they did more surely schoole the sonne of that Emperour Phillip the second and this Phillip now of Spaine whom they haue really incorporate into the seate of Rome making him to thinke that he is perpetuall Dictator as is said and the Popes onely sonne and heire And because all this discourse is of experience I will tell your Lordship how this was very quickely noted to me by a certaine entercourse which did happen to me Being at Millaine in Lombardie I did behold vpon the Gates of that Citie the Armes of Charlequint gloriously planted with many stately inscriptions among the which this was to be read Ad plantandam fidem ad colligenda Regna dispersa à Deo destinatus Destinate by God for the plantation of the faith and for the vnion of dispersed Kingdomes of the world when I did obiect to one of my acquaintance of good vnderstanding that Destinatus ad plantandam fidem was rather a title Apostolicall then Imperiall Hee replyed to me that it was Apostolicall for said hee that Trinitie of the Godhead which is in heauen of Father Sonne and holy Ghost hath deputed here below another Trinitie for earthly gouernment vnder whose obedience all power must bee ranged the Pope the Father the King of Spaine the Sonne and the Societie of the Iesuites the holy Ghost so that the Inscription is thus to bee construed said hee The Iesuite who takes vpon him to bee the onely Plantator of the faith being as the holy Ghost of this Trinity sent forth among stranger Princes to seduce their people to rebellion by sowing into their hearts the seedes of superstition and sedition which so soone as that Prince or King doth offer to punish the Pope who hath the place of the Father he doth excommunicate him and lastly giue commission to the King of Spaine to inuade his Dominions who hath the place of his onely Sonne and heyre who only of all Princes doth vnderstand the right Cabbal of the Court of Rome and is onely destined to execute that which is appoynted in the Councell of his Father so that hee also is Apostolicall saide this Gentleman who was a Frenchman and a true enemie to the Spaniard as may be seene by this ingenious and pretty conceit Thus it is no more a mysterie but reuealed to all the world which way the ambition of this Beast doth tend first debarring from the benefit of generall Councels Lutherans of whom some were cruelly burnt against their safe conduct and publike faith of the world secondly debarring Protestants which ought not to bee because they haue still called for reformation thirdly debarring the Catholike Romane Clergie it selfe giuing out for doctrine that the Pope is aboue all generall Councels which is done so impudently that the Cardinalls Barronio and Bellarmino haue not beene ashamed to condemne that great Panormitan Bishop because from this text Omnis anima subdita sit Superioribus potestatibus he prooueth the Pope to bee subiect to generall Councells and finally not onely spoyling Christian Princes their powers to conuocate Councells debarring them also but vsurping ouer their authorities temporall and inuading their States and liues I haue detained your Lordship so long vpon this point of the Papall Soueraignity and of the Iesuiticall trade quia plurimi interest because it concernes your Lordship you I say and all those who be of your profession chieflie who be of your Lordships Noble rancke it concernes you neerely to bee well informed heere this is the very place of danger it is the insatiable mouth of the deuouring Monster of our Age it is the gulfe which hath swallowed puissant Kings and flourishing Kingdomes This venemous doctrine is like vnto that Lady of whom Tacitus writeth called Locusta whose singular skill to temper Poyson so that when it was most deadly it wrought most vnperceiuedly made her to bee called Maximum instrumentum imperij A great and necessary Instrument of the Empire and much made of vnder Nero. This doctrine doth attrappe and snare the liues of greatest Monarkes before they can be aware It is a drinke of some new Cyrce changing men into brutall Beasts that they haue no more sense of humanitie or respect what shall say to themselues their wiues and children no that is small but not to their sacred Princes nor to our common Mother their Natiue Countreye not caring to cast into the mouth of this Monster millions of innocent soules nor making no account to sprinckle the Altars of their Cyrce with the annoynted bloud of their Soueraigne Kings yea before she should want her nefand and barbarous sacrifice they will offer vnto her the bloud of their owne hearts let vs remember Clement Rauiliacke Persie and his wretched complices So pittifully are they enchaunted with constant and desperate madnesse We must be afraid of the Iesuite and of his potion he will tell vs that constancie in faith is able to ouercome all things as it is indeed when it is inspyred by the good Spirit of God but alas he will tell vs that constancy to prosecute great actions or enterprises is like to an hecticke feuer which scarcely is felt at the first assault but by continuance it ouerthroweth the strongest bodies He will tell vs that oftentimes God doth compassion their teares shed for their brethren Martyred vnder tyrannous hereticall Kings euen by stirring vp within their Courts and Cabinets a Brutus an Aeod inspired with courage and constancy to reuenge his owne cause God of his mercy preserue Christian Princes from these brutish spirits That Brutus is a dangerous fellow be where he will wee read of Brutus that he did glory in the murther of Caesar in these termes Non solum non Caesari sed ne patri quidē meo si reuiuiscat concesserim ego totius orbis terrarū liberator vt me patiente plus legibus ac Senato possit I the deliuerer of the whole world would not on onely not suffer Caesar but not my owne Father to doe these things yet this was but a cause of state and he was onely an hereticke in policie if he then would haue murthered his Father as he did in effect for he was thought the naturall sonne of Caesar albeit not lawfull what shall we then looke for from these brutish beastes of our age who haue a cause of conscience and an errour in their soule which once being infected with that diuelish pride to be called deliuering Aeods of Gods people what is so hainous that they will not perpetrat Brutus was much beloued and bound to Caesar yet that would not keepe vp his hand from impious paricide hee was among the first of his percussors that Cesar saide to him Tu etiam fili Brute This mentall reseruation of mens mindes this wicked equiuocation of their maners it maketh that complaint of Momus against Iupiter to seeme more iust now then euer before why hee did not make an open window into the breast of man that the deepe of his heart might be
then the Prince Of which thinges it is most manifest that God hath laid the whole burthen of earthly gouernment vpon these two Iurisdictions of the Ciuill authoritie and Priesthood as the two diuine Arches vpon the which the policie of the world is sustained they are as the two Poles which fixe the Axletree of the coelestiall Spheres directly looking one vpon the other which two if they should neuer so little incline to obliquitie fall to iarre or presse to draw the one the other it were to disturbe and endanger the whole frame of the world which is carryed vpon their conjunction euen so the variance of the Temporall and Spirituall Magistrate is to cut the Axletree whereupon as on a mighty Atlas the Sphere of Christian gouernment doth relye And this farre I adde In the beginning all the Patriarks had the Priesthood coupled with their Kingly office euen from the day of Adam And in after-times whensoeuer any constraint or corruption of time bred a necessitie to confound them in one person it hath euer beene so that the ciuill authoritie did carry the Priesthood which coniunction we finde to haue beene twice in the person of one first in Moses who was so farre preferred to Aaron or to his particular office that God said Aaron shall speake for thee those words which thou shalt put into his mouth and thou shalt bee as his God And thereafter againe by reason of corruption in latter times God did suffer the Princes of the Machabes and Almonei to possesse the Priesthood also as Simon Ioannes Alexander Hircanus and Aristobulus of whom some are witnessed in the Booke of Machabes to haue beene rare and excellent men as Simon Onia of whom it is said Erat tanquam astrum matutinum inter nubes tanquam Solrefulgens intemplo altissimi He was like the day Starre among the cloudes and as a shining Sunne in the Temple of the most High Which confusion of seuerall powers our Sauiour againe in his time did cleerely distinguish commaunding to giue to God that which was his and to Caesar that which was due to him after which Christian Princes Prelates did long liue euery one contented to attend their owne function Prelates to pray for Princes to teach their people and watch ouer their soules Princes againe to nourish them to protect the Church and minister Iustice vntill the poles of this gouernment beganne to shake through vanitie of the Priesthood striuing so much to inuade the Temporall puissance and to confound the two functions in their owne persone whereof I will relate what hath beene the iudgement and practise of the Fathers of most simple and vnsuspected antiquitie of the primitiue Church Saint Ambrose saith of these two Iurisdictions that the one doth assist the other mutually Saint Augustine saith the same in his Epistleto Macedonius Boniface in his Letter to the Emperour Honorius saith it were too great burthen for the Church to ouerwatch spirituall things if she were tyed to any temporall care Saint Cyprian in his Epistle saith to inuolue the Church in worldly affayres were to estrange her from God Saint Iohn Chrysost. as also Augustine against the Manichees do affirme there is no power but from God eyther that hee doth establish it or permit it for the execution of his will in mercy or in iustice for the which reasons say they a Christian subiect may serue vnder the commandement of an Infidell or sacriledgious King and as the iniquitie of the commandement doth render the Prince culpable so doeth the band of obedience keepe the subiect innocent All Antiquitie doth conclude with Saint Augustine in the Citie of God thus God onely doth ordinate Kings after his secret pleasure good or bad according to our merits or demerits therefore saith hee it is our part onely to obey vnlesse we will repine against God for saith he the great God who gaue Empire to the Assyrians and Persians hee granted it vnto the Romanes when he pleased and as great as he pleased hee raysed the power of Marius hee yeelded authoritie to Caesar to Augustus yea to Nero to Vespasian and to his gracious sonne Titus and to his tyrannous brother Domitian And finally saith this holy Father he who placed into the Empire the most Christian Constantine hee did also honour with the same power the filthy Apostat Iulian and howsoeuer the causes of this proceeding in God be hidden and mysticall saith he yet they are vndoubtedly iust and holy This is the doctrine of Antiquitie whereupon the Primitiue Church did in euery thing of exterior gouernment depend vpon the temporall Soueraintie whether in ciuill or criminall cases if any man did inuade Ecclesiasticall patrimony or goods they did remit it to the imperiall Iudicatorie if any man did offer violence or kill a Bishop they did the same as Augustine testifies vpon the Epistle to the Romanes these and such like bee the Precepts which are left to vs from Antiquitie for Christian policie or gouernment The practise of the Primitiue Church hath bene agreeable to this doctrine for in their gouernement wee doe obserue three things which haue beene inuiolably kept of them First not onely did the Church serue and obey Pagans Tyrants and abominable monsters in the Empire who refused her for their mother who did afflict and persecute her but she did make ordinary prayers to God for their happinesse so farre that as Tertullian writeth diuers Ethnickes did ascribe it as a peculiar glory to Primitiue Christians that their exercise was to pray for their enemies shewing how farre Christian profession doth surmount the doctrine of Philosophie Secondly where the Emperors begun to range themselues vnder the holy ensignes of the Church becomming her Alumni and children she did obey vnto the most cruell hereticks as to Constantius Valens and others and to the greatest Apostates and mockers of Christianity as vnto Iulian notwithstanding of whose bloodie persecutions she neuer left her obedience as the Records of her ancient Counsels beare witnesse wherein any man may reade the processe of the Councell of Arimini that worthie Bishop Melitus the light of Asia in his time did write vnto the Emperour Antonius those words according to a true version Ye haue sent saith he such rigorous edicts against vs for tormenting of vs vnto death thinking thereby to extinguish the name of Christians we know not if these haue proceeded from your owne will which if it be in that case we shall obey you for nothing can come from you but good but wee doe most humbly beseech you to consider that their are many Calumniators about your person that seeke how to destroy vs that they may possesse our goods In the Histories of France and Spaine we read that the Church did carrie the same reuerence vnto a great number of Princes Visigotti Arians heretickes yea and which should more moue vs the Popes themselues who haue possessed the seate of Rome haue left vnto their successors notable examples of
weale and when there is cause an other chosen in his stead by the greatest part of the people but then to let you see that all that processe must depend from the Pope vpon the word Tyrannus they doe reason thus Tyrannice gubernans non potest spoliari sine publico Indicio lata vero sententia potest quisque fieri Executor potestque deponi a populo qui iurauerit ei obedientiam perpetuam He who raigns Tyrannously cannot be spoyled of his dominion vntill the publike sentence bee pronounced which once done he may be depriued by any yea by the same subiects who did sweare to him perpetuall obedience This publike sentence we must vnderstand is Excommunicatio Maior proceeding from the Pope How these Aphorismes doe agree with the doings of the Primitiue Church let the most ignorant iudge whither they bee not seasoned with their wormewood Vpon these two foundations of excommunication and depriuation doth of necessitie follow the third to wit murther of Kings first thundered next eiected thirdly slaine and doctrinall grounds set downe to authorise the same Gean Guignart in his treatise vpon the murther of Henry the third a good Prince and a catholike Romane he doth stablish two propositions one that the cruel Nero was murthered by a deliuering Clement whose heroicall act inspired by the holie spirit was to be reputed iust and lawfull yea and most laudable next that the crowne of France ought to be transposed to another Race and the Biarnois so doth he disdainfullie call the french king he ought to haue a monasticall crowne that is to say to be shauen and condemned to the cloyster albeit he was become a catholike Romane which if he would not accept they should by force of armes eiect him or depriue him of his life Ambrose Varades principall of the Iesuites Colledge at Paris was found the instigatour of Barrier against the late king immediatly after his conuersion to the Church of Rome Chastell who strooke him in the mouth confessed that he was taught by Iesuites that it was an act of extraordinarie great godlinesse to kill him because he was no lawfull king although he was conuerted vntill he was receiued by the Pope A letter was found of father Commelet a man most famous among them for prudence and grauitie bearing these words we must haue an Aeod let him be a monke a souldier or a sheepheard it is no matter we must haue an Aeod for the assassinat or slaughter of King Henrie the third so did their absynthiū vniuersallie poyson all that euen in the Serbon it was concluded in fauour of the Pope that his excommunication and murther was both lawful and wel acted William Parry confessed at his death that Benidicto Paulio Aniball Codreto Iesuites did persuade him that it was a most religious act to surprise the life of the late Queene of England a good Princesse replenished with Pietie vertue And who should heare the true relation of the state of Polonia since the entrie of the Iesuites there he should heare of more wicked secret practises during that time then for hundreths of yeeres before This is the doctrine and these are the practises of Papall pride with the Christian Kings of this age which being paralelled with these of the primitiue fathers it is easie to marke the antithesis So to ende this particular touching the Maxims of the Iesuisticke schooles it is the glorie which they doe cary as a bright starre in the front of all their renoune that they be daunters of puissant kings and it is found in their owne bookes in that treatise called Summa constitutionum imprinted at Lions Anno 1859. conteyning the gouernment of that societie it is sayd Tyrannos aggrediuntur lolium ab agro Domini euellunt They inuade tyrants and roote out the cockle and filth from the Lords feild And so invincible they be in this mischeuous doctrine that albeit they vnderstood Tanquerall was condemned to vndergoe a great punishment and hardlie did escape his life Anno. 1561. for suffering this Theame touching the authoritie of kings to be called in question of the Sorbon and to be disputed there yet so bould are they that euer since that tyme they did practise the court of parliament at Paris to fauour the same motion albeit oftentimes it was despightfully reiected vpon suspition of that which in effect was found true that they had couertly corrupted the Sorbon by sliding in among them some of their owne scolers neither is there anie thing in all this more strange then to heare Cardinall Bellarmine his answere for that holy carriage of the fathers of the primitiue Church with Emperours and Kings of their Tyme it was sayth he more necessarie in that time of the primitiue Church to admonish Christian people to obey temporal powers least otherwise the preaching of the Gospell had beene hindered The case being altered now when the Church is inful authoritie power her selfe which fiefor shame is no other then to make the word of God to be a religion of Foxes a doctrine of sophistrie a profession of Equiuocation consequentlie of P◅rle quia qui dubi◅r at his me◅itur bis peiur at as Cicero saith as if vpon these words Regnum meum non est de hoc mundo Christ would say to his Apostles and successours that they should obey Princes so long as they were vnder the Crosse and could doe no otherwise but when they should beginne to floorish and get the winde vpon them that then they should change the stile of the Euangell and teach a contrarie doctrine a doctrine not of Christ but of the ambitious schoole of Machauel to the stayne of Gods glorie who hath made no law but on for kings of Israel for kings of the primitiue Church and for all who haue followed vpon which point and vpon these words of our Sauiour Regnum meum non est de hoc mundo we may heare S. August as it were vpon the Theater of the world making a procliamation to secure all authorities from such feare Iealousie Audite saith he Iudaei gentes audi preputium audite omnia Regna terrena non i◅podis domination◅ ve◅am in hoc mundo O heere yee Iewes and gentiles yee circumcised and vncircumcised heere yee all the kingdomes of the earth Christ maketh no stoppe nor opposition to your authorities temporall and we reade S. Bernard vpon this text in the 12 of Saint Luke where one said to Christ master tel my brother vt mecum diuidat here ditatem that he may diuide our heritage he answered homo quis me constituit Di◅isorem aut Iudic◅m super vos who appointed me a iudge ouer you or diuider of your lands whereupon Saint Bernard saith stetisse lego Apostolos iudicandos sedisse iudicantes non lego I read saith hee that that the Apostles stood to be iudged but that they did sit ◅o Iudge I read not Their successors indeed the Bishops of the
be feared lest in time if the oppositions were wanting which are made by your Maiesty the iudgements of men should become Pyrrhonicall and Problematicall as if there were no truth in things but all were indifferent as if it should be as easie for them hauing once subiugat the temporall power to the spirituall to refine S. Peter and by a new Alembication to make him Monarchall Priest and Monarchall Prince ouer the whole vniuerse And seeing this discourse containeth a discouerie of those abominable maximes which Hell it selfe hath vomited to prepare the spirits of men to shake off the diuine yoke chiefly of your Maiesty Maximes alas for pity whereof when we consider the deplorable euents that partly haue come to passe and partly haue been shot at what Clements what Chastels what Rauilliacks what pouder Traitors they can neuer be sufficiently charactered but with teares of blood These I hope will suffice without any Dedicatory intercession to make your Maiesties eyes propitious and fauourable ouer my faithfull sacrifice of peace and vnity that none of these Rauenous foules shall haue any power to spoile it or to trouble my oblation And lastly since by your Maiesties Gracious permission I am to publish these for a triall of what true Christianity and true wisedome is in the hearts of your Maiesties Subiects I haue not neither sent them abroad but presidiat with the fauours of that worthy and vertuous Prelate whom your Maiestie hath worthily preferred to be the chiefest Speculator and Pilate in the shippe of the Church God grant in his mercy that they may teach your Maiesties people to draw their light from no other Sunne but from your Maiestie and that they haue nothing before their eyes but Gods true worship the glory of this great and fortunate I le the conseruation of your Maiesties person and crowne and the stability of your most Royall succession Your Maiesties most humble most faithfull and most affectionate Subiect and Seruant PETER HAY. TO THE RIGHT Reuerend Father in God and honourable Lord GEORGE ABBOTS Lord Archbishop of Canterburie his Grace Primate and Metropolitane of all England and one of his MAIESTIES most Honorable Priuy COâ—…NSEL MY very Reuerend Father and Honourable Lord when on the one side I doe looke vpon the splendor of this golden Age wherein our glorious Kingdom of Great Brittaine doth shine amidst the powers of the world like to that fire which was placed in the cloud that conducted Israel and when on the other side I doe consider how many be within our owne bowels who cannot discerne this great Cittie vpon the mountaine nor see the bright Lanterne which God hath planted in it to explore the workes of darknesse as if they were burnt with the fire of Promotheus that too much light had made them blinde while as one sort pretending to maintaine the Catholike antiquitie of the Church doth spoyle all primitiue simplicitie to establish that most absurd and impious tyrannie of the Pope tending to the extinction of this diuine Lampe which burneth so clearely among vs and to the ouerthrow of our most Sacred Prince and Countrey An other sort vnder colour of phantasticke and Ideal puritie striueth to supplant the auncient and approued policie of the Church to the destruction and danger of the whole State I thinke that euen as the contagious vapours of corrupted bloud ascending ordinarilie into the braine doe breed at length a mortall epilepsie of the bodie euen so the mistie exhalations of fearefull Ignorance and presumption mounting continually into the seate of the vnderstanding they doe obscure the light of temperate wisdome and peece and peece beget a spirituall epilepsie of the soule The contemplation of which pittifull astonishment of mens witts as if they were stolne away by the enhantment of some new Circe it hath opened my mouth who professe to be a simple Asse to speake of the causes of their disease and of the meanes as well of the peace of Christs Church in generall as of the intestine harmonie which ought to be in euery thing amongst vs who are the members of this nationall Church in particular and for their helpe to character in some chiefe circumstances the happinesse and serenitie of our time within this great and fortunate ISLE while as all the Kingdomes which doe inviron it be so atteynted with pernicious errors lesse or more that for vpright knowledge like vnto that strong illusion of Ixion pro Iunone nubem amplectuntur in place to enioy the Queene of Heauen which is the sinceritie of religion and true gouernment they doe but imbraâ—…e a cloud of deceitfull abuses so hath the insidious Clergie namely of the Iesuite betrayed the Christian liberties of both This I doe not performe by dogmaticall grounds of Theologie but by a briefe Empiricall discourse of such practises as I did obserue in the Church of Rome and in other Churches during my Peregrination through diuers principall parts of Christendome while as like to that miserable Asse of Apuleius I did sustaine many changes and disfigurations of minde in matter of my faith till in the end the Lord in his mercie brought me to act that last transmigration of Apuleius which made him to be called the Golden Asse that as he was said to recouer his humane shape by snatching his mouth full of Roses that were caried by the Priest of Ceres so I smelling really the sweet odour of that deepe dyed Rose of the Canticles the Lord IESVS CHRIST our great Priest called the sauour of life to life by meanes thereof I was restored to my liuely image the golden historie whereof and of the notable things which I did remarke vnder those spirituall Metamorphoses is here set downe for the information of such darkned mindes as be yet captiued with Circe and cloathed in vncouth shapes And sithence my Lord this Treatise hath already found an easie accesse vnto your GRACE and so benigne acceptation that your Grace haue not onely set ouer it a censorious and skilfull Surueyor but haue been content to heare diuers points of the same agited before your selfe notwithstanding of the most weightie and assiduous businesse wherewith I did see you to bee pressed For this respect amongst many others I doe not see where it can finde a surer passe to goe abroad then in the trust of your protection nor where it can more iustly demaund the same then from your Grace whose pastorall vigilance doth well approoue that Royall wisdome which did preferre you to bee the principall Watchman of this Church and to carrie the touchstone for tryall of all such peeces as should bee offered to the Lords Sanctuarie whose extraordinarie Exaltation in the house of God to be from no Prelate Primat of England ante annum vertentem aut circiter doth testifie that the great Spirit which alwaies ruleth his Maiestie our most Gracious Soueraigne hath breathed vpon your Election that you should bee tanquam Sol refulgens in Templo altissimi a bright starre
their faithfull obedience vnto all the Ostrogotti who did raigne in Italie among the which Theodoricke was so respected of the Sea of Rome chiefly of Pope S. Hormisda that they had almost canonized him as is written There was no seruice whereinto they did not obey those princes if they had any occasion to send any Embassadours they did vndergoe it as Pope Innocent the first tooke a legation from Alarico to the Emperour Honorius to negotiat his peace and to obtaine a dignitie to that Arrian King And further to declare how sacred they did hold their obedience to whatsoeuer King God did place ouer them they did vndertake Embassages from Arrian Princes in fauour of Artian Churches for conseruation of Arrians and in case of excommunication as Iean the second and Pope Agapet were imployed by Theodoric and Theodotus Now to him who will answere to this that these Princes were not excommunicate therefore the Church did serue them I replie that there was greater cause to excommunicate them then nor nowadayes is taken against Christian Princes and which is more we find the letters of Hormisda and others to Anastase as full of honor and respect as if he had beene free from the sentence of excommunication and of Gregorie the second to the Emperour Leon Iconomachus albeit he was excommunicate by that same Pope himselfe which things we must not imagine to haue bin done at randome or pro tempore but from good warrant appearantly since the iurisdiction spirituall is onely ouer the soules of men Church gouâ—…rnours ought not to transcend their ordinary bounds to meddle with the bodies or temporall states of Kings but their Fulmen Ecclesiasticum the thunder of excommunication should bee onely spirituall and like vnto the naturall thunder which can strike a man to the death without the meanest offence done vnto the apparell of his body For I would aske the Iesuite albeit the Church haue power ouer the Kings soule if it be so that they might rashly excommunicate him what right haue they for this ouer his kingdome and people If they haue why did Saint Paul in his time cry Querimus vos non vestra And why hath Saint Ambrose and Optatus Mileuitanus in his third booke Aduersus Parmenianum said That Emperours and Kings be within the Church but that the Empire is without it yea say they the Church is within the Empire in token that Antiquitie did exempt things temporall from the dint of excommunication when Pope Marcelline did sacrifice to Idols and Pope Honorio became a Monothelet Hereticke they were excommunicate but did not loose their Bishopprickes Pope Formose Bishop of Port was chosen successor to the same Pope who had excommunicate him And in the Counsell holden at Lions vnder Pope Gregorie the tenth it was concluded that Cardinals albeit excommunicate might assist the Pope his election by their vote and presence So modest were the Fathers in the point of Princely authoritie that Paulus Samosetanus against whom the Councell of Carthage was conuocate being deposed from Episcopall charge hee did yet possesse a certaine territory belonging to the Church but these Bishops demanded iustice thereof of the Emperour Aurelian albeit an Ethnicke because all that was ciuill and worldly did belong vnto the Empire The Church saith Augustine vpon Saint Iohn doth possesse no patrimonie nor goods but Iure humano Iure diuino she hath nothing This Iure humano is the Right Imperiall of Princes which being vsurped of any other it hath no more Title nor right vpon earth saith he So was it the constant meaning and doing of the ancient Fathers to thinke that they had nothing which they might refuse vnto the Emperours but the onely house of God Nor yet that saith Ambrose if I were assured that the Emperour speaking of Valens would not plant Arrians into it in which case onely I would presse to retaine it O what difference betwixt that and this blind ambitious and impudent age wherein Church rulers make open doctrine and profession to Master Princes lawfull and orthodoxall and to â—…reade vpon their neckes holie antiquitie would not aduenture to take from an excommunicate Bishop an house belonging to the Church but by the authoritie of the Emperour nor would not resiste the Emperoer by violence for the Temple of God to ane hereticke king although it were to giue it to heriticall pastoures whereas the plaine guyse of this time is to be Piscatores piscium non hominum and to abuse excommunication and the papall Thunder to spoyle a king of his cloathes to dethrone him of his kingdomes and to make him naked of his subiects Thirdlie we doe obserue of the primitiue Church that whensoeuer she did enioy good and godly Emperours they did not onelie not repute them as priuate members of the Church iudicable by the power Ecclesiasticall but contrarie they hold them chiefe members of their generall counsels vnder their misticall head Iesus Christ yeelding to them the authoritie of conuocation and whole exteriour Iurisdiction giuing them the tittle of common and externall Bishopes For we reade in Eusebius that Constantine the great was called so of the Church and said to bee brother vnto the fathers in which qualitie of a common Bishop he did exercise his power ouer the Church exteriorlie and ouer Bishops In like maner we find that in the Calcedonian councel the Emperour was called vniuersall Bishops yea Antiquitie did esteme no counsell supreame wherein an Emperour did not sit and praesidiat In all the appellationes of the primitiue Church which forme of Iudicatore is fittest to try where the maine sway of authoritie doth lie because it was absolute soueraigne and without declinatour hauing power against the Tyrannous gouernment of Popes against discords of other Prelats against vniust decrees of counsels themselues In all these appellations I say we finde that none was esteemed supreame but that wherein the Emperour did ouer rule as the only power vpon earth which is in dependant The first appellation we reade of in the Church was by Cyrillus Bishoppe of Ierusalem from the condemnatorie of one Counsel to another more general assisted sayth he with Seculare brachium with seculare power which he called a prouocation vnto a greater Iudgemement And so his cause was examined in the counsell of Seleucia As for the cause of Athanasius which did preceed that it was rather a remission of the processe to the counsell of Sardiâ—… then an appeale and went alwaies by the direction will of the Emperour Constantine to whom Saint Anthony write diuers letters directlie praying him for the restitution of Athanasius Saint Iohn Chrisost. in a second appellation did prouoke in the same tearmes with Cyrill to a higher iudge a more generall counsell assisted with imperiall authoritie as it cleare by a third appellation of Dioscorus Bishop of Alexandria the time of the counsell of Calcedon in which appeale he doth expresselie protest that the coniunction of the imperiall
of nationall Churches cannot bee lawfull Bishops vnlesse they bee vnited vnder one Hierarchie which cannot bee in any one person but in Iesus Christ the second person of the Trinity And as wee see in nature the more excellent creatures tied by a wonderfull simpathie to their inferiours that they are rather fathers to them then Dominatours ouer them as the supernall spheares make perpetuall influctions in the body of the Moone to maintaine her operation and as the Element of the fire doth purge the aire below it and nourish the earth with continuall heate So we see a vertuous Prince vnder the name of a Monarch he doth infuse his power into the chiefest of his members and maketh his Rule in effect Aristocraticke euen so in the Church vnder predominate names of Bishop Archbishop Metropolitane the gouernment is Monarchall in Christ the head Aristocraticke in the Bishops and Democraticke in the Presbyters and laye Elders by their mutuall harmonie as is hereafter more aâ—…ply declared Thus is nature the Fountaine of knowledge vnder God and the fittest schoole to rectifie our iudgements chiefly in matter of Policie because the Lord hath manifested himselfe in his workes letting vs see how one miraculous hand and not two hath framed them by one miraculous Artifice and not two to one end and not to two breathing motion in them from one spirit and not from two subiecting them to one law and not to two and to one sort of gouernment and not to two as he is God One and vnited in himselfe so hath he vnited them Symbolically among themselues all conioyned to be the Symbal of his glory power and wisedome So that what naturall instinction we find among brute beasts for order or for subiection and commandement it is a type to vs of that rule which is among the Elements the Elementall gouernement is a figure of that which is among the Celestiall Spheares and that againe doth represent the Angelicall policie and all those considered coniunctly are a shadow of that rule which God hath ouer the vniuerse Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis To proceed for the vertue of the Monarchie I found my first argument for it in this sort These Creatures which are neerest to God are of most noble and perfect of nature for example That Spheare which is next vnto the throne of God called by the Cabbalists the great Metatron which receiueth the tenne seuerall emanations of God to be distributed among the tenne Spheares called of them Decem Zephiroth to make from them seuerall influences into the inferiour world who doth doubt but that Spheare and the great Archangel who moueth it are more excellent creatures then the Spheare of the Moone or the manner thereof which is called of the Philosophers Coelum terrestre terra coelestis a heauenly earth and a terrestriall heauen because it is a mediate Creature betwixt coelestiall and Elementar things for as the fire is the Masculine Element or the Agent which giueth life to inferiour things and the earth Feminine or patient who doth receiue this life so the globe of the Moone is the Feminine of that high Spheare who receiueth in her bellie these celestiall influxions and as pregnant of them doth deliuer them monethly as wee see being in that sort farre inferiour to the excellence of the other and as it is in Creatures that the neerest to God is most excellent so it is in the order of Creatures that action which doth resemble the action of God is most perfect Now for the Hypothesis I subsume that there is not so noble a Creature of God as is the holy vniuerse and therefore no gouernment is more excellent then that whereby the world is gouerned which is the Monarchiall power of God himselfe who is Lord ouer all for to those who will hold that the rule of God is Aristocraticke by reason of the Trinitie I answere that the works of God which be Ad extra as the Theologes speake They proceede à Deo tanquam vno non tanquam Trino Vnder this supreme rule of God we do obserue Monarchiall gouernment both in the constitutions seuerall of the vniuerse and in the administrations seuerall of the vniuerse In the constitutions this way all the seuerall Creatures of the world are vnder the vnity and common instinction of generall nature one mother of all All the accidents of one subiect vnder one vnitie thereof things many in number be vnder the vnitie of vna species All men vnder the Species of mankind all horses vnder the Species of that kind and so foorth Things that bee many in kind againe bee all vnder one gender Man Beast and Plant are Animalia and feele a common instinct of that Genus In the seuerall administrations wee doe obserue it thus The seuerall persons of the glorious Trinitie be in one Godhead All these tenne Zephiroth receiue their vertues from the supreme Metatron and all the Spheares doe obey the motion of one Primum mobile so that we haue the supreme Archangel Michael ouer the powers and orders Angelicall who is Christ because he is called the Angell of the Great Counsell Et vocabitur mâ—…gni Consilij Angelus And he is called the Angell of the Testament Statim veniet ad Templum Angelus Testamenti quem vos vultis saith Malachie We haue the sunne among the Planets the fire among the Elements Man ouer liuing Creatures the Lyon ouer foure-footed beasts the Eagle ouer fowles the Whale ouer fishes the Diamond among the Iewels the Gold among the mettals the Balme among the Gummes the Cedar among the Plants the Rose among the flowers the Wheate among cornes the Bees haue their King the Cranes haue their leader the Herring of the sea and the creeping Ants haue the same among the Vines one is Masculine and one Feminine so it is among the Trees Herbes Iewels mettals one Archidiable is ouer vnclean spirits one head being the seat of all the senses ruleth all the members of the body one reason sitteth as a king ouer all the sensual affections In Sciences Ethicall Architectonica is aboue the rest in these which becoÌ„templatiue the metaphisicke hath the place of Mistresse and Theologie as Queene ruleth ouer all Reliquae tanquam ancillae famulantur the rest be as her seruing mayds There you see a short Anatomy of the vniuersall and particular rule of nature in all which we marke nothing but Monarcall and harmonicall soueraignity without any type or Symball of these Democraticall Consistorian Presbyterian or other sorts of popular and confused gouernments whatsoeuer which corruption of time and the ambition of men haue introduced in the world as all light is deriued from one Sunne all humours from one Moone all waters from one Ocean so doe all lawfull and solid gouernments flow from God in one Nature and in one Architype It rests to consider these gouernements which bee among men and they are either Spirituall or Temporall Temporall is either