Churches and Orders haue fortie yeares Prescription This ought also moreouer to be added which is a thing that doth greatly redound to the weakening of the power of kings And that is that al Fee-farms and lands of the most noble Tenure assoone as they enter into the Possession of Ecclesiasticall persons they become exempted from all charges and payments as well in regard of their persons as of their goods being no longer bound to that personall seruice which the possessour formerly owed vnto the Prince Whence it came to passe that our auncient kings were able within lesse circuite of Countrey to leuie Armies of an hundred thousand men whereas now a dayes within a farre larger extent fewer troupes are gathered because there is a third part of the lands of Fraunce which contribute nothing to publique necessities And yet notwithstanding naturall reason requireth that they who enioy the fruite and benefite of peace should contribute toward the warre that those that liue at case should cherish and releeue them that fight for their conseruation Wherefore then whiles the Nobility and the third State do oppose themselues to the inuasion of strangers whiles the King doth fortifie his Frontiere Townes doth intertaine Garisons dooth appoint Officers as well for ciuill gouernement as for discipline of warre why should not Ecclesiasticall persons who by these meanes doe quietly enioy the fat and best of the Kingdome why should not they I say contribute to the publicke necessity why should their increase be a deminution to their Princes forces who watcheth ouer them for their quiet Furthermore no man can be ignorant but that this is a thing greatly threatning the dammage and impouerishing of the Kingdome that a third part of Fraunce should be tributary to a stranger vnder a title of Annates Dates Dispensations Absolutions and cases of marriage Against all which biting extortion our auncient Kings prouided by the Pragmaticke Sanction being angryed and agreeued to see the faire pence of the Kingdome to passe ouer the Alpes vnder a Religious kinde of pillage and to enter into the purses of those who made a mocke at our simplicity But aboue all this is that which is most pernitious to Kings and their estates that so many persons are exempted from iustice and from the arme of the secular power For by this meanes if a Clerke doe himselfe vndertake or doe abet another to attempt against the life of his Prince if he coyne false money set fire on a towne or entertaine secret intelligence with strangers or if hee infect the common people by the example of his lewde manners The Prince for all this cannot lay handes on him without leaue from his Bishop and hee shall not dare to touch him vntil he be first degraded in such sort that the King hath in his kingdome an infinite number of persons who are Lords of the fairest and best choyce of his Countrey and who are not his subiects but do acknowledge another for their Superiour out of the kingdome This is verily one of the boldest wiles and the subtilest sleights of the mystery of iniquity to haue found out a meanes whereby to make a king by sufferance to giue way to another to establish an estate within his owne estate and in the end to thanke him for it too and to thinke himselfe beholding to him for the same Who will then maruell hereupon if the king of great Britaine whom God hath freed from so heauy a yoake doe looke with compassion vpon those other kingdomes who yet do groane vnder this burthen and as standing safe on the shoare giueth aduise and counsell to his brethren whom he seeth weather-beaten with these surges and carryed away with the current of an olde inueterate custome Now here I protest againe as heretofore I haue done that I doe not speake of the persons but of the rules and orders of the Church of Rome I know that in this great body of the Clergy there is a great number that would willingly dye for the seruice of their king in whom their Priestly character of shauing hath not made them forget that they are borne subiects In whose spirits nature hath more force then their habites and the loue of their Countrey more then the Maximes of Italy but they are beholden to their owne good dispositions for this and not to the rules of the Church Some to colour this abuse say that Clerkes are exempted from the power of Princes not by Gods law but onely by mans positiue law whereunto I say that first they contradict not onely Bellarmine himselfe who in his booke of the exemption of Clerkes Ecclesiae Ecclesiasticaeque personae ac res ipsaâ—um non solum iure humano quinim mo diuino a secularium personarum exactionibus sint immunes hee doth exempt them by Gods diuine Law but also Pope Boniface the eight who speaketh in this maner in the Title De Censibus in Sexto The Churches and Ecclesiasticall persons their goods let them be exempt from the exactions of secular persons not onely by mans lawe but also by Gods Diuine law Secondly I say that it little importeth Princes vnder what title men take away their dues seeing that they are eyther way alike riffeled and despoyled And it goeth against the heart of him that hath been robbed to pay himselfe with a distruction certaine it is that if this be graunted that the exemptions of Clerkes is founded onely vpon mans lawes yet if a Prince should goe about to clippe the priuiledges of Church-men and should continue on to draw those rights and dues vppon their lands which he had vpon them whiles they were yet in the hands of secular men such a Prince I say shall be neuer a whit the more excused nay rather he shall be cursed and banned as blacke as a coale and shall be ground to powder with hote excommunications as a persecutor and diminisher of the liberty of the Church And if any Iesuite should come to suffer death in any such quarrel he should be put in the Kalendar of Saints and Martirs as was Thomas of Canterbury who suffered only for this very subiect And indeede it is a thing very easie for vs to prooue that Clerkes haue exempted themselues from Taxes and Subsidies and Contributions and from subiection to the secular sword not onely without all law both of God and man but directly contrary to Gods Diuine law For S. Paul Rom. 13. will haue euery soule subiect to the higher powers He that will exempt Clerkes from this rule saith by a consequent that they haue no soule Now if they be subiect then doe they owe Tribute for S. Paul addeth that this subiection consisteth in paying of tribute For this cause sayth he you pay tribute because they are the Ministers of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wheruppon Saint Chrysostome in his Commentary on that place speaketh roundly to the purpose The Apostle sayth he enioyneth this to all euen to Priests
A DEFENCE OF THE CATHOLICKE FAITH CONTAINED IN THE BOOKE OF THE MOST Mightie and most Gracious King IAMES the first King of Great Britaine France and Ireland Defender of the FAITH AGAINST THE ANSWERE OF N. Coeffeteau Doctour of Diuinitie and Vicar Generall of the Dominican Preaching FRIARS Written in French by PIERRE DV MOVLIN Minister of the word of God in the Church of PARIS Translated into English according to his first Coppie by himselfe reuiewed and corrected LONDON Printed by W. Stansby for Nathaniel Butter and Martin Clerke 1610. To the KINGS most Excellent MAIESTIE I Take mine Authors word and mine owne experience for warrant from beyond the Seas most Dread Soueraigne that your Maiesties excellent knowledge and learning haue wonne you admiration among forraine Nations And for home-affections it is well knowen that your Maiesties sincere loue to the truth of Religion and constant Confession of the Catholicke Faith whereof your Maiestie is worthily stiled The Defender haue knit the hearts of your people vnto you Who well perceiue by your Kingly Apology directed to the Princes of Christendome that God hath made your Maiesty such a one as was DAVID The sweet Singer of Israel euen a Propheticall King 2. â—am 23.1 and a Kingly Prophet whose bold profession it is Psal 119. I will speake of thy testimonies Psal 119.46 euen before Kings and will not be ashamed Such as the Kings also among the Heathen are said to haue beene both Princes and Prophets Rex Anius Virg. Aeneid 3. rex idem hominum Phoebique Sacerdos Concerning the Authour and Pen-man of this booke I neede not say any thing Authorem commendat opus Touching my selfe vpon whom this taske was secundarily imposed I know the Translation will blab out mine imperfections Your Maiesty is apt to pardon greater offences and therfore I hope these The ground worke is your Maiesties owne which maketh me bold to vse that saying toward your Maiesty my Soueraigne Lord wherewith Paulus Orosius dedicateth his Story to S. Austin his Master and Tutor Totum tuum sit quod ex te In initio ad te redit It is all your Maiesties owne doing which comming from you I returne it back againe vnto you And so I dedicate you to your selfe In Apologet. cap. 30. concluding with that which Tertullian reporteth to haue beene the auncient Christians Prayer for the safety of their Emperours and is now in vse also in the Church of Rome if we may beleeue Doctor Coeffeteau but I feare me not with like true affection Fol. 5. Vitam Maiestati tuae prolixam Imperium securum domum tutam exercitum fortem Senatum fiaelem populum probum regnum quietum obnixè precor Your Maiesties most humble and faithfull Subiect IOHN SANFORD To the most Mighty and Gracious King IAMES the first King of great Brittaine and of Ireland SIR AS your greatnesse no way needeth our seruice so your exquisite learning wants not any defence For your greatest enemies to whom your power is redoubtable haue your learning in admiration But were it so that you had vse of any mans pen yet should you haue litle cause to seeke further then your owne kingdomes since amongst your subiects there is so great a number of learned men to whom we are in all regards inferiour Yet notwithstanding we haue held it necessary to declare vnto the world that that religion which you defend is the same which we professe and that it befits vs to make resistance to such as in your particuler person assault the generall truth This vndertaking of mine is great and my abilities but ordinarie besides my vocation very laborious neither is a tempest a fit time to write in or a banke of an vnquiet torrent a fit place for serious meditation But SIR the perfection of your worke may supply my defect for to fight after you cannot be properly termed fighting but the pursuite of your victory for though the point of truth be euer sharpe yet it entreth and pierceth more or lesse according to the force and vigour of the arme It is not then to be maruelled if it strike cleane through errors being guided by so strong and powerfull a hand To you then SIR belongs the glory of this holy worke to vs remaines the good and benefit of following your example for the easiest way to speake well for you is to speake that which we haue learned of you neither is it possible that any one should write well in your defence that writes not in your imitation Wherein these my paines can no way merit to be compared For your Maiesty poureth out largely with a royall hand into the Threasury of the Sanctuary whilest I like the poore widow make offer of my mite the which I do with the more affection boldnesse in respect that our Kings participate with you in the cause and that we do see our crowne already foiled and our kings life endangered for want of considering those things which your Maiesty in your booke propoundeth and God grant that your Maiesties warnings be not prophesies and that our good mercifull and victorious king who flourisheth equally in peace as he is feared in warre being endued with an admired vigor both of body and mind may be long preserued amongst vs who hauing had so good experience and in so many places of our fidelity will not we hope be displeased with this our liberty in defending of our religion to which we are not drawne by the hatred of any but by our zeale to the cause of God and through compassion of the poore peopla who being carried along with the streame of custome thinke they do God good seruice to hate vs yea so farre are they transported as they are become iealous and suspitious of the holy Scriptures fearing lest by the word of God they should be misled and seduced for the saluation of whose enthralled soules we would willingly expose our liues and will not cease daily to pray to God to enlighten them in the truth whom we likewise pray that he will preserue your Maiesty from all euill and blesse your person and kingdomes and the Church that liueth vnder the shade and quiet of your gouernment with praier from my heart I recommend to God remaining From Paris the 20. of Ianuary 1610. Your Maiesties most humble and most obedient seruant P. D. M. The Translator to the Reader Gentle Reader I here present thee a worke very worthy of thy study and Meditation if eyther thou beare a loue to Gods truth or good affection towards thy Soueraigne Onely let me intreat thee out of a common feeling of humane frailty to pardon and before thou reade to amend the faults that haue herein escaped through ouersight of the Printers my sickenesse at that time and the distance of place not giuing me leaue to be alwayes present to preuent the same In the Translation I haue not nicely tyed my selfe to the wordes neyther was it requisite
Non verbum verbo curabit reddere fidus Interpres Horat. in Art poet but retayning the strength and sinew of the Sentence I haue rendred it as best fitted the property of speech in our owne language Where the Kings words were to be inserted I haue chosen rather to follow his Maiesties owne Coppy then the French Translation which sometimes varyeth from it neyther haue I therein wronged mine Author Wherefore omitting those smaller mistakes which the discreete will passe ouer with an easie censure whether they bee wordes redundant as in or the twice repeated Or Syllables disioyned as often for often or letters transposed as villaines for villanies or wordes ill orthographized as Epostle and daceiue in one page for Apostle and deceiue Likewise Alminacke Letonies terent for Almanacke Letanies torrent c. Those other which are represented in the end of the booke I leaue to thy courtesie necessarily to be amended being such as import the matter and in which the Composers omitting or not well reading the wordes interlined wherein I sometimes corrected my selfe haue thrust in their owne coniectures Farewell TO THE READER MAy it please thee gentle Reader to vnderstand that after we had finished our worke and that the booke was now ready to come forth there came to my hands certaine corrections and amplifications of some points from the Author himselfe earnestly intreating to haue them inserted which because they could not conueniently be brought in in their proper places the booke being already printed yet that we might doe him right against the malice of his captious Aduersaries I thought it good to bestow them in this page requesting thee of thy charity which couereth a multitude of sinnes at once to pardon both our faults Page 30.14 reade the last Canon 45.25 r. as though he affirmed it without knowledge and spake it onely vpon trust 80.23 r. iudged to be vniust 181.7 r. the earth is almost full of the chips and pieces thereof Page 338.16 after the word men leaue out the whole sentence ending with the word Saluation then adde as followeth Onely we must note that this word Dulia hath a double and doubtfull signification and that there be two sorts of Dulia The one is a Religious action the other is onely a seruice an humane respect which is yeelded also to the liuing As for that kinde of Dulia which is a Religious worship the holy scripture forbiddeth it to be giuen to any saue onely to God alone as 1. Sam. 7.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prepare your hearts to the Lord and yeeld Dulia or Seruice to him alone And S. Austin Quaest 94. vpon Exodus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 debetur Deo tanquam Domino Doulia is due to GOD as to him who is MASTER And de Ciuit. Dei lib. 10. cap. 1. Religio non est nisi Dei cultus Religion is nothing else but the seruice of God plainly shewing that the seruing of the Creatures is not an action of Religion But if we take the word Dulia for a respect and seruice done vnto men and not for a religious action our aduersaries doe amisse to say that they serue the Saints or other Images with Dulia seeing they yeeld them a religious seruice and a voluntary worship tending to the attainment of saluation Againe ibid line 29. reade that then no miracles were wrought by their Images Page 367.13 r. the whole earth is full of the peeces of it 399.27 Modicum quodque delictum mora resurrectionis illic luendo Page 425.27 r. in the 9. Distinction and the 9. Canon of the Councell of Antioch and the 17. Canon of the Councell of Chalcedon These wordes of the Canon of Antioch are for a marginall note 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 433. blot out the 8. last lines and the first line of the next page Page 440.21 read So in the 6. generall Councell Pope Honorius is condemned as an Hereticke and cast out of the Catholicke Church in the 13. Act and the same Councell assembled in the palace in the 13. Act doth by name condemne the Church of Rome c. Page 441.17 reade the 11. Homily of S. Chrysostome vpon Matthew Page 454.14 reade that Christ is an head more absolute and greater then the Pope and that the Pope is of lesse vertue then the holy Ghost Page 470.12 reade vpon the foundation layd by another Apostle The fame and good report and the mutuall communication of the strangers that were Christians with the Romanes had planted the Christian Religion at Rome but the Church of Rome required the presence of some Apostle for her full establishment A Table of the principall matters contained in this worke THE FIRST BOOKE ¶ Of the Vsurpation of Popes ouer Kings CHAP. 1. The occasion why IAMES the first King of Great Brittaine wrote his Booke together with a iudgement vpon Doctor Coeffeteaus Booke Pag. 1. CHAP. 2. Remonstrations of D. Coeffeteau with his iudgement touching the Treasons and attempts vpon the life of the King of England Pag. 16. CHAP. 3. Of Cardinals Pag. 23. CHAP. 4. Of Iesuites Pag. 39. CHAP. 5. Of the power of the Pope ouer the Temporalties of Kings and that he cannot take from Kings their Crownes nor free Subiects from the Oath of fidelitie and thereupon the reasons of Bellarmine are examined Pag. 45. CHAP. 6. Of the Clergie and their Exemptions Pag. 88. CHAP. 7. Of the Authoritie of Emperours and Kings ouer the Bishops of Rome that they haue chosen them punished them and degraded them That Princes haue had power ouer Bishops and their Temporalties The first seede of Poperie in England Pag. 105. CHAP. 8. That they who haue written against the King of Great Brittaine his Booke haue vniustly called him Apostata and Hereticke Pag. 128. THE SECOND BOOKE ¶ A defence of the Confession of IAMES the first King of great Britaine ARTICLE 1. Of the Creede Pag. 133. ART 2. Of the Fathers in generall Pag. 134. ART 3. Of the authority of the Fathers each apart by themselues Pag. 135. ART 4. Of the authority of the holy Scripture Pag. 143. ART 5. Of the Canonical and Apocrypha books Pag. 145 ART 6. Of the memory of Saints and of their Holy-dayes Pag. 154. ART 7. Of the Virgin Mary Pag. 164. ART 8. Of the suffrages of Saints and of the seruice due vnto them Pag. 173. ART 9. Of the Masse without Communicants or Assistants and of the Sacrifice of the Masse Pag. 202. ART 10. Of the Communion vnder one kinde Pag. 246. ART 11. Of Transubstantiation Pag. 258. ART 12. Of the Adoration of the Host Pag. 271. ART 13. Of the eleuation of the Host that it may be adored Pag. 274. ART 14. Of carrying their God in Procession Pag. 275. ART 15. Of workes of Supererogation and of super abundant Satisfaction and of the Treasury of the Church Pag. 276. ART 16. Of the baptizing of Bels. Pag. 308. ART 17. Of the Reliques of Saints Pag. 311.
and stirre vp the mildest spirits and was desirous by pardoning the wicked to make them become good and though he could not find cause in them why to pardon he fouÌ„d it in himselfe for though they no way deserued mercy yet he shewed himself worthy of his greatnesse in doing good to those of so euill demerite He considered that God whom hee represents sendeth raine vpon the Bryers and Thistles as well as on fruit Trees and makes the Sunne to rise alike to the good and to the euill or else it may be that his clemency was accompanied and assisted with a neglect of his enemies esteeming many of them not worthy of his wrath But for the better preuenting of such conspiracies in future times the Parliament together with the King framed a forme of Oath to be administred to all his Maiesties subiects which is to this effect That they acknowledge IAMES the first King of great Britaine for their lawfull King and that the Pope cannot by any right whatsoeuer depose him from his Kingdomes nor discharge his subiects of their obedience to him nor giue them licence to beare Armes against him Also that notwithstanding any Declaration or Sentence of ExcoÌ„munication made or granted or to be made or granted against the said King his Successors they wil beare faith and true alleageance to him his heyrs Successors him and theÌ„ wil defend to the vttermost of their power against all attempts conspiracies whatsoeuer And that they wil reueale al treasons and trayterous Conspiracies which they shall know or heare of against him or any of them And that they do abhor detest and abiure this damnable position that Princes which be excommunicated by the Pope may be deposed or murdered by their subiects And that they beleeue and in conscience are resclued that the Pope hath no power to absolue them of this Oath or any part thereof And renounce all pardons and dispensations to the contrary And that without any Equiuocation mentall Euasion or secret Reseruation whatsoeuer they doe sincerely acknowledge and sweare all these things and doe make this acknowledgement heartely willingly and truely So helpe them God This Oath being offered to those of the Romish Church diuers of them tooke it without difficulty and amongst the rest Blackwell the Arch-Priest who then was and still remaines in England These things being come to the knowledge of the Bishop of Rome Paul the fift that raignes at this present he dispatches presently for England a breue or as they terme it letters Apostolique bearing date the two twentieth of September 1606. by which he declares That this Oath cannot be taken with good conscience exhorting them rather to vndergoe all cruell torments whatsoeuer yea Death it selfe rather then to offend the Maiestie of God by such an Oath and to imitate the constancy and fortitude of the other English Martyrs willing them to haue their loynes girt about with verity and to haue the Brest-plate of righteousnes and to take the shield of faith That God that hath begunne this good worke might finish it in them who wil not leaue them Orphants c. And finally willeth them exactly to put in practise that which is commaunded in the Letters of Clement the eight his Predecessor written to Mr. George Black well the Arch-priest of England by which Letters all Princes of any Religion contrary to their owne are excluded from the kingdome of England These Letters being come into England were not receiued by those of the Romish Church with such respect as the Pope expected for many iudged them ridiculous as exhorting them to suffer Martyrdome for ill doing since none can be a Martyr but for hauing done well As also for that they declare that this Oath is contrary to the Catholique faith without telling why or wherefore as likewise for that the exhortations of holy Scripture to shun vice and to perseuere in the profession of the Gospell and to resist the Diuell are in this Papall breue drawne to a contrary sense to kindle sedition and to incite subiects to disobedience And aboue all for that these Letters ingaging the subiects to reuolt doe necessarily plucke vpon them persecution and the iust anger of their natural Prince who being vnwilling to require any caution of them in any thing contrary to their beliefe demaundeth no more of them but fidelity and ciuill obedience For these considerations some part of the Priests and Friers of England said that these Letters of the Pope were shufled in by their Aduersaries and forged by the Heretiques for so they of their goodnes are pleased to tearme vs to kindle the anger of the King against them which was already prouoked by the plot of the Powder-mine which onely fell out to ruine the vndertakers By reason whereof the same Pope being aduertised that through these doubts whether they were true or fained the Authority of his Letters were infringed hee writ others more expresly bearing date the three and twentieth of August 1607. In which he seemeth to wonder that they any way suspect the truth of the Apostolique letters Non solum motu proprio exceâ—â—a nostra scientia verum etiam post longam grauem deliberationem that vnder that pretence they might exempt themselues from his commaunds and therefore declareth vnto them that those letters were written not onely vpon his proper motion and of his certaine knowledge but also after long and weighty deliberation and therfore again inioyneth them fully to obserue them for such is his will and pleasure To these letters giuing the Alarums to rebellion for their greater confirmation were added the letters of Cardinall Bellarmine to George Blackewell the Arch-Priest In which after he had put him in minde of their auncient acquaintance hee greatly blameth him for taking the Oath the which vnder colour of modifications hath no other aime or drift but to transferre the authority of the Pope the head of the Church to a Successor of HENRY the eight by the examples of his Predecessors he exhorreth him constantly to defend the primacy of the Pope whom he calleth the head of the faith But he sheweth neyther what wordes or clauses in this Oath are contrary to the faith of the Romish Church nor wherefore this Arch-Priest should rather chuse to die then to obliege himselfe by Oath to be loyall to his King in things meerly ciuill and which no way meddle with the Primacy of the Pope and yet this is the onely thing whereof question is made and whereof proose is expected These letters both of the Pope and Cardinall being fallen into the handes of his Maiestie might wel haue kindled the anger of a very patient Prince and haue armed and stirred him vp against those with whom these Papall letters were of more power then eyther their faith to their King or their obedience to God For what Prince can permit in his Kingdome subiects that acknowledge him not or that to retaine
and the other Monarchy And in the Chapter Venerabilem de Electione Innocent the third maintayneth that it is in him to aduance to the Empire whom he pleaseth Apostolica sedes Romanum Jmperium à Graecis transtulit in Germanos and that it was the Apostolique Sea that translated the Empire from the Greekes to the Germanes And that we may spare to produce the clauses of Sixtus Quintus his Bull Anno 1585. which was the first thunder-clap that caused all the confusions in these later times and which speake more arrogantly and insolently then all this that hath beene said Let vs appeale to Cardinall Bellarmine for Iudge These are his wordes De Rom. Pontif. li. 5. c. 6. § Quartum Papa potest mutare regna vni auferre atque alteri conferre tanquaÌ„ summus princeps spiritualis si id necessarium sit ad animaruâ—â— salutem The Pope can change Kingdomes he can take them from one and giue them to another as a Soueraigne spirituall Prince when it shall be necessary for the saluation of soules Of which necessity he will haue the Pope also to be Iudge Consonant whereto one Alexander Pesantius a Doctor of the Citie of Rome hath written a booke of the immunities of Ecclesiasticall persons and of the power of the Pope dedicated to the now-Pope Paul the fift where he saith p. 45. The Soueraine Bishop hath by Diuine right a most full power ouer all the earth as well in causes Ecclesiasticall as Ciuill adding in the margent Papa iure diuino est directe Dominus orbis The Pope by diuine right is directly Lord of the world Yea within these few dayes there haue beene certaine Theses printed and defended at Naples in which were figured the Turkes Turbanes the Imperiall and Regall Crownes Le Cornet Paulo 5. Vice-Deo Christiani orbis Monarchae Pontificiae omnipotentiae assertori c. and the Coronet of the Dukes of Venice to hang in labels from the Popes Miter and wherein the Pope is styled Vice-God Monarch of the Christian world and defender of the PAPALL OMNIPOTENCY where the Pope hath accepted the bargaine which our Sauior refused at the Diuels hands Mat 4.9 Which was to become Monarch ouer all the Kingdomes of the earth Thus is the Church become an Hierarchie and the spirituall kingdome conuerted into a temporall Monarchy In witnesse whereof the Popes triple Crowne is called by no other name then Il regno the Kingdome And the last Lateran Councell calleth the Pope in the first Session Prince of the whole world in the third Session Priest and King and in the ninth and tenth Session his charge is called His Holinesse Empire Who will now make any doubt but that Coeffeteau pleadeth the Popes cause vpon good warrant and approbation And he goeth about to teach them more modesty in speach then they are willing to learne vnlesse that perhaps to tumble downe a Prince from the height of his Empire with flashes of lightning or to skimme away the whole wealth of his Countrey be not to be termed a touching of their temporalties And indeede there is some reason for that for temporall goods when they come into his Holinesse handes they become spirituall according to the stile which this witty age vseth who by a Bishops spiritualties vnderstandeth the rents and reuenues of his Bishoppricke The misery of Princes in this case is that if the Pope for their sinnes impose this penance vpon them to lay down their Crownes and to giue place to another yet this Penance once done is neuer followed with Absolution for he that seizeth vpon their place by a right of conueniency Droit de bienseance doth neuer quit or forgoe it but by force There be steppes and degrees indeede to clymbe vp to a kingdome but there is no other discent then a headlong downe-fall It is a thing seldome seene that a Prince should suruiue his kingdome or that he should saue life or liberty after he is diuested of Maiesty And that which is more Coeffeteau hauing taken from the Pope the power of disposing of the temporalties of Kings pag. 13. Doth he not in the next leaf following restore it to him againe in these wordes If Kings depart from their Duty and in stead of defending the faith seeke to ruine it then it is in the Popes power to reclaime them being in errour and to bring forth his iust censures to the end to turne away the mischiefe which threatneth Religion Now these censures are the degrading of the Prince the absoluing his subiects from their Oath of Alleageance and interdicting his Kingdome And to shew that hee ought to proceede forcibly and by way of fact Coeffeteau addeth That the Pope ought to oppose himselfe herein euen to the perill of his life And if we will exactly weigh the wordes of this Doctrine fol. 7. we shall easily finde that where he saith that the Pope doth not pretend any thing ouer the temporalties of Princes hee meaneth all the while Romish Catholicke Princes who obey the Pope that is to say that if they bee not such as are now a dayes called Catholicks the Pope may depriue them of their Kingdomes True it is that he reporteth vpon vs by way of recrimination Pag. 15. That those Princes who haue shaken off the yoake of the spirituall power of the Church that is of the Pope see themselues exposed to the rigour of their Ministers whom by way of honor he calleth Tyrans I looked all the while when hee would produce examples of Ministers who had eyther degraded or murthered their Kings or who had beene trumpets of rebellion or fire-brands of sedition or who had skummed a Countrey of their money or punished sinnes by the purse Or who after the example of Innocent the third This is found in the Bull of Innocent 3. at the end of the Lateran CouÌ„sell Salutis aeternae pollicemur augmentum Ad Scapulum cap. 2. Nunquam Albiniani nec Nigriani nec Cassiani inueniri potuerunt Christiani sed ijdem ipsi qui per genios Imperatorum iurauerant haue giuen to those who haue armed themselues at their commaundement a degree of honour in Paradise aboue others who haue nothing for their reward but bare life euerlasting But of all this he could alleadge no one example For vnto vs agreeth that commendation which Tertullian giueth to the Christians we neuer were saith he of the league and conspiracy of Albinius Niger or Cassius but those rather who sware by the life and Genius of the Emperour The faithfull Pastors hauing stripped themselues of all this tyrannicall pride haue only reserued to themselues the censuring of mens manners by publicke and priuate reprehensions and in case men stand out and rebell against the word of God after many rebukes they haue reserued onely the power of excluding them out of the Church as Pagans and Publicans vntill such time as by true humiliation they haue made their repentance to appeare These sentences
seeing that the thing can no wayes belong to mee in what sort soeuer Furthermore Bellarmine by this distinction hath no meaning to contradict the Popes whom we haue produced who speake of Kings as of their subiects and terme themselues Soueraignes in temporall affaires so that this commeth all to one It bootes not to dispute of the excellency of the spirituall power aboue the Ciuil by comparing as did Innocent the third the Pope to the Sunne and the Emperour to the Moone for albeit this were so yet doth not the excellency of one thing aboue another necessarily import that one must therefore gouerne another for if I say that the faculty of Diuinity is more noble and more excellent then the care and custody of the Kings Treasure must it needes therefore follow that Diuines and Clergy men must sway the Kings Exchequer And as litle to the purpose is it to alleadge that the temporall power is subiect to the spirituall for the question is not whether it be simply subiect vnto it but whether it be subiect to it in temporall things and with what punishments the Pastor of the Church may punish the Magistrate when he forgetteth his duety Foüiller en sa bourse to wit whether by depriuing him of his estates or by fingering his purse this is the point of the question which Bellarmine was to proue and not to suppose For what authority soeuer God hath giuen to faithfull Pastors ouer the Magistrates as they are Christians yet doe they not let for all that to be subiect to the Magistrates as they are Citizens and make a part of the Common-wealth A king that is sicke is for the time subiect to the gouernement of his Physitians and yet they neuertheles remaine his subiects As then the Temporall gouernement doth not impose spirituall punishments so the spirituall gouernement cannot impose temporall punishments vnlesse it be sometimes by miracle as S. Peter did vpon Ananias and Sapphira for ordinary power he hath none to doe it neyther doth the word of God giue him any Now if the Pope by vertue of his keyes of which he so much boasteth could dispossesse a King of his Kingdome for any fault whether it be true or pretended it should thence follow that he hath a greater power ouer Kings then oner priuate and particular men from whom he cannot by way of Penance plucke away their lands or houses to giue them to their neighbours for if it were so the Pope should be the direct Lord of all the lands and possessions of Christendome And seeing it is generally confessed that the Heathen Emperours were not subiect to the Bishops in temporall matters can it stand with reason that Princes by being become Christians should become lesse Soueraignes then they were before and that the faith of Iesus Christ should diminish their Empire I am not ignorant that the Prince ought so to administer temporall things that the spirituall administration be not thereby impeached I know also that if Princes offend God it belongeth to the Pastors not to be silent but to oppose themselues against that euil by al those wayes means which God hath permitted which are courses ful of all respect and farre from any rebellion and sedition The faithfull Pastor that shall least of all flatter the Magistrate in his vices is the man that shall carefully retaine the people in their obedience towards the Magistrate and shall keepe that golden meane which is betweene flattery and sedition As he must not be a dumbe dogge so must he not be a furious beast that had neede to be tyed vp And to the end that you may know that these two kindes of subiection doe not iustle or shoulder each other as incompatible I say that the Princes and the Pastors in a State are as the will and vnderstanding in the soule of a man The will commandeth the vnderstanding with an absolute commaund which the Greekes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Lord-like inioyning it to study or to learne this or that thing But the vnderstanding on the other side leadeth on the will by suggestion without commaund the one is done by authority the other by perswasion So Princes command Pastors Pastors sollicite and intreate Princes The respect which Princes owe vnto them is not to their persons but to their charge and calling and to the word or message which they bring for they be not the candle it selfe but onely the Candlesticke on which it is set Ioh. 1. ver 8. sent as our Sauiour saith of S. Iohn not to be the light but to beare witnesse of the light Howbeit this comparison taken from the vnderstanding and the will doth halt in more then one point for the will cannot constraine the vnderstanding but Princes may compell Pastors to obey their lawes and to punish them corporally when they doe amisse Againe the vnderstanding is to guide the will in al things but the Prince in an infinite of businesse may do well enough without the helpe and counsell of his Clergy especially in affaires that are temporall and meerely ciuill Againe the will doth neuer teach the vnderstanding for it consisteth wholly in motion and action but many Princes haue reformed their Pastors and brought them back to their dueties as did Constantine who in the Councell of Nice stifeled and smothered vp all quarrels among the Bishops by casting their diffamatorie libels into the fire as did Dauid who erected new orders in the Temple and as did Salomon who deposed Abiathar from the Priesthood being attainted of conspiracy against him And likewise Ezechias and Ichosaphat who clensed the Temple and set vp the purity of Gods seruice againe In this sense a Synodall Epistle written to Lewes the Courteous calleth him Rectorem Ecclesiae gouernor of the Church And Lewes his young sonne being at Pauia tooke an account of the liues of the Bishops and of their diligence in their charge as Sigonius witnesseth in the yeare 855. The same Authour saith in his seuenth booke that Adrian conferred vpon Charlemaigne the honour of gouerneing the Church and of choosing the Bishoppe of Rome not that he might change the doctrine of the Church at his pleasure but only to hold a strait hand for the execution of the things which were enioyned by the word of God But Bellarmine addeth for a second reason That if the Church that is to say the Pope had not the power to dispose of temporall things it could neuer attaine to perfection but should want necessary power to arriue at her intended end For saith he wicked Princes might without feare of punishment intertaine heretickes to the ouerthrow of Religion This is a reason without reason and full of impiety for it accuseth the Church which was in the Apostles times of imperfection which then had no power at all ouer the Temporalty all things being then in the handes of Infidels Add hereunto that Kings might vse the same reason and say that their power could not
be perfect vnlesse they had the meanes to dispose of spirituall things for that otherwise wicked Bishops might without feare of punishment be vitious mutinous Necromancers and firebrands of sedition against Princes of all which enormities the Sea of the Bishop of Rome can alone furnish a multitude of examples yea after Baronius Coeffeteau himselfe doth confesse Coeffeteau in his booke entituled A Refutation of falshoods fol. 68. pag. 1. that many monsters haue sitten vpon that seate The Churches perfection doth not consist in a strength able by force to defend it selfe but in the purity of prescribing the wholsome meanes of saluation No otherwise then the perfection of Philosophy dooth not consist in hauing a strong house or a good sword able to represse those that should hinder her from being taught and professed but rather in the certainty perspicuity and sufficiency of her Demonstrations God who hath neuer suffered that his Church should be extinguished by false teachers which infect the soules will not permit that it shall be abolished by wicked Princes which offer violence to the bodies for whatsoeuer necessity any man can alleadge why he should plucke the Crowne from a lawfull Princes head yet can there be no necessity of doing any thing contrary to the will of God as there is no necessity that doth binde a man to bee disloyall there can be no dispensing with the law of God God sayth by the mouth of his Apostle Rom. 13.1 That euery person ought to be subiect to superior powers for there is no power but of God Where it is cleare that he speaketh of Princes and temporall Lords because he addeth that they beare the sword as being the Ministers of God ordeyned for iustice And a little after he commaundeth to pay them tribute and customes Now at the time when the Apostle spake this neyther the Bishoppe of Rome nor any other did eyther carry the sword or receiue any tribute Who is he then that can dispense with so precise a commaundement Or what thing can be more necessary then to obey God And note moreouer that if the Pope be the Iudge of this case of necessity for which Princes ought to be dispossest it will bee easie for him at any time to say that it is necessary that this or that King be degraded to the end to make himselfe by that means King of Kings and disposer of their Crownes Howbeit let vs a little weigh and consider what this necessity may be which carrieth on the Pope to plucke from a King his Scepter and to giue his Crowne to another Bellarmine alleadgeth but one to wit if it be necessary to saluation As in case a King be an Hereticke an Infidell or a persecutor of the Church or a fauourer and vpholder of errour But he would faine hide and conceale from vs that the Pope doth aswell intrude himselfe to dispossesse Kings that are of his Religion and no way in fault So in the Decrees of the Romish Church in the 15. Cause Quaest. 6. in the Canon which beginneth Alius Romanus Pontifex Zacharias scil Regem Fran corum non tam pro suis iniquitatibus quà m pro coquod tantae potestati erat inutilis à regno deposuit c. And the Canonists who haue made the Glosse dispute vpoÌ„ that place whether a man ought to pay his debts to one excommunicated Probabiliter dici potest quod excommunicato non sit soluendii cum nemo debeat participate cum en Lib. 5 cap. 7. §. Tertia Non licet Christianis tolerare Regem infidâ—leÌ„ aut hereticum c. the Pope speaketh in this manner Zachary the Bishop of Rome hath deposed the French King not so much for his iniquities as for that he is not fit for nor capable of so great a power and hath set vp Pippin the faher of Charles Emperour in his place and hath discharged all the French-men from their Oath of fidelity 〈◊〉 Iulius the second could not accuse Lewes the twelfth nor Iohn King of Nauarre of heresie nor yet Sixtus the fift the late king Henry the third who notwithstanding were by the Popes thundering Bulles declared to haue beene fallen from their kingdomes I freely indeede confesse that in an Electiue kingdome when question is made of choosing a new king they to whom that charge belongeth ought in no wise to chuse a king that is an Infidell or an Idolater But it is one thing to speake of a king who is chosen by his subiects and another of a king who is a lawfull inheritour and who is beholding to his birth for his Crowne and to whom ouer and aboue his subiects haue taken the Oath of Alleageance And therefore the Argument which Bellarmine draweth from the one to the other to proue that Subiects are at no hand to endure a king that is an Heretick or an Infidel doth not follow vpon good consequence It auayleth not to say that the danger is like both in the one and the other for it may so fall out that two things may be alike dangerous whereof the one may be bad and the other not as for example for a man to receiue in his body the shot of an harquebuse from one that did aime to hit him from another that did it by chance is alike dangerous but not alike wicked And indeede euen in humane pollicy and without any relation to the commandements of God it is not expedient that subiects should shake off the yoake of their Prince which is of a different Religion for this were the next way to estrange Princes and Monarches from Christian Religion and to make them to haue it in detestation as that which counselleth and perswadeth to rebellion and maketh piety the cause of mutiny Moreouer the question here is not of the danger but of the duety nor yet what may arriue but what ought to be done we must not do euill that good may come of it Many things are lawfull which are not expedient but there is nothing expedient which is not lawfull When we haue done what we ought to doe then God will doe what pleaseth him and he will doe nothing but for the good of his Church which he cherisheth as the apple of his eye he hath bought it too deare that he should be of the minde to destroy it Now if this rule of the Cardinall be necessary that it is not permitted to Christians to suffer a King that is an Hereticke or an Infidell Saint Paul was very much mistaken in giuing commaundement to obey Nero an Infidell and a persecutor and the Christians then did not as they ought to haue done in that they did not stabbe him or make a myne of powder vnder his house Bellarmine answereth that they might iustly haue done it but that they wanted forces that is to say Lib. 5. de Rom. Pontif. cap. 7. §. Quod si Christiani olim non deposuerunt Neronem c. Id fuit quia deeraÌ„t vires
cryme but because Pipin was more capable of gouernement then he How many Emperours and Kings vnfit to gouerne were there before this Childericke whose Crownes the Popes neuer touched But this Pope flattered Pipin to the end to be succoured by him against the Lumbards who kept him in seruitude Now to shut vp this whole matter seeing that the Pope doth challenge to himselfe this power ouer Kings who is it that hath giuen it vnto him Is it from the vnwritten worde Is it a custome authorised by the time or suffered by Princes or slid it along by the fauour and sleepinesse of an age that liued in darkenesse Or if God hath giuen him this power let him produce his Title let him shew the clauses of this Donation 2. Againe If Christ left a Successour or Lieftenant here on earth it is certayne that he can exercise no other charge then that which Iesus Christ did being in the world Now he did neuer degrade Kings nor translate Empyres Nay how is it like he would haue done that seeing that he could not be intreated to become a Iudge betweene priuate men in a Controuersie that was of ciuill nature He that teacheth vs to yeelde tribute to Caesar is it likely that hee would haue left a Lieftenant that should make Caesar himselfe tributary 3. If it be so that S. Peter or any other Apostle had this power ouer Kingdomes where dooth it appeare that euer he exercised it And to what end serueth an authority without the execution Or where did this power of the Bishops ouer the temporality of Kings lie couring all this while that it should need to be rouzed vp some eleuen hundred yeares after Iesus Christ 4 Moreouer It is God that giueth Kings and Princes their power as Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar though an Infidel Dan. 2.37 Thou O King art a King of Kings because the God of heauen hath giuen thee a Kingdome and power and strength and glory And the Apostle Rom. 13.1 hath tolde vs that all powers are ordayned of God Now that which God giueth man cannot take away Let the Pope take away if it please him that which himselfe hath giuen let him take his Cardinals redde hattes Archbishops pals if euer he gaue any without money Let him giue out against them that holde Benefices from him that their Benefices are deuolted vnto him by lapse but let him abstaine from the Crowes of Kings let him not touch the Lords annoynted 5. Adde hereunto those passages which the King of great Britaine hath learnedly obserued in his Apology by which he proueth that God willeth that his pleople yeelde obedience to Kings euen to Infidels So in the 27. of Ieremie Submit your neckes vnder the yoake of the King of Babell and serue him and his people and cap. 29. Seeke the peace of the Citie whether I haue carried you and pray for it for in her peace you shall haue peace This was farre from mouing them to reuolt Thus did the Israelites obey Pharaoh And euen then when the Kings of Iuda were Idolaters as Ahaz and Manasse yet did the High Priests neuer for all that incite the people to Rebellion The Emperour Nero was a prodigious monster for all kinde of wickednesse notwithstanding S. Paul would haue men to obey him for conscience sake Rom. 13.1 Timoth. 1. and for feare of offending God But wee now a dayes stand vpon better termes for if wee ought to obey a Prince that is a Pagan euen for conscience sake in Ciuill causes how much more one that is truely a Christian And if a Tygre that hath climed to the top of the Empire how much more a Prince that is wise and mercifull who preserueth the liues of those that desire his death And if we may not obey any man that leadeth and commaundeth a mutiny and treason how much lesse ought we to obey the Pope whose Empire is founded vpon the ruines of the Gospell and who being prodigall of the blood of those who are his draweth persecution vpon them to the end that they for him may loose goods and life yea and life eternall Now if any man vnwilling to enter this list shal say that this is a matter of pollicy and that we prye into matters of State such a one by his tergiuersation wil more ouerthrow the Popes power then if hee had expresly fought against it For if this power be a point without the compasse of Religion it followeth thereupon that it is not sounded vpon the word of God And if God had spoken of it in his worde it were a point of Religion to beleeue it The Pope then is to blame for making such bragges of his keyes in this case if it be nothing but a matter of pollicy and such as hath no sparke of Diuinity in it which thing Pope Clement the fift doth couertly confesse in the extrauagant Meruit Meruit Charissimi filij nostri Philippi regis Francorum c. where he declareth that he doth not vnderstand that the extrauagant Vnam Sanctam of Boniface the eight which giueth to the Pope soueraigne power ouer the Temporalties of Kingdomes as well as ouer the Spiritualtie could bring any preiudice to the Kingdome of France to make it more subiect to the Church of Rome then before it was but reintegrateth the said Kingdome into the same estate that it was before the abouesaid definition of Boniface and that in acknowledgement of the merites of King Philip the faire albeit hee had somewhat rudely accorded matters with Boniface Let the Reader weigh and consider this point aduisedly For in this extrauagant which Bellarmine dooth approue and commend Pope Boniface foundeth his pretensions ouer the Temporalties of Princes vppon many passages of the word of God He meaneth then that his right is by the lawe of God where against King Philip hedoth maintaine that in temporal things he is subiect to no man Within a while after Clement the fift passed it so in fauor of the King and exempted him from the rigour of this Bull the Pope then made bolde to dispense with the law of God or if on the other side it be nothing else but an humane positiue law then Boniface dealt very wickedly in seeking to ground it vppon the holy Scripture But why shall Fraunce alone be exempted from this yoake and other Kingdomes shall be enforced to beare it Could Philips merites dispense with him for obeying the word of God produced by Boniface These Popes make a Religion of waxe depending vpon the conditions of the times and the traine of their affaires and make it a prop of their Dominion they stretch it and shorten it like a stirrup leather fitting not their wils to Religion but Religion to their will Now if Philip had bin Master of Rome and absolutecommander in Italy the Bishops of Rome would haue thrown themselues on their knees before him as did Pope Adrian in the second Counsell of Nice 2. Act. and would haue called
out of the auncient Councels authorising these exemptions may serue indeede to exhort Clerkes to addresse themselues to their Bishops to compose their differents in Ecclesiasticall matters But now a dayes to exempt Church-lands from paying taxe and Subsidy nor to take from the Magistrate the power of punishing any Clerke that is a wicked man and attaynted of some cryme which is punishable by the law Secondly I say that Clerkes cannot be iudged by the validity of their owne exemptions seeing they are made altogether in fauour of them and to their owne profite And being Iudges and parties they will take heed I trow of condemning themselues I say further for I mayntaine this truth That Princes cannot free Clergy men from their ciuill subiection and obedience seeing that God himselfe hath subiected them thereunto So a father cannot free his children from that due obedience which they owe vnto him Neyther can he by any damnable induldence and facility toward his children loose those bands of nature which God moreouer alloweth and authorizeth in his word That good indeed or that good turne is iniurious that byndeth a man to doe ill or that exempteth him from well doing And not to speake but of Magistrates only I say that God hauing commanded the Israelites to subdue the Cananites and Amorrhites and to make them their seruants They should haue offended God if they had let them goe free and at liberty I leaue this also to any mans iudgement whether a Prince may take any Donations by the which both himselfe and his Successors may loose the third part of their Dominion If any man be an angryed with his money he may giue it away and make hauocke of it if he please but he cannot binde his posterity to the like humour Neyther can his personall liberalities make vniuerfall Lawes Especially when by experienâ—e it is knowne to be true that those persons on whom the good deedes haue beene done doe waxe the worse by them and the benefites extended towards them corrupt in their owne bosomes For not to speake of those manyfold vices which haue thronged in at this gate by troupes Clergy-men are become very ill acknowledgers of those good deedes which Princes haue conferred on them For now they maintayne that these immunities belong vnto them by Gods law and by Diuine right and that they holde all this from God and not from man and that the Pope hauing exempted Clergy-men from the subiection of Princes they are no more their subiects neyther are Princes any longer their superiours This doctrine is constantly vpheld in Rome and mayntayned by all the Doctors that are of any marke in that Church But about all by the lesuites diuers of whose testimomes touching this point we haue heretofore produced Out auncient Kings neuer heard of any such propositions in their dayes And without doubt that which now-a dayes is called in our law Le droit de Regale and L'appell comme d'abus and likewise the Inhibition of the Annates by the pragmatical Sanction of which there remayneth no more now-a-dayes then the bare name these are the reliques of the auncient power of our Kings by the which they did dispose of Ecclesiasticall mens goods as well as of Secular persons But now-a-dayes after a lamentable manner of speaking and iniuri ous to our Kings these things are called Priuiledges of the Gallicane Church As if for a man not to be robbed or riffeled were a priuiledge vnto him Or as if it were a speciall grace graunted by the Pope that a man should haue power to be Master in his owne house Non est Priuilegium sed prauilegium And yet this priuiledge is not obserued And hereupon I beseech the Reader to consider how handsomely Cardinall Bellarmine doth carry himselfe in this poynt who in the eight and twentieth chapter of his booke of Clerkes § Secunda to the end to gratifie Princes with something he will that Clerkes should conforme themselues to ciuill lawes in certaine menial small things as in the buying of any Merchandize or not to go abroad in the night without a Lanthorne But within a short space after he plucketh backe all that which before he had giuen willing them to be subiects indeede Fol. 128. Obligatione non coactiua sed solum directiua by Obligation of direction not of coertion That is to say that they may be commanded but not constrained to yeeld obedience they shall obey as farre as themselues list and this is not to be a subiect in any regard That law is no lawe that onely hath reference to their discretion for whom it is enacted A law that wants his annexed punishment is ridiculous and should bee called an entreatie or good counsaile rather then a command And farther obserue that the matters wherein he maketh the clergie subiect to the law are trifles and things of no moment But to be vigilant for the safetie of his soueraigne or to mayntaine the peace of the Countrey or to shunne priuate intelligence with forrayners or to be punished for robbing or rauishing or for treason are matters wherein hee doth not subiect them to the power of Kings So he dazels the eyes of Princes with Schoole-distinctions of Directiue and Coactiue flatly denying the while that Princes haue superiority ouer their Clergy Lib. de exemp Cler. cap. 1. And he maytaines that Kingdomes are not held by a Diuine right § Ad confirmationem that is are not immediately appoynted by God nor established by Gods ordinance directly crossing the Apostle Saint Paul saying That there is no power but of God Rom. 13. and the powers that be are ordained of God By this meanes taking from subiects all religious regard due to Princes whom in a wicked disdayne he calles Prophane persons toward the end of the second Chapter of his booke of the exemption of the Clergy in these wordes * Quis dicere audeatius esse profane homini in ea quae sancta sanctorum id est sanctissima dici meruerunt Is there any that dares auerre that â—â—â—rophane man hath any power ouer matters that deserâ—â— to be stiled Sancta sanctorum that is most holy He giues also this title to Ecclesiasticall goods so that if the mony of a Kingdome be swept away vnder colour of Indulgences If sinnes be leuyed vpon the Curtyzans of Rome If any of the common people doe robbe their children to enrich the Fryers this wealth and these possessions are the holy of holies things most holy O grosse abuse and open mockery O enmity with God himselfe Thus is our simplicity seduced These then are the men that to shake off the yoake of Kings call them Prophane persons Kings who are the annointed of the Lord Gods image vpon earth the noursing fathers of the Church the Princes of the people of God of whom the very Angels speake not without reuerence Well may their glory be aduanced and the kingdome of the sonne of God established in
of inflicting corporall punishment vpon them but of this we haue spoken at large before Thence doth Coeffeteau proceede to the Example of Henry the fourth which he saith cannot be alleadged because the times were then troublesome but the example suits very well to our purpose for that the Popes were the onely instruments of raising those troubles to exempt themselues from the Emperours subiection and to subiect the Emperours to themselues euen in seruices more seruile then seuuitude it selfe stirring vp the sonne to seeke the life and Crowne of Henry his father who died being depriued of his Imperiall dignity by his sonne the Popes instrument therein who vouchsafed not his father so much fauour See Helmoldus in the Chronicles of Sclauonia Naucl. 39. genera Baronius de vitis Pontificum and many others as to cause his body to be buried Fredericke Barbarossa being come soone after into Italy to be Crowned Emperour the Pope enforced him to hold his stirrope when he tooke horse But this Emperour little-skil'd in these seruices putting himselfe forward to hold the left in stead of the right stirrop was adiudged to practise the same submission the day following and howbeit he performed it very mannerly yet in conclusion the Pope sought to pull his Crowne from him And in the same degree of pride did Alexander the third treade vpon the said Frederickes necke vpon the staires of S. Markes Church in Venice the History is reported by many writers and alleadged by the King of great Britaine in his confutation of Bellarmine about the end of the booke and it is paynted at Venice in the hall of del Scrutinio del grand Constiglio the Maps and Tables thereof are reckoned vp and expounded by Girolam Bardi in a booke expresly written of that argument In the sequel of his discourse Coeffeteau fals into that wretchlesse negligence that he accuseth the King of mistaking the History not alleadging so much as one passage for his confutation And sure it is not Platina that doth alone record the deposition of these three Popes by Henry the fourth for Stella a Venetian Monke who hath written the liues of the Popes hath the same in these wordes Henricus Caesar habita Synodo Benedictum praedictum Syluestrum hunc Gregorium abdicare se Pontificatu coegit His Maiesty of England alleadgeth to the same purpose the example of Philip le bel K. of France that wrote with liberty enough vnto Boniface the eight who first inuented the Iubile Platina Stella in these wordes Let your great folleship vnderstand that in in temporall matters we are not subiect to any man c. And he it was that surprised the aforesaid Pope at Anagnia and committed him to prison at Rome where for griefe hee died An. 1303. To the example of Lewes the ninth King of Fraunce that established the law called Pragmatica sanctio against the pillaging and merchandizing of the Court of Rome he ioyneth the example of Lewes the eleauenth who being vrged by Pius the second to repeale that Sanction remitted his Legates to the faculty of the Diuines of Sorbone Iohannes Maierius libra de schismat Concil who made it good against the Pope with whom Iohannes Romanus the Kings Aduocate was ioyned that opposed them so farre with his conclusions that the Court appealed to the next Councell as indeeede they did The said King saith farther that the facultie of Sorbone came to maintaine this point that if the Pope should offer violence to our King the French Church had authority to establish a Patriarch and seuer themselues from the See of Rome And that Gerson Chaunceller of the Vniuersitie of Paris was so farre from defending this pretended temporall power of the Popes that he wrote a booke De auferibilitate Papae ab Ecclesia that is Of the possibility of forsaking the Pope and remoueing him from the Church How much more did hee beleeue then that the temporall power of Kings might be free from the insulting of Papall authority To this doth Coeffeteau make no other answere but that these contentions were onely for temporall matters and that Philip or Lewes or the faculty of Sorbonne or the Kings Aduocate desired not to preiudice the Popes authority in any regard as he is head of the Church so that here he answeres well to the King of Englands question whose ayme is onely vnto matters temporall and to the vsurpation of Popes ouer Monarches Touching the title of Head of the Church which is an abuse more intollerable hee reserues that for an after-discourse Now if so be the dissention betweene Philip and the See of Rome continued not many yeares as Coeffeteau obserueth Fol. 22 pag 2 it was because the Pope gaue way vnto him and Benedict the eleuenth was very glad to giue Philip absolution Platina Stella which he graunted of his owne accord because the other might haue beene well without it That we may close vp this point the King of great Britaine drawes many examples out of Matthew Paris and out of the Records of his Kingdom to this purpose as William Gifford whom King Henry the first inuested with his Bishopricke and Rodulphus whom the same King inuested with the Archbishopricke of Canterbury by his Ring and Crosier-staffe and Thurstan nominated to the Archbishopricke of Yorke depriued by the King of his temporalties for corrupting with bribes the Popes agents in the Councell of Rhemes The said King alleadgeth many examples of Abbots Bishops and Deanes in England that haue eyther against the Popes will yeelded obedience to their Soueraignes or haue beene degraded censured and imprisoned by their Princes for their disobedience in adhaering to the Popes And which is more considerable these are late examples such as haue happened while the Papacy domineered most How stood the case then when the Bishoppe of Rome had nothing to doe in England with matters eyther temporall or spirituall The Kingdome of Fraunce doth furnish vs with examples of more pregnancy The Synode of Fraunce is of speciall note to this purpose which is to be found in the third Tome of the Councels of the Colleyn Edition pag. 39. where Carolomanus qualifying himselfe as Duke and Prince of Fraunce vseth this speach By the aduise of my Clergie and others of principall esteeme of the Realme Ordinauimus Episcopos We haue ordayned Bishops in the Cities and haue established Boniface Archbishop ouer them The Councell of Maurice holden vnder Charlemaine Anno 813. beginneth thus Carolo Augusto verae religionis rectori ac defensori sanctae Dei Ecclesie and the first Councell of Mayence vnder Lewes le Debonaire Ludouico verae relligionis serenissimo rectori And these I trow should haue been accounted irreligious Titles now-a-dayes And here let it be principally noted that Coeffeteau trusts more to his heeles then to his hands for he buckles onely with the first of these examples and all his answere is that Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury opposed this
4. Epist 5. or heresie In this sense therefore are we hereticks and Sectaries sith that now-a-dayes to acknowledge no other Mediator then Iesus Christ nor any expiation but by his blood or any propitiatorie sacrifice but his death nor any satisfaction of Gods iustice but by his obedience nor any rule to guide vs to saluation but his Worde conteyned in the holy Scriptures is accounted heresie But more clearely to purge himselfe of this crime his Maiesty of England following the commaundent of the Apostle S. Peter which is to be alwayes ready to yeeld an account of the hope that is in vs doth set downe at large a confession of his faith agreeable to the holy Scripture and al vncorrupted antiquity Who shal henceforward be ashamed to confesse the name of God or defend the truth of the Gospell being thus ensampled by a mighty King but this confession conceiued in choyse and significant wordes full of euidence and of power doth worthily challenge a seuerall Discourse And besides it is that against which Coeffeteau doth principally discharge his choller THE DEFENCE OF THE CONFESSION Of the Faith of IAMES the first King of Great BRITAINE THE SECOND BOOKE ARTICLE I. Touching the Creede The KINGS Confession I Am such a Catholicke Christian as beleeueth the three Creedes That of the Apostles that of the Councel of Nice and that of Athanasius the two latter being Paraphrases to the former And I beleeue them in that sense as the Auncient Fathers and Councels that made them did vnderstand them To which three Creedes all the Ministers of England do subscribe at their Ordination And I also acknowledge for Orthodoxe all those other formes of Creedes that eyther were deuised by Councels or particular Fathers against such Heresies as most raigned in their times To this Article Coeffeteau findeth nothing to reply and holding his peace thereupon hee iustifieth vs by his silence ARTICLE II. Touching the Fathers in generall AS for the Fathers I reuerence them as much and more then the Iesuits doe The KINGS Confession and as much as themselues euer craued For what euer the Fathers for the first fiue hundred yeares did with an vnaâ—ime consent agree upon to be beleeued as a necessary point of saluation I eyther will beleeue it also or at least will be humbly silent not taking vpon me to condemne the same Here againe Coeffeteau is silent and knoweth not what to reprehend The Reader may please to call to minde that the points in which his Maiesty of England doth abstaine to condemne the Fathers albeit his beleefe is not bound to follow them are eyther points not necessary to saluation or opinions in which as well our Church as the Church of Rome doth condemne them The Auncients for the most part held that the fall of the Diuels came to passe by reason of their cohabitation with women This is altogether false and a point little important to our saluation They held also for the most part that the soules shall all be purged by the fire of the last iudgement in the expectation of which day the soules as well of the good as of the bad are shut vp in certaine receptacles And in this point they are neyther followed by vs nor by our Aduersaries ARTICLE III. Touching the Authority of the Fathers in particular The KINGS Confession BVt for euery priuate Fathers opinion it bindes not my conscience more then Bellarmines euery on of the Fathers vsually contradicting others I will therefore in that case follow S. * Lib. 2. cont Cresconium cap. 32. Augustines rule in iudging of their opinions as I finde them agree with the Scriptures what I finde agreeable thereunto I will gladly embrace what is otherwise I will with their reuerence reiect Doctor Coeffeteau dooth yet approue of all this for good seeing he saith nothing to the contrary He acknowledgeth then that the Fathers often disagree among themselues and that they doe not alwayes accord with the word of God neyther must we settle our selues alwayes vpon what some one Father hath taught Causa 12. Quaest 1. Canon Dilectissimi Denique quidam Graecorum sapientissimus haec ita sciens esse colam debeatur ait Amicorum comia esse omnia In omnibus autem sunt sine du bio Coniuges And indeed his Maiesty of England saith this with iust reason for not we alone but also the Church of Rome doth not allow the opinion of Pope Clement the first who would that mens goods and their wiues should be common among Christians Neyther doth the Church of Rome approue the opinion of Ignatius who in the Epistle to the Philippians saith that to fast on the Saterday or on the Sunday it is to be a murtherer of Iesus Christ nor the doctrine of Iustin Martyr who saith in his Dialogue against Tryphon That God in the beginning gaue the Sunne to be adored Nor the opinion of Athanagoras in his Apologie that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That second marriage is but a handsome Kinde exercise of Adulterie Also the Church of Rome doth not beleeue with Origen that the Diuels shall be saued Nor with Clemens Alexandrinus in the sixth booke of his Stromata that the Greeks were saued by their Philosophy Nor with Arnobius in his second booke that God is not the Creator of soules And that the soules of the wicked are reduced to nothing Nor with Ireneus Lib. 2. cap. 63.64 that the soules separated from the body haue feete and handes Iustin was a Chiliast Tertullian a Montanist S. Cyprian an Anabaptist Saint Hilary in his tenth booke of the Trinity mayntaineth in diuers places Virtus corporis sine sensu paenae vim paenae in se desaeuientis excepit Christus cum cibuÌ„ potum accepit non necessitati corporis sed consuetudmi tribuet Secundam ducere secundum praeceptumo Apostoli licitum est ecundum autem veritatis rationem verè fornicatio est He saith the same about the end of his booke De fide Symholo that Iesus Christ in his death suffered no paine And that he did not eate because his body had neede of sustenance but onely by custome Chrysostome alleadged in the Canon Hac Ratione in the Cause 31. Question 1. he saith that S. Paul commaunding second mariages hath spoken against truth and reason and that is truely fornication Saint Austin in his fift booke of his Hypognosticks and in his Epistles 93. and 106. held that the Eucharist is necessary for young children newly borne that they may be saued And in his booke De Dogmatis Eccles cap. 11. He saith that the Angels are Corporeal and in his booke of the Christian combat cap. 32. he sayth that our bodies after the Resurrection shal be no longer flesh nor blood but an heauenly body Gregory of Nyssa in his first Sermon of the resurrection teacheth a prodigious errour namely that the soule of Iesus Christ was already in the graue euen then whiles
cruce aequi uaâ—eant Images are equiualent to the holy Gospels And in the eight Act it is ordained that d Imaginibus adorationem ex hibeant quemadmodâ— typo venerandae viuificae crucis sanctis EuaÌ„gelys such adoration be vsed vnto Images as is vnto the venerable and quickning Crosse and the holy Gospels In the same fourth Session speaking of the holy Hystories of Abraham and of the Martyrs it saith that maior est Imago quam oratio An Image is of more excellency then prayer In the fifth Act the entire body of the Councel pronounceth Ecclesia sentit noÌ„ omnino esse corporis expertes muisibiles veruÌ„ tenus corpore prae dito aerio siue igneo that the Church holdeth that the Angels are corporall and not inuisible but that they haue subtile bodies compounded of aire or fire And throughout the whole Councell is the worshipping of Images commanded Now this Councell in the Church of Rome is most authenticall is stiled Canonicall and confirmed by the Popes and it is to be beleeued that such a Councell cannot erre which is as much as can be said of the holy Scripture Bellarmine with other of their Doctors following this decision doth teach that Images are religiously to be worshipped and adored Who directly opposeth that which Coeffeteau saith that Images are worshipped Simply for that which they represent For Bellarmine in the 21. chapter of his booke of Images sets downe this maxime in Capitall letters that the Images of Christ and the Saints Imagines Christi SanctoruÌ„ venerandae sunt noÌ„ solum per accidens vel impropriè sed etiaÌ„ per se propriè tita vt ipsae termineÌ„t venerationeÌ„ vt in se considerantur non solum vt vicem gerunt exemplaris ought to be worshipped not by accident only or improperly but properly and by themselues so that the worship of them is determined in the Images as they are considered in themselues and not according to the patternes which they represent And about the end of the 22. chapter The vsuall worship performed vnto externall Images is considered properly and in themselues So the worship done to Images doth euidently shewe that they reuerence the Images for themselues For among the diuers Images of one Saint one is couered with dust another is cladd in silke and is often in change of rayment and some haue offerings tendered vnto them and some haue none and which â—s more the Images of the selfe same Saints haue diuers names there is our Lady of Vertue our Lady of Ioy our Lady of good newes our Lady of Snow whose festiuall day is in Italy celebrated in the moneth of August and hee that should call our Lady of Vertue by the name of our Lady of Ioy should be reputed a blockhead or that he had beene at Geneua And so doubtlesse when one censeth an Image or kindleth lights or clothes it with apparaile or offers vnto it or when one speaketh to a piece of wood or to the painting in a cloth I see not how the Saint is more honoured thereby for he meddles not with the perfumes and when the stones are polished he sees not a whit the clearer He takes no delight in seing the Images clothed or naked nor doth he gather vp anie of the offerings but they are all for the Curates and Vicars And if any should speake to the picture of a King the King would not esteeme himselfe honoured thereby And if Images which doe but doubtfully resemble the countenances of Saints must be worshipped then why should not the Bible bee adored wherein the power of God is most certainly represented Now if his Maiestie of England speake of this abuse as an abhomination what would he say if he had been an eye-witnesse of that superstitious madnesse wherwith the poore multitude are inflamed if he had seene behinde an Image of stone cladde in silke a poore naked picture standing for the Image of God if he had seene the people marching in procession before Lent toward the Image of our Lady for leaue to eate butter if he had seene the rule practised which the Tridentine catechisme sets downe approuing such as say a Pater noster before the picture of S. Dominicke or S. Barbara Cap. de Oratione Editionis Lonaniensis p. 483. Cum ad imaginem sancti alicuius quis Dominicam orationem pronunciat ita tum sentiat se ab illo petere vt secum oret if he had seene troupes of Saints in Churches diuersly apparailed among which some are but very basely cladde and some Saint hauing a hogge by his side some other a dogge c and these creatures to haue a share in the perfume to be equally adorned with lights He that should breake an arme of one of these liuelesse Images shall be thought to haue committed a greater fault then if he had broken the heades of a hundred liuing men howbeit the Image might be mended when the men could haue no amends This abuse is boundlesse and here superstition addeth madnesse vnto their blindnesse For the liuing Image of God fals downe before the Image of a dead man He among them that should see a church without Images would thinke himselfe in a newe world or he that should see Images vnworshipped would perswade himselfe he were among Deuils Such as blush at this abuse and speake thereof more nicely as Coeffeteau doth they say that Images doe helpe our deuotion but whence then is it that they may not be seene in Lent which is the time of deuotion and what deuotion is there without nay against the commandement of God Others say that they are ignorant mens bookes and they say the truth for they keepe them in ignorance So Habacuc cap. 2. calleth them teachers of lyes the mischiefe is that whiles the Churches and publique places are filled with these bookes for the ignorant they keepe away the Scripture which might haue made them learned and cured their ignorance they amaze the people insteed of instructing them they quicken the sense but dull the conscience they kindle their wax-lights while the Candle of Gods word is hid vnder the bushell of an vnknowledge language and by this meanes are men turned into stones hauing stones for their instructers And this is an old tricke of policie to busie the people with playes and publike shewes while their liberty is vndermined Tacitus in Iulio Agricola Paulatim discessum ad del inimenta vitiorum porticus balnea conuiuiorum elegantiam Id apud imperitos humanitas vo cabatur cum pars â—eruitutis esset so dealt Alcibtades by the Athenians and so as Cor. Tacitus witnesseth the Romanes dealt in great Britaine The same cunning hath beene vsed by the Pope who hath built his Hierarchy vpon the ruines of the Romane Monarchy he sets the people gazing on paintings and spectacles while he doth insensibly change the doctrine of saluation to make it seruiceable
Peter pascere oues and also what a cloude of witnesses there is both of Auncients and euen of late Popish writers yea diuers Cardinals that doe all agree that both these speeches vsed to Peter were meant to all the Apostles represented in his person Otherwise how could Paul diâ—ect the Church of Corinth 1. Cor. 5.4 to excommunicate the incestuous person cu spiritum suo whereas he should then haue said cumspiritu Petri And how could all the Apostles haue otherwise vsed all their censures onely in Christs name and neuer a word of his Vicar Peter wee reade did in all the Apostles meetings sit amongst them as one of their number And when chosen men were sent to Antiochia from that great Apostolike Councell at Ierusalem Acts 15. The text saith Act. 15.22 23. It seemed good to the Apostles and Elders with the whole Church to send chosen men but no mention made of the Head thereof and so in their Letters no mention is made of Peter but onely of the Apostles Elders and Brethren And it is a wonder why Paul rebuketh the Church of Corinth for making exceptions of persons because some followed Paul some Apollos some Cephas if Peter was their visible Head 1. Cor. 1.12 for then those that followed not Peter or Cephas renounced the Catholik faith But it appeareth well that Paul knew little of our new doctrine Galat. 2. since he handleth Peter so rudely as he not only compareth but preferreth himselfe vnto him But our Cardinall prooues Peters superiority Gal. 1.18 by Pauls going to visite him Indeede Paul saith he went to Ierusalem to visite Peter and conferre with him but he should haue added and to kisse his feete To conclude then The truth is that Peter was both in age and in the time of Christs calling him one of the first of the Apostles in order the principall of the first twelue and one of the three whom Christ for order sake preferred to all the rest And no further did the Bishop of Rome claime for three hundreth years after Christ subiect they were to the generall Councels and euen but of late did the Councell of Constance depose three Popes and set vp the fourth And vntill Phocas dayes that murthered his master were they subiect to Emperours But how they are now come to be Christs Vicars nay Gods on earth triple crowned Kings of Heauen earth and hell Iudges of all the world and none to iudge them Heads of the faith Absolute deciders of all Controuersies by the infallibility of their spirite hauing all power both Spirituall and Temporall in their handes the high Bishoppes Monarches of the whole earth Superiours to all Emperours and Kings yea Supreame Vice-gods who whether they will or not cannot erre how they are now become I say to that toppe of greatnes I know not but sure I am Wee that are Kings haue greatest neede to looke vnto it As for me Paul and Peter I know but these men I know not And yet to doubt of this is to denie the Catholique faith Nay the world it selfe must bee turned vpside downe and the order of Nature inuerted making the left hand to haue the place before the right Bellar. de Rom. Pont. lib. 1. c. 17. and the last named to be the first in honour that this primacy may be maintained Thus haue I now made a free Confession of my Faith And J hope I haue fully cleared my selfe from being an Apostate and as farre from being an Hereticke as one may be that beleeueth the Scriptures and the three Creedes and acknowledgeth the foure first generall Councels If J be loath to beleeue too much especially of Nouelties men of greater knowledge may well pitie my weakenesse but J am sure none will condemne me for an hereticke saue such as make the Pope their God and thinke him such a speaking Scripture as they can define heresie no otherwise but to be whatsoeuer Opinion is maintained against the Popes definition of faith And I will sincerely promise that when euer any point of the Religion I professe shall be proued to be new and not Auncient Catholike and Apostolike I meane for matter of Faith I will as soone renounce it closing vp this head with the maxime of Vincentius Lirinensis Libello aduersus haereses that I will neuer refuse to imbrace any opinion in Diuinity necessary to saluation which the whole Catholike Church with an vnanim consent haue constantly taught and beleeued euen from the Apostles daies for the space of many ages thereafter without interruption This discourse beeing nothing else Fol. 74. but a rich piece of tyssue wrought full of Demonstrations and the very language of truth in the mouth of a King deserued an exact answer But M. Coeffeteau not daring to confront the King to his face doth treacherously assaile â—im side-wise for in stead of satisfying his proofes drawne out of holy Scripture hee entrencheth himselfe in his hold of custome and produceth some testimonies of men He saith then that Basil writing to Athanasius aduiseth him to aduertise the Church of Rome of certaine schismes that happened in his countrey Epist 32. to the end that hee by interposing his authority might send learned and able men to extinguish those diuisions which troubled the East But withal he should haue added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Basil doth not intreat him to shew forth his power in punishing the obstinate and refractarie but onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to reprehend and admonish the froward men of our countrey For as touching the title of Head of the Church S. Basil in the same Epistle doth so qualifie not the Bishop of Rome but Athanasius Patriarcke of Alexandria in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we thought that we could not better giue entrance to our affaires then by hauing recourse to your perfection as to him who is the vniuersall Head and by winning you to be counsellour and conductour of our Actions Now he thus speaketh not because Alexandria was the first Sea but because there was not then any Bishop who did not willingly giue precedence to Athanasius because of his vertue As for the priority of the Bishops-sea it appeareth by his 50. Epistle that S. Basill thought it due to Antioch when he exhorteth Athanasius to adioyne himselfe to Miletius Patriarcke of Antioch of whome hee saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is he who as we may so say sitteth as ruler ouer the whole Church And saith also He so calleth the Bishop of Rome that the Bishops of the West giue consent thereunto it is a thing remarke-able aboue the rest that S. Basill purposing to addresse himselfe to the Bishop of Rome that he should lend his helpe to pacifie some differences stirred vp in Asia confesseth in one of his Epistles that men are deceiued to hope for any succour from thence and taking offence at his pride he accounteth all such deputations idle and