chiefe-fathers of Israel they came to Ierusalem and all the congregation made a couenant with the King said The Kings sonne must reigne as the Lord hath said of the sons of Dauid Hereupon the King is proclaimed Athaliah is slaine the house of Baal destroied the Altars and idols that were in it broken down In all this narration there is nothing that maketh for the chiefe Priests power of deposing lawfull kings if they become heretiques For first Athaliah was an vsurper no lawfull Queene Secondly here was nothing done by Iehoiada alone but by him and the Captaines of hundreths and the chiefe Fathers of Israel that entred into couenant with him Thirdly there is great difference betweene the high Priest in the time of the Lawe and in the time of Christ. For before the comming of Christ the high Priest euen in the managing of the weightiest ciuill affaires and in iudgement of life and death sate in the Councell of State as the second person next vnto the King by Gods owne appointment Whereas our Aduersaries dare not claime any such thing for the Pope And therefore it is not to bee maruailed at if the high Priest beeing the second person in the kingdome of Iudah by Gods owne appointment and the Vnckle and Protectour of the young king whom his wife had saued from destruction bee the first mouer for the bringing of him to his right and when things are resolued on by common consent take on him not onely to commaund and direct the Priests and Leuites but the Captaines souldiers also for the establishing of their King the suppressing of a bloody tyrant and vsurper For all this might be done by Iehoiada as a chiefe man in that state and yet the Pope be so farre from obtaining that he claimeth which is to depose lawfull kings for abusing their authority that hee may not presume to do all that the high Priests lawfully did and might doe as not hauing so great preeminence from Christ in respect of matters of ciuill state in any kingdome of the world as the high Priest had by Gods owne appointment in the kingdome of Iudah Israel In the old Law saith Occā the high Priest meddled in matters of warre in the judgment of life and death the losse of members vengeance of blood it beseemed him well so to do But the Priests of the new Law may not meddle with things of this nature Wherefore from the power dominion which the high Priest of the old Law had it cannot be concluded that the Pope hath any power in tēporal matters The fifth example is of Ambrose repelling Theodosius the Emperour from the communion of the Church after the bloody and horrible murther that was committed at Thessalonica by his commandement The story is this The coach-man of Borherica the Captaine of the souldiers in that towne for some fault was committed to prison Now when the solemne horse-race and sporting fight of horsemen approched the people of Thessalonica desired to haue him set at liberty as one of whom there would be great vse in those ensuing solemne sports which being denied the citty was in an vprore and Botherica and certaine other of the magistrates were stoned to death and most despitefully vsed Theodosius the Emperour hearing of this outrage was exceedingly moued and commaunded a certaine number to be put to the sword without all iudiciall forme of proceeding or putting difference betweene offendors and such as were innocent So that seauen thousand perished by the sword and among them many strangers that were come into the citty vpon diuerse occasions that had no part in the outrage for which Theodosius was so sore displeased were most cruelly and vniustly slaine Saint Ambrose vnderstanding of this violent and vniust proceeding of the Emperour the next time he came to Millaine and was comming to the Church after his wonted manner met him at the doore and stayd him from entring with this speech Thou seemest not to know O Emperour what horrible and bloudy murthers haue beene committed by thee neither dost thou bethinke thy selfe now thy rage is past to what extremities thy fury carried thee perhaps the glory of thine Imperiall power will not let thee take notice of any fault thy greatnesse repelleth all checke of reason controlling thee but thou shouldest know the frailty of mans nature and that the dust was that beginning whence we are taken and and to which we must returne Let not therefore the glory of thy purple robes make thee forget the weakenesse of that body of flesh that is couered with them Thy subjects O Emperour are in nature like thee and in seruice thy fellowes for there is one Lord and commander ouer all the maker of all things Wherefore with what eyes wilt thou behold his temple or with what feete wilt thou treade on the sacred pauement thereof wilt thou lift vp to him those hands from which the bloud yet droppeth wilt thou receiue with them the sacred body of our Lord or wilt thou presume to put to thy mouth the cup replenished with the precious bloud of Christ which hast shed so much innocent bloud by the word of thy mouth vttering the passion of thy furious minde Depart therefore adde not this iniquity to the rest and decline not those bands which God aboue approueth With these speeches the Emperour was much moued and knowing the distinct duties both of Emperours and Bishops for that he had bin trained vp in the knowledge of heauenly doctrine returned to the Court with teares sighes A long time after for eight moneths were first past the solemne feast of the Natiuity of Christ approached and all prepared themselues to solemnize the same with triumphant ioy But the Emperor sate in the Court lamenting powring out riuers of teares which when Ruffinus maister of the pallace perceiued he came vnto him and asked the cause of his weeping to whom weeping more bitterly then before he said O Ruffinus thou makest but a sport of these things for thou art touched with no sence of those euils wherewith I am afflicted but the consideration of my calamity maketh me sigh and lament for that whereas the doores of Gods Temple are open to slaues and beggars and they goe freely into the same to make prayers vnto their Lord they are shut against me and which is yet worse the gates of heauen are shut against me also for I cannot forget the words of our Lord who saith Whomsoeuer ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heauen To whom Ruffinus replied I will runne if it please thee O Emperour to the Bishop and intreate him to vnloose these bands wherewith hee hath bound thee No saith the Emperour it is to no purpose so to doe for he will not bee intreated I know his sentence is right and iust and that he will not transgresse the law of God for any respect of imperiall power Yet when Ruffinus was
enlargement of his jurisdiction The first of the Slavons sayth Cromerus that were converted to the faith were those of Bulgaria who became Christian the yeare 860 in the time of Nicholas the first About these there was much contention a long time betweene Rome and Constantinople either of them clayming jurisdiction over them as having wonne them to the true knowledge and worshippe of God But in the end the Grecians prevayled and they were wholly put vnder the jurisdiction of Constantinople Some thirty yeares after these they of Rascia Servia Bosina Croatia Dalmatia and Illiricum received the Christian faith from their neighbours the Grecians and Italians in the time of the raigne of Suatoplugus amongst the Moravians who gaue his name to Christ and was the meanes of the conversion of Borivoius Duke of the Bohemians about the yeare 900. Not long after the conversion of the Bohemians about 980 yeares after Christ in the time of the raigne of Basilius and Constantine Emperours of Constantinople the Russees began publickely to professe the Christian faith Volodomirus their prince having married the Emperours sister and receiued teachers from the Patriarch of Constantinople This prince after hee became a Christian placed a Metropolitan at Kiovia an Archbishop at Novograd and in other citties Bishops consecrated by the Patriarch of Constantinople Since which time the Russians adhere most constantly to the Greeke religion rites After this the Polomans possessed themselues of sundry parts of Russia but the Russians not long enduring that subjection cast off the yoake and became free againe yet continued not long so for within short time after Russia in a great part became subject to the Lituanians partly by conquest and partly by marriages and from them was passed over againe to the Polonians For Ludovicus King of Hungary and Poland had two daughters of which the younger named Heduigis succeeded him in the kingdome of Polonia who was married to Iagello prince of Lituania and thereby all Lituania and that part of Russia also that was subject to Lituania was joyned to the kingdome of Polonia for ever But the histories report that while the Russees were diuided into many principalities which fell out immediatly after the death of Volodomirus one Iohn the son of Daniel a prince amongst them taking a good liking of the river and tower of Mosqua repaired the tower before meane and base and made it the seate of his principality So that the Russees subject to him were named Moscovites from the riuer and tower of Mosco And when long after they of the posterity of Iohn having joyned vnto them partly by marriages partly by fraud partly by force such people of that nation and language as lay neere vnto them formerly weakened by the incursions of the Tartars and others and so enlarged their principality All such Russees as were joyned to that empire though much more noble and mighty then the Moscovites were content to be named Moscovites and yet still retayned the name of Russees also as the Podolians are Russees and yet haue a peculiar name These Moscovites by conquest obtained Novograde and after that those Russees that were called Severianenses fell from the subjection of the Lituanians to the Moscovites either moued so to doe by the iniuries they had receiued from them as they pretended or rather by reason of the difference in religion betweene them and the good correspondence they held with the Muscovites in this respect so that the principality of Mosco grew to bee exceeding great The Duke of Mosco growing thus great obtained of the Patriarch of Constantinople to haue a metropolitan of Mosco who was named Metropolitan of Russia both by the Patriarch and others aswell as the Bishop of Kiovia who was long before so named and continueth yet still so to bee In that part of Russia that is subject to the King of Polonia there are seaven Bishoprickes whereof the Bishoppe of Kiovia is the Metropolitan In the other which is subject to the great Duke of Mosco there are eleven Bishoprickes whereof the Bishop of Mosco is Metropolitan the Bishop of Novograde Rascavium are Archbishops the rest ordinary Bishops All these as being at the first consecrated and placed by the Patriarch of Constantinople were vnder his jurisdiction 4º The Turkes conquests haue beene an occasion of the enlargment of the Constantinopolitan iurisdiction for when sundry parts of the Christian world formerly subject to Rome were brought vnder the bondage of the Turkes the Bishops and Pastors like hirelings forsooke their flockes over which the Patriarch of Constantinople pittying their case placed Bishops and Pastors of the greeke religion who by little and little wonne them to the liking of the same Thus wee see how farre the Constantinopolitan iurisdiction spreades it selfe so that I thinke it will be found that the number of Christians vnder that Bishop with the Melchites and Georgians that are ioyned in communion with him though never vnder his jurisdiction doth farre exceede them of the Roman communion vnlesse they draw in their new converts in the Indies to fill vp the number The division separation betweene the Greeke Latine Churches grew out of the ambitious cōtentiōs of the Bishop of Rome the Patriarch of Constantinople in this sort In the time of the Nicen Councell and before as appeareth by the acts of the Councell limiting their bounds there were three principall Bishops or Patriarchs of the Christian Church namely the Bishop of Rome Alexandria and Antioch After which time Constantinople before named Bizantium made great by Constantine being the seate of the Emperours the Bishop of this See not only obtained to haue the dignity of a Patriarch among the rest but in the second generall Councell holden at Constantinople was preferred before both the other of Alexandria and Antioch set in degree of honour next vnto the Bishop of Rome In the great Councell of Chalcedon hee was made equall with him to haue all equall rights privileges prerogatiues because he was Bishop of new Rome as the other of old But not long contenting himselfe with this equality the magnificencie and glory of his City dayly increasing making him proud and insolent hee challenged to be superiour and would be named vniversall B. not challenging to himselfe to be B. alone but incroaching vpon the right of all other thereby declaring himselfe greater and more honorable then any of the rest and the chiefe Bishop of the whole world because his citie was the chiefe citie of the world About this was the contention betweene Gregorie the first and Iohn of Constantinople which not being ended in the dayes of Gregory because the Emperour Mauritius was averse from him favouring the claime of his aduersary Bonifacius obtained of Phocas to haue the mattter in such sort concluded betweene them that the B. of Rome should haue the first and chiefe place in the Church of God and
excellent sort Either then the Fathers condemned these without cause for worshipping creatures or they meant to restraine more than that adoration which ascribeth infinite greatnesse to him that is adored which vndoubtedly they did euen the least and lowest degree of spirituall worship or worship in spirit and truth This most clearely appeareth to bee so by that of the seuenth generall Councell which though it did not onely confirme the placing of pictures in the Church but prescribed that they should be worshipped yet the Fathers of that Councell expounded themselues that they meant nothing else thereby but a reuerent vsage of them approaching to them embracing and kissing of them in such sort as men vse to doe to the bookes of holy Scriptures and all sacred vessels and things consecrated to the vse of Gods seruice but permit not any the least part of spirituall worshippe or worshippe in spirit and trueth the Scripture speaketh of to be giuen vnto them for if it be they judge it Idolatrie But the Romanists at this day giue spirituall worshippe to creatures and thinke they sinne not if it be not in so high a degree as to ascribe vnto them infinite greatnesse Adoration implieth in it three actes First an apprehension of the excellencie of that which is adored Secondly an acte of the will desiring to doe some thing to testifie our acknowledgement of this greatnes and our subjection and inferioritie Thirdly an outward acte expressing the same Wee say therefore that Adoration proceeding out of the apprehension of the excellencie of that is worshipped and the desire to testifie our acknowledgement of it is of two sortes or kinds For either it is limited to certaine times places and things when where and wherein the excellencie of that wee worship presents it selfe vnto vs and requireth our acknowledgement of it as is the worshippe of Kings Princes Prelates and Prophets in their kingdomes Courts Churches and Schooles ruling guiding teaching and instructing or else it is spirituall which in all places at all times and in all things causeth him that worshippeth to bow himself before that hee worshippeth and thereby to testifie his acknowledgement of the excellency of it which he findeth in euery time place and thing to present it selfe vnto him This kinde of Adoration subiecteth not only the body but the spirit and minde also to him whose greatnesse it thus acknowledgeth This worship we say is proper to God For he onely at all times and in all places and things seeth beholdeth guideth and taketh care of vs and ruling disposing and commaunding vs inwardly and outwardly worketh our good But the Romanists say the Saints doe so likewise though not in so excellent sort as God doth for they suppose that they know all things that concerne vs that they watch ouer vs with a carefull and vigilant eye that they carry vs in their hands and by their mediation procure our good from God the fountaine of all good and therefore they worship them with spirituall worship The miracles that God wrought in times past by them made many to attribute more to them than was fitte as if they had a generalitie of presence knowledge and working but the wisest and best aduised neuer durst attribute any such thing vnto them Whether saith Augustine the Saints be present euery where or at least wheresoeuer their memorialls are kept or whether they remaine in one place only and praying onely in generall for the Militant Church God doe worke by himselfe or his Angels that which is fit for the confirmation of the faith they professed and the good of such as remember them I dare not pronounce And who knoweth not that hee inclineth to that opinion that they doe not particularly see know and entermeddle with humane things and confirmeth this his iudgement with sundry excellent reasons and authorities This opinion did the Authour of the glosse follow and Hugo de sancto victore and the Church of God neuer defined otherwise howsoeuer Ierome in his passion against Vigilantius seeme to say the contrary and Gregorie endeauour to confirme it saying hee that seeth God who seeth all things cannot but see all things in him But Occam and sundry other excellent Schoolemen reiect this saying of Gregorie and Gregorius Ariminensis resolueth peremptorily that neither Saints nor Angels know the secrets of our hearts but that this is reserued as peculiar to God alone If then the Saints for ought wee know do not see know and intermeddle with our particular affaires but pray only in generall there remaineth nothing else safely to bee donne by vs but to seeke vnto GOD and then all these both Saints and Angells shall loue vs in him and what in them lyeth procure our good Behold sayth Augustine I worship one God one beginning of all things that fountaine of wisdome and happinesse whence all things that are wise and happie haue their wisdome and happinesse whichsoeuer of the Angels loueth thâ—… GOD I am sure hee loueth mee whosoeuer abideth in him and can heare the prayers and take notice of the wants of mortall men I am well assured hee doth heare mee when I pray to God and endeauoureth to giue mee the best furtherance hee can Let therefore those Adoratores partium mundi worshippers of parts and portions of the world tell mee what good Saint or Angel hee doth not assure vnto himselfe which worshipeth that one God whom euery one that is good doth loue and desire to please Hence it came that though some particular men did aunciently at sometimes when they had occasion to speake of them doubtfully sollicite the Saints and desire them if they had any apprehension of these inferiour things to bee remembrancers for them vnto God yet no man prayed vnto them with bowed knees in set courses of deuotion and prayer Neither was there any forme of inuocation of Saints brought into the seruice of the Church for a long time as appeareth by that of Augustine who sayth they are named by the Minister in the time of the holy mysteries but not innocated For how could there be any inuocation of them generally receiued and allowed or constantly resolued on and vsed in the set courses of the prayers of those primitiue Christians when they knew not nor were not certainely resolued whether the Saints do know or intermeddle with the particular affaires of men in this world seeing the Romanists themselues confesse it were not fit nor safe to pray to Saints if they did not heare vs Now it is no way likely that any generall opinion was holden in those times of the vniuersall presence knowledge and habilitie of Saints to steade them that seeke unto them seeing it was a long time doubtfull in the Church whether the faithfull departing out of this world bee immediatly receiued into heauen and enioy the happie presence of God or whether they remaine or stay in Abrahams bosome or some place
devout as to desire to communicate euery Sunday and some other dayes also So that there wanted not of the people in former times that desired to communicate aswell as to be present nor of the guides that encouraged them so to doe and therefore hitherto nothing can be proued against my assertion Wherefore let vs come to the Masse it selfe Amongst all the Sacraments of the Church that is the principall saith Durandus that is celebrated vpon the table of the most holy Altar representing that Feast banquet of the Church wherein the father vpon the returne of his lost sonne caused the fatlings to be slaine setteth out the bread of life the wine which wisedome hath mixed for her friends louers These mysteries this holy Sacrament Christ then instituted when he made his new and last testament disposing to his heires a kingdome as his father had disposed to him that vpon his Table they might eat drinke in his kingdome that which the Church hath consecrated for as they were at supper Iesus tooke bread and when he had giuen thanks blessed it brake it gaue it to his Disciples saying take eat this is my body which shal be giuen for you doe this in the remembrance of me The Apostles following this institution began to celebrate these mysteries for the same end that Christ had expressed keeping the same forme in words and vsing the same matter of bread wine that he did as the Apostle witnesseth to the Corinthians where he saith what I haue receiued of the Lord I haue deliuered vnto you who the same night that hee was betrayed tooke bread c. and added to the forme of wordes vsed by Christ the Lords prayer And S. Peter is said in this sort to haue celebrated first of all in the East parts Wherefore in the beginnings of the Church these mysteries were celebrated in another sort then since they haue bin Afterwards the reading of some parts of sacred scripture particularly of the Epist. Gospell was added Pope Celestinus instituted the introitus other things were added at other times by others Howsoeuer this is certain there were are at this day diuers formes of celebrating this mystery For the formes of the East Churches are different from those of the West it appeareth that aunciently in France Spain sundry parts of Italy they had other formes then now are vsed more like to those of the East which being in some things enlarged and perfitted by S. Ambrose were called the Ambrosian forms of divine seruice These cōtinued till the time of Charles the great For thogh Gregory as Io. Diaconus tels vs taking the forms of celebrating masse which Gelasius had cōposed adding somethings detracting others changing others brought in a new forme which the Church of Rome followed yet the other churches of the west retained the old forms which they had receiued frō their ancesters And to this purpose it is that Berno Augiensis testifieth that amongst the monuments of his Abbey there was found an olde ◅all much different from those of Rome But Charles the great sought to bring the Provinces subiect to his Empire to receiue the Romane forme by threats punishment We read saith Durandus in the life of blessed Eugenius that while the forme of divine seruice which was named the Ambrosian forme was more followed obserued by the Church then that of Gregory Adrian the Pope called a councell in which it was ordered that the Gregorian forme should euerywhere be obserued To the obseruation whereof Charles the Emperour by threats and punishments forced the Cleargie in sundry Provinces burning the olde Ambrosian bookes And further hee addeth that Saint Eugenius comming to a certaine councell called about this businesse finding that the Bishoppes were gone and the councell ended three dayes before his comming induced the Pop◅ to call the Bishoppes backe againe which hee did and the councell being againe renued it was agreed on by common consent that both the missals both that of Saint Ambrose and the other of Saint Gregorie should be layed on the altar of Saint Peter the Apostle that the doores of the Church should be fast locked and sealed with the seale of sundry Bishops and that then they should spend the whole night in prayer beseeching God that he would shew by some signe which of these hee would haue to be obserued in his Church and in the morning entering they found that of Gregory torne in peeces and scattered all ouer the Church the other opened but yet still lying entire and whole on the altar of which accident they made this construction that that of Gregorie was to be vsed euery where thorough the world the other only at Millain in S. Ambroses owne Church and so saith Durand it is vsed vnto this day For by the helpe of Charles the great that of Ambrose was disused in many Churches that other brought in place Onely the Christians of Spaine admitted not this alteration notwithstanding all these endeauours till the time of Gregorie the seauenth what time they were constrained by Alphonsus the sixt to giue way which they did most vnwillingly and not without teares Rodericus reporteth that when this alteration was vrged by the Popes legate and the king there being an assembly of all the states the Clergie Nobilitie and people resisted mainely against it whereupon in the end it was resolued that that matter should be tried by cumbate and one being chosen for the newe and another for defense of the old he that vndertooke the defense of the old preuailed which caused a great reioycing among the people But the king not regarding this triall nor thinking it to bee any sufficient clearing of the matter questioned it was agreed that both the bookes should be cast into the fire that that which should bee preserued in the fire might bee allowed as best which accordingly being done the booke of the old forme came forth vntouched and the other was consumed yet would not the king be perswaded to desist but threatning death and vtter confusion to all gainesayers made this innouation in his Church and kingdome all his subiects weeping and sorrowing and then began the prouerbe Quo volunt reges vadunt leges So that wee see howsoeuer our aduersaries would make the simple beleeue that things were euer as now they are yet there haue beene great alterations in the forme of diuine seruice and it is not to be doubted but that the auncient formes as different from the latter were more pure and sincere then they that are now vsed They that haue diligently looked into the monuments of antiquity sayth Rhenanus vpon Tertullians booke de corona militis do thinke that aunciently the masse began when the priest did say The lord be with you immediately after Lift vp your harts and Let vs giue thankes to our Lord God and againe It is very meete right and our
Church when it is confessed by the best learned of all sides that the Priests of the Law had no priuiledge of not erring in teaching the people of GOD after Christ appeared and began to teach in his owne person whatsoeuer they had before and that this was fore-told by Ieremy the Prophetwhen he said Peribit lex à Sacerdote verbū à Propheta consilium à Sapiente The Law shall perish frō the Priest the word frō the Prophet and counsell from the wise But such is the impudencie of some of the friends louers of the Church of Rome that they feare not to defend cleare the doctrine of the Scribes and Pharisees from errour wherewith Christ so often chargeth them to justifie the proceedings of the high Priest and the rest of the Priests and Rulers assembled in Councell against Christ himselfe affirming that the sentence pronounced against him was true and just for that he was truly guilty of death in that hee had taken vpon him our sinnes to purge them in himselfe and that it was indeede expedient that he should dye for the people according to the saying of Caiphas who in so saying is saide to haue prophesied as being the high Priest that yeare But Bellarmine ingenuously acknowledgeth the ouer-sight of his friends and companions and saith that howsoeuer those words of Caiphas admit a good sense though not intended by him for he meant it was better that Christ being but one should die then that the whole people whose destruction he thought vnavoidable if Christ were suffered to liue should perish come to nothing Yet there are other wordes of Caiphas that in no sense are justifiable as when he said He hath blasphemed what need we any more witnesses Touching his former speech it was the will of God for the honour of the Priesthood that he should vtter that he meant ill in such wordes as might haue a good sense though not meant nor intended by him whereupon he is said to haue prophesied but the latter words are words of cursed blasphemy without horrible impiety cannot be excused in any sense Therefore there are others who confesse that Caiphas and his assistants erred when they cōdemned Christ but that it was but a matter of fact wherein they erred in mistaking the quality of Christs Person in being mis-informed of him in which kinde of things Councels may erre This conceipt the Cardinall likewise rejecteth explodeth as absurd for that howsoeuer it was a question of fact concerning the Person of him that stood to be judged yet it inwrapped in it a most important question concerning the Faith to wit whether IESVS the Son of Mary vvere the true Messias Son of God therefore Caiphas with his whole Councell resoluing that he was not erred damnably in a matter of Faith pertinaciously in that they rejected him as a blasphemer of God whom the Angels from Heauen testified to be the Son of God the Starre designed to be that light that lightneth euery one that commeth into the World the Sages from a farre adored as being that King of the Iewes that is to sit vpon the Throne of Dauid for euer whose Dominion is from Sea to sea from the Riuer to the end of the Land whom the seas windes obeyed at whose rebuke the Diuels went out of those they had formerly possessed But if this defence of the hellish sentence of wicked Caiphas be too weake as indeed it is our adversaries last refuge is that this Councel erred because Caiphas his fellowes proceeded in it tumultuously not in due sort vvhich is a most silly shift For how are Councels priviledged from erring vvhich is the thing these men seek so carefully to defend though it be vvith excusing of the Fact of those men vvho shal be found vnexcusable in the day of Iudgment if Councels may proceed tumultuously so define against the truth Thus we see that the great Councell of state amongst the Iewes to vvhich all matters of difficultie vvere brought from vvhich there vvas no appeale might and did erre sometimes dangerously damnably This Councell continued in some sort as vvell after the captivity of Babylon the returne from the same as before though vvith this difference that vvheras before the king had a principal interest in the same aftervvards the High Priest alvvayes vvas chief there being no more Kings of Iudah but the kings of Persia Aegypt and Syria commaunding ouer the Iewes and making them tributaries vnto them In this sort were they gouerned till some differences growing amongst them for the place of the high Priest they were by Antiochus Epiphanes king of Syria depriued both of their liberty and exercise of religion and brought into miserable bondage the indignity whereof the Assamonaei of the tribe of Leui could not indure but by force and policie in a sort freed the state of the Iewes againe and tooke vnto themselues first the name of Princes and then of Kings In the booke of Maccabees we reade that Mattathias was constituted Priest Prince and Ruler and that many came downe to him to seeke judgement and iustice Iudas Maccabaeus succeeded Mattathias and joyned the dignity of the high Priest to the princely power Ionathas succeeded Macchabaeus of whom we reade Now this day doe we chuse thee to be vnto vs a Prince instead of Iudas and a captaine to fight our battels Simon succeeded Ionathas and in his time Demetrius king of Syria and Antiochus his son remitted all tributes so that then the Iewes recouered their ancient liberty in as ample manner as they had formerly enjoyed it vnder their kings Iohn succeeded Simon and Aristobulus Iohn who put vpon himselfe a Diademe and assumed the name of a King After Aristobulus succeeded Alexander his brother marrying Solina his wife Alexander being dead Alexandra obtayned the kingdome after her Hircanus whom Aristobulus his brother expulsed Pompey tooke this Aristobulus prisoner subdued Iudaea brought it into the forme of a prouince and appointed Antipater Ascalonita to be Procurator of it but not long after Antigonus the son of Aristobulus recouered the citie of Hierusalem inuaded the kingdome against whom the Romans set vp Herod the son of Antipater and gaue him the name of a King Thus the direction and gouernment of the Iewes rested principally in the Sanedrim as well before as after their returne from Babylon and the Sanedrim which was the highest Court and swayed all consisted for the most part of men taken out of the house of Dauid and therefore the Scepter did not depart from Iudah so long as that Court continued and retayned the authority belonging to it though there were no king of the posterity of Dauid and tribe of Iudah but the high Priests first and then other of the tribe of Leui assuming to themselues Priestly and Princely dignity had the chiefest place and highest roome in this court of
say nothing of this excommunication but report the repulse which the messengers the Romane Bishop sent to the Emperour to procure a Councell receiued and Theophilus for ought I know was euer holden a catholicke Bishop both by Hierome and others to his dying day notwithstanding these quarrells betweene him and Chrysostome The excommunication of Leo the Emperour by Gregory the third whereof Zonaras writeth in the life of Leo Isaurus which is a third instance of Papall censures against the great men of the world proueth not the matter in question For Gregory did not anathematize Leo of himselfe alone but with a Synode of Bishops neither was he able by his owne authority to stay the Tribute that was wont to be payd to the Emperour but by his sollicitation procured a confederacie of the French and Germans against the Emperours of Constantinople and by their meanes stayed the Tribute that was wont to be paid wherevpon the Germans and French possessed Rome and became Lords of it The last example is that of Nicholas the first excommunicating Lotharius King of France and his concubine Valdrada together with the Arch-bishops of Coleyn Treuers But the answere herevnto is easie For first this example proueth not the thing in qâ—…estion to wit that the Pope hath an vniuersall power ouer all the world seeing all these were within the Patriarchship of the Bishop of Rome And secondly wee say these circumstances of this proceeding are vntruely reported by Bellarmine For this is the true report which wee finde in Rhegino and others Lotharius King of Lorrayne falling in loue with Valdrada which had beene his concubine while hee was yet a young man in his fathers house beganne to dislike Thietberga his wife Hereupon hee laboureth with the Bishops of Treuers and Coleyn to finde some meanes to put her away They call a Synode wherein Thietberga is charged to haue committed incest with her owne brother and thereupon pronounced an vnfit wife for the King The King thus freed from his wife professeth hee cannot liue single they pronounce it lawfull for him to marry another wife and he taketh Valdrada to wife whom he had formerly kept as his concubine Nicholas the first Bishop of Rome hearing of this sendeth into France to learne the certainty The Legates hee sendeth come to the King to expostulate the matter with him The King answereth that he did nothing but what the Bishoppes of his kingdome in a generall Councell had assured him was lawfull to bee done Whereupon the Bishops of Coleyn and Treuers were sent for to Rome and the Pope called a Councell in which the opinions and proceedings of these Bishops were condemned and they degraded by all the Bishops Presbyters Deacons that were assembled in Councell In all which narration there is no circumstance found that any way proueth the Pope to haue the fulnesse of all Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction but the contrary rather may from hence bee concluded because nothing is done against these two Bishops but by a Synode of Bishops assembled by their owne Patriarch But saith Bellarmine Pope Nicholas excommunicated the King and Valdrada his supposed wife therefore he is vniuersall Bishop The former part of this saying is most vntrue for the Pope did not excommunicate the King but Valdrada onely And I thinke the excommunicating of one silly harlot that had so grievously scandalized the Church of God and whose cause was iudged before in a Synode being brought thither and there examined by reason of the vniust proceedings of the Bishops of Coleyn and Treuers against a lawfull Queene in favour of her will neuer by any good consequence proue the Pope to bee vniuersall Bishop yet these are all the proofes the Cardinall canne bring from the censures the auncient Bishops of Rome are reported to haue vsed and therefore he proceedeth to shew demonstrate the Amplitude of the Popes illimited power iurisdiction by the Vicegerents hee appointed in all partes of the Christian world that were farre remote from him to doe things in his name by his authority But for answere herevnto we say that neither this Cardinall nor any other canne proue that the Bishops of Rome had any such Vicars Vicegerents or Substitutes but onely within the compasse of their owne Patriarchships and that therefore from the hauing of them nothing can be inferred for confirmation of their illimited power authority So Leo as we reade in his Epistles constituted Anastasius Bishoppe of Thessalonica his Vicegerent for the parts thereabouts as other his predecessours had done former Bishops of that Church Whâ—…ch causing great resort thither vpon diuers occasions may bee thought to haue beene the reason why the Councell of Sardica prouideth that the Clergy-men of other churches shall not make too long stay at Thessalonica So the same Leo made Potentius the Bishop his Vicegerent in the parts of Africa Hormisda Salustius Bishop of Hispalis in Boetica and Lusitania and Gregory Virgilius Bishop of Arle in the regions of France all these places being within the compasse of the Patriarchship of Rome as Cusanus sheweth And the same may be sayd of the Bishop of Iustiniana the first who was appointed the Bishop of Romes Vicegerent in those parts vpon signification of the Emperours will and desire that it should be so Neither doth the Cardinall proue any other thing whatsoeuer he maketh shew of For though Cyril Bishop of Alexandria were the Vicegerent of Caelestinus in the cause of Nestorius Bishop of Constantinople yet was he not his Vicegerent in such sort as they were that were within his owne Patriarchship as if he had had none authority of his owne but that onely which Caelestinus gaue vnto him But Caelestinus hauing beene informed by Cyril of the impieties of Nestorius and hauing in his Synodes of the West condemned the same joyned his authority with the authority of Cyril that so he might proceed against him not onely as of himselfe and out of the iudgments of his own Bishops but also out of the consenting resolutions of them of the West And therefore Euagrius sheweth that at or before the time appointed by the Emperour Nestorius and Cyril came to Ephesus where a Councell was to be holden and that Iohn of Antioch with his Bishops being not come after fifteene dayes stay Cyril Bishop of Alexandria the greatest of all the Bishops that were present who also supplied the place of Caelestinus with the rest of the Bishops thought good to send for Nestorius and to require him to appeare in the Synode to answere to the crimes obiected to him Whereby it is euident that Nestorius being to be iudged in a generall Councell Cyril being the greatest of the Bishops that were present the Bishop of Rome neither comming nor sending at the first was in his owne right President of that assembly But the Bishop of Rome who could not come but hauing assembled his Bishops
intermeddle with the disposition of earthly kingdomes or restraine or depose Princes how much soeuer they abuse their authoritie The first of these three opinions had anciently and hath presently great patrons and followers Yet Bellarmine very confidently and learnedly refuteth the same First shewing that the Pope is not soueraigne Lord of the whole world Secondly that he is not Lord of the Christian world And thirdly that hee is Lord of no part of the world That he is not Lord of the whole world he proueth because not of those Provinces that are possessed by Infidels which hee demonstrateth First because Christ committed none but onely his sheepe to Peter and therefore gaue him no authoritie ouer Infidels which are not his sheepe whereunto Saint Paul agreeth professing that hee hath nothing to doe to iudge them that are without Secondly because dominion and the right of Princes is not founded in grace or faith but in free will and reason and hath not sprung from the written Law of Moses or Christ but from the law of Nations and Nature VVhich is most cleare in that God both in the Olde and New Testament approueth the Kingdomes of the Gentiles and Infidels as appeareth by that of Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar O King thou art King of Kings For the God of Heauen hath giuen thee a kingdome power and strength and glory and in all places where the children of men dwell the beasts of the field and the fowles of the heauen hath hee giuen into thine hand and hath made thee a ruler ouer them all And that of Christ Giue vnto Caesar the things that are Caesars With whom the Apostle agreeth requiring the Christians of his time not only to pay tribute to Heathen kings but also to obey them for conscience sake which men were not bound to if they had no authority and right to commaund Neither can it be said that heathen princes are the Popes Lieuetenants and theresore to be obeyed for his sake though not for their owne seeing the Pope would haue no such Lieutenants if it lay in him to place them or displace them Lastly hee proueth that the Pope hath no such soueraigne right of commaunding ouer all as is pretended seeing it had beene vaine for Christ to giue him a right to that whereof hee should neuer get the possession And hauing thus proued that Infidels were truely and rightly Lords of the countries subiect to them before the comming of Christ that he found no nullitie in their titles nor euer seized their kingdomes and dominions into his owne hands as some fondly imagine that he did hee proceedeth to proue that Princes when they become Christians lose not the right that they formerly had to their kingdomes but get a new right to the kingdome of heauen For that otherwise Christs grace should destroy nature and his benefits be preiudiciall to such as are made partakers of them Whereas Christ came not to destroy and ouerthrow things well setled before but to perfect them nor to hurt any but to doe good to all For confirmation whereof hee alleageth part of the Hymne of Sedulius which the whole Church doth sing Hostis Herodes impie Christum venire quid times Non eripit mortalia Qui regna dat coelestia that is O impious enemie Herod why doest thou feare Christs comming He will not depriue thee of thy transitorie kingdome vpon earth that giues an eternall kingdome in heauen Whence it followeth that Christ imposed no such hard condition on those kings that were to become Christians as to leaue their crownes dignities And so he commeth to his second proposition that the Pope is not temporall Lord of the Christian world which he confirmeth First because if the Pope were soueraigne Lord of all the Christian world Bishops should be temporall Lords of their cities the places adioyning subiect to them Which neither they will graunt that contend for the soueraigntie of the Pope nor can stand with that of Saint Ambrose who saith If the Emperour aske tribute we deny it him not The Church lands doe pay tribute And againe Tribute is Caesars it is not denied him but the Church is Gods and may not be yeelded to Caesar. And that of Hosius Bishop of Corduba who as we reade in Athanasius telleth the Emperour that God hath giuē him the Empire but that he hath committed to Bishops those things that pertaine to the Church Secondly out of the confession of Popes Pope Leo confessing that Martianus the Emperour was appointed to the Empire by God and that God was the authour of his Empire And Gelasius writing to Anastasius the Emperour and acknowledging that there are two thinges by which principally the world is guided to wit the sacred authority of Bishoppes and the regall power of Princes with whom Gregorie agreeth when hee saith Power ouer all is giuen from heauen to the piety of my Lord. And from hence hee inferreth his third proposition that the Pope is temporall Lord of no part of the world in the right of Peters successour and Christs Vicar For if there were no nullitie in the titles of infidell kings and princes nor no necessity implied in their conuersion of relinquishing their right when they became Christians but that both infidels christians notwithstanding any act of Christ continued in the full possession of princely power right it could not be that Christ should inuest Peter or his successours with any kingly authority seeing hee could giue them none but such as he should take from others Nay hee proceedeth farther and sheweth that Christ himselfe while hee was on the earth was no temporall Lord or King and therefore much lesse gaue any temporall dominion or kingdome to his Apostles That he was no temporall king he proueth because the right to bee a King or Lord in such sort as men are Kings or Lords is either by inheritance election conquest or speciall donation and gift of Almighty God Now that Christ according to the flesh was a King by right of inheritance hee saith it cannot be proued because though hee came of the kingly familie yet it is vncertaine whether he were the next in bloud to Dauid or not And besides the kingdome was taken away from Dauids house before Christ was borne God had foretold that of the house of Ieconiah of which Christ came as we may reade in the first of Saint Matthew there should neuer be any temporall King such as David and the rest that succeeded him were saying Write this man barren a man that shall not prosper in his dayes for there shall bee no man of his seede to sitte vpon the throne of Dauid to haue power any more in Iudah And whereas it might be obiected that the Angell prophecied that the Lord God should giue vnto Christ the seat of Dauid his father the Cardinall answereth out of Hierome vpon the place of Hieremie and
Ambrose vpon Luke that the words of Almighty God which we read in Hieremie are to be vnderstood of a temporall kingdome and the words of the Angell of a spirituall and eternall kingdome That Christ was not a temporall King by right of election hee proueth by that of Christ himselfe when he saith O man who hath made me a judge or a diuider among you And by that of S. Iohn where he saith that When Christ knew they meant to come take him make him a King he fled againe himselfe alone into a mountaine So that he neither was chosen nor would haue accepted of any such choise That by right of conquest and victory hee was not a temporall King it appeareth in that his warre was not with mortall Kings to depriue them of their kingdomes but with the prince of darkenesse according to that of the Apostle To this purpose did the Sonne of God appeare that he might dissolue the workes of the Diuell And that againe Now is the Prince of this world cast out And that of Saint Paule who speaking of Christ sayth That spoyling principalities and powers hee made a shew of them openly triumphing ouer them in himselfe So that his warrefare was not by carnall weapons to get himselfe an earthly kingdome but by spirituall weapons mightie through God to get a spirituall kingdome that hee might reigne in the hearts of men by faith and grace where Sathan reigned before by infidelity disobedience and sinne Lastly that he was no temporall king by any speciall gift of God his Father it is euident out of his owne words when he saith My kingdome is not hence For as the Fathers note vpon these words Christ meant by so saying to put Pilate out of doubt that he affected no temporall kingdome And therefore the sence of his words must needes be this I am a King but not in such sort as Caesar and Herod My kingdome is not of this world that is The supports of it are not things of this world it doth not consist in honour riches and power of this world This thing the Cardinall farther proueth to be true because he came to minister and not to be ministred vnto to be judged and not to judge and by his whole course of conuersation shewed the same neuer taking vpon him to do any kingly act For whereas hee cast out the buyers and sellers out of the Temple it rather pertained to the Priestes office then the kings according to that which wee read in the old Testament that the Priest draue the king himselfe out of the Temple when disorderly he presumed to do things not pertaining to him and yet he did it not by any Priestly or kingly authority but after the manner of Prophets by a kind of diuine zeale like that wherewith Phinchees was moued to kill the adulterer and adulteresse and Elias to slay the Prophets of Baal This most true opinion of the Cardinall that Christ was no temporall king is farther confirmed in that such a kind of kingdome had not beene necessary Nay it had beene an hinderance to the worke he had in hand which was to perswade to the contempt of glorie honour riches pleasures and all such other earthly things wherewith the Kings of the earth abound and by suffering death to ouercome him that had the power of death and to reconcile the world vnto God And besides in that all the places where any mention is made of the kingdome of Christ are necessarily vnderstood of a spirituall and eternall kingdome So in the Psalme I am apointed of him a King to preach his commandement And againe in the booke of Daniel In their dayes shall God raise vp a kingdome which shall not be destroyed for euer And of his kingdome there shall be no end Whereas the kingdomes of men continue but for a time and therefore if Christ had beene a King in such sort while he was vpon the earth as men are he had ceased to be so when hee left the earth And then it could not haue beene true that of his kingdome there should be none end Nay seeing the kingdome of the Iewes was possessed by the Romanes at or immediately after the time of the departure of Christ out of the world and afterwards by the Saracens and Turkes how could that of Daniel haue beene fulfilled that his kingdome shall not be giuen to another people if his kingdome had beene like the kingdomes of men So it is true that Christ came into the world to be a king and that GOD gaue him the seate of Dauid his father But this kingdome was diuine spirituall eternall and proper vnto him in that hee was the Sonne of God and in that he was God and Man But a temporall kingdome such as the sonnes of men haue he had not And heereupon Saint Augustine bringeth in Christ speaking in this sort Audite Iudaej Gentes audi circumcisio audi praeputium audite omnia regnae terrena non impedio dominationem vestram in hoc mundo c. that is Heare O Iewes and Gentiles heare circumcision and vncircumcision heare all ye kingdomes of the earth I hinder not your dominion and rule in this world because my kingdome is not of this world Feare not therefore with that most vaine and causelesse feare wherewith Herod feared and slew so many innocent babes being cruell rather out of feare then anger and so forward shewing that the Kingdome of Christ is meerely spirituall and such as no way prejudiceth the kingdomes of men Which the Glosse confirmeth noting that Christ while hee was yet to liue longer in this world when the multitudes came to make him a King refused it but that when hee was ready to suffer he no way reproued but willingly accepted the hymnes of them that receiued him in triumphant manner and welcommed him to Hierusalem honouring him as a King because hee was a King not hauing a temporall and earthly kingdome but an heauenly Whereunto Leo agreeth shewing that Herod when hee heard a Prince was borne to the Iewes feared a successour but that his feare was vaine and causelesse saying O caeca stultae aemulationis impietas quae perturbandum putas divinum tuo furore consilium Dominus mundi temporale non quaerit regnumqui praestat aeternum that is Oblinde impietie of foolish emulation which thinkest to trouble and hinder the Counsels of God by thy furie The Lord of the World who giueth an eternall Kingdome came not into the World to seeke a temporall kingdome And Fulgentius accordeth with him saying The golde which the Sages offered to Christ shewed him to bee a King but not such a King as will haue his Image and superscription in the coyne but such an one as seeketh his image in the sonnes of men Whence it followeth he was no temporall or mundane King seeing they haue their images and superscriptions in their
coyne that are kings after the manner of the World This assertion may be proued by many vnanswerable reasons The first is this Christ standing before Pilate and being asked by him if he were a King aunswered That his Kingdome was not of this world Therefore he was not temporall or mundane King This consequence fome deny affirming that Christ intended not in his answer to Pilate to deny his kingdome to be a temporal earthly mundane kingdome but that he meant onely to let him know that he had receiued his kingdome of God that the World neither gaue it him nor chose him to it And therefore he saide Regnum meum non est hinc and not Regnum meum non est hic that is My Kingdome is not hence and not My Kingdome is not here This was the evasion of Pope Iohn the two and twentieth as Ockam testifieth but hee refuteth the same by most cleare circumstances of Scripture and euidence of reason shewing that Christ being accused vnto Pilate as an enemy to Caesar in that he made himselfe a King so cleared himselfe that Pilate pronounced that he found nothing against him which he could not nor he would not haue done if he had confessed his Kingdome to be a mundane Kingdome though hee had deriued the right and title of it from Heauen For Caesar would not haue endured any claime of such a Kingdome though fetched from Heauen Neither durst Pilate haue pronounced him guiltlesse that had made such a claime and therefore Christ when hee saide his Kingdome was not of this World meant not onely to deny the receiuing of it from the World but also the dependance of it vpon any thing in the World the supports of it not being things earthly but heauenly and diuine it no way consisting in riches honour power worldly greatnesse as doe the kingdomes of men but in the power of God Which thing is aptly expressed by Christ himselfe when he saith If my Kingdome were of this world my Souldiers would fight for mee The second reason is this He that is no judge of secular quarrels nor divider of inheritance is no King For these things belong to the office of a King But Christ was no judge of such quarrels and differences therefore hee was no King That hee was no judge of secular quarrels nor divider of inheritances it is evident by his owne deniall thereof Which Saint Ambrose excellently expresseth saying Beâ—… terrena declinat qui propter diuina descenderat nec iudex dignatur esse litium arbiter facultatum viuorum habens mortuorumque iudicium arbitrium meritorum that is Hee doth well decline things earthly who descended and came downe for things divine Neither doth hee vouchsafe to bee a judge of quarrels and an arbitratour to determine the differences of men about their possessions who is appointed to bee judge of the quicke and dead and to whom it pertayneth to discerne betweene the well and ill doings of men And againe Meritò refutatur ille frater qui dispensatorem coelestium gestiebat terrenis occupare that is That brother is worthily reiected and hath the repulse who sought to busie him whom God hath appointed the disposer of things heauenly with things that are earthly The third is because Christ refused to be a King when it was offered him and told his disciples that The kings of the nations haue dominion ouer them and they that are great exercise authoritie But that it should not be so with them but that whosoeuer would be great among them must be their minister The fourth hee that is a King and will neuer meddle with the things that belong to a King is justly to be charged either with wickednes or negligence But Christ neuer medled with any thing pertaining to the office of a temporall king in this world therefore either he was no such king or he may be charged with malice or negligence But neither of these two latter may be admitted therefore hee was no such king The fifth there cannot be two kings of one kingdome vnlesse either they hold the same ioyntly or the one acknowledge to hold the same as of and from the other But Caesar and Christ neither held the kingdome of Iudaea ioyntly neither did Caesar hold it as from Christ nor Christ as from Caesar. Therefore either Caesar was no true king or Christ was no secular king of that kingdome But that Caesar was a true king it appeareth by the testimony of Christ himselfe saying Giue or rather render to Caesar the things that are Caesars Now Caesar claimed tribute as Lord of the countrey and therefore hee was truely Lord and King of it That Caesar held not of or from Christ as man it is euident and much more that Christ who wholly refused to be a king did neuer acknowledge to hold any kingdome from mortall man The sixth that was the kingdome of Christ whereof the Prophets prophesied But they prophesied not of any earthly kingdome therefore Christs kingdome was not earthly That they prophesied not of any earthly kingdome it is euident in that the kingdome they prophesied of was to be confirmed and restored by him but the earthly kingdome of Iudaea was not confirmed by the comming of Christ but vpon the refusall of him vtterly ouerthrowne therefore it was not that the Prophets prophesied of That the kingdome they prophesied of was to be confirmed restored and bettered the words of the Prophets are proofe sufficient Behold the day commeth saith the Lord and I will raise vp vnto Dauid a righteous branch and a king shall reigne and he shall bee wise and shall doe iudgement and iustice in the earth In those dayes Iudah shall be saued and Israel shall dwell boldly And this is the name that they shall call him by The Lord our righteousnesse And againe A little child is borne vnto vs and the principality or rule is on his shoulders His name shall bee called wonderfull the mighty God Father of the world to come the Prince of peace the increase of his gouernement and peace shall haue no end Hee shall sitte vpon the throne of Dauid and vpon his kingdome to order and to stablish it with iudgement and with iustice from henceforth euen for euer Now that the kingdome of Iudaea was not established but vtterly ouerthrowne immediatly after Christs departure hence vpon and for the refusall of him the words of Christ foretelling it and the euent of things answering vnto his prediction are proofe sufficient The day shall come vpon thee saith Christ to Hierusalem the chiefe citie of that kingdome that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and hold thee in straight on every side they shall cast thee to the earth and thy children that are in thee and shall not leaue a stone vpon a stone because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation Thus we see it strongly proued that Christ
same fulnesse of authority in as ample independent sort as before because the benefite of Christ tendeth to no mans hurt grace ouerthroweth not nature therefore still they remaine independent and subiect to none in the same power and in the exercise of it If they shall say they are subject to none while they vse their authority well but that if they abuse it they lose the independent absolutenesse thereof their saying will bee found to bee heteticall For if vpon abuse of independent authority they that haue it lose and forfeit it ipso facto then authority and abuse of authority or at least extreme abuse of it cannot stand together which is contrary to that of Saint Augustine where he saith Nec tyrannicaefactionis perversitas laudabilis erit si regia clementia tyrannus subditos tractet nec vituperabilis ordo regiae potestatis si Rex crudelitate tyrannicâ saeuiat aliud est namque iniustâ potestate iustè velle vti aliud est iustâ potestate iniustè velle vti that is Neither shall the peruersnesse of tyrannicall vsurpation euer be praise worthy though the tyrant vse his subiects with all Kingly clemency nor the order of Kingly power euer be subiect to iust reprehension though a king grow fierce and cruell like a tyrant For it is one thing to vse an vnlawfull power lawfully and another thing to vse a lawfull power vnrighteously vniustly The third reason may bee this If God did giue to the Pope authority to depose Princes erring and abusing their authority hee would giue them the meanes to execute that their authority reacheth vnto to wit ciuill greatnesse armies of Souldiers walled cities towers and strong holds both for defence and offence and all other thinges necessary for the putting downe of wicked Kinges But the Pope as Christs Vicar hath none of these neither was hee at any time as a temporall Prince the greatest monarch of the world and so able to represse the insolencies of all hereticall pagan and wicked Kings hindering the peaceable proceeding of the Gospell of Christ therefore he hath no such authority For to say that God giueth authority not the meanes whereby it may execute and performe that which pertaineth to it is impious The onely meanes the Pope hath to depose Princes are two but neither of them within the compasse of his power to dispose of The first is the raising of subjects against their Prince The second is the raising of neighbour Princes The former of these meanes is very defectiue seeing as Bellarmine rightly obserueth out of Ecclesiasticus Such as the Ruler of a citie is such are they that dwell in it And therefore if the King bee an hereticke the most part of his people will bee so too and rather assist him for the maintenance of his heresie then resist against him for the suppressing of it Which thing as he saith experience teacheth For when Ieroboam became an Idolater the greatest part of the kingdome worshipped Idols When Constantine reigned Christian Religion flourished When Constantius reigned Arrianisme prevailed and ouerflowed all When Iulian swayed the Scepter the greatest part returned to Paganisme So that Iouian being chosen after his death refused to bee Emperour protesting that being a Christian hee neither could nor would bee Emperour ouer infidells Whereupon they all professed that howsoeuer they had dissembled before yet they were still in heart Christians and now would shew it againe So that wee see the first meanes for the suppressing of erring Princes is no meanes or a very vncertaine one And a second is worse then the first For I neuer read in any Diuine of what religion soeuer that one King is bound to make warre vpon another vpon the Popes command for the suppressing of heresie And therefore the Pope may breath out excommunications till he be breathlesse but can goe no farther by any meanes that God hath giuen him Fourthly thus we reason Either the power of the Pope is meerely Ecclesiasticall and spirituall or it is not If it bee not then hath hee ciuill authority from Christ which they deny If it be then can it inflict no punishments but meerely spirituall and Ecclesiasticall For of what nature each power is of the same are the punishments it inflicteth The temporall power inflicteth onely temporall outward and corporall punishments as losse of goods imprisonment banishment or death The spirituall only spirituall as suspension excommunication and the like Now I suppose the losse of a kingdome with all the riches and honour of it captivity banishment or death vpon resistance against the sentence of deposition is a temporall and externall punishment of the worst nature and highest degree that may be Lastly if soueraigne Kings may bee put from their Kingdomes vpon abuse of their authority either they forfeit and lose the right of them ipso facto and are depriued by Almighty God and then the Pope can but declare what God hath already done as any man else may vpon perfect vnderstanding of the case or else other neighbor Kings or their owne subjects are to depose them and the Pope is onely to put them in mind of their duty and as a spirituall pastour to vrge them to the performance of it and then he deposeth thē not but they Or lastly the power of assuming their authority to himself vpon their abuse thereof pertaineth vnto him and then in ciuill authority he is the greatest and ouer all which yet these men deny For hee that is to judge of Princes actions and vpon dislike to limite restraine or wholly take their power from them is supreme in that kinde of authority And if he may take ciuill authority from other and giue it to whom he pleaseth there is no question but hee may giue it vnto himselfe and so hath power vpon all defects of Princes to take into his owne hand that which formerly pertained to them and to doe the acts that were to be performed by them Now as these reasons strongly proue that the Pope cannot depose Princes in ordine ad spiritualia so the weaknes of the reasons brought to proue it will much more confirme the same Their first reason is taken frō the perfection and excellency of the Ecclesiasticall or spirituall power which they say is greater and farre more excellent then that which is ciuill Whereunto we answer with Waldensis that though the spirituall power be simply more perfect excellent then the ciuill yet either of these in the performance of things pertaining to them is greater then the other and each of them independent of the other Ambrose was greater then Theodosius in respect of the administration of diuine things might either admit him to or reiect him from the Sacraments But Theodosius in respect of all temporall things was greater then hee and might cōmand him send him into banishment or take away all that he had The Sun is more excellent then the Moon
Euery cōmon-wealth must be perfect in it selfe able to defend it self frō all injuries that any other may offer vnto it if it can no other way free it selfe it must haue power to depose the Prince and change the gouernment Therefore the Church must be able to defend it self against all injuries of wicked Kings whether Infidels Heretickes or Apostataes if otherwise it cannot defend it selfe frō their violences and wrongs it must haue power to depose them This consequence I thinke will neuer be found good in the judgement of any indifferent Reader For the kingdomes and cōmon-wealths of the world the good prosperity happines whereof is outward must haue outward meanes to represse the insolencies of all such as seek to impeach or hinder the same But the Church being a society the happines good wherof is not outward but inward cōsisting in the graces of God the hope of a better life in the world to come may be perfect in it selfe though it want meanes to represse outward violences insolencies The Apostle himself who was a chief cōmander in it professing that the weapons of his warfare were not carnall but mighty through God for the casting down of proud thoughts but not for the ouerthrow of cities townes or the subduing of the Princes of the world So that the perfectiō of this society or cōmonwealth standing in the inward graces of the spirit the expectatiō of future happines she may attain her own end enioy her own good flourish in the midst of all pressures more thē in any state of outward prosperity so vndoubtedly she doth For as the gold is more pure the more it is tried in the fire as the cammomill smelleth the sweeter the more it is troden on as the palme tree spreadeth the further the more it is pressed down as the ark of Noe rose the higher the more the flouds did swell so Gods Church did then most grow increase prosper when the persecutiōs were hottest And therfore S. Austin saith speaking of the primitiue Christians Includebantur ligabātur torquebātur trucidabātur multiplicabātur that is they were shut vp in prisons and dungeons they were bound in fetters and chaines they were tortured racked yea they were slaine with the sword and yet they increased and multiplied And S. Bernard distinguishing three seuerall times of the Church in all which shee complained of bitternesse the first vnder persecuting heathen Emperors the second in the conflicts with heretickes the third when she had rest from both these saith the state of the church was worst in her peace bringeth her in complaining and saying Amarissima amaritudo mea in pace mea that is My bitternesse is most bitter in the daies of my peace For now omnes amici omnes inimici omnes domestici nulli pacifici serui Christi seruiunt Antichristo that is All are friends all are enemies all are of my houshold but none are at peace with me the seruants of Christ serue Antichrist So that it followeth not that if the church must haue meanes to attaine her owne end and enioy her owne wished good that she must haue power sufficient to procure her outward peace and represse the insolencies of outward enemies And yet besides this reason chargeth Christ with want of care of his Church who left it without meanes to defēd it selfe against outward violence for the space of 300 yeares together during the time of the heathen Emperors afterwards also vnder the reigne of Apostataes and heretickes For Bellarmine saith that the primitiue Christians did not depose Nero Dioclesian Iulian the Apostata Valens the Arrian and other like because they wanted temporall forces The next reason is more strange then this For first forgetting what they are to proue in steed of prouing that the Pope may depose Princes they endeuour to proue that the people may depose Princes when they fall into heresie and that the Pope is to iudge of heresie Secondly they conclude that Christian people may not endure their King if he fall into heresie because they may not chuse a king that is an infidell or hereticke That they might not chuse an hereticke which no man denieth they proue because the Iewes might chuse none to be their king that was not of their brethren lest he should draw them to idolatry But the consequence they goe not about to proue which we deny and they will neuer be able to confirme For there is no question but people are bound to bee subiect to such a king as in conscience they might not chuse if they were free to make choice When Moses was counselled by Iethro to chuse Elders rulers to assist him he told him what maner of mē they should bee to wit men fearing God dealing truely hating couetousnesse and none but such ought electors hauing freedome of choice to chuse and yet I thinke though a king bee couetous hee is not presently to be deposed And therefore Bellarmine like an honest man confuteth his owne argument and saith that infidels that had dominion ouer people before they became Christians are to be tollerated by Christians if they seeke not to draw them to idolatry whom yet I thinke Christians might not chuse to reigne ouer them if they were free Besides this if Bellarmine say true that subiects sinne as much in tollerating kings that are infidels Apostataes or heretickes as in chusing such to rule ouer them when they were free all the primitiue Christians that tollerated Nero Dioclesian Iulian the Apostata Constantius Valens other heretickes sinned damnably in so doing Neither will Bellarmines answere that they are to be excused though they did not depose thē because they wanted strength auoid the same For it is euident by Tertullian that they wanted not strength if they had thought it lawfull If we should goe about to auenge our selues saith Tertullian we should not want meanes For behold we are more in number and greater in strength then any one nation people of the world We are strangers vnto you and yet behold we haue filled all places pertaining vnto you your Cities your Isles your Villages your Towns your Councel-houses your Castles strong Forts your Palaces your Senates your market places only your Idoll Temples we haue left free vnto you What warre should not we be able to take in hand or what attempt should seem hard vnto vs though we were too weake who so willingly are slaine if it were not more lawfull to be killed then to kill in our profession Nay though wee should neuer arme our selues nor lift vp our hands against you but only depart away and withdraw our selues into some remote parts of the world how should we confound and amaze you How could you endure so great a losse How would your cities be left desolate none found to dwell in them So that it was not
the bond of marriage remaineth inviolable and is not nor may not be dissolued and therefore if this comparison hold a Christian King falling into heresie apostasie or atheisme and seeking to draw his people to the same doth not lose the right of dominion he hath ouer them Thirdly in Bellarmines opinion it is not refusall to dwell together nor sollicitation to idolatrie that could make a separation if the band of matrimony contracted betweene Infidels were simply firme and indissoluble as that of Christians is But heathen Princes haue as good interest in their Kingdomes which are not founded vpon grace or faith but vpon the light of reason the freedome of will and the Law of Nature and Nations as beleeuers therefore their solliciting to infidelity and idolatrie cannot make their titles to their kingdome voide Lastly malitious desertion or refusall to dwell with the beleeuer vnlesse he some way at lest by silence consent to the blasphemies of the Infidell is directly contrary to the nature essence end and intendment of marriage and therefore dissolueth marriage but the abvse of sacred authority to the promoting of impiety and suppressing of true Religion is not contrary to the nature and essence of authority but to the right vse of it and therefore it doth not make voide the title of magistrates seeing it is certaine that lawfull authority may stand with most horrible abuse of the same Wherefore let vs proceede to their seuenth proofe When Princes say they come to the Church and are admitted to the Communion of the faithfull people of God they are not admitted but vpon promise and agreement that if they forsake the faith or hinder the good of GODS people they will bee content and it shall bee lawfull for the Gouernours of the Church to take their authoritie from them therefore when Princes become heretiques or Apostataes it is lawfull by their owne agreement and consent for the Gouernours of the Church to depose them The antecedent of this Argument I thinke will neuer bee made good For what Prince in his admission to bee a Christian did euer thus condition with the Church either expressely or by necessary implication examples of any such stipulation I am perswaded they canne bring vs none It is true indeede that the very vow of a Christian made in Baptisme implieth in it a resolution and promise rather to depart with any thing and lose all then to forfeit the inheritance he is entitled vnto to dishonour God or any way to hinder the good of his church but this vow and promise is made to God and not to the church and therefore God may take from Christian kings their kingdomes when they become heretiques and seeke to misleade the people as forfeited vpon their own agreements but the Church hath nothing to doe with them more then the great Turke vpon any such forfeiture made vnto Almighty God It is true that all infidels and wicked ones haue forfeited their kingdomes to God but yet in the title of mundane iustice they haue right to them still and may not bee dispossessed of them by mortall men vnlesse they bee specially authorised by almighty God as the Israelites were to cast out the Canaanites And this was the meaning of Wickliffe when he affirmed that a Prince being in state of mortall sinne ceaseth to bee a Prince any longer namely in respect of any title he canne plead to God if hee be pleased to take the advantage of the forfeiture but in respect of men he hath a good title still in the course of mundane iustice So that whosoeuer shall lift vp his hand against him offereth him wrong The Church therefore may proceede no further then to admonish Princes when they offend and for grieuous and scandalous faults to deny vnto them the benefit of her Communion The last proofe they bring for deposing Princes when they become heretickes is taken from the office of a Pastor to whom it pertaineth to driue away wolues to restraine and keepe the Rammes and great leaders of the flockes from hurting those sheepe that are more weake This reason as it is the last so it is the worst of all For each Pastour must doe these things according to the nature and quality of his Pastorall office and therefore a spirituall Pastour must performe them by spirituall and ecclesiasticall censures driuing away the wolues from his flockes by suspension excommunication and anathema and restraining the Rammes from hurting the rest by the same meanes so binding them with bands that exceed all the bands of restraint vsed by the secular powers CHAP. 46. Of examples of Church-men deposing Princes brought by the Romanistes HAuing examined the reasons brought to proue that the chiefe gouernours of the Church may depose Princes erring from the faith and hindering the course of religion let vs see what examples our Aduersaries produce of the practise of deposing them The first is the example of Samuel appointing Saul to be a king and afterwards deposing him for his disobedience But in this example they are grossely deceiued For first Samuel was neither high Priest nor Priest at all not being of the posterity of Aaron Secondly Samuel did not appoint Saul to be king as being of higher authority but as obeying and executing the mandate of God as the meanest man in Israel might haue done as we reade in the second of the Kings of one of the sonnes of the Prophets who at the commandement of Elizeus annointed Iehu king ouer Israel yet was neither Elizeus nor he greater in dignity then Kings Thirdly we doe not reade in the sacred History that Samuel deposed Saul but that God deposed him and that Samuel was the messenger sent from God to let him know it Because saith Samuel thou hast cast away the word of the Lord the Lord hath cast thee away that thou shalt not reigne And againe the Lord hath cut away the kingdome of Israel from thee this day Yea so farre was Samuel from deposing Saul that he mourned for him till God blamed him saying How long dost thou mourne for Saul whereas I haue cast him away that hee should not reigne ouer Israel The next example is that of Hieremy the Prophet to whom the Lord said I haue set thee ouer nations and people to plucke vp and to roote out and to destroy and throw downe to build and to plant Whence they inferre that the chiefe Priest is ouer the kingdomes of the world and may giue them to whom hee will But first wee must obserue that Hieremy was not the high Priest but one of an inferiour ranke that therefore if we will conclude any thing from hence touching the power of disposing kingdomes by Priests every Priest must haue this power Secondly we must know that Hieremie was set ouer the kingdome of Iudah and other kingdomes not to rule them but prophetically to denounce vnto them and foreshew the things that afterwards should fall out Whereupon Lyra
interpreteth the words of Almighty God in this sort Constitui te super Gentes super regna vt euellas id est euellendo denuncies transferendos inde habitatores destruas quantum ad occidendos disperdas quantum ad fugientes per diuersas vias dissipes quantum ad morientes in fuga vel captiuitate aedifices plantes id est denuncies Iudaeos reaedificandos plantandos in terrasua c. that is I haue set thee ouer nations and kingdomes that thou mightest plucke vp that is that thou mightest denounce and foreshew that the inhabitants being plucked vp out of their places shall bee carried into another place that thou mayst destroy that is denounce the destruction of such as shall be slaine That thou maist scatter that is denounce and foreshew the dispersion of such as shall flie diuers wayes That thou maist ouerthrow that is declare and foreshew the ouerthrow of them that shall die in flight or in captiuitie That thou maist build and plant that is foreshew that the Iewes shall be builded and planted againe in their owne land which was fulfilled in the time of Cyrus who gaue liberty to the people to returne into their owne countrey and to reëdifie the temple and in the time of Artaxerxes who gaue leaue to Nehemiah to reëdifie the citie of Hierusalem as we may reade in the bookes of Ezra and Nehemiah The authour of the interlineall Glosse interpreteth the words in this sence that the Prophet was appointed by almighty God ouer kingdomes and people to plucke vp vices and sinnes to destroy the kingdome of the Divell and to build the Church of God Saint Hierome likewise interpreteth the words in the same sort Considerandum est saith he quòd quatuor tristibus duo laeta succedunt Neque enim aedificari poterant bona nisi destructa essent mala nec plantari optima nisi eradicarentur pessima c. that is Wee must consider that two joyfull happy things succeed foure grievous and sorrowfull thinges For neither could good things be builded if euill things were not first destroyed nor the best things bee planted if the worst things were not first pluckt vp by the rootes For euery plant which our heauenly Father hath not planted shall be plucked vp by the rootes And euery building which hath not a foundation vpon the Rocke but is builded vpon the sand is digged downe and destroyed by the word of God and Iesus shall consume it by the spirite of his mouth and destroy it by the comming of his presence that is hee shall destroy for euer all sacrilegious and peruerse doctrine and that also which is lifted vp against the knowledge of God and the confidence that men haue in their owne wisedome he shall-scatter destroy and cast downe that in steed of these things the things that sauour of humilitie may be builded and the thinges which agree with Ecclesiasticall veritie may be builded and planted in the place of the former thinges which were destroyed and pluckt vp Here is pulling vp of all false doctrine and throwing downe whatsoeuer is lifted vp against the knowledge of God that those things that sauour of humilitie and are agreeable to Ecclesiasticall verity may be builded and planted And thus to plucke vp and to plant to cast downe and to build vp pertayneth to Hieremies office and calling but for deposing of Kings and transferring kingdomes no auncient writeâ—… could euer finde any thing in this place The third example that they produce is that of Vzziah who after much prosperitie in all that hee tooke in hand and many glorious victories obtayned not contenting himselfe with the honour of a King but presuming to come into the Temple to offer incense and intruding vpon the Priests office also was by them resisted told it would be displeasing to allmighty God that he did But he waxing angry would not desist till beeing stricken with leprosie and the verie earth trembling and quaking for horrour of so vile a fact hee was by the Priests and the remorse of his own conscience forced to goe hastily out of the Temple This leprosie departed not from him till his dying day and therefore hee was by vertue of Gods lawe constrained to departe from the society of men and to dwell apart and Iotham his sonne ruled ouer the kings house and iudged the people of the land How this place will proue that the deposing of Kings belongeth to Priests I knowe not for surely Vzziah was not deposed but being forced to liue in an house apart by himselfe and in that respect vnfitte for the gouernment his sonne supplied his place in iudging the people of the land but hee continued king still and if hee had beene cleansed from his leprosie before his death no doubt might and would haue resumed his kingly dignitie and the publique administration of iustice Wherevpon wee shall finde that Iotham is said to haue reigned no more but 16 yeares because after his fathers death in his owne right he reigned no more Though otherwise wee finde mention of things that fell out in the 20 yeare of his reigne So including the time of his ruling for his father in his right So that here was nothing done by the Priests but that which pertained to their priestly office which was to keepe the holy places attend the Altars to iudge of the plague of leprosie But for deposing the King they medled not The fourth example is of Iehoiada the high Priest deposing Athaliah and setting vp Ioash as they tell vs. The storie is this Iehosaphat dieth and Iehoram his sonne succeedeth him This Iehoram marrieth Athaliah the daughter of Ahab the sonne of Omri and hee walked not in the wayes of Iehosaphat and Asa kings of Iudah but of wicked Ahab whose daughter hee married Whereupon God stirred vp the spirite of the Philistines and Arabians and they came and tooke away all the substance that was found in his house and his wiues and sons so that none was left him but Iehoahaz or Ahaziah his youngest sonne After this Iehoram dieth and Ahaziah reigneth in his stead who followed the counsell of Athaliah and did wickedly in the sight of the Lord. This Ahaziah going to Iehoram the sonne of Ahab and being found with him when Iehu came to execute iudgement against the house of Ahab was there slaine by Iehu After his death Athaliah his mother destroyed all the Kings seede of the house of Iudah and vsurped the kingdome But Iehoshebeath the wife of Iehoiada the Priest sister to Ahaziah stale away Ioash the Kings sonne from among the Kings sonnes that hee should not be slaine and hee was hid in the house of God sixe yeares all which time Athaliah reigned But in the seauenth yeare Iohoiada waxed bold tooke the Captaines of hundreds in couenant with him and went about in Iudah and gathered the Leuites out of all the cities of Iudah and the
Emperour or to depriue him of any thing that of right pertained to him But the people of Italy moued against the Emperour proceeded further then the Bishop of Rome would haue had them to haue done For they put downe the Magistrates appointed by the Emperour and set vp other of their owne and would haue forced the Bishop of Rome and the other people of Italy who yet consented not vnto them to disclaime the Emperour of Constantinople and to chuse another in Italy And therefore if at that time they forbare to pay any more tribute as Zonaras saith they did it was not because the Pope forbade them so to doe as hauing supreme power in ciuill things but being averse from the Emperour as for other dislikes so by the Popes perswasions they stayed the tribute of themselues as of themselues they put downe the Magistrates of the Emperour without the liking of the Bishop of Rome That which Otho Frisingensis hath that the Pope hauing often admonished the Emperour and found him incorrigible perswaded the people of Italy to depart from the Empire seemeth to bee contrary to the reports of the Authour of the great Chronicle Nauclerus Rhegino and others but yet maketh the Pope onely a perswader and the people of Italy the doers of that was done And in like sort it must bee vnderstood that Zonaras saith the Bishop of Rome stayed the paying of tribute to the Emperour namely that his dislike of the Emperours courses together with their owne distast of his actions did so auert the minds of the Italians from the Emperour that they refused to pay him tribute that being attributed to him as done by him which his perswasions though tending to another purpose did worke without his liking and against his will And in the same sence it is that Sigebert saith Gregory charged the Emperour with errour blamed him for it and turned away the people of Rome and the tribute of the West from him The third instance of Popes intermedling in the disposition of the kingdomes of the world is that of Zacharias the Pope of whom Gregory the seuenth in his Epistles writeth thus Another Romane Bishop also to wit Zacharias deposed the French King from his kingdome not so much for any fault done by him as for that he was vnfit to sway so great power and put Pipine the father of Charles the great afterwards Emperour into his place freeing and absoluing all the Frenchmen frō their oath of feaultie Which words of Gregory are found likewise in the decrees To this allegation Occam answereth that Zacharias did not depose Childericke the French King as Gregory the seuenth vntruly reporteth but onely gaue allowance of the Peeres doposing of him And to that purpose alleageth the Glosse vpon the decrees wich sayth Dicitur deposuisse quia deponentibus consensit that is The Pope is said to haue deposed the King because hee gaue consent to those that did depose him and allowed their act But he noteth also that there are others that doe not soe excuse the Pope but do thinke he put his sickle into another mans haruest and tooke vpon him to do that hee had no authority to doe which other Popes likewise haue not feared to doe in prejudice of the right of the laity as they shew out of another Glosse Soe that the Century writers are not alone in the reprehension of this fact of Zacharias as Bellarmine vntruly anoucheth notwithstanding I rather follow the judgment of the author of the Glosse and thinke that he did but giue his opinion what might be done and approue the act when it was done For confirmation whereof I will lay downe the circumstances of the narration touching the proceedings in this matter as I find them reported by ancient writers First all Historians agree that the Kings of France in those times giuing themselues to idlenesse and pleasures wholly neglected the gouernment that they were seene but only once in the yeare of their subjects and that the gouernor of the Kings house ruled all Neither did things stand thus for a short space but Sigebert saith they continued so 88 yeares In this office of a prefect or gouernor Pipine incceeded his auncesters but exceeded them in the greatnesse of worthy exploits neither did any thing hinder the course of his great and honourable actions but that hee was forced to suffer endure a king almost witlesse mad with diuers sencelesse fooleries Wherefore they who write the histories of France report that the Nobles and people of that nation duely weighing the vertue of Pipine and the witlesse follies of Childericke the King consulted Zachary then Bishop of Rome desired him to tell them whether he thought so foolish and vnworthy a King were any longer to be endured or Pipine to be defrauded of royall dignity which he deserued was right worthy of Who when they had receiued answere from the Pope that he was to be estemed the King who knew best how to performe kingly duties the French by the publique and common aduice and counsell of the whole nation proclaimed Pipine King and shore the head of Childericke and made him a Clearke Nauclerus saith the French men anciently had their kings descended of an ancient stocke who of Meroueus the sonne of King Clodius the second were called Merouingians the race of which kings continued till Childericke and in him ended For long before they were of no esteeme or authority neither had they any thing but the vaine and empty title of Kings for the riches and power of the kingdome were in the hands of the prefects of the pallace who were called the chiefe of the Kings house and swayed the vvhole kingdome vvho at that time vvere the successors of Charles Martell and vvere named Dukes Neither vvas there any other thing permitted to the King but that contenting himselfe vvith the bare name of a King hauing long haire and a long beard hee should sit vpon the throne and haue some shew of a ruler and heare Embassadors comming from all parts and giue such answers vnto them as out of his owne power which he was taught and commanded to giue Hee had nothing to liue on but such a stipend and allowance as the Prefect was pleased to allow vnto him Hee possessed nothing but one little village once onely in the yeare hee was seene of his subiects in a publique and solemne assembly hauing saluted them all returned againe into his priuate course of life leauing the gouernment of all to the Prefect Pipine therefore who then supplied that place as succeeding his ancestors in the same considering the slouth and idlenesse of these Kings who neglecting the common-wealth did hide themselues in their owne priuate houses and that both the Nobles people tooke notice as well of his vertues as of the sencelesse follies of Childericke consulted the Pope as we heard
before vpon whose answere that he was to be reputed King that could best do the duty of a King the French by a publique decree of the whole nation chose Pipine to be King which thing Zachary approued Otho Frisingensis saith that the French se nt messengers to Rome sciscitandi gratia to aske the Popes aduice and to be resolued by him vpon whose answere and by whose authority warranting them it was lawfull so to do Bonifacius Arch-bishop of Mentz the other Princes of the kingdome met together and chose Pipine King And Rhegino saith Pipine was chosen King according to the manner and custome of the French and being annointed by the hands of Bonifacius Arch-bishop of Mentz was by the French lifted vp into the royall throne and Childericke who was but in title onely a King was shorne and thrust into a Monastery With these agreeth Sigebertus and the rest Wherefore to conclude this point touching the deposition of Childericke we must obserue First that hee was not deposed for heresie or any way going about to hinder the course of religion and that therefore the Pope could not depose him vnlesse Princes be subiect to such censures for defects of nature and negligence in doing their duties Secondly that hee and his predecessours for almost an hundred yeares were put from all gouernement and were but in name onely Kings others hauing the authority and that with the allowance of the whole state So that it is the lesse to be maruelled if the Pope beeing consulted as a Diuine answered it was fit rather that hee should haue the name title and inauguration of a King that was to do the duty then hee that was to be but a shadow onely Yet do I not say that hee spake like a good Diuine Thirdly that in those times the Vniuersity of Paris was not yet founded and the kingdome had few learned men and that therefore they sought to forrainers For otherwise wee know that afterwards the Kings and Princes of France rather beleeued the Diuines of Paris then the Court of Rome in greater matters then this Fourthly that the Bishop of Rome as Patriarch of the West was the chiefe Bishop in these parts of the world and therefore not vnfitly consulted in a matter of such consequence as this was Wherefore let vs now proceed to the fourth instance which is that of the translation of the West Empire from the Emperours of Constantinople to Charles the Great which our Aduersaries say was done by Pope Leo the third But surely whosoeuer shall looke into the course of Histories shall find that this instance maketh rather against them then for them For it is most certaine that the Pope by his papall power did not translate the Empire The Romanes sayth Sigebert who long before in their hearts were fallen away from the Emperour of Constantinople now taking the opportunity of the occasion offered while a woman hauing put out the eyes of Constantine the Emperour her sonne tooke vpon her to rule ouer them with one consent proclaimed Charles the King their Emperour and by the hands of Leo the pope set the Crowne vpon his head and gaue him the title of Caesar and Augustus With Sigebertus the author of the great Chronicle agreeth His words are these In the time of the solemnities of the Masse celebrated vpon Christmas day in S. Peters Church Leo the pope by the decree of the people of Rome at their entreaty crowned Charles proclaimed Emperor of the Romanes set such a Diademe vpon his head as the anciēt Emperors were wont to weare then the people which was present in great number with ioyful acclamation cried out thrise Carolo Augusto á Deo coronato magno et pacifico Imperatori vita victoria So that we see it was the decree of the Romanes that made Charles Emperour and that they vsed Leo for the performance of the solemne rites of his Coronatiō vnction With Sigebert the Authour of the great Chronicle we may joyne Lambertus Schaffnaburgesis His words are Carolus á Romanis Augustus est appellatus That is the Romanes proclaimed Charles Augustus And Nauclerus saith Pontifex populi Romani consensu Carolum Romanorum Imperatorem declarat c. that is The high Bishop with the consent of the people of Rome proclaimeth Charles Emperour of Romanes crowneth him with a Diademe The people with a joyfull shout crying out thrice Carolo Augusto á Deo coronato magno pacifico Imperatori vita victoria But to cleare this point to make it euident to all the world that howsoeuer the Pope Clergy might concurre in this act with the people nobles of Italy as hauing part interest in matters of state as well as other yet the Pope by his Papall power did not translate the Empire three things are to be obserued The first that in the time of Gregory the 2d there was a great rebellion in Italy against the Emperour of Constantinople and a desire to chuse a new Emperour that they of Rauenna Venice proceeded so farre in it that they would haue forced the Bishoppe of Rome and others to concurre with them whereby it appeareth that the act of translation was not proper to the Bishop of Rome but proceeded frō the concurring desires of the Italians and was their act rather then his The second that Charles was a mighty potent great prince hauing vnder him all France Spaine a great part of Germany with many other countries by his sword had subiected to him the Lombards was Lord of the greatest part of Italy before either the people proclaimed him or the Pope crowned him Emperor So that howsoeuer the Italians by Leo the B. proclaimed crowned accounted him Emperour yet it was his right of inheritance his sword that had possessed him of the thing before euer they gaue him the title of the West Empire The third that whether the Italians had right to choose an Emperour or not it mattereth nothing seeing they rebelled against their Emperor thought that in case of such necessity they might so do and that therefore the obiection of Bellarmine against our position is too weake when he saith the people had no power to choose the Emperour For howsoeuer anciently the Emperours were chosen by the souliers or came to it by inheritance yet the people at this time de facto tooke vpon them to choose without curious disputing the question of right The fifth instance of the Popes intermedling in the disposition of the kingdomes of the world is that of Gregory the 5 who as Bellarmine saith appointed the forme of chusing the Emperour by the seauen Princes of Germany and ordained that the Emperour should euer after be chosen by them For the clearing of which point wee must obserue that the Empire of the West being translated from Constantinople into France in the person of Charles
a pilgrime and so going to Rome with this Hildebrand in his company by his aduice counsell found the meanes to get himselfe chosen Pope by the Clergy and people of Rome Leo dyed and Gebehardus afterwards named Victor succeeded him and Stephen him about whose time Henry the third dyed Henry the fourth his sonne succeeded him and after Stephen Benedict and Nicholas Alexander gate the papall See against whom great exception was taken for that contrary to the custome hee was chosen without the Emperours consent and with the liking of the yong Emperor and his mother as some report Another was set vp by the Bishops of Lombardy affirming that no man might be chosen or designed to the Popedome without the Emperours allowance And besides Anno Arch-bishop of Coleyn went to Rome to expostulate the matter with Alexander and the Cardinals adhering to him and to know of him how he durst contrary to custome and the law prescribed and imposed anciently vpon the Popes assume the Popedome without the consent of the Emperour alleaging many things to shew the vnlawfulnesse of this fact and beginning at Charles the great hee named many Emperours who had either chosen or confirmed Popes and made good their election But being ready to go forward and to adde more proofes vnto that which he had said Hildebrand the Arch-deacon the whole company of Cardinals beckening vnto him so to doe stood vp and answered in this sort Arch-bishop Anno the Kings and Emperours of Rome neuer had any authority right or commanding power in the choyce of the Pope and if at any time any thing were done violently or disorderly it was afterwards corrected and set right againe by the censure of the Fathers After the death of Alexander this Hildebrand who thus euer opposed himselfe against the Emperours claimes was by the Romanes chosen Pope without the Emperours consent Which the Bishops of France vnderstanding knowing well of how violent seuere and vntractable a disposition hee was vnwilling to haue him possesse so high a place in the Church told the Emperour that if hee did not in time preuent the matter and voyd his election greater euils and perils would beset him then he could at first thinke of Whereupon he sent Embassadours to Rome to know the cause why the Romanes contrary to the ancient custome had chosen a Pope without his consent And if they gaue not satisfaction to put Hildebrand from the Papal dignity which he had vniustly gotten The Embassadours comming to Rome were kindly and courteously entertained and when they had deliuered their message Hildebrand like a vile dissembling hypocrite contrary to his owne practise and that which he had perswaded other vnto answered that hee neuer sought this honor but that it was put vpon him and that yet hee would not accept of it till by a certaine Embassadour hee was assured that not onely the Emperour but the Princes of Germany consented to his election Which answer when the Emperour receiued hee was fully satisfied and with all readinesse by his royall consent confirmed his election and commanded that he should be ordained Thus wee see how to serue his owne turne he could now acknowledge the Emperours interest and refuse to be ordained before hee had obtained his confirmation which yet before in the case of Alexander he disclaimed though a some say hee neuer yeelded so much to the Emperour but euer held out against him disclaiming his intermedling and that a most horrible schisme ensued thereupon Howsoeuer he was no sooner Pope but he began to molest the Emperour challenging him for Symony in conferring Ecclesiasticall dignities and requiring him to come to some Synodall answer which when he refused to doe he excommunicated him depriued him of his Empire and absolued his subiects froÌ„ their Oath of obedience This was the first Pope that euer presumed to depose any Emperour Lego relego saith Otho Frisingensis Romanorum Regum Imperatorum gesta nusquam invenio quenquam eoâ—…um ante hunc à Romano Pontifice excommunicatum vel regno privatum nisi fortè quis pro anathemate habendum ducat quod Philippus ad breve tempus à Romano Pontifice inter poenitentes collocatus Theodosius à beato Ambrosio propter cruentam caedem à liminibus Ecclesiae sequestratus sit that is I reade and I reade ouer againe and againe the Acts of the Romane Kings and Emperours and I no where finde any of them before this excommunicated by the Romane Bishop or depriued of his kingdome unlesse haply any man doe thinke that is to be taken for an excoÌ„munication that Philip was for a short time put among the Penitents by the Bishop of Rome and Theodosius for his bloudy murther stopped by blessed Ambrose from entring into the Church And therefore whatsoeuer Gregory pretendeth to the contrary professing that hee treadeth in the steps of the Saints and his holy predecessours yet it is true that Sigebert saith which hee hopeth hee may say with the leaue of all good men that this novelty that hee say not heresie had not shewed it self in the world in their time that the Priests of that God which maketh hypocrites to reigne for the sins of his people should teach his people that they owe no subiectioÌ„ to wicked Kings and that they owe no feaulty vnto them though they haue taken the oath of feaulty that they are free froÌ„ periury that lift vp their hands against the king to whoÌ„ they haue sworne that they are to be taken for excoÌ„municate persons that do obey him What horrible confusioÌ„s followed vpon this censure of Gregory Otho Frisingensis reporteth in most tragicall manner His wordes are these How great euils how many warres and dangers of warres followed thence How often was miserable Rome besieged taken and sacked How one Pope was intruded vpon another as likewise one King set vp against another it is irksome to me to remember To conclude the whirle-winde of this tempest inwrapped in it so many euils so many schismes so many perils of the soules and bodies of men that it alone may suffise in respect of the cruelty of the persecutioÌ„ and the long continuance of the time thereof to set before our eyes the infelicity of mans miserable conditioÌ„ For first the Emperour offended with the Pope for molesting him about the Investitures of Bishoppes which his Predecessours anciently had and enjoyed and the Clergy discontented with him for his forbidding marriage hee was in an assembly of the States and Bishops of Germany holden at Wormes deposed a letter written to him requiring him no longer to meddle with the Episcopall Office But such was the resolutioÌ„ and stoutnesse of this turbulent vnquiet spirit that being encouraged by certain Bishops of Germany promised their aide helpe he depriued the Bishops that had giuen sentence against him and deposed Henry the Emperour absoluing his subiects froÌ„ their Oath of obedience Whereupon
but that his meaning was to meete certaine abuses whereby the Churches of his Kingdome had beene greeued impouerished and oppressed all discipline of men liuing retyred and in cloysters vtterly ouerthrowne Lastly that God hauing exalted his Church by meanes of the Empire in the head citty of the world it should not be by any meanes that the Church in the head citty of the world should ouerthrow the state of the Empire that the matter began with painting that it proceeded from painting to writing that the writing now begins to be vrged as good authority but that he wil not suffer it nor indure it so to be being resolued first to loose his crowne before hee giue any consent to the abasing of the crowne of the Empire in such sort and therefore requireth the paintings to be raced out and the writings to be recalled that such monuments of enmity between the Kingdome the Priest-hood may not remaine hereupon they beseech the Pope by new letters to mollifie that which was too hard and to sweeten that which was too sowre in the former This so wise iust and reasonable an answer of the Germaine Bishops preuailed so farre with the Pope that he sent other Legates of a milder spirit better temper to the Emperour with new letters wherein he sought to qualifie whatsoeuer was offensiue in the former for touching that he wrote of the benefit the Emperour had receiued of him which so highly displeased the Emperor supposing that he meant that hee had receiued the Imperiall crowne as a meere fauor or good turne from him hee answered that howsoeuer the word Benefit be taken in another sence sometimes yet hee vsed it in that signification which it hath by Originall institution and first imposition So that the word Benefit being compounded of two simple words bene and factum signifieth a good fact or a thing well done and in this sence his setting of the crowne vpon the Emperors head might be called a benefit not as being a meere fauour or good turne but for that it was well and honourably done of him to set the Ensigne of Imperiall maiesty and power vpon the head of him to whom such power pertained and so were things at that time pacified by the good indeauor of the Cardinals and by this mild letter of the Pope But afterwards they brake out againe Whereupon the Pope wrote in this sort to the Emperor Adrian the Bishop seruant of the seruants of God to Fredericke the Romane Emperor greeting and Apostolical blessing The diuine law as it promiseth long life to them that honour their parents so doth it pronounce the sentence of death against them that curse father or mother For wee are taught by the voyce of truth that whosoeuer exalteth himselfe shall be brought low Wherefore sonne beloued in the Lord wee do not a little maruaile that you seeme not to giue so much reuerence to blessed Peter and to the holy Church of Rome as you ought to do For in your letters written to vs you put your name before ours Wherein you incurre the note of insolency that I say not arrogācy What shall I say of the fealty you promised and sware to blessed Peter how doe you obserue it when you require of them who are Gods and the sonnes of the most High to wit Bishops the doing of homage vnto you and exact fealty of them inclosing their sacred hands in your hands and manifestly opposing your selfe against vs shut not onely the doores of the Churches but the gates of the Cities of your kingdome also against our Cardinals sent as Legates vnto you from our owne side Repent repent therefore we advise thee of vs thou receiuedst thy consecration and therefore take heed lest affecting things denyed vnto thee thou lose that which is yeelded to thee To this letter of the Pope the worthy Emperour answered in this sort Fredericke by the grace of God Emperour of Romans to Adrian Bishop of the Catholick Church wishing vnto him a firme adhering and cleauing to all those things which Iesus began to do speak The law of Iustice giueth to euery one that which is his own Neither do wee offend in this behalfe for we derogate nothing frō our parents but giue vnto them in this our Imperiall state all due honour to wit to those our Noble progenitors frō whom we receiued the dignity of our kingdome and our Crowne and not frō the Pope Had Sylvester Bishop of Rome any thing pertaining to Royall state and dignity in the time of Constantine was not liberty restored to the Church and peace by his meanes And hath not your Popedome receiued all such royall dignities as it now enjoyeth from Princes And why then is it so much disliked that when wee write vnto the Bishop of Rome by ancient right and after the old manner we put our name before his and according vnto the rule of Iustice permit him writing vnto vs to doe the like Turne ouer the Histories and Monuments of Antiquity and if you haue not yet obserued it you shall there finde that which we avouch and why should wee not require homage and the performance of other duties due from subiects to Princes of them who are Gods by adoption and yet thinke it no disparagement to hold things pertaining to our Royall state especially seeing hee who was authour and beginner both of your dignity and ours who neuer receiued any thing of any mortall King but gaue all good things vnto all paide tribute vnto Caesar for himselfe and Peter and gaue you an example to doe the like either therefore let them put frō them the things they hold of vs or if they thinke it behoouefull to retaine and keepe them still let them yeeld vnto GOD the things that are GODS and to Caesar the things that are Caesars The doores of our Churches and the gates of our Cities are shut against your Cardinals because wee finde them not to bee Preachers but men desirous of a prey not Confirmers of peace but polling companions to get money not such as come to repaire the breaches of the world but greedily and insatiably to gather golde But whensoeuer wee shall see them such as the Church requireth them to bee men bringing peace enlightning their Country assisting the cause of those of meane degree in equity and right they shall want nothing that is necessary for them To conclude When you thus contend about things little pertaining to Religion and striue with secular persons about titles of honour you seeme to haue forgotten that humilitie which is the keeper of all vertues and that meeknesse that should bee in you Let your Father-hood therefore take heede lest while you moue questions about things vnworthy to be stood vpon you scandalize them who with attentiue eare listen to the wordes of your mouth wait for your speaches as for the latter raine Wee are forced thus to write vnto you because wee see the
in the sixth Generall Councell and Basileius in the eighth and when they pleased to bee absent to send some in their stead as Theodosius the yonger sent e Candidianus to be present for him in the councell of Ephesus and Martianus though present in the first Session yet being for the most part of the time absent appointed certaine secular Iudges to sit in the Councell of Chalcedon The second thing that they assumed to them was to sit in the highest place and so wee reade that in the councell of Nice all the Bishoppes being placed in order the Emperour some few going before him entred into the Councell at whose comming all the Bishops rose vp and did reverence vnto him and hee passed through the midst of them as an heauenly Angell of God hauing on a purple robe and shining vesture be-decked with gold pearles and pretious stones and stayed not till hee came to the highest place where a little seate of Gold was prepared wherein yet hee sate not downe but stood vpright till the Bishoppes had bowed and beckened vnto him to sit downe In like sort we reade of Martian that hee sate in the highest place in the Councell of Chalcedon with the Senatours and Iudges by his side And of Constantine the fourth that he sate in the highest place in the sixth Generall Councell And when they were not present in person the Senatours and secular Iudges deputed by them sate in the middest in the highest roome as wee shall finde they did in the councels of Chalcedon at such times as the Emperour was away The third thing which the Emperours tooke on them either in their owne persons or by such as they deputed besides the defence of the Bishoppes from outward violence was a kinde of direction of things that were to bee done in the councell This direction consisted in seauen things First in providing that nothing should bee done passionately violently and by clamour of multitudes but that the ground of each thing should be sought out Secondly in providing that nothing should bee extorted by feare and terror from them that meete to decree for truth justice without all priuate and sinister respects Thirdly in seeing that nothing should be omitted that the holy Canons require to bee done for the finding out of that which is true and right that so both errour and wrong might bee avoyded Fourthly in not suffering them to passe from one thing to another before that they had in hand were fully ended nor to digresse to things impertinent which might breed confusion and hinder the effecting of that which was intended And in putting an end to each action when they saw as much done as was fitte or otherwise deferring the farther deliberation to some other time Fifthly when they found an indisposition in them to agree to such and so cleare determination of matters in question as might satisfie all to dissolue the Councell and to call another Sixthly in judging pronouncing according to that they saw alleadged with the approbation and assent of the Councell Lastly in subscribing and confirming by their royall assent the thinges resolued and agreed on All these thinges as Cusanus rightly noteth the Emperours tooke on them in Generall Councels and the performance of euery of these we may finde in the Councell of Chalcedon but specially the First and the Fifth For whereas the tenne Bishops of Egypt that were there in the name of the rest refused to subscribe to the Actes of the Councell till they should haue a new Patriarch chosen and ordained not out of any dislike of that was done or as being of another iudgment but because the custome of their country permitted them not to subscribe vnlesse their Patriarch went before them in so doing there was a generall clamour against them of all the Bishops crying out alowde that they were to be excommunicated Anathematized And though they fell prostrate on their faces before the whole Councell professing their refusall to proceede from no priuate conceit desiring to be pittied and not vrged to any formall subscription for that if they should doe any such thing they were sure neuer to bee endured by the Bishoppes of their Country yet could they finde no fauour or relenting till the secular Iudges out of their discretion finding the true ground of this their stay to subscribe to bee such as they alleadged deliuered their opinion that it was a thing reasonable and in pitty to be granted vnto them that they should be foreborne and stay in the Citty till their Archbishop were chosen Which when Paschasinus the Legate of Rome heard hee said if your glorious excellency command that it bee so let them put in sureties not to depart the Citty till their Archbishop bee chosen and the rest of the Bishoppes agreed to him So that the matter which was ready to bee swayed by the whole Councell with clamour and out-cry in a very violent sort was stayed by the wisedome of the secular Iudges the poore distressed suppliants pittied and the hard proceeding of the Bishops against them hindred And in the same Councell we read that the Bishops hauing agreed on a forme of Confession of Faith were desired by the Emperours Deputies the secular Iudges for the satisfaction of all men to adde certaine wordes out of the Epistle of Leo to that forme of Confession which when they all some few of the East and the Legates of Rome excepted with great clamour refused to doe the Iudges tolde them the Emperour should knowe of their clamorous courses And that if they would not agree together to make some good end a Councell should be called in the West and they forced to walke thither Neither did Christian Emperours onely thus intermeddle in Generall Councells as chiefe Lords of the whole world but particular Kings and Princes likewise within their seuerall dominions and Kingdomes did as much For wee reade that Charlemaigne with the aduice counsell of the seruants of GOD and his Nobles gathered together into a Synode all the Bishoppes in his kingdome with their Presbyters that they might aduise him how the law of God and religion well established in the times of former Princes but now much fallen and decayed might be restored and Christian people attaine saluation and not bee misled by false Priests and by the aduise of his Bishoppes and Nobles according to this his good intent and purpose hee ordained Bishoppes in his citties and set ouer them Bonifacius as their Arch-bishop hee decreed that a Synode should be holden once euery yeare that in his presence the Decrees of the Canons and Lawes of the church might be restored and what should be found amisse in Christian religion amended he degraded false Priests Deacons clearkes that were whoremongers and adulterers he prescribed pennance to certaine offenders and subiected them to imprisonment other corporall punishments and corrections This Acte of Charlemaine is
in appointing some selected men for the visitation of the rest Fourthly in joyning temporall menincommission with the spirituall guides of the church to take view of and to censure the actions of men of Ecclesiasticall order because they are directed not onely by Canons but lawes Imperiall Fifthly when matters of fact are obiected for which the canons and lawes Imperiall judge men depriueable the Prince when hee seeth cause and when the state of things require it either in person if he please or by such other as hee thinketh fitte to appoint may heare and examine the proofes of the same and either ratifie that others did or voyd it as wee see in the case of Caecilianus to whom it was objected that hee was a Traditor and Faelix Antumnitanus that ordayned him was so likewise and that therefore his ordination was voyd For first the enemies of Caecilianus disliking his ordination made complaintes against him to Constantine and hee appointed Melchiades and some other Bishoppes to sitte and heare the matter From their judgement there was a new appeale made to Constantine Whereupon hee sent to the Proconsull to examine the proofes that might bee produced But from his iudgmēt the complainants appealed the third time to Constantine who appointed a Synode at Arle All this hee did to giue satisfaction if it were possible to these men and so to procure the peace of the Church And though he excused himselfe for medling in these businesses and asked pardon for the same for that regularly hee was to haue left these iudge ments to Ecclesiasticall persons yet it no way appeareth that hee did ill in interposing himselfe in such sort as hee did the state of things being such as it was nor that the Bishoppes did ill that yeelded to him in these courses and therefore in cases of like nature Princes may doe whatsoeuer hee did and Bishops may appeare before them and submit themselues to their iudgement though in another case Ambrose refused to present himselfe before Valentinian the Emperour for tryall of an Ecclesiasticall cause Neither is it strange in our state that Kinges should intermedle in causes Ecclesiasticall For Matthew Paris sheweth that the ancient lawes of England prouided that in appeales men should proceed from the Arch-deacon to the Bishoppe from the Bishop to the Arch-bishop and that if the Arch-bishop should faile in doing iustice the matter should be made knowne to the King that by vertue of his commandement it might receiue an end in the Arch-bishops Court that there might be no further proceeding in appeales without the Kings consent From the power which Princes haue in causes Ecclesiasticall let vs proceed to the power they haue ouer persons Ecclesiasticall and see whether they be supreame ouer all persons or whether men of the Church bee exempt from their iurisdiction That they are not exempted by GODS law wee haue the cleare confession of Cardinall Bellarmine and others who not onely yeeld so farre vnto the trueth forced so to doe by the cleare euidence thereof but proue the same by Scripture and Fathers The Cardinals wordes are these Exceptio Clericorum in rebus politicis tam quoad personas quam quoad bona iure humano introducta est non diuino that is The exemption of Cleargy-men in things ciuill as well in respect of their persons as their goods was introduced brought in by mans law and not by the law of God Which thing is proued first out of the precept of the Apostle to the Romanes Let euery soule be subiect to the higher powers and addeth Therefore pay yee tribute For when the Apostle saith Let euery soule be subiect hee includeth Cleargy-men as Chrysostome witnesseth and therefore when hee addeth for this cause pay yee tribute he speaketh of Cleargy-men also Whence it will follow that Cleargy-men are bound to pay tribute vnlesse they be exempted by the fauour and priviledge of Princes freeing them from so doing which thing Thomas Aquinas also affirmeth writing vpon the same place Secondly the same is proued out of the Ancient For Vrbanus saith The tribute money was therefore found in the mouth of the fish taken by Saint Peter because the Church payeth tribute out of her outward and earthly possessions And Saint Ambrose saith if tribute bee demaunded it is not denyed the Church-Land payeth tribute Now if Vrbanus Bishoppe of Rome and worthy Ambrose Bishop of Millaine then whom there was neuer any Bishoppe found more resolute in the defence of the right of the Church say that tribute is not to bee denyed but payed vnto Princes by men of the Church and in respect of Church-land I thinke it is evident there is no exemption by any Law of GOD that freeth the goods of Church-men from yeelding tribute to Princes For touching that text where our Sauiour sayth vnto Peter What thinkest thou Simon of whom doe the Kings of the Gentiles receiue tribute of their owne children or of strangers And Peter answereth of strangers Whence CHRIST inferreth that the children are free brought by some to proue the supposed immunity of Cleargy-men to bee from GODS owne graunt Bellarmine sufficiently cleareth the matter For first hee sheweth that CHRIST speaketh of himselfe onely making this argument Kings sonnes are free from tribute as beeing neither to pay to their owne fathers seeing their goods are common nor to strangers to whom they are not subiect therefore himselfe being the Sonne of the great King of Kings oweth no Tribute to any mortall man So that when hee saide the children are free hee meant not to signifie that any other are free but onely that himselfe was free Secondly he rightly obserueth that this place would proue that all Christians are free from Tribute if it proued any other then CHRIST to bee so for all Christians are the sonnes of GOD by adoption and grace And Hierome writing vpon this place hath these words Our Lord was the Kings son both according to the flesh and according to the spirit descending of the stocke of Dauid and being the Word of the Almighty Father and therefore as being the Sonne of the Kingdome owed no tribute but because hee assumed the humility of flesh it behooued him to fulfill all righteousnesse but vnhappy men that wee are we are called after the name of Christ doe nothing worthy so great an honour He for the great loue he bare towards vs sustained the crosse for vs and payde tribute but we for his honour pay no tribute and as Kings sons are free from tribute These words are brought by some to proue the imagined freedome we speake of but first they are so far from prouing any such thing that Erasmus thinketh Hierome reprehended it and disliked it as a thing sauouring of arrogancy that cleargymen should refuse to pay tribute which hee saith is contrary to the conceit of men in our time who thinke it the height of all piety to maintaine
this immunity And Sixtus Senensis saith that Hierome speaketh not of that tribute which subiects pay to their Princes here in this world but of that which we all owe to CHRIST so that this is that he saith why doe not we wretched men professing our selues to be the servants of Christ yeeld vnto his Maiesty the due tribute of our seruice seeing Christ so great and excellent payde tribute for our sakes S. Austine in his first book of Questions vpon the Gospels saith that Kings sons in this world are free that therefore much more the sonnes of that Kingdome vnder which all kingdomes of the World are should bee free in each earthly Kingdome which words Thomas and Sixtus Senensis vnderstand of a freedome from the bondage of sin but Iansenius rejecteth that interpretation because Austine saith the children of Kings are free from tribute and thinketh that Austines meaning is that if God the King of Heauen Earth had many naturall sonnes as hee hath but one only begotten they should all be free in all the Kingdomes of the world and other apply these words to cleargy-men though there bee nothing in the place leading to any such interpretation But whatsoeuer we thinke of the meaning of Austine Bellarmine saith it cannot bee inferred from these his wordes that cleargy-men by Gods Law are free from the duty of paying tribute because as Chrysostome noteth Christ speaketh only of naturall children and besides prescribeth nothing but onely sheweth that vsually among men Kings sonnes are free from tribute and therefore whereas the authority of Bonifacius the Eighth who affirmeth that the goods persons of Cleargy-men are free from exactions both by the law of God and man is brought to proue the contrary Hee answereth first that haply the Pope meant not that they are absolutely freed by any speciall graunt frō God but only that there is an example of Pharaoh an Heathen Prince freeing the Priests of his Gods mentioned in Scripture which may induce Christian Kings to free the Pastours of Christs Church Secondly that it was but the priuate opinion of the Pope inclining to the iudgment of the Canonistes and that he did not define any such thing So that men may lawfully dissent from him in this point So that we see by the testimonies of Scripture and Fathers and the confession of the best learned among our aduersaries themselues that Almighty God did not by any special exemption free either the goods or persons of Cleargy-men from the command of Princes and that in the beginning they were subiect to all seruices iudgements payments burdens that any other are subiect to and required by Christ the Sonne of God and his blessed Apostles to be so But some man happily will say that though Christ did not specially free eyther the goods or persons of Cleargy-men from the subiection to Princes yet there are inducements in reason and in the very light of nature such and so great to moue Princes to set them free that they should not do well if they did not so Whereunto wee answere that there is no question to be made but that the Pastors of the Church that watch ouer the soules of men are to bee respected and tendered more then men of any other calling and so they are and euer were where any sence of religion is or was The Apostle Saint Paul testifieth of the Galathians that they receiued him as an Angell of God yea as Christ Iesus himselfe that they would haue euen plucked out their eyes to haue done him good The Emperour Constantine honoured the Christian Bishops with the name and title of Gods acknowledged himselfe subject to their iudgment though he swayed the scepter of the World and refused to see what the complaintes were that they preferred one against another or to read their bils but professed that to couer their faults he would euen cast frō him his purple Robe Whence it came that many priuiledges were anciently graunted vnto them both in respect of their persons goods For first Constantine the Great not onely gaue ample gifts to the Pastors of the Churches but exempted them also from those seruices ministeries and imployments that other men are subiect to His Epistle to Anelinus the Proconsul of Africa wherein this graunt was made to them of Affrica is found in Eusebius Neyther is it to be doubted but that he extended his fauours to the Bishops of other Churches also aswell as to them The words of the Grant are these Considering that the due obseruation of things pertaining to true religion and the worshippe of God bringeth great happinesse to the whole state of the Common-wealth and Empire of Rome For the incouragement of such as attend the holy Ministery and are named Cleargy-men my pleasure is that all such in the Church wherein Caecilianus is Bishop be at once and altogether absolutely freed and exempted from all publicke Ministeries and Seruices Neither did the Emperors only exempt them from these seruices but they freed them also frō secular iudgements vnles it were in certaine kindes of criminall causes Wherein yet a Bishop was not to be cōuēted against his wil before any secular Magistrate without the Emperors cōmand Neyther might the temporall Magistrates condemne any Cleargy-man till hee were degraded by his Bishoppe howsoeuer they might imprison and restraine such vpon complaints made And answerably hereunto the Councell of Matiscon prouideth that no Cleargy-man for any cause without the discussion of his Bishop shall bee wronged imprisoned by any Secular Magistrate that if any Iudge shal presume to doe soe to the Cleargy-men of any Bishoppe vnlesse it be in a criminall cause hee shall bee excommunicated as long as the Bishoppe shall thinke fitte This was all the immunity that Cleargy-men anciently had by any grant of Princes and as much as euer the Church desired to enjoy but that which in latter times was challenged by some and in defence of the claime whereof Thomas Becket resisted the King till his bloud was shedde was of another kinde For whereas it was not thought fitte by the King and State of the Realme at that time that Church-men found in enormous crimes by the kings Iustices should be deliuered ouer to their Bishoppes and so escape ciuill punishment but that confessing such crimes or being clearely conuinced of them before the Bishoppe the Bishoppe should in presence of the Kings Iustices degrade them and put them from all Ecclesiasticall honour and deliuer them to the Kings Court to be punished Becket was of a contrary minde and thought that such as Bishoppes degraded or putte out of their Ministery of the Church should not bee punished by the ciuill Magistrates because as hee sayd one offence was not to be punished twice The occasion of this controuersie betweene the King and the Arch-bishoppe was giuen by one Philip Brocke a Canon of Bedford Who beeing brought before
he bare to him gaue commandement that the election of the Bishop of Rome being resolued on the Bishops should presently proceede to the ordination of him without expecting any confirmation from the Emperour But the power of confirming the newly elected Bishoppe of Rome before hee might bee ordayned or execute the Bishoppely office was againe restored to Charles the great his successours Kings of France and Emperours of the West in more ample sort then it had beene before by Adrian the First which being againe taken from his successours by Adrian the Third was restored to Otho the First King of the Germanes Emperour of the West by Leo the Eigth From which time it continued till Gregory the Seauenth who though hee was glad to seeke the Emperours confirmation himselfe when hee first entred into the Popedome yet afterwards he disclaymed it as vnlawfull so condemning many of his Predecessours that had allowed and confirmed this part of Imperiall power vnder great paines and curses to fall vpon such as should euer goe about to violate the same After whose times other Popes reserued the whole power of electing the Romane Bishoppe to the Cardinalls alone as wee see the manner is vnto this day Thus writeth Onuphrius professing that hee carefully looked ouer all the auncient monuments of the Romane Church to finde out the certainety of these things Neither neede we to doubt of the trueth of that hee writeth yet for farther proofe least any man should doubt I will produce the reports of Historians the Acts of Councels to confirme that hee saith Platina in the life of Pelagius the 2d saith nothing was done in the election of the Romane B. in those dayes without the Emperours consent and confirmation and sheweth that the reason why Pelagius was created Bishoppe without the commaund of the Emperour was for that they could send no messenger to him the Citty being besieged And touching Gregory the First hee reporteth that when he was chosen Bishoppe of Rome knowing the Emperours consent necessarily to bee required in the election and constitution of the Bishoppe unwilling to possesse that place and roome hee sent vnto him earnestly intreating him to make voyde the election of the Cleargy and people which his suite the Emperour was so farre from graunting that hee sent to confirme the Election and to enforce him to take the Pastorall charge vpon him in that most daungerous and troublesome time Whereby wee see how farre the Emperours intermedled in the election and constitution of the Romane Bishoppes in those daies It is true indeede that the same Platina reporteth that Constantine admiring the sanctity vertue of Benedict the second sent vnto him a sanction that euer after all men should presently take him for Bishop without expecting the concurrence of the authority of the Emperour of Constantinople or the Exarch of Italy whomsoeuer the Cle◅rgy people and armies of the Romanes should chuse Not-with-standing this freed◅me and libertie continued not long for as wee may reade in the Decree◅ Charle◅ the Great and Adrian the first held a Synode in the Church of Saint Sauiour in Rome wherein met 153 Bishops religious men and Abbottes in which Synod Adrian with the consent of the Bishops there assembled gaue vnto Charles power to choose the Bishop of Rome and to order the Apostolicall See together with the dignity of being a Patrician or Nobleman of Rome and besides decreed that all Arch-bishoppes and Bishops in the Provinces abroad should seeke investiture of him and that no man should bee esteemed a Bishoppe or bee consecrated till he were allowed and commended by the King This Decree the councell published anathematizing all that should violate it and confiscating their goods yet did Adrian the third as Platina reporteth take so good heart vnto him that whereas Nicholas the first did but attempt such a thing rather then performe it hee in the very beginning of his Papall dignity made a Decree that without expecting the Emperours consent or ratification the election of the Cleargy Senate and People should bee good But Leo the Eight in a Synode gathered together in the Church of Saint Sauiour in Rome following the example of Adrian the first with the consent of the whole Synode restored vnto the Emperour that power and authority which Adrian the first had yeelded vnto him and Adrian the third had sought to depriue him of The wordes of that councell are these I Leo Bishop and seruant of the seruants of God with the whole Cleargy and people of Rome doe constitute confirme and strengthen and by our Apostolicall authority graunt and giue to our Lord Otho the first King of Germaines and to his successours in this Kingdome of Italy for euer power to choose a successour and to order the Bishop of this highest See Apostolicke as also Arch-bishoppes and Bishoppes that they may receiue investiture from him and consecration whence they ought to haue it those onely excepted which the Emperour himselfe hath graunted to the Popes and Arch-bishops and that no man hereafter of what dignity or religious profession soeuer shall haue power to chuse a Patrician or a chiefe Bishoppe of the highest See Apostolicke or to ordaine any Bishop whatsoeuer without the consent of the Emperour first had which consent and confirmation notwithstanding shall be had without money So that if any Bishop shall be chosen by the cleargy people he shall not bee consecrated vnlesse hee bee commended and invested by the fore-named King And if any man shall attēpt to do any thing against this rule Apostolicall authority We decree that he shal be subiect to excommunication and that if he repent not he shall bee perpetually banished or be subiect to the last most grievous deadly and capitall punishments Hence it came that when any Bishop was dead they sent his staffe and ring to the Emperour and hee to whom the Emperour was pleased to deliuer the same after a solemne fashion and manner was thereby designed and constituted Bishop of the voyde place Thus wee see how authentically vnder great paines and curses the Pope and councell yeeld that right to the Emperor subjecting all that euer should goe about to disanull their Decree to the great curse perpetuall banishment and grievous punishments Yet Pope Hildebrand who as if he had beene a fire-brand of hell set all the world in a Combustion disanulled this Law as impious and wicked and Victor Vrbanus and Paschalis succeeding him were of the same minde By reason whereof there grew a great dissention betweene the Popes and Emperours Henry the fourth and after him Henry the fifth challenging not onely the right of confirming the election of the Popes but power also to conferre Bishoprickes and Abbeyes by Investiture of staffe and ring as the Popes Adrian and Leo had yeelded and granted to Charles and his successours which thing also had beene enioyed by the Emperour for the space of three
the Councell of Constance Wherefore seeing so many Councells Popes yeelded the power of electing or at least of allowing and confirming the Popes to the Emperours and seeing so good effects followed of it and so ill of the contrary there is no reason why our Aduersaries should dislike it For seeing the people aunciently had their consent in these affaires Fredericke the Emperour had reason when hee said that himselfe as King and ruler of the people ought to bee chiefe in choosing his owne Bishop Neither had the Emperours onely this right in disposing of the Bishopricke of Rome and other dignities Ecclesiasticall but other Christian Kings likewise had a principall stroake in the appointing of Bishops For as Nauclere noteth the French Kings haue had the right of Inuestitures euer since the time of Adrian the first and Duarenus sheweth that howsoeuer Ludouicus renounced the right of choosing the Bishop of Rome yet hee held still the right of Inuestiture of other Bishops into the place whereof came afterwards that right which the King vseth when in the vacancie of a Bishopricke hee giueth power to choose and some other royalties which the Kings of France still retaine It appeareth by the twelfth Councell of Toledo that the Kings had a principall stroake in elections in the Churches of Spaine and touching England Matthew Paris testifieth that Henry the first by William of Warnaste his agent protested to the Pope he would rather loose his kingdome then the right of Inuestitures and added threatning words to the same protestation Neither did he onely make verball protestations but hee really practised that hee spake and gaue the Arch bishopricke of Canterbury to Rodolphe Bishoppe of London inuesting him by Pastoral staffe ring Articuli cleri prescribe that elections shall be free frō force feare or intreaty of Secular powers yet so as that the Kings license bee first asked after the election done his royall assent and confirmation bee added to make it good Whereupon the Statute of prouisors of Benefices made at Westminster the fiue and twentith of Edward the third hath these wordes Our Soueraigne Lord the King and his heires shall haue and enioy for the time the collations to the Archbishoprickes and other dignities electiue which bee of his aduowry such as his progenitors had before free election was granted sith that the first elections were granted by the Kings progenitours vpon a certaine forme and condition as namely to demaund licence of the King to choose after choyce made to haue his royall assent Which condition being not kept the thing ought by reason to returne to his first nature So that we see that at first the Cleargy people were to choose their Bishops Ministers yet so that Princes by their right were to moderate things and nothing was to be done without them But when they endowed Churches with ample revenewes possessions disburdened the people of the charge of maintaining their Pastors they had now a farther reason to sway things then before And thence it is that the Statute aboue-mentioned saith the Kings gaue power of free elections yet vpon condition of seeking their licence confirmation as hauing the right of nomination in themselues in that they were Founders Likewise touching Presbyters the auncient Canon of the Councel of Carthage which was that Bishops should not ordain clearks without the consent of their Cleargie that also they should haue the assent and testimony of the Citizens held while the Cleargy liued together vpon the common contributions and divident but when not onely titles were divided distinguished and men placed in rurall Churches abroad but seuerall allowance made for the maintenance of such as should attend the seruice of God by the Lords of those Countrey townes out of their owne lands and the lands of their tennants they that thus carefully provided for the Church were much respected And it was thought fit they should haue great interest in the choosing and nominating of Clearkes in such places Iustinian the Emperour to reward such as had beene beneficiall in this sort to the Church and to incourage others to doe the like decreed That if any man build a Church or house of Prayer and would haue Clearkes to be placed there if hee allow maintenance for them and name such as are worthy they shall be ordained vpon his nomination But if he shall choose such as bee prohibited by the Canons as vnworthy the Bishop shall take care to promote some whom he thinketh more worthy And the Councell of Toledo about the yeare of Christ 655 made a Canon to the same effect The words of the councell are these We decree that as long as the Founders of Churches doe liue they shall be suffered to haue the chiefe and continuall care of the said Churches shall offer fit Rectors to the Bishop to be ordained And of the Bishop neglecting the Founders shall presume to place any others let him know that his admission shall be voyde and to his shame but if such as they choose be prohibited by the Canons as vnworthy then let the Bishop take care to promote some whom he thinketh more worthy Whereby we see what respect was anciently had to such as founded Churches gaue lands and possessions to the same yet were they not called Lords of such places after such dedication to God but Patrons onely because they were to defend the rights thereof and to protect such as there attended the seruice of God though they had right to nominate men to serue in these places yet might they not judge or punish them if they neglected their duties but onely complaine of them to the Bishop or Magistrate Neither might they dispose of the possessions thus giuen to the Church and dedicated to God but if they fell into poverty they were to be maintained out of the revenewes thereof This power and right of nomination and presentation resting in Princes and other Founders can no way prejudice or hurt the state of the Church if Bishops to whō examination and ordination pertaineth doe their duties in refusing to consecrate ordaine such as the Canons prohibite but very great confusions did follow the Popes intermeddling in bestowing Church-liuings and dignities as wee shall soone finde if wee looke into the practise of them in former times CHAP. 55. Of the Popes disordered intermedling with the elections of Bishoppes and other Ministers of the Church their vsurpation intrusion and preiudicing the right and liberty of others THe Popes informer times greatly preiudiced the right and liberty of other men and hurt the estate of the Church of God three waies first by giuing priuiledges to Fryers a people vnknowne to all antiquity to enter into the Churches and charges of other men to do Ministeriall acts and to get vnto themselues those things which of right should haue beene yeelded to other Secondly by Commendams and Thirdly by reseruations
contenting themselues with their owne Church left the administration of other Churches free to their owne Bishoppes as rather thinking themselues Bishoppes of that one cittie then of the whole world which thing haply moued a certaine Bishoppe of whom Paulus Aemylius maketh mention to answere somewhat peremptorily to Gregory the Eleuenth asking him why hee went not to his Church for whereas Gregory satte at Auinion and not at Rome hee said vnto him If one should aske thee why thou goest not to Rome that hath beene so long forsaken of her Bishoppes thou wouldest haue much lesse to answere then I haue But the latter Bishoppes of Rome contented not themselues herewith neither did they thinke it enough to bee Bishoppes of Rome and prime Bishoppes amongst before the rest but they would needes bee vniuersall Bishoppes and therefore thought it no robbery to concurre with all other Bishoppes and to preuent them if they could in giuing voyde Benefices before them And because it was not easie to preuent the Bishoppes in this sort in Prouinces and Kingdomes farre remote therefore they found out a more certaine and ready way whereby to take from them their right and power for a custome grew in and preuayled vnknowne to former times of certaine Papall graunts wherein Benefices not voyde were commaunded to bee bestowed and conferred when they should be voyd vpon such as the Pope should thinke fit and specially vpon strangers These were called Gratiae expectatiuae and Mandata de prouidendo and hereof the whole state of England complayned to Innocentius the Fourth affirning that by vertue of these Prouisions there were so many Italians beneficed in England that the reuenues which they had from hence was 60000 markes which was more then the bare reuenue of the Kings and yet as if this had not beene enough there came one Martine with Commission from the Pope to wrong the poore Church of England a little more This man conferred certaine Benefices actually voyd of the value of thirty markes by the yeare vpon strangers and when they dyed hee put in others without the priuity of the Patrons and went about to assure to such as hee pleased the like Benefices not yet voyde whensoeuer they should bee voyde besides many other most vniust exactions wherewith hee vexed the poore English putting all such as resisted against him vnder the sentence of excommunication and interdiction taking more on him then euer any Legate did though he came not as a Legate to the great preiudice of the Crowne of England seeing no Legate was to come hither vnlesse he were desired by the King The Messengers that the State of England sent to the Pope to make knowne their greiuances and complaintes were greatly disliked by the Pope and their message no way acceptable to him and therefore though dissembling the matter hee gaue them some good words as if there should be no more such Prouisions made but onely for some particular persons and they not aboue twelue in number yet such was the good nature of the man as Matthew Paris noteth that he would not suffer the poore English though sore beaten with many stripes once to cry or complaine But because they published these their complaints in the Councell of Lyons which was holden at the time of their comming hee was exceeding angry and dealt with the French King to make warre against the King of England and eyther to depriue him of his Kingdome or to make him wholy to stoope to the pleasure of the pope and the Court of Rome which the French King vtterly refused to do After these things thus past betweene the Pope and the English he did worse then euer before Whereupon there was a new meeting of the States of England wherein these grieuances were made manifest and complained of First that the Pope was not content with his ordinary reuenew of Peter-pence but exacted other contributions without the Kings knowledge Secondly that the Patrons of Churches were not permitted to present Clearkes but Romanes were put into them who neyther vnderstood the Language nor euer meant to liue here but carried away the money out of the Realme So that neyther was the people instructed hospitality kept the Churches repaired nor any good done and beside the Originall Patrons were depriued of their right one Italian succeeding another in the Churches founded by them without their knowledge and that vnwelcome Messenger Non obstante too often sent vnto them These their complaints the King the Bishops Abbots Lords and Commons made knowne by their letters and messengers to the Pope with earnest desire of reformation and redresse but could receiue none other answere from him but that the King of England had his Counsell and so had he that the king began to kicke against him and to play the Fredericke And such was his displeasure that all English were repelled and driuen away as Schismatickes After this new letters were againe written to the Pope and in the end a priuiledge was graunted that noe Prouisions should be made for Italians Cardinalls or the Popes Nephewes before the King were first earnestly intreated to be content with thē only to abuse such as would be abused For the Pope went forward still in his prouisions as formerly hee had done as appeareth by his letters to the Abbot of Saint Albons and by the worthy letters of the Bishoppe of Lincolne written to the pope about these matters and his speeches against the Pope a little before his death And here by the way it is worth the noting that Matthew Paris hath that in the time of Gregory the Ninth vppon complaint of onde Robert Tewing Patron of the Church of Lathune the popes Graunt made in preiudice of his right was reuersed because it was not knowne that the Patrone of that Benefice was a Lay-man when it was giuen by the pope Soe that if it had beene in the gift of a Cleargy-mam it must haue stood so ready was the head of the Church to oppresse Church-men and their possessions of all other were most fitte for spoyle So little respect was there had to religion in those dayes and soe were all things returned to their old Chaos againe Whence it came that the heartes of all men went away from the pope and the Church of Rome whereof the one sought to bee esteemed a Father and the other a Mother to all Churches but the one of them proued a step-father and the other a step-mother Neyther did the pope like a wilde Bore make hauocke only in the Vine-yard of the Lord of Hosts planted in this Island which lay open to be spoyled by all passengers but he playd his part also in all other Kingdomes of the West though some resisted more against his intrusions then others Touching France wee read in the booke intituled Pro libertate Ecclesiae Gallicae aduersus Romanam aulam defensio Parisiensis Curiae Ludouico vndecimo Gallorum Regi
These men therefore make 2. sorts of vowes naming some simple and other solemne and affirme that the latter do debarre men from mariage and voyd their mariages if they do marry but that the former do so debarre them from marrying that they cannot marry without some offence and yet if they do their mariage is good and not to be voyded The Diuines of the Church of Rome as Caietane rightly noteth differ much in opinion about the difference of these vowes For some of them thinke that they differ in such sort as that one of them is a promise onely and the other a reall and actuall exhibition that the solemnity of a mans vow consisteth in a reall and actuall exhibition of himselfe and putting himselfe into such an estate as cannot stand with marriage But this opinion as hee rightly noteth cannot bee true seeing there is no such repugnance simply and in the nature of the thinges betweene the Order of the holy Ministery and Marriage as appeareth in that the Ministers of the Greeke Church as tyed by noe vowe are judged by all to liue in lawfull Mariage notwithstanding their Ministery and also in that the entering into noe religious Order voydeth mariage vnlesse it be approued by the Church There is therefore as he sheweth another opinion that it is not from different nature of the vowes that the one voydeth mariage contracted and the other doth not but from the authority of the Church that will haue mariage after a vowe made in one sort to bee voyd and not in another The latter of these two opinions Bellarmine sayth Scotus Paludanus and Caietane follow and as Panormitan reporteth the whole schoole of Canonistes And these do answere to the authorities of the Fathers denying mariages to bee voyde after a solemne vowe that they are to bee vnderstood to deny them to be voyde by Gods Law and that there was no Law of man then passed to make them voyde when they liued that they knew of and that therefore they might rightly bee of opinion in those times that no vowes made insuing marriages to be voyde seeing no vowes doe voyde marriages by GODS Law and there was no law of man in their time making marriage voyde in respect of a vowe made to the contrary Soe that euen in the judgment of many of the best learned of our Aduersaries themselues Mariage after a vow is not voyd by Gods law but only by the positiue Constitution of the Church which will haue it so to bee But against this positiue Constitution two things may be alleaged first that it began from that erroneous conceipt which Anstine refuteth in his booke do bono viduitatis as it appeareth by the Epistle of Innocentius grounding his resolution for voyding of mariages in this kinde vpon that verie reason of their beeing espoused to Christ which haue vowed vnto GOD that they will liue continently Secondly that the Church hath no power simply to forbidde any man to marry whom Gods Law leaueth free seeing single life is one of the things that men may be counselled and advised vnto but cannot be prescribed and imposed by commandement that the Church may keepe men from mariage if they will inioy some fauours as wee see in Colledges and Societies or that She may by her Censures punish such as vnaduisedly and without just cause shall breake their vow and promise wee make no question but that She may simply forbid any one to marry how faulty and punishable soeuer otherwise wee vtterly deny Neyther is the reason that is brought to proue this power to bee in the Church of any force For though it were graunted that the Church by her authority for respectes best knowne to her selfe may forbid a man to marry with some of those with whom God permitteth him to marry yet wil it not follow that she may absolutely forbid any one to cōtract mariage seeing parents to whom it pertaineth to direct the choyce of their children may forbid them to marry with such as they iustly dislike and yet they may not simplie restraine them from marying So that though it were yeelded that the Church for causes best known to her selfe may forbid mariage with moe then the Law of God doth and that in such sort as to void it hauing greater power in this behalfe then naturall parents yet would it not follow that shee may simplie forbid any one to marry and voide his mariage if he do whereas the Law of God voideth it not And so vvee see that as mariage after a solemne vow is not void by the Lavv of God so the Church hath no power to make any law to make it voyd But because though it be so yet it may seeme that no man that had vowed the cōtrary can marry without sinne it remaineth that wee proceede to consider and see whether there be any cases wherein a man that vowed the contrary may marry without offence to God First touching this poynt the Schoole-men generally resolue that the Pope may dispence with a Priest Deacon or Sub-deacon to marry though he haue sollemnely vowed the contrary by entring into holy Orders because the duty and bond of containing is not essentially annexed vnto holy Orders but by the Canon of the Church onely Aquinas and they of that time thought hee might not dispense with a Monke to marry For that single life is essentially implyed in the profession of a Monke and cannot be seperated from the same as it may from the office and calling of a Priest But since that time the generall opinion is that he may because though single life cannot be separated from the profession of a Monke yet he that is a Monke may be freed from that profession that he hath made and cease to be a Monke Neither is this onely the opinion of the Schooles but the practise of Popes hath concurred with the same For as Petrus Paludanus reporteth a Pope reviued a Monke who was next in blood and to succeed in the Kingdome of Arragon and dispensed with him to marry a wife for the good of that Kingdome Caietan sayth the like is reported in the stories of Constantia daughter and heire of Roger King of Sicily who was a religious woman and of fifty yeares of age and yet by the dispensation of Caelestinus was called out of the Cloyster and permitted to marry with the Emperour Henry the Sixth who begatte of her Fredericke the Second And Andreas Frisius reporteth out of the Histories of Polonia that Casimirus sonne of Mersistaus King of Polonia was a Monke and ordayned a Deacon and yet when after the death of Mersistaus his father there was none to sway the Scepter of that Kingdome whence many mischiefes followed Benedict the Ninth gaue him leaue to marry a wife making him to leaue his Cloyster his Vowes and Deaconship that so there might bee a succession in that Kingdome So that there is no question but that for a
fitte to expose such a Father to detractions and wrongs but to hide his turpitude as much as may bee Notwithstanding in the third place I deliuer vnto thee that if this Vicegerent thorough frigiditie or other impediment become vnfitte for the spirituall generation of children hee may not bee esteemed a fitte husband for the Church nor Vicegerent for her husband Now the seede of this generation is the holy word of God and not the variable traditions of the sonnes of this world Againe I deliuer that the Church if this Vicegerent of her husband become a Fornicator or Adulterer marrying a widdow a woman put away from her husband a woman of vile and base condition and a Harlotte contrary to the commaundement of Almighty God in Leviticus If hee hardly intreat the Church if hee spoyle and robbe her of her Roabes by Dilapidation or goe about to abuse her by Symonie if hee smother her children either in the wombe or after they are come out of the wombe by ill example if hee slay them with the sword of scandalous Doctrine and such as killeth the soule or pestiferous wicked courses of life or hurtfull dissembling and winking at faults and heresies that should be suppressed that the Church I say in these cases may giue him a bill of Diuorce especially if hee adde incorrigibility to his fault least the keeping of him still turne to the disgrace and dishonour of her husband and the hurt of her children If it had pleased Maister Higgons to suffer Iohn Gerson thus fully to vtter his minde his Superiours I thinke would neuer haue permitted him to produce a witnesse to depose soe directly against them in Print for what could Luther say more then Gerson doth if the Pope who is the chiefe Bishop of the world will doe his duty hee is to be honoured as chiefe of all Bishops but if hee become scandalous if he be vnable to performe the dutie of teaching the people of God if hee teach false doctrine or wilfully neglect to reforme things amisse and shew himselfe incorrigible he may nay he must be reiected by the Church and a bill of Diuorce must be giuen vnto him This I thinke will be censured as hereticall by our Romanistes But howsoeuer Maister Higgons had no cause to exclaime as hee doth that Luther whom hee calleth the Cham of Saxonie did not demeane him-selfe towards the Pope as hee ought to haue done and thereupon to compare him to furious Aerius and to say that I likewise approximate to them both when I say we haue not receiued the marke of the Antichrist childe of perdition in our fore-heads nor sworne to take the foame of his impure mouth and the froath of his wordes of blasphemy for infallible Oracles of heauenly trueth For Luther did hide the the turpitude and shame of this holy Father as long as it was lawfull so to doe but when the turpitude of this Noah neither could nor would bee hidde any longer when he became vnfit to beget sonnes vnto God when he became a Fornicatour and an adulterer when he married a woman refused by her husband a base woman nay a harlotte when hee choaked and smothered the children of the Church before and after they came out of her wombe when hee slew them with the sword of scandalous doctrine and such as killeth the soule when hee spoyled the Church and stript her out of all her Roabes when hee abused and wronged her in most shamefull and vile manner to the dishonour of Christ her husband what remained for Luther and such other sonnes of the Church as had any care of their Mothers well-fare to doe but to cast him off with disgrace that in so shamefull manner dishonoured the sonne of God their Father and wronged the Church their Mother But if this testimonie of Gerson serue not the turne Master Higgons produceth another that will better satisfie vs touching the opinion hee held of the Pope his wordes are these Nolo de sanctissimo Domino nostro Christo Domini velut os in coelum ponendo loqui that is I will not speake of our most holy Lord and the Lords anointed as it were setting my face against heauen These words follow not in the same place where the other are found And Master Higgons directeth vs to no other pla◅ as if they were found there who yet is wont to complaine against mee for that I cite in thē same page thinges found in diuerse parts of Gersons workes and not all together the Reader may finde them in the third part of his workes in his Apologeticall Dialogue The occasion of these his wordes is this hee complaineth in that Apologie of the partialities and sinister courses hee saw to be holden in the Councell of Constance by reason whereofthe French King and other Christian Princes with their Bishops and Diuines could not obtaine nor procure the condemning of certaine wicked and scandalous assertions of Iohannes Paruus and some other preiudiciall to the state of Princes and more pestilent and dangerous as he sayth whether we respect the prosperity of the Kingdomes of the world or the good manners and honest conuersation of men then those of Wickliffe and the Bohemians that were condemned in that Councell After this complaint one of the speakers in that Apologeticall Dialogue asketh if things went not better in that Councell after a Pope was chosen and the Schisme ended then before whereunto the other speaker answereth in this sort I I will not speake of our most holy Lord and the Lords annointed as it were setting my face against Heauen not-withstanding hee had some sitting by his side who some say proceeded not with that due care and diligence which they should haue vsed in the matter concerning the state of Princes and the things concerning the Lordsof Polonia these men feare not to say that they were so backward that they could not be stirred vp sufficiently to the zeale fauouring of Catholike verity nor bee moued either by words of exhortation or writing to determine such things as were proposed vnto them Thus doth hee in mannerly sort decline the direct taxing of the Pope which might haue bin some-thing offensiue to some at that time and yet spareth him not but condemneth his negligence and want of zeale in suppressing heresie and defending and maintaining Catholique veritie and addeth that hee would haue them that are zealous of Christian Religion the honour of the Pope and the holy Councell to consider whether if care be not had for the extirpation of heresies especially in matters solemnely denounced prosecuted and handled some will not impute it to negligence other to ignorance other to a direct refusall to doe right other to the couetousnesse of Prelates seeking their own things not those of Christ other to the contempt of the Princes and Vniversities that sought the condemnation of such errours others to the weakenesse of the Ecclesiasticall power in rooting out heresies and