Christian men then that which the holy Ghost this day spake in you Wee beseech O Emperour wee offer not to fight wee feare not to die wee intreat your clemency Oh it was seemely for Christian souldiers to desire the tranquility of peace and faith and to bee constant in truth even unto death Thus farre Ambrose Saint Augustine relateth the same of the Christian souldiers under Iulian the Apoâ—tate-Emperour Iulianus extitit Imperator infidelis Iulian was an unbeleeving Emperour was hee not an Apostata an Oppressour and an Idolater Christian souldiers served that unbeleeving Emperour When they came to the cause of Christ they would acknowledge no Lord but him that was in Heaven when they were commanded to adore Idoles and to offer sacrifice they preferred God before their Prince But when hee called upon them to warre and bad them invade any nation they presently obeyed They did distinguish their eternall Lord from the temporall King yet they submitted themselves to their temporall Lord August in Psal 124. for his sake that was their eternall King So farre hee Optatus Milevitanus is another pregnant witnesse Cum super Imperatorem nemo sit nisi solus Deus Seing there is no man above the Emperour beside God alone which made the Emperour De schism Donatist l. 3. Donatus by advancing himselfe above the Emperour doth exceed the bounds of humanity and makeeh himselfe a God rather then man in that hee feareth and reverenceth him not whom all men should honour next after God So farre Optatus Saint Cyril is of the same judgement Com. in Evang Ioh l. 12. c. 36. Cuilegis prevaricatores liberare licet nisi legis ipsius authori Who can acquit them that breake the law from transgression beside the Law-giver as wee see by experience in all humane states no man can without danger breake the law but Kings themselves in whom the crime of prevarication hath no place For it was wisely said of one that it is a wicked presumption to say to a King Thou doest amisse So farre hee And also Saint Chrysostome In 1. epist ad Timoth. c. 2 v. 1. What meaneth the Apostle saith hee to require prayers and supplications inter cessions and thansgiving to bee made for all men hee requireth this to bee done in the dayly service of the Church and the perpetuall rite of Divine religion For all the faithfull doe know in what manner prayers are powred out before the Lord morning and evening for all the world even for Kings and every man in authority Some man will peradventure say that for all must bee understood of all the faithfull Which cannot bee the Apostles meaning as may appeare by the words following viz. for Kings seeing that Kings neither did then nor in many ages after serve the living God but continued obstinately in infidelity which by course of succession they had received Thus farre Chrysostome Our Moderne Reformers teach us that which Paul and Chrysostome neither knew nor beleeved See the preface before Basilic Dor. that wicked Princes are not to bee prayed for but to be resisted c. When the faction of Eutiches had prevailed against the Catholikes Leo the first had no other remedy then prayers to God sighes teares and Petitions to the Emperour Epist 24. ad Theod. Imper. Omnes partium nostrarum Ecclesiae c. All the Churches of these parts all wee Priests even with sighs and teares beseech your Majesty to command a generall Synod to bee held in Italy that all offences being removed there may remaine neither errour in faith nor division in love Favour the Catholiques grant liberty to protect the faith against Heretiques defend the state of the Church from ruine that Christ his right hand may support your Empire Thus farre Leo. When Gregory the great was accused for the Murther of a Bishop in prison hee wrote to one Sabinianus to cleare him to the Emperour and Empresse Epist lib. 7. epist 1. Breviter suggeras serenissimis Dominis meis You may briefly enforme my soveraigne Lord and Lady that if I their servant would have busied my selfe with the death of the Lombards that nation would by this time have had neither Kings nor Dukes nor Earles and should have beene in great confusion and division but because I stood in aw of God I was ever afraid to meddle with the shedding of any mans bloud so farre Gregory These Lombards were Pagans Invaders of the Countrey Ransackers of the City Persecutours of the Saints Robbers of the Church Oppressours of the poore whom Gregory the first might and would not destroy Quia Deum timuit because hee feared God It is very like that his Successour Gregory the seventh feared either God nor man when hee erected the Papall Croisier against the regall scepter and read the sentence of deprivation against the Emperour Henry Ego authoritate Apostelica c. I by my power Apostolicall doe bereave Henry of the Germane Kingdome and doe deprive him of all subjection of Christian men absolving all men from the allegiance which they have sworne unto him And that Rodolph whom the Peeres of the Empire have elected may governe the Kingdome I grant all men that shall serve him against the Emperour Carol. Sigon de Regno Ital. lib. 9. in vita Hen. 3. forgivenesse of their sinnes in this life and in the life to come As I have for his pride dejected Henry from the Royall dignity so I doe exalt Rodolph for his humility to that place of authority Thus farre Gregory the seaventh It is no wonder Benno Card. in vit Gregor 7. that Gregory his chaire clave asunder as some Writers affirme at the giving of this sentence because the proud Pope and his wicked sentence were too heavy a burthen for Peters stoole of humility to beare The fourth Chapter proveth the Immunity of Kings by the Fathers of the third 300. yeares AFter the death of Gregory the great which was about the yeare of our Lord 604. Sabinianus did succeed him who lived but one yeare after whom came Boniface the third which obtained of Phocas to bee called Vniversall Bishop since that time Periit virtus Imperatorum pietas Pontificum the Emperours waxed weake and the Bishops wicked What the judgement of those Fathers then was concerning subjection to wicked Kings I will make evident by the testimony of Gregorius Turonensis Isidorus Damascenus Beda Fulgentius Leo 4. and the Fathers assembled in a Councell at Toledo in Spaine Gregory Turonensis acknowledgeth such an absolute power in Childerick a most wicked King of France as was free from all controll of man Histor l. 5. c. 1. Si quis de nobis Rex justitiae limites transcendere volâ—erit c. If any one of us O King doe passe the bounds of justice you have power to correct him but if you exceed your limit who shall chastice you Wee may speake unto you if you list not to hearken who can condemne you
but that Great God who hath pronounced himselfe to bee righteousnesse Hactenus ille Isidorus saith no lesse for the immunity of the Kings of Spaine Let all earthly Princes know that they shall give account of the Church which Christ hath committed to their protection Yea whether the peace and discipline Ecclesiasticall bee advanced by faithfull Kings or dissolved by the unfaithfull hee will require a reckoning at their hands which hath left his Church in their power So farre Isidorus John Damascene pleadeth not onely for the exemption of wicked Kings themselves but also of their Deputies The Governours saith hee which Kings create Parallel l. 1. c. 21. though they bee wicked though they bee theeves though they bee unjust or otherwise tainted with any crime must bee regarded Wee may not contemne them for their impiety but must reverence them because of their authority by whom they were appointed our Governours So farre hee Fulgentius saith that no kind of sedition can stand with religion Cum pro nostra fide libere respondemus c. When wee answer freely for our profession wee ought not to bee taxed with the least suspition of disobedience or contumely seeing wee are not unmindfull of the Regall dignity and doe know that wee must feare God and honour the King according to the Doctrine of the Apostle Fulgent ad Thrasim reg Give to each one his due feare to whom feare honour to whom honour appertaineth Of the which feare and honour 1 Pet. 2.17 Saint Peter hath delivered unto us the manifest knowledge saying As the servants of God honour all men love brotherly fellowship feare God honour the King Thus farre Fulgentius Our Countreyman Beda for his great learning called Venerable Lib 4. exposit in Samuel is of the same mind David saith hee for two causes spared Saul who had persecuted him most malitiously First 1 Sam. 21.6 for that hee was his Lord annointed with holy oile And secondly to instruct us by morall precepts that wee ought not to strike our Governours though they unjustly oppresse us with the sword of our lips nor presume slanderously to teare the hemme of their superfluous actions So farre hee Leo the fourth about the yeare 846. agnised all subjection to Lotharius the Emperour I doe professe and promise saith Leo to observe and keepe unviolably Cap. de capit dist 15. as much as lieth in me for the time present and to come your Imperiall ordinances and commandments together with the decrees of your Bishops my Predecessours If any man informe your Majesty otherwise know certainely that hee is a lier So farre Leo. The Bishops of Spaine assembled in a nationall Councell at Toledo Concil Tol. 5. Can. 2. circa annum Dom. 636. made this decree against perjury and treason Quicunque amodo ex nobis Whosoever among us shall from this time forward violate the oath which hee hath taken for the safegard of this Country the state of the Gothish nation and the preservation of the Kings Majesty whosoever shall attempt the Kings death or deposition whosoever shall by tyrannicall presumption aspire to the regall throne let him bee accursed before the holy Spirit before the blessed Saints let him bee cast out of the Catholique Church which hee hath polluted by perjury let him have no communion with Christian men nor portion with the just but let him be condemned with the Devill and his Angels eternally together with his complices that they may bee tied in the bond of damnation which were joyned in the society of sedition Thus farre the Fathers in that Synod I conclude therefore with these learned Fathers that it is not for the people otherwise then with humility and obedience to controll the actions of their Governours but their duty is onely to call upon the God of Heaven and so submit themselves to his mercy by whose ordinance the Scepter is fallen into his hand and power that enjoyeth the Crowne whether hee bee good or bad A right of deposing must bee either in him that hath an higher power which is onely God or in him that hath better right to the Crowne which the Pope cannot have because hee is a stranger nor the Peeres or people because they are subjects Bee the King for his Religion impious for his Government unjust for his life licentious the subject must endure him the Bishop must reprove him the Councellour must advise him all must pray for him and no mortall man hath authority to disturbe or displace him as may evidently bee seene by the Chapter following The fifth Chapter confirmeth this Doctrine by the Fathers of the fourth 300. yeares IN this age of the Church the Popes exalted themselves above all that is called God and upon private displeasures and quarrels did curse and banne Princes incensing their Neighbour-nations and perswading their owne subjects to make warre against them as if Christ had ordained his Sacraments not to bee seales of grace and helps of our faith but hookes to catch Kingdomes and rods to scourge such Potentates as would not or could not procure the Popes favour How farre these Popish practises did displease the godly and learned I will shew by Saint Bernard Walthramus Bishop of Nanumberg the Epistle Apolegeticall of the Church of Leige against Paschalis the Pope and the Authour of Henry the fourth his life Saint Bernard in one of his Sermons upon the words of CHRIST I am the vine commendeth the answer of a certaine King Bene quidam Rex cum percussus humana sagitta c. It was well said of a King when hee was shot into the body with an arrow and they that were about him desired him to bee bound untill the arrowes head were cut out for that the least motion of his body would endanger his life no quoth hee it doth not beseeme a King to bee bound let the Kings power bee ever safe and at liberty And the same Father in an Epistle to Ludovicus Crassus the King of France teacheth subjects how to rebell and fight against their Princes Quicquid vobis de Regno vestro de Anima Corona vestra facere placuerit Whatsoever you please to doe with your Kingdome Bernard Epist 221. your Soule or your Crowne wee that are the Children of the Church cannot endure or dissemble the injuries contempt and conculcation of our Mother Questionlesse wee will stand and fight even unto death in our Mothers behalfe and use such weapons as wee may lawfully I meane not swords and speares but prayers and teares to God When Gregory the seaventh had deposed Henry the fourth hee gave away the Empire to one Rodolphus Duke of Saxony that was a sworne subject to that distressed Emperour which Rodolp in a battaile against his Soveraigne Lord lost his right-hand and gained a deadly wound After his death the Pope made one Hermanus King of Germany who enjoyed his Kingdome but a little time for hee was slaine with a stone which
a woman threw upon him from a turret as hee made an assault in sport against his owne Castle to try the valour of his souldiers Ex vita Henr. quanti quae bibotur in fasciculo rerum sciendarum Coloniae impresso Then did Egbertus by the Popes encouragement ascend the Imperiall throne whereon he sate but a while for as hee stepped aside from his army into a mill to rest himselfe in the heat of the day hee was discovered by the miller to the Emperours friends and lost his life for his labour During this hurly-burly in that state Walthramus a godly Bishop wrote to one Ludovicus an Earle of the Empire diswading him from partaking with the seditious against that good Emperour whom the Pope had deposed Walthram by the grace of God that hee is to Lewes the noble Prince with instance of prayer offreth himselfe in all things serviceable Concord is profitable to every Realme and justice much to bee desired these vertues are the Mother of devotion and the consecration of all honesty But whosoever seeketh after civill dissention and incenseth other to the effusion of bloud hee is a murtherer and partaketh with him who gaping for bloud goeth about seeking whom hee may devoure The worthy vessell of election that was taken up to the third Heaven protesteth saying Let every Soule submit himselfe to the higher power there is no power but from God Hee that resisteth power resisteth the ordinance of God If that bee true which some men prate among women and the vulgar sort that wee ought not to bee subdued to the Kingly power Then it is false which the Apostle teacheth that every Soule must submit himselfe under power and superiority Can the truth lie did not Christ the Lord speake by the Apostle Epist Wald. quae habetur in appendice Marian. Scot. Why doe wee provoke the Lord are wee stronger then hee Doth not hee thinke himselfe stronger then the Lord that resisteth the ordinance of God seeing there is no power but of God what saith the Prophet Confounded bee they that strive against the Lord and they that resist him shall perish Rodolphus Hermanus Egbertus with many other Princes resisted the ordinance of God in Henry the Emperour but for they are confounded as though they had never beene for as their end was ill their beginning could not be good c Haec ille Pope Paschalis seeing the bad successe of those seditious subjects which his Predecessours Gregory and Vrbanus had armed against Henry that worthy Emperour did perswade the Emperours owne Sonne against all Law of God Nature and Nations to rebell against his Father The Bishop of Leige tooke the Emperours part against this young Prince for the which hee was excommunicate his Church interdicted and Robert Earle of Flanders commanded by the Pope as hee hoped to have the forgivenesse of his sinnes and the favour of the Church of Rome to destroy that Bishop and his false Priests The Churchmen of Leige terrified with the Popes excommunication and fearing the Earles oppression wrote an Apologie for themselves about the yeare 1106. Wee are excommunicate say they because wee obey our Bishop Epistol Leodiensium apud Simonem Scard who hath taken part with his Lord the Emperour These are the beginnings of sorrow for Sathan beeing loosed compasseth the earth and hath made a division betweene the Prince and the Priest who can justly blame the Bishop that taketh his Lords part to whom hee hath sworne allegiance perjury is a great sinne whereof they cannot bee ignorant that by new Schisme and novell tradition doe promise to absolve subjects from the guilt of perjury that forsweare themselves to their Lord the King c. In the progresse of their Apologie they determine three great questions First whether the Pope hath power to excommunicate Kings Secondly to whom it belongeth to inflict temporall punishment when Church-men offend against faith unity or good manners And thirdly what remedy subjects have against their Kings that are impious or tyrannous Si quis respectu sancti Spiritus c. If any man having respect to the Spirit of God shall turne over the old and new Testament he shall plainely find that Kings ought not at all or very hardly be excommunicate whether wee consider the Etimologie of their names or the nature of their excommunication Even till this day hath this point beene questioned and never determined Kings may bee admonished and reproved by such as bee discreet and sober men for Christ the King of Kings in earth who hath placed them in his owne stead hath reserved them to his owne judgement c. Their answer to the second question is grounded on the testimony of Saint Augustine the practise of Princes and the authority of Paul Kings say they and Emperours by their publike Lawes have forbidden Heretiques to enjoy any Worldly possession Wherefore seeing wee are no Heretiques and that it belongeth not to the Pope but to Kings and Emperours to punish Heresies why doth our Lord Paschalis send Robert his Armour-bearer to destroy the possessions and to overthrow the Villages of the Churches which in case they deserved destruction ought to bee destroyed by the edict of Kings and Emperours which cary the sword not without good cause c. For answer to the third question they shew by sundry places of Scripture that there is no other helpe against evill Princes then prayer and patience Nihil modo pro Imperatore nostro dicimus c. Wee will for the present say nothing in defence of our Emperour but this wee say though hee were as bad as you report him to bee wee would endure his government because our sinnes have deserved such a Governour Bee it wee must needs grant against our will that the Emperour is an Arch-heretike an invader of the Kingdome a worshipper of the Simonaicall Idoll and accursed by the Apostles and Apostolike men as you say of him even such a Prince ought not to bee resisted by violence but endured by patience and prayer Moses brought many plagues upon Pharaoh whose heart God had hardened but it was by prayer and the lifting up his hands to Heaven And Saint Paul requireth prayers to bee made for all men for Kings and such as are in authority which Kings were neither Catholikes nor Christians Baruch also from the mouth of the Prophet Jeremy wrote unto the Iewes which were captives unto the King of Babylon that they must pray for the life of Nabuchodonoser the King of Babylon and Balthazar his Sonne that their dayes in earth may bee as the dayes of Heaven Epist Leod. c. Saint Paul teacheth why wee ought to pray for evill Kings namely that under them wee may lead a quiet life It would become an Apostolike man to follow the Apostles Doctrine it were propheticall to follow the Prophet c. Thus farre they in their Epistle Apologeticall Hee that wrote the life of this Emperour Henry the fourth Vita
Henr. 4. quo supra an ancient a modest and an impartiall Relatour of such occurrents as happened in his time declareth his dislike of the Popes practises and the Germanes tumults against their said soveraigne Lord. Magnum Mundo documentum datum est A great instruction was given to the World that no man should rise against his Master For the hand of Rodolph being cut off shewed a most just punishment of perjury hee feared not to violete his fidelity sworne to the King and his right hand was punished as if other wounds had not beene sufficient to bring him to his death that by the plague of the rebellious the fault of rebellion might bee perceived Thus farre hee The sixth Chapter proveth the same by the testimony of the Writers from the 12. hundred yeares downeward I Will for conclusion produce Otho Frinsingensis Thomas Aquinas Gratianus Philip the faire King of France the Parliament of England in the time of Edward the first Vincentius and Aeneas Silvius that afterward was Pope by the name of Pius secundus Otho Frising in his Epistle Dedicatory before his Chronicle Otho Frisingensis hath an excellent saying in his Epistle Dedicatory to Frederick Barbarossa Cum nulla persona mundialis inveniatur quae mundi legibus non subjaceat c. Although no earthly man can bee found that is not subject to the Lawes of the World and in respect of subjection liable to correction Kings as it were placed over Lawes are not restrained by them but reserved to the examination of God according to the words of the King and Prophet Against thee onely have I sinned It becommeth therefore a King both in respect of the noble disposition of his mind Psal 51.5 and the spirituall illumination of his soule to have God the King of Kings and Lord of Lords ever in his mind and by all meanes possible to take heed that hee fall not into the hands of God seeing it is as the Apostle saith a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the living God It is more fearefull for Kings then for any other because Kings have none but God himselfe above them whom they need feare It shall bee so much more horrible for them by how much they may offend more freely then other men So farre Otho Thomas Aquinas if the Tractate De regimine Principum bee his maketh three sorts of Kings Aquin. de regimine Princ. lib. 1. cap. 6. Kings by election Kings by subordination and Kings by succession For the first hee saith that they which did establish may abolish for the second wee must have our recourse to him that did surrogate the subordinate King as the Iewes did to Caesar against Herod for the last his resolution is Recurrendum esse ad omnium Regem Deum that wee must flie to God the King of all Kings in whose onely power it is to mollifie the cruell heart of a Tyrant And that men may obtaine this at the hands of God they must cease from sinne for wicked Princes by Divine permission are exalted to punish the sinnes of the people Tollenda est igitur culpa ut cessat Tyrannorum plaga Wee must therefore remove our sinnes that God may take away his punishment Thus farre Thomas Gratianus which compiled the decrees is very peremptory that the Bishop of Rome ought not to meddle with the temporall sword the state of Common-wealths or the change of Princes Hee saith nothing indeed De Regni ordinibus which in his time and a 100. yeares after him never dreamed of any such authority Cum Petrus qui primus Apostolorum à Domino fuerat electus materialem gladium exerceret When Peter whom the Lord had first chosen of all the Apostles drew the materiall sword to defend his Master from the injuries of the Iewes hee was commanded to sheath his sword Math. 26.52 For all that take the sword shall perish by the sword As if Christ should have said Hitherto it was lawfull for thee a thine Ancestours to persecute Gods enemies with the temporall sword hereafter thou must put up that sword into his place and draw the sword of the Spirit Caus 23. quest 8. parag 1. which is the word of God to slay the old man whosoever beside the Prince and without his authority that hath lawfull power and as the Apostle teacheth Rom. 13.4 Beareth not the sword in vaine to whom every soule must bee subject whosoever I say without or beside the Princes authority beareth the sword shall perish by the sword Thus farre Gratian. About the yeare a 1300. beganne a quarrell betweene Boniface the eight and Philippus Pulcher the French King about the collation of benefices Prebends and other Ecclesiasticall promotions Whereupon the Pope wrote unto the said King as followeth Boniface Bishop the servant of Gods servants to his wel-beloved Sonne Philip by Gods grace King of France Greeting and blessing Apostolicall Feare God and keepe his law Wee give thee to understand that thou art subject to us both in spirituall things and temporall and that no gift of benefices or Prebends belongeth to thee If thou have in thy hand any vacant keepe the profits of them to the Successours and if thou hast bestowed any wee decree the collation void and recall it how farre soever it hath proceeded Whosoever beleeveth otherwise wee account him a foole Dated at Lateran the fourth of the Calends of December and in the sixth yeare of our Papacy King Philip returned his haughtinesse a correspondent answer viz. Philip by tho grace of God King of France to Boniface bearing himselfe for Pope Salutem modicam sive nullam Sciat tua maxima fatuitas Little health or none at all Philip. Pulcher Let thy great fooleship know that in temporall things wee are subject to no man And that the gifts of Prebends and Ecclesiasticall promotions made and to bee made by us were and shall bee lawfull both in time past and in time to come For such collations belong to us in the right of our Crowne wherefore wee will manfully defend the Possessours of the said dignities and doe judge them that thinke otherwise fooles and mad men Given at Paris the Wednesday after Candlemasse 1301. Questionlesse this King that did so scornefully reject the Popes chalenge pretended from Christ would little regard the claime of the Nobles derived but from the people The same busie Boniface of whom some write that hee came in like a Fox craftely raigned like a Lyon cruelly and died like a Dogge miserably would take upon him the decision of a controversie betweene the Kings of England and Scotland and commanded King Edward of England either to cease his claime or to send his Procuratours to the Apostolike sea to shew his right and to receive such order from the Pope as justice and equity would require The Lords and Commons then assembled in Parliament at Lincolne sent Boniface this answer in the Kings behalfe Whereas our most dread
Lord Edward by the grace of God the Noble King of England caused your Letters to bee read openly before us touching certaine occurrents of state betweene him and the King of Scotland wee did not a little marvaile at the contents thereof so strange and wonderfull as the like hath never beene heard of Wee know most Holy Father and it is well knowne in this Realme and also to other Nations that the King of England ought not to make answer for his right before any Iudge Ecclesiasticall or secular Parliament at Lincolr c quoted by M. ekenshaw by reason of the free estate of his Royall dignity and custome without breach at all times unviolably observed Wherefore after treaty had and diligent deliberation this was our resolution that our said King ought not to answer in judgement nor send Procuratours or Messengers to your Court seeing that tendeth manifestly to the disinheriting of the right of the Crowne the overthrow of the state of the Kingdome and the breach of the liberties customes and lawes of our Fathers for the keeping whereof wee are bound by the duty of an oath and will by Gods helpe maintaine and defend with all our power and strength c. Dated at Lincolne Ann. Dom. 1301. Anno Edwardi primi 29. This was then the resolution of the State of this Land if our late Sectaries Popish or Puritan bring in any other Doctrine wee may not leave the cawsey of truth and obedience whereon our Fore-fathers walked to their commendation to follow these new guides in their bypaths of pride disobedience and contempt of authority to our destruction Vincentius in his Speculo Historiali hath a notable place to disswade from sedition and perjury Lib. 15. c. 84. Vt pace omnium bonorum dixerim haec sola novitas ne dicam Haeresis nec dum è Mundo emerserat That I may speake with the favour of all good men this meere novelty if not Heresie was not sprung up in the World that Priests should teach subjects that they owe no subjection to wicked Kings and albeit they have given an oath of fidelity unto them they are not bound to keepe it Nay they that obey an evill Prince are to bee held as excommunicated and all such as rebell against him are free from the guilt of the crime of perjury So farre hee I will end this Chapter with Aeneas Silvius Pius 2. de ortu author Imperii c. 23. who died in the yeare 1464. Sit tandem finis litium Let there bee an end of contention and one principall head to determine all temporall matters let the occasion of perpetuall debate bee taken away let men acknowledge themselves subject to their Prince and give reverence to him whom God hath made his vicegerent on Earth As that which God commandeth must bee obeyed without contradiction so the temporall Commandements of Caesar may not bee resisted But let the Kings themselves beware that they oppresse no man unjustly nor give their people cause to crie to God against them for the Earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof hee will not forget the crie of the poore and for the sinne of the Prince hee translateth the Government from one Nation to another There is nothing more offensive to the greatest God the King and Creatour of Heaven and Earth then the neglect of justice and the oppression of the poore as the Psalmist saith The poore shall not alway bee forgotten and the patient abiding of the needy shall not perish for ever So farre Silvius The seaventh Chapter sheweth the concord of Papist and Puritan for the deposition of Kings and their discord about the meanes and persons to bee imployed in the execution of their designements CHilderick was deposed and Pipine crowned King of France about the yeare 750. The truth of which History is this Childerick void of all princely gravity gave himselfe over to pleasure and wantonnesse leaving the burthen of the state to Pipinus that was his Lord Marshall Who conspired with the Nobles to advance himselfe by the deposition of the King his Master To set a better colour on the matter Pipine sent his Chaplaine to Pope Zachary to have his answer to this Question Whether should bee King hee that bare the name and did nothing or hee that governed the Kingdome The Pope gave sentence with the Marshall against the King whereupon Childerick was made a shorne Monke and Pipine a crowned King It is a wonder to see how these opposite Sectaries doe insist upon this fact of the French-men to justifie their dangerous doctrine and seditious conspiracies against Princes As Cardinall Bellarmine de Pontif. lib. 2. cap. 17. Thomas Harding against the Apologie of the Church of England fol. 181. Franc. Fevardentius in his Commentaries on Hester pag. 85. Boucher alias Raynolds de justa abdicatione Henrici 3. lib. 3. cap. 14. Ficklerus de jure Magistratuumfol 30. Alexander Carerius patavinus de potestate Papae lib. 2. cap. 3. D. Marta de temporali spirituali Pontificis potestate lib. 1. c. 23. and Doleman in his conference touching succession part 1. cap. 3. pag. 48. And also these Puritans Christopher Goodman in his treatise of obedience pag. 53. George Buchanan de jure Regni apud Scotos pag. 47. Danaens de politia Christiana lib. 3. cap. 6. pag. 221. Brutus Celta dejure Magistratuum pag. 286. Phyladelphus dialogo 2. pag. 65. Franc. Hottomanus in his Francogallia cap. 12. and Speculum tyrannidis Philipi Regis pag. 27. The Papists which ascribe this deposing power to the Pope endeavour by tooth and naile to disprove that interest which the Puritans grant the Peeres or the people First this example served Gregory the seventh to excuse his presumptous practises against Henry the fourth Quidam Romanus Pontifex A certaine Bishop of Rome deposed a King of France not so much for his ill life as for that hee was not fit for government Lib. de unit Eccles apud Scard pag. 3. and placed Pipine which was Father to Charles the great in his place absolving all the French-men from the oath of allegeance which they had sworne to their King Thus farre Gregory in an Epistle to one Herimanus that was Bishop of Metz in France Thomas Harding concludeth from this fact a Divine power in the Pope Consut of the Apolog. fol. 181. Can you not see saith Harding what strength and power is in the Pope which is able with a word to place and displace the mightiest King in Europe with a word I say for I am sure you can shew us of no army that hee sent to execute his will Is it in the power of man thinke you to appoint Kingdomes can the Devill himselfe at his pleasure set up and depose Kings no surely Much lesse can any member of his doe the same Remember you what CHRIST said when the Iewes objected that hee did cast out Devils in the name of the Prince of Devils
beware you sinne not against the holy Ghost who confesse that the Pope hath pulled downe and set up Kings Which thing undoubtedly hee could never doe profitably and peaceably but by the great power of God c. So farre Harding Cardinall Bellarmine the Grand-master of Controversies De Pontif. lib. 2. cap. 17. cannot endure to heare that this deposition was done by any other then the Papall authority The Pope saith hee Iudicavit licere Francis regnum Childerici in Pipinum transferre The Pope gave judgement that the Frenchmen might lawfully transferre Childericks Kingdome to Pipin and did absolve them from the oath which they had sworne unto him No man that hath his right wit can deny this to be lawfull For the very event hath proved that change to bee most fortunate seeing the Kingdome of France was never more potent nor Religion more flourishing then under Pipin and Charles his Sonne Thus farre Bellarmine This Cardinals reason from the successe to the approbation of the fact will conclude well for the Turke who hath longer continued more flourished and inlarged his state then the House of Pipin Heare in a word the true successe of Pipins posterity out of Beneventus Imolensis and Paulus Beneventus Imolensis Aemilius The first of that line was Charles the great in whose time the Empire was divided The second was Ludovicus Pius against whom Lotharius an unnaturall Sonne did conspire who thrust his Father to a Cloister and placed himselfe in the Throne where hee sate like a Tyrant till hee was also deposed The fourth was Ludovicus secundus a man unfortunate in all his doings The fifth was Ludovicus tertius whom they call Ludovicus nihili or Lewes no-body Paulus Acmilius The sixth was Charles the Bald a very Coward The seventh was Carolus Crassus as very a Foole. Arnulphus the eight of that progeny was eaten with lice The ninth was Ludovicus quartus in whom that race ended Alexander Carerius inferreth the absolute soveraignty of the Pope over all Kings even to depose them and to transpose their Realmes from the insufficiency of the Nobles and People De potest Pontif. lib. 2. cap. 3. num 6. Esto quod verùm sit Papam non deposuisse Regem Franciae Bee it true that the Pope did not depose the King of France but gave consent to the Peeres and People to depose him this is a most manifest profe of our intent that Kings have one if not many superiours viz. the Barons and people of their Kingdome and over throweth their position and conclusion That Kings have in temporall things no superiour no not the Bishop of Rome But seeing the Barons and People could neither judge nor deprive him because they wanted coactive power which Vassals or Subjects have not over their Soveraigne it followeth necessarily that the Pope by his Princely power as superiour to the King in temporalties might lawfully depose him Thus farre Carerius D. Marta is as peremptory for the Pope against the pretended claime of the Peeres or the People Childericus privatus est Regno Francia ob stupiditatem ineptitudinem in administrando Childerick was deprived of the Kingdome of France for his stupidity and unfitnesse to governe They that say hee was not deprived by the Pope alone but by them that desired another King doe not answer the reasons alleadged for the Popes Soveraigne power in temporalties nay they confirme the Popes power Baldus asketh this question when the Emperour is unprofitable or mad or a drunkard may the people depose him or assigne him a Coadjutor No saith hee the Pope must doe it De temp spir Pontif. potest part 1. cap. 23. num 15.16.17 for the Pope is the crowne and braine of the people And wee have proved before that God did give no jurisdiction to the people but to Moses and his Successours Wherefore the Vassals or Peeres which represent the people have no power common with the Pope in the deposing of Princes And in that they say that the Frenchmen desired another King it is a great confirmation that the Pope hath right to dispose of Kingodmes Hee useth to desire who hath not of his owne or cannot of himselfe effect that which he would have done Thus farre Marta They that plead for the state of the Laity are as confident against the Pope and Clergy Vt paucis dicam saith Iunius hoc secit Zacharias ut Dominus aut ut mandatarius authoritate instructus à Domino that I may use few words the Pope deposed Childerick either as his Lord or as a mandatary having authority from the Lord but hee did it neither way Not as Lord how could hee bee Lord in France that in those dayes had no Lordship in Rome hee did it not as mandatary for then hee ought to have shewed his authority which hee neither did nor could shew CHRIST would not divide a private inheritance shall Zachary then presume to depose Kings or transpose Kingdomes Thus farre Junius Caeterum quod Monachus iste saith Lambertus Danaeus whereas this Monke Bellarmine contendeth that Childerick was lawfully deposed by Pope Zacharias a stranger a Priest no Magistrate but in this respect a private person though hee were Bishop of Rome Resp Danae ad Bellar. l. 2. cap. 17. pag 316. Will hee ever bee able to prove or defend his assertion Can Zachary have authority in France being a stranger can hee depose the publike Magistrate being but a private person or transferre that principality to Pipin that hee hath no right unto and commit so many sacriledges and impieties stealing from Childerick and giving to Pipin another mans right authorising subjects to violate their oaths which they had sworne to their King transposing Kingdomes from one man to another whereas it doth onely belong to God to depose Kings and dispose of Kingdomes thou maist see Bellarmine how many outrages this thy Zachary hath committed beside that hee did thrust his sickle into an other mans harvest and medled with the cobler beyond his last in that being but a Priest hee tooke upon him the decision of the right of Kingdomes Thus farre Danaeus who is not so violent against the Pope Danaeus pol. Christ l. 6. c. 3. pag. 414. as hee is virulent for the deposing power of Peeres or States of the Kingdome The Kings saith hee of Lacedemonia had the Ephori to controll them The Statesmen of the Romane Common-wealth deposed the Emperours which were Tyrants and abused their authority The French-state hath often dethroned their Kings The Nobles of Spaine may doe it by their Law And the History of the Scottish affaires excellently well written by * Mulus mulum scabit Buchanan doth report that the States-men of that Countrey have many times deprived the Kings of Scotland Finally naturall reason and the practise of all nations doth confirme that the States-men in every Kingdome may depose Kings that are peccant Cap. 13. So farre hee Hottoman in his
Franco Gallia hath a long Chapter to prove that this might bee done lawfully by the Peeres or the People but in no case by the Pope or the Clergy Men cannot say as it is in the proverbe Nimium altercando veritas amittitur seing that in this opposition the truth is not lost but divided among them For their premisses brought together will unadvoidably conclude that this deposing power is neither in the Pope the Peeres nor the People Though it were the reason of the seditious Papists and Puritans à facto ad jus is sophisticall in the Schooles where nothing can bee concluded Ex meris particularibus of meere particular instances Absurd in law Quia legibus non exemplis vivitur for men must doe as the law requireth not as other men practise Erroneous in Divinity Non ideo quia factum credimus faciendū credamus ne violemus praeceptū dum sectamur exemplum We may not do that August ad Consen de mendac cap. 9. which hath bin done by other men least we break the law of God in following the example of man And dangerous in policy as my Lord of Northampton the ornament of learning observeth The flie saith that noble Earle setting on the cart wheele might as well wonder at the dust raised in the way as Gregory or Zachary draw counsell to power and make that fact their owne which was hammered in the forge of ambition countenanced with the colour of necessity and executed by Pipin a Minister that being weary of subordination resolved by this trick when the meanes were fitted and prepared to the plot to make himself absolute The case of Kings were pitifull if Ex factis singularibus it were lawfull to draw leaden rules in their disgrace Thus farre the Earle The eight Chapter sheweth the danger of this Doctrine and the originall of the Puritan position concerning the power of Statesmen to punish and depose Princes in Monarchies THese desperate attempts suggested by the Devill executed by the people encouraged by the state and approved by the Pope must serve as admonitions to Princes to humble themselves before God Qui non dabit sanctos suos in captionent dentibus corum Who will not give his Saints for a prey to their teeth For it is not heard as our great King remembreth That any Prince forgeteth himselfe in his duty to God Law of Monarch p. 60 or in his vocation But God with the greatnesse of the plague revengeth the greatnesse of his ingratitude These practises therefore must bee no president for Peeres or People to follow because God hath forbidden Christian subjects to resist though Kings raigne as Tyrants and commanded them to endure with patience though they suffer as Innocents And also because that in stead of relecving the Common-wealth out of distresse which is ever the pretence of seditious practitioners they shall heape mischeefe on it and desolation on themselves as Aquinas if hee bee the Authour of the Booke De Regimine Principum sheweth manifestly Esset multitudini periculosum ejus rectoribus De reg Princ. lib. 1. cap. 6. It were dangerous to Subjects and Governours that any should attempt to take away the life of Princes though they were Tyrants for commonly not the well disposed but the ill affected men doe thrust themselves into that danger And the Government of good Kings is as odious to bad men as the rule of Tyrants to good people Wherefore the Kingdome by this presumption would bee rather in danger to forgoe a good Prince then a wicked Tyrant So farre Thomas They that are the Authours or abettors of sedition can neither avoid shame in earth nor escape eternall damnation Though God the great Iudge doe sometime permit rebels in his Iustice to prevaile against Kings for their contempt of the law of the highest and the neglect of their owne duty The reward of rebellion shall bee no better then the recompence of Sathan who is the instrument of the Lords wrath for the punishment of all disobedience Chrysostome It is most true that as sick men neere their death have many idle fancies so the World before the end thereof shall bee troubled with many errours In these declining dayes of the World many Countreyes Cities and Cantons renounced their old Government and submitted themselves to such a new regiment as they best liked for confirmation of which practises there wanted not politike Divines what wine is so sourc that some hedge grapes will not yeeld to invest the people and Nobles with the power over Kings to dispose of their Kingdomes The Heathen Politicians from whom this politike Divinity is derived knowing not the true God and having no rule to direct them but naturall reason thought him no murtherer but a Defender of his Countrey that killed Tyrants But this pagan principle being a plant that CHRIST hath not planted must bee plucked up by the rootes I can find no ground of this lend learning beyond 220. yeares in the Christian World The first Authours of it being Johannes de Parisiis Iacobus Almain Job de Paris de potest Regia Papali cap. 14. and Marsilius Patavinus Vbi peccat Rex in temporalibus saith Iohannes de Parisiis Papa non habet ipsum corrigere When the King offended in the temporall Government the Pope hath no authority to correct him but the Barons or Peeres of the Realme and if they either cannot or dare not meddle with him they may crave the Churches aid to suppresse him so farre Iohn of Paris Tota communitas saith Iacob Almain potestatem habet Principem deponere Iacob Almain de potest Eccl. cap. 1. All the communalty hath power to depose their Prince which power the communalty of France used when they deprived their King not so much for his impiety as for his disability to mannage so great a charge so farre Almain Regis depositio alterius institutio saith Marsilius Patavinus the deposition of a King Marsil Patave de transl Imperii cap 6. and the institution of another in his place belongeth not to the Bishop of Rome to any Priest or to the Colledge of Priests but to the universall multitude of the Subjects So farre hee From these the Puritans have learned their errour of the power of States-men over Kings then which no opinion can bee more dangerous where the Nobility are as ready to practise as the Puritan Preachers are to prescribe What presumption is it in men to passe the bounds which God hath set them to controll the wisedome of the Lord and his unspeakable goodnesse when hee maketh triall of the patience of his Saints by the outrage and tyranny of cruell Kings that they which are found patient in trouble constant in truth and loyall in subjection may bee crowned with glory Were wee perswaded that the hearts of Kings are in Gods hand that the haires of our head are numbred and that no affliction can befall us which God doth not
the ninth King of that name in France as for wayfairing men to resist and repell theeves cut-throats and wolves nay further I am saith hee of opinion with the old people of Rome that of all good actions the murther of a Tyrant is most commendable Thus farre hee 1577. Came forth the Vindiciae contra Tyrannos Pag. 206. with this resolution That Princes are chosen by God established by the people every private man is subject to the Prince the Multitude and the Officers of State which represent the Multitude are Superiours to the Prince yea they may judge his actions and if hee make resistance punish him by forcible meanes So farre hee 1584. Danaeus finished his booke of Christian policy wherein among many other hee propoundeth and answereth a Noble question Lib. 3. cap. 6. as hee termeth it Nobilis quaestio sequitur A noble question followeth whether it bee lawfull for subjects to change and alter their Government Yea whether it may bee done by godly men with a good conscience his answer is The chiefe Magistrate that notoriously and wilfully violateth the fundamentall Lawes of the Kingdome may bee displaced by godly subjects with a good conscience And this is his reason Reges summique Magistratus Kings and chiefe Magistrates are the Vassals of the Kingdome and of the Common-wealth where they rule Wherefore they may bee dispossessed and dejected when they shall obstinatly attempt any thing against the feudall Lawes of the Kingdome where they governe as Kings and chiefe Magistrates And it is truly said that as a generall Councell is above the Pope so the Kingdome or the Peeres of the Land are above the King Thus farre Danaeus 1585 De jure Reg. pag. 31. George Buchanan proclaimed Rewards as well for murthering Kings as killing Tygers If I saith hee had power to make a Law I would command Tyrants to bee transported from the society of men into some solitary place or else to bee drowned in the bottome of the Sea that the evill savour of dead Tyrants should not annoy living men Further more I would award recompence to bee given for the slaughter of Tyrants not onely of all in generall but of every one in particular as men use to reward them for their paines which kill Wolves or Beares and destroy their young ones Haec ille The same yeare Thomas Cartwright commended Dudley Fenners his Sacra Theologia as they call his booke to the World wherein men are warranted by sundry Texts of Scripture most miserably abused to destroy Tyrants Therein hee following the Common opinion of the Puritans maketh two sorts of Tyrants Tirannus sine titulo Lib. 5. cap. 13. pag. 185. and Tirannus exercitio For the Tyrant without title Hee is confident that any man may cut his throat Huic quisque privatus resistet etiam si potest è medio tollat Let every private man resist him and if hee can take away his life For the Tyrant exercent having described him to bee a Prince that doth wilfully dissolve all or the chiefest compacts of the Common-wealth hee concludeth against him Hunc tollant vel Pacifice vel cum Bello qui ea potestate donati sunt ut Regni Ephori vel omnium ordinum conventus publicus The Peeres of the Kingdome or the publique assembly of States ought to destroy him either by peaceable practises or open warre Haecille Anno. 1588. Hermanus Renecherus published observations upon the first Psalme wherein hee investeth the Presbitery with all the Popes Prerogatives Concerning the Presbiterian power over Kings this is his notable annotation God saith hee hath ordained the Civill Magistrate for the good of the Ecclesiasticall order Pag. 72. therefore the Ecclesiasticall State is the highest throne of Gods earthly Kingdome the supreame seate of all excellency and the chiefest Court wherein God himselfe is president to distribute eternall gifts to his servants Whereas the politicall Empire is but as it were an inferiour bench wherein justice is administred according to the prescription of the Ecclesiasticall soveraignty Thus farre Renecherus Robert Rollocke a man otherwise very learned is carried with the current of this errour and borrowed his affertion of Master Fenner whose words hee expoundeth by way of paraphrasis In Daniel cap. 5. pag. 150. in his commentaries on Daniel printed at Edenborough 1591. Though the chiefe lawfull Magistrate saith Master Rollock doe many things unjustly and tyrannously hee may not rashly bee violated by them especially which have not authority but the Nobles or the publike assembly of States must reduce him to his duty by reproofe and all other lawfull meanes 1 Sam. 14.46 If hee doe still persist in open and desperate tyranny wilfully dissolving all or the chiefest compacts of the Common-wealth private men must not yet meddle with him onely the Peeres or the publike assembly of all States to whom that charge belongeth must provide that the Church and Common-wealth come not to desolation though it cannot otherwise bee done then by the death and destruction of the tyrant Better it is that an evill King bee destroyed then the Church and State together ruined Thus farre Rollock For proofe hee referreth his Reader first to the 1 Sam. 14.46 viz. Then Saul came up from the Philistims and the Philistims went to their owne place ergo Kings that are wicked may bee reduced to their duty by the Peeres or assembly of States according to the rules of the new Puritan logicke Secondly for the killing and destroying of Kings hee referreth his Readers to the 2. Reg. cap. 11. verse 4.5.6.7 which place I thinke hee never vouchsafed to looke upon but set it downe as hee found it quoted in Fenners Divinity from whom hee hath taken all the rest I will make an end with William Bucanus whose Booke was published at the request and with the approbation of Beza and Goulartius maine pillars of the Church of Geneva 1602. Loco 76. pag. 844. They saith Bucanus which have any part of office in the publike administration of the Common-wealth as the Overseers Senatours Consuls Peeres or Tribunes may restraine the insolency of evill Kings Thus farre hee This Puritan dangerous errour is directly repugnant to the Law the Gospell the Precepts of the Apostles the practise of Martyrs and the Doctrine of the Fathers Cōuncels and other classicall Writers as I have proved in the six former Chapters and will more directly shew by the grace of God in my other Booke wherein the holy texts of Scripture which the Papists and Puritans doe damnably abuse against the Ecclesiasticall and Civill authority of Kings shall bee answered by the godly Protestants whose labour God used to reforme his Church since the yeare of our Lord 1517. and by the ancient Fathers and Orthodoxall Writers in every age of the Church This Puritan position which authoriseth Nobles and assemblies of States against wicked Kings is the very assertion of the most seditious Iesuites that have lived in our age as
I will demonstrate by two or three Iohannes Mariana De Regis instit l. 1. c. 6â— whose Booke seemeth to bee written in defence of Clement the Frier who stabbed Henry the third King of France The faults and licentiousnesse of Kings saith Mariana whether they raigne by consent of the people or right of inheritance are to bee borne and endured so long as the Lawes of shamefastnesse and honesty whereto all men bee bound are not violated for Princes should not rashly bee disturbed least the Common-wealth fall into greater misery and calamity But if the Prince make havock of the Common-wealth and expose the private fortunes of his subjects for a pray to other men if hee despise Law and contemne Religion this course must bee taken against him Let him bee admonished and recalled to his duty if hee repent satisfie the Weale-publike and amend his faults there ought as I thinke to bee no further proceeding against him But if there bee no hope of his amendment the Common-wealth may take away his Kingdome And because that cannot bee done in all likelihoode without warre they may levy power brandish their blades against their King and exact money of the people for the maintenance of their warre for when there is no other helpe the Peeres of the Common-wealth having proclaimed their King a publike enemy may take away his life Thus farre Mariana The States-men of the Kingdome saith Franciscus Fevardentius have a soveraigne power over their Kings In Hester c. 1. pag. 88. for Kings are not absolutely established but stand bound to observe lawes conditions and compacts to their subjects the which if they violate they are no lawfull Kings but Theeves and Tyrants punishable by the States Thus farre Fevardentius Inferiour Magistrates saith Iohannes Baptista Ficklerus are the Defenders and Protectours of the Lawes and rights of the State De jure Magist fol. 18. and have authority if need require to correct and punish the supreame King So farre Ficklerus An English fugitive which was the Authour of the booke De justa abdicatione Henrici tertii affirmeth That all the Majesty of the Kingdome is in the assembly of Statesmen to whom it belongeth to make covenants with God to dispose of the affaires of the Kingdome to appoint matters pertaining to warre and peace Lib. 3. cap. 8. to bridle the Kingly power and to settle all things that belong to publique Government So farre hee And the most seditious Dolemon saith Part. 1. cap. 4. pag. 72. that all humane Law and order Naturall Nationall and positive doth teach that the Common-wealth which gave Kings their authority for the Common good may restraine or take the same from them if they abuse it to the Common ill So farre Dolemon and of this opinion are many other as may appeare by Doctor Morton by whom they are discovered and refuted How farre this gangrene will extend I know not The Kings of Christendome are dayly crucisied as CHRIST their Lord was betweene two Theeves I meane the Papist and Puritan which have prepared this deadly poison for Princes whom they in their owne irreligious and trayterous hearts shall condemne for tyranny I hope neither Peeres nor people will bee so fond to beleeve them or wicked to follow them which pretend the Reformation of Religion and defend the subversion of Christian States If inferiour Officers or the publique assembly of all States will claime this power it standeth them upon as they will avoid everlasting damnation not to derive a title from Rome Lacedemon or Athens as Calvin doth whom the rest follow but from the Hill of Sion and to plead their interest from the Law or the Gospell Si mandatum non est praesumptio August in quest mixt ad paenam proficiet non ad praemium quia ad contumeliam pertinet conditoris ut contempto Domino colantur servi spreto Imperatore adorentur Comites If their opposition against Kings bee not commanded of God it is presumption against God for it is a contumely against God the Creatour of all States to despise Lords and honour servants to contemne the soveraigne Emperour and to reverence the Peeres of the Empire So farre Augustine Prov. 24.21 My sonne saith Solomon feare God and the King and meddle not with the seditious for their destruction shall come sodainly and who knoweth the end of them The conclusion of all is That Kings have supreame and absolute authority under God on earth not because all things are subject to their pleasure which were plaine tyranny not Christian soveraignty but because all persons within their Dominions stand bound in Law allegiance and conscience to obey their pleasure or to abide their punishment And Kings themselves are no way subject to the controwle censure or punishment of any earthly man but reserved by speciall prerogative to the most fearefull and righteous judgement of God with whom there is no respect of persons Hee whole servants they are Will beate them with a rod of iron and breake them in peeces like a potters vessell If they abuse that great and soveraign power which God had endued them withall to support error to suppresse truth and to oppresse the innocent God of his great mercy grant us the Spirit of truth to direct us in all loyalty that wee being not seduced by these seditious Sectaries may grow in grace stand fast in obedience embrace love follow peace and encrease more and more in the knowledge of our Lord JESUS CHRIST To whom bee all praise power and dominion now and for ever Amen FINIS