection is properly from iniurie and that the Royall Author of them is best able to right But to you they come partly for preseruation and for that the Disposition of Nature hath made you more apt and more principally for a Patterne and that not vnfitly since the Samplar is euer more ancient then the Exemplification And as in the preseruation the Sonne hath his aduantage by succeeding so in the Patterne the Father by preceding hath his Prerogatiue Let these Workes therefore most Gracious Prince lie before you as a Patterne you cannot haue a better Neither doeth the Honour of a good Sonne consist in any thing more then in immitating the good Presidents of a good Father as we may very well perceiue by the Scripture phrase where the vsuall Encomium of good Kings is that they walked in the wayes of their Fathers Al men see how like the Patterne GOD and Nature haue framed the outward Lineaments and who knowes your Highnes wel knowes also that the inward Abilliments hold in the like proportion The Philosophers say that Imitation proceeds from Inclination And trewly if your future Imitation be answerable to your forward Inclination in Religion Learning and Vertue your Highnesse cannot come farre short of your Patterne nor yet of any of your Predecessors that euer went before you Which GOD grant together with the length of many good and happy Dayes Your HIGHNESSE Most humbly IA. WINTON THE PREFACE TO THE READER AMongst the infinite number of great Volumes wherewith the world seemes as it were to bee wayed downe there bee few of them that were written at once or were at first published together Writings as they consist of sundry natures so they will beare a diuers maner of Edition To set foorth an Art by pieces is to shew you a body dismembred the one is no more vncomely then the other is vnproper To publish a History before it be at an end is to turne the Hower-glasse before it bee runne out neither of both will giue you a trew taste of the time But writings of other Natures Common places and Controuersies Meditations and Commentaries as they are for the most part accidentally taken vp so they are as occasionally set out They craue no other birth into the world then they had conceptions in our braines singly by vs conceiued and singly by themselues set out The different maner of GOD his setting foorth of his owne Workes may instruct vs in this point His diuine Wisedome held one course in his Naturall Workes an other in his Ceremonialls Politicalls and Moralls Jn his Naturalls he made a masse at once which speedily he diuersified into diuers formes Hee gaue a kinde of potentiall delineation of all things in that vniuersall matter which presently hee distinguished into diuers Species in perfection But in his Ceremonialls hee takes another course he brings not them out of a Masse but into a Masse He doeth not out of a Totum produce the parts but out of the parts make vp the whole For example Jn the Ceremonialls first he beginnes with Sacrifice long after he followes with Circumcision then hee filleth a Tabernacle with them at last makes them full vp in a Temple Jn his Politicalls hee beginnes with a paternall Gouernment in a family proceeds to an Election of a Captaine in an Armie as in Iosuah and the Judges perfects it by way of Succession in a setled Kingdome as in Solomon and his Successors Jn his Moralls hee beginnes with the word out of his owne mouth proceeds with the Tables written by his owne fingers followes on with the fiue Bookes penned by Moses till hee make vp the Canon perfect by a number of succeeding Prophets What we haue from GOD in a president it may wel beseeme vs to practise and since his Bookes came out so farre asunder it is no reproach to any man though his Workes come not foorth together for there is a reason for it in vs answerable in some proportion to
that it can neuer be blotted out the writing the writing of the Law in our hearts In two Tables for our double duty to God and Man on both sides to take vp our heart so wholly that nothing contrary to those Precepts should euer haue any place in our Soules And certainely from this little Library that God hath erected within vs is the foundation of all our Learning layd So that people Ciuillized doe account themselues depriued of one of the best abilities of nature if they be not somewhat inabled by writing to expresse their mindes And there is no Nation so brutish or Barbarous that haue not inuented one kinde of Character or other whereby to conuey to others their inward Conceptions From these Tables of God wee may come to the writing of our Blessed Sauiour which we may put in the next place though not for order yet for Honour His Diuine Maiestie left behinde him no Monument of writing written by his owne hand in any externall Booke for he was to induce and bring in an other maner of the writing of the Law of Loue not in Tables of stone written not with incke and paper but in the Tables of our fleshly hearts written by the Spirit of the Liuing God Yet did he once with his owne finger write on the Pauement of the Temple of Ierusalem What he writ J will not now discusse S. Ambrose saith he wrote this Sentence Festucam in oculo fratris cernis trabem in tuo non vides Beda thinkes he wrote that Sentence that he spake He that is without sinne let him cast the first stone at her Haymo hath a pretty Conceit He thinketh he wrote certaine Characters in the Pauement which the Accusers beholding might see as in a glasse their owne wickednesse and so blushing at it went their wayes What euer it was sure we are our Sauiour would haue false accusations written in dust to bee troden vnder foote of them that passe by But howsoeuer I say our Blessed Sauiour did leaue behind him no writing of his owne hand Yet we may not deny but that God in the old Testament and our Sauiour in the New haue left vs many bookes of their owne inditements For all the Bookes of holy Scripture were written by inspiration and the Prophets and Apostles were but their Amanuenses and writ onely as they were led and actuated by the Spirit of God So that we may not make the Author of any of those Bookes any other then God Himselfe The old world before the flood wil afford vs no writings neither did that aage require them for the liues of Men of that aage were liuing Libraries and lasted longer then the labors of Men doe in this aage Yet S. Iude doeth insinuate somewhat of the writings of Enoch who though he were not in Stile a King Yet there is no reason to contend with him for that Title for his Dominion would beare it standing Heire-Apparent to the greater part of the world Origen Tertullian and Augustine report many things out of the supposititous writings that went vnder his name And Iosephus and that Berosus that wee haue tell vs that hee erected two pillars the one of Stone the other of Bricke wherein he wrote of the two-fold destructions of the world the one by Water the other by Fire But howsoeuer that be trew it is very probable he wrote something of that matter which though it perished with that world yet doubtlesse the memory thereof was preserued by Tradition vnto the dayes of the Apostles J will not here insist vpon the writings of Moses who was not onely a Priest and a Prophet but was as himselfe records amongst the people a King and was the first that euer receiued authoritie from GOD to write in Diuinitie Neither will J insist vpon the Example of King Dauid in whose Psalmes and Himnes are resounded out the praises of GOD in all the Churches for that J finde nothing that these men writ but what they writ as the Scribes of GOD acted as I said euen now by GOD his Spirit and not guided by their owne Yet I suppose wee may safely collect thus much from them that if GOD had thought it a matter derogatory to the Maiestie of a King to bee a Writer he would not haue made choice of those as his chiefe Instruments in this kinde who were principalls in that other Order J would easily beleeue that such men as haue had the honour to be GOD his Pen-men should neuer vouchsafe to write any thing of their owne for as we hold in a pious opinion that the blessed Virgine hauing once conceiued by the holy Ghost would neuer after conceiue by man So surely men that had deliuered nothing but the conceptions of that Spirit should hardly be drawne euer to set out any of their owne labours But we see the flat contrary both in Samuel and Solomon the one the greatest Iudge the other the most glorious King that euer that Kingdome had Samuel who writ by GODS appointment the greatest part of those two Bookes that beare his name writ also by his owne accord a Booke contayning the Law of a King or Institution of a Prince whereby hee laboured to keepe the King as well from declining to Tyrannie as the people from running into Libertie Solomon besides the Bookes of Scripture which remaine writ many likewise of his owne accord which are lost For to say nothing of his 3000. Parables his 5000. Songes that ingens opus as the Hebrues call it of the nature of all things Birds and Beasts Fowles and fishes Trees and plants from the Hysop to the Cedar All these were rather workes to manifest humane wisedome then Diuine knowledge written rather for the recreation of his owne spirit then for the edification of the Church For I cannot conceiue but those Bookes would rather haue taught vs the learning of Nature for which GOD hath left vs to the writings of men then edified vs in the gifts of Grace for which hee hath giuen vs his owne Booke Neither let any man suggest that these writings that are lost and as they say were destroyed in the destruction of the Temple by the Babylonians were of the same authoritie as those that doe remaine for J can hardly be induced to beleeue that the writings that were indited by the Spirit of GOD layed vp in the Arke receiued into the Canon read publikely in the Church are vtterly perished Jt is a desperate thing to call either the prouidence of GOD or the fidelity of the Church in question in this point For if those that haue bene are perished then why may not these that remaine as well be lost which is contrary to our Sauiours assertion that one Iota shall not perish till all bee fulfilled Therefore J rather incline to thinke that what euer was Scripture still is then that any is lost Neither is this opinion so curious to hold as the other is dangerous to beleeue Better it
Raylers I leaue them to God his Iudgment whose hand hath bene vpon the most of them Thirdly his Maiesties Confession of faith hath bene so generally approued as it hath conuerted many of their partie And had it not bene as J haue bene informed by diuerse for the Treatise of Antichrist many more would easily haue bene induced to subscribe to all in that Preface Fourthly Kings and Princes haue by his Maiesties Premonition had a more cleare insight and a more perfect discouery into the Iniury offered them by the Pope in the point of their temporall Power then euer they had Jnsomuch as that point was neuer so throughly disputed in Christendome as it hath bene by the occasion of his Maiesties Booke Fiftly and lastly for the point of Antichrist I haue heard many confesse that they neuer saw so much light giuen to that Mysterie neuer descerned so much trewth by the vniforme consent of the Text and strength of Interpretation of places as they haue done by his Maiesties Booke So that though Controuersies be fitter subiects for Schollers ordinarily then for Kings Yet when there was such a necessitie in vndertaking and such a successe being performed I leaue it to the world to iudge whether there were not a speciall hand of GOD in it or no. Now since I haue begunne with this point of Antichrist J will make bolde to proceed a little with his Maiesties Paraphrase vpon the Reuelation wherein that Treatise of Antichrist is principally grounded His Maiesties singular vnderstanding in all points of good Learning is not vnknowne But yet aboue all other things GOD hath giuen him an vnderstanding Heart in the Interpretation of that Booke beyond the measure of other men For this Paraphrase that leades the way to all the rest of his Maiesties Workes was written by his Maiestie before hee was twenty yeeres of aage and therefore iustly in this Volume hath the first place the rest following in order according to the time of their first penning Anciently Kings drempt dreames and saw visions and Prophets expounded them So with King Pharaoh and Ioseph in Egypt So with Nabuchodonosor and Daniel in Babylon Jn this aage Prophets haue written Visions and Kings haue expounded them GOD raised vp Prophets to deliuer his People from a temporall captiuitie in Egypt and Babylon by the Jnterpretation of the one And GOD hath in this aage stirred vp Kings to deliuer his People from a Spirituall Egypt and Babylon by the Interpretation of the other It is an obseruable thing that GOD neuer made his People any great promise but he added vnto his promise a famous Prophecie Three great promises we reade of that runne through all the Scriptures The first of the Messiah the second of the land of Canaan the third of the Kingdome of Heauen To these three promises are reduced all the Prophecies Of the promise of the Messiah prophecied all the Prophets from the fall of the first Adam to the comming of the second Of the promise of the Land of Canaan prophecied Iacob and Ioseph and the rest from the promise made to Abraham to the possessing of it by Iosuah and the children of Israel Of the promise of the Kingdome of Heauen made by our Sauiour CHRIST ' prophecied the Apostles principally S. Paul and S. Iohn in the Reuelation Now though all were to lay hold on the promises yet few were able to vnderstand the Prophecies And surely though all the people of GOD are to lay hold on the promises of that Glorious Kingdome described in that Booke yet few are able to vnderstand the Prophecies therein contained comprehending in them a perfect History and State of the Church euen from the destruction of Ierusalem till the consummation of the whole world Yet this I thinke I may safely say That Kings haue a kinde of interest in that Booke beyond any other for as the execution of the most part of the Prophecies of that Booke is committed vnto them So it may be that the Interpretation of it may more happily be made by them And since they are the principall Instruments that GOD hath described in that Booke to destroy the Kingdome of Antichrist to consume his State and Citie I see not but it may stand with the Wisedome of GOD to inspire their heart to expound it into whose handes hee hath put it to excute vntill the LORD shall consume both him and it with the Spirit of his mouth and shall abolish it with the brightnesse of his comming For from the day that S. Iohn writ the Booke to this present houre I doe not thinke that euer any King tooke such paines or was so perfect in the Reuelation as his Maiestie is which will easily appeare by this Paraphrase by his Maiesties Meditation on the 20. Chap. and his Monitorie Preface Jt was my purpose to haue past through all his Maiesties Books to haue expressed the Argument and the occasion of their writing But I find by that J haue already said I should be ouer tedious vnto you This therefore in generall They are all worthy of a King and to be kept to Posterity For if Ouid could imagine that no time should eate out the memory of his Metamorphoseis which were but fictions J hope no time shall see an end of these Books that carry in them so much diuine trewth and light And as in this first worke of the Paraphrase his Maiestie hath shewed his Piety So in this last Pearle I meane his Maiesties Speach in the Starr-Chamber his Maiestie hath shewed his Policy The first sheweth hee vnderstands the Kingdome of GOD this last that hee as well apprehends the State of his Kingdomes in this World The first sheweth him to haue a large Portion in that of Heauen and this last sheweth him to haue a great Power and experience in these Kingdomes hee hath on earth Therefore let these men that delight so much in Detraction and to vilify him whom GOD hath exalted and to shed his blood whose Soule GOD hath bound vp in the Bundle of life Let them J say write what euer the Subtilty of the olde Serpent can put into their heads or the Malice of Sathan infuse into their hearts Let them speake what the poyson of Aspes is able to put into their lippes they are not all able to make his Maiestie to appeare lesse then he is nor to shew that euer they had of theirs a King so accomplished It is trew that wee haue not had many Kings in this Kingdome of our Profession But for those we haue had this Iland of ours neuer saw the like either for partes of Nature giftes of Learning or Graces of Piety The little time of life that God lent to King Edward must needs lessen his prayses But neuer did there appeare beginnings of more rare perfection then in him The length of Queene Elizabeths dayes together with the felicity of her time was not only a Glory to her owne People but a wonderment to the
change longer then we are well able to deduce the whole life and reigne of Solomon We haue not the Daughter of Pharao an Idolatrous King nor feare we strange women to steale away his heart from the Seruice of GOD But a Queene as of a Royall so of a Religious Stocke professing the Gospell of Christ with him A Mirrour of trew Modestie a Queene of Bounty both beloued and admired of all his People A Posterity that we need not feare for folly in the one Sexe nor for leuitie in the other Both which made Solomon speake so much as the Iewes say in his Prouerbes of a foolish sonne because his owne was not wise and of wanton Women because he feared the vanity of his owne Daughters But GOD hath left his Maiestie a Sonne a Prince as in outward Liniaments so in inward Abiliments I need say no more an Alter-Idem a second-Selfe A Daughter a Princesse of that Piety singular vertue and Modestie as makes her both beloued at home and admired abroad J haue done Only I desire the Readers of these Workes to pray to GOD that as he hath so farre aduanced vs as to bestowe vpon vs with the Heauenly Treasures of his trewth the riches of his earthly Iewels in so Sacred a King so admired a Queene so hopefull a Prince so vertuous a Princes He would for his Mercies sake for his Sonnes sake continue this the Light of his Countenance vpon vs in them and their Posterity till the comming of that Kingdome which neuer shall haue end AMEN Thine in the Lord IA. WINTON THE SEVERALL TREATISES ACCORDING TO THE TIME WHEREIN THEY WERE WRITTEN AND THEIR PLACE IN THIS Collection c. A PARAPHRASE vpon the Reuelation Pag. 7. Two Meditations The First vpon the 7. 8. 9. and 10. Verses of the 20. Chap. of the Reuelation Pag. 73 Second vpon the 25. 26. 27. 28. and 29. Verses of the 15. Chapter of the first Booke of the Chronicles Pag. 81 Daemonologie First Booke Pag. 94 Second Booke Pag. 108 Third Booke Pag. 123. Basilicon-Doron First Booke Pag. 148 Second Booke Pag. 155 Third Booke Pag. 180. The trew Law of Free Monarchies AnonymΩs Pag. 193 A Counter-blast to Tobacco AnonymΩs Pag. 214 A Discourse of the Powder Treason AnonymΩs Pag. 223. An Apologie for the Oath of Allegiance first set out AnonymΩs and afterwards published with the Praemonition vnder His Maiesties owne name Pag. 247 A Praemonition to all Christian Monarches Free Princes and States written both in English and Latine by his Maiestie Pag. 289 A Declaration against Vorstius written by His Maiestie first in French after translated into English by His Maiesties leaue Pag. 349 A Defence of the Right of KINGS against Cardinall Perron written by His Maiestie in French and thereafter translated into English by His Maiesties leaue Pag. 392 Fiue Speaches THE First in Parliament ANNO 1603. Pag. 485. Second in Parliament ANNO 1605. Pag. 499. Third at White-hall ANNO 1607. Pag. 509. Fourth at White-hall ANNO 1609. Pag. 527. Fift in the Starre-Chamber ANNO 1616. Pag. 549. THE EPISTLE TO THE WHOLE CHVRCH MILITANT in whatsoeuer part of the Earth TO whom could I haue so fitly directed Christian Readers this Paraphrase of mine vpon the Reuelation as vnto you who are the very and true posteritie of those Churches to whom the Booke it selfe was dedicated and for whose instruction and comfort the said Epistle was endited by the Holy Spirit and written by that great Theologue IOHN the Apostle whom our Master beloued deerely J doubt not but it will seeme strange to many that any of my aage calling and literature should haue medled with so obscure Theologicall and high a subiect But let my earnest desire by manifesting the Trueth as well to teach my selfe as others serue for excuse considering also that where diuers others in our aage haue medled with the interpretation of this Booke pressing with preoccupied opinions onely to wrest and conforme the meaning thereof to their particular and priuate passions J by the contrary protest that all my trauailes tend to square and conforme my opinions to the trew and sincere meaning thereof Which causes mooued me to vndertake this worke not thereby to despise infinite others who to the glory of God and great comfort of his Church hath giuen it a great light already but rather that by oft perusing and dew considering therof whereto this worke hath led mee J might be the better acquainted with the meaning of this Booke which J esteeme a speciall cannon against the Hereticall wall of our common aduersaries the Papists whom I would wish to know that in this my Paraphrase vpon it J haue vsed nothing of my owne coniecture or of the authoritie of others but onely haue interpreted it in that sense which may best agree with the methode of the Epistle and not bee contradictorie to it selfe The meaning whereof I expound partly by it selfe and partly by other parts of the Scriptures as the worke it selfe will beare witnesse And therefore this one thing J must craue of our Aduersaries that they will not refute any part of my Interpretation till they finde out a more probable themselues agreeing with the whole context cum serie temporum and where their consciences beare them witnesse that J speake the Trueth that they will yeeld vnto it and glorifie God therein and this is all the reward I craue for my paines But of one thing I must forewarne you Christian Readers to wit that yee may vnderstand that it is for the making of the Discourse more short and facile that I haue made IOHN to be the Speaker in all this Paraphrase and not that I am so presumptuously foolish as to haue meant thereby that my Paraphrase is the onely trew and certaine exposition of this Epistle reiecting all others For although through speaking in his person I am onely bounded and limitted to vse one and not diuers interpretations of euery seuerall place yet I condemne not others but rather allow them to interpret it diuersly so being it agree with the analogie of faith with the methode of the Text cum serie temporum as I said before for those three being obserued it may fall out that diuers diuersly expound one place and yet all be according to the trueth and very meaning of the Spirit of God as may easily be proued by the Text it selfe For in the 17. Chapter the Angel expounding to Iohn the seuen heads of the beastes that came out of the Sea hee saith the seuen heads which thou sawest vpon the beast are the seuen Hills and they are also seuen Kings Here ye see one thing is expounded in two very farre different fashions and yet both true And therefore let wise men take their choice in these things obseruing alwayes these rules I haue spoken of as specially for example This Hebrew word Arma geddon in the 16. Chapter and sixt Phiale although I expound it to signifie destruction by
from the sinceritie of the trewth enticed thereunto though not by Apollyon himselfe for hee was not yet risen yet by the qualities whereof hee is composed and therefore is he here punished for the same And as Moses troubled by the hote Easterne winde the land of Egypt by the breeding of grashoppers so shall the fierie spirit of God in the mouthes of his witnesses so trouble Babylon with the burning sunne of Gods trewth as men shall be troubled with a great heat to wit she and her followers shall be tormented and vexed therewith 9 But they blasphemed the name of God who had power ouer these plagues and repented not that they might giue him glory for such is the nature of the wicked and so hardened are their hearts that the same scourges and afflictions which make the godly turne themselues to God and so are the sauour of life vnto them to their eternall saluation they by the contrary make the wicked to runne from euill vnto worse and so are the sauour of death vnto them to their iust and eternall condemnation 10 Then the fifth Angel powred forth his phiale euen vpon the very throne of the beast and his kingdome was made darke and they to wit he and his followers gnawed their tongues for dolour for as this beast did breed and was nourished by the smoake and darkenesse that came foorth of the bottomlesse pit whereof he is the Angel and messenger as was declared in the fift Trumpet And as Moses made a great darkenesse to come vpon the land of Egypt so now after the witnesses reuealing him which yee heard signified by the heat in the fourth phiale shall follow that this kingdome shall become obscure by the light of the trewth and shall come to be despised by many whereby he and his followers shall be mooued to a great rage which I meant by gnawing their tongues for dolour 11 And they blasphemed the God of heauen for their dolours and griefes and repented them not of their workes for as I said before neither corporall punishments signified by sores nor spirituall signified by dolours can moue them to repent but to a greater obstinacie and rage as ye shall see by their actions immediatly after the powring foorth of the sixt phiale vpon the great water Euphrates 12 Then the sixt Angel powred foorth his phiale vpon the great riuer of Euphrates and the waters thereof were dried vp that the passage of the Kings comming from the East might be prepared so as that beast by the meanes of many people signified by waters did tyrannize ouer the Church of God and as Moses by Aarons rod made a dry and safe passage through the Red-sea to the people of Israel Exod. 14. so God by this plague dries vp that great water Euphrates which compasseth Babylon during his will to wit he makes now the power of this Monarchie to decay and layes it open to inuasion and destruction as ye shall heare This water was dried to make passage for the Kings comming from the Sun rising alluding to Daniel as I shewed in the sixt Trumpet for euen as the Persians and Medes came from the East Chap. 9. crossed Euphrates ouercame Babylon and slew Balthasar King thereof so immediately after that the Witnesses haue begun to reueale spirituall Babylon as is declared in the fourth phiale and that thereupon hath followed that the kingdome thereof is become darke as is declared in the fift phiale then shall follow that God shall prepare the destruction thereof by drying Euphrates ' whereupon shall ensue that such instruments as God shall appoint directed by that Sunne rising to wit Christ as ye heard in the sixt Seale shall destroy that King and sacke that great Citie to the perpetuall confusion of all her followers as ye wil heare more clearely declared hereafter 13 And then I saw from the mouth of the dragon and from the mouth of the beast and from the mouth of the false prophet three vncleanespirits come foorth like to froggs for this is all the repentance that these three phials shall worke in the heart of Babylon as I said before to wit for the last remedie the diuel or dragon shall inuent him a fresh order of Ecclesiasticall factours and Agents as the diuels last brood These are the same that I called horse in the vision in the sixt Trumpet three in number to correspond to their threefold armour as ye heard in the said Trumpet because there came out of their mouthes three sorts of persecutions and destructions And themselues came out of three mouthes out of the dragons because the diuel is the inuenter of them out of the beasts because the beast or King of Locusts commands ouer them directs and employes them for the standing of his kingdome as the last refuge when now he sees the decay thereof euidently comming on out of his false prophets or false Churches because it authorises them for the aforesaid effects These vncleane spirits and teachers of false and hereticall doctrines and wicked policies resembling frogges as well for that they are bred of an old filthy and corrupted false doctrine which for a long space haue blinded the world before their comming as frogges breed of rotten and slimie corruption as also for that they goe craftily about to vndermine and condemne all Ecclesiasticall orders preceding them as vnperfect and vnprofitable because their kingdome is darkenesse But howsoeuer they thus craftily insinuate themselues in the fauours of the people surely their doctrine is nothing else but the very same filthy puddle of vncleane and wicked heresies and impieties taught by the grashoppers before euen as the yong frogges grow like the former 14 For they are spirits of diuels to wit wicked and craftie like them doing myracles of deceipt for they shall wonderfully deceiue men and they goe to all the Kings of the earth and to the whole world to gather them together to the battell of that day of God Almightie for they shall haue such credit of a great part of the Princes of the earth as I also shewed you in the sixt Trumpet as they shall gather great forces together as the last brood of the diuel as I told you before to fight against his Church who notwithstanding shall ouercome them as will after more clearely be declared 15 Happy are they then that swarue not nor despaire in the meane time but awake and keepe their garments cleane and vndefiled from the generall corruption lest otherwise they walke naked not clothed with the garment of righteousnes and so their shamefull parts or naturall inclination to euill be discouered For loe I come as a thiefe for no man shall know the houre no time of my comming 16 And the place whereunto these vncleane spirits gathered the Kings to this battell against Gods Church in Hebrew is called Armageddon for by deceipt they assembled the Kings and nations to their owne destruction 17 Then the seuenth Angel powred out his phiale
often haue heard already and the in-dwellers of the earth shall wonder whose names are not written in the booke of life before the foundation of the world was laide of this wondering yee heard before they shall wonder I say at this beast which was to wit in great power and is not to wit in a maner as ye presently heard and yet is I meane doeth stand though farre decayed from the former greatnesse 9 Take good heede vnto this that I declare vnto thee for herein shall the trew wisedome of men be tried to wit in knowing by this my description what particular Empire and Tyrannie I speake of And the seuen heads of this beast signifie aswell seuen materiall hilles whereupon the seate of this Monarchie is situated as also seuen kings or diuers formes of Magistrates that this Empire hath had and is to haue hereafter 10 Fiue of them haue beene alreadie one is presently and makes the sixt another shall follow it and make the seuenth but it is not yet come and when it comes it shall remaine but a very short space 11 And this beast which was to wit so great and is not for now it is decaying as thou presently hast heard it is the eight and yet one of the seuen for this beast which rose out of the ruines of the fourth Monarchie as ye heard before in respect it vseth an hereticall Tyrannie ouer the consciences of men by that new forme of Empire is different from any of the rest and so is the eight and yet because this forme of gouernment shall haue the same seate which the rest had and vse as great Tyrannie and greater vpon the world and shall vse the same forme in ciuill gouernment which one of the seuen vsed therefore because it is so like them I call it one of the seuen 12 And the tenne hornes which thou sawest signifie tenne Kings to wit the great number of subalterne Magistrates in all the Prouinces vnder that Monarchy who haue not yet receiued their kingdome for vnder all the diuers sorts of gouernments that shall be in it except the last and hereticall sort these subalterne powers shall be but in the ranke of subiects but they shall take their kingly power with the beast to wit at the very time that this Apollyon shall rise out of the ashes of the fourth beast or Monarchie the kings of the earth shall become his slaues and subalterne Magistrates whereas the subiects were onely the power of that Monarchie before so as the hornes or powers of this beast were but of subiects before it was wounded but after the healing of it the worldly kings and rulers shall become the powers and hornes of it 13 These shall haue one counsell and shall giue their strength and power to the beast to wit these kings shal all willingly yeeld obedience to Babylon and shall employ their whole forces for the maintenance of that Monarchie and the persecution of the Saints 14 For they shal fight with the Lambe in his members albeit all in vaine for in the end the Lambe shall ouercome them because he is Lord of lords and King of all kings and these that are with him and followeth him are called Chosen and Faithfull 15 He also said vnto me The waters that thou saw this Whore sit vpon are the peoples multitudes nations and tongues that haue subiected themselues to her Empire 16 But as touching these ten hornes thou saw thus farre I foretell vnto thee although that for a time these kings shall be slaues and seruants to Babylon and shall be her instruments to persecute the Saints the time shall come before the consummation that they shall hate the Whore who abused them so strongly and long and shall make her to be alone for they shall withdraw from her their Subiects the nations that were her strength and shall make her naked for they shall discouer the mysterie of her abominations and shall eate her flesh and burne her with fire to wit they shall spoile her of her riches power and glory and so destroy her 17 But doe not thou wonder at this for God gaue them in their hearts to wit permitted them to be abused by her for a space that they might doe what pleased her and consent to all her vnlawfull policies and pretences and giue their kingdomes vnto this beast vntill the words of God might be accomplished to wit they shall submit their very Crownes and take the right thereof from her vnto the fulnesse of times here prophecied At what time God shall raise them vp as ye heard to destroy Babylon for the hearts of the greatest kings as well as of the smallest subiects are in the hands of the Lord to be his instruments and to turne them as it shall please him to employ them 18 And this woman or Whore which thou sawest is that great citie and seate of this Beast or Monarchie which beareth rule ouer the kings of the earth as thou hast heard alreadie But although it be one seat yet diuers and a great number of kings or heads thereof shall succeed into it one to another all vpholding an hereticall religion and false worship of God and one forme of gouernment as the fourth Monarchie did out of the which this did spring as ye haue heard CHAP. XVIII ARGVMENT The sorrow of the earth for the destruction of the Popedome The profite that worldly men had by his standing The great riches and wealth of that Church The Pope by his Pardons makes merchandise of the soules of men Heauen and the Saints reioyce at his destruction albeit the earth and the worldlings lament for the same ANd then I saw another Angel comming downe from heauen hauing great power so that the earth shined with his glory for so soone as God by one of the seauen Angels who had the phials had more plainely described vnto mee this woman sitting on the beast then he did before hee now appointeth this other Angel who is Christ to declare vnto me and proclaime to the world as is signified by his comming downe to the earth for that cause the iust condemnation of Babylon according to her sinnes 2 And hee cryed out with a loude voyce saying It is fallen It is fallen Babylon that great Citie and it is made the dwelling place of vncleane spirits and the habitation of all vncleane and hatefull fowles to wit it shall be destroyed and that great Citie the seate of that Monarchie shall be desolate for euer euen as it was prophesied of Ierusalem 3 Because all nations haue drunke of the Vine of her whoredome and the kings of the earth haue committed whoredome with her and the Merchants of the earth are become rich by the great wealth of her delights in so great a worldly glory and pompe did that Monarchie shine 4 And I heard another voyce from heauen to wit the voyce of the holy Spirit saying Goe foorth from her my people to wit all the chosen
ratified in Heauen the curse that in that case here I giue vnto you For I protest before that Great GOD I had rather not bee a Father and childlesse then bee a Father of wicked children But hoping yea euen promising vnto my selfe that GOD who in his great blessing sent you vnto mee shall in the same blessing as hee hath giuen mee a Sonne so make him a good and a godly Sonne not repenting him of his Mercie shewed vnto mee I end with my earnest prayer to GOD to worke effectually into you the fruites of that blessing which here from my heart I bestow vpon you Your louing Father I. R. TO THE READER CHaritable Reader it is one of the golden Sentences which Christ our Sauiour vttered to his Apostles that there is nothing so couered Luk. 12. that shal not be reuealed neither so hidde that shall not be knowen and whatsoeuer they haue spoken in darkenesse should be heard in the light and that which they had spoken in the eare in secret place should be publikely preached on the tops of the houses And since he hath said it most trew must it be fince the authour thereof is the fountaine and very being of trewth which should mooue all godly and honest men to be very warie in all their secretest actions and whatsoeuer middesses they vse for attaining to their most wished ends lest otherwise how auowable soeuer the marke be whereat they aime the middesses being discouered to be shamefull whereby they climbe it may turne to the disgrace both of the good worke it selfe and of the authour thereof since the deepest of our secrets cannot be hidde from that all-seeing eye and penetrant light piercing through the bowels of very darkenesse it selfe But as this is generally trew in the actions of all men so is it more specially trew in the affaires of Kings for Kings being publike persons by reason of their office and authority are as it were set as it was said of old vpon a publike stage in the sight of all the people where all the beholders eyes are attentiuely bent to looke and pry in the least circumstance of their secretest drifts Which should make Kings the more carefull not to harbour the secretest thought in their minde but such as in the owne time they shall not be ashamed openly to auouch assuring themselues that Time the mother of Veritie will in the due season bring her owne daughter to perfection The trew practise hereof I haue as a King oft found in my owne person though I thanke God neuer to my shame hauing laide my count euer to walke as in the eyes of the Almightie examining euer so the secretest of my drifts before I gaue them course as how they might some day bide the touchstone of a publike triall And amongst therest of my secret actions which haue vnlooked for of me come to publike knowledge it hath so fared with my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 directed to my eldest son which I wrote for exercise of mine owne ingyne and instruction of him who is appointed by God I hope to sit on my Throne after me For the purpose and matter thereof being onely fit for a King as teaching him his office and the person whomfor it was ordained a Kings heire whose secret counsellor and faithfull admonisher it must be I thought it no wayes conuenient nor comely that either it should to all be proclaimed which to one onely appertained and specially being a messenger betwixt two so coniunct persons or yet that the mould whereupon he should frame his future behauiour when hee comes both vnto the perfection of his yeeres and possession of his inheritance should before the hand be made common to the people the subiect of his future happy gouernment And therefore for the more secret and close keeping of them I onely permitted seuen of them to be printed the Printer being first sworne for secrecie and these seuen I dispersed amongst some of my trustiest seruants to be keeped closely by them lest in case by the iniquitie or wearing of time any of them might haue beene lost yet some of them might haue remained after me as witnesses to my Sonne both of the honest integritie of my heart and of my fatherly affection and naturall care towards him But since contrary to my intention and expectation as I haue alreadie said this Booke is now vented and set foorth to the publike view of the world and consequently subiect to euery mans censure as the current of his affection leades him I am now forced as well for resisting to the malice of the children of enuie who like waspes sucke venome out of euery wholsome herbe as for the satisfaction of the godly honest sort in any thing that they may mistake therein both to publish and spread the true copies thereof for defacing of the false copies that are alreadie spread as I am enformed as likewise by this Preface to cleare such parts thereof as in respect of the concised shortnesse of my Style may be mis-interpreted therein To come then particularly to the matter of my Booke there are two speciall great points which as I am informed the malicious sort of men haue detracted therein and some of the honest sort haue seemed a little to mistake whereof the first and greatest is that some sentences therein should seeme to furnish grounds to men to doubt of my sinceritie in that Religion which I haue euer constantly professed the other is that in some parts thereof I should seeme to nourish in my minde a vindictiue resolution against England or at the least some principals there for the Queene my mothers quarrell The first calumnie most grieuous indeed is grounded vpon the sharpe and bitter wordes that therein are vsed in the description of the humors of Puritanes and rash-headie Preachers that thinke it their honour to contend with Kings and perturbe whole kingdomes The other point is onely grounded vpon the strait charge I giue my Sonne not to heare nor suffer any vnreuerent speeches or bookes against any of his parents or progenitors wherein I doe alledge my owne experience anent the Queene my mother affirming that I neuer found any that were of perfit aage the time of her reigne here so stedfastly trew to me in all my troubles as these that constantly kept their allegiance to her in her time But if the charitable Reader will aduisedly consider both the methode and matter of my Treatise he will easily iudge what wrong I haue sustained by the carping at both For my Booke suppose very small being diuided in three seuerall parts the first part thereof onely treats of a Kings duety towards God in Religion wherein I haue so clearely made profession of my Religion calling it the Religion wherein I was brought vp and euer made profession of and wishing him euer to continue in the same as the onely trew forme of Gods worship that I would haue thought my sincere plainnesse in that
what indifferencie of Religion can Momus call that in mee where speaking of my sonnes marriage in case it pleased God before that time to cut the threed of my life I plainly forewarne him of the inconuenients that were like to ensew incase he should marry any that be of a different profession in Religion from him notwithstanding that the number of Princes professing our Religion be so small as it is hard to foresee how he can be that way meetly matched according to his ranke And as for the other point that by some parts in this booke it should appeare that I doe nourish in my minde a vindictiue resolution against England or some principals there it is surely more then wonderfull vnto me vpon what grounds they can haue gathered such conclusions For as vpon the one part Ineither by name nor description poynt out England in that part of my discourse so vpon the other I plainly bewray my meaning to be of Scottish-men where I conclude that purpose in these termes That the loue I beare to my Sonne hath mooued me to be so plaine in this argument for so that I discharge my conscience to him in vttering the verity I care not what any traitour or treason-allower doe thinke of it And English-men could not thereby be meant since they could be no traitours where they ought no alleageance I am not ignorant of a wise and princely apophthegme which the same Queene of England vttered about the time of her owne Coronation But the drift of that discourse doth fully cleare my intention being onely grounded vpon that precept to my Sonne that he should not permit any vnreuerent detracting of his praedecessours bringing in that purpose of my mother onely for an example of my experience anent Scottishmen without vsing any perswasion to him of reuenge For a Kings giuing of any fault the dew stile inferres no reduction of the faulters pardon No I am by a degree nearer of kinne vnto my mother then he is neither thinke I my selfe either that vnworthie or that neere my end that I neede to make such a Dauidicall testament since I haue euer thought it the dewtie of a worthie Prince rather with a pike then a penne to write his iust reuenge But in this matter I haue no delite to be large wishing all men to iudge of my future proiects according to my by-past actions Thus hauing as much insisted in the clearing of these two points as will I hope giue sufficient satisfaction to all honest men and leauing the enuious to the foode of their owne venome I will heartily pray thee louing Reader charitably to conceiue of my honest intention in this Booke I know the greatest part of the people of this whole Isle haue beene very curious for a sight thereof some for the loue they beare me either being particularly acquainted with me or by a good report that perhappes they haue heard of me and therefore longed to see any thing that proceeded from that authour whom they so loued and honoured since bookes are viue Idees of the authours minde Some onely for meere curiositie that thinke it their honour to know all new things were curious to glut their eyes therewith onely that they might vaunt them to haue seene it and some fraughted with causlesse enuie at the Authour did greedily search out the booke thinking their stomacke jit ynough for turning neuer so wholesome foode into noysome and infectiue bumours So as this their great concurrence in curiofitie though proceeding from farre different complexions hath enforced the vn-timous divulgating of this Booke farre contrarie to my intention as I haue alreadie said To which Hydra of diuersly-enclined spectatours I haue no targe to oppone but plainenesse patience and sinceritie plainenesse for resoluing and satisfying of the first sort patience for to beare with the shallownesse of the next and sinceritie to defie the malice of the third with-all Though I cannot please all men therein I am contented so that Ionely please the vertuous sort and though they also finde not euery thing therein so fully to answere their expectation as the argument would seeme to require although I would wish them modestly to remember that God hes not bestowed all his gifts vpon one but parted them by a iustice distributiue and that many eyes see more then one and that the varietie of mens mindes is such that tot capita totsensus yea and that euen the very faces that God hath by nature brought foorth in the world doe euery one in some of their particular lineaments differ from any other yet in trewth it was not my intention in handling of this purpose as it is easie to perceiue fully to set downe heere all such grounds as might out of the best writers haue beene alledged and out of my owne inuention and experience added for the perfite institution of a King but onely to giue some such precepts to my owne Sonne for the gouernement of this kingdome as was meetest for him to be instructed in and best became me to be the informer of If I in this Booke haue beene too particularly plaine impute it to the necessitie of the subiect not so much being ordained for the institution of a Prince in generall as I haue said as containing particular precepts to my Sonne in speciall whereof he could haue made but a generall vse if they had not contained the particular diseases of this kingdome with the best remedies for the same which it became me best as a King hauing learned both the theoricke and practicke thereof more plainely to expresse then any simple schoole man that onely knowes matters of kingdomes by contemplation But if in some places it seeme too obscure impute it to the shortnesse thereof being both for the respect of my selfe and of my Sonne constrained there-unto my owne respect for fault of leasure being so continually occupied in the affaires of my office as my great burthen and restlesse fashery is more then knowen to all that knowes or beares of me for my Sonnes respect because I know by my self that a Prince so long as he is young wil be so caried away with some sort of delight or other that he cannot patiently abide the reading of any large volume and when he comes to a ful maturity of aage he must be so busied in the actiue part of his charge as he will not be permitted to bestow many houres vpon the cōtemplatiue part therof So as it was neither fit for him nor possible for me to haue made this Treatise any more ample then it is Indeed I am litle beholden to the curiositie of some who thinking it too large alreadie as appears for lacke of leisure to copy it drew some notes out of it for speeds sake putting in the one halfe of the purpose and leauing out the other not vnlike the man that alledged that part of the Psalme non est Deus but left out the praeceeding words Dixit insipiens in corde
of nouelties For remedie whereof besides the execution of Lawes that are to be vsed against vnreuerent speakers I know no better meane then so to rule as may iustly stop their mouthes from all such idle and vnreuerent speeches and so to prop the weale of your people with prouident care for their good gouernment that iustly Momus himselfe may haue no ground to grudge at and yet so to temper and mixe your seueritie with mildnes that as the vniust railers may be restrained with a reuerentawe so the good and louing Subiects may not onely liue in suretie and wealth but be stirred vp and inuited by your benigne courtesies to open their mouthes in the iust praise of your so well moderated regiment Arist 5. pol. Isoc in paneg In respect whereof and therewith also the more to allure them to a common amitie among themselues certaine dayes in the yeere would be appointed for delighting the people with publicke spectacles of all honest games and exercise of armes as also for conueening of neighbours for entertaining friendship and heartlinesse by honest feasting and merrinesse For I cannot see what greater superstition can be in making playes and lawfull games in Maie and good cheere at Christmas then in eating fish in Lent and vpon Fridayes the Papists as well vsing the one as the other so that alwayes the Sabboths be kept holy and no vnlawfull pastime be vsed And as this forme of contenting the peoples mindes hath beene vsed in all well gouerned Republicks so will it make you to performe in your gouernment that olde good sentence Omne tulit punctum Hor. de art poet qui miscuit vtile dulci. Ye see now my Sonne how for the zeale I beare to acquaint you with the plaine and single veritie of all things I haue not spared to be something Satyricke in touching well quickly the faults in all the estates of my kingdome But I protest before God I doe it with the fatherly loue that I owe to them all onely hating their vices whereof there is a good number of honest men free in euery estate And because for the better reformation of all these abuses among your estates it will be a great helpe vnto you to be well acquainted with the nature and humours of all your Subiects and to know particularly the estate of euery part of your dominions I would therefore counsell you Plat. in pol. Min. Tacit. 7. an Mart. once in the yeere to visite the principall parts of the countrey ye shal be in for the time and because I hope ye shall be King of moe countries then this once in the three yeeres to visite all your Kingdomes not lipening to Vice-royes but hearing your selfe their complaints and hauing ordinarie Councels and iustice-seates in euerie Kingdome of their owne countriemen and the principall matters euer to be decided by your selfe when ye come in those parts Ye haue also to consider Protection from forraine miuries Xeno 8. Cyr. Arist 5 pol. Polib 6. Dion Hal. de Romul that yee must not onely bee carefull to keepe your subiects from receiuing anie wrong of others within but also yee must be careful to keepe them from the wrong of any forraine Prince without sen the sword is giuen you by God not onely to reuenge vpon your owne subiects the wrongs committed amongst themselues but further to reuenge and free them of forraine iniuries done vnto them And therefore warres vpon iust quarrels are lawful but about all let not the wrong cause be on your side Vse all other Princes as your brethren honestly and kindely What formes to be vsed with other Princes Isoc in Plat. Parag. Keepe precisely your promise vnto them although to your hurt Striue with euâ—râ—e one of them in courtesie and thankefulnesse and as with all men so especially with them bee plaine and trewthfull keeping euer that Christian rule to doe as yee would be done to especially in counting rebellion against any other Prince a crime against your owne selfe because of the preparatiue Supplie not therefore nor trust not other Princes rebels but pittie and succour all lawfull Princes in their troubles Arist ad A. Verr. 11. de V. p. R. Cu. 2. Of. Liu. lib. 4. But if any of them will not abstaine notwithstanding what-soeuer your good deserts to wrong you or your subiects craue redresse at leasure heare and doe all reason and if no offer that is lawfull or honourable can make him to abstaine nor repaire his wrong doing then for last refuge Liu. lib. 1. Cic. cod commit the iustnesse of your cause to God giuing first honestly vp with him and in a publicke and honourable forme But omitting now to teach you the forme of making warres Of warre because that arte is largely treated of by many Prop. 4. Eleg. Lucan 7. Varro 11. de V. P. R. and is better learned by practise then speculation I will onely set downe to you heere a few precepts therein Let first the iustnesse of your cause be your greatest strength and then omitte not to vse all lawfull meanes for backing of the same Consult therefore with no Necromancier nor false Prophet vpon the successe of your warres remembring on king Saules miserable end 1. Sam. 31. but keepe your land cleane of all South-sayers Deut. 18. according to the commaund in the Law of God dilated by Ieremie Neither commit your quarrell to bee tried by a Duell for beside that generally all Duell appeareth to bee vnlawful committing the quarrell as it were to a lot whereof there is no warrant in the Scripture since the abrogating of the olde Lawe it is specially moste vn-lawfull in the person of a King Plutat in Sect. Ant. who being a publicke person hath no power therefore to dispose of himselfe in respect that to his preseruation or fall the safetie or wracke of the whole common-weale is necessarily coupled as the body is to the head Before ye take on warre Luke 14. play the wise Kings part described by Christ fore-seeing how ye may beare it out with all necessarie prouision especially remember Thuc. 2. Sal in lug Cic. prol Man Demost olyn 2. Liu. li. 30. Veger 1. Caes 1. 3. de 〈◊〉 ciuilâ— Proh in Thras that money is Neruus belli Choose old experimented Captaines and yong able souldiers Be extreamely strait and seuere in martiall Discipline as well for keeping of order which is as requisite as hardinesse in the warres and punishing of slouth which at a time may put the whole armie in hazard as likewise for repressing of mutinies which in warres are wonderfull dangerous And looke to the Spaniard whose great successe in all his warres hath onely come through straitnesse of Discipline and order for such errours may be committed in the warres as cannot be gotten mended againe Be in your owne person walkrife Caes 1. de bello ciu Liu. l. 7. Xen. 1. 5. Câ—r de
companie of dames which are nothing else but irritamenta libidinis Bee warre likewaies to abuse your selfe in making your sporters your counsellers and delight not to keepe ordinarily in your companie Comoedians or Balladines for the Tyrans delighted most in them Pl. 3. de rep Ar. 7. 8. pol. Sen. 1. ep Dyon glorying to bee both authors and actors of Comoedies and Tragedies themselues Wherupon the answere that the poet Philoxenus disdainefully gaue to the Tyran of Syracuse there-anent is now come in a prouerbe reduc me in latomias Suidas And all the ruse that Nero made of himselfe when he died was Qualis artifexpereo Suet. in Ner. meaning of his skill in menstrally and playing of Tragoedies as indeede his whole life and death was all but one Tragoedie Delight not also to bee in your owne person a player vpon instruments especially on such as commonly men winne their liuing with nor yet to be fine of any mechanicke craft 1. Sep. Leur esprit s'en fuit au bout des doigts saith Du Bartas whose workes as they are all most worthie to bee read by any Prince or other good Christian so would I especially wish you to bee well versed in them But spare not some-times by merie company to be free from importunitie for ye should be euer mooued with reason which is the onely qualitie whereby men differ from beasts and not with importunitie Curt. 8. For the which cause as also for augmenting your Maiestie ye shall not be so facile of accesse-giuing at all times as I haue beene Liu. 35. Xen. in Ages Cit. ad Q frat and yet not altogether retired or locked vp like the Kings of Persia appointing also certaine houres for publicke audience And since my trust is that God hath ordained you for moe Kingdomes then this as I haue oft alreadie said preasse by the outward behauiour as well of your owne person A speciall good rule in gouernment as of your court in all indifferent things to allure piece and piece the rest of your kingdomes to follow the fashions of that kingdome of yours that yee finde most ciuill easiest to be ruled and most obedient to the Lawes for these outward and indifferent things will serue greatly for allurements to the people to embrace and follow vertue But beware of thrawing or constraining them thereto letting it bee brought on with time and at leisure specially by so mixing through alliance and daily conuersation the inhabitants of euery kingdom with other as may with time make them to grow and welde all in one Which may easily be done betwixt these two nations being both but one Ile of Britaine and alreadie ioyned in vnitie of Religion and language The fruitfull effects of the vnion So that euen as in the times of our ancestours the long warres and many bloodie battels betwixt these two countreys bred a naturall and hereditarie hatred in euery of them against the other the vniting and welding of them hereafter in one by all sort of friendship commerce and alliance will by the contrary produce and maintaine a naturall and inseparable vnitie of loue amongst them Alreadie kything in the happy amitie As we haue already praise be to God a great experience of the good beginning hereof and of the quenching of the olde hate in the hearts of both the people procured by the meanes of this long and happy amitie betweene the Queene my dearest sister and me which during the whole time of both our Reignes hath euer beene inuiolably obserued And for conclusion of this my whole Treatise Conclusion in forme of abridge of the whole Treatise remember my Sonne by your trew and constant depending vpon God to looke for a blessing to all your actions in your office by the outward vsing thereof to testifie the inward vprightnesse of your heart and by your behauiour in all indifferent things to set foorth the viue image of your vertuous disposition and in respect of the greatnesse and weight of your burthen to be patient in hearing keeping your heart free from praeoccupation ripe in concluding Thuc. 6. Dion 52. and constant in your resolution For better it is to bide at your resolution although there were some defect in it then by daily changing to effectuate nothing taking the paterne thereof from the microcosme of your owne body wherein ye haue two eyes signifying great foresight and prouidence with a narrow looking in all things and also two eares signifying patient hearing and that of both the parties but ye haue but one tongue for pronouncing a plaine sensible and vniforme sentence and but one head and one heart for keeping a constant vniforme resolution according to your apprehension hauing two hands and two feete with many fingers and toes for quicke execution in employing all instruments meet for effectuating your deliberations But forget not to digest euer your passion before ye determine vpon any thing since Ira furor breuis est Hir. lib. 1. epist. vttering onely your anger according to the Apostles rule Irascimini sed ne peccetis taking pleasure not only to reward Ephes 4. but to aduance the good which is a chiefe point of a Kings glory but make none ouer-great Arist 5. pol. Dion 52. but according as the power of the countrey may beare and punishing the euill but euery man according to his owne offence not punishing nor blaming the father for the sonne Plat. 9. de leg nor the brother for the brother much lesse generally to hate a whole race for the fault of one for noxa caput sequitur And aboue all let the measure of your loue to euery one be according to the measure of his vertue letting your fauour to be no longer tyed to any then the continuance of his vertuous disposition shall deserue not admitting the excuse vpon a iust reuenge to procure ouersight to an iniurie For the first iniurie is committed against the partie but the parties reuenging thereof at his owne hand is a wrong committed against you in vsurping your office whom to onely the sword belongeth for reuenging of all the iniuries committed against any of your people Thus hoping in the goodnes of God that your naturall inclination shall haue a happy sympathie with these pręcepts making the wise-mans scholemaster which is the example of others to bee your teacher according to that old verse Foelix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum eschewing so the ouer-late repentance by your owne experience which is the schoole-master of fooles I wil for end of all require you my Sonne as euer ye thinke to deserue my fatherly blessing to keepe continually before the eyes of your minde the greatnesse of your charge Plat. in pol. Cic. 5. d◠re◠making the faithfull and due discharge thereof the principal butt ye shoot at in all your actions counting it euer the principall and all your other actions but as accessories to be
it well appeareth as well because we heare no mention made in the Scripture of any his tyrannie and oppression which if it had beene would not haue been left vnpainted out therein as well as his other faults were as in a trew mirrour of all the Kings behauiours whom it describeth as likewise in respect that Saul was chosen by God for his vertue and meet qualities to gouerne his people whereas his defection sprung after-hand from the corruption of his owne nature not through any default in God whom they that thinke so would make as a step-father to his people in making wilfully a choise of the vnmeetest for gouerning them since the election of that King lay absolutely and immediatly in Gods hand But by the contrary it is plaine and euident that this speech of Samuel to the people was to prepare their hearts before the hand to the due obedience of that King which God was to giue vnto them and therefore opened vp vnto them what might be the intollerable qualities that might fall in some of their kings thereby preparing them to patience not to resist to Gods ordinance but as he would haue said Since God hath granted your importunate suit in giuing you a king as yee haue else committed an errour in shaking off Gods yoke and ouer-hastie seeking of a King so beware yee fall not into the next in casting off also rashly that yoke which God at your earnest suite hath laid vpon you how hard that euer it seeme to be For as ye could not haue obtained one without the permission and ordinance of God so may yee no more fro hee be once set ouer you shake him off without the same warrant And therefore in time arme yourselues with patience and humilitie since he that hath the only power to make him hath the onely power to vnmake him and ye onely to obey bearing with these straits that I now foreshew you as with the finger of God which lieth not in you to take off And will ye consider the very wordes of the text in order as they are set downe it shall plainely declare the obedience that the people owe to their King in all respects First God commandeth Samuel to doe two things the one to grant the people their suit in giuing them a king the other to forewarne them what some kings will doe vnto them that they may not thereafter in their grudging and murmuring say when they shal feele the snares here fore-spoken We would neuer haue had a king of God in case when we craued him hee had let vs know how wee would haue beene vsed by him as now we finde but ouer-late And this is meant by these words Now therefore hearken vnto their voice howbeit yet testifie vnto them and shew them the maner of the King that shall rule ouer them And next Samuel in execution of this commandement of God hee likewise doeth two things First hee declares vnto them what points of iustice and equitie their king will breake in his behauiour vnto them And next he putteth them out of hope that wearie as they will they shall not haue leaue to shake off that yoke which God through their importunitie hath laide vpon them The points of equitie that the King shall breake vnto them are expressed in these words 11 He will take your sonnes and appoint them to his Charets and to be his horsemen and some shall run before his Charet 12 Also he will make them his captaines ouer thousands and captaines ouer fifties and to eare his ground and to reape his haruest and to make instruments of warre and the things that serue for his charets 13 He will also take your daughters and make them Apothecaries and Cookes and Bakers The points of Iustice that hee shall breake vnto them are expressed in these wordes 14 Hee will take your fields and your vineyards and your best Oliue trees and giue them to his seruants 15 And he will take the tenth of your seede and of your vineyards and giue it to his Eunuches and to his seruants and also the tenth of your sheepe As if he would say The best and noblest of your blood shall be compelled in slauish and seruile offices to serue him And not content of his owne patrimonie will make vp a rent to his owne vse out of your best lands vineyards orchards and store of cattell So as inuerting the Law of nature and office of a King your persons and the persons of your posteritie together with your lands and all that ye possesse shal serue his priuate vse and inordinate appetite And as vnto the next point which is his fore-warning them that weary as they will they shall not haue leaue to shake off the yoke which God thorow their importunity hath laid vpon them it is expressed in these words 18 And yee shall crie out at that day because of your King whom yee haue chosen you and the Lord will not heare you at that day As he would say When ye shall finde these things in proofe that now I fore-warne you of although you shall grudge and murmure yet it shal not be lawful to you to cast it off in respect it is not only the ordinance of God but also your selues haue chosen him vnto you thereby renouncing for euer all priuiledges by your willing consent out of your hands whereby in any time hereafter ye would claime and call backe vnto your selues againe that power which God shall not permit you to doe And for further taking away of all excuse and retraction of this their contract after their consent to vnder-lie this yoke with all the burthens that hee hath declared vnto them he craues their answere and consent to his proposition which appeareth by their answere as it is expressed in these words 19 Nay but there shal be a King ouer vs. 20 And we also will be like all other nations and our king shall iudge vs and goe out before vs and fight our battels As if they would haue said All your speeches and hard conditions shall not skarre vs but we will take the good and euill of it vpon vs and we will be content to beare whatsoeuer burthen it shal please our King to lay vpon vs aswell as other nations doe And for the good we will get of him in fighting our battels we will more patiently beare any burthen that shall please him to lay on vs. Now then since the erection of this Kingdome and Monarchie among the Iewes and the law thereof may and ought to bee a paterne to all Christian and well founded Monarchies as beeing founded by God himselfe who by his Oracle and out of his owne mouth gaue the law thereof what liberty can broiling spirits and rebellious minds claime iustly to against any Christian Monarchie since they can claime to no greater libertie on their part nor the people of God might haue done and no greater tyranny was euer executed by any Prince or
tyrant whom they can obiect nor was here fore-warned to the people of God and yet all rebellion countermanded vnto them if tyrannizing ouer mens persons sonnes daughters and seruants redacting noble houses and men and women of noble blood to slauish and scruile offices and extortion and spoile of their lands and goods to the princes owne priuate vse and commoditie and of his courteours and seruants may be called a tyrannie And that this proposition grounded vpon the Scripture may the more clearely appeare to be trew by the practise often prooued in the same booke we neuer reade that euer the Prophets perswaded the people to rebell against the Prince how wicked soeuer he was When Samuel by Gods command pronounced to the same king Saul 1. Sam. 15. that his kingdome was rent from him and giuen to another which in effect was a degrading of him yet his next action following that was peaceably to turne home and with floods of teares to pray to God to haue some compassion vpon him And Dauid notwithstanding hee was inaugurate in that same degraded Kings roome not onely when he was cruelly persecuted for no offence but good seruice done vnto him would not presume hauing him in his power skantly but with great reuerence to touch the garment of the annoynted of the Lord and in his words blessed him but likewise 1. Sam. 2 4. 2. Sam. 1. when one came to him vanting himselfe vntrewly to haue slaine Saul hee without forme of proces or triall of his guilt caused onely for guiltinesse of his tongue put him to sodaine death And although there was neuer a more monstrous persecutor and tyrant nor Achab was yet all the rebellion that Elias euer raised against him was to flie to the wildernes where for fault of sustentation he was fed with the Corbies And I thinke no man will doubt but Samuel Dauid and Elias had as great power to perswade the people if they had liked to haue employed their credite to vproares rebellions against these wicked kings as any of our seditious preachers in these daies of whatsoeuer religion either in this countrey or in France had that busied themselues most to stir vp rebellion vnder cloake of religion This farre the only loue of veritie I protest without hatred at their persons haue mooued me to be somewhat satyricke And if any will leane to the extraordinarie examples of degrading or killing of kings in the Scriptures thereby to cloake the peoples rebellion as by the deed of Iehu and such like extraordinaries I answere besides that they want the like warrant that they had if extraordinarie examples of the Scripture shall bee drawne in daily practise murther vnder traist as in the persons of Ahud and Iael theft as in the persons of the Israelites comming out of Egypt lying to their parents to the hurt of their brother as in the person of Iacob shall all be counted as lawfull and allowable vertues as rebellion against Princes And to conclude the practise through the whole Scripture prooueth the peoples obedience giuen to that sentence in the law of God Thou shalt not rayle vpon the Iudges neither speake euill of the ruler of thy people To end then the ground of my proposition taken out of the Scripture let two speciall and notable examples one vnder the law another vnder the Euangel Ier. 27. conclude this part of my alleageance Vnder the lawe Ieremie threatneth the people of God with vtter destruction for rebellion to Nabuchadnezar the king of Babel who although he was an idolatrous persecuter a forraine King a Tyrant and vsurper of their liberties yet in respect they had once receiued and acknowledged him for their king he not only commandeth them to obey him Iere. 29. but euen to pray for his prosperitie adioyning the reason to it because in his prosperitie stood their peace And vnder the Euangel that king whom Paul bids the Romanes obey and serue for conscience sake Iere. 13. was Nero that bloody tyrant an infamie to his aage and a monster to the world being also an idolatrous persecuter as the King of Babel was If then Idolatrie and defection from God tyranny ouer their people and persecution of the Saints for their profession sake hindred not the Spirit of God to command his people vnder all highest paine to giue them all due and heartie obedience for conscience sake giuing to Caesar that which was Caesars and to God that which was Gods as Christ saith and that this practise throughout the booke of God agreeth with this lawe which he made in the erection of that Monarchie as is at length before deduced what shamelesse presumption is it to any Christian people now adayes to claime to that vnlawfull libertie which God refused to his owne peculiar and chosen people Shortly then to take vp in two or three sentences grounded vpon all these arguments out of the lawe of God the duetie and alleageance of the people to their lawfull king their obedience I say ought to be to him as to Gods Lieutenant in earth obeying his commands in all things except directly against God as the commands of Gods Minister acknowledging him a Iudge set by GOD ouer them hauing power to iudge them but to be iudged onely by GOD whom to onely hee must giue count of his iudgement fearing him as their Iudge louing him as their father praying for him as their protectour for his continuance if he be good for his amendement if he be wicked following and obeying his lawfull commaunds eschewing and flying his fury in his vnlawfull without resistance but by sobbes and teares to God according to that sentence vsed in the primitiue Church in the time of the persecution Preces Lachrymae sunt arma Ecclesiae Now as for the describing the alleageance that the lieges owe to their natiue King out of the fundamentall and ciuill Lawe especially of this countrey as I promised the ground must first be set downe of the first maner of establishing the Lawes and forme of gouernement among vs that the ground being first right laide we may thereafter build rightly thereupon Although it be trew according to the affirmation of those that pryde themselues to be the scourges of Tyrants that in the first beginning of Kings rising among Gentiles in the time of the first aage diuers common-wealths and societies of men choosed out one among themselues who for his vertues and valour being more eminent then the rest was chosen out by them and set vp in that roome to maintaine the weakest in their right to throw downe oppressours and to foster and continue the societie among men which could not otherwise but by vertue of that vnitie be wel done yet these examples are nothing pertinent to vs because our Kingdome and diuers other Monarchies are not in that case but had their beginning in a farre contrary fashion For as our Chronicles beare witnesse this I le and especially our part of it
and adstipulation as they call it betwixt the King and his people at the time of his coronation For there say they there is a mutuall paction and contract bound vp and sworne betwixt the king and the people Whereupon it followeth that if the one part of the contract or the Indent bee broken vpon the Kings side the people are no longer bound to keepe their part of it but are thereby freed of their oath For say they a contract betwixt two parties of all Law frees the one partie if the other breake vnto him As to this contract alledged made at the coronation of a King although I deny any such contract to bee made then especially containing such a clause irritant as they alledge yet I confesse that a king at his coronation or at the entry to his kingdome willingly promiseth to his people to discharge honorably and trewly the office giuen him by God ouer them But presuming that thereafter he breake his promise vnto them neuer so inexcusable the question is who should bee iudge of the breake giuing vnto them this contractwere made vnto them neuer so sicker according to their alleageance I thinke no man that hath but the smallest entrance into the ciuill Law will doubt that of all Law either ciuil or municipal of any nation a contract cannot be thought broken by the one partie and so the other likewise to be freed therefro except that first a lawfull triall and cognition be had by the ordinary Iudge of the breakers thereof Or else euery man may be both party and Iudge in his owne cause which is absurd once to be thought Now in this contract I say betwixt the king and his people God is doubtles the only Iudge both because to him onely the king must make count of his administration as is oft said before as likewise by the oath in the coronation God is made iudge and reuenger of the breakers For in his presence as only iudge of oaths all oaths ought to be made Then since God is the onely Iudge betwixt the two parties contractors the cognition and reuenge must onely appertaine to him It followes therefore of necessitie that God must first giue sentence vpon the King that breaketh before the people can thinke themselues freed of their oath What iustice then is it that the partie shall be both iudge and partie vsurping vpon himselfe the office of God may by this argument easily appeare And shall it lie in the hands of headlesse multitude when they please to weary off subiection to cast off the yoake of gouernement that God hath laid vpon them to iudge and punish him whom-by they should be iudged and punished and in that case wherein by their violence they kythe themselues to be most passionate parties to vse the office of an vngracious Iudge or Arbiter Nay to speake trewly of that case as it stands betwixt the king and his people none of them ought to iudge of the others breake For considering rightly the two parties at the time of their mutuall promise the king is the one party and the whole people in one body are the other party And therfore since it is certaine that a king in case so it should fal out that his people in one body had rebelled against him hee should not in that case as thinking himselfe free of his promise and oath become an vtter enemy and practise the wreake of his whole people and natiue country although he ought iustly to punish the principall authours and bellowes of that vniuersall rebellion how much lesse then ought the people that are alwaies subiect vnto him and naked of all authoritie on their part presse to iudge and ouerthrow him otherwise the people as the one partie contracters shall no sooner challenge the king as breaker but hee assoone shall iudge them as breakers so as the victors making the tyners the traitors as our prouerbe is the partie shall aye become both iudge and partie in his owne particular as I haue alreadie said And it is here likewise to be noted that the duty and alleageance which the people sweareth to their prince is not only bound to themselues but likewise to their lawfull heires and posterity the lineall successiō of crowns being begun among the people of God and happily continued in diuers christian common-wealths So as no obiection either of heresie or whatsoeuer priuate statute or law may free the people from their oath-giuing to their king and his succession established by the old fundamentall lawes of the kingdome For as hee is their heritable ouer-lord and so by birth not by any right in the coronation commeth to his crowne it is a like vnlawful the crowne euer standing full to displace him that succeedeth thereto as to eiect the former For at the very moment of the expiring of the king reigning the nearest and lawful heire entreth in his place And so to refuse him or intrude another is not to holde out vncomming in but to expell and put out their righteous King And I trust at this time whole France acknowledgeth the superstitious rebellion of the liguers who vpon pretence of heresie by force of armes held so long out to the great desolation of their whole countrey their natiue and righteous king from possessing of his owne crowne and naturall kingdome Not that by all this former discourse of mine and Apologie for kings I meane that whatsoeuer errors and intollerable abominations a souereigne prince commit hee ought to escape all punishment as if thereby the world were only ordained for kings they without controlment to turne it vpside down at their pleasure but by the contrary by remitting them to God who is their onely ordinary Iudge I remit them to the soreit and sharpest schoolemaster that can be deuised for them for the further a king is preferred by God aboue all other ranks degrees of men and the higher that his seat is aboue theirs the greater is his obligation to his maker And therfore in case he forget himselfe his vnthankfulnes being in the same measure of height the sadder and sharper will his correction be and according to the greatnes of the height he is in the weight of his fall wil recōpense the same for the further that any person is obliged to God his offence becomes and growes so much the greater then it would be in any other Ioues thunder-claps light oftner and sorer vpon the high stately oakes then on the low and supple willow trees and the highest bench is sliddriest to sit vpon Neither is it euer heard that any king forgets himselfe towards God or in his vocation but God with the greatnesse of the plague reuengeth the greatnes of his ingratitude Neither thinke I by the force and argument of this my discourse so to perswade the people that none will hereafter be raised vp and rebell against wicked Princes But remitting to the iustice and prouidence of God to stirre vp such scourges as
small sparke should flie out and light among lesse then two pound weight of Powder which was drying a little from the chimney which being thereby blowen vp so maymed the faces of some of the principall Rebels and the hands and sides of others of them blowing vp with it also a great bag full of Powder which notwithstanding neuer tooke fire as they were not only disabled and discouraged hereby from any further resistance in respect Catesby himselfe Rookwood Grant and diuers others of greatest account among them Catesby who was the first inuentor of this Treason in generall and of the maner of working the same by powder in speciall himselfe now first maimed with the blowing vp of powder and next he and Percy both killed with one shot proceeding from powder were thereby made vnable for defence but also wonderfully stroken with amazement in their guiltie consciences calling to memory how God had iustly punished them with that same Instrument which they should haue vsed for the effectuating of so great a sinne according to the olde Latine saying In quo peccamus in eodem plectimur as they presently see the wonderfull power of Gods Iustice vpon guiltie consciences did all fall downe vpon their knees praying GOD to pardon them for their bloody enterprise And thereafter giuing ouer any further debate opened the gate suffered the Sheriffes people to rush in furiously among them and desperately sought their owne present destruction The three specials of them ioyning backes together Catesby Percy and Winter whereof two with one shot Catesby and Percy were slaine and the third VVinter taken and saued aliue And thus these resolute and high aspiring Catholikes who dreamed of no lesse then the destruction of Kings and kingdomes and promised to themselues no lower estate then the gouernment of great and ancient Monarchies were miserably defeated and quite ouerthrowen in an instant falling in the pit which they had prepared for others and so fulfilling that sentence which his Maiestie did in a maner prophecie of them in his Oration to the Parliament some presently slaine others deadly wounded stripped of their clothes left lying miserably naked and so dying rather of cold then of the danger of their wounds and the rest that either were whole or but lightly hurt taken and led prisoners by the Sheriffe the ordinary minister of Iustice to the Gaole the ordinarie place euen of the basest malefactors where they remained till their sending vp to London being met with a huge confluence of people of all sorts desirous to see them as the rarest sort of Monsters fooles to laugh at them women and children to wonder all the common people to gaze the wiser sort to satisfie their curiosity in seeing the outward cases of so vnheard of a villeny generally all sorts of people to satiate and fill their eyes with the sight of them whom in their hearts they so farre admired and detested seruing so for a fearfull and publike spectacle of Gods fierce wrath and iust indignation What hereafter will be done with them is to be left to the Iustice of his Maiestie and the State Which as no good Subiect needes to doubt will be performed in the owne due time by a publike and an exemplarie punishment So haue we all that are faithfull and humble Subiects great cause to pray earnestly to the Almighty that it will please him who hath the hearts of all Princes in his hands to put it in his Maiesties heart to make such a conclusion of this Tragedie to the Traitors but Tragicomedie to the King and all his trew Subiects as thereby the glory of God and his trew Religion may be aduanced the future securitie of the King and his estate procured and prouided for all hollow and vnhonest hearts discouered preuented this horrible attempt lacking due epitheres to be so iustly auenged That where they thought by one Catholike indeed vniuersall blow to accomplish the wish of that Romane tyrant who wished all the bodies in Rome to haue but one necke and so by the violent force of Powder to breake vp as with a Pettard our triple locked peacefull gates of Ianus which God be thanked they could not compasse by any other meanes they may iustly be so recompensed for their trewly viperous intended parricide As Aeneas Sylâ—â—â—â— doth notably write concerning the murther of K. Iames the first of Scotland and the following punishment of the traitours whereof himselfe was an eye witnesse Hist de Europa cap. 46. as the shame and infamie that otherwise would light vpon this whole Nation for hauing vnfortunately hatched such cockatrice egges may be repaired by the execution of famous and honourable Iustice vpon the offendors and so the kingdome purged of them may hereafter perpetually flourish in peace and prosperitie by the happy coniunction of the hearts of all honest and trew Subiects with their iust and religious Soueraigne And thus whereas they thought to haue effaced our memories the memory of them shall remaine but to their perpetuall infamie and wee as I said in the beginning shall with all thankefulnesse eternally preserue the memory of so great a benefite To which let euery good Subiect say AMEN Triplici nodo triplex cuneus OR AN APOLOGIE FOR THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE AGAINST THE TWO BREVES OF POPE PAVLVS QVINTVS AND THE late Letter of Cardinall BELLARMINE to G. BLACKVVEL the Arch-priest VVHat a monstrous rare nay neuer heard-of Treacherous attempt was plotted within these few yeeres here in England for the destruction of Mee my Bed-fellow and our posteritie the whole house of Parliament and a great number of good Subiects of all sorts and degrees is so famous already through the whole world by the infamie thereof as it is needlesse to bee repeated or published any more the horrour of the sinne it selfe doeth so lowdly proclaime it For if those * Gen. 4.10 crying sinnes whereof mention is made in the Scripture haue that epithet giuen them for their publique infamie and for procuring as it were with a lowd cry from heauen a iust vengeance and recompense and yet those sinnes are both old and too common neither the world nor any one Countrey being euer at any time cleane voyd of them If those sinnes I say are said in the Scripture to cry so lowd What then must this sinne doe plotted without cause infinite in crueltie and singular from all examples What proceeded hereupon is likewise notorious to the whole world our Iustice onely taking hold vpon the offenders and that in as honourable and publique a forme of Triall as euer was vsed in this Kingdome 2. For although the onely reason they gaue for plotting so heinous an attempt was the zeale they caried to the Romish Religion yet were neuer any other of that profession the worse vsed for that cause as by our gracious Proclamation immediatly after the discouery of the said fact doeth plainly appeare onely at the next sitting downe againe of the
conclusion of all other things in the Synode That so it beeing often sounded into their eares at least by continuall remembrance the mindes of wicked men beeing terrified might bee reformed which by obliuion and facilitie to euill are brought to preuaricate And in the sixt 3 Concil Tolet. 6. Can. 18. Anno 638. Councell Wee doe protest before God and all the orders of Angels in the presence of the Prophets and Apostles and all the companie of Martyrs and before all the Catholique Church and assemblies of the Christians That no man shall goe about to seeke the destruction of the King No man shall touch the life of the Prince No man shall depriue him of the Kingdome No man by any tyrannical presumption shall vsurpe to himselfe the Soueraigntie of the Kingdome No man by any Machination shall in his aduersitie associate to himselfe any packe of Conspirators against him And that if any of vs shall be presumptuous by rashnesse in any of these cases let him be stricken with the anatheme of God and reputed as condemned in eternall iudgement without any hope of recouery And in the tenth 4 Concil Tolet. 10. Can. 2. Aera 694. Councell to omit diuers others held also at Toledo it is said That if any religious man euen from the Bishop to the lowest Order of the Church-men or Monkes shall bee found to haue violated the generall Oathes made for the preseruation of the Kings Person or of the Nation and Countrey with a prophane minde foorth with let him bee depriued of all dignitie and excluded from all place and Honour The occasion of the Decrees made for this Oath was That the Christians were suspected for want of fidelitie to their Kings and did either equiuocate in taking their Oath or make no conscience to keepe it when they had giuen it as may appeare by sundry speeches in the 1 Concil Tolet. 4. cap. 74. Councell saying There is a generall report that there is that perfidiousnesse in the mindes of many people of diuers Nations that they make no conscience to keepe the Oath and fidelitie that they haue sworne vnto their Kings but doe dissemble a profession of fidelitie in their mouthes when they hold an impious perfidiousnesse in their mindes And 2 Concil Tolet. 4. cap. 74. againe They sweare to their Kings and yet doe they preuaricate in the fidelitie which they haue promised Neither doe they feare the Volume of Gods iudgement by the which the curse of God is brought vpon them with great threatning of punishments which doe sweare lyingly in the Name of God To the like effect spake they in the Councell of 3 Concil Aquisgran sub Ludo Pio Greg. 4. Can. 12. anno 836. Aquisgran If any of the Bishops or other Church-man of inferiour degree hereafter thorow feare or couetousnesse or any other perswasion shall make defection from our Lord the Orthodoxe Emperour Lodowicke or shall violate the Oath of fidelitie made vnto him or shall with their peruerse intention adhere to his enemies let him by this Canonicall and Synodall sentence bee depriued of whatsoeuer place hee is possessed of And now to come to a particular answere of his Letter First as concerning the sweet memory hee hath of his old acquaintance with the Arch-priest it may indeed be pleasing for him to recount but sure I am his acquaintance with him and the rest of his societie our Fugitiues whereof he also vanteth himselfe in his Preface to the Reader in his Booke of Controuersies hath prooued sowre to vs and our State For some of such Priests and Iesuits as were the greatest Traitors and fomenters of the greatest conspiracies against the late Queene gaue vp Father Rob Campian and Hart. See the conference in the Tower Bellarmine for one of their greatest authorities and oracles And therfore I do not enuy the great honour he can winne by his vaunt of his inward familiarity with an other Princes traitors fugitiues whom vnto if he teach no better maners then hitherto he hath done I thinke his fellowship are litle beholding vnto him And for desiring him to remember him in his prayers at the Altar of the Lord if the Arch-Priests prayers prooue no more profitable to his soule then Bellarmines counsell is like to proue profitable both to the soule and bodie of Blackwell if he would follow it the authour of this Letter might very well be without his prayers Now the first messenger that I can finde which brought ioyfull newes of the Arch-Priest to Bellarmine was hee that brought the newes of the Arch-Priests taking and first appearance of Martyrdome A great signe surely of the Cardinals mortification that hee was so reioyced to heare of the apprehension imprisonment and appearance of putting to death of so old and deare a friend of his But yet apparantly he should first haue beene sure that hee was onely to bee punished for cause of Religion before hee had so triumphed vpon the expectation of his Martyrdome For first by what rule of charitie was it lawfull for him to iudge mee a persecutour The Cardinals charitie before proofe had beene made of it by the said Arch-Priests condemnation and death What could hee know that the said Arch-Priest was not taken vpon suspicion of his guiltinesse in the Powder-Treason What certaine information had hee then receiued vpon the particulars whereupon hee was to bee accused And last of all by what inspiration could he foretell whereupon hee was to bee accused For at that time there was yet nothing layed to his charge And if charitie should not bee suspicious what warrant had hee absolutely to condemne mee of vsing persecution and tyrannie which could not bee but implyed vpon mee if Blackwel was to bee a Martyr But surely it may iustly be sayd of Bellarmine in this case that our Sauiour CHRIST saith of all worldly and carnall men who thinke it enough to loue their 1 Mar. 5.43 friends and hate their enemies the limits of the Cardinals charitie extending no farther then to them of his owne profession For what euer hee added in superfluous charitie to Blackwel in reioycing in the speculation of his future Martyrdome hee detracted as much vniustly and vncharitably from me in accounting of me thereby as of a bloody Persecutour And whereas this ioy of his was interrupted by the next messenger that brought the newes of the saide Arch-Priest his failing in his constancie by taking of this Oath he needed neuer to haue beene troubled either with his former ioy or his second sorrow both beeing alike falsly grounded For as it was neuer my intention to lay any thing vnto the said Arch-Priests charge as I haue neuer done to any for cause of conscience so was Blackwels constancie neuer brangled by taking of this Oath It beeing a thing which he euer thought lawfull before his apprehension and whereunto hee perswaded all Catholiques to giue obedience like as after his apprehension hee neuer
whereof neuer Christian King is or was afraid Was neuer Christian Emperour or King afraid of the Popes How then were these miserable Emperours tost and turmoiled and in the end vtterly ruined by the Popes for proofe whereof I haue already cited Bellarmines owne bookes Was not the 13 Henry 4. Emperour afraid who 14 Abbas Vâ—spergen Lamb Scaff Anno 1077. Plat. in vit Greg. 7. waited barefooted in the frost and snow three dayes at the Popes gate before he could get entrie Was not the 15 Frederick Barbarosia Emperour also afraid 16 Naucler gener 40. Iacob Bergom in Supplem chron Alfons Clacon in vit Alex. 3. who was driuen to lie agroofe on his belly and suffer another Pope to tread vpon his necke And was not another 17 Henry 6. Emperour afraid 18 R. Houeden in Rich 1 Ranulph in Polycronico lib. 7. who was constrained in like maner to endure a third Pope to beat off from his head the Imperiall Crowne with his foot Was not 19 Abbas Vrsper ad Ann. 1191. Nanc gen 40. Cuspin in Philippo Philip afraid being made Emperour against Pope Innocentius the thirds good liking when he brake out into these words Either the Pope shall take the Crowne from Philip or Philip shall take the Miter from the Pope whereupon the Pope stirred vp Ottho against him who caused him to be slaine and presently went to Rome and was crowned Emperour by the Pope though afterward the Pope 1 Abbas Vrsper deposed him too Was not the Emperour 2 Math. Paris in Henr. 3. Petr de Vineis Epist li. 1. 2. Cuspin in Freder 2. Fredericke afraid when Innocentius the fourth excommunicated him depriued him of his crowne absolued Princes of their Oath of fidelitie to him and in Apulia corrupted one to giue him poison whereof the Emperour recouering hee hired his bastard sonne Manfredus to poison him whereof he died What did 3 Vita Frederici Germanicè conscripta Alexander the third write to the Soldan That if he would liue quietly hee should by some slight murther the 4 Fredericke Barbarossa Emperour and to that end sent him the Emperours picture And did not 5 Paul Iouius Hist lib. 2. Cuspinian in Baiazet 11. Guiccâ—ard lib 2. Alexander the sixt take of the Turke Baiazetes two hundred thousand crownes to kill his brother Gemen or as some call him Sisimus whom he helde captiue at Rome Did hee not accept of the conditions to poyson the man and had his pay Was not our 6 Houeden pag. 308. Matth. Paris in Henric 2. Walsinga in Hypodig Neustriae Ioan. Capgraue Henry the second afraid after the slaughter of Thomas Becket that besides his going bare-footed in Pilgrimage was whipped vp and down the Chapter-house like a schoole-boy and glad to escape so to Had not this French King his great grandfather King Iohn reason to be afraid when the 7 Gomecius de rebus gest Fran. Ximenij Archiepis Tolet. lib. 5. Pope gaue away his kingdome of Nauarre to the King of Spaine whereof he yet possesseth the best halfe Had not this King his Successour reason to be afraid when he was forced to begge so submissiuely the relaxation of his Excommunication as he was content likewise to suffer his Ambassadour to be whipped at Rome for penance And had not the late Queene reason to looke to her selfe when she was excommunicated by Pius Quintus her Subiects loosed from their fidelitie and Allegiance toward her her Kingdome of Ireland giuen to the King of Spaine and that famous fugitiue diuine honoured with the like degree of a redde Hat as Bellarmine is was not ashamed to publish in Printan 8 Card. Allens Answere to Stan. letter Anno 1587. Apologie for Stanleys treason maintaining that by reason of her excommunication and heresie it was not onely lawfull for any of her Subiects but euen they were bound in conscience to depriue her of any strength which lay in their power to doe And whether it were armies townes or fortresses of hers which they had in their hands they were obliged to put them in the King of Spaine her enemies hands shee no more being the right owner of anything But albeit it be trew that wise men are mooued by the examples of others dangers to vse prouidence and caution according to the olde Prouerbe Tumtuares agitur paries cùm proximus ardet yet was I much neerlier summoned to vse this caution by the practise of it in mine owne person First by the sending foorth of these Bulles whereof I made mention already for debarring me from entrie vnto this Crowne and Kingdome And next after my entrie and full possession thereof by the horrible Powder-treason which should haue bereft both me and mine both of crowne and life And howsoeuer the Pope will seeme to cleare himselfe of any allowance of the said Powder-treason yet can it not be denied that his principall ministers here and his chiefe Mancipia the Iesuites were the plaine practisers thereof for which the principall of them hath died confessing it and other haue fled the Countrey for the crime yea some of them gone into Italy and yet neither these that fled out of this Countrey for it nor yet Baldwine who though he then remained in the Low-countreys was of counsell in it were euer called to account for it by the Pope much lesse punished for medling in so scandalous and enormous businesse And now what needs so great wonder and exclamation that the only King of England feareth And what other Christian King doeth or euer did feare but hee As if by the force of his rhetoricke he could make me and my good Subiects to mistrust our senses deny the Sunne to shine at midday and not with the serpent to stop our cares to his charming but to the plaine and visible veritie it selfe And yet for all this wonder he can neuer prooue mee to be troubled with such a Panicke terrour Haue I euer importuned the Pope with any request for my securitie Or haue I either troubled other Christian Princes my friends and allies to intreat for me at the Popes hand Or yet haue I begged from them any aide or assistance for my farther securitie No. All this wondred-at feare of mine stretcheth no further then wisely to make distinction betweene the sheepe and goats in my owne pasture For since what euer the Popes part hath beene in the Powder-treason yet certaine it is that all these caitife monsters did to their death maintaine that onely zeale of Religion mooued them to that horrible attempt yea some of them at their death would not craue pardon at God or King for their offence exhorting other of their followers to the like constancie Had not wee then and our Parliament great reason by this Oath to set a marke of distinction betweene good Subiects and bad Yea betweene Papists though peraduenture zealous in their religion yet otherwise ciuilly honest and
oues meas and Tibi dabo claues regni Coelorum and That no Catholike euer doubted of it So as I may trewly say of him that hee either vnderstandeth not or at least will not seeme to vnderstand my Booke in neuer directly answering the maine question as I haue alreadie saide and so may I iustly turne ouer vpon himselfe that doome of ignorance which in the beginning of his Booke hee rashly pronounceth vpon mee saying that I neither vnderstand the Popes Breues his Letter nor the Oath it selfe And as hee delighteth to repeate ouer and ouer I know not how oft and triumpheth in this wrong inference of his That to deny the Popes power to depose Kings is to denie the Popes Primacie and his spirituall power of Excommunication So doeth hee vpon that ground of Pasce oues meas giue the Pope so ample a power ouer Kings to throne or dethrone them at his pleasure and yet onely subiecting Christian Kings to that slauerie as I doubt not but in your owne Honours yee will resent you of such indignities the rather since it concernes so many of you as professe the Romish religion farre more then me For since he accounteth me an heretike and like Iulian the Apostate I am consequently extra caulam and none of the Popes flocke and so am in the case of Ethnicke Princes ouer whom he confesseth the Pope hath no power But yee are in the Popes folde and you that great Pastour may leade as sheepe to the slaughter when it shall please him And as the Asses eares must be hornes if the Lion list so to interprete it so must yee be remooued as scabbed sheepe from the flocke if so the Pope thinke you to be though your skinne be indeed neuer so sound Thus hath he set such a new goodly interpretation vpon the wordes of CHRIST Pasce oues meas as if it were as much to say as depose Christian Kings and that Quodcunque solueris gaue the Pope power to dispense with all sorts of Oathes Vowes Penalties Censures and Lawes euen with the naturall obedience of Subiects to their Souereigne Lords much like to that new coyned glosse that his brother 1 Senten Card. Baron super excom Venet. Baronius made vpon the wordes in Saint Peters vision Surge Petre occide manduca That is said he to the Pope Goe kill and confound the Venetians And because I haue in my Booke by citing a place in his controuersies discouered him to be a small friend to Kings he is much commoued For whereas in his said Controuersies Lib. de Cler. cap. 28. speaking de Clericis he is so bolde as to affirme that Church-men are exempted from the power of earthly Kings and that they ought them no subiection euen in temporall matters but onely vi rationis and in their owne discretion for the preseruation of peace and good order because I say citing this place of his in my Booke I tell with admiration that hee freeth all Church-men from any subiection to Kings euen those that are their borne Subiects hee is angry with this phrase and sayth it is an addition for breeding enuie vnto him and raising of hatred against him For sayth hee although Bellarmine affirmed generally that Church-men were not subiect to earthly Kings yet did hee not insert that particular clause though they were borne and dwelling in their Dominions as if the words of Church-men and earthly Kings in generall imported not as much for Layickes as well as Church-men are subiect to none but to their naturall Soueraigne And yet doeth hee not sticke to confesse that he meant it though it was not fit he sayth to be expressed And thus quarrels hee me for reuealing his Printed secret But whose hatred did hee feare in this was it not yours Who haue interest but KINGS in withdrawing of due subiection from KINGS And when the greatest Monarches amongst you will remember that almost the third part of your Subiects and of your Territories is Church-men and Church-liuings I hope yee will then consider and weigh what a feather hee pulles out of your wings when hee denudeth you of so many Subiects and their possessions in the Popes fauour nay what briars and thornes are left within the heart of your dominions when so populous and potent a partie shall haue their birth education and liuelihood in your Countries and yet owe you no subiection nor acknowledge you for their SOVERAIGNES So as where the Church-men of old were content with their tythe of euery mans goods the Pope now will haue little lesse then the third part of euery Kings Subiects and Dominions And as in this place so throughout all the rest of his booke hee doeth nothing but amplifie the Popes power ouer Kings and exaggerate my vnreasonable rigour for pressing this Oath which hee will needs haue to bee nothing but a renewed Oath of Supremacie in more subtill and craftie termes onely to robbe the Pope of his Primacie and spirituall power making his temporall power and authoritie ouer Princes to be one of the chiefe Articles of the Catholike Faith But that it may the better appeare vnto you that all my labour and intention in this errand was onely to meddle with that due temporall Obedience which my Subiects owe vnto mee and not to intrap or inthrall their Consciences as hee most falsely affirmes Yee shall first see how farre other Godly and Christian Emperours and Kings were from acknowledging the Popes temporall Supremacie ouer them nay haue created controlled and deposed Popes and next what a number of my Predecessors in this Kingdome haue at all occasions euen in the times of the greatest Greatnesse of Popes resisted and plainely withstood them in this point And first all Christian Emperours were for a long time so farre from acknowledging the Popes Superioritie ouer them as by the contrary the Popes acknowledged themselues for their Vassals reuerencing and obeying the Emperours as their Lords for proofe whereof I remit you to my Apologie And for the creating of Popes the Emperours were in so long and continuall possession thereof as I will vse for my first witnesse a Pope himselfe who in a 1 Sigebert ad ann 773. Walthram Naumburg lib. 〈◊〉 Episc inuestiturae Mart. Polon ad ann 780. Theod. a Niem de priuileg Iurib. Imperij dist 63. C. Hadrian Synode of an hundreth fiftie and three Bishops and Abbots did ordeine That the Emperour CHARLES the Great should haue the Right of choosing the Pope and ordeining the Apostolicall Seate and the Dignitie of the Romane Principalitie nay farther hee ordeined That all Archbishops and Bishops should receiue their Inuestiture from the Emperour or else bee of no auaile And that a Bishop wanting it should not bee consecrate pronouncing an Anathema against all that should disobey this Sentence And that the Emperours assent to the Popes Election was a thing ordinary for a long time 2 See Platin. in vit Pelag. 2. Gregor 1. Seuerini
for the Rectorie of Newchurch And Edward II. following the footsteps of his Father after giuing out a Summons against the Abbot of Walden for citing the Abbot of Saint Albons and others in the Court of Rome gaue out letters for his apprehension And likewise because a certaine Prebend of Banburie had drawen one Beuercoat by a Plea to Rome without the Kings Dominions therefore were letters of Caption sent foorth against the said Prebend And Edward III. following likewise the example of his Predecessours Because a Parson of Liche had summoned the Prior of S. Oswalds before the Pope at Auinion for hauing before the Iudges in England recouered the arrerage of a pension directed a Precept for seasing vpon all the goods both Spirituall and Temporall of the said Parson because hee had done this in preiudice of the King and Crowne The saide King also made one Harwoden to bee declared culpable and worthie to bee punished for procuring the Popes Bulles against a Iudgement that was giuen by the Kings Iudges And likewise Because one entred vpon the Priorie of Barnewell by the Popes Bul the said Intrant was committed to the Tower of London there to remaine during the Kings pleasure So as my Predecessors ye see of this Kingdome euen when the Popes triumphed in their greatnesse spared not to punish any of their Subiects that would preferre the Popes Obedience to theirs euen in Church-matters So farre were they then from either acknowledging the Pope for their temporall Superiour or yet from doubting that their owne Church-men were not their Subiects And now I will close vp all these examples with an Act of Parliament in King Richard II. his time whereby it was prohibited That none should procure a Benefice from Rome vnder paine to be put out of the Kings protection And thus may yee see that what those Kings successiuely one to another by foure generations haue acted in priuate the same was also maintained by a publike Law By these few examples now I hope I haue sufficiently cleered my selfe from the imputation that any ambition or desire of Noueltie in mee should haue stirred mee either to robbe the Pope of any thing due vnto him or to assume vnto my selfe any farther authoritie then that which other Christian Emperours and Kings through the world and my owne Predecessours of England in especiall haue long agone maintained Neither is it enough to say as Parsons doeth in his Answere to the Lord Coke That farre more Kings of this Countrey haue giuen many more examples of acknowledging or not resisting the Popes vsurped Authorities some perchance lacking the occasion and some the abilitie of resisting them for euen by the Ciuill Law in the case of violent intrusion and long and wrongfull possession against mee it is enough if I prooue that I haue made lawfull interruption vpon conuenient occasions But the Cardinall thinkes the Oath not onely vnlawfull for the substance therof but also in regard of the Person whom vnto it is to be sworne For saith he The King is not a Catholique And in two or three other places of his booke he sticketh not to call me by my name very broadly an Heretike as I haue already told But yet before I be publikely declared an Heretike by the Popes owne Law my people ought not to refuse their Obedience vnto me And I trust if I were but a subiect and accused by the Pope in his Conclaue before his Cardinals hee would haue hard prouing mee an Heretike if he iudged me by their owne ancient Orders For first I am no Apostate as the Cardinal would make me not onely hauing euer bene brought vp in that Religion which I presently professe but euen my Father and Grandfather on that side professing the same and so cannot be properly an Heretike by their owne doctrine since I neuer was of their Church And as for the Queene my Mother of worthy memorie although she continued in that Religion wherein shee was nourished yet was she so farre from being superstitious or Iesuited therein that at my Baptisme although I was baptized by a Popish Archbishop she sent him word to forbeare to vse the spettle in my Baptisme which was obeyed being indeed a filthy and an apish tricke rather in scorne then imitation of CHRIST And her owne very words were That she would not haue a pockie priest to spet in her childs mouth As also the Font wherein I was Christened was sent from the late Queene here of famous memory who was my Godmother and what her Religion was Pius V. was not ignorant And for further proofe that that renowmed Queene my Mother was not superstitious as in all her Letters whereof I receiued many she neuer made mention of Religion nor laboured to perswade me in it so at her last words she commanded her Master-houshold a Scottish Gentleman my seruant and yet aliue she commanded him I say to tell me That although she was of another Religion then that wherein I was brought vp yet she would not presse me to change except my owne Conscience forced mee to it For so that I led a good life and were carefull to doe Iustice and gouerne well she doubted not but I would be in a good case with the profession of my owne Religion Thus am I no Apostate nor yet a deborder from that Religion which one part of my Parents professed and an other part gaue mee good allowance of Neither can my Baptisme in the rites of their Religion make me an Apostate or Heretike in respect of my present profession since we all agree in the substance thereof being all Baptized In the Name of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost vpon which head there is no variance amongst vs. And now for the point of Heretike I will neuer bee ashamed to render an accompt of my profession and of that hope that is in me as the Apostle prescribeth I am such a CATHOLIKE CHRISTIAN as beleeueth the three Creeds That of the Apostles that of the Councell of Nice and that of Athanasius the two latter being Paraphrases to the former And I beleeue them in that sense as the ancient Fathers and Councels that made them did vnderstand them To which three Creeds all the Ministers of England doe subscribe at their Ordination And I also acknowledge for Orthodoxe all those other formes of Creedes that either were deuised by Councels or particular Fathers against such particular Heresies as most reigned in their times I reuerence and admit the foure first generall Councels as Catholique and Orthodoxe And the said foure generall Councels are acknowledged by our Acts of Parliament and receiued for Orthodoxe by our Church As for the Fathers I reuerence them as much and more then the Ie suites doe and as much as themselues euer craued For what euer the Fathers for the first fiue hundreth yeeres did with an vnanime consent agree vpon to be beleeued as a necessary point of saluation I either will beleeue it
Pope our Superior hath in a late Treatise of his called the Recognition of his bookes of Controuersies made the people and Subiects of euery one of vs our Superiors For hauing taken occasion to reuisite againe his bookes of Controuersies and to correct or explaine what he findeth amisse or mistaketh in them in imitation of S. Augustine his retractions for so he saith in his Preface he doth in place of retracting any of his former errours or any matter of substance not retract but recant indeed I meane sing ouer againe and obstinatly confirme a number of the grossest of them Among the which the exempting of all Church-men from subiection to any Temporall Prince and the setting vp not onely of the Pope but euen of the People aboue their naturall King are two of his maine points As for the exemption of the Clerickes he is so greedy there to proue that point as he denieth Caesar to haue beene Pauls lawfull Iudge Acts. 25.10 contrary to the expresse Text and Pauls plaine Appellation and acknowledging him his Iudge besides his many times claiming to the Roman priuiledges Actes 22.28 and auowing himselfe a Roman by freedome and therefore of necessitie a Subiect to the Roman Emperour But it is a wonder that these Romane Catholikes who vaunt themselues of the ancientie both of their doctrine and Church and reproch vs so bitterly of our Nouelties should not be ashamed to make such a new inept glosse as this vpon S. Pauls Text which as it is directly contrary to the Apostles wordes so is it without any warrant either of any ancient Councell or of so much as any one particular Father that euer interprets that place in this sort Neither was it euer doubted by any Christian in the Primitiue Church that the Apostles or any other degree of Christians were subiect to the Emperour And as for the setting vp of the People aboue their owne naturall King he bringeth in that principle of Sedition that he may thereby proue that Kings haue not their power and authoritie immediatly from God as the Pope hath his For euery King saith he is made and chosen by his people nay they doe but so transferre their power in the Kings person as they doe notwithstanding retaine their habituall power in their owne hands which vpon certaine occasions they may actually take to themselues againe This I am sure is an excellent ground in Diuinitie for all Rebels and rebellious people who are hereby allowed to rebell against their Princes and assume libertie vnto themselues when in their discretions they shall thinke it conuenient And amongst his other Testimonies for probation that all Kings are made and created by the People he alledgeth the Creation of three Kings in the Scripture Saul Dauid and Ieroboam and though hee bee compelled by the expresse words of the Text to confesse that God by his Prophet Samuel annointed both 1 1. Sam. 10.1 Saul and 2 1. Sam. 16.12.13 Dauid yet will he by the post-consent of the people proue that those Kings were not immediatly made by God but mediatly by the people though he repeat thrise that word of Lott by the casting whereof he confesseth that Saul was chosen And if the Election by Lott be not an immediate Election from God then was not Matthias Actes 1. who was so chosen and made an Apostle immediatly chosen by GOD and consequently he that sitteth in the Apostolike Sea cannot for shame claime to be immediatly chosen by God if Matthias that was one of the twelue Apostles supplying Iudas his place was not so chosen But as it were a blasphemous impietie to doubt that Matthias was immediatly chosen by GOD and yet was hee chosen by the casting of Lots as Saul was so is it well enough knowen to some of you my louing Brethren by what holy Spirit or casting of Lots the Popes vse to be elected the Colledge of Cardinals his electors hauing beene diuided in two mightie factions euer since long before my time and in place of casting of Lotts great fat pensions beeing cast into some of their greedy mouthes for the election of the Pope according to the partiall humours of Princes But I doe most of all wonder at the weakenesse of his memorie for in this place he maketh the post-consent of the people to be the thing that made both these Kings notwithstanding of their preceding inauguration and anoyntment by the Prophet at GODS commandement forgetting that in the beginning of this same little booke of his answering one that alledgeth a sentence of S. Cyprian to prooue that the Bishops were iudged by the people in Cyprians time he there confesseth that by these words the consent of the people to the Bishops Election must be onely vnderstood Nor will he there any wayes be mooued to graunt that the peoples power in consenting to or refusing the Election of a Bishop should be so vnderstood as that thereby they haue power to elect Bishops And yet do these words of Cyprian seeme to bee farre stronger for granting the peoples power to elect Churchmen then any words that he alledgeth out of the Scripture are for the peoples power in electing a King For the very words of Cyprian by himselfe there cited Cyprian lib. 1. Epist 4. are That the very people haue principally the power either to chuse such Priests as are worthy or to refuse such as are vnworthie And I hope hee can neuer prooue by the Scripture that it had beene lawfull to the people of Israel or that it was left in their choise to haue admitted or refused Saul or Dauid at their pleasure after that the Prophet had anoynted them and persented them vnto them Thus ye see how little he careth euen in so little a volume to contradict himselfe so it may make for his purpose making the consent of the people to signifie their power of Election in the making of Kings though in the making of Bishops by the peoples consent their approbation of a deed done by others must onely be vnderstood And as for his example of Ieroboams election to bee King 1 King 12.20 hee knoweth well enough that Ieroboam was made King in a popular mutinous tumult and rebellion onely permitted by God and that in his wrath both against these two Kings and their people But if he will needs helpe himselfe against all rules of Diuinitie with such an extraordinary example for proofe of a generall Rule why is it not as lawfull for vs Kings to oppose hereunto the example of Iehu his Inauguration to the Kingdome 2. King 9.2 3. who vpon the Prophets priuat anointment of him and that in most secret manner tooke presently the Kings office vpon him without euer crauing any sort of approbation from the people And thus may ye now clearely see how deepe the claime of the Babylonian Monarch toucheth vs in all our common interest for as I haue already told the Pope nor any of his Vassals
constrained to subiect themselues to Nero and Diocletian CONFVTATION That Christians without exception not vpon constraint but willingly and for conscience sake did subiect themselues to the Ethnicke Emperors it may appeare by our Apologie pag. 255 256. and the Apologetickes of the ancient Fathers TORTVS Pag. 47. 11 In which words of the Breues of Clement the 8. not onely Iames King of Scotland was not excluded but included rather CONFVTATION If the Breues of Clement did not exclude mee from the Kingdome but rather did include me why did Garnet burne them why would he not reserue them that I might haue seene them that so hee might haue obteined more fauour at my hands for him and his Catholikes TORTVS Pag. 60. 12 Of those 14. Articles conteined in the Oath of Alleagiance eleuen of them concerne the Primacie of the Pope in matters Spirituall CONFVTATION No one Article of that Oath doeth meddle with the Primacie of the Pope in matter Spirituall for to what end should that haue bene since we haue an expresse Oath elsewhere against the Popes Primacie in matters Spirituall TORTVS Pag. 64. 13 Amongst other calumnies this is mentioned that Bellarmine was priuie to sundry conspiracies against Q. Elizabeth if not the author CONFVTATION It is no where said in the Apologie that Bellarmine was either the Authour or priuie to any conspiracies against Queene Elizabeth but that he was their principall instructer and teacher who corrupted their iudgement with such dangerous positions and principles that it was an easie matter to reduce the generals into particulars and to apply the dictates which hee gaue out of his chaire as opporunitie serued to their seuerall designes TORTVS Pag. 64. 14 For he Bellarmine knoweth that Campian onely conspired against Hereticall impietie CONFVTATION That the trew and proper cause of Campians execution was not for his conspiring against Hereticall impietie but for conspiring against Queene Elizabeth and the State of this Kingdome it was most euident hy the iudiciall proceedings against him TORTVS Pag. 65. 15 Why was H. Garnet a man incomparable for learning in all kindes and holinesse of life put to death but because he would not reueale that which he could not doe with a safe conscience CONFVTATION That Garnet came to the knowledge of this horrible Plot not onely in confession as this Libeller would haue it but by other meanes neither by the relation of one alone but by diuers so as hee might with safe-conscience haue disclosed it See the Premonition pag. 334 335 c. and the Earle of Northamptons booke TORTVS Pag. 71. 16 Pope Sixtus 5. neither commanded the French King to bee murthered neither approoued that fact as it was done by a priuate person CONFVTATION The falsehood of this doeth easily appeare by the Oration of Sixtus 5. TORTVS Pag. 91. 17 That which is added concerning Stanley his Treason is neither faithfully nor trewly related for the Apologer as his maner is doeth miserably depraue it by adding many lyes CONFVTATION That which the Apologie relateth concerning Stanley his Treason is word for word recited out of Cardinall Allens Apologie for Stanleys treason as it is to be seene there TORTVS Pag. 93. 18 It is very certaine that H. Garnet at his arraignement did alwayes constantly auouch that neither hee nor any Iesuite either were authors or compartners or aduisers or consenting any way to the Powder-Treason And a little after The same thing hee protested at his death in a large speach in the presence of innumerable people CONFVTATION The booke of the proceedings against the late Traitours and our Premonition pag. 334 335 c. doe clearely prooue the contrary of this to bee trew TORTVS Pag. 97. 19 King Iames since he is no Catholike neither is he a Christian CONFVTATION Contrary I am a trew Catholike a professor of the trewly ancient Catholike and Apostolike Faith and therefore am a trew Christian See the confession of my faith in the Premonition pag. 302. 303 c. TORTVS Pag. 98. 20 And if the reports of them which knew him most inwardly be trew when hee was in Scotland he was a Puritane and an enemie to Protestants Now in England he professeth himselfe a Protestant and an enemie to the Puritans CONFVTATION Contrary and what a Puritane I was in Scotland See my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and this my Premonition pag. 305 306. HIS FALSIFICATIONS IN HIS ALLEDGING OF HISTORIES together with a briefe declaration of their falshood THE WORDS OF TORTVS Pag. 70. 1 IT was certaine that he Henry 4. the Emperour died a naturall death CONFVTATION It was not certaine since sundry Historians write otherwise that he died vpō his imprisonment by his sonne Henry 5. either with the noysomnesse and loathsomnesse of the prison or being pined to death by hunger Read Fasciculus temporum at the yeere 1094. Laziardus epitom vniuersal Histor c. 198. Paulus Langius in Chronico Citizensi at the yeere 1105. and Iacobus Wimphelingus epitome Rerum Germanic c. 28. TORTVS Pag. 83. 2 Henry 4. The Emperour feared indeed but not any corporall death but the censure of Excommunication from the which that he might procure absolution of his owne accord he did thus demissely humble himselfe before Gregory 7. CONFVTATION That Henry 4. thus deiected himselfe before the Pope it was neither of his owne accord neither vpon any feare of the Popes Excommunication which in this particular hee esteemed of no force but vpon feare of the losse of his Kingdome and life as the records of antiquitie doe euidently testifie See Lambertus Schafnaburg at the yeere 1077. Abbas Vrspergen at the yeere 1075. The Author of the life of Henry 4. Bruno in his History of the Saxon warre Laziard in epitom vniuersal Histor c. 193. Cuspinian in Henr. 4. Sigonius de Regno Italiae lib. 9. TORTVS Pag. 83. 3 The trewth of the History of Alexander 3 treading vpon the necke of Fredericke Barbarossa with his foot may beaustly doubted of CONFVTATION But no Historian doubteth of it and many do auouch it as Hieronym Bard. in victor Naual ex Bessarion Chronico apud Baron ad an 1177. num 5. Gerson de potestate Ecclesiae consid 1. Iacob Bergom in supplem Chronic. ad an 1160. Nauclerus Gener. 40 Petrus Iustinian lib. 2. Rerum Venetar Papirius Masson lib. 5. de Episcop vrbis who alledgeth for this Gennadius Patriarch of Constantinople Besides Alphonsus Ciacconius de vit Pontif. in Alexand. 3. and Azorius the Iesuite Instit Moral part lib. 5. c. 43. TORTVS Pag. 83. 4 What other thing feared Frederick Barbarossa but excommunication CONFVTATION That Frederick feared onely Pope Alexander his Excommunication no ancient Historian doth testifie But many do write that this submission of his was principally for feare of loosing his Empire and Dominions See for this Martin Polon ad an 1166. Platina in vita Alexan. 3. Laziard in epitom Historiae vniuersal c. 212. Naucler Generat 40. Iacobus Wimphelingus in epitom Rerum
pronounce in the like case Mala est impia consuetudo contra Deum disputandi siuè seriò id fit siuè simulatè It is an euill and a wicked custome saith hee to dispute against God whether it be in earnest or in iest Now my Lords I addresse my selfe vnto your Lordships and according vnto the charge which I haue receiued from the King my Master I coniure you by the amitie that is betwixt his Kingdomes and your Prouinces the which on his part will continue alwayes inuiolable to awaken your spirits and to haue a carefull eye at this Assembly of Holland which is already begunne ne quid Respublica detrimenti capiat That the Common wealth take no harme which vndoubtedly at one time or other will be turned vpside downe if you suffer such a dangerous contagion to barbour so neere you and not remoue it out of your Prouinces assoone as possibly you may The disciples of Socinus with whose doctrine he hath bene suckled in his childhood doe seeke him for their Master and are ready to embrace him Let him goe bee is a Bird of their owne feather Et dignum sanè patellâ operculum A couer fit for such a dish On the other side the Students in Diuinitie at Leyden to the number of 56. by a duetiful Remonstrance presented vnto the States of Holland the 16. of October the last yeere did most humbly beseech the said States not to vse their authoritie in compelling them to receiue a Professor who both by the attestations of the Diuinitie Colledges at Basil and Heydelberg as also by manifest euidence out of his owne writings is conuinced of an infinite number of Heresies These reasons therefore namely the proofes of so many enormous and horrible Heresies maintained in his Bookes the instance of his Maiestie grounded vpon the welfare and honour of this Countrey the requests either of all or of the most part of your Prouinces the petitions of all the Ministers excepting those onely which are of Arminius Sect should me thinkes preuaile so farre with my Lords the States of Holland and we hope will so farre preuaile as they will at the last apply themselues to the performance of that which both the sinceritie of Religion and the seruice of their Countrey requireth at their hands Furthermore I haue commandement from his Maiestie to mooue you in his Name to set downe some certaine Reglement in matters of Religion throughout your Prouinces that this licentious freedome of disputation may by that meanes be restrained which breeds nothing but Factions and part-taking and that you would absolutely take away the libertie of Prophecying which Vorstius doeth so much recommend vnto you in the dedicatorie Epistle of his Anti-Bellarmine the Booke whereof his Patrons doe boast so much To conclude his Maiestie doeth exhort you seeing you haue heretofore taken Armes for the libertie of your consciences and haue so much endured in a violent and bloody warre the space of fourtie yeeres for the profession of the Gospel that now hauing gotten the vpper hand of your miseries you would not suffer the followers of Arminius to make your actions an example for them to proclaime throughout the world that wicked doctrine of the Apostasie of the Saints To bee short the account which his Maiestie doeth make of your amitie appeares sufficiently by the Treaties which hee hath made with your Lordships by the succours which your Prouinces haue receiued from his crownes by the deluge of blood which his subiects haue spent in your warres Religion is the onely sowder of this Amitie For his Maiestie being by the Grace of GOD Defender of the Faith by which Title hee doeth more value himselfe then by the Title of King of Great Britaine doeth hold himselfe obliged to defend all those who professe the same Faith and Religion with him But if once your zeale begin to grow colde therein his Maiestie will then straightwayes imagine that your friendship towards him and his subiects will likewise freeze by little and little Thus much I had in charge to adde vnto that which his Maiestie in his owne letters hath written vnto you You may bee pleased to consider of it as the importance of the cause doeth require and to resolue thereupon that which your wisedomes shall thinke fittest for the honour and seruice of your Countrey But our Ambassadour hauing after a delay for the space of diuers weekes receiued this cold and ambiguous answere vnto our Letter and Proposition that is to say That The Lords States Generall hauing seriously deliberated vpon the Proposition which was made vnto them by our Ambassadour the fift of Nouember as also vpon our Letters of the sixt of October deliuered vnto them at the same time did very humbly giue vs thankes for the continuance of our Royall affection toward the welfare of their Countreys and the preseruation of the trew reformed Christian Religion therein And that the said States Generall as also the States of Holland and Westfrizeland in their seuerall assemblies respectiuely hauing entred into consultation with all due reuerence and regard vnto vs concerning those Articles wherewith Doctor Conradus Vorstius was charged the Curators of the Vniuersitie of Leyden did thereupon take occasion to make an order prouisionall that the said Vorstius should not bee admitted to the exercise of his place which was accordingly performed So as vpon the matter hee was then in the Citie of Leyden but as an inhabitant or Citizen And that in case the said Vorstius should not bee able to cleare himselfe from those accusations which were layd to his charge before or in the next Assembly of the States of Holland and Westfrizeland which was to bee holden in February following the Lords States Generall did then assure themselues that the States of Holland and Westfrizeland would decide the matter with good contentment And therefore forasmuch as at that time there could be no more done in the cause without great inconuenience and distaste to the principall Townes of the said Prouinces our Ambassadour was required to recommend thus much in the best manner he could vnto vs and with the most aduantage to the seruice of their Countrey Vpon the coldnesse therefore of this Answere which hee feared would giue vs no satisfaction hee thought it was now high time to consider what the last remedy might bee whereof vse was to bee made for the aduancement of this businesse and perceiuing that hee had already performed all the rest of our commandements excepting onely to Protest in case of refusall and esteeming such a cold answere accompanied with so many delayes to be no lesse in effect then an absolute refusall hee thereupon resolued to make this Protestation in their publique assemblie which hereafter followeth MY Lords The Historiographers who haue diligently looked into the Antiquities of France doe obserue that the Aduocates there in times past were accustomed to begin their pleadings with some Latine Sentence taken out of the holy Scriptures I
learned Lecture Now it is no wonder that in so good an office and loyall cariage towards their King the third Estate hath outgone the Clergie For the Clergie denie themselues to haue any ranke among the Subiects of the King they stand for a Soueraigne out of the Kingdome to whom as to the Lord Paramount they owe suite and seruice they are bound to aduance that Monarchie to the bodie whereof they properly apperteine as parts or members as elsewhere I haue written more at large But for the Nobilitie the Kings right arme to prostitute and set as it were to sale the dignitie of their King as if the arme should giue a thrust vnto the head J say for the Nobilitie to hold and maintaine euen in Parliament their King is liable to deposition by any forreine power or Potentate may it not passe among the strangest miracles and rarest wonders of the world For that once granted this consequence is good and necessarie That in case the King once lawfully deposed shall stand vpon the defensiue and hold out for his right he may then lawfully be murthered Let mee then here freely professe my opinion and this it is That now the French Nobilitie may seeme to haue some reason to disrobe themselues of their titles and to transferre them by resignation vnto the third Estate For that body of that third Estate alone hath caried a right noble heart in as much as the could neither be tickled with promises nor terrified by threatnings from resolute standing to those fundamentall points and reasons of State which most concerne the honour of their King and the securitie of his person Of all the Clergie the man that hath most abandoned or set his honour to sale the man to whom France is least obliged is the Lord Cardinall of Perron a man otherwise inferiour to few in matter of learning and in the grace of a sweete style This man in two seuerall Orations whereof the one was pronounced before the Nobilitie the other had audience before the third Estate hath set his best wits on worke to draw that doctrine into all hatred and infamie which teacheth Kings to be indeposeable by the Pope To this purpose hee termes the same doctrine a breeder of Schismes a gate that openeth to make way and to giue entrance vnto all heresies in briefe a doctrine to bee held in so high a degree of detestation that rather then he and his fellow-Bishops will yeeld to the signing thereof they will bee contented like Martyrs to burne at a stake At which resolution or obstinacie rather in his opinion I am in a manner amased more then I can be mooued for the like brauado in many other forasmuch as hee was many yeeres together a follower of the late King euen when the King followed a contrary Religion and was deposed by the Pope as also because not long before in a certaine Assemblie holden at the Iacobins in Paris hee withstood the Popes Nuntio to his face when the said Nuntio laboured to make this doctrine touching the Popes temporall Soueraigntie passe for an Article of Faith But in both Orations hee singeth a contrary song and from his owne mouth passeth sentence of condemnation against his former course and profession J fuppose not without sollide iudgemen as one that heerein hath well accommodated himselfe to the times For as in the reigne of the late King hee durst not offer to broach this doctrine such was his fore-wit so now he is bold to proclaime and publish it in Parliament vnder the reigne of the said Kings sonne whose tender yeeres and late succession to the Crowne doe make him lie the more open to iniuries and the more facill to be circumuented Such is now his afterwisedome Of these two Orations that made in presence of the Nobilitie he hath for feare of incurring the Popes displeasure cautelously suppressed For therein he hath beene somewhat prodigall in affirming this doctrine maintained by the Clergie to bee but problematicall and in taking vpon him to auouch that Catholikes of my Kingdome are bound to yeeld me the honour of obedience Whereas on the other side he is not ignorant how this doctrine of deposing Princes and Kings the Pope holdeth for meerely necessarie and approoueth not by any meanes Alleagiance to bee performed vnto mee by the Catholikes of my Kingdome Yea if credit may be giuen vnto the abridgement of his other Oration published wherein he paralells the Popes power in receiuing honours in the name of the Church with the power of the Venetian Duke in receiuing honours in the name of that most renowned Rebublike no marueile that when this Oration was dispatched to the presse he commanded the same to be gelded of this clause and other like for feare of giuing his Holinesse any offensiue distaste His pleasure therefore was and content withall that his Oration imparted to the third Estate should be put in Print and of his courtesie he vouchsafed to addresse vnto me a copie of the same Which after J had perused J foorthwith well perceiued what and how great discrepance there is betweene one man that perorateth from the ingenuous and sincere disposition of a sound heart and an other that flaunteth in flourishing speech with inward checkes of his owne conscience For euery where he contradicts himselfe and seemes to be afraid lest men should picke out his right meaning First In 12. seuerall passages the L. Card. seemeth to speake against his owne conscience Pag. 85. he grants this Question is not hither to decided by the holy Scriptures or by the Decrees of the ancient Church or by the analogie of other Ecclesiasticall proceedings and neuerthelesse hee confidently doeth affirme that whosoeuer maintaine this doctrine to be wicked and abhominable that Popes haue no power to put Kings by their supreame Thrones they teach men to beleeue there hath not bene any Church for many aages past and that indeed the Church is the very Synagogue of Antichrist Secondly he exhorts his hearers to hold this doctrine at least for problematicall and not necessary and yet herein he calls them to all humble submission vnto the iudgement of the Pope and Clergie by whom the cause hath bene already put out of all question as out of all hunger and cold Thirdly he doeth auerre in case this Article be authorized it makes the Pope in good consequence to bee the Antichrist Pag. 99. and yet he grants that many of the French are tolerated by the Pope to dissent in this point from his Holinesse prouided their doctrine be not proposed as necessary and materiall to faith As if the Pope in any sort gaue toleration to hold any doctrine contrary to his owne and most of all that doctrine which by consequence inferres himselfe to be the Antichrist Fourthly he protesteth forwardnesse to vndergoe the flames of Martyrdome rather then to signe this doctrine which teacheth Kings Crownes to sit faster on their heads then to be stirred by any
Papal power whatsoeuer and yet saith withall the Pope winketh at the French by his toleration to hold this dogmaticall point for problematicall And by this meanes the Martyrdome that hee affecteth in this cause will prooue but a problematicall Martyrdome whereof question might grow very well whether it were to be mustered with grieuous crimes or with phreneticall passions of the braine or with deserued punishments Fiftly he denounceth Anathema dischargeth maledictions like haile-shot against parricides of Kings and yet elsewhere hee layes himselfe open to speake of Kings onely so long as they stand Kings But who doeth not know that a King deposed is no longer King And so that limme of Satan which murthered Henry the III. then vn-king'd by the Pope did not stabbe a King to death Sixtly he doeth not allow a King to be made away by murder and yet he thinks it not much out of the way to take away al meanes whereby he might be able to stand in defence of his life Seuenthly Pag. 95.97 hee abhorreth killing of Kings by apposted throat-cutting for feare lest body and soule should perish in the same instant and yet he doth not mislike their killing in a pitcht field and to haue them slaughtered in a set battaile For he presupposeth no doubt out of his charitable mind that by this meanes the soule of a poore King so dispatched out of the way shall instantly flie vp to heauen Eightly he saith a King deposed retaineth stil a certaine internal habitude and politike impression by vertue and efficacie whereof he may being once reformed and become a new man be restored to the lawfull vse and practise of Regalitie Whereby hee would beare vs in hand that when a forraine Prince hath inuaded and rauenously seised the kingdome into his hands he will not onely take pittie of his predecessour to saue his life but will also proue so kind-hearted vpon fight of his repentance to restore his kingdome without fraud or guile Ninthly he saith euery where in his Discourse that he dealeth not in the cause otherwise then as a problematicall discourser and without any resolution one way or other and yet with might and maine hee contends for the opinion that leaues the States and Crownes of Kings controulable by the Pope refutes obiections propounds the authoritie of Popes and Councils by name the Lateran Councill vnder Innocent III. as also the consent of the Church And to crosse the Churches iudgement is in his opinion to bring in schisme and to leaue the world without a Church for many hundred yeeres together which to my vnderstanding is to speake with resolution and without all hesitation Tenthly he acknowledgeth none other cause of sufficient validitie for the deposing of a King besides herefie apostasie and infidelitie neuerthelesse that Popes haue power to displace Kings for herefie and apostasie hee proueth by examples of Kings whom the Pope hath curbed with deposition not for heresie but for matrimoniall causes for ciuill pretences and for lacke of capacitie Eleuenthly hee alledgeth euery where passages as well of holy Scripture as of the Fathers and moderne histories but so impertinent and with so little trewth as hereafter wee shall cause to appeare that for a man of his deepe learning and knowledge it seemeth not possible so to speake out of his iudgement Lastly whereas all this hath bene hudled and heaped together into one masse to currie with the Pope yet hee suffereth diuers points to fall from his lips which may well distast his Holinesse in the highest degree As by name where he prefers the authoritie of the Councill before that of the Pope and makes his iudgement inferiour to the iudgement of the French as in fit place hereafter shal be shewed Againe where he representeth to his hearers the decrees of Popes and Councils already passed concerning this noble subiect and yet affirmes that he doth not debate the question but as a Questionist and without resolution As if a Cardinal should be afraid to be positiue and to speake in peremptory straines after Popes and Councils haue once decided the Question Or as if a man should perorate vpon hazard in a cause for the honour whereof he would make no difficultie to suffer Martyrdome Adde hereunto that his Lordship hath alwayes taken the contrary part heretofore and this totall must needs arise that before the third Estate his lips looked one way and his conscience another All these points by the discourse which is to follow and by the ripping vp of his Oration which by Gods assistance J will vndertake tending to the reproch of Kings and the subuersion of kingdomes J confidently speake it shal be made manifest Yet doe J not conceiue it can any way make for my honour to enter the lists against a Cardinall For J am not ignorant how farre a Cardinals Hat commeth vnder the Crowne and Scepter of a King For well J wot vnto what sublimitie the Scripture hath exalted Kings when it styles them Gods Whereas the dignitie of a Cardinall is but a late vpstart inuention of man In the Preface to my Apologie as J haue elsewhere prooued But J haue imbarqued my selfe in this action mooued thereunto First by the common interest of Kings in the cause it selfe Then by the L. Cardinall who speaketh not in this Oration as a priuate person but as one representing the body of the Clergie and Nobilitie by whom the cause hath bene wonne and the garland borne away from the third Estate Againe by mine owne particular because he is pleased to take me vp for a sower of dissention and a persecutour vnder whom the Church is hardly able to fetch her breath yea for one by whom the Catholikes of my Kingdome are compelled to endure all sorts of punishments and withal he tearmes this Article of the third Estate a monster with a fishes taile that came swimming out of England Last of all by the present state of France because France being now reduced to so miserable tearmes that it is now become a crime for a Frenchman to stand for his King it is a necessary duetie of her neighbours to speake in her cause and to make triall whether they can put life into the trewth now dying and ready to be buried by the power of violence that it may resound and ring againe from remote regions J haue no purpose once to touch many prettie toyes which the ridges of his whole booke are sowen withall Such are his allegations of Pericles Agesilaus Aristotle Minos the Druides the French Ladies Hannibal Pindarus and Poeticall fables All resembling the red and blew flowers that pester the corne when it standeth in the fields where they are more noy some to the growing crop then beautifull to the beholding eye Such pettie matters nothing at all beseemed the dignitie of the Assembly and of the maine subiect or of the Orator himselfe For it was no Decorum to enter the Stage with a Pericles in his mouth but with the
Religion as beeing instructed by their schoolemasters in Religion And who were they but Ecclesiasticall persons All this presupposed as matter of trewth I draw this conclusion Howsoeuer no small number of the French Clergie may perhaps beare the affection of louing Subiects to their King and may not suffer the Clericall character to deface the impression of naturall allegiance yet for so much as the Order of Clerics is dipped in a deeper die and beareth a worse tincture of daungerous practises then the other Orders the third Estate had beene greatly wanting to their excellent prouidence and wisedome if they should haue relinquished and transferred the care of designements and proiects for the life of their King and the safety of his Crowne to the Clergiealone Moreouer the Clergie standeth bound to referre the iudgement of all matters in controuersie to the sentence of the Pope in this cause beeing a partie and one that pretendeth Crownes to depend vpon his Mitre What hope then might the third Estate conceiue that his Holinesse would passe against his owne cause when his iudgement of the controuersie had beene sundrie times before published and testified to the world And whereas the plot or modell of remedies proiected by the third Estate and the Kings Officers hath not prooued sortable in the euent was it because the said remedies were not good and lawfull No verily but because the Clergie refused to become contributors of their duty and meanes to the grand seruice Likewise for that after the burning of bookes addressed to iustifie rebellious people traytors and parricides of Kings neuerthelesse the authors of the said bookes are winked at and backt with fauour Lastly for that some wretched parricides drinke off the cuppe of publike iustice whereas to the firebrands of sedition the sowers of this abominable doctrine no man saith so much as blacke is their eye It sufficiently appeareth as I supose by the former passage that his Lordship exhorting the third Estate to referre the whole care of this Regall cause vnto the Clergie hath tacked his frame of weake ioynts and tenons to a very worthy but wrong foundation Page 9. Howbeit he laboureth to fortifie his exhortation with a more weake and feeble reason For to make good his proiect he affirmes that matters and maximes out of all doubt and question may not be shuffled together with points in controuersie Now his rules indubitable are two The first It is not lawfull to murther Kings for any cause whatsoeuer This he confirmeth by the example of Saul as he saith deposed from his Throne whose life or limbs Dauid neuerthelesse durst not once hurt or wrong for his life Conc. Constan Sess 15. Likewise he confirmes the same by a Decree of the Councill held at Constance His other point indubitable The Kings of France are Soueraignes in all Temporall Soueraigntie within the French Kingdome and hold not by fealtie either of the Pope as hauing receiued or obliged their Crownes vpon such tenure and condition or of any other Prince in the whole world Which point neuerthelesse he takes not for certaine and indubitable but onely according to humane and historicall certaintie Now a third point he makes to be so full of controuersie and so farre within the circle of disputable questions as it may not be drawne into the ranke of classicall and authenticall points for feare of making a certaine point doubtfull by shuffling and iumbling therewith some point in controuersie Now the question so disputable as he pretendeth is this A Christian Prince breakes his oath solemnely taken to God both to liue and to die in the Catholique Religion Say this Prince turnes Arrian or Mahometan fals to proclaime open warre and to wage battell with Iesus Christ Whether may such a Prince be declared to haue lost his Kingdome and who shall declare the Subiects of such a Prince to be quit of their oath of allegiance The L. Cardinall holds the affirmatiue and makes no bones to maintaine that all other parts of the Catholique Church yea the French Church euen from the first birth of her Theologicall Schooles to Caluins time and teaching haue professed that such a Prince may bee lawfully remooued from his Throne by the Pope and by the Councill and suppose the contrarie doctrine were the very Quintessence or spirit of trewth yet might it not in case of faith be vrged and pressed otherwise then by way of problematicall disceptation That is the summe of his Lordships ample discourse The refuting whereof I am constrained to put off and referre vnto an other place because he hath serued vs with the same dishes ouer and ouer againe There we shall see the L. Cardinall maketh way to the dispatching of Kings after deposition that Saul was not deposed as he hath presumed that in the Councill of Constance there is nothing to the purpose of murthering Soueraigne Princes that his Lordship supposing the French King may be depriued of his Crowne by a superiour power doth not hold his liege Lord to be Soueraine in France that by the position of the French Church from aage to aage the Kings of France are not subiect vnto any censure of deposition by the Pope that his Holinesse hath no iust and lawfull pretence to produce that any Christian King holds of him by fealtie or is obliged to doe the Pope homage for his Crowne Well then for the purpose he dwelleth onely vpon the third point pretended questionable and this hee affirmeth If any shall condemne or wrappe vnder the solemne curse the abettours of the Popes power to vnking lawfull and Soueraigne Kings the same shall runne vpon foure dangerous rocks of apparent incongruities and absurdities First he shall offer to force and entangle the consciences of many deuout persons For he shall binde them to beleeue and sweare that doctrine Pag. 14. the contrary whereof is beleeued of the whole Church and hath bene beleeued by their Predecessors Secondly he shall ouerturne from top to bottome the sacred authoritie of holy Church and shall set open a gate vnto all sorts of heresie by allowing Lay-persons a bold libertie to be iudges in causes of Religion and Faith For what is that degree of boldnesse but open vsurping of the Priesthood what is it but putting of prophane hands vpon the Arke what is it but laying of vnholy fingers vpon the holy Censor for perfumes Thirdly hee shall make way to a Schisme not possible to bee put by and auoyded by any humane prouidence For this doctrine beeing held and professed by all other Catholiques how can we declare it repugnant vnto Gods word how can wee hold it impious how can wee account it detestable but wee shall renounce communion with the Head and other members of the Church yea we shall confesse the Church in all aages to haue bene the Synagogue of Satan and the spouse of the Deuill Lastly by working the establishment of this Article which worketh an establishment of Kings Crownes He shall
500. yeeres the Church groned vnder the heauy burthen both of heathen Emperours and of hereticall Kings the Visigot Kings in Spaine and the Vandals in Affrica Of whose displeasure the Pope had small reason or cause to stand in any feare beeing so remote from their dominions and no way vnder the lee of their Soueraigntie But let vs come to see what aide the L. Cardinall hath amassed and piled together out of latter histories prouided wee still beare in mind that our question is not of popular tumults nor of the rebellion of subiects making insurrections out of their owne discontented spirits and braine-sicke humors nor of lawfull Excommunications nor of Canonicall censures and reprehensions but onely of a iuridicall sentence of deposition pronounced by the Pope as armed with ordinary and lawfull power to depose against a Soueraigne Prince Now then Exampl 1. pag. 18 Enag hist Eccles lib. 3. cap. 32. The L. Cardinall sets on and giues the first charge with Anastasius the Emperour whom Euphemius Patriarke of Constantinople would neuer acknowledge for Emperour that is to say would neuer consent he should be created Emperour by the helpe of his voice or suffrage except he would first subscribe to the Chalcedon Creed notwithstanding the great Empresse and Senate sought by violent courses and practises to make him yeeld And when afterward the said Emperour contrary to his oath taken played the relaps by falling into his former heresie and became a persecutor he was first admonished and then excommunicated by Symmachus Bishop of Rome To this the L. Cardinall addes that when the said Emperour was minded to choppe the poison of his hereticall assertions into the publique formes of diuine seruice then the people of Constantinople made an vproare against Anastasius their Emperour and one of his Commanders by force of armes constrained him to call backe certaine Bishops whom he had sent into banishment before In this first example the L. Cardinall by his good leaue neither comes close to the question nor falutes it a farre off Euphemius was not Bishop of Rome Anastasius was not deposed by Euphemius the Patriarch onely made no way to the creating of Anastasius The suddaine commotion of the base multitude makes nothing the rebellion of a Greeke Commaunder makes lesse for the authorizing of the Pope to depose a Soueraigne Prince The Greeke Emperour was excommunicated by Pope Symmachus who knowes whether that be trew or forged For the Pope himselfe is the onely witnesse here produced by the L. Cardinall vpon the point and who knowes not how false how suppositious the writings and Epistles of the auncient Popes are iustly esteemmed But graunt it a trewth yet Anasta sius excommunicated by Pope Symmachus is not Anastasius deposed by Pope Symmachus And to make a full answere I say further that excommunication denounced by a forraine Bishop againsta party not beeing within the limits of his iurisdiction or one of his owne flocke was not any barre to the party from the communion of the Church but onely a kind of publication that he the said Bishop in his particular would hold no further communion with any such party For proofe whereof I produce the Canons of the Councils held at Carthage In one of the said Canons it is thus prouided and ordained * Nomecan Affric Can. 77. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If any Bishop shall wilfully absent himselfe from the vsuall and accustomed Synodes let him not be admitted to the communion of other Churches but let him onely vse the benefit and libertie of his owne Church In an other of the same Canons thus * Can. 81. eiusd Nomo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If a Bishop shall insinuate himselfe to make a conuciance of his Monasterie and the ordering thereof vnto a Monke of any other Cloister let him be cut off let him be separated from the communion with other Churches and content himselfe to liue in the communion of his owne flocke In the same sense Hilarius Bishop of Poictiers excommunicated Liberius Bishop of Rome for subscribing to the Arrian Confession Anathematibi à me Liberi Faber in frag Hilarij In the same sense Iohn Bishop of Antioch excommunicated Caelestine of Rome and Cyrill of Alexandria Bishops for proceeding to sentence against Nestorius without staying his comming to answere in his owne cause In the same sense likewise Victor Bishop of Rome did cut off all the Bishops of the East not from the communion of their owne flocks but from communion with Victor and the Romane Church What resemblance what agreement what proportion betweene this course of excommunication and that way of vniust fulmination which the Popes of Rome haue vsurped against Kings Examp. 2. but yet certaine long courses of time after that auncient course And this may stand for a full answere likewise to the example of Clotharius This ancient King of the French fearing the censures of Pope Agapetus erected the Territorie of Yuetor vnto the title of a Kingdome by way of satisfaction for murdering of Gualter Lord of Yuetot For this example the L. Cardinall hath ransackt records of 900. yeeres antiquitie and vpward in which times it were no hard piece of worke to shew that Popes would not haue any hand nor so much as a finger in the affaires and acts of the French Kings Gregorie of Tours that liued in the same aage hath recorded many acts of excesse and violent iniuries done against Bishops by their Kings and namely against Praetextatus Bishop of Roan for any of which iniurious prankes then played the Bishop of Rome durst not reprooue the said Kings with due remonstrance But see heere the words of Gregorie himselfe to King Chilperic If any of vs O King shall swarue from the path of Iustice him hast thou power to punish But in case thou shalt at any time transgresse the lines of equitie who shall once touch thee with reproofe To thee wee speake but are neuer heeded and regarded except it be thy pleasure and bee thou not pleased who shall challenge thy greatnesse but hee that iustly challengeth to bee Iustice it selfe The good Bishop notwithstanding these humble remonstrances was but roughly entreated and packt into exile being banished into the Isle of Guernsay But I am not minded to make any deepe search or inquisition into the titles of the Lords of Yuetot whose honourable priuiledges and titles are the most honourable badges and cognizances of their Ancestours and of some remarkeable seruice done to the Crowne of France so farre I take them to differ from a satisfaction for sinne And for the purpose I onely affirme that were the credit of this historie beyond all exception yet makes it nothing to the present question Wherein the power of deposing and not of excommunicating supreme Kings is debated And suppose the King by Charter granted the said priuiledges for feare of Excommunication how is it prooued thereby that Pope Agapetus had lawfull and ordinary power to depriue him of
his Crowne Nay doubtlesse it was rather a meanes to eleuate and aduance the dignitie of the Crowne of France and to style the French King a King of Kings as one that was able to giue the qualitie of King to all the rest of the Nobles and Gentry of his Kingdome Doeth not some part of the Spanish Kings greatnesse consist in creating of his great In the next place followeth Gregorie I. Examp. 3. pag. 22. who in the 10. Epistle of the 11. booke confirming the priuiledges of the Hospitall at Augustodunum in Bourgongne prohibiteth all Kings and Prelates whatsoeuer to infringe or diminish the said priuiledges in whole or in part His formall and expresse words bee these If any King Prelate Iudge or any other Secular person informed of this our Constitution shall presume to goe or doe contrary thereunto let him bee cast downe from his power and dignitie I answere the Lord Cardinall heere wrongs himselse very much in taking imprecations for Decrees Might not euen the meanest of the people vse the same tenour of words and say If any shall touch the life or the most sacred Maiestie of our Kings be he Emperour or be he Pope let him bee accursed let him fall from his eminent place of authoritie let him lose his dignitie let him tumble into beggerie diseases and all kindes of calamities I forbeare to shew how easie a matter it is for Monkes to forge titles after their owne humour and to their owne liking for the vpholding and maintaining of their priuiledges As for the purpose the same Gregorie citeth in the end of his Epistles another priuiledge of the like stuffe and stampe to the former granted to the Abbey of S. Medard at Soissons It is fenced with a like clause to the other But of how great vntrewth and of how little weight it is the very date that it beareth makes manifest proofe For it runs Dated the yeere of our Lords Incarnation 593. the 11. Indiction whereas the 10. Indiction agreeth to the yeere 593. Besides it was not Gregories maner to date his Epistles according to the yeere of the Lord. Againe the said priuiledge was signed by the Bishops of Alexandria and Carthage who neuer knew as may well bee thought whether any such Abbey of S. Medard or citie of Soissons was euer built in the world Moreouer they signed in the thickest of a crowd as it were of Italian Bishops Lastly hee that shall reade in this Gregories Epistles with what spirit of reuerence and humilitie he speaketh of Emperours will hardly beleeue that euer hee armed himselfe with authoritie to giue or to take away Kingdomes Hee styles himselfe * Epist 6. l. 3. Ego antem indignus pietatin tuae seruils Ego verò haec Dominis meis Ioquens quid sum nisi pulu is vermis Ibid. Egc quidem iussioni subiectus c. Epist 61. l. 2. The Emperours vnworthie seruant presuming to speake vnto his Lord when he knowes himselfe to bee but dust and a very worme Hee professeth subiection vnto the Emperours commands euen to the publishing of a certaine Law of the Emperours which in his iudgement somewhat iarred and iustled with Gods Law as elsewhere I haue spoken more at large The L. Cardinall next bringeth vpon the stage Iustinian II. Hee Examp. 4. being in some choller with Sergius Bishop of Rome because hee would not fauour the erroneous Synode of Constantinople would haue caused the Bishop to bee apprehended by his Constable Zacharias But by the Romane Militia that is the troupes which the Emperour then had in Italie Zacharias was repulsed and hindered from his deseigne euen with opprobrious and reproachfull termes His Lordship must haue my shallownesse excused if I reach not his intent by this Allegation wherein I see not one word of deposing from the Empire or of any sentence pronounced by the Pope Heere are now 712. yeeres expired after the birth of Iesus Christ in all which long tract of time the L. Cardinal hath not light vpon any instance which might make for his purpose with neuer so little shew For the example of the Emperor Philippicus by the Cardinal alledged next in sequence Examp. 5. belongeth to the yeere 713. And thus lies the historie This Emperour Philippicus Bardanes was a professed enemie to the worshipping of Images and commanded them to be broken in pieces In that very time the Romane Empire was ouerthrowen in the West and sore shaken by the Saracenes in the East Besides those miseries the Emperour was also incumbred with a ciuill and intestine warre The greatest part of Italie was then seized by the Lombards and the Emperour in Italie had nothing left saue onely the Exarchat of Rauenna and the Dutchie of Rome then halfe abandoned by reason of the Emperours want of forces Pope Constantine gripes this occasion whereon to ground his greatnesse and to shake off the yoke of the Emperour his Lord Vndertakes against Philippicus the cause of Images by a Councel declares the Emperour Heretique Prohibites his rescripts or coine to bee receiued and to goe current in Rome Forbids his Imperiall statue to bee set vp in the Temple according to ancient custome The tumult groweth to a height The Pope is principall promoter of the tumult In the heate of the tumult the Exarche of Rauenna loseth his life Here see now the mutinie of a subiect against his Prince to pull from him by force and violence a citie of his Empire But who seeth in all this any sentence of deposition from the Imperiall dignitie Nay the Pope then missed the cushion and was disappointed vtterly of his purpose The citie of Rome stood firme and continued still in their obedience to the Emperour About some 12. yeeres after Exemp 6. the Emperour Leo Isauricus whom the Lord of Perron calleth Iconoclast falles to fight it out at sharpe and to prosecute worshippers of Images with all extremitie Vpon this occasion Pope Gregory 2. then treading in the steps of his predecessor when he perceiued the citie of Rome to be but weakely prouided of men or munition and the Emperour to haue his hands full in other places found such meanes to make the citie rise in rebellious armes against the Emperour that he made himselfe in short time master thereof Thus farre the Lord Cardinall whereunto my answere for satisfaction is that degrading an Emperour from his Imperiall dignitie and reducing a citie to reuolt against her Master that a man at last may carry the piece himselfe and make himselfe Lord thereof are two seuerall actions of speciall difference If the free-hold of the citie had beene conueied to some other by the Pope depriuing the Emperour as proprietarie thereof this example might haue challenged some credit at least in shew but so to inuade the citie to his owne vse and so to seize on the right and authority of another what is it but open rebellion and notorious ambition For it is farre from Ecclesiasticall censure when
the spirituall Pastor of soules forsooth pulles the cloake of a poore sinner from his backe by violence or cuts his purse and thereby appropriates an other mans goods to his priuate vse It is to be obserued withall that when the Emperours were not of sufficient strength and Popes had power to beard and to braue Emperours then these Papall practises were first set on foot This Emperour notwithstanding turned head and peckt againe his Lieutenant entred Rome and Gregorie 3. successor to this Gregorie 2. was glad to honour the same Emperour with style and title of his Lord witnesse two seuerall Epistles of the said Gregorie 3. written to Boniface and subscribed in this forme Dat. 10. Cal. Decem Imperante Dom. pijssimo Augusto Leone à Deo coronato magno Imp. anno decimo Imperij eius Examp. 7. Dated the tenth alends of December In the raigne of our most pious and religious Lord Augustus Leo crowned of God the great Emperour in the tenth yeere of his raigne The L. Cardinall with no lesse abuse alleadgeth Pope Zacharie by whom the French as he affirmeth were absolued of the oath of all egiance wherein they stood bound to Childeric their King And for this instance he standeth vpon the testimonie of Paulus Aemilius and du Tillet a paire of late writers But by authors more neere that aage wherein Childeric raigned it is more trewly testified that it was a free and voluntarie act of the French onely asking the aduise of Pope Zacharie but requiring neither leaue nor absolution Ado Bishop of Vienna in his Chronicles hath it after this manner The French following the Counsell of Embassadors and of Pope Zachary elected Pepin their King and established him in the Kingdome Trithemius in his abridgement of Annals thus Childeric as one vnfit for gouernement was turned out of his Kingdome with common consent of the Estates and Peeres of the Realme so aduised by Zacharie Pope of Rome Godfridus of Viterbe in the 17. part of his Chronicle and Guauguin in the life of Pepin affirme the same And was it not an easie matter to worke Pepin by counsell to lay hold on the Kingdome when he could not be hindered from fastening on the Crowne and had already seizd it in effect howsoeuer he had not yet attained to the name of King Moreouer the rudenesse of that Nation then wanting knowledge and Schooles either of diuinitie or of Academicall sciences was a kind of spurre to make them runne for counsell ouer the mountaines which neuerthelesse in a cause of such nature they required not as necessary but onely as decent and for fashion sake The Popealso for his part was well appaied by this meanes to draw Pepin vnto his part as one that stood in some neede of his aide against the Lombards and the more because his Lord the Emperour of Constantinople was then brought so low that hee was not able to send him sufficient aide for the defence of his territories against his enemies But had Zacharie to deale plainely not stood vpon the respect of his owne commodity more then vpon the regard of Gods feare he would neuer haue giuen counsell vnto the seruant vnder the pretended colour of his Masters dull spirit so to turne rebell against his Master The Lawes prouide Gardians or ouerseers for such as are not well in their wits they neuer depriue and spoile them of their estate they punish crimes but not diseases and infirmities by nature Yea in France it is a very auncient custome when the King is troubled in his wits to establish a Regent who for the time of the Kings disability may beare the burden of the Kingdomes affaires So was the practise of that State in the case of Charles 6. when hee fell into a phrensie whom the Pope notwithstanding his most grieuous and sharpe fits neuer offered to degrade And to be short what reason what equity will beare the children to be punished for the fathers debilitie Yet such punishment was laid vpon Childerics whole race and house who by this practise were all disinherited of the Kingdome But shall wee now take some view of the L. Pag. 25. Cardinals excuse for this exemplarie fact The cause of Childerics deposing as the L. Cardinall saith did neerely concerne and touch Religion For Childerics imbecillity brought all France into danger to suffer a most wofull shipwracke of Christian religion vpon the barbarous and hostile inuasion of the Saracens Admit now this reason had beene of iust weight and value yet consideration should haue beene taken whether some one or other of that Royall stemme and of the Kings owne successors neerest of blood was not of better capacity to rule and mannage that mighty State The feare of vncertaine and accidentall mischiefe should not haue driuen them to flie vnto the certaine mischiefe of actuall and effectuall deposition They should rather haue set before their eies the example of Charles Martel this Pepins father who in a farre more eminent danger when the Saracens had already mastered and subdued a great part of France valiantly encountred and withall defeated the Saracens ruled the Kingdome vnder the title of Steward of the Kings house the principall Officer of the Crowne without affecting or aspiring to the Throne for all that great step of aduantage especially when the Saracens were quite broken and no longer dreadfull to the French Nation In our owne Scotland the sway of the Kingdome was in the hand of Walles during the time of Bruse his imprisonment in England who then was lawfull heire to the Crowne This Walles or Vallas had the whole power of the Kingdome at his becke and command His Edicts and ordinances to this day stand in full force By the deadly hatred of Bruse his mortall enemie it may be coniectured that he might haue bene prouoked and inflamed with desiré to trusse the Kingdome in his tallants And notwithstanding all these incitements he neuer assumed or vsurped other title to himselfe then of Gouernour or Administratour of the Kingdome The reason Hee had not beene brought vp in this new doctrine and late discipline whereby the Church is endowed with power to giue and to take away Crownes But now as the L. Cardinall would beare the world in hand the state of Kings is brought to a very dead lift The Pope forsooth must send his Physicians to know by way of inspection or some other course of Art whether the Kings braine be cract or sound and in case there be found any debilitie of wit and reason in the King then the Pope must remooue and translate the Crowne from the weaker braine to a stronger and for the acting of the stratageme the name of Religion must be pretended Ho these Heretikes begin to crawle in the Kingdome order must bee taken they bee not suffered by their multitudes and swarmes like locusts or caterpillers to pester and poison the whole Realme Or in a case of Matrimony thus Ho marriage is a Sacrament touch
the Order of Matrimonie and Relgion is wounded By this deuice not onely the Kings vices but likewise his naturall diseases and infirmities are fetcht into the circle of Religion and the L. Cardinall hath not done himselfe right in restraining the Popes power to depose Kings vnto the cases of Heresie Apostasie and persecution of the Church In the next place followeth Leo III. who by setting the Imperial Crowne vpon the head of Charles absolued all the Subiects in the West of their obedience to the Greeke Emperours if the L. of Perron might bee credited in this Example But indeed it is crowded among the rest by a slie tricke and cleane contrary to the naked trewth of all histories For it shall neuer be iustified by good historie that so much as one single person or man I say not one Countrey or one people was then wrought or wonne by the Pope to change his copy and Lord or from a subiect of the Greeke Emperours to turne subiect vnto Charlemaine Let me see but one Towne that Charlemaine recouered from the Greeke Emperours by his right and title to his Empire in the West No the Greeke Emperours had taken their farewell of the West Empire long before And therefore to nicke this vpon the tallie of Pope Leo his Acts that he tooke away the West from the Greeke Emperour it is euen as if one should say that in this aage the Pope takes the Dukedome of Milan from the French Kings or the citie of Rome from the Emperours of Germanie because their Predecessours in former aages had beene right Lords and gouernours of them both It is one of the Popes ordinary and solemne practises to take away much after the maner of his giuing For as he giueth what he hath not in his right and power to giue or bestoweth vpon others what is already their owne euen so he taketh away from Kings and Emperors the possessions which they haue not in present hold and possession After this maner he takes the West from the Greeke Emperors when they hold nothing in the West and lay no claime to any citie or towne of the West Empire And what shall wee call this way of depriuation but spoiling a naked man of his garments and killing a man already dead Trew it is the Imperiall Crowne was then set on Charlemaines head by Leo the Pope did Leo therefore giue him the Empire No more then a Bishop that crownes a King at his Royall and solemne consecration doeth giue him the Kingdome For shall the Pope himselfe take the Popedome from the Bishop of Ostia as of his gift because the crowning of the Pope is an Office of long time peculiar to the Ostian Bishop It was the custome of Emperours to be crowned Kings of Italy by the hands of the Archbishop of Milan did he therefore giue the Kingdome of Italy to the said Emperours And to returne vnto Charlemaine If the Pope had conueyed the Empire to him by free and gracious donation the Pope doubtlesse in the solemnitie of his coronation would neuer haue perfourmed vnto his ownecreature an Emperour of his owne making the dueties of adoration Perfectit landibus a Pontifice more Principum antiquorum adoratus est Auentinus Annalium Boiorum lib. 4. Posthaec ab eodem Pontifice vt caeteri veterum Prineipum mere maiorum aioratus est Magnus Sigeb ad an 801. Marianus Scotus lib. 3. Annalium Plat. in vita Leon. 3. Auent Annal. Boio lib. 4. Imperium transferre iure suo in Germanos Carolúmque tacito Senatus consulto plebiscitoque decernunt as Ado that liued in the same aage hath left it on record After the solemne prayses ended saith Ado the chiefe Bishop honoured him with adoration according to the custome of ancient Princes The same is like wise put downe by Auentine in the 4. booke of his Annals of Bauaria The like by the President Fauchet in his Antiquities and by Monsieur Petau Counsellour in the Court of Parliament at Paris in his Preface before the Chronicles of Eusebius Hierome and Sigebert It was therefore the people of Rome that called this Charles the Great vnto the Imperiall dignitie and cast on him the title of Emperour So testifieth Sigebert vpon the yeere 801. All the Romanes with one generall voice and consent ring out acclamations of Imperiall praises to the Emperour they crowne him by the bands of Leo the Pope they giue him the style of Caesar and Augustus Marianus Scotus hath as much in effect Charles was then called Augustus by the Romanes And so Platina After the solemne seruice Leo declareth and proclaimeth Charles Emperour according to the publike Decree and generall request of the people of Rome Auentine and Sigonius in his 4. booke of the Kingdome of Italie witnesse the same Neuerthelsse to gratifie the L. Cardinall Suppose Pope Leo dispossessed the Greeke Emperours of the West Empire What was the cause what infamous acte had they done what prophane and irreligious crime had they committed Nicephorus and Irene who reigned in the Greeke Empire in Charlemaines time were not reputed by the Pope or taken for Heretikes How then The L. Cardinall helpeth at a pinch and putteth vs in minde that Constantine and Leo predecessours to the said Emperours had beene poysoned with Heresie and stained with persecution Here then behold an Orthodoxe Prince deposed For what cause for Heresie forsooth not in himselfe but in some of his Predecessors long before An admirable case For I am of a contrary minde that he was worthy of double honour in restoring and setting vp the trewth againe which vnder his predecessors had endured oppression and suffered persecution Doubtlesse Pope Siluester was greatly ouerseene and played not well the Pope when hee winked at Constantine the Great and cast him not downe from his Imperiall Throne for the strange infide litie and Paganisme of Diocletian of Maximian and Maxentius whom Constantine succeeded in the Empire From this example the L. of Perron passeth to Fulke Archbishop of Reims Examp. 9. pag. 21. by whom Charles the Simple was threatned with Excommunication and refusing to continue any longer in the fidelity and allegiance of a subiect To what purpose is this example For who can be ignorant that all aages haue brought forth turbulent and stirring spirits men altogether forgetfull of respect and obseruance towards their Kings especially when the world finds them shallow and simple-witted like vnto this Prince But in this example where is there so much as one word of the Pope or the deposing of Kings Here the L. Cardinall chops in the example of Philip I. King of France but mangled and strangely disguised as hereafter shall be shewed At last he leadeth vs to Gregory VII surnamed Hildebrand Exam. 11. An. 1076. the scourge of Emperours the firebrand of warre the scorne of his aage This Pope after he had in the spirit of pride and in the very height of all audaciousnesse thundred the sentence of
Vrbanus part was punished for his presumption dispoyled of his estate and kept in prison whereof he makes complaint himselfe in his 19. and 20. Epistles The L. Cardinall besides in my vnderstanding for his Masters honour should haue made no words of interdicting the whole Kingdome For when the Pope to giue a King chastisement doeth interdict his Kingdome hee makes the people to beare the punishment of the Kings offence For during the time of interdiction the Church doores through the whole Kingdome are kept continually shut and lockt vp publike seruice is intermitted in all places bels euery where silent Sacraments not administred to the people bodies of the dead so prostituted and abandoned that none dares burie the said bodies in holy ground More it is beleeued that a man dying vnder the curse of the interdict without some speciall indulgence or priuiledge is for euer damned and adiudged to eternall punishments as one that dyeth out of the communion of the Church Put case then the interdict holdeth and continueth for many yeares together alas how many millions of poore soules are damned and goe to hell for an others offence For what can or what may the faltlesse and innocent people doe withall if the King will repudiate his wife and she yet liuing ioyne himselfe in matrimonie to an other The Lord Cardinall after Philip the 1. produceth Philippus Augustus Examp. 12. who hauing renounced his wife Ingeberga daughter to the King of Denmarke and marrying with Agnes daughter to the Duke of Morauia was by Pope Innocent the third interdicted himselfe and his whole Kingdome But his Lordshippe was not pleased to insert withall what is auerred in the Chronicle of Saint Denis that Pope Caelestinus 3. sent forth two Legats at once vpon this errand Bochel pag. 320 Who being come into the assemblie and generall Council of all the French Prelats became like dumbe dogs that can not barke so as they could not bring the seruice which they had vndertaken to any good passe because they stood in a bodily feare of their owne bydes Not long after the Cardinall of Capua was in the like taking For hee durst not bring the Realme within the limits of the interdict before hee was got out of the limits of the Kingdome The King herewith incensed thrust all the Prelates that had giuen consent vnto these proceedings out of their Sees confiscated their goods c. To the same effect is that which wee reade in Matthew Paris After the Pope had giuen his Maiestie to vnderstand by the Cardinal of Anagnia that his kingdome should be interdicted vnlesse he would be reconciled to the King of England the King returned the Pope this answere that he was not in any sort afraid of the Popes sentence for as much as it could not be grounded vpon any equitie of the cause and added withall that it did no way appertaine vnto the Church of Rome to sentence Kings especially the King of France And this was done saith Iohannes Tilius Register in Court of Parliament of Paris by the counsell of the French Barons Most notable is the example of Philip the faire and hits the bird in the right eye In the yeere 1032. the Pope dispatched the Archbishop of Narbona with mandates into France commanding the King to release the Bishop of Apamia then detained in prison for contumelious words tending to the Kings defamation and spoken to the Kings owne head In very deed this Pope had conceiued a secret grudge and no light displeasure against King Philip before namely because the King had taken vpon him the collation of Benefices and other Ecclesiastical dignities Vpon which occasion the Pope sent letters to the King of this tenour and style Feare God and keepe his Commandements Wee would haue thee know that in Spirituall and Temporall causes thou art subiect vnto our selfe that collating of Benefices and Prebends doeth not in any sort appertaine to thy office and place that in case as keeper of the Spiritualties thou haue the custodie of Benefices and Prebends in thy hand when they become voyd thou shalt by sequestration reserue the fruits of the same to the vse and benefit of the next Incumbents and successors and in case thou hast heretofore collated any we ordaine the said collations to be meerely void and so farre as herein thou hast proceeded to the fact we reuoke the said collations We hold them for hereticks whosoeuer are not of this beliefe A Legate comes to Paris and brings these brauing letters By some of the Kings faithfull seruants they are violently snatched and pulled out of the Legates hands by the Earle of Artois they are cast into the fire The good King answeres the Pope and payes him in as good coyne as he had sent Philip by the grace of God King of the French to Boniface calling and bearing himselfe the Soueraigne Bishop little greeting or none at all May thy exceeding sottishnesse vnderstand that in Temporall causes we are not subiect vnto any mortall and earthly creature that collating of Benefices and Prebends by Regall right appertaineth to our office and place that appropriating their fruits when they become void belongeth to our selfe alone during their vacancie that all collations by vs heretofore made or to bee made hereafter shall stand in force that in the validitie and vertue of the said collations wee will euer couragiously defend and maintaine all Incumbents and possessors of Benefices and Prebends so by vs collated We hold them all for sots and senselesse whosoeuer are not of this beliefe The Pope incensed herewith excommunicates the King but no man dares publish that censure or become bearer thereof The King notwithstanding the said proceedings of the Pope assembles his Prelates Barons and Knights at Paris askes the whole assembly of whom they hold their Fees with al other the Temporalties of the Church They make answere with one voice that in the said matters they disclaime the Pope and know none other Lord beside his Maiestie Meane while the Pope worketh with Germanie and the Low Countreis to stirre them vp against France But Philip sendeth William of Nogaret into Italy William by the direction and aide of Sciarra Columnensis takes the Pope at Anagnia mounts him vpon a leane ill-fauoured iade caries him prisoner to Rome where ouercome with choller anguish and great indignation he takes his last leaue of the Popedome and his life All this notwithstanding the King presently after from the successours of Boniface receiues very ample and gratious Bulls in which the memorie of all the former passages and actions is vtterly abolished Extrauag Meruit Witnesse the Epistle of Clement 5. wherein this King is honoured with praises for a pious and religious Prince and his Kingdome is restored to the former estate In that aage the French Nobilitie caried other maner of spirits then the moderne and present Nobilitie doe I meane those by whom the L. Cardinal was applauded and assisted in his
Oration Yea in those former times the Prelates of the Realme stood better affected towards their King then the L. Cardinal himselfe now standeth who could finde none other way to dally with and to shift off this pregnant example but by plaine glosing that heresie and Apostasie was no ground of that question or subiect of that controuersie Wherein hee not onely condemnes the Pope as one that proceeded against Philip without a iust cause good ground but likewise giues the Pope the Lie who in his goodly letters but a little aboue recited hath enrowled Philip in the list of heretiques Hee saith moreouer that indeed the knot of the question was touching the Popes pretence in challenging to himselfe the temporall Soueraigntie of France that is to say in qualifying himselfe King of France But indeed and indeed no such matter to be found His whole pretence was the collating of Benefices and to pearch aboue the King to crow ouer his Crowne in Temporall causes At which pretence his Holinesse yet aimeth still attributing and challenging to himselfe plenarie power to depose the King Now if the L. Cardinal shall yet proceed to cauill that Boniface the eighth was taken by the French for an vsurper and no lawfull Pope but for one that crept into the Papacie by fraud and symonie he must be pleased to set downe positiuely who was Pope seeing that Boniface then sate not in the Papall chaire To conclude If hee that creepeth and stealeth into the Papacie by symonie by canuases or labouring of suffrages vnder hand or by bribery be not lawfull Pope I dare be bold to professe there will hardly be found two lawfull Popes in the three last aages See the treatise of Charles du Moulin contrà paruas Datas wherin he reporteth a notable Decree of the Court vnder Charles 6. Pope Benedict in the yeere 1408. being in choller with Charles the sixt because Charles had bridled and curbed the gainefull exactions and extorsions of the Popes Court by which the Realme of France had bene exhausted of their treasure sent an excommunicatorie Bull into France against Charles the King and all his Princes The Vniuersitie of Paris made request or motion that his Bull might be mangled and Pope Benedict himselfe by some called Petrus de Luna might be declared heretike schismatike and perturber of the peace Theodoric Niemens in nemore vnion Tract 6. somnium viridar ij The said Bull was mangled and rent in pieces according to the petition of the Vniuersitie by Decree of Court vpon the tenth of Iune 1408. Tenne dayes after the Court rising at eleuen in the morning two Bul-bearers of the said excommunicatorie censure vnderwent ignominious punishment vpon the Palace or great Hal staires From thence were led to the Louure in such maner as they had bene brought from thence before drawne in two tumbrels clad in coates of painted linnen wore paper-mytres on their heads were proclaimed with sound of Trumpet and euery where disgraced with publike derision So litle reckoning was made of the Popes thundering canons in those dayes And what would they haue done if the said Buls had imported sentence of deposition against King Charles The French Church assembled at Tours in the yeere 1510. decreed that Lewis XII might with safe conscience contemne the abusiue Bulls and vniust censures of Pope Iulius the II. and by armes might withstand the Popes vsurpations in case hee should proceed to excommunicate or depose the King More by a Councill holden at Pisa this Lewis declared the Pope to bee fallen from the Popedome and coyned crownes with a stampe of this inscription I will destroy the name of Babylon To this the L. of Perron makes answere that all this was done by the French as acknowledging these iars to haue sprung not from the fountaine of Religion but from passion of state Wherein he condemneth Pope Iulius for giuing so great scope vnto his publike censures as to serue his ambition and not rather to aduance Religion He secretly teacheth vs besides that when the Pope vndertakes to depose the King of France then the French are to sit as Iudges concerning the lawfulnesse or vnlawfulnesse of the cause and in case they shall finde the cause to be vnlawfull then to disanull his iudgements and to scoffe at his thunderbolts Iohn d'Albret King of Nauarre whose Realme was giuen by the foresaid Pope to Ferdinand King of Arragon was also wrapped and entangled with strict bands of deposition Now if the French had bene touched with no better feeling of affection to their King then the subiects of Nauarre were to the Nauarrois doubtlesse France had sought a new Lord by vertue of the Popes as the L. Cardinall himselfe doeth acknowledge and confesse vniust sentence But behold to make the said sentence against Iohn d'Albret seeme the lesse contrary to equitie the L. Cardinall pretends the Popes donation was not indeed the principall cause Pag. 31. howsoeuer Ferdinand himselfe made it his pretence But his Lo. giues this for the principall cause that Iohn d'Albret had quitted his alliance made with condition that in case the Kings of Nauarre should infringe the said alliance and breake the league then the kingdome of Nauarre should returne to the Crowne of Arragon This condition betweene Kings neuer made and without all shew of probabilitie serueth to none other purpose from the Cardinals mouth but onely to insinuate and worke a perswasion in his King that he hath no right nor lawfull pretension to the Crowne of Nauarre and whatsoeuer hee now holdeth in the said kingdome of Nauarre is none of his owne but by vsurpation and vnlawfull possession Thus his Lordship French-borne makes himselfe an Aduocate for the Spanish King against his owne King and King of the French who shal be faine as hee ought if this Aduocats plea may take place to draw his title and style of King of Nauarre out of his Royall titles and to acknowledge that all the great endeuours of his predecessors to recouer the said Kingdome were dishonourable and vniust Is it possible that in the very heart and head Citie of France a spirit and tongue so licentious can be brooked What shall so great blasphemie as it were of the Kings freehold bee powred foorth in so honourable an assembly without punishment or fine What without any contradiction for the Kings right and on the Kings behalfe I may perhaps confesse the indignitie might bee the better borne and the pretence alledged might passe for a poore excuse if it serued his purpose neuer so little For how doeth all this touch or come neere the question in which the Popes vsurpation in the deposing of Kings and the resolution of the French in resisting this tyrannicall practise is the proper issue of the cause both which points are neuer a whit more of the lesse consequence and importance howsoeuer Ferdinand in his owne iustification stood vpon the foresaid pretence Thus much is confessed and wee aske no
more Pope Iulius tooke the Kingdome from the one and gaue it vnto the other the French thereupon resisted the Pope and declared him to be fallen from the Papacie This noble spirit and courage of the French in maintayning the dignitie and honour of their Kings Crownes bred those ancient customes which in the sequence of many aages haue bene obserued and kept in vse This for one That no Legate of the Pope Pag. 26. Nisi de consensu Regis Christianissimi nor any of his rescripts nor mandates are admitted and receiued in France without licence from the King and vnlesse the Legate impart his faculties to the Kings Atturney Generall to be perused and verified in Court of Parliament where they are to be tyed by certaine modifications and restrictions vnto such points as are not derogatorie from the Kings right from the liberties of the Church and from the ordinances of the Kingdome When Cardinal Balua Bochellus contrary to this ancient forme entred France in the yeere 1484. and there without leaue of the King did execute the office speed certaine Acts of the Popes Legate the Court vpon motion made by the Kings Atturney Generall decreed a Commission to be informed against him by two Councellors of the said Court and inhibited his further proceeding to vse any facultie or power of the Popes Legate vpon paine of beeing proclaimed rebell In the yeere 1561. Iohannes Tanquerellus Batchelour in Diuinitie by order of the Court was condemned to make open confession that hee had indiscreetly and rashly without consideration defended this proposition Indiscretè ac inconsideratè The Pope is the Vicar of Christ a Monarke that hath power both Spirituall and Secular and he may depriue Princes which rebell against his commandements of their dignities Doctrinaliter tantum non iuridicè Which proposition howsoeuer he protested that he had propounded the same onely to be argued and not iudicially to be determined in the affirmatiue Tanquerellus neuerthelesse was compelled openly to recant Here the L. Cardinall answeres The historie of Tanquerellus is from the matter because his proposition treateth neither of Heresie nor of Infidelitie but I answere The said proposition treateth of both forasmuch as it maketh mention of disobedience to the Pope For I suppose hee will not denie that whosoeuer shall stand out in Heresie contrary to the Popes monitorie proceedings he shal shew but poore and simple obedience to the Pope Moreouer the case is cleare by the former examples that no Pope will suffer his power to cast downe Kings to be restrained vnto the cause of Heresie and Infidelitie In the heate of the last warres raised by that holy-prophane League admonitory Bulls were sent by Pope Gregorie 14. from Rome Anno 1591. By these Bulls King Henrie 4. as an Heretike and relapse was declared incapable of the Crowne of France and his Kingdome was exposed to hauocke and spoile The Court of Parliament being assembled at Tours the 5. of August decreed the said admonitorie Bulls to bee cancelled torne in pieces and cast into a great fire by the hand of the publike executioner The Arrest it selfe or Decree is of this tenour The Court duely pondering and approouing the concluding and vnanswerable reasons of the Kings Attourney Generall hath declared and by these present doeth declare the admonitorie Bulls giuen at Rome the 1. of March 1591. to be of no validitie abusiue seditious damnable full of impietie and impostures contrary to the holy decrees rights franchises and liberties of the French Church doeth ordeine the Copies of the said Bulls sealed with the seale of Marsilius Landrianus and signed Septilius Lamprius to bee rent in pieces by the publike executioner and by him to be burnt in a great fire to be made for such purpose before the great gates of the common Hall or Palace c. Then euen then the L. of Perron was firme for the better part and stood for his King against Gregorie the Pope notwithstanding the crime of eresie pretended against Henrie his Lord. All the former examples by vs alledged are drawen out of the times after Schooles of Diuinitie were established in France For I thought good to bound my selfe within those dooles and limits of time which the L. Cardinal himselfe hath set Who goeth not sincerely to worke and in good earnest where he telleth vs there be three instances as if wee had no more obiected against Papall power to remooue Kings out of their chaires of State Page 47. by name the example of Philip the Faire of Lewis XII and of Tanquerellus For in very trewth all the former examples by vs produced are no lesse pregnant and euident howsoeuer the L. Cardinall hath bene pleased to conceale them all for feare of hurting his cause Nay France euen in the dayes of her sorest seruitude was neuer vnfurnished of great Diuines by whom this vsurped power of the Pope ouer the Temporalties and Crownes of Kings hath beene vtterly misliked and condemned Robert Earle of Flanders was commanded by Pope Paschal 2. to persecute with fire and sword the Clergie of Liege who then adhered and stood to the cause of the Emperour Henrie 4. whom the Pope had ignominiously deposed Robert by the Popes order and command was to handle the Clergie of Liege in like sort as before hee had serued the Clergie of Cambray who by the said Earle had beene cruelly stript both of goods and life The Pope promised the said Earle and his army pardon of their sinnes for the said execution The Clergie of Liege addressed answere to the Pope at large They cried out vpon the Church of Rome and called her Babylon Told the Pope home that God had commanded to giue vnto Caesar that which is Caesars that euery soule must bee subiect vnto the superiour powers that no man is exempted out of this precept and that euery oath of alleagiance is to be kept inuiolable yea that hereof they themselues are not ignorant in as much as they by a new Schisme and new traditions making a separation and rent of the Priesthood from the Kingdome doe promise to absolue of periurie such as haue perfidiously forsworne themselues against their King And whereas by way of despight and in opprobrious maner they were excommunicated by the Pope they gaue his Holinesse to vnderstand that Dauids heart had vttered a good matter but Paschals heart had spewed vp sordid and railing words like old bawdes and spinsters or websters of linnen when they scold and brawle one with another Finally they reiected his Papal excommunication as a sentence giuen without discretion This was the voyce and free speach of that Clergie in the life time of their noble Emperour But after hee was thrust out of the Empire by the rebellion of his owne sonne instigated and stirred vp thereunto by the Popes perswasion and practise and was brought vnto a miserable death it is no matter of wonder that for the safegard of their life
the words added by Almainus to contradict and crosse the words going before For Almainus makes this addition and supply Howsoeuer some other Doctors doe stand for the negatiue and teach the Pope hath power onely to declare that Kings and Princes are to be deposed And so much appeareth by this reason because this ample and Soueraigne power of the Pope might giue him occasion to be puft vp with great pride and the same fulnesse of power might prooue extreamely hurtfull to the subiects c. The same Almainus brings in Occams opinion in expresse tearmes deciding the question Quaest 2. de potest Eccl. Laic cap. 12. and there ioynes his owne opinion with Occams The Doctors opinion saith Almainus doeth simply carrie the most probabilitie that a Pope hath no power neither by excommunication nor by any other meanes to depose a Prince from his Imperiall and Royall dignitie In cap. 9 10. 11. And a little before hauing maintained the Greeke Empire was neuer transported by the Pope to the Germaines and that when the Pope crownes the Emperour he doeth not giue him the Empire no more then the Archbishop of Reims when he crownes the King of France doth giue him the kingdom he drawes this conclusion according to Occams opinion I denie that an Emperour is bound by oath to promise the Pope allegiance On the other side if the Pope hold any Temporall possessions hee is bound to sweare allegiance vnto the Emperour and to pay him tribute The said Occam alledged by Almainus doeth further auerre that Iustinian was acknowledged by the Pope for his superiour in Temporall causes for as much as diuers Lawes which the Pope is bound to keepe and obserue were enacted by Iustinian as by name the Law of prescription for an hundred yeeres which Law standeth yet in force against the Bishop of Rome And to the end that all men may clearely see how great distance there is betweene Occams opinion and the L. Cardinals who towards the end of his Oration exhorts his hearers at no hand to dissent from the Pope take you here a view of Occams owne words as they are alledged by Almainus The Doctour assoyles the arguments of Pope Innocent Quest. 1. cap. 14. by which the Pope would prooue out of these words of CHRIST Whatsoeuer thoushalt binde c. that fulnesse of power in Temporall matters belongeth to the Soueraigne Bishop For Innocent saith Whatsoeuer excepteth nothing But Occam assoyles Innocents authoritie as not onely false but also hereticall and saith withall that many things are spoken by Innocent which by his leaue sauour and smell of herefie c. The L. Pag. 40. Cardinall with lesse fidelitie alledgeth two places out of Thomas his Summe The first in the second of his second Quest 10. Art 10. in the body of the Article In which place let it bee narrowly examined Thomas will easily bee found to speake not of the subiection of beleeuing Subiects vnder Infidel Kings as the Lord Cardinall pretendeth but of beleeuing seruants that liue vnder Masters whether Iewes or Infidels As when a Iew keepeth seruants which professe Iesus Christ or as when some of the faithfull kept in Caesars house who are not considered by Thomas as they were subiects of the Empire but as they were seruants of the family The other place is taken out of Quest 11. and 2. Art in the body of the article where no such matter as the L. Cardinal alledgeth can be found With like fidelitie he taketh Gerson in hand Pag. 44. who indeed in his booke of Ecclesiasticall power and 12. Consider doeth affirme When the abuse of Secular power redoundeth to manifest impugning of the faith and blaspheming of the Creator then shall it not bee amisse to haue recourse vnto the last branch of this 12. Consider where in such case as aforesaid a certaine regitiue directiue regulatiue and ordinatiue authoritie is committed to the Ecclesiasticall power His very words which make no mention at all of deposing or of any compulsiue power ouer Soueraigne Princes For that forme of rule and gouernment whereof Gerson speaketh is exercised by Ecclesiasticall censures and excommunications not by losse of goods of Kingdomes or of Empires This place then is wrested by the L. Cardinall to a contrary sense Neither should his Lordship haue omitted that Gerson in the question of Kings subiection in Temporall matters or of the dependance of their Crownes vpon the Popes power excepteth alwayes the King of France witnesse that which Gerson a little before the place alleadged by the Cardinall hath plainely affirmed Now since Peters time saith Gerson all Imperiall Regall and Secular power is not immediatly to draw vertue and strength from the Soueraigne Bishop as in this maner the most Christian King of France hath no Superiour nor acknowledgeth any such vpon the face of the earth Now here need no great sharpenesse of wit for the searching out of this deepe mysterie that if the Pope hath power to giue or take away Crownes for any cause or any pretended occasion whatsoeuer the Crowne of France must needs depend vpon the Pope But for as much as we are now hit in with Gerson Pag. 108.109.119 where the Card. takes Char. 7. for Charl. 6. we will examine the L. Cardinals allegations towards the end of his Oration taken out of Gersons famous Oration made before Charles the 6. for the Vniuersitie of Paris where he brings in Gerson to affirme That killing a Tyrant is a sacrifice acceptable to God But Gerson let it be diligently noted there speaketh not in his owne person he there brings in sedition speaking the words Of which wordes vttered by sedition and other like speeches you shall now heare what iudgement Gerson himselfe hath giuen When sedition had spoken with such a furious voyce I turned away my face as if I had bene smitten with death to shew that I was not able to endure her madnesse any longer And indeed when dissimulation on the one side and sedition on the other had suggested the deuises of two contrary extremes hee brings foorth Discretion as a Iudge keeping the meane betweene both extremes and vttering those words which the L. Cardinall alledgeth against himselfe If the head saith Gerson or some other member of the ciuill body should grow to so desperate a passe that it would gulpe and swallow downe the deadly poyson of tyrannie euery member in his place with all power possible for him to raise by expedient meanes and such as might preuent a greater inconuenience should set himselfe against so madde a purpose and so deadly practise For if the head be grieued with some light paine it is not fit for the hand to smite the head no that were but a foolish and a mad part Nor is the hand forthwith to chop off or separate the head from the body but rather to cure the head with good speach and other meanes like a skilfull and wise Physitian Yea nothing would
to continue or hold eighteene yeeres like the Councill of Trent should not poore France I beseech you be reduced to a very bad plight should she not be in a very wise and warme taking To be short His Lordships whole speach for the vntying of this knot not onely surmounteth possibilitie but is stuft with ridiculous toyes This I make manifest by his addition in the same passage If the Pope deceiued in fact shall rashly and vniustly declare the King to be an heretike then the Popes declaration shall not be seconded with actuall deposition vnles the Realme shall consent vnto the Kings deposing What needes any man to bee instructed in this doctrine Who doth not knowe that a King so long as he is vpheld and maintained in his Kingdome by his people cannot actually and effectually be deposed from his Throne Hee that speaketh such language and phrase in effect saith and saith no more then this A King is neuer depriued of his Crowne so long as he can keepe his Crowne on his head a King is neuer turned and stript naked so long as he can keepe his cloathes on his backe a King is neuer deposed so long as he can make the stronger partie and side against his enemies in briefe a King is King and shall still remaine King so long as he can hold the possession of his Kingdome and sitfast in his Chaire of Estate Howbeit let vs here by the way take notice of these words vttered by his Lordship That for the deposing of a King the consent of the people must be obtained For by these words the people are exalted aboue the King and are made the Iudges of the Kings deposing But here is yet a greater matter Can. Si Papa Dist 40. Nisi sit à side demins For that Popes may erre in faith it is acknowledged by Popes themselues For some of them haue condemned Pope Honorius for a Monothelite S. Hierome and S. Hilarius and S. Athanasius doe testifie that Pope Liberius started aside and subscribed to Arrianisme Pope Iohn 23. was condemned in the Councill of Constance for maintaining there is neither hell nor heauen Diuerse other Popes haue been tainted with errour in faith If therefore any Pope hereticall in himselfe shall depose an Orthodoxe King for heresie can it be imagined that he which boasts himselfe to beare all diuine and humane lawes in the priuy coffer or casket of his breast Omnia â—â—â—a in serinio pectoris will stoope to the remonstrances of the French and vayle to the reasons which they shall propound though neuer so iustifiable and of neuer so great validitie And how can he that may be infected with damnable heresie when himselfe is not alwayes free from heresie be a iudge of heresie in a King In this question some are of opinion that as a man the Pope may fall into error but not as Pope Very good I demand then vpon the matter wherefore the Pope doth not instruct and reforme the man or wherefore the man doth not require the Popes instructions But whether a King be deposed by that man the Pope or by that Pope the man is it not all one is he not deposed Others affirme the Pope may erre in a question of the fact but not in a question of the right An egregious gullery and imposture For if he may be ignorant whether Iesus Christ died for our sinnes doubtles he may also be to seeke whether we should repose all our trust and assured confidence in the death of Christ Consider with me the Prophets of olde They were all inspired and taught of God to admonish and reprooue the Kings of Iudah and Israel they neither erred in matter of fact nor in point of right they were as farre from being blinded and fetcht ouer by deceitfull calumniations as from beeing seduced by the painted shew of corrupt and false doctrine As they neuer trode awry in matter of faith so they neuer whetted the edge of their tongue or style against the faultlesse Had it not beene a trimme deuice in their times to say that as Esay and as Daniel they might haue sunke into heresie but not as Prophets For doubtlesse in this case that Esay would haue taken counsell of the Prophet which was himselfe To be short If Kings are onely so long to be taken for Kings vntill they shall be declared heretikes and shall be deposed by the Pope they continually stand in extreame danger to vndergoe a very heauy and vniust sentence Their safest way were to know nothing and to beleeue by proxie least if they should happen to talke of God or to thinke of religion they should be drawne for heretikes into the Popes Inquisition All the examples hitherto produced by the Lord Cardinall on a rowe are of a latter date they lacke weight are drawne from the time of bondage and make the Popes themselues witnesses in their owne cause They descant not vpon the point of deposition but onely strike out and sound the notes of excommunication and interdiction which make nothing at all to the musicke of the question And therefore hee telleth vs in kindnesse as I take it more oftentimes then once or twice that hee speaketh onely of the fact as one that doeth acknowledge himselfe to bee out of the right Hee relates things done but neuer what should bee done which as the Iudicious know is to teach nothing THE SECOND INCONVENIENCE EXAMINED THE second Iuconuenience like to grow Pag. 86. as the Lord Cardinall seemeth to be halfe afraid if the Article of the third Estate might haue passed with approbation is couched in these words Lay-men shall by authoritie bee strengthened with power to iudge in matters of Religion as also to determine the doctrine comprised in the said Article to haue requisite conformitie with Gods word yeathey shall haue it in their hands to compell Ecclesiastics by necessitie to sweare preach and teach the opinion of the one fide as also by Sermons and publike writings to impugne the other This inconuenience he aggrauateth with swelling words and breaketh out into these vehement exclamations O reproach O scandall O gate set open to a world of heresies He therefore laboureth both by reasons and by authorities of holy Scripture to make such vsurped power of Laics a fowle shameful and odious practise In the whole his Lordship toyles himselfe in vaine maketh suppositions of castles in the aire For in preferring this Article the third Estate haue born themselues not as iudges or vmpires but altogether as petitioners requesting the said Article might be receiued into the number of the Parliament bookes to bee presented vnto the King and his Counsell vnto whom in all humilitie they referred the iudgment of the said Article conceiuing all good hope the Clergie and Nobilitie would be pleased to ioyne for the furtherance of their humble petition They were not so ignorant of State-matters or so vnmindfull of their owne places and charges to beare themselues
in hand that a petition put vp and preferred by the third Estate can carry the force of a Law or Statute so long as the other two Orders withstand the same and so long as the King himselfe holds backe his Royall consent Besides the said Article was not propounded as a point of Religious doctrine but for euer after to remaine and continue a fundamentall Law of the Common-wealth and State it selfe the due care whereof was put into their handes and committed to their trust If the King had ratified the said Article with Royall consent and had commanded the Clergie to put in execution the contents thereof it had bene their duetie to see the Kings will and pleasure fulfilled as they are subiects bound to giue him aide in all things which may any way serue to procure the safetie of his life and the tranquilitie of his Kingdome Which if the Clergie had performed to the vttermost of their power they had not shewed obedience as vnderlings vnto the third Estate but vnto the King alone by whom such command had bene imposed vpon suggestion of his faithfull subiects made the more watchfull by the negligence of the Clergie whom they perceiue to be lincked with stricter bandes vnto the Pope then they are vnto their King Here then the Cardinall fights with meere shadowes and mooues a doubt whereof his aduersaries haue not so much as once thought in a dreame But yet according to his great dexteritie and nimblenesse of spirit by this deuice he cunningly takes vpon him to giue the King a lesson with more libertie making semblance to direct his masked Oration to the Deputies of the people when hee shooteth in effect and pricketh at his King the Princes also and Lords of his Counsell whom the Cardinall compriseth vnder the name of Laics whose iudgment it is not vnlikely was apprehended much better by the Clergie then the iudgement of the third Estate Now these are the men whom he tearmes intruders into other mens charges and such as open a gate for I wot not how many legions of heresies to rush into the Church For if it be proper to the Clergie and their Head to iudge in this cause of the Right of Kings then the King himselfe his Princes and Nobilitie are debarred and wiped of all iudgement in the same cause no lesse then the representatiue body of the people Well then Pag. 61. the L. Cardinall showres downe like haile sundry places and testimonies of Scripture where the people are commanded to haue their Pastors in singular loue and to beare them all respects of due obseruance Be it so yet are the said passages of Scripture no barre to the people for their vigilant circumspection to preserue the life and Crowne of their Prince against all the wicked enterprises of men stirred vp by the Clergie who haue their Head out of the Kingdome and hold themselues to be none of the Kings subiects a thing neuer spoken by the sacrificing Priests and Prelates mentioned in the passages alleadged by the Lord Cardinal He likewise produceth two Christian Emperours Pag 62. Constantine and Valentinian by name the first refusing to meddle with iudgement in Episcopall causes the other forbearing to iudge of subtile Questions in Diuinity with protestation that Hee would neuer bee so curious to diue into the streames or sound the bottome of so deepe matters But who doth not know that working and prouiding for the Kings indemnitie and safetie is neither Episcopall cause nor matter of curious and subtile inquisition The same answere meets with all the rest of the places produced by the L. Orat. ad ciues timme perculsos Cardinal out of the Fathers And that one for example out of Gregory Nazianzenus is not cited by the Cardinall with faire dealing For Gregory doeth not boord the Emperour himselfe but his Deputy or L. President on this maner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For we also are in authoritie and place of a Ruler we haue command aswell as your selfe wheras the the L. Cardinal with foule play turnes the place in these termes We also are Emperours Which words can beare no such interpretation as well because he to whom the Bishop then spake was not of Imperiall dignitie as also because if the Bishop himselfe a Bishop of so small a citie as Nazianzum had qualified himselfe Emperour hee should haue passed all the bounds of modestie and had shewed himselfe arrogant aboue measure For as touching subiection due to Christian Emperours hee freely acknowledgeth a little before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that himselfe and his people are subiect vnto the superiour powers yea bound to pay them tribute The historie of the same Gregories life doeth testifie that he was drawen by the Arrians before the Consuls iudgement seate and from thence returned acquitted without either stripes or any other kinde of contumelious entreatie and vse yet now at last vp starts a Prelate who dares make this good Father vaunt himselfe to be an Emperour It is willingly granted that Emperours neuer challenged neuer arrogated to bee Soueraigne Iudges in controuersies of doctrine and faith neuerthelesse it is clearer then the Sunnes light at high noone that for moderation at Synods for determinations and orders established in Councils and for the discipline of the Church they haue made a good and a full vse of their Imperiall authoritie Vide Canones Graecos à Tilio editos The first Council held at Constantinople beares this title or inscription The dedication of the holy Synode to the most religious Emperour Theodosius the Great to whose will and pleasure they haue submitted these Canons by them addressed and established in Councill And there they also beseech the Emperour to confirme and approue the said Canons The like hath bene done by the Council of Trullo by whom the Canons of the fift and sixt Councils were put foorth and published This was not done because Emperours tooke vpon them to bee infallible Iudges of doctrine but onely that Emperours might see and iudge whether Bishops who feele the pricke of ambition as other men doe did propound nothing in their Conuocations and Consultations but most of all in their Determinations to vndermine the Emperours authoritie to disturbe the tranquilitie of the Common-wealth and to crosse the determinations of precedent Councils Now to take the cognizance of such matters out of the Kings hand or power what is it but euen to transforme the King into a standing Image to wring and wrest him out of all care of himselfe and his Kingly Charge yea to bring him downe to this basest condition to become onely an executioner and which I scorne to speake the vnhappy hangman of the Clergies will without any further cognizance not so much as of matters which most neerely touch himselfe and his Royall estate I grant it is for Diuinitie Scholes to iudge how farre the power of the Keyes doth stretch I grant againe that Clerics both may and ought also
to display the colours and ensignes of their censures against Princes who violating their publike and solemne oath doe raise and make open warre against Iesus Christ I grant yet againe that in this case they need not admit Laics to be of their counsell nor allow them any scope or libertie of iudgement Yet all this makes no barre to Clerics for extending the power of their keyes many times a whole degree further then they ought and when they are pleased to make vse of their said power to depriue the people of their goods or the Prince of his Crowne all this doeth not hinder Prince or people from taking care for the preseruation of their owne rights and estates nor from requiring Clerics to shew their cards and produce their Charts and to make demonstration by Scripture that such power as they assume and challenge is giuen them from God For to leaue the Pope absolute Iudge in the same cause wherein hee is a partie and which is the strongest rampier and bulwarke yea the most glorious and eminent point of his domination to arme him with power to vnhorse Kings out of their seates what is it else but euen to draw them into a state of despaire for euer winning the day or preuailing in their honourable and rightful cause It is moreouer granted if a King shall command any thing directly contrary to Gods word and tending to the subuerting of the Church that Clerics in this case ought not onely to dispense with subiects for their obedience but also expresly to forbid their obedience For it is alwayes better to obey God then man Howbeit in all other matters whereby the glory and maiestie of God is not impeached or impaired it is the duety of Clerics to plie the people with wholesome exhortation to constant obedience and to auert by earnest disswasions the said people from tumultuous reuolt and seditious insurrection This practise vnder the Pagan Emperours was held and followed by the ancient Christians by whose godly zeale and patience in bearing the yoke the Church in times past grew and flourished in her happy and plentifull increase farre greater then Poperie shall euer purchase and attaine vnto by all her cunning deuices and sleights as namely by degrading of Kings by interdicting of Kingdoms by apposted murders and by Diabolicall traines of Gunne-powder-mines The places of Scripture alleadged in order by the Cardinal Pag 66. in fauour of those that stand for the Popes claime of power and authoritie to depose Kings are cited with no more sincerity then the former They alledge these are his words that Samuel deposed King Saul or declared him to bee deposed because hee had violated the Lawes of the Iewes Religion His Lordship auoucheth elsewere that Saul was deposed because he had sought prophanely to vsurpe the holy Priesthood Both false and contrary to the tenour of trewth in the sacred history For Saul was neuer deposed according to the sense of the word I meane depose in the present question to wit as deposing is taken for despoiling the King of his royall dignitie and reducing the King to the condition of a priuate person But Saul held the title of King and continued in possession of his Kingdome euen to his dying day 1. Sam. 23.20 24.15 2. Sam. 2.5 Yea the Scripture styles him King euen to the periodicall and last day of his life by the testimony of Dauid himselfe who both by Gods promise and by precedent vnction was then heire apparant as it were to the Crown in a maner then ready to gird and adorne the temples of his head For if Samuel by Gods commandement had then actually remooued Saul from his Throne doubtlesse the whole Church of Israel had committed a grosse errour in taking and honouring Saul for their King after such deposition doubtlesse the Prophet Samuel himselfe making knowen the Lords Ordinance vnto the people would haue enioyned them by strict prohibition to call him no longer the King of Israel Doubtlesse Dauid would neuer haue held his hand from the throat of Saul 1. Sam. 26.11 for this respect and consideration because he was the Lords Anointed For if Saul had lost his Kingly authority from that instant when Samuel gaue him knowledge of his reiection then Dauid lest otherwise the Body of the Kingdome should want a Royall Head was to beginne his Reigne and to beare the Royall scepter in the very same instant which were to charge the holy Scriptures with vntrewth in as much as the sacred historie begins the computation of the yeeres of Dauids Reigne from the day of Sauls death Trew it is that in the 1. Sam. cap. 15. Saul was denounced by Gods owne sentence a man reiected and as it were excommunicated out of the Kingdome that hee should not rule and reigne any longer as King ouer Israel neuerthelesse the said sentence was not put in execution before the day when God executing vpon Saul an exemplarie iudgement did strike him with death From whence it is manifest and cleare 1. Sam. 16.23 that when Dauid was annointed King by Samuel that action was onely a promise and a testimony of the choice which God had made of Dauid for succession immediately after Saul and not a present establishment inuestment or installment of Dauid in the Kingdome Wee reade the like in 1. King cap. 19. where God commandeth Elias the Prophet to annoint Hasael King of Syria For can any man bee so blinde and ignorant in the sacred historie to beleeue the Prophets of Israel established or sacred the Kings of Syria For this cause 2. Sam. 2.4 when Dauid was actually established in the Kingdome hee was annointed the second time In the next place he brings in the Popes champions vsing these words Rehoboam was deposed by Ahiah the Prophet 1 King 12. from his Royall right ouer the tenne Tribes of Israel because his father Salomon had played the Apostata in falling from the Law of God This I say also is more then the trewth of the sacred history doeth afoard For Ahiah neuer spake to Rehoboam for ought we reade nor brought vnto him any message from the Lord As for the passage quoted by the L. Cardinal out of 3. Reg. chap. 11. it hath not reference to the time of Rehoboams raigne but rather indeed to Salomons time nor doeth it carry the face of a iudicatorie sentence for the Kings deposing but rather of a Propheticall prediction For how could Rehoboam before hee was made King be depriued of the Kingdome Last of all but worst of all to alleadge this passage for an example of a iust sentence in matter of deposing a King is to approoue the disloyall treacherie of a seruant against his master and the rebellion of Ieroboam branded in Scripture with a marke of perpetuall infamie for his wickednesse and impietie He goes on with an other example of no more trewth 1. King 19. King Achab was deposed by Elias the Prophet
because he imbraced false religion and worshipped false gods False too like the former King Achab lost his crowne and his life both together The Scripture that speaketh not according to mans fancie but according to the trewth doeth extend and number the yeeres of Achabs raigne to the time of his death Predictions of a Kings ruine are no sentences of deposition Elias neuer gaue the subiects of Achab absolution from their oath of obedience neuer gaue them the least inckling of any such absolution neuer set vp or placed any other King in Achabs throne That of the L. Cardinall a little after Pag. 68. is no lesse vntrew That King Vzziah was driuen from the conuersation of the people by Azarias the Priest and thereby the administration of his Kingdome was left no longer in his power Nor so For when God had smitten Vzziah with leprosie in his forehead 2. Chro. 26. he withdrew himselfe or went out into an house apart for feare of infecting such as were whole by his contagious disease The high Priest smote him not with any sentence of deposition or denounced him suspended from the administration of his Kingdome No the dayes of his raigne are numbred in Scripture to the day of his death And whereas the Priest according to the Law in the 13. of Leuit. iudged the King to be vncleane he gaue sentence against him not as against a criminall person and thereby within the compasse of deposition but as against a diseased body For the Law inflicteth punishments not vpon diseases but vpon crimes Hereupon whereas it is recorded by Iosephus in his Antiquities Antiq. l. 9. cap. 11. that Vzziah led a priuate and in a maner a solitarie life the said author doeth not meane that Vzziah was deposed but onely that he disburdened himselfe of care to mannage the publique affaires The example of Mattathias Pag. 69. by whom the Iewes were stirred vp to rebel against Antiochus is no better worth For in that example we finde no sentence of deposition but onely an heartning and commotion of a people then grieuously afflicted and oppressed He that makes himselfe the ringleader of conspiracie against a King doeth not foorthwith assume the person or take vp the office and charge of a Iudge in forme of Law and iuridically to depriue a King of his Regall rights and Royall prerogatiues Mattathias was chiefe of that conspiracie not in qualitie of Priest but of cheiftaine or leader in warre and a man the best qualified of all the people Things acted by the suddaine violence of the base vulgar must not stand for Lawes nor yet for proofes and arguments of ordinarie power such as the Pope challengeth to himselfe and appropriateth to his triple-Crowne These be our solide answeres Page 67. we disclaime the light armour which the L. Cardinall is pleased to furnish vs withall forsooth to recreate himselfe in rebating the points of such weapons as hee hath vouchsafed to put into our hands Now it wil be worth our labour to beate by his thrusts fetcht from the ordinary mission of the New Testament from leprosie stones and locks of wooll A leach no doubt of admirable skill one that for subiecting the Crownes of Kings vnto the Pope is able to extract arguments out of stones yea out of the leprosie and the drie scab onely forsooth because heresie is a kind of leprosie and an heretike hath some affinitie with aleper But may not his Quoniam Page 66. bee as fitly applyed to any contagious and inueterate vice of the minde beside heresie His warning-piece therefore is discharged to purpose whereby hee notifies that hee pretendeth to handle nothing with resolution For indeed vpon so weake arguments a resolution is but ill-fauouredly and weakely grounded His bulwarkes thus beaten downe Page 69. let vs now view the strength of our owne First he makes vs to fortifie on this maner They that are for the negatiue doe alleadge the authoritie of S. Paul Let euery soule bee subiect vnto the higher powers For whosoeuer resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God And likewise that of S. Peter Submit your selues whether it be vnto the King as vnto the superiour or vnto gouernours c. Vpon these passages and the like they inferre that obedience is due to Kings by the Law of God and not dispensable by any Spirituall or Temporall authoritie Thus he brings vs in with our first weapon But here the very chiefe sinew and strength of our argument hee doeth wittingly balke and of purpose conceale To wit That all the Emperors of whom the said holy Apostles haue made any mention in their diuine Epistles were professed enemies to CHRIST Pagans Infidels fearefull and bloody Tyrants to whom notwithstanding euery soule and therefore the Bishop of Rome for one is commanded to submit himselfe and to professe subiection Thus much Chrysostome hath expresly taught in his Hom. 23. vpon the Epistle to the Romanes The Apostle giues this commandement vnto all euen to Priests also and cloistered Monkes not onely to Secular be thou an Apostle an Euangelist a Prophet c. Besides it is here worthy to be noted that howsoeuer the Apostles rule is generall and therefore bindeth all the faithfull in equall bands yet is it particularly directly and of purpose addressed to the Church of Rome by S. Paul as by one who in the spirit of an Apostle did foresee that rebellion against Princes was to rise and spring from the citie of Rome Now in case the Head of that Church by warrant of any priuiledge contained in the most holy Register of Gods holy word is exempted from the binding power of this generall precept or rule did it not become his Lordship to shew by the booke that it is a booke case and to lay it foorth before that honourable assembly who no doubt expected and waited to heare when it might fall from his learned lips But in stead of any such authenticall and canonicall confirmation he flieth to a sleight shift and with a cauill is bold to affirme the foundation laid by those of our side doeth no way touch the knot of the controuersie Let vs heare him speake It is not in controuersie whether obedience be due to kings by Gods Law so long as they are kings or acknowledged for Kings but our point controuerted is whether by Gods Law it be required that hee who hath bene once recognised and receiued for King by the body of Estates can at any time be taken and reputed as no King that is to say can doe no maner of acte whereby hee may loose his right and so cease to be saluted King This answere of the L. Cardinall is the rare deuise euasion and starting hole of the Iesuites In whose eares of delicate and tender touch King-killing soundeth very harsh but forsooth to vn-king a King first and then to giue him the stab that is a point of iust and trew descant For to kill a King once
other weapons of defence I neither can resist nor ought in any other maner to make resistance Iustinian the Emperour in his old aage fell into the heresie of the Aphthartodocites Against Iustinian though few they were that fauoured him in that heresie the Bishop of Rome neuer darted with violence any sentence of excommunication interdiction or deposition The Ostrogot Kings in Italie the Visigot in Spaine the Vandal in Africa were all addicted to the Arrian impietie and some of them cruelly persecuted the trew professours The Visigot and Vandall were no neighbours to Italie The Pope thereby had the lesse cause to feare the stings of those waspes if they had bene angred The Pope for all that neuer had the humour to wrestle or iustle with any of the said Kings in the cause of deposing them from their Thrones But especially the times when the Vandals in Affricke and the Goths in Italie by Belisarius and Narses professours of the Orthodoxe Faith were tyred with long warres and at last were vtterly defeated in bloody battels are to bee considered Then were the times or neuer for the Pope to vnsheath his weapons and to vncase his arrowes of deposition then were the times to draw them out of his quiuer and to shoot at all such Arrian heads then were the times by dispensations to release their subiects of their oathes by that peremptorie meanes to aide and strengthen the Catholique cause But in that aage the said weapons were not knowne to haue bene hammered in the Pontificall forge Gregorie the I. made his boasts that he was able to ruine the Lombards for many yeeres together sworne enemies to the Bishops of Rome their state present and the hope of all their future prosperitie But he telleth vs that by the feare of God before his eyes and in his heart he was bridled and restrained from any such intent as elsewhere we haue obserued In Apol. pro iuram fidel His owne words lib. 7. Epist. 1. If I would haue medled with practising and procuring the death of the Lombards the whole nation of the Lombards at this day had bene robbed of their Kings Dukes Earles they had bene reduced to the tearmes of extreame confusion He might at least haue deposed their King if the credit of the L. Cardinals iudgement be currant without polluting or stayning his owne conscience What can we tearme this assertion of the L. Cardinal but open charging the most ancient Bishops of Rome with crueltie when they would not succour the Church of CHRIST oppressed by tyrants whose oppression they had power to represse by deposing the oppressors Is it credible that IESVS CHRIST hath giuen a Commission to S. Peter and his successors for so many aages without any power to execute their Commission or to make any vse thereof by practise Is it credible that hee hath giuen them a sword to bee kept in the scabbard without drawing once in a thousand yeeres Is it credible that in the times when Popes were most deboshed abandoning themselues to all sorts of corrupt and vitious courses as is testified by their owne flatterers and best affected seruants is it credible that in those times they began to vnderstand the vertue strength of their Commission For if either feare or lacke of power was the cause of holding their hands and voluntarie binding of themselues to the Peace or good behauiour wherefore is not some one Pope at least produced who hath complained that he was hindered from executing the power that CHRIST had conferred vpon his Pontificall See Wherefore is not some one of the ancient and holy Fathers alledged by whom the Pope hath bene aduised and exhorted to take courage to stand vpon he vigor and sinewes of his Papall Office to vnsheath and vncase his bolts of thunder against vngodly Princes and grieuous enemies to the Church wherefore liuing vnder Christian and gracious Emperours haue they not made knowne the reasons why they were hindred from drawing the pretended sword lest long custome of not vsing the sword so many aages might make it so to rust in the scabbard that when there should be occasion to vse the said sword it could not be drawne at all and lest so long custome of not vsing the same should confirme prescription to their greater preiudice If weakenesse be a iust let how is it come to passe that Popes haue enterprised to depose Philip the Faire Lewis the XII and ELIZABETH my predecessor of happy memorie to let passe others in whom experience hath well proued how great inequalitie was betweene their strengths Yea for the most part from thence grow most grieuous troubles and warres which iustly recoile and light vpon his owne head as happened to Gregorie the VII and Boniface the VIII This no doubt is the reason wherefore the Pope neuer sets in for feare of such inconueniences to blast a King with lightning and thunder of deposition but when hee perceiues the troubled waters of the Kingdome by some strong faction setled in his Estate or when the King is confined and bordered by some Princemore potent who thirsteth after the prey and is euer gaping for some occasion to picke a quarrell The King standing in such estate is it not as easie for the Pope to pull him downe as it is for a man with one hand to thrust downe a tottering wall when the groundsill is rotten the studdes vnpind and nodding or bending towards the ground But if the King shall beare downe and breake the faction within the Realme if hee shall get withall the vpper hand of his enemies out of the Kingdome then the holy Father presents him with pardons neuer sued for neuer asked and in afathers indulgence forsooth giues him leaue still to hold the Kingdome that hee was not able by all his force to wrest and wring out of his hand no more then the club of Hercules out of his fist How many worthy Princes incensed by the Pope to conspire against Soueraigne Lords their Masters and by open rebellion to worke some change in their Estates haue miscarried in the action with losse of life or honour or both For example Rodulphus Duke of Sueuia was eg'd on by the Pope against Henry IIII. of that name Emperour How many massacres how many desolations of Cities and townes how many bloody battels ensued thereupon Let histories bee searched let iust accompts be taken and beside sieges layde to Cities it will appeare by trew computation that Henry the IIII. and Frederic the fist fought aboue threescore battels in defence of their owne right against enemies of the Empire stirred vp to armes by the Pope of Rome How much Christian blood was then spilt in these bloody battels it passeth mans wit penne or tongue to expresse And to giue a little touch vnto matters at home doeth not his Holinesse vnderstand right well the weakenesse of Papists in my Kingdome Doeth not his Holmesse neuerthesesse animate my Papists to rebellion and forbid my Papists to take
contrary to his oath of subiection to Iesus Christ or that he hath wilfully cast himselfe into Apostaticall defection And certes to any man that weighs the matter with due consideration it wil be found apparantly false that Kings of France haue bene receiued of their subiects at any time with condition to serue IESVS CHRIST They were actually Kings before they came forth to the solemnitie of their sacring before they vsed any stipulation or promise to their subiects For in hereditary kingdoms nothing more certaine nothing more vncontrouleable the Kings death instantly maketh liuery and seisin of the Royaltie to his next successour Nor is it materiall to replie that a King succeeding by right of inheritance takes an oath in the person of his predecessor For euery oath is personall proper to the person by whom it is taken and to God no liuing creature can sweare that his owne sonne or his heire shall proue an honest man Well may the father and with great solemnitie promise that he will exhort his heire apparant with all his power and the best of his endeauours to feare God and to practise piety If the fathers oath be agreeable to the dueties of godlinesse the sonne is bound thereby whether he take an oath or take none On the other side if the fathers oath come from the puddles of impietie the sonne is bound thereby to goe the contrary way If the fathers oath concerne things of indifferent nature and such as by the variety or change of times become either pernicious or impossible then it is free for the Kings next successor and heire prudently to fit and proportion his Lawes vnto the times present and to the best benefit of the Common-wealth When I call these things to mind with some attention I am out of all doubt his Lordship is very much to seeke in the right sense and nature of his Kings oath taken at his Coronation to defend the Church and to perseuere in the Catholike faith For what is more vnlike and lesse credible then this conceit that after Clouis had reigned 15. yeeres in the state of Paganisme and then receiued holy Baptisme he should become Christian vpon this condition That in case hee should afterward reuolt from the Faith it should then bee in the power of the Church to turne him out of his Kingdome But had any such conditionall stipulation beene made by Clouis in very good earnest and trewth yet would hee neuer haue intended that his deposing should bee the acte of the Romane Bishop but rather of those whether Peeres or people or whole body of the State by whom he had bene aduanced to the Kingdome Let vs heare the trewth and this is the trewth It is farre from the customary vse in France for their Kings to take any such oath or to vse any such stipulation with their subiects If any King or Prince wheresoeuer doth vse an oath or solemne promise in these expresse termes Let me lose my Kingdome or my life be that day my last both for life and reigne when I shall first reuolt from the Christian Religion By these words he calleth vpon God for vengeance hee vseth imprecation against his owne head but hee makes not his Crowne to stoupe by this meanes to any power in the Pope or in the Church or in the people And touching inscriptions vpon coynes of which point his Lordship speaketh by the way verely the nature of the money or coine the stamping and minting whereof is one of the marks of the Prince his dignity and Soueraignty is not changed by bearing the letters of Christs Name on the reuerse or on the front Such characters of Christs Name are aduertisements and instructions to the people that in shewing and yeelding obedience vnto the King they are obedient vnto Christ those Princes likewise who are so wel aduised to haue the most sacred Names inscribed and printed in their coines doe take and acknowledge Iesus Christ for supreme King of Kings The said holy characters are no representation or profession that any Kings Crowne dependeth vpon the Church or can be taken away by the Pope The L. Cardinal indeed so beareth vs in hand But he inuerts the words of Iesus Christ and wrings them out of the right ioynt For Christ without all ambiguitie and circumlocution by the image and inscription of the money doeth directly and expressely prooue Caesar to bee free from subiection and entirely Soueraigne Now if such a supreme and Soueraigne Prince at any time shall bandie and combine against God and thereby shall become a rebellious and perfidious Prince doubtlesse for such disloyaltie he shall deserue that God would take from him all hope of life eternall and yet hereby neither Pope nor people hath reason to bee puft vp in their power to depriue him of his temporall Kingdome The L. Page 76. Cardinall saith besides The champions of the Popes power to depose Kings doe expound that commandement of S. Paul whereby euery soule is made subiect vnto the superiour powers to bee a prouisionall precept or caution accommodated to the times and to stand in force onely vntll the Church were growen in strength vnto such a scantling that it might be in the power of the faithfull without shaking the pillars of Christian state to stand in the breach and cautelously to prouide that none but Christian Princes might be receiued according to the Law in Deut Thou shalt make thee a King from among thy brethren The reason whereupon they ground is this Because Paul saith It is a shame for Christians to be iudged vnder vniust Infidels in mattrs or businesse which they had one against another For which inconuenience Iustinian after prouided by Law when hee ordeined that no Infidel nor Heretike might be admitted to the administration of iustice in the Common-wealth In which words of the Cardinall the word Receiued is to bee obserued especially and aboue the rest For by chopping in that word hee doeth nimbly and with a tricke of Legier-demain transforme or change the very state of the question For the question or issue of the cause is not about receiuing establishing or choosing a Prince as in those Nations where the Kingdome goes by election but about doing homage to the Prince when God hath setled him in the Kingdome and hath cast it vpon a Prince by hereditary succession For that which is writtten Thou shalt make thee a King doeth no way concerne and touch the people of France in these dayes because the making of their King hath not of long time been tyed to their election The passage therefore in Deuter. makes nothing to the purpose no more then doth Iustinians law For it is our free and voluntary confession that a Christian Prince is to haue speciall care of the Lawes and to prouide that no vnbeleeuer be made Lord Chiefe-Iustice of the Land that no Infidel be put in trust with administration of Iustice to the people But here the issue doeth not
direct vs to speake of Delegates of subordinate Magistrates and such as are in Commission from the Prince but of the supreame Prince himselfe the Soueraigne Magistrate ordained by nature and confirmed by succession Our question is whether such a Prince can be vnthroned by the Pope by whom he was not placed in the Throne and whether the Pope can despoile such a Prince of that Royaltie which was neuer giuen him by the Pope vnder any pretended colour and imputation of heresie of stupiditie or infringing the priuiledges of Monasteries or transgressing the Lawes and lines of holy Matrimonie Now that S. Pauls commandement which bindeth euery soule in the bands of subiection vnto the higher powers is no precept giuen by way of prouiso and onely to serue the times but a standing and a perpetuall rule it is hereby more then manifest S. Paul hath grounded this commandement vpon certaine reasons not onely constant and permanent by their proper nature but likewise necessary for euery state condition and reuolution of the times His reasons Because all powers are ordained of God because resisting of powers is resisting the ordinance of God because the Magistrate beares the sword to execute iustice because obedience and subiection to the Magistrate is necessary not onely for feare of his wrath or feare of punishment but also for conscience sake It is therefore a case grounded vpon conscience it is not a Law deuised by humane wisedome it is not fashionable to the qualities of the times Apostolicall instructions for the right informing of maners are not changeable according to times and seasons To vse the L. Cardinals language and to follow his fancie in the matter is to make way for two pestiferous mischiefes First let it be free and lawfull for Christians to hold the commanding rules of GOD for prouisionall cautions and what followes Men are ledde into the broad way of impietie and the whole Scripture is wiped of all authoritie Then againe for the other mischiefe The glorious triumphes of most blessed Martyrs in their vnspeakable torments and sufferings by the L. Cardinals position shall bee iudged vnworthy to weare the title and Crowne of Martyrdome How so Because according to his new fiction they haue giuen place to the violence and furie of heathen Magistrates not in obedience to the necessary and certaine Commandement of God but rather to a prouisionall direction accōmodated to the humours of the times And therfore the L. Cardinal hath vsed none other clay wherewith to dawbe ouer his deuise but plaine falsification of holy Scripture For he makes the Apostle say to the Corinthians It is a shame for Christians to bee iudged vnder vnbeleeuing Magistrates whereas in that whole context of Paul there is no such matter For when the Apostle saith I speake it euen to your shame 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he doeth not say it is a shame for a beleeuer to be iudged vnder an Infidel but he makes them ashamed of their vngodly course and vnchristian practise that in suing and impleading one another they layd their actions of cōtention in the Courts of vnbeleeuing Iudges The shame was not in bearing that yoke which God had charged their necks withall but in deuouring and eating vp one an other with Writs of habeas corpus and with other Processes as also in vncouering the shame in laying open the shamefull parts and prankes played by Christians before Infidels to the great scandall of the Church Here I say the L. Cardinall is taken in a tricke of manifest falsification If therefore a King when he salls to play the heretike deserueth to be deposed why should not a Cardinall when he falls to play the iuggler with holy Scripture deserue to be disrobed Meane while the indifferent Reader is to consider how greatly this doctrine is preiudicial and how full of danger to Christians liuing vnder hereticall or Pagan Princes For make it once knowne to the Emperour of Turkes let him once get neuer so little a smacke of this doctrine that Christians liuing vnder his Empire doe take Gods commandement for obedience to Princes whom they count Infidels to be onely a prouisional precept for a time and wait euery houre for all occasions to shake off the yoke of his bondage doubtlesse he will neuer spare with all speed to roote the whole stocke with all the armes and branches of Christians out of his dominions Adde hereunto the L. Cardinals former determination that possession kept neuer so long by the Turke in his Conquests ouer Christians gaines him not by so long tract of time one inch of prescription and it will appeare that his Lordship puts the Turkish Emperour in minde and by his instruction leades the said Emperour as it were by the hand to haue no maner of affiance in his Christian subiects and withall to afflict his poore Christians with all sorts of most grieuous and cruell torments In this regard the poore Christans of Graecia and Syria must needs be very little beholden to his Lordship As for my selfe and my Popish Subiects to whom I am no lesse then an heretike forsooth am not I by this doctrine of the Cardinall pricked and whetted against my naturall inclination to turne clemencie into rigour seeing that by his doctrine my subiects are made to beleeue they owe me subiection onely by way of prouiso and with waiting the occasion to worke my vtter destruction and finall ruine the rather because Turkes miscreants and heretikes are marshalled by the Cardinall in the same ranke and heretikes are counted worse yea more iustly deposeable then Turkes and Infidels as irreligious breakers and violaters of their oath Who seeth not here how great indignitie is offered to me a Christian King paralleld with Infidels reputed worse then a Turke taken for an vsurper of my Kingdomes reckoned a Prince to whom subiects owe a forced obedience by way of prouision vntill they shall haue meanes to shake off the yoke and to bare my temples of the Crowne which neuer can be pulled from the sacred Head but with losse of the head it selfe Touching the warres vndertaken by the French English and Germaines in their expedition for Ierusalem it appeares by the issue and euent of the said warres that God approoued them not for honourable That expedition was a deuise and inuention of the Pope whereby he might come to be infeoffed in the Kingdomes of Christian Princes For then all such of the French English or Germaines as vndertooke the Croisade became the Popes meere vassals Then all robbers by the high way side adulterers cut-throats and base bankerupts were exempted from the Secular and Ciuill power their causes were sped in Consistorian Courts so soone as they had gotten the Crosse on their cassocks or coat-armours and had vowed to serue in the expedition for the Leuant Then for the Popes pleasure and at his commaundement whole countryes were emptied of their Nobles and common souldiers Then they made long marches into the Leuant For
what purpose Onely to die vpon the points of the Saracens pikes or by the edge of their barbarous courtelasses battle-axes fauchions and other weapons without any benefit and aduantage to themselues or others Then the Nobles were driuen to sell their goodly Mannors and auncient demaines to the Church-men at vnder prises and low rates the very roote from which a great part of the Church and Church-mens reuenewes hath sprung and growne to so great height Then to be short See the Bull of Innoc. 3. at the end of the Lat. ter Conc. his most bountifull Holinesse gaue to any of the riffe-raffe-ranke that would vndertake this expedition into the Holy land a free and full pardon for all his sinnes besides a degree of glory aboue the vulgar in the Celestiall Paradise Military vertue I confesse is commendable and honourable prouided it bee employed for iustice and that generous noblenesse of valiant spirits bee not vnder a colour and shadow of piety fetcht ouer with some casts or deuises of Italian cunning Now let vs obserue the wisedome of the Lord Cardinall through this whole discourse His Lordship is pleased in his Oration to cite certaine few passages of Scripture culls and picks them out for the most gracefull in shewe leaues out of his list whole troupes of honourable witnesses vpon whose testimonie the Popes themselues and their principall adherents doe build his power to depose Kings and to giue order for all Temporall causes Take a sight of their best and most honourable witnesses Peter said to Christ See here two swords and Christ answered It is sufficient Christ said to Peter Put vp thy sword in to thy sheath God said to Ieremie Ier. 1. I haue established thee ouer Nations and Kingdomes 1. Cor. 2. Paul said to the Corinthians The spirituall man discerneth all things Christ said to his Apostles Whatsoeuer yee shall loose vpon earth by which words the Pope hath power forsooth to loose the oath of allegiance Moses said In the beginning God created the heauen and the earth Vpon these passages Pope Boniface 8. Extrauag Vnam Sanctam grapling and tugging with Philip the Faire doth build his Temporall power Other Popes and Papists auouch the like authorities Christ said of himselfe All things are giuen to me of my Father and all power is giuen vnto me in heauen and in earth The Deuils said If thou cast vs out send vs into this herd of swine Christ said to his Disciples Yee shall finde the colt of an asse bound loose it and bring it vnto me By these places the aduersaries prooue that Christ disposed of Temporall matters and inferre thereupon why not Christs Vicar as well as Christ himselfe The places and testimonies now following are very expresse Psal 45. In stead of thy fathers shall be thy children thou shalt make them Princes through all the earth Item Iesus Christ not onely commaunded Peter to feed his lambs but said also to Peter Arise kill and eat the pleasant glosse the rare inuention of the L. Ioh. 12. Cardinall Baronius Christ said to the people If I were lift vp from the earth I will draw all things vnto me who lets what hinders this place from fitting the Pope Paul said to the Corinthians Know ye not that we shall iudge the Angels how much more then the things that pertaine vnto this life A little after Haue not we power to eate These are the chiefe passages on which as vpon maine arches the roofe of Papall Monarchie concerning Temporall causes hath rested for three or foure aages past And yet his Lordship durst not repose any confidence in their firme standing to beare vp the said roofe of Temporall Monarchie for feare of making his auditors to burst with laughter A wise part without question if his Lordship had not defiled his lips before with a more ridiculous argument drawne from the leprosie and drie scab Let vs now by way of comparison behold Iesus Christ paying tribute vnto Caesar and the Pope making Caesar to pay him tribute Iesus Christ perswading the Iewes to pay tribute vnto an heathen Emperour and the Pope dispensing with subiects for their obedience to Christian Emperours Iesus Christrefusing to arbitrate a controuersie of inheritance partable betweene two priuate parties and the Pope thrusting in himselfe without warrant or Commission to bee absolute Iudge in the deposing of Kings Iesus Christ professing that his Kingdome is not of this world and the Pope establishing himselfe in a terrene Empire In like manner the Apostles forsaking all their goods to followe Christ and the Pope robbing Christians of their goods the Apostles persecuted by Pagan Emperours and the Pope now setting his foote on the very throate of Christian Emperours then proudly treading Imperiall Crownes vnder his feete By this comparison the L. Cardinals allegation of Scripture in fauour of his Master the Pope is but a kind of puppet-play to make Iesus Christ a mocking stocke rather then to satisfie his auditors with any sound precepts and wholefome instructions Hereof he seemeth to giue some inckling himselfe For after he hath beene plentifull in citing authorities of Scripture and of newe Doctors which make for the Popes power to depose Kings at last he comes in with a faire and open confession Pag. 85. that neither by diuine Oracles nor by honourable antiquitie this controuersie hath beene yet determined and so pulls downe in a word with one hand the frame of worke that he had built and set vp before with an other discouering withall the reluctation and priuie checkes of his owne conscience There yet remaineth one obiection the knot whereof the L. Cardinall in a maner sweateth to vntie His words be these Page 84. The champions for the negatiue flie to the analogie of other proceedings and practises in the Church They affirme that priuate persons masters or owners of goods and possessions among the common people are not depriued of their goods for Heresie and consequently that Princes much more should not for the same crime bee depriued of their estates For answere to this reason he brings in the defendants of deposition speaking after this maner In the Kingdome of France the strict execution of lawes decreed in Court against Heretikes is fauourably suspended and stopped for the preseruation of peace and publike tranquilitie He saith elsewhere Conniuence is vsed towards these Heretikes inregard of their multitude because a notable part of the French Nation and State is made all of Heretikes I suppose that out of speciall charitie he would haue those Heretikes of his owne making forewarned what courteous vse and entreaty they are to expect when he affirmeth that execution of the lawes is but suspended For indeed suspensions hold but for a time But in a cause of that nature and importance I dare promise my selfe that my most honoured brother the King of France will make vse of other counsell will rather seeke the amitie of his neighbour Princes and
On the other side without any such Rhetoricall outcries I simply affirme It is a reproach a scandall a crime of rebellion for a subiect hauing his full charge and loade of benefits in the new spring of his Kings tender aage his King-fathers blood yet reeking and vpon the point of an addresse for a double match with Spaine in so honourable an assembly to seeke the thraldome of his Kings Crowne to play the captious in cauilling about causes of his Kings deposing to giue his former life the Lye with shame enough in his old aage and to make himselfe a common by-word vnder the name of a Problematicall Martyr one that offers himselfe to fagot and fire for a point of doctrine but problematically handled that is distrustfully and onely by way of doubtfull and questionable discourse yea for a point of doctrine in which the French as he pretendeth are permitted to thwart and crosse his Holines in iudgement prouided they speake in it as in a point not certaine and necessary but onely doubtfull and probable THE THIRD INCONVENIENCE EXAMINED THe third Inconuenience pretended by the L. Pag. 87. Cardinall to grow by admitting this Article of the third Estate is flourished in these colours It would breed and bring foorth an open and vnauoydeable schisme against his Holinesse and the rest of the whole Ecclesiasticall body For thereby the doctrine long approued and ratified by the Pope and the rest of the Church should now be taxed and condemned of impious and most detestable consequence yea the Pope and the Church euen in faith and in points of saluation should be reputed and beleeued to be erroniously perswaded Hereupon his Lordship giues himselfe a large scope of the raines to frame his elegant amplifications against schismes and schismatikes Now to mount so high and to flie in such place vpon the wings of amplification for this Inconuenience what is it else but magnifically to report and imagine a mischiefe by many degrees greater then the mischiefe is The L. Cardinal is in a great errour if hee make himselfe beleeue that other nations wil make a rent or separation from the communion of the French because the French stand to it tooth and naile that French Crownes are not liable or obnoxious to Papall deposition howsoeuer there is no schisme that importeth not separation of communion The most illustrious Republike of Venice hath imbarked herselfe in this quarrell against his Holinesse hath played her prize and caried away the weapons with great honour Doeth she notwithstanding her triumph in the cause forbeare to participate with all her neighbours in the same Sacraments doeth she liue in schisme with all the rest of the Romane Church No such matter When the L. Cardinal himselfe not many yeeres past maintained the Kings cause and stood honourably for the Kings right against the Popes Temporall vsurpations did he then take other Churches to be schismaticall or the rotten members of Antichrist Beleeue it who list I beleeue my Creed Nay his Lordship telleth vs himselfe a little after that his Holinesse giues the French free scope to maintaine either the affirmatiue or negatiue of this question And will his Holinesse hold them schismatikes that dissent from his opinion and iudgement in a subiect or cause esteemed problematicall Farre be it from his Holinesse The King of Spaine reputed the Popes right arme neuer gaue the Pope cause by any acte or other declaration to conceiue that he acknowledged himselfe deposeable by the Pope for heresie or Tyrannie or stupiditie But being well assured the Pope standeth in greater feare of his arme then hee doeth of the Popes head and shoulders he neuer troubles his owne head about our question More when the booke of Cardinall Baronius was come foorth in which booke the Kingdome of Naples is descried and publiquely discredited like false money touching the qualitie of a Kingdome and attributed to the King of Spaine not as trew proprietary thereof but onely as an Estate held in fee of the Romane Church the King made no bones to condemne and to banish the said booke out of his dominions The holy Father was contented to put vp his Catholike sonnes proceeding to the Cardinals disgrace neuer opened his mouth against the King neuer declared or noted the King to be schismaticall He waits perhaps for some fitter opportunitie when the Kingdome of Spaine groaning vnder the burthens of intestine dissentions and troubles hee may without any danger to himselfe giue the Catholike King a Bishops mate Yea the L. Cardinal himselfe is better seene in the humors and inclinations of the Christian world then to be grosly perswaded that in the Kingdome of Spaine and in the very heart of Rome it selfe there be not many which either make it but a ieast or else take it in fowle scorne to heare the Popes power ouer the Crownes of Kings once named especially since the Venetian Republike hath put his Holinesse to the worse in the same cause and cast him in Law What needed the L. Cardinall then by casting vp such mounts and trenches by heaping one amplification vpon an other to make schisme looke with such a terrible and hideous aspect Who knowes not how great an offence how heinous a crime it is to quarter not IESVS CHRISTS coat but his body which is the Church And what needed such terrifying of the Church with vglinesse of schisme whereof there is neither colourable shew nor possibilitie The next vgly monster after schisme shaped by the L. Cardinall in the third supposed and pretended inconuenience is heresie Pag. 89. His Lordship saith for the purpose By this Article we are cast headlong into a manifest heresie as binding vs to confesse that for many aages past the Catholike Church hath bene banished out of the whole world For if the champions of the doctrine contrary to this Article doe hold an impious and a detestable opinion repugnant vnto Gods word then doubtlesse the Pope for so many hundred yeeres expired hath not bene the head of the Church but an heretike and the Antichrist He addeth moreouer That the Church long agoe hath lost her name of Catholike and that in France there hath no Church flourished nor so much as appeared these many and more then many yeeres for as much as all the French doctors for many yeres together haue stood for the contrary opinion We can erect and set vp no trophey more honorable for heretikes in token of their victory then to auow that Christs visible Kingdom is perished from the face of the earth and that for so many hundred yeres there hath not bene any Temple of God nor any spouse of Christ but euery where and all the world ouer the kingdom of Antichrist the synagogue of Satan the spouse of the diuel hath mightily preuailed and borne all the sway Lastly what stronger engines can these heretikes wish or desire for the battering and the demolishing of transubstantiation of auricular confession and other like towers
the soule is immortall Or thus with certaine seduced Christians The Pope hath ordained the word of God to be authenticall ergo all credit must be giuen to diuine Scripture Vpon the spurkies or hookes of such ridiculous arguments and friuolous reasons the L. Cardinall hangs the life and safetie of Kings With like artificiall deuises hee pretendeth to haue the infamous murders and apposted cutting of Kings throats in extreame detestation and yet by deposing them from their Princely dignities by degrading them from their supreame and Soueraigne authorities hee brings their sacred heads to the butchers blocke For a King deposed by the Pope let no man doubt will not leaue any stone vnremooued nor any meanes and wayes vnattempted nor any forces or powers of men vnleuied or vnhired to defend himselfe and his Regall dignitie to represse and bring vnder his rebellious people by the Pope discharged of their alleagiance In this perplexitie of the publike affaires in these tempestuous perturbations of the State with what perils is the King not besieged and assaulted His head is exposed to the chances of warre his life a faire marke to the insidious practises of a thousand traitours his Royall person obuious to the dreadfull storme of angry fortune to the deadly malice to the fatall and mortall weapons of his enemies The reason He is presupposed to be lawfully and orderly stripped of his Kingdome Wil he yet hold the sterne of his Royall estate Then is he necessarily taken for a Tyrant reputed an vsurper and his life is exposed to the spoile For the publike lawes make it lawful and free for any priuate person to enterprise against an vsurper of the Kingdome Euery man saith Tertullian is a souldier In reos Maiestatis 〈◊〉 publâ—cos hostes omnis hom omiles est Tertul. apol cap. 2. to beare armes against all traitors and publike enemies Take from a King the title of lawfull King you take from him the warrant of his life and the weapons whereby he is maintained in greater securitie then by his Royall Guard armed with swords and halberds through whose wards and ranks a desperate villaine will make himselfe an easie passage being master of another mans life because he is prodigall and carelesse of his owne Such therefore as pretend so much pity towards Kings to abhorre the bloody opening of their liuer-veine and yet withall to approoue their hoysting out of the Royall dignity are iust in the veine and humour of those that say Let vs not kill the King but let vs disarme the King that he may die a violent death let vs not depriue him of life but of the meanes to defend his life let vs not strangle the King and stop his vitall breath so long as he remaineth King O that were impious O that were horrible and abominable but let him be deposed and then whosoeuer shall runne him through the body with a weapon vp to the very hilts shall not beare the guilt of a King-killer All this must be vnderstood to be spoken of Kings who after they are despoiled of Regalitie by sentence of deposition giuen by the Pope are able to arme themselues and by valiant armes doe defend their Soueraigne rights But in case the King blasted with Romane lightning and stricken with Papall thunder shall actually and speedily bee smitten downe from his high Throne of Regality with present losse of his Kingdome I beleeue it is almost impossible for him to warrant his owne life who was not able to warrant his owne Kingdome Let a cat be throwen from a high roofe to the bottome of a cellour or vault she lighteth on her feet and runneth away without taking any harme A King is not like a cat howsoeuer a cat may looke vpon a King he cannot fall from the loftie pinacle of Royalty to light on his feet vpon the hard pauement of a priuate state without crushing all his bones in pieces It hath bene the lot of very few Emperors and Kings to outliue their Empire For men ascend to the loftie Throne of Kings with a soft and easie pace by certaine steps and degrees there be no stately staires to come downe they tumble head and heeles together when they fall He that hath once griped anothers Kingdome thinks himselfe in little safetie so long as he shall of his courtesie suffer his disseised predecessour to draw his breath And say that some Princes after their fall from their Thrones haue escaped both point and edge of the Tyrants weapon yet haue they wandred like miserable fugitiues in forreine countreys or else haue bene condemned like captiues to perpetuall imprisonment at home a thousand-fold worse and more lamentable then death it selfe Dionysius the Tyrant of Syracusa from a great King in Sicilie tur'nd Schoolemaster in Corinth It was the onely calling and kind of life that as he thought bearing some resemblance of rule and gouernment might recreate his mind as an image or picture of his former Soueraigntie ouer men This Dionysius was the onely man to my knowledge that had a humour to laugh after the losse of a Kingdome and in the state of a Pedant or gouernour of children merily to ieast and to scorne his former state and condition of a King In this my Kingdome of England sundry Kings haue seene the walls as it were of their Princely fortresse dismantled razed and beaten downe By name Edward and Richard both II. and Henrie the VI. all which Kings were most cruelly murdered in prison In the reigne of Edward III. by Acte of Parliament Whosoeuer shall imagine that is the very word of the Statute or machinate the Kings death are declared guiltie of Rebellion and high Treason The learned Iudges of the Land grounding vpon this Law of Edward the third haue euer since reputed and iudged them traitors according to Law that haue dared onely to whisper or talke softly betweene the teeth of deposing the King For they count it a cleare case that no Crowne can be taken from a Kings head without losse of Head and Crowne together sooner or later The L. Cardinal therefore in this most weightie and serious point doth meerely dally and flowt after a sort Page 95. when hee tells vs The Church doeth not intermeddle with releasing of subiects and knocking off their yrons of obedience but onely before the Ecclesiasticall tribunall seat and that besides this double censure of absolution to subiects and excommunication to the Prince the Church imposeth none other penaltie Vnder pretence of which two censures so farre is the Church as the L. Cardinall pretendeth from consenting that any man so censured should bee touched for his life that she vtterly abborreth all murder whatsoeuer but especially all sudden and vnprepenced murders for feare of casting away both body and soule which often in sudden murders goe both one way It hath bene made manifest before that all such proscription and setting forth of Kings to port-sale hath alwaies for the traine thereof either some
to reioyce in his owne behalfe and to giue me thanks that I haue done him the honour to enter the lists of Theologicall dispute against his Lordship Howbeit he twitches and carpes at me withall as at one that soweth seeds of dissention and schisme amongst Romane Catholiks And yet he would seeme to qualifie the matter and to make all whole againe by saying That in so doing I am perswaded I doe no more then my duetie requires But now as his Lordship followes the point it standeth neither with godlinesse nor with equity nor with reason that Acts made that Statutes Decrees and Ordinances ratified for the State and Gouernement of England should be thrust for binding Laws vpon the Kingdome of France nor that Catholikes and much lesse that Ecclesiastics to the ende they may liue in safetie and freely enioy their priuiledges or immunities in France should be forced to beleeue and by oath to seale the same points which English Catholikes to the end they may purchase libertie onely to breath nay sorrowfully to sigh rather are constrained to allow and to aduow besides And where as in England There is no small number of Catholikes that lacke not constant and resolute minds to endure all sorts of punishment rather then to take that oath of allegiance will there not be found an other manner of number in France armed with no lesse constancie and Christian resolution There will most honourable Auditors there will without all doubt and we all that are of Episcopall dignity will sooner suffer Martyrdome in the cause Then out of the super-abundance and ouer-weight of his Lordships goodnes he closely coucheth and conuayeth a certaine distastfull opposition betweene mee and his King with praises and thanks to God that his King is not delighted takes no pleasure to make Martyrs All this Artificiall and swelling discourse like vnto puffe-past if it be viewed at a neere distance will be found like a bladder full of wind without any soliditie of substantiall matter For the Deputies of the third Estate were neuer so voide of vnderstanding to beleeue that by prouiding for the life and safety of their King they should thrust him headlong into eternall damnation Their braines were neuer so much blasted so farre benummed to dreame the soule of their King cannot mount vp to heauen except he be dismounted from his Princely Throne vpon earth whensoeuer the Pope shall hold vp his finger And whereas he is bold to pronounce that heretikes of France doe make their benefit and aduantage of this diuision that speech is grounded vpon this proposition That professors of the Christian Religion reformed which is to say purged and cleansed of all Popish dregs are heretikes in fact and ought so to bee reputed in right Which proposition his Lordship will neuer soundly and sufficiently make good before his Holinesse hath compiled an other Gospell or hath forged an other Bible at his Pontificiall anuile The L. Cardinall vndertooke to reade mee a lecture vpon that argument but euer since hath played Mum-budget and hath put himselfe to silence like one at a Non-plus in his enterprise There be three yeeres already gone and past since his Lordship beganne to shape some answere to a certaine writing dispatched by mee in few daies With forming and reforming with filing and polishing with labouring and licking his answere ouer and ouer againe with reiterated extractions and calcinations it may be coniectured that all his Lordships labour and cost is long since evaporated and vanished in the aire Howbeit as well the friendly conference of a King for I will not call it a contention as also the dignitie excellencie and importance of the matter long since deserued and as long since required the publishing of some or other answere His Lordships long silence will neuer be imputed to lacke of capacity wherewith who knoweth not how abundantly he is furnished but rather to well aduised agnition of his owne working and building vpon a weake foundation But let vs returne vnto these heretikes that make so great gaine by the disagreement of Catholikes It is no part of their dutie to aime at sowing of dissentions but rather to intend and attend their faithfull performance of seruice to their King If some be pleased and others offended when so good and loyall duties are sincerely discharged it is for all good subiects to grieue and to be sory that when they speake for the safetie of their King honour of the trewth it is their hard hap to leaue any at all vnsatisfied But suppose the said heretiks were the Authors of this article preferred by the third Estate What need they to conceale their names in that regard What need they to disclaime the credit of such a worthy act Would it not redound to their perpetuall honour to be the onely subiects that kept watch ouer the Kings life and Crowne that stood centinell and walked the rounds for the preseruation of his Princely diademe when all other had no more touch no more feeling thereof then so many stones And what neede the Deputies for the third Estate to receiue instructions from forraine Kingdomes concerning a cause of that nature when there was no want of domesticall examples and the French histories were plentifull in that argument What neede they to gape for this reformed doctrine to come swimming with a fishes tayle out of an Island to the mayne continent when they had before their eyes the murders of two Kings with diuerse ciuill warres and many Arrests of Court all tending to insinuate and suggest the introduction of the same remedy Suggestions are needlesse from abroad when the mischiefe is felt at home it seemes to me that his Lordship in smoothing and tickling the Deputies for the third Estate doth no lesse then wring and wrong their great sufficiencie with contumely and outragious abuse as if they were not furnished with sufficient foresight and with loyall affection towards their King for the preseruation of his life and honour if the remedie were not beaten into their heads by those of the Religion reputed heretikes Touching my selfe ranged by his Lordship in the same ranke with sowers of dissention I take my God to witnes and my owne conscience that I neuer dream'd of any such vnchristian proiect It hath beene hitherto my ordinary course to follow honest counsells and to walke in open waies I neuer wonted my selfe to holes and corners to crafty shifts but euermore to plaine and open designes I neede not hide mine intentions for feare of any mortall man that puffeth breath of life out of his nostrils Nor in any sort doe I purpose to set Iulian the Apostata before mine eyes as a patterne for me to follow Iulian of a Christian became a Pagan I professe the same faith of Christ still which I haue euer professed Iulian went about his designes with crafty conueiances I neuer with any of his captious and cunning sleights Iulian forced his subiects to infidelitie against I
inthralling of his Crowne and Kingdome Therefore the Popes right pretended to the Crowne of England which is nothing else but a ridiculous vsurpation hath long agoe vanished into smoake and required not so much as the drawing of one sword to snatch and pull it by violence out of his hands For the Popes power lying altogether in a certaine wilde and wandring conceit or opinion of men and being onely an imaginary castle in the ayre built by pride and vnderpropped by superstition is very speedily dispersed vpon the first rising and appearing of the trewth in her glorious brightnesse There is none so very a dolt or block-head to deny that in case this right of the Pope ouer England is grounded vpon Gods word then his Holinesse may challenge the like right ouer all other Kingdomes because all other Kingdomes Crownes and Scepters are subiect alike to Gods word For what priuiledge what charter what euidence can France fetch out of the Rolles or any other treasurie of her monuments or records to shew that she oweth lesse subiection to God then England Or was this yoke of bondage then brought vpon the English Nation was it a prerogatiue whereby they might more easily come to the libertie of the sonnes of God Or were the people of England perswaded that for all their substance wealth and life bestowed on the Pope his Holinesse by way of exchange returned them better weight and measure of spirituall graces It is ridiculous onely to conceiue these toyes in thought and yet with such ridiculous with such toyes in conceit his Lordship feeds and entertains his auditors From this point hee falleth to another bowt and fling at his heretikes with whom he played no faire play before Pag. 105. There is not one Synode of ministers as he saith which would willingly subscribe to this Article whereunto wee should bee bound to sweare But herein his Lordship shooteth farre from the marke This Article is approoued and preached by the Ministers of my Kingdome It is likewise preached by those of France and if need bee I asssure my selfe will bee signed by all the Ministers of the French Church The L. Cardinall proceedeth for hee meaneth not so soone to giue ouer these heretikes All their Consistortes beleeue it as their Creed that if Catholike Princes at any time shall offer force vnto their conscience then they are dispensed withall for their oath of alleagiance Hence are these modifications and restricitions tossed so much in their mouthes Prouided the King force vs not in our conscience Hence are these exceptions in the profession of their faith Prouided the Soueraigne power and authoritie of God bee not in any sort violated or infringed I am not able to conceiue what engine can bee framed of these materialls for the bearing of Kings out of their eminent seates by any lawfull authoritie or power in the Pope For say those of the Religion should be tainted with some like errour how can that be any shelter of excuse for those of the Romish Church to vndermine or to digge vp the Thrones of their Kings But in this allegation of the L. Cardinall there is nothing at all which doeth not iumpe iust and accord to a haire with the Article of the third Estate and with obedience due to the King For they doe not professe that in case the King shall commaund them to doe any act contrarie to their conscience they would flie at his throat would make any attempt against his life would refuse to pay their taxations or to defend him in the warres They make no profession of deposing the King or discharging the people from the oath of allegiance tendred to the King which is the very point or issue of the matter in controuersie and the maine mischeife against which the third Estate hath bin most worthily carefull to prouide a wholesome remedie by this Article There is a world of difference betweene the termes of disobedience and of deposition It is one thing to disobey the Kings commaund in matters prohibited by diuine lawes and yet in all other matters to performe full subiection vnto the King It is another thing of a farre higher degree or straine of disloyaltie to bare the King of his Royall robes throne and scepter and when he is thus farre disgraced to degrade him and to put him from his degree and place of a King If the holy Father should charge the L. Cardinal to doe some act repugnant in his owne knowledge to the Law of God I will religiously and according to the rule of charitie presume that his Lordship in this case would stand out against his Holinesse and notwithstanding would still acknowledge him to be Pope His Lordship yet prosecutes and followes his former purpose Hence are those armes which they haue oftentimes borne against Kings when Kings practised to take away the libertie of their conscience and Religion Hence are those turbulent Commotions and seditions by them raised as well in the Low-countryes against the King of Spaine as in Swethland against the Catholike King of Polonia Besides he casteth Iunius Brutus Buchananus Barclaius and Gerson in our teeth To what end all this I see not how it can bee auaileable to authorize the deposing of Kings especially the Popes power to depose And yet his Lordship here doth outface by his leaue and beare downe the trewth For I could neuer yet learne by any good and trew intelligence that in France those of the Religion tooke armes at any time against their King In the first ciuill warres they stood onely vpon their guard they stood onely to their lawfull wards and locks of defence they armed not nor tooke the field before they were pursued with fire and sword burnt vp and slaughtred Besides Religion was neither the root nor the rynde of those intestine troubles The trew ground of the quarrell was this During the minority of King Francis II. the Protestants of France were a refuge and succour to the Princes of the blood when they were kept from the Kings presence and by the ouer powring power of their enemies were no better then plaine driuen and chased from the Court I meane the Grand-father of the King now raigning and the Grand-father of the Prince of Conde when they had no place of safe retreate In regard of which worthy and honourable seruice it may seeme the French King hath reason to haue the Protestants in his gracious remembrance With other commotion or insurrection the Protestants are not iustly to be charged But on the contrary certaine it is that King Henry III. raysed and sent forth seuerall armies against the Protestants to ruine and roote them out of the Kingdome howbeit so soone as they perceiued the said King was brought into dangerous tearms they ranne with great speed and speciall fidelitie to the Kings rescue and succour in the present danger Certaine it is that by their good seruice the said King was deliuered from a most extreame and imminent perill
litle children with a small twisted thred To that God that King of Kings I deuote my scepter at his feet in all humblenes I lay downe my Crowne to his holy decrees and commaunds I will euer be a faithfull seruant and in his battels a faithfull champion To conclude in this iust cause and quarrell I dare send the challenge and will require no second to maintaine as a defendant of honour that my brother-Princes and my selfe whom God hath aduanced vpon the Throne of Soueraigne Maiestie and supreame dignity doe hold the Royall dignitie of his Maiestie alone to whose seruice as a most humble homager and vassall I consecrate all the glory honour splendor and lustre of my earthly Kingdomes A SPEACH AS IT WAS DELIVERED IN THE VPPER HOVSE OF THE PARLIAMENT TO THE LORDS SPIRITVALL AND Temporall and to the Knights Citizens and Burgesses there assembled ON MVNDAY THE XIX DAY OF MARCH 1603. BEING THE FIRST DAY OF THE first Parliament IT did no sooner please God to lighten his hand and relent the violence of his deuouring Angel against the poore people of this Citie but as soone did I resolue to call this Parliament and that for three chiefe and principall reasons The first whereof is and which of it selfe although there were no more is not onely a sufficient but a most full and necessary ground and reason for conuening of this Assembly This first reason I say is That you who are here presently assembled to represent the Body of this whole Kingdome and of all sorts of people within the same may with your owne eares heare and that I out of mine owne mouth may deliuer vnto you the assurance of my due thankefulnes for your so ioyfull and generall applause to the declaring and receiuing of mee in this Seate which GOD by my Birthright and lineall descent had in the fulnesse of time prouided for me and that immediatly after it pleased God to call your late Soueraigne of famous memory full of dayes but fuller of immortall trophes of Honour out of this transitorie life Not that I am able to expresse by wordes or vtter by eloquence the viue Image of mine inward thankfulnes but onely that out of mine owne mouth you may rest assured to expect that measure of thankefulnes at my hands which is according to the infinitenes of your deserts and to my inclination and abilitie for requitall of the same Shall I euer nay can I euer be able or rather so vnable in memorie as to forget your vnexpected readinesse and alacritie your euer memorable resolution and your most wonderfull coniunction and harmonie of your hearts in declaring and embracing mee as your vndoubted and lawfull King and Gouernour Or shall it euer bee blotted out of my minde how at my first entrie into this Kingdome the people of all sorts rid and ran nay rather flew to meet mee their eyes flaming nothing but sparkles of affection their mouthes and tongues vttering nothing but sounds of ioy their hands feete and all the rest of their members in their gestures discouering a passionate longing and earnestnesse to meete and embrace their new Soueraigne Quid ergo retribuam Shall I allow in my selfe that which I could neuer beare with in another No I must plainely and freely confesse here in all your audiences that I did euer naturally so farre mislike a tongue to smoothe and diligent in paying their creditors with lip payment and verball thankes as I euer suspected that sort of people meant not to pay their debtors in more substantiall sort of coyne And therefore for expressing of my thankefulnesse I must resort vnto the other two reasons of my conuening of this Parliament by them in action to vtter my thankefulnesse Both the said reasons hauing but one ground which is the deedes whereby all the dayes of my life I am by Gods grace to expresse my said thankfulnesse towards you but diuided in this That in the first of these two mine actions of thankes are so inseparably conioyned with my Person as they are in a maner become indiuidually annexed to the same In the other reason mine actions are such as I may either doe them or leaue them vndone although by Gods grace I hope neuer to be weary of the doing of them As to the first It is the blessings which God hath in my Person bestowed vpon you all wherein I protest I doe more glorie at the same for your weale then for any particular respect of mine owne reputation or aduantage therein THe first then of these blessings which God hath ioyntly with my Person sent vnto you is outward Peace that is peace abroad with all forreine neighbours for I thanke God I may iustly say that neuer since I was a King I either receiued wrong of any other Christian Prince or State or did wrong to any I haue euer I praise God yet kept Peace and amitie with all which hath bene so farre tyed to my person as at my comming here you are witnesses I found the State embarqued in a great and tedious warre and onely by mine arriuall here and by the Peace in my Person is now amitie kept where warre was before which is no smal blessing to a Christian Common-wealth for by Peace abroad with their neighbours the Townes flourish the Merchants become rich the Trade doeth encrease and the people of all sorts of the Land enioy free libertie to exercise themselues in their seuerall vocations without perill or disturbance Not that I thinke this outward Peace so vnseparably tyed to my Person as I dare assuredly promise to my selfe and to you the certaine continuance thereof but thus farre I can very well assure you and in the word of a King promise vnto you That I shall neuer giue the first occasion of the breach thereof neither shall I euer be moued for any particular or priuate passion of mind to interrupt your publique Peace except I be forced thereunto either for reparation of the honour of the Kingdom or else by necessitie for the weale and preseruation of the same In which case a secure and honourable warre must be preferred to an vnsecure and dishonourable Peace yet doe I hope by my experience of the by-past blessings of Peace which God hath so long euer since my Birth bestowed vpon mee that hee wil not be weary to continue the same nor repent him of his grace towards me transferring that sentence of King Dauids vpon his by-past victories of warre to mine of Peace That that God who preserued me from the deuouring iawes of the Beare and of the Lion and deliuered them into my hands shall also now grant me victory ouer that vncircumcised Philistine BVt although outward Peace be a great blessing yet is it as farre inferiour to peace within as Ciuill warres are more cruell and vnnaturall then warres abroad And therefore the second great blessing that GOD hath with my Person sent vnto you is Peace within and that in a double forme
Execution a greater promptnesse was required As for the execution of good Lawes it hath bene very wisely and honourably foreseene and ordered by my predecessours in this Kingdome in planting such a number of Iudges and all sorts of Magistrates in conuenient places for the execution of the same And therefore must I now turne mee to you that are Iudges and Magistrates vnder mee as mine Eyes and Eares in this case I can say none otherwise to you then as Ezekias the good King of Iuda said to their Iudges Remember that the Thrones that you fit on are Gods and neither yours nor mine And that as you must be answerable to mee so must both you and I be answerable to GOD for the due execution of our Offices That place is no place for you to vtter your affections in you must not there hate your foe nor loue your friend feare the offence of the greater partie or pity the miserie of the meaner yee must be blinde and not see distinctions of persons handlesse not to receiue bribes but keepe that iust temper and mid-course in all your proceedings that like a iust ballance ye may neither sway to the right nor left hand Three principall qualities are required in you Knowledge Courage and Sinceritie that you may discerne with knowledge execute with courage and doe both in vpright sinceritie And as for my part I doe vow and protest here in the presence of God and of this honourable Audience I neuer shall be wearie nor omit no occasion wherein I may shew my carefulnesse of the execution of good Lawes And as I wish you that are Iudges not to be weary in your Office in doing of it so shall I neuer be wearie with Gods grace to take account of you which is properly my calling And thus hauing tolde you the three causes of my conuening of this Parliament all three tending onely to vtter my thankefulnesse but in diuers formes the first by word the other two by action I doe confesse that when I haue done and performed all that in this Speech I haue promised Inutilis seruus sum Inutile because the meaning of the word Inutilis in that place of Scripture is vnderstood that in doing all that seruice which wee can to God it is but our due and wee doe nothing to God but that which wee are bound to doe And in like maner when I haue done all that I can for you I doe nothing but that which I am bound to doe and am accomptable to God vpon the contrary For I doe acknowledge that the speciall and greatest point of difference that is betwixt a rightfull King and an vsurping Tyrant is in this That whereas the proude and ambitious Tyrant doeth thinke his Kingdome and people are onely ordeined for satisfaction of his desires and vnreasonable appetites The righteous and iust King doeth by the contrary acknowledge himselfe to bee ordeined for the procuring of the wealth and prosperitie of his people and that his greatest and principall worldly felicitie must consift in their prosperitie If you bee rich I cannot bee poore if you bee happy I cannot but bee fortunate and I protest that your welfare shall euer be my greatest care and contentment And that I am a Seruant it is most trew that as I am Head and Gouernour of all the people in my Dominion who are my naturall vassals and Subiects considering them in numbers and distinct Rankes So if wee will take the whole People as one body and Masse then as the Head is ordeined for the body and not the Body for the Head so must a righteous King know himselfe to bee ordeined for his people and not his people for him For although a King and people be Relata yet can hee be no King if he want people and Subiects But there be many people in the world that lacke a Head wherefore I will neuer bee ashamed to confesse it my principall Honour to bee the great Seruant of the Common-wealth and euer thinke the prosperitie thereof to be my greatest felicitie as I haue already said But as it was the whole Body of this Kingdome with an vniforme assent and harmonie as I tolde you in the beginning of my Speech which did so farre oblige mee in good will and thankefulnesse of requitall by their alacritie and readinesse in declaring and receiuing mee to that place which God had prouided for mee and not any particular persons for then it had not bene the body So is my thankefulnesse due to the whole State For euen as in matter of faults Quod à multis peccatur impunè peccatur Euen so in the matter of vertuous and good deedes what is done by the willing consent and harmonie of the whole body no particular person can iustly claime thankes as proper to him for the same And therefore I must heere make a little Apologie for my selfe in that I could not satisfie the particular humours of euery person that looked for some aduancement or reward at my hand since my entrie into this Kingdome Three kinde of things were craued of mee Aduancement to honour Preferment to place of Credit about my Person and Reward in matters of land or profit If I had bestowed Honour vpon all no man could haue beene aduanced to Honour for the degrees of Honour doe consist in perferring some aboue their fellowes If euery man had the like accesse to my Priuy or Bed-chamber then no man could haue it because it cannot containe all And if I had bestowed Lands and Rewards vpon euery man the fountaine of my liberalitie would be so exhausted and dried as I would lacke meanes to bee liberall to any man And yet was I not so sparing but I may without vaunting affirme that I haue enlarged my fauour in all the three degrees towards as many and more then euer King of England did in so short a space No I rather craue your pardon that I haue beene so bountifull for if the meanes of the Crowne bee wasted I behoued then to haue recourse to you my Subiects and bee burdensome to you which I would bee lothest to bee of any King aliue For as it is trew that as I haue already said it was a whole Body which did deserue so well at my hand and not euery particular person of the people yet were there some who by reason of their Office credit with the people or otherwise tooke occasion both before and at the time of my comming amongst you to giue proofe of their loue and affection towards me Not that I am any way in doubt that if other of my Subiects had beene in their places and had had the like occasion but they would haue vttered the like good effects so generall and so great were the loue and affection of you all towards mee But yet this hauing beene performed by some speciall persons I could not without vnthankfulnesse but requite them accordingly And therefore had I iust occasion to aduance some in
wherewith they thought to measure vs And that the same place and persons whom they thought to destroy should be the iust auengers of their so vnnaturall a Parricide Yet not knowing that I will haue occasion to meete with you my selfe in this place at the beginning of the next Session of this Paliament because if it had not been for deliuering of the Articles agreed vpon by the Commissioners of the Vnion which was thought most conuenient to be done in my presence where both Head and Members of the Parliament were met together my presence had not otherwise been requisite here at this time I haue therefore thought good for conclusion of this Meeting to discourse to you somewhat anent the trew nature and definition of a Parliament which I will remit to your memories till your next sitting downe that you may then make vse of it as occasion shall bee ministred For albeit it be trew that at the first Session of my first Parliament which was not long after mine Entrie into this Kingdome It could not become me to in orme you of any thing belonging to Law or State heere for all knowledge must either bee infused or acquired and seeing the former sort thereof is now with Prophecie ceased in the world it could not be possible for me at my first Entry here before Experience had taught it me to be able to vnderstand the particular mysteries of this State yet now that I haue reigned almost three yeeres amongst you and haue beene carefull to obserue those things that belong to the office of a King albeit that Time be but a short time for experience in others yet in a King may it be thought a reasonable long time especially in me who although I be but in a maner a new King heere yet haue bene long acquainted with the office of a King in such another Kingdome as doeth neerest of all others agree with the Lawes and customes of this State Remitting to your consideration to iudge of that which hath beene concluded by the Commissioners of the Vnion wherein I am at this time to signifie vnto you That as I can beare witnesse to the foresaid Commissioners that they haue not agreed nor concluded therein any thing wherein they haue not foreseen as well the weale and commodity of the one Countrey as of the other So can they all beare mee record that I was so farre from pressing them to agree to any thing which might bring with it any preiudice to this people as by the contrary I did euer admonish them neuer to conclude vpon any such Vnion as might cary hurt or grudge with it to either of the said Nations for the leauing of any such thing could not but be the greatest hinderance that might be to such an Action which God by the lawes of Nature had prouided to be in his owne time and hath now in effect perfected in my Person to which purpose my Lord Chancellour hath better spoken then I am able to relate And as to the nature of this high Court of Parliament It is nothing else but the Kings great Councell which the King doeth assemble either vpon occasion of interpreting or abrogating old Lawes or making of new according as ill maners shall deserue or for the publike punishment of notorious euill doers or the praise and reward of the vertuous and well deseruers wherein these foure things are to be considered First whereof this Court is composed Secondly what matters are proper for it Thirdly to what end it is ordeined And fourthly what are the meanes and wayes whereby this end should bee brought to passe As for the thing it selfe It is composed of a Head and a Body The Head is the King the Body are the members of the Parliament This Body againe is subdiuided into two parts The Vpper and Lower House The Vpper compounded partly of Nobility Temporall men who are heritable Councellors to the high Court of Parliament by the honour of their Creation and Lands And partly of Bishops Spirituall men who are likewise by the vertue of their place and dignitie Councellours Life Renters or Ad vitam of this Court. The other House is composed of Knights for the Shire and Gentry and Burgesses for the Townes But because the number would be infinite for all the Gentlemen and Burgesses to bee present at euery Parliament Therefore a certaine number is selected and chosen out of that great Body seruing onely for that Parliament where their persons are the representation of that Body Now the matters whereof they are to treate ought therefore to be generall and rather of such matters as cannot well bee performed without the assembling of that generall Body and no more of these generals neither then necessity shall require for as in Corruptissima Republica sunt plurimae leges So doeth the life and strength of the Law consist not in heaping vp infinite and confused numbers of Lawes but in the right interpretation and good execution of good and wholesome Lawes If this be so then neither is this a place on the one side for euery rash and harebrained fellow to propone new Lawes of his owne inuention nay rather I could wish these busie heads to remember that Law of the Lacedemonians That whosoeuer came to propone a new Law to the people behooued publikely to present himselfe with a rope about his necke that in case the Law were not allowed he should be hanged therwith So warie should men be of proponing Nouelties but most of all not to propone any bitter or seditious Laws which can produce nothing but grudges and discontentment betweene the Prince and his people Nor yet is it on the other side a conuenient place for priuate men vnder the colour of general Lawes to propone nothing but their owne particular gaine either to the hurt of their priuate neighbours or to the hurt of the whole State in generall which many times vnder faire and pleasing Titles are smoothly passed ouer and so by stealth procure without consideration that the priuate meaning of them tendeth to nothing but either to the wrecke of a particular partie or else vnder colour of publike benefite to pill the poore people and serue as it were for a generall Impost vpon them for filling the purses of some priuate persons And as to the end for which the Parliament is ordeined being only for the aduancement of Gods glory and the establishment and wealth of the King and his people It is no place then for particular men to vtter there their priuate conceipts nor for satisfaction of their curiosities and least of all to make shew of their eloquence by tyning the time with long studied and eloquent Orations No the reuerence of God their King and their Countrey being well setled in their hearts will make them ashamed of such toyes and remember that they are there as sworne Councellours to their King to giue their best aduise for the furtherance of his Seruice and the florishing
Weale of his Estate And lastly if you will rightly consider the meanes and wayes how to bring all your labours to a good end you must remember That you are heere assembled by your lawfull King to giue him your best aduises in the matters proposed by him vnto you being of that nature which I haue already told wherein you are grauely to deliberate and vpon your consciences plainely to determine how farre those things propounded doe agree with the weale both of your King and of your Countrey whose weales cannot be separated And as for my selfe the world shall euer beare mee witnesse That I neuer shall propone any thing vnto you which shall not as well tend to the weale publike as to any benefite for me So shall I neuer oppone my selfe to that which may tend to the good of the Common-wealth for the which I am ordeined as I haue often said And as you are to giue your aduise in such things as shall by your King be proposed So is it on your part your dueties to propone any thing that you can after mature deliberation iudge to be needefull either for these ends already spoken of or otherwise for the discouery of any latent euill in the Kingdome which peraduenture may not haue commen to the Kings eare If this then ought to bee your graue maner of proceeding in this place Men should bee ashamed to make shew of the quicknesse of their wits here either in taunting scoffing or detracting the Prince or State in any point or yet in breaking iests vpon their fellowes for which the Ordinaries or Ale-houses are fitter places then this Honourable and high Court of Parliament In conclusion then since you are to breake vp for the reasons I haue already told you I wish such of you as haue any charges in your Countreys to hasten you home for the repressing of the insolencies of these Rebels and apprehension of their persons wherin as I heartily pray to the Almightie for your prosperous successe So doe I not doubt but we shall shortly heare the good newes of the same And that you shall haue an happie returne and meeting here to all our comforts Here the Lord Chancellor spake touching the proroguing of the Parliament And hauing done his Maiestie rose againe and said SInce it pleased God to graunt mee two such notable Deliueries vpon one day of the weeke which was Tuesday and likewise one day of the Moneth which was the fifth Thereby to teach mee That as it was the same deuill that still persecuted mee So it was one and the same GOD that still mightily deliuered mee I thought it therefore not amisse That the one and twentieth day of Ianuary which fell to be vpon Tuesday should bee the day of meeting of this next Session of Parliament hoping and assuring my selfe that the same GOD who hath now granted me and you all so notable and gracious a deliuerie shall prosper all our affaires at that next Session and bring them to an happie conclusion And now I consider GOD hath well prouided it that the ending of this Parliament hath bene so long continued For as for my owne part I neuer had any other intention but onely to seeke so farre my weale and prosperitie as might coniunctly stand with the flourishing State of the whole Common-wealth as I haue often told you So on the other part I confesse if I had bene in your places at the beginning of this Parliament which was so soone after mine entry into this Kingdome wherein ye could not possibly haue so perfect a knowledge of mine inclination as experience since hath taught you I could not but haue suspected and mis-interpreted diuers things In the trying whereof now I hope by your experience of my behauiour and forme of gouernment you are well ynough cleared and resolued A SPEACH TO BOTH THE HOVSES OF PARLIAMENT DELIVERED IN THE GREAT CHAMBER AT WHITE-HALL THE LAST DAY OF March 1607. MY Lords of the higher House and you Knights and Burgesses of the Lower house All men at the beginning of a Feast bring foorth good Wine first and after worse This was the saying of the Gouernour of the Feast at Cana in Galile where CHRIST wrought his first miracle by changing water into Wine But in this case now whereof I am to speake vnto you I must follow that Gouernours rule and not CHRISTS example in giuing you the worst and sowrest Wine last For all the time of this long Session of the Parliament you haue bene so fed and cloy'd specially you of the Lower house with such banquets and choise of delicate speeches and your eares so seasoned with the sweetnesse of long precogitate Orations as this my Speach now in the breaking vp of this Assembly cannot but appeare vnto your taste as the worst Wine proposed in the end of the Banquet since I am onely to deliuer now vnto you matter without curious forme substance without ceremonie trewth in all sinceritie Yet considering the Person that speaketh the parties to whom I speake the matter whereof I meane to speake it fits better to vtter matter rather then wordes in regard of the greatnesse of my place who am to speake to you the grauitie of you the Auditorie which is the high Court of Parliament the weight of the matter which concernes the securitie and establishment of this whole Empire and litle world Studied Orations and much eloquence vpon little matter is fit for the Vniuersities where not the Subiect which is spoken of but the triall of his wit that speaketh is most commendable but on the contrary in all great Councels or Parliaments fewest wordes with most matter doeth become best where the dispatch of the great errands in hand and not the praise of the person is most to bee looked vnto like the garment of a chaste woman who is onely set forth by her naturall beautie which is properly her owne other deckings are but ensignes of an harlot that flies with borrowed feathers And besides the conueniencie I am forced hereunto by necessitie my place calling me to action and not leauing me to the libertie of contemplation hauing alwayes my thoughts busied with the publique care of you all where euery one of you hauing but himselfe and his owne priuate to thinke of are at more leisure to make studied speeches And therefore the matter which I deliuer you confusedly as in a sacke I leaue it to you when you are in your chambers and haue better leysure then I can haue to ranke them in order euery one in their owne place Thus much by way of Preface But I proceed to the matter Whereof I might say with S. Paul I could speake in as many tongues as you all but I had rather speake three wordes to edification then talke all day without vnderstanding In vaine saith the Psalmist doeth the builder build the house or the watchman watch the Citie vnlesse the Lord giue his blessing thereunto And in the New Testament S.
much lesse I will doe it when a Law is to restraine me I owe no more to the Scottish men then to the English I was borne there and sworne here and now raigne ouer both Such particular persons of the Scottish Nation as might claime any extraordinary merit at my handes I haue already reasonably rewarded and I can assure you that there is none left whom for I meane extraordinary to straine my selfe further then in such ordinary benefit as I may equally bestow without mine owne great hurt vpon any Subiect of either Nation In which case no Kings handes can euer befully closed To both I owe Iustice and protection which with Gods grace I shall euer equally ballance For my Liberalitie I haue told you of it heretofore my three first yeeres were to me as a Christmas I could not then be miserable should I haue bene ouersparing to them they might haue thought Ioseph had forgotten his brethren or that the King had beene drunke with his new Kingdome But Suites goe not now so cheape as they were wont neither are there so many fees taken in the Hamper and Pettibagge for the great Seale as hath beene And if I did respect the English when I came first of whom I was receiued with ioy and came as in a hunting iourney what might the Scottish haue iustly said if I had not in some measure dealt bountifully with them that so long had serued me so farre aduentured themselues with me and beene so faithfull to mee I haue giuen you now foure yeeres proofe since my comming and what I might haue done more to haue raised the Scottish nation you all know and the longer I liue the lesse cause haue I to be acquainted with them and so the lesse hope of extraordinary fauour towards them For since my comming from them I doe not alreadie know the one halfe of them by face most of the youth being now risen vp to bee men who were but children when I was there and more are borne since my comming thence Now for my lands and reuenues of my Crowne which you may thinke I haue diminished They are not yet so farre diminished but that I thinke no prince of Christendome hath fairer possessions to his Crowne then yet I haue and in token of my care to preserue the same to my posteritie for euer the intaile of my lands to the Crowne hath beene long agoe offered vnto you and that it is not yet done is not my fault as you know My Treasurer here knoweth my care and hath already in part declared it and if I did not hope to treble my Reuenue more then I haue empaired it I should neuer rest quietly in my bed But notwithstanding my comming to the Crowne with that extraordinarie applause which you all know and that I had two Nations to bee the obiects of my liberalitie which neuer any Prince had here before will you compare my gifts out of mine inheritance with some Princes here that had onely this Nation to respect and whose whole time of reigne was litle longer then mine hath bene already It will be found that their gifts haue farre surpassed mine albeit as I haue already said they had nothing so great cause of vsing their liberalitie For the maner of the Vnion presently desired It standeth in 3. parts Secondly The first taking away of hostile Lawes for since there can bee now no Warres betwixt you is it not reason hostile Lawes should cease For desiciente causa desicit effectas The King of England now cannot haue warres with the King of Scotland therefore this failes of it selfe The second is communitie of Commerce I am no stranger vnto you for you all know I came from the loynes of your ancient Kings They of Scotland be my Subiects as you are But how can I bee naturall Liege Lord to you both and you strangers one to the other Shall they which be of one alleagance with you be no better respected of you nor freer amongst you then Frenchmen and Spaniards Since I am Soueraigne ouer both you as Subiects to one King it must needes follow that you conuerse and haue Commerce together There is a rumour of some ill dealings that should be vsed by the Commissioners Merchants of Scotland They be heere in England and shall remaine till your next meeting and abide triall to prooue themselues either honest men or knaues For the third point of Naturalization All you agree that they are no Aliens and yet will not allow them to bee naturall What kinde of prerogatiue will you make But for the Postnati your owne Lawyers and Iudges at my first comming to this Crowne informed me there was a difference betweene the Antè and the Post nati of each Kingdome which caused mee to publish a Proclamation that the Post nati were Naturalized Ipso facto by my Accession to this Crowne I doe not denie but Iudges may erre as men and therefore I doe not presse you here to sweare to all their reasons I onely vrge at this time the conueniencie for both Kingdomes neither pressing you to iudge nor to be iudged But remember also it is as possible and likely your owne Lawyers may erre as the Iudges Therefore as I wish you to proceede herein so farre as may tend to the weale of both Nations So would I haue you on the other part to beware to disgrace either my Proclamations or the Iudges who when the Parliament is done haue power to trie your lands and liues for so you may disgrace both your King and your Lawes For the doing of any acte that may procure lesse reuerence to the Iudges cannot but breede a loosenesse in the Gouernement and a disgrace to the whole Nation The reason that most mooues mee for ought I haue yet heard that there cannot but bee a difference betweene the Antè nati and the Post nati and that in the fauour of the last is that they must bee neerer vnto you being borne vnder the present Gouernement and common Allegiance but in point of conueniencie there is no question but the Post nati are more to bee respected For if you would haue a perfect and perpetuall Vnion that cannot be in the Antè nati who are but few in comparison of those that shall be in all aages succeeding and cannot liue long But in the Post nati shall the Vnion be continued and liue euer aage after aage which wanting a difference cannot but leaue a perpetuall marke of separation in the worke of the Vnion as also that argument of iealousie will be so farre remooued in the case of the Post nati which are to reape the benefit in all succeeding aages as by the contrary there will then rise Pharaos which neuer knew Ioseph The Kings my Successours who beeing borne and bred heere can neuer haue more occasion of acquaintance with the Scottish Nation in generall then any other English King that was before my time Bee not therefore abused
with the flattering speeches of such as would haue the Ante nati preferred alleadging their merit in my Seruice and such other reasons which indeede are but Sophismes For my rewarding out of my Liberalitie of any particular men hath nothing adoe with the generall acte of the Vnion which must not regard the deserts of priuate persons but the generall weale and conioyning of the Nations Besides that the actuall Naturalizing which is the onely point that is in your handes is already graunted to by your selues to the most part of such particular persons as can haue any vse of it heere and if any other well deseruing men were to sue for it hereafter I doubt not but there would neuer bee question mooued among you for the granting of it And therefore it is most euident that such discoursers haue mel in ore fel in corde as I said before carying an outward appearance of loue to the Vnion but indeed a contrary resolution in their hearts And as for limitations and restrictions such as shall by me be agreed vpon to be reasonable and necessary after you haue fully debated vpon them you may assure your selues I will with indifferencie grant what is requisite without partiall respect of Scotland I am as I haue often said borne and sworne King ouer both Kingdomes onely this farre let me entreat you in debating the point at your next meeting That yee be as ready to resolue doubts as to mooue them and to be satisfied when doubts are cleered And as for Commodities that come by the Vnion of these Kingdoms they are great and euident Peace Plentie Loue free Intercourse and common Societie of two great Nations All forreigne Kings that haue sent their Ambassadours to congratulate with me since my comming haue saluted me as Monarch of the whole Isle and with much more respect of my greatnesse then if I were King alone of one of these Realmes and with what comfort doe your selues behold Irish Scottish Welsh and English diuers in Nation yet all walking as Subiects and seruants within my Court and all liuing vnder the allegiance of your King besides the honour and lustre that the encrease of gallant men in the Court of diuers Nations carries in the eyes of all strangers that repaire hither Those confining places which were the Borders of the two Kingdomes where heretofore much blood was shed and many of your ancestours lost their liues yea that lay waste and desolate and were habitations but for runnagates are now become the Nauell or Vmbilick of both Kingdomes planted and peopled with Ciuilitie and riches their Churches begin to bee planted their doores stand now open they feare neither robbing nor spoiling and where there was nothing before heard nor seene in those parts but bloodshed oppressions complaints and outcries they now liue euery man peaceably vnder his owne figgetree and all their former cryes and complaints turned onely into prayers to God for their King vnder whom they enioy such ease and happy quietnesse The Marches beyond and on this side Twede are as fruitfull and as peaceable as most parts of England If after all this there shall be a Scissure what inconuenience will follow iudge you And as for the inconueniences that are feared on Englands part It is alleadged that the Scots are a populous Nation they shall be harboured in our nests they shall be planted and flourish in our good Soile they shall eate our commons bare and make vs leane These are foolish and idle surmises That which you possesse they are not to enioy by Law they cannot nor by my partialitie they shall not for set apart conscience and honour which if I should set apart indeede I had rather wish my selfe to bee set apart and out of all being can any man conclude either out of common reason or good policie that I will preferre those which perhaps I shall neuer see or but by poste for a moneth before those with whom I must alwayes dwell Can they conquer or ouercome you with swarmes of people as the Goths and the Vandals did Italy Surely the world knowes they are nothing so populous as you are and although they haue had the honour and good fortune neuer to be conquered yet were they euer but vpon the defensiue part and may in a part thanke their hilles and inaccessible passages that preserued them from an vtter ouerthrow at the handes of all that pretended to conquer them Or are they so very poore and miserable in their owne habitations that necessitie should force them all to make incursions among you And for my part when I haue two Nations vnder my gouernment can you imagine I will respect the lesser and neglect the greater would I not thinke it a lesse euill and hazard to mee that the plague were at Northampton or Barwicke then at London so neere Westminster the Seat of my habitation and of my wife and children will not a man bee more carefull to quench the fire taken in his neerest neighbours house then if a whole Towne were a fire farre from him You know that I am carefull to preserue the woods and game through all England nay through all the Isle yet none of you doubts but that I would be more offended with any disorder in the Forrest of Waltham for stealing of a Stagge there which lieth as it were vnder my nose and in a manerioyneth with my garden then with cutting of timber or stealing of a Deare in any Forrest of the North parts of Yorkeshire or the Bishopricke Thinke you that I will preferre them that be absent lesse powerfull and farther off to doe me good or hurt before you with whom my security and liuing must be and where I desire to plant my posterity If I might by any such fauours raise my selfe to a greatnesse it might bee probable All I cannot draw and to lose a whole state here to please a few there were madnesse I neede speake no more of this with protestations Speake but of wit it is not likely and to doubt of my intention in this were more then deuilish For mine owne part I offer more then I receiue and conueniencie I preferre before law in this point For three parts wherein I might hurt this Nation by partiality to the Scots you know doe absolutely lie in my hands and power for either in disposition of rents or whatsoeuer benefit or in the preferring of them to any dignitie or office ciuill or Ecclesiasticall or in calling them to the Parliament it doeth all fully and onely lie within the compasse of my Prerogatiue which are the parts wherein the Scottish men can receiue either benefite or preferment by the Vnion and wherein for the care I haue of this people I am content to binde my selfe with some reasonable restrictions As for the fourth part the Naturalizing which onely lieth in your hands It is the point wherein they receiue least benefit of any for in that they can obteine nothing but what
they buy by their purse or acquire by the selfe same meanes that you doe And as for the point of naturalizing which is the point thought so fit and so precisely belonging to Parliament not to speake of the Common law wherein as yet I can professe no great knowledge but in the Ciuill law wherein I am a little better versed and which in the point of Coniunction of Nations should beare a great sway it being the Law of Nations I will mainteine two principles in it which no learned and graue Ciuilian will deny as being clearely to be proued both out of the text it selfe in many places and also out of the best approued Doctours and interpreters of that law The one that it is a speciall point of the Kings owne Prerogatiue to make Aliens Citizens and donare Ciuitate The other that in any case wherein the Law is thought not to be cleare as some of your selues doe doubt that in this case of the postnati the Law of England doth not clearely determine then in such a question wherein no positiue Law is resolute Rexest Iudex for he is Lex loquens and is to supply the Law where the Law wants and if many famous histories be to be beleeued they giue the example for mainteining of this Law in the persons of the Kings of England and France especially whose speciall Prerogatiue they alleadge it to be But this I speake onely as knowing what belongeth to a King although in this case I presse no further then that which may agree with your loues and stand with the weale and conueniencie of both Nations And whereas some may thinke this Vnion will bring preiudice to some Townes and Corporations within England It may bee a Merchant or two of Bristow or Yarmouth may haue an hundred pounds lesse in his packe But if the Empire gaine and become the greater it is no matter You see one Corporation is euer against another and no priuate Companie can be set vp but with some losse to another For the supposed inconueniences rising from Scotland they are three Fourth First that there is an euill affection in the Scottish Nation to the Vnion Next the Vnion is incompatible betweene two such Nations Thirdly that the gaine is smal or none If this be so to what end do we talke of an Vnion For proofe of the first point there is alleadged an auersenesse in the Scottish Nation expressed in the Instrument both in the preface and body of their Acte In the preface where they declare That they will remaine an absolute and free Monarchie And in the body of the Acte where they make an exception of the ancient fundamentall Lawes of that Kingdome And first for the generall of their auersenes All the maine current in your Lower-house ranne this whole Session of Parliament with that opinion That Scotland was so greedy of this Vnion and apprehended that they should receiue so much benefit by it as they cared not for the strictnesse of any conditions so they might attaine to the substance And yet you now say they are backwards and auerse from the Vnion This is a direct contradiction In adiecto For how can they both be beggers and backwards in one and the selfe same thing at the same time But for answere to the particulars It is an old Schoole point Eius est explicare cuius est condere You cannot interpret their Lawes nor they yours I that made them with their assent can best expound them And first I confesse that the English Parliaments are so long and the Scottish so short that a meane betweene them would doe well For the shortnesse of their continuing together was the cause of their hastie mistaking by setting these wordes of exception of fundamentall Lawes in the body of the Acte which they onely did in pressing to imitate word by word the English Instrument wherein the same wordes be conteined in your Preface And as to their meaning and interpretation of that word I will not onely deliuer it vnto you out of mine owne conceipt but as it was deliuered vnto mee by the best Lawyers of Scotland both Counsellours and other Lawyers who were at the making thereof in Scotland and were Commissioners here for performance of the same Their meaning in the word of Fundamentall Lawes you shall perceiue more fully hereafter when I handle the obiection of the difference of Lawes For they intend thereby onely those Lawes whereby confusion is auoyded and their Kings descent mainteined and the heritage of the succession and Monarchie which hath bene a Kingdome to which I am in descent three hundreth yeeres before CHRIST Not meaning it as you doe of their Common Law for they haue none but that which is called IVS REGIS and their desire of continuing a free Monarchie was onely meant That all such particular Priuiledges whereof I spake before should not bee so confounded as for want either of Magistrate Law or Order they might fall in such a confusion as to become like a naked Prouince without Law or libertie vnder this Kingdome I hope you meane not I should set Garrisons ouer them as the Spaniards doe ouer Sicily and Naples or gouerne them by Commissioners which are seldome found succeedingly all wise and honest men This I must say for Scotland and I may trewly vaunt it Here I sit and gouerne it with my Pen I write and it is done and by a Clearke of the Councell I gouerne Scotland now which others could not doe by the sword And for their auersensse in their heart against the Vnion It is trew indeede I protest they did neuer craue this Vnion of me nor sought it either in priuate or the State by letters nor euer once did any of that Nation presse mee forward or wish mee to accelerate that businesse But on the other part they offered alwayes to obey mee when it should come to them and all honest men that desire my greatnesse haue beene thus minded for the personall reuerence and regard they beare vnto my Perion and any of my reasonable and iust desires I know there are many Piggots amongst them I meane a number of seditious and discontented particular persons as must be in all Common-wealths that where they dare may peraduenture talke lewdly enough but no Scottish man euer spake dishonourably of England in Parliament For here must I note vnto you the difference of the two Parliaments in these two Kingdomes for there they must not speake without the Chauncellors leaue and if any man doe propound or vtter any seditious or vncomely speeches he is straight interrupted and silenced by the Chauncellors authoritie where as here the libertie for any man to speake what hee list and as long as he list was the onely cause he was not interrupted It hath bin obiected that there is a great Antipathy of the Lawes and Customes of these two Nations It is much mistaken for Scotland hath no Common Law as here but the Law they
Progenitors and all my Subiects must be alike deare vnto me which either hee will neuer grant and so all will fall to the ground or else it will turne to the benefite of the whole Island and so the Scottish Priuiledges cannot hold longer then my League with France lasteth And for another Argument to prooue that this league is only betweene the Kings and not betweene the people They which haue Pensions or are priuie Intelligence giuers in France without my leaue are in no better case by the Law of Scotland then if they were Pensioners to Spaine As for the Scottish Guard in France the beginning thereof was when an Earle of Boghan was sent in aide of the French with tenne thousand men and there being made Constable and hauing obtained a victorie was murthered with the most of the Scottish Armie In recompense whereof and for a future securitie to the Scottish Nation the Scottish Guard was ordeined to haue the priuiledge and prerogatiue before all other Guards in guarding the Kings person And as for the last point of this subdiuision concerning the gaine that England may make by this Vnion I thinke no wise nor honest man will aske any such question For who is so ignorant that doeth not know the gaine will bee great Doe you not gaine by the Vnion of Wales And is not Scotland greater then Wales Shall not your Dominions bee encreased of Landes Seas and persons added to your greatnesse And are not your Landes and Seas adioyning For who can set downe the limits of the Borders but as a Mathematicall line or Idaea Then will that backe doore bee shut and those portes of Ianus be for euer closed you shall haue them that were your enemies to molest you a sure backe to defend you their bodies shall bee your aides and they must bee partners in all your quarrels Two snow-balls put together make one the greater Two houses ioyned make one the larger two Castle walles made in one makes one as thicke and strong as both And doe you not see in the Low countreys how auaileable the English and the Scottish are being ioyned together This is a point so plaine as no man that hath wit or honestie but must acknowledge it feelingly And where it is obiected that the Scottishmen are not tyed to the seruice of the King in the warres aboue forty dayes It is an ignorant mistaking For the trewth is That in respect the Kings of Scotland did not so abound in Treasure and money to take vp an Armie vnder pay as the Kings of England did Therefore was the Scottish Army wont to be raysed onely by Proclamation vpon the penaltie of their breach of alleageance So as they were all forced to come to the Warre like Snailes who carry their house about with them Euery Nobleman and Gentleman bringing with him their Tents money prouision for their house victuals of all sorts and all other necessaries the King supplying them of nothing Necessitie thereupon enforcing a warning to be giuen by the Proclamation of the space of their attendance without which they could not make their prouision accordingly especially as long as they were within the bounds of Scotland where it was not lawfull for them to helpe themselues by the spoile or wasting of the Countrey But neither is there any Law Prescribing precisely such a certaine number of dayes nor yet is it without the limits of the Kings power to keepe them together as many more dayes as hee list to renew his Proclamations from time to time some reasonable number of dayes before the expiring of the former they being euer bound to serue and waite vpon him though it were an hundreth yeere if need were Now to conclude I am glad of this occasion that I might Liberare animam meam You are now to recede when you meete againe remember I pray you the trewth and sincerity of my meaning which in seeking Vnion is onely to aduance the greatnesse of your Empire seated here in England And yet with such caution I wish it as may stand with the weale of both States What is now desired hath oft before bene sought when it could not bee obteined To refuse it now then were double iniquitie Strengthen your owne felicitie London must bee the Seate of your King and Scotland ioyned to this kingdome by a Golden conquest but cymented with loue as I said before which within will make you strong against all Ciuill and intestine Rebellion as without wee will bee compassed and guarded with our walles of brasse Iudge mee charitably since in this I seeke your equall good that so both of you might bee made fearefull to your Enemies powerfull in your selues and auaileable to your friendes Studie therefore hereafter to make a good Conclusion auoyd all delayes cut off all vaine questions that your King may haue his lawfull desire and be not disgraced in his iust endes And for your securitie in such reasonable points of restrictions whereunto I am to agree yee need neuer doubt of my inclination For I will not say any thing which I will not promise nor promise any thing which I will notsweare What I sweare I will signe and what I signe I shall with GODS grace euer performe A SPEACH TO THE LORDS AND COMMONS OF THE PARLIAMENT AT WHITE-HALL ON WEDNESDAY THE XXI OF MARCH ANNO 1609. WE being now in the middest of this season appointed for penitence and prayer it hath so fallen out that these two last dayes haue bene spent in a farre other sort of exercise I meane in Eucharisticke Sacrifice and gratulation of thankes presented vnto mee by both the parts of this body of Parliament and therefore to make vp the number of three which is the number of Trinitie and perfection I haue thought good to make this the third Day to be spent in this exercise As ye made mee a faire Present indeed in presenting your thankes and louing dueties vnto mee So haue I now called you here to recompence you againe with a great and a rare Present which is a faire and a Christall Mirror Not such a Mirror wherein you may see your owne faces or shadowes but such a Mirror or Christall as through the transparantnesse thereof you may see the heart of your King The Philosophers wish That euery mans breast were a Christall where-through his heart might be seene is vulgarly knowne and I touched it in one of my former Speaches vnto you But though that were impossible in the generall yet will I now performe this for my part That as it is a trew Axiome in Diuinitie That Cor Regis is in manu Domini So wil I now set Cor Regis in oculis populi I know that I can say nothing at this time whereof some of you that are here haue not at one time or other heard me say the like already Yet as corporall food nourisheth and mainteineth the body so doeth Reminiscentia nourish and mainteine memory I Will reduce to three
Inheritance to his children at his pleasure yea euen disinherite the eldest vpon iust occasions and preferre the youngest according to his liking make them beggers or rich at his pleasure restraine or banish out of his presence as hee findes them giue cause of offence or restore them in fauour againe with the penitent sinner So may the King deale with his Subiects And lastly as for the head of the naturall body the head hath the power of directing all the members of the body to that vse which the iudgement in the head thinkes most conuenient It may apply sharpe cures or cut off corrupt members let blood in what proportion it thinkes fit and as the body may spare but yet is all this power ordeined by God Ad aedificationem non ad destructionem For although God haue power aswell of destruction as of creation or maintenance yet will it not agree with the wisedome of God to exercise his power in the destruction of nature and ouerturning the whole frame of things since his creatures were made that his glory might thereby be the better expressed So were hee a foolish father that would disinherite or destroy his children without a cause or leaue off the carefull education of them And it were an idle head that would in place of phisicke so poyson or phlebotomize the body as might breede a dangerous distemper or destruction thereof But now in these our times we are to distinguish betweene the state of Kings in their first originall and betweene the state of setled Kings and Monarches that doe at this time gouerne in ciuill Kingdomes For euen as God during the time of the olde Testament spake by Oracles and wrought by Miracles yet how soone it pleased him to setle a Church which was bought and redeemed by the blood of his onely Sonne Christ then was there a cessation of both Hee euer after gouerning his people and Church within the limits of his reueiledwill So in the first originall of Kings whereof some had their beginning by Conquest and some by election of the people their wills at that time serued for Law Yet how soone Kingdomes began to be setled in ciuilitie and policie then did Kings set downe their minds by Lawes which are properly made by the King onely but at the rogation of the people the Kings grant being obteined thereunto And so the King became to be Lex loquens after a sort binding himselfe by a double oath to the obseruation of the fundamentall Lawes of his kingdome Tacitly as by being a King and so bound to protect aswell the people as the Lawes of his Kingdome And Expresly by his oath at his Coronation So as euery iust King in a setled Kingdome is bound to obserue that paction made to his people by his Lawes in framing his gouernment agreeable thereunto according to that paction which God made with Noe after the deluge Hereafter Seed-time and Haruest Cold and Heate Summer and Winter and Day and Night shall not cease so long as the earth remaines And therefore a King gouerning in a setled Kingdome leaues to be a King and degenerates into a Tyrant assoone as he leaues off to rule according to his Lawes In which case the Kings conscience may speake vnto him as the poore widow said to Philip of Macedon Either gouerne according to your Law Aut ne Rexsis And though no Christian man ought to allow any rebellion of people against their Prince yet doeth God neuer leaue Kings vnpunished when they transgresse these limits For in that same Psalme where God saith to Kings Vos Dij estis hee immediatly thereafter concludes But ye shall die like men The higher wee are placed the greater shall our fall be Vt casus sic dolor the taller the trees be the more in danger of the winde and the tempest beats sorest vpon the highest mountaines Therefore all Kings that are not tyrants or periured wil be glad to bound themselues within the limits of their Lawes and they that perswade them the contrary are vipers and pests both against them and the Common-wealth For it is a great difference betweene a Kings gouernment in a setled State and what Kings in their originall power might doe in Indiuiduo vago As for my part I thanke God I haue euer giuen good proofe that I neuer had intention to the contrary And I am sure to goe to my graue with that reputation and comfort that neuer King was in all his time more carefull to haue his Lawes duely obserued and himselfe to gouerne thereafter then I. I conclude then this point touching the power of Kings with this Axiome of Diuinitie That as to dispute what God may doe is Blasphemie but quid vult Deus that Diuines may lawfully and doe ordinarily dispute and discusse for to dispute A Posse ad Esse is both against Logicke and Diuinitie So is it sedition in Subiects to dispute what a King may do in the height of his power But iust Kings wil euer be willing to declare what they wil do if they wil not incurre the curse of God I wil not be content that my power be disputed vpon but I shall euer be willing to make the reason appeare of all my doings and rule my actions according to my Lawes The other branch of this incident is concerning the Common Law being conceiued by some that I contemned it and preferred the Ciuil Law thereunto As I haue already said Kings Actions euen in the secretest places are as the actions of those that are set vpon the Stages or on the tops of houses and I hope neuer to speake that in priuate which I shall not auow in publique and Print it if need be as I said in my BASILICON DORON For it is trew that within these few dayes I spake freely my minde touching the Common Law in my Priuie Chamber at the time of my dinner which is come to all your eares and the same was likewise related vnto you by my Treasurer and now I will againe repeate and confirme the same my selfe vnto you First as a King I haue least cause of any man to dislike the Common Law For no Law can bee more fauourable and aduantagious for a King and extendeth further his Prerogatiue then it doeth And for a King of England to despile the Common Law it is to neglect his owne Crowne It is trew that I doe greatly esteeme the Ciuill Law the profession thereof seruing more for generall learning and being most necessary for matters of Treatie with all forreine Nations And I thinke that if it should bee taken away it would make an entrie to Barbarisme in this Kingdome and would blemish the honour of England For it is in a maner LEX GENTIVM and maintaineth Intercourse with all forreme Nations but I onely allow it to haue course here according to those limits of Iurisdiction which the Common Law it selfe doeth allow it And therefore though it bee not fit for the
generall gouernment of the people here it doeth not follow it should be extinct no more then because the Latine tongue is not the Mother or Radicall Language of any Nation in the world at this time that therefore the English tongue should onely now be learned in this Kingdome which were to bring in Barbarisme My meaning therefore is not to preferre the Ciuill Law before the Common Law but onely that it should not be extinguished and yet so bounded I meane to such Courts and Causes as haue beene in ancient vse As the Ecclesiasticall Courts Court of Admiraltie Court of Requests and such like reseruing euer to the Common Law to meddle with the fundamentall Lawes of this Kingdome either concerning the Kings Prerogatiue or the possessions of Subiects in any questions either betweene the King and any of them or amongst themselues in the points of Meum tuum For it is trew that there is no Kingdome in the world not onely Scotland but not France nor Spaine nor any other Kingdome gouerned meerely by the Ciuill Law but euery one of them hath their owne municipall Lawes agreeable to their Customes as this Kingdome hath the Common Law Nay I am so farre from disallowing the Common Law as I protest that if it were in my hand to chuse a new Law for this Kingdome I would not onely preferre it before any other Nationall Law but euen before the very Iudiciall Law of Moyses and yet I speake no blasphemie in preferring it for conueniencie to this Kingdome and at this time to the very Law of God For God gouerned his selected people by these three Lawes Ceremoniall Morall and Iudiciall The Iudiciall being onely fit for a certaine people and a certaine time which could not serue for the general of all other people and times As for example If the Law of hanging for Theft were turned here to restitution of treble or quadruple as it was in the Law of Moyses what would become of all the middle Shires and all the Irishrie and Highlanders But the maine point is That if the fundamentall Lawes of any Kingdome should be altered who should discerne what is Meum tuum or how should a King gouerne It would be like the Gregorian Calender which destroyes the old and yet doeth this new trouble all the debts and Accompts of Traffiques and Merchandizes Nay by that accompt I can neuer tell mine owne aage for now is my Birth-day remooued by the space often dayes neerer me then it was before the change But vpon the other part though I haue in one point preferred our Common Law concerning our vse to the very Law of GOD yet in another respect I must say both our Law and all Lawes else are farre inferiour to that Iudiciall Law of GOD for no booke nor Law is perfect nor free from corruption except onely the booke and Law of GOD. And therefore I could wish some three things specially to be purged cleared in the Common Law but alwayes by the aduise of Parliament For the King with his Parliament here are absolute as I vnderstand in making or forming of any sort of Lawes First I could wish that it were written in our vulgar Language for now it is in an old mixt and corrupt Language onely vnderstood by Lawyers whereas euery Subiect ought to vnderstand the Law vnder which he liues For since it is our plea against the Papists that the language in GODS Seruice ought not to be in an vnknowne tongue according to the rule in the Law of Moyses That the Law should be written in the fringes of the Priests garment and should be publikely read in the eares of all the people so mee thinkes ought our Law to be made as plaine as can be to the people that the excuse of ignorance may be taken from them for conforming themselues thereunto Next our Common Law hath not a setled Text in all Cases being chiefly grounded either vpon old Customes or else vpon the Reports and Cases of Iudges which ye call Responsa Prudentum The like whereof is in all other Lawes for they are much ruled by Presidents saue onely in Denmarke and Norway where the letter of the Law resolues all doubts without any trouble to the Iudge But though it be trew that no Text of Law can be so certaine wherein the circumstances will not make a variation in the Case for in this aage mens wits increase so much by ciuilitie that the circumstances of euery particular case varies so much from the generall Text of Law as in the Ciuill Law it selfe there are therefore so many Doctors that cōment vpon the Text neuer a one almost agrees with another Otherwise there needed no Iudges but the bare letter of the Law Yet could I wish that some more certaintie were set downe in this case by Parliament for since the very Reports themselues are not alwayes so binding but that diuers times Iudges doe disclaime them and recede from the iudgment of their predecessors it were good that vpon a mature deliberation the exposition of the Law were set downe by Acte of Parliament and such reports therein confirmed as were thought fit to serue for Law in all times hereafter and so the people should not depend vpon the bare opinions of Iudges and vncertaine Reports And lastly there be in the Common Law diuers contrary Reports and Presidents and this corruption doeth likewise concerne the Statutes and Acts of Parliament in respect there are diuers crosse and cuffing Statutes and some so penned as they may be taken in diuers yea contrary sences And therefore would I wish both those Statutes and Reports aswell in the Parliament as Common Law to be once maturely reuiewed and reconciled And that not onely all contrarieties should be scraped out of our Bookes but euen that such penall Statutes as were made but for the vse of the time from breach whereof no man can be free which doe not now agree with the condition of this our time might likewise beleft out of our bookes which vnder a tyrannous or auaritious King could not be endured And this reformation might me thinkes bee made a worthy worke and well deserues a Parliament to be set of purpose for it I know now that being vpon this point of the Common Law you looke to heare my opinion concerning Prohibitions and I am not ignorant that I haue bene thought to be an enemie to all Prohibitions and an vtter stayer of them But I will shortly now informe you what hath bene my course in proceeding therein It is trew that in respect of diuers honorable Courts and Iurisdictions planted in this Kingdome I haue often wished that euery Court had his owne trew limit and iurisdiction clearely set downe and certainly knowne which if it be exceeded by any of them or that any of them encroch one vpon another then I grant that a Prohibition in that case is to goe out of the Kings Bench but chiefliest out of the
acquainted with their state If I had not more then cause you may be sure I would be loth to trouble you But what he hath affirmed in this vpon the honour of a Gentleman whom you neuer had cause to distrust for his honestie that doe I now confirme and auow to be trew in the word and honour of a King And therein you are bound to beleeue me Duetie I may iustly claime of you as my Subiects and one of the branches of duetie which Subiects owe to their Soueraigne is Supply but in what quantitie and at what time that must come of your loues I am not now therefore to dispute of a Kings power but to tell you what I may iustly craue and expect with your good wills I was euer against all extremes and in this case I will likewise wish you to auoyd them on both sides For if you faile in the one I might haue great cause to blame you as Parliament men being called by me for my Errands And if you fall into the other extreme by supply of my necessities without respectiue care to auoyd oppression or partialitie in the Leuie both I and the Countrey will haue cause to blame you When I thinke vpon the composition of this body of Parliament I doe well consider that the Vpper house is composed of the Seculer Nobilitie who are hereditary Lords of Parliament and of Bishops that are liue Renter Barons of the same And therefore what is giuen by the Vpper house is giuen onely from the trew body of that House and out of their owne purposes that doe giue it whereas the Lower house is but the representatiue body of the Commons and so what you giue you giue it aswell for others as for your selues and therefore you haue the more reason to eschew both the extreames On the one part ye may the more easily be liberall since it comes not all from your selues and yet vpon the other part if yee giue more then is fit for good and louing Subiects to yeeld vpon such necessary occasions yee abuse the King and hurt the people And such a gift I will neuer accept For in such a case you might deceiue a King in giuing your flattering consent to that which you know might moue the people generally to grudge and murmure at it and so should the King find himselfe deceiued in his Caloule and the people likewise grieued in their hearts the loue and possession of which I protest I did and euer will accompt the greatest earthly securitie next the fauour of GOD to any wise or iust King For though it was vainely saide by one of your House That yee had need to beware that by giuing mee too much your throats were not in danger of cutting at your comming home yet may ye assure your selues that I will euer bee lothe to presse you to doe that which may wrong the people and make you iustly to beare the blame thereof But that yee may the better bee acquainted with my inclination I will appeale to a number of my Priuie Councell here present if that before the calling of this Parliament and when I found that the necessitie of my estate required so great a supply they found me more desirous to obtaine that which I was forced to seeke then carefull that the people might yeeld me a supply in so great a measure as my necessities required without their too great losse And you all that are Parliament men and here present of both Houses can beare me witnesse if euer I burthened or imployed any of you for any particular Subsidies or summes by name further then my laying open the particular necessities of my state or yet if euer I spake to any Priuie Councellour or any of my learned Councell to labour voyces for me to this end I euer detested the hunting for Emendicata Suffragia A King that will rule and gouerne iustly must haue regard to Conscience Honour and Iudgement in all his great Actions as your selfe M. Speaker remembred the other day And therefore ye may assure your selues That I euer limitall my great Actions within that compasse But as vpon the one side I doe not desire you should yeeld to that extreame in giuing me more then as I said formerly vpon such necessary occasions are fit for good and louing Subiects to yeeld For that were to giue me a purse with a knife So on the other side I hope you will not make vaine pretences of wants out of causelesse apprehensions or idle excuses neither cloake your owne humours when your selues are vnwilling by alledging the pouertie of the people For although I will be no lesse iust as a King to such persons then any other For my Iustice with Gods grace shal be alike open to all yet ye must thinke I haue no reason to thanke them or gratifie them with any suits or matters of grace when their errand shall come in my way And yet no man can say that euer I quarrelled any man for refusing mee a Subsidie if hee did it in a moderate fashion and with good reasons For him that denies a good Law I will not spare to quarrell But for graunting or denying money it is but an effect of loue And therefore for the point of my necessities I onely desire that I be not refused in that which of duety I ought to haue For I know if it were propounded in the generall amongst you whether the Kings wants ought to be relieued or not there is not one of you that would make question of it And though in a sort this may seeme to be my particular yet it can not bee diuided from the generall good of the Common wealth For the King that is Parens Patriae telles you of his wants Nay Patria ipsa by him speakes vnto you For if the King want the State wants and therefore the strengthening of the King is the preseruation and the standing of the State And woe be to him that diuides the weale of the King from the weale of the Kingdome And as that King is miserable how rich soeuer he bee that raines ouer a poore people for the hearts and riches of the people are the Kings greatest treasure So is that Kingdome not able to subsist how rich and potent soeuer the people be if their King wants meanes to mainaine his State for the meanes of your King are the sinewes of the kingdome both in warre and peace for in peace I must minister iustice vnto you and in warre I must defend you by Armes but neither of these can I do without sufficient means which must come from your Aide and Supply I confesse it is farre against my nature to be burthensome to my people for it cannot but grieue me to craue of others that was borne to be begged of It is trew I craue more then euer King of England did but I haue farre greater and iuster cause and reason to craue then euer King of England had And though
my Treasurer hath at length declared the reasons vnto you of my necessities and of a large supply that he craued for the same wherein he omitted no arguments that can be vsed for that purpose yet will I my selfe now shortly remember you some of the weightiest reasons that come in my head to proue the equitie of my demaund First ye all know that by the accession of more Crownes which in my Person I haue brought vnto you my charge must be the greater in all reason For the greater your King be both in his dominion and number of Subiects he cannot but be forced thereby to be at the more charge and it is the more your honour so to haue it Next that posteritie and issue which it hath pleased God to send me for your vse cannot but bring necessarily with it a greater proportion of charge You all know that the late Queene of famous memory notwithstanding her orbitie had much giuen vnto her and more then euer any of her predecessors had before her Thirdly the time of creation of my Sonne doeth now draw neere which I chuse for the greater honour to bee done in this time of Parliament As for him I say no more the sight of himselfe here speakes for him Fourthly it is trew I haue spent much but yet if I had spared any of those things which caused a great part of my expense I should haue dishonored the kingdome my selfe and the late Queene Should I haue spared the funerall of the late Queene or the solemnitie of mine and my wiues entrie into this Kingdome in some honourable sort or should I haue spared our entrie into London or our Coronation And when most of the Monarches and great Princes in Christendome sent their Ambassadours to congratulate my comming hither and some of them came in person was I not bound both for my owne honour and the honour of the Kingdome to giue them good entertainement But in case it might be obiected by some that it is onely vpon occasions of warre that Kings obtaine great Supplies from their Subiects notwithstanding my interne Peace I am yet in a kinde of warre which if it bee without the more is your safetie For as the Treasurer tolde you at large I am now forced both in respects of State and my promise and for the generall cause of Religion to send a Supply of forces to Cleues and how long that occasion may last or what greater supply the necessitie of that Errand may draw mee vnto no man can yet tell Besides that although I haue put downe that forme of warlike keeping of Barwicke yet are all those commaunders my pensioners that were the late Queenes souldiers And I hope I sustaine a prettie Seminarie of Souldiers in my Forts within this Kingdome besides the two cautionary Townes in the Low-countreys Flushing and Brill And as for Ireland yee all know how vncertaine my charges are euer there that people being so easily stirred partly through their barbaritie and want of ciuilitie and partly through their corruption in Religion to breake foorth in rebellions Yee know how vnlooked for a Rebellion brake foorth there the last yeere which could not but put mee to extraordinary charges Besides I doe maintaine there continually an Armie which is a goodly Seminarie of expert and old Souldiers And I dare neuer suffer the same to be diminished till this Plantation take effect which no doubt is the greatest moate that euer came in the Rebels eyes and it is to be looked for that if euer they will bee able to make any stirre they will presse at it by all meanes for the preuenting and discouraging this Plantation Now it is trew that besides all these honourable and necessary occasions of my charge I haue spent much in liberalitie but yet I hope you will consider that what I haue giuen hath bene giuen amongst you and so what comes in from you goes out againe amongst you But it may be thought that I haue giuen much amongst Scottishmen Indeed if I had not beene liberall in rewarding some of my old seruants of that Nation ye could neuer haue had reason to expect my thankefulnesse towards any of you that are more lately become my Subiects if I had beene ingrate to the old And yet yee will find that I haue dealt twice as much amongst English men as I haue done to Scottishmen And therefore he that in your House was not ashamed to affirme that the siluer and gold did so abound in Edenburgh was very farre mistaken but I wish him no worse punishment then that hee should onely liue vpon such profit of the money there But I hope you will neuer mislike me for my liberalitie since I can looke very few of you this day in the face that haue not made suits to mee at least for some thing either of honour or profit It is trew a Kings liberalitie must neuer be dried vp altogether for then he can neuer maintaine nor oblige his seruants and well deseruing Subiects But that vastnesse of my expence is past which I vsed the first two or three yeeres after my comming hither And as I oft vsed to say that Christmas and open tide is ended For at my first comming here partly ignorance of this State which no man can acquire but by time and experience and partly the forme of my comming being so honourable and miraculous enforced me to extend my liberalitie so much the more at the beginning Ye saw I made Knights then by hundreths and Barons in great numbers but I hope you find I doe not so now nor minde not to doe so hereafter For to conclude this point anent expences I hold that a Kings expence must alwayes bee honourable though not wastefull and the charges of your King in maintaining those ancient honourable formes of liuing that the former Kings of England my Predecessours haue done and his liuing to bee ruled according to the proportion of his greatnesse is aswell for the honour of your Kingdome as of your King Now this cannot be supplied out of the ayre or liquid elements but must come from the people And for remouing of that diffidence which men may haue that I minde not to liue in any wastefull sort hereafter will you but looke vpon my selfe and my posteritie and if there were no more but that it will teach you that if I were but a naturall man I must needs bee carefull of my expences For as for my owne person I hope none that knowes me well can thinke me but as little inclined to any prodigall humours of vnnecessary things as any other reasonable man of a farre meaner estate Therefore since as I haue said I cannot be helped but from the people I assure my selfe that you will well allow mee such measure of Supplie as the people may beare and support him with more Honourable meanes then others haue had that as I may say without vaunting hath brought you more Honour then euer
with a false light which yee doe if ye mistake or mis-vnderstand my Speach and so alter the sence thereof But secondly I pray you beware to soile it with a foule breath and vncleane hands I meane that yee peruert not my words by any corrupt affections turning them to an ill meaning like one who when hee heares the tolling of a Bell fancies to himselfe that it speakes those words which are most in his minde And lastly which is worst of all beware to let it fall or breake for glasse is brittle which ye doe if ye lightly esteeme it and by contemning it conforme not your selues to my perswasions To conclude then As all these three dayes of Iubile haue fallen in the midst of this season of penitence wherein you haue presented your thanks to me and I the like againe to you So doe I wish and hope that the end of this Parliament will bee such as wee may all haue cause both I your Head and yee the Body to ioyne in Eucharisticke Thanks and Praises vnto God for our so good and happie an end A SPEACH IN THE STARRE-CHAMBER THE XX. OF JVNE ANNO 1616. GIVE THY IVDGEMENTS TO THE KING O GOD AND THY RIGHTEOVSNES TO THE KINGS SONNE These be the first words of one of the Psalmes of the Kingly Prophet Dauid whereof the literall sense runnes vpon him and his sonne Salomon and the mysticall sense vpon GOD and CHRIST his eternall Sonne but they are both so wouen together as some parts are and can onely bee properly applied vnto GOD and CHRIST and other parts vnto Dauid and Salomon as this Verse Giue thy Iudgements to the King O God and thy Righteousnesse to the Kings Sonne cannot be properly spoken of any but of Dauid and his sonne because it is said Giue thy Iudgements c. Now God cannot giue to himselfe In another part of the same Psalme where it is said that Righteousnes shall flourish and abundance of Peace as long as the Moone endureth it signifieth eternitie and cannot be properly applied but to GOD and CHRIST But both senses aswell literall as mysticall serue to Kings for imitation and especially to Christian Kings for Kings sit in the Throne of GOD and they themselues are called Gods And therefore all good Kings in their gouernment must imitate GOD and his Christ in being iust and righteous Dauid and Salomon in being godly and wise To be wise is vnderstood able to discerne able to iudge others To be godly is that the fountaine be pure whence the streames proceed for what auailes it though all his workes be godly if they proceed not from godlinesse To bee righteous is to a mans selfe To bee iust is towards others But Iustice in a King auailes not vnlesse it be with a cleane heart for except he bee Righteous aswell as Iust he is no good King and whatsoeuer iustice he doeth except he doeth it for Iustice sake and out of the purenesse of his owne heart neither from priuate ends vaine-glory or any other by-respects of his owne all such Iustice is vnrighteousnesse and no trew Iustice From this imitation of GOD and CHRIST in whose Throne wee sit the gouernment of all Common-wealths and especially Monarchies hath bene from the beginning setled and established Kings are properly Iudges and Iudgement properly belongs to them from GOD for Kings sit in the Throne of GOD and thence all Iudgement is deriued In all well setled Monarchies where Law is established formerly and orderly there Iudgement is deferred from the King to his subordinate Magistrates not that the King takes it from himselfe but giues it vnto them So it comes not to them Priuatiuè but cumulatiuè as the Shoolemen speake The ground is ancient euer sithence that Counsell which Iethro gaue to Moses for after that Moses had gouerned a long time in his owne person the burthen grew so great hauing none to helpe him as his father in law comming to visite him found him so cumbred with ministring of Iustice that neither the people were satisfied nor he well able to performe it Therefore by his aduice Iudges were deputed for easier questions and the greater and more profound were left to Moses And according to this establishment all Kings that haue had a formall gouernement especially Christian Kings in all aages haue gouerned their people though after a diuers maner This Deputation is after one manner in France after another here and euen my owne Kingdomes differ in this point of gouernment for Scotland differs both from France and England herein but all agree in this I speake of such Kingdomes or States where the formalitie of Law hath place that the King that sits in Gods Throne onely deputes subalterne Iudges and he deputes not one but a number for no one subalterne Iudges mouth makes Law and their office is to interprete Law and administer Iustice But as to the number of them the forme of gouernement the maner of interpretation the distinction of Benches the diuersitie of Courts these varie according to the varietie of gouernment and institution of diuers Kings So this ground I lay that the seate of Iudgement is properly Gods and Kings are Gods Vicegerents and by Kings Iudges are deputed vnder them to beare the burden of gouernement according to the first example of Moses by the aduice of Iethro and sithence practised by Dauid and Salomon the wisest Kings that euer were which is in this Psalme so interlaced that as the first verse cannot be applied properly but to Dauid and Salomon in the words Giue thy Iudgements to the King c. So the other place in the same Psalme Righteousnesse shall flourish and abundance of peace shall remaine as long as the Moone endureth properly signifieth the eternitie of CHRIST This I speake to shew what a neere coniunction there is betweene God and the King vpward and the King and his Iudges downewards for the same coniunction that is betweene God and the King vpward the same coniunction is betweene the King and his Iudges downewards As Kings borrow their power from God so Iudges from Kings And as Kings are to accompt to God so Iudges vnto God and Kings and both Kings and Iudges by imitation haue two qualities from God and his Christ and two qualities from Dauid and his Salomon Iudgement and Righteousnesse from God and Christ Godlinesse and Wisedome from Dauid and Salomon And as no King can discharge his accompt to God vnlesse he make conscience not to alter but to declare and establish the will of God So Iudges cannot discharge their accompts to Kings vnlesse they take the like care not to take vpon them to make Law but ioyned together after a deliberate consultation to declare what the Law is For as Kings are subiect vnto Gods Law so they to mans Law It is the Kings Office to protect and settle the trew interpretation of the Law of God within his Dominions And it is the Iudges Office to interprete the
Law of the King whereto themselues are also subiect Hauing now perfourmed this ancient Prouerbe A Ioue principium which though it was spoken by a Pagan yet it is good and holy I am now to come to my particular Errand for which I am heere this day wherein I must handle two parts First the reason why I haue not these fourteene yeeres sithence my Coronation vntill now satisfied a great many of my louing subiects who I know haue had a great expectation and as it were a longing like them that are with child to heare mee speake in this place where my Predecessors haue often sitten and especially King Henry the seuenth from whom as diuers wayes before I am lineally descended and that doubly to this Crowne and as I am neerest descended of him so doe I desire to follow him in his best actions The next part is the reason Why I am now come The cause that made mee abstaine was this When I came into England although I was an old King past middle aage and practised in gouernment euer sithence I was twelue yeeres olde yet being heere a stranger in gouernement though not in blood because my breeding was in another Kingdome I resolued therefore with Pythagoras to keepe silence seuen yeeres and learne my selfe the Lawes of this Kingdome before I would take vpon mee to teach them vnto others When this Apprentiship was ended then another impediment came which was in the choice of that cause that should first bring me hither I expected some great cause to make my first entry vpon For I thought that hauing abstained so long it should be a worthy matter that should bring mee hither Now euery cause must be great or small In small causes I thought it disgracefull to come hauing beene so long absent In great causes they must be either betwixt the King and some of his Subiects or betwixt Subiect and Subiect In a cause where my selfe was concerned I was loath to come because men should not thinke I did come for my owne priuate either Prerogatiue or profit or for any other by-respect And in that case I will alwayes abide the triall of men and Angels neuer to haue had any particular end in that which is the Maine of all things Iustice In a great cause also betweene partie and partie great in respect either of the question or value of the thing my comming might seeme as it were obliquely to be in fauour of one partie and for that cause this Counsellour or that Courtier might be thought to mooue me to come hither And a meane cause was not worthy of mee especially for my first entrance So lacke of choice in both respects kept mee off till now And now hauing passed a double apprentiship of twice seuen yeeres I am come hither to speake vnto you And next as to the reasons of my comming at this time they are these I haue obserued in the time of my whole Reigne here and my double Apprentiship diuers things fallen out in the Iudicatures here at Westminster Hall that I thought required and vrged a reformation at my hands whereupon I resolued with my selfe that I could not more fitly begin a reformation then here to make an open declaration of my meaning I remember Christs saying My sheepe heare my voyce and so I assure my selfe my people will most willingly heare the voyce of me their owne Shepheard and King whereupon I tooke this occasion in mine owne person here in this Seate of Iudgement not iudicially but declaratorily and openly to giue those directions which at other times by piece-meale I haue deliuered to some of you in diuers lesse publike places but now will put it vp in all your audience where I hope it shall bee trewly caried and cannot be mistaken as it might haue bene when it was spoken more priuately I will for order sake take mee to the methode of the number of Three the number of perfection and vpon that number distribute all I haue to declare to you FIrst I am to giue a charge to my selfe for a King or Iudge vnder a King that first giues not a good charge to himselfe will neuer be able to giue a good charge to his inferiours for as I haue said Good riuers cannot flow but from good springs if the fountaine be impure so must the riuers be Secondly to the Iudges And thirdly to the Auditory and the rest of the inferiour ministers of Iustice First I protest to you all in all your audience heere sitting in the seate of Iustice belonging vnto GOD and now by right fallen vnto mee that I haue resolued as Confirmation in Maioritie followeth Baptisme in minoritie so now after many yeeres to renew my promise and Oath made at my Coronation concerning Iustice and the promise therein for maintenance of the Law of the Land And I protest in GODS presence my care hath euer beene to keepe my conscience cleare in all the points of my Oath taken at my Coronation so farre as humane frailtie may permit mee or my knowledge enforme mee I speake in point of Iustice and Law For Religion I hope I am reasonably well knowen already I meane therefore of Lawe and Iustice and for Law I meane the Common Law of the Land according to which the King gouernes and by which the people are gouerned For the Common Law you can all beare mee witnesse I neuer pressed alteration of it in Parliament but on the contrary when I endeauoured most an Vnion reall as was already in my person my desire was to conforme the Lawes of Scotland to the Law of England and not the Law of England to the Law of Scotland and so the prophecie to be trew of my wise Grandfather Henry the seuenth who foretold that the lesser Kingdome by marriage would follow the greater and not the greater the lesser And therefore married his eldest daughter Margaret to Iames the fourth my great Grandfather It was a foolish Querke of some Iudges who held that the Parliament of England could not vnite Scotland and England by the name of Great Britaine but that it would make an alteration of the Lawes though I am since come to that knowledge that an Acte of Parliament can doe greater wonders And that old wise man the Treasourer Burghley was wont to say Hee knew not what an Acte of Parliament could not doe in England For my intention was alwayes to effect vnion by vniting Scotland to England and not England to Scotland For I euer meant being euer resolued that this Law should continue in this Kingdome and two things mooued mee thereunto One is that in matter of Policie and State you shall neuer see any thing anciently and maturely established but by Innouation or alteration it is worse then it was I meane not by purging of it from corruptions and restoring it to the ancient integritie Another reason was I was sworne to maintaine the Law of the Land and therefore I had beene periured if I
Pharises Hoc agite as the most principall yet I will say Et illud non omittite which that you may the better doe I haue allowed you a day more in your Circuits then my Predecessours haue done And this you shall finde that euen as a King let him be neuer so godly wise righteous and iust yet if the subalterne Magistrates doe not their parts vnder him the Kingdome must needes suffer So let the Iudges bee neuer so carefull and industrious if the Iustices of Peace vnder them put not to their helping hands in vaine is all your labour For they are the Kings eyes and eares in the countrey It was an ancient custome that all the Iudges both immediatly before their going to their Circuits and immediatly vpon their returne repaired to the Lord Chancellour of England both to receiue what directions it should please the King by his mouth to giue vnto them as also to giue him an accompt of their labours who was to acquaint the King therewith And this good ancient custome hath likewise beene too much slacked of late And therefore first of all I am to exhort and command you that you be carefull to giue a good accompt to me and my Chancellour of the dueties performed by all Iustices of Peace in your Circuits Which gouernment by Iustices is so laudable and so highly esteemed by mee that I haue made Scotland to bee gouerned by Iustices and Constables as England is And let not Gentlemen be ashamed of this Place for it is a place of high Honour and great reputation to be made a Minister of the Kings Iustice in seruice of the Common-wealth Of these there are two sorts as there is of all Companies especially where there is a great number that is good and bad Iustices For the good you are to enforme me of them that I may know them thanke them and reward them as occasion serues For I hold a good Iustice of Peace in his Countrey to doe mee as good seruice as hee that waites vpon mee in my Priuie Chamber and as ready will I be to reward him For I accompt him as capable of any Honour Office or preferment about my Person or for any place of Councell or State as well as any Courteour that is neere about mee or any that haue deserued well of me in forreine employments Yea I esteeme the seruice done me by a good Iustice of Peace three hundred miles yea sixe hundred miles out of my sight as well as the seruice done me in my presence For as God hath giuen me large limits so must I be carefull that my prouidence may reach to the farthest parts of them And as Law cannot be honoured except Honour be giuen to Iudges so without due respect to Iustices of Peace what regard will be had of the seruice Therefore let none be ashamed of this Office or be discouraged in being a Iustice of Peace if he serue worthily in it The Chancellour vnder me makes Iustices and puts them out but neither I nor he can tell what they are Therefore wee must bee informed by you Iudges who can onely tell who doe well and who doe ill without which how can the good be cherished and maintained and the rest put out The good Iustices are carefull to attend the seruice of the King and countrey for thanks onely of the King and loue to their countrey and for no other respect The bad are either idle Slowbellies that abide alwayes at home giuen to a life of ease and delight liker Ladies then men and thinke it is enough to contemplate Iustice when as Virtus in actione consistit contemplatiue Iustice is no iustice and contemplatiue Iustices are fit to be put out Another sort of Iustices are busie-bodies and will haue all men dance after their pipe and follow their greatnesse or else will not be content A sort of men Qui seprimos omnium esse putant nec sunt tamen these proud spirits must know that the countrey is ordained to obey and follow GOD and the King and not them Another sort are they that goe seldome to the Kings seruice but when it is to helpe some of their kindred or alliance So as when they come it is to helpe their friends or hurt their enemies making Iustice to serue for a shadow to Faction and tumultuating the countrey Another sort are Gentlemen of great worth in their owne conceit and cannot be content with the present forme of Gouernement but must haue a kind of libertie in the people and must be gracious Lords and Redeemers of their libertie and in euery cause that concernes Prerogatiue giue a snatch against a Monarchie through their Puritanicall itching after Popularitie Some of them haue shewed themselues too bold of late in the lower house of Parliament And when all is done if there were not a King they would be lesse cared for then other men And now hauing spoken of the qualities of the Iustices of Peace I am next to speake of their number As I euer held the midway in all things to be the way of Vertue in eschewing both extremities So doe I in this for vpon the one part a multitude of Iustices of Peace in the countrey more then is necessary breeds but confusion for although it be an old Prouerbe that Many handes make light worke yet too many make slight worke and too great a number of Iustices of Peace will make the businesse of the countrey to be the more neglected euery one trusting to another so as nothing shall bee well done besides the breeding of great corruption for where there is a great number it can hardly bee but some will bee corrupted And vpon the other part too few Iustices of Peace will not be able to vndergoe the burthen of the seruice And therefore I would neither haue too few nor too many but as many in euery countrey as may according to the proportion of that countrey bee necessary for the performing of the seruice there and no more As to the Charge you are to giue to the Iustices I can but repeat what formerly I haue told you yet in so good a businesse Lectio lecta placet decies repetita placebit And as I began with fulfilling the Prouerbe A Ioue principium so will I begin this Charge you are to giue to the Iustices with Church-matters for GOD will blesse euery good businesse the better that he and his Church haue the precedence That which I am now to speake is anent Recusants and Papists You neuer returned from any Circuit but by your accompt made vnto me I both conceiued great comfort and great griefe Comfort when I heard a number of Recusants in some Circuits to be diminished Griefe to my heart and soule when I heard a number of Recusants to be in other Circuits increased I protest vnto you nothing in the earth can grieue mee so much as mens falling away from Religion in my dayes And nothing so much ioyes mee as when