who are of Iewish or Moorish race are examined at the Inquisition for the suspition of Heresie and punished with branding for the offence If a Turke or Iew become a Christian be found to have two Wives hee may bee tried in the Inquisition for his suspected beliefe and for the offence in the ordinary Court of Iustice But when either for carnality or to steale the portion or for any such ends any one hath taken a second Wife they ought without any circumstance to proceed doing Iustice in the ordinary Secular Court punishing the offence as the quality of the particular circumstances shall require preferring the common opinion of Lawyers and the Universall custome of Courts to cavils onely invented to confound jurisdictions The Exposition of the three and twentieth Chapter IN cases of usury as it is said in this Chapter it is questionlesse that the Inquisition ought not to meddle in them So have many Popes of Rome answered Inquisitors who have purposed to draw cases and questions of Usury unto their Office and the Decree is also Registred in the Canon Law where to exclude absolutely all cases of usury out of the Inquisition and to provide that by no indirect way nor under any good colour it might be attempted to judge of any the Pope saith That though the Inquisition had enjoyned some converted Hereticke such pennance as if hee had beene an Usurer he should make restitution yet for all that not so much as against him can they meddle in such cases It is behoovefull both for Gods Service and the reputation of the Inquisition Office with all diligence to keepe many causes from them So this Chapter being cleare wee neede not say any more of it The Exposition of the foure and twenty Chapter IN this Chapter is set downe that Iewes nor other Infidels shall for no cause be subject to the Inquisition Office but onely to the Secular Court It was said by the Apostle St. Paul plainely that the Ecclesiasticall Power doth not extend to judge those that are not of the Church And so much hath bin held and observed also in these latter times Pope Innocent the third declared that they were not subject to the Pope neither to the Law nor yet to bee judged since that by vertue of the Law the Iudge doth exercise his Office Besides the Infidels of what kind soever they be are not capable of Spirituall punishments and therefore are not subject to the Church which punisheth with such In the Body of the Civill Law there be prohibitions and punishments against Iewes which blaspheme or injury Religion or draw Christians to Iudaisme or to offend Iewes which are become Christians And the Popes of Rome themselves have not used any other remedy against Iewes and other Infidels who have offended in wronging or slandering Religion but onely to excite Princes and Secular Magistrates to doe their duty in punishing them To this purpose there be many Decrees in the Canon Law Some Princes to discharge themselves of the trouble of judging such causes have delegated them to the Bishops which hath not pleased the Popes very well The King of Sicily having delegated power to some Bishops of his Kingdome to punish the Sarazens of his Kingdome in certain cases where they offend Religion Pope Alexander the third did write to them that they should onely punish such offences for which was sufficient a pecuniary Mulct or whipping without blood-shed But if the offence did deserve any greater punishment they should not meddle with it but should leave the judging of it to the temporall Power This authority established by the saying of St. Paul confirmed by the Canon and Civill Lawes and by Customes none should attempt to contrary it But the desire of enlarging authority doth so blinde some men that without regarding so much plainenesse they turne themselves to cavils of no moment saying That if God doth punish and hath punished Infidels the Pope and the Inquisitors his Delegates may and ought also punish them A reason which would prove that they might punish both Christians and Infidels and all manner of offenders for all manner of offences though never so concealed and also sinnes onely conceived in the minde for God doth punish all these The truth is that Christ hath not given his Vicars any power but onely over his Church and in spirituall things and therefore they can judge none but Christians nor punish them but onely with spirituall punishments The temporall punishments God hath committed to the Secular power for punishing all manner of offences and against all offendors be they of what Religion they will And certainly to make an argument from the Divine Omnipotencie to humane authority it agreeth not with the reverence due to the Divine Majesty But another thing must bee considered for they say that although Infidels be not subject to Ecclesiasticall power yet when they doe offend the Church reason will that she may defend her selfe by punishing them it being a terme of Law That he who is not subject to a Territory by reason of an offence committed in it becomes subject to it which things well understood are all most true yet doe they not conclude in this purpose For the Church must not be denyed the defence of her selfe if she be offended but she ought to doe it with all offenders by meanes of the Magistrate The Infidell who violates holy things and offends Religion must not remaine unpunished and the Church may defend it selfe but not with its owne forces but with the authority of the Magistrate to inflict punishment doth not belong to him that is offended but alwayes to the Iudge and when by an offence the Delinquent should have his Court of Iudgement allotted him hee becommeth not subject to him that is offended otherwise every private man might chastise him that doth offend him but he becommeth subject to the Iudge of the place where the offence is committed Wherefore these reasons prove nothing but that the offence done by the Infidels to the Church ought to bee punished by the ordinary Secular Court of judgement and so much the rather ought this to be observed because both Divine and Humane Lawes doe order it so when such sorts of offences deserve greater punishments as indeed such offences for the most part are so grievous that they will deserve greater punishment than the Inquisition would inflict upon them In the yeare 1581. Pope Gregory the thirteenth framed a Bull against Jewes in which he did subject both them and all other Infidels to the Inquisition in tenne cases so fully set downe that if it should be observed no Infidell might inhabite nor trade within Christian Dominion This Bull although it were imprinted yet was it published or received but in very few places and it were impossible to observe it Yea Pope Sixto the fifth and Clement the eight not regarding it did give Infidels safe conducts to come to the City of Ancona And that which is most
And to give it the more credit and force he caused the Edict to be published in Sicily with a Decree and subscribed by Cardinall Doria and was sent in print all the World over The Court of Rome stood amazed as well for the Edict as for the execution of it done by the Cardinall yet in Spaine they moved not a whit and the Edict remaineth still in force Certainly there cannot be imagined a higher enterprize than to send into a Prince his Dominions a booke in print against his Government and to pretend it to bee Lawfull and that the booke shall be there read kept and sold publickely and that the Prince shall have no power to discover it and withstand it and that under colour of Religion and the authority of Christ given to St. Peter Which pretence will be taken away if we doe but marke the Catholicke Doctrine and the custome of the holy Church whence the truth plainly appeares and Cardinall Baronius his reasons are plainely confuted It is a thing well knowne that unto St. Peter were given the Keyes of the Kingdome of Heaven that many holy Fathers and Catholick Writers meanes by the Keyes in the Plurall number the one of Knowledge and the other of Power and that the power ought not to be understood Universally but onely concerning the Kingdome of Heaven which is the Spirituall for the Civill Royall and Temporall power is expresly forbidden him by Christ So the Knowledge is not to be understood of naturall things nor of corrections much lesse of Politicke Civill or Morall things but as St. Paul saith plainely they are made dispencers of Christs misteries onely Wherefore if by the Ecclesiasticall authority a booke be approved to be good in matters of Faith it cannot be condemned as bad by any Secular power but if the booke treateth of other matters as of jurisdiction of Government of Merchandize although it were applauded by all the Prelates of the World yet doth not that prejudice Temporall authority but that it may be condemned It is a great wrong to pretend that because Christ hath given St Peter the Cognisance and power of the Kingdome of Heaven and forbidden him the Earthly one may against his precept extend spirituall things to temporall St. Augustine often saith that grace doth not destroy nor take any thing away from nature but leaving all her owne unto her doth adde unto it Divine perfections The Temporall power hath of its owne nature power to forbid all things which are repugnant to publicke quietnesse and to honesty and amongst the rest writings and bookes which are contrary to it Christ is not come to take away any of this authority from the Magistrates but to leave it intire onely he addes power to his Ministers over things concerning Christian Faith of which men by nature know nothing but onely by Revelation Therefore these ought not to assume unto themselves the power of approving of bookes which belong not to them or to endeavour to deprive the Magistrate of the authority which is given them by God and by nature Cardinall Baronius alleadgeth the Epistles of certaine Writers who have dedicated unto Popes their bookes of Histories or of Law or of concerning Government and have submitted their Workes to the Popes censure and therefore he concludes that to him alone belongeth to approve of all sorts of bookes and that once approved by him none ought any further to meddle with it But this is but a vaine reason since it doth not make any distinction betweene Obligatory binding words and words of compliment Who ever Dedicateth a Booke not onely to a Prince but also to a private man but that he will submit it unto him and that with some Hyperbole of words If we shall upon these Rethoricall colours ground Articles of Divinity we will also finde other Epistles which wee will give the same power to all manner of Persons and wee shall finde many bookes of Phisicke and of Grammar Learning Dedicated unto Popes with such like phrases of speaking and should that inferre therefore that the Papacy is an Office concerning health or a Grammar Schoole Reverence and civill speaking is one thing and that which must bee holden as an Article of Faith is another But because that Baronius taxeth the Princes Officers with forbidding of bookes because they reprove their unjust dealings it will be good to speake a word concerning that because it shall not seeme that we will have unjust things defended nor that any should thinke that it is Lawfull under colour of reproving of things to disturbe the publicke quietnesse One may speake two wayes of a misdeede by way of Thesis or Position vid. in generall without touching either Person or place or time and to reprove in this manner hath bin alwayes held good for the rooting out of vice It is Lawfull for any one to write bookes in this manner Another way is by Hipothesis that is of particular case naming of Persons and other circumstances and that is not permitted to any but to the Lawfull Judge Every one may write against Usury in generall but to touch any particular instrument for usury belongeth to none but to the publicke Judge and the doing otherwise is to put the World in a confusion leaving the managing of businesses unto unjust persons A generality may easily bee considered of and hath neede of nothing but of study and authors but a particularity by reason of the infinitenesses of circumstances requires an exquisite prudence and experience It is easie to say and to prove in generall that the usurping the Soveraignty of a State is unjust and Cardinall Baronius might have thereupon made a long Parenthesis But to come to a particular and say that the King of Spaine usurpes the Soveraignty of Sicily is not a cause belonging to him And if the Kings Officers in Naples and Milan have therefore prohibited his booke they have not forbidden the reproving of unjustice but rather the small wisedome of him who judgeth the present possession of Sicily to be unjust without having so much knowledge as was needfull for the doing of it And if the Pope did approve the booke intending to doe it for the places Ecclesiasticall Dominion and State it is well but if he did meane it also for other Princes States so that it might not be prohibited by those who held it scandalous that had beene an excesse and usurpation of other mens authority which ought not to be supposed of Pope Clement the eight who was a wise Prince And because Cardinall Baronius addes that publicke Officers cannot prohibit Booke sellers to sell bookes without their Licence under pretence of hindering Hereticall bookes from comming in with false Titles because that seeing such a danger they ought with humblenesse to seeke that the Bishops may doe it this also deserves a little consideration And first to take away all ambiguity neither did any approve of doing any thing under a fained pretence that is to cover
shall happen in Townes or Villages shall bee decided in the Cities to which they are subject CHAP. XXXV That a case happening in a place whereto no Inquisition properly belongeth the delinquent shall be sent to the place where hee is questionable for spirituall matters CHAP. XXXVI That contumacious persons shall be banished either diffinitively or for a time as it shall seeme best to the Inquisitors CHAP. XXXVII That the Inquisitors shall make such Proclamations as they shal please against such as are escaped out of their Prisons CHAP. XXXVIII That those which are Inquisited or Cited for Heresie flying within the State shall bee condemned for foure yeares to prisons separate from other Prisons CHAP. XXXIX That the Inquisition shall punish false accusers and false witnesses when the false-hood appeares by the same Processe otherwise it shall belong to the Governours BEhold heere most illustrious Prince the summe of all the aforesaid nine and thirty Chapters now resteth to shew unto your Highnesse the reason of them all but first that we may discourse more soundly it will be needfull for me to relate when how and for what cause the office of th'inquisition was instituted in Christendome and at what time and in what forme it was admitted into this famous City of Venice Beginning therefore from thence I will say that although Heresies by Divine permission were sowne in the World for the exercise and triall of good Catholicks even in those times as the Church began c. after our Lords Ascension yet the particular office of th ' Inquisition against Hereticks did not beginne till after the yeare one thousand two hundred The Holy Apostles left for a remedy to this pestilence that the Heretick should be ad monished once or twice and that perishing in his obstinacy Catholicks should separate themselves from his fellowship and excommunicate him Nor was there any further proceeding untill Constantines time who embraced the holy Faith and was after imitated by his successors Then amongst other things the Saints taught Princes that they having two callings the one of Christians the other of Princes were bound in both of them to serve God as Christians in observing of the Divine precepts as every other private Person but as Princes serving his Divine Majesty with well ordering of Lawes and directing their subjects to Piety Honesty and Justice punishing all such as transgresse the Divine Commandements and especially those of the Decalogue For those that sinne against the first Table which concerneth Divine honor are worse than they who sin against the Second which concerneth Justice among men Wherefore Princes are more bound to punish Blasphemies Heresies and perjuries than murthers and thefts For this cause were divers Lawes made against Heresies which are Registred in the Iustinian Theodosian Codes imposing upon the guilty pecuniary mulcts banishments privation of part or of all their goods according to the circumstances of the offence the execution of which Lawes was committed to their secular Officers Every criminall Iudgement hath three parts the Cognisance of the cause of the delict the Cognisance of the fact and the sentence In the Iudgement for Heresie the Cognisance of the reason is whether such an opinion be Hereticall or no The Cognisance of the fact is whether a Person so accused or denounced hath defended or held or shewed any token of holding that opinion The sentence consisteth either in absolving the guiltlesse from an imputation or condemning him that he is found guilty The first Cognisance what opinion is Hereticall was alwayes Ecclesiasticall neither can it any way belong to the secular Power and when in those dayes there grew any difficulty upon some opinion the Emperours did require the judgement of Bishops and if neede were did call Counsels But the Cognisance of the fact whether the accused Person were innocent or guilty that he might have the punishment ordained by the Lawes and the sentence of Condemnation or Absolution did all belong to the secular Power Some of the holy Bishops and Prelates of those times after they had declared what opinions were Hereticall and had separated from the Church as excomunicate and anathematized those that did hold them enter-medled no further nor durst give notice thereof to the Magistrates holding it to be no worke of entire Charity Others having perceived that feare of the secular Magistrate did overcome the pertinacy of the obstinate and did worke that which love of the Truth could not doe held it as their duty to make knowne the Hereticall Persons unto secular Iudges together with their erronious opinions and to excite them to put the Imperiall Lawes in execution But because sometimes a Heretick Preacher did cause some notable trouble the Iudges regarding the sedition more than the heresie did proceede also to Capitall punishments the Church-men did in these cases forbeare to appeare before the tribunall and did alwayes use unfeigned exhortation to the Iudges that they should inflict no punishments of blood upon the delinquents St Martin in France excommunicated a Bishop because he had accused certaine Hereticks to Maximus Usurper of the Empire which by him were put to death St Augustine also most zealous of the purity of the Church to cleare it of this evill seede did often and earnestly desire the Proconsuls Counts and other Imperiall Ministers in Africk for to execute the Princes Lawes and would make knowne unto them the places where Hereticks held their conventicles and did discover the Persons But alwayes when hee saw any Iudge inclined to proceede against the life hee earnestly prayed him by the mercies of God by the love of Christ and such like urging intreaties that hee should desist from punishments of blood And in an Epistle to Donatus Proconsul of Africke hee tels him plainely that if hee doe persevere in punishing of Hereticks with the losse of their lives then the Bishop would forbeare giving notice of them and not being made knowne by others they would rest unpunished and the Imperiall Lawes unexecuted Whereas proceeding mildly and without blood-shed they would have bin vigilant in discovering them and notifying of them for the Service of God and execution of the Lawes In this manner were things handled in the Church for causes of heresie under the Roman Empire untill the yeare of our Salvation 800. when the Easterne Empire being divided from the Westerne this forme rested in the Easterne untill the end of it In the Westerne the Princes needed not make any Lawes nor take much care about this businesse seeing that for the space of three hundred yeares from 800. to 1100. there were very few Hereticks found in these parts and when any case did happen which chanced but very seldome the Bishop did Iudge of it in the same manner as he proceeded against Ecclesiasticall Persons as against infringers of the Holy-dayes breakers of Fasts and such like judging and punishing them themselves in those places where they had jurisdiction granted them by the Princes and
important is that in the Commission granted by the Cardinals to the Inquisitors wherein is expressed how farre their authority extendeth there is not the least mention made of Iewes or other Infidels a manifest proofe that they can pretend no power over them But of that Bull of Gregory the thirteenth and other it will be a more fitting place to speake at large in the 28. Chapter To conclude therefore the Inquisition Office is ordained against Heresie wherefore it is not fitting it should be enlarged to other offences Infidelity is no Heresie and the offences which Infidels commit to the wrong and dishonour of Religion have no need of Ecclesiasticall Cognisance but may very well be taken notice of and punished by the Secular power and it ought to be observed it being commanded by the Divine Canon and Civill Law The Exposition of the twenty fift Chapter THe Office of the Inquisition out of this State pretends that it may judge your Easterne Christians upon any Articles even in those wherein the Nation wholly dissents from the Court of Rome In this most renowned Dominion regarding the protection which the Prince hath of the Greeke Nation the Inquisitors doe not extend their pretences so farre but say That the Grecians may be suffered in those three opinions wherein they dissent from the Easterne but if any of them doe hold any sinister opinion in any of those heads wherein their Nation agreeth with ours that they ought to be subject to the Inquisition Which distinction is superfluous and not lesse opposite to the Princes protection then if they were judged in the three different cases also it is superfluous because that there being no Heresies at all at this present amongst the Greekes concerning any of the common Articles this case cannot happen against the protection because that they are bound by their customes to acknowledge no superiour in any thing but onely their owne Priests which thing whether it may justly bee maintained or no may very well be decided by the customes which have ever beene observed The Easterne and Westerne Churches continued both in communion and Christian Charity for the space of nine hundred yeares or more in which times the Pope of Rome was reverenced and esteemed no lesse by the Greekes than by the Latines He was acknowledged for St. Peters Successor and chiefe of all the Easterne Catholicke Bishops In the persecutions of Hereticks they implored his aide and of other Bishops of Italy and this peace was easily kept because the supreame power was in the Canons to which both parts acknowledged themselves subject Ecclesiastical Discipline was severely maintained in each Countrey by the Prelates of it not arbitrarily but absolutely according Order and Canonicall rigour none putting his hand into another mans Government but advised one another by the observance of the Canons In those dayes never any Pope of Rome did pretend to conferre any Benefices in other Bishops Diocesses neither was the Custome yet brought in of getting money out of others by way of Dispensations or Bulls But as soone as the Court of Rome beganne to pretend that it was not subject to Canons but it was according to her owne discretion she might after any ancient Order of the Fathers Councells yea and of the Apostles themselves and that it attempted in stead of the ancient Primary of the Apostolicall Sea to bring in an absolute Dominion not ruled by any Law or Canon then the Division grew And though within these seven hundred yeares a peace and re-union hath beene often attempted yet could it never be brought to passe because they have alwayes hearkned to debates and disputes and not to the taking away of that abuse which was the reall cause of bringing in the Devision and hath beene the true cause as yet of maintaining it Whilst the Churches were united St. Pauls Doctrine was also joyntly held and observed that in cases of publicke Government every one should be subject to the Prince because God commands it so who is disobeyed by him who doth not obey Secular Power by him appointed for the governing of mankind Never did any pretend that he might not be punished for his offences holding it for certaine that to have an exempted power to doe evill is a thing condemned by God and men Saint Paul his words were in every ones mouth vid. Wilt thou bee exempt from feare of Temporall punishments doe well and thou shalt not onely not bee punished but shalt also be applauded by it But if thou dost evill thou oughtest to feare it because the Sword of Iustice for the Divine service to punish evill deedes hath not beene given to it in vaine After the Division of the Churches in the Easternâ— Church the same opinion remained and still remaineth vid. that every Christian for Spirituall businesses is onely subject to Ecclesiasticall power but in Temporall to the Prince And nothing is more Temporall than offence because nothing is more contrary to the Spirit There continueth also amongst the Greekes that Doctrine that Bishops ought to judge which opinion is Catholicall and which hereticall but to punish those who hold hurtfull opinions belongeth to the Secular Now the truth being thus in the things aforesaid which are manifest and cleare the Inquisition ought not to meddle with the Greekes for foure reasons First because that whilst a cause remaines undecided it is not reasonable that the one party should bee judged by the other in their owne controversie But this is the controversie betweene the Greekes and the Court of Rome that they require the observation of the Canons which subject each Nation to their proper Prelates and the Court of Rome pretends to bee above the Canons Therefore the Greekes ought not to be judged by the Romish Officers in this controversie The second is because that it is certaine that before the division the Grecians were in Temporall judgements subject to the Secular Magistrate and in Spirituall to their superiors Therefore it is just to have their right and custome maintained to them The third is because if the Prince should grant the Inquisition power to judge the Greekes hee should deprive himselfe of his proper Authority which he may withquietnes exercise not without troble give way to have it exercised by others The power of punishing offences in the Greekish Church hath alwayes beene in the Prince and the Greekes in these dayes doe confesse it and desire it may so continue So that with quietnesse justice may be administred by the Magistrate whereas the leaving of it to the Inquisition with contradiction of the whole Nation might bring in a thousand inconveniences The fourth because the most renowned Common-wealth gives the Greekes leave to live according to their customes but their custome is that in Secular things and in the punishing of any manner of offence they shall be subject to the Prince and in spirituall things they shall obey their Priests therefore maintaining the protection which is promised them
may observe them if not they may omit them or dispence with them and they doe wonderfully serve for their ends as well when they are observed as when they are disobeyed because they are not to bee ruled by the Lawes but they doe rule the Lawes Contrariwise in other States when they are once published or received they are no more in the Prince his power They must then runne to Rome to seeke a remedy when they are heard and either they doe get remedy or not they regarding not what is behoovefull to another State but to their owne And this is that which the court of Rome would have and every day attempted vid. to have in their hand under colour of Religion the administration of some certaine things without which States cannot be governed by which meanes it would become judge of all governments For this cause the Popes say daily when they would cause their Decrees to be admitted that if there be any inconvenience they should have recourse to them and they will helpe it but the remedy which commeth not from the same Prince but from them who have their proper interests is worser than the sore God whose workes are perfect and who is the Author of all Principalities gives to every one as much power as is necessary to governe well neither will he have it acknowledged from any other but from his Divine Majesty All that which a Prince acknowledgeth from others but from God is slavery and subjection So much is said generally of the consideration which ought to bee had in publishing or receiving Pontificiall Orders made of old in matters of Heresie But much greater care ought to bee had concerning those which shall be made hereafter Of them which are made already the number is certaine it is knowne whether they be received in other places or no how they are observed what construction they receive what is their aime what consequence of good or evill effects they bring with them But for the time to come if the Court might have her liberty the number would grow to be infinite When one newly appeares it is not knowne whether the World will admit of it or no the aime of him that made it is not yet discovered experience hath not shewne what effects it may bring forth and therefore all delay and maturity in receiving of it will bring forth aboundance of conveniency with it It is not said that new reasonable orders are not to bee accepted but that they ought not to be received as of duty or as subjects but by agreement and publicke treaty the institution of that Office requiring it as it is said and with much consideration because of the great dangers that novelties doe bring with them The Court of Rome in making new Buls taketh no great advice with ease they are made because with ease they are revoked or derogated from or dispensed with as it fals to be most commodious for their businesses wherein they regard their owne ends But that which is profitable for one State is not profitable for another The safety of this Dominion requireth that Religion should bee kept inviolate in all her parts withstanding all change and novelty whatsoever The respects of Rome require that no change shall be made through which Pontificiall power may be diminished nor the Court lose any of her profits which she draweth out of other Statues But those novelties whereby the profit of the Court may be increased or temporall authority may bee diminished with the exaltation of the Ecclesiasticall are not to bee abhorred but procured and that wee see daily This most renowned Common-wealth as well as other Catholicke Kingdomes finds it selfe betweene two contraries The Protestants who have no other aime but to diminish Ecclesiasticall authority and the Court of Rome which hath no other aime but to increase it and to make the temporall her servant Whence your Catholicke States and Kingdomes to preserve themselves doe withstand all novelties on the on the other side and doe keepe Religion without any change at all being knowne by experience that either of the novelties are pernicious That reverence which deservedly is given to Religion is the cause that those abuses have easie admittance which come covered with that sacred Mantle For the maintaining of Religion the office against Heresie is respected and for this cause when Rome will bring in some novelty it willingly makes use of that office supposing that the true end will not appeare And that hath beene wrought in the selfe same manner in times past but very slightly in regard of what was done at this present Neverthelesse the Senators of those times were alwayes carefull They would have the Office against Heresie to bee mixt they have opposed themselves against all novelties they have not suffered Ecclesiasticall Persons to doe any thing unknowne unseene or unexamined By these foot-steps must he walke that will have the Common-wealth preserved not suffering new Buls or Decrees to bee accepted within the State if first by mature deliberation it be not made knowne that they will bring in no inconveniences Which deliberation is proper to the Prince who alone comprehendeth the estate of publicke things The Exposition of the nine and twentieth Chapter THe nine and twentieth Chapter which treateth of publishing a prohibition of bookes since the agreement of the yeare 1596. stands in force there can no doubt be made of it But it will be necessary to consider that the agreement being made with so much consideration and maturity as well of the Apostolicall Seas side as of the most renowned Common-wealths side the matter ought to be held of weight This conference lasted foure Moneths on the Pontificiall side there was the Cardinall the Nuntio and the Inquisition and on the other side the chiefe Senators of the Common-wealth cleare arguments that the businesse on both sides was held to be of great weight and neverthelesse though it was determined by common consent yet did it not take away all hope from the Ecclesiasticall Persons to have it forgotten againe and out of use Wherefore then they treated that there should bee but three score coppies Printed of the agreement for nothing else but because there being an innumerable number of the coppies of the Indexes of the forbidden bookes which passe through all mens hands every one might see those documents which give the authority over the bookes to Ecclesiasticall Persons onely but the moderation of the agreement might not be knowne but by few and so finally it might bee lost And treading these steps in Rome there is not a yeare but there comes forth a Catalogue of new prohibition under the name of the Master of the sacred Palace with clauses that it shall take place in all Cities Townes and places of every Kingdome Nation or People and that it shall bind all men although there be no publication who shall come any way to have notice of the Edict This Index is sent to the
Inquisitors that by meanes of the Confessors they may get them to worke the best effect they can and by this meanes the agreement is deluded and groweth out of use And that which is worse when an Index is printed within this City they doe endeavour to have those new prohibitions inserted in them which they also attempted to doe this yeare And if diligent care be not alwaies had as it is at this present they will one day set up a Court of Iustice and open a way to the destruction of the agreement Their intents to make themselves absolute Masters of Bookes and the respects wherefore the Secular power hath neede to watch to the end that they may not obtaine it though they doe not appeare at first sight yet with an easie consideration they are made manifest The matter of Bookes seemes to be a thing of small moment because it treats of words but through these words comes opinions into the world which cause partialities seditions and finally warres They are words it is true but such as in consequence draw after them Hosts ofarmed men In this matter the Romans cannot hide two high pretences which they have The first that so they may prohibit bookes not onely for cause of Religion but also for any of her cause The second that the Prince shall not have power within his owne state to forbid any bookes for any cause whatsoever and if that any be by them approved the Prince cannot hinder although he judge it to be dangerous but that within his Dominions it may be had printed and publickly sold And these two pretences taking once effect they should doe the Temporall power wrong in three notable particulars The first in prohibiting or corrupting Bookes which are good and profitable for the maintenance of a good government The second in prohibiting of Bookes which doe not belong to them to prohibit The third in hindring the Secular Power from removing what shall finde hurtfull to a good government Of which three prejudices we ought to treate particulary for to consider of the remedies About the first concerning the prohibition of Bookes which at Rome are not liked of though they bee good and godly because they maintaine Temporall Power It is a cleare thing that a Prince especially one that ruleth with the Arts of Peace useth this as a chiefe instrument to cause the people to beleeve this to be a firme truth vid. that the Prince is ordained by God and ruleth with Divine authority and the Subject consequently in conscience is bound to obey him and not doing it offendeth God that the duty of undergoing publicke burthens either personall in bearing office or reall in Tributes Customes or such like doth tye the Conscience and bindeth under the paine of sinning to restitution he that refuseth to beare them or doth defraud them Because that the Prince by the Divine Law is above any person that is within his Dominion and may lay a burthen on any mans estate when publicke necessity according to his judgement shall require it Everyone of himselfe without any greater discourse may judge how easily a State may be governed where the aforesaid Maximes as they are most true shall be so beleeved to bee and the disorders which most necessarily happen where contrary opinions are held Ofthese truths written by the Prophets taught by Christ and preached by the Apostles ancient Fathers bookes are also sull and good Divines doe hold them as they are necessary to be beleeved But as there were alwayes in Gods Church those who made use of Religion for worldly ends so the number of them is now sull These under a spiritual pretence but with an ambitious end and desire of worldly wealth would free themselves from the obedience due unto the Prince and take away the love and reverence due by the people to draw it to themselves To bring these things to passe they have newly invented a Doctrine which talkes of nothing but of Ecclesiasticall greatnesse liberty immunity and of her jurisdiction This Doctrine was unheard of untill about the yeare of 1300. neither is there any booke found concerning it before that time then did they beginne to write of it scatteringly in some bookes but there were not above two bookes which treated of nothing else but this untill the yeare 1400. and three untill the yeare â—500 After this time the number increased a little but it was tollerable After the yeare 1560. this Doctrine beganne to increase in such manner that they gave over writing as they did before of the Mysteries of the most Holy Trinity of the Creation of the World of the incarnation of Christ and other Mysteries of the Beliefe and there is nothing printed in Italy but Bookes in Diminution of Secular Authority and exhaltation of the Ecclesiasticall and such Bookes are are not printed by small numbers but by thousands Those people which have any learning can reade nothing else the Confessors likewise know none other Doctrine nor to bee approved of neede they any other Learning Whence comes in a perverse opinion universally that Princes and Magistrates are humane inventions yea and Tyranicall that they ought onely by compulsion to be obeyed that the disobeying of Lawes and defrauding the publicke revenewes doth not binde one unto sinne but onely to punishment and he that doth not pay if he can but flye from it remaines not guilty before the Divine Majesty and contrarywise that every becke of Ecclesiasticall persons without any other thought ought to be taken for a Divine Precept and binds the Conscience And this Doctrine perchance is the cause of all inconveniences which are felt in this Age. There want not in Italy pious and learned persons which hold the truth but they are not suffered to write nor to print Something comes written from another place but presently it is prohibited And little thought is taken of Hereticall Books especially those that treate of the Articles of Faith but if any one comes that defends the Prince his Temporall Authority and saith that Ecclesiasticall persons are also subject to publicke functions and punishable if they violate the publicke tranquility these are condemned bookes and persecuted more than others They have gelded the bookes of ancient Authors by new printing of them and taken out all which might serve for Tempoporall authority In the yeare 1607. they printed in Rome with publicke authority a Booke intituled Index Expurgatorius where they did note the places which in divers Authors ought to be cancelled in which book every one may with eyes behold what things are taken away or changed in many good Authors which did defend the Authority given by God to the Prince So that at this present in reading of a Booke a man can no more finde what the Authors meaning was but onely what is the Court of Romes who hath altered every thing And that above all things would be thought incredible if it were not seene in Print Pope Clement the eight
manners By St. Pauls Doctrine publicke quiet and honour are given into the custody of Secular power the Inquisition ought not to put her sickle into another mans harvest This conclusion needs no subtilnesse to make it bee understood of it selfe it is plaine and easie To the same man belongeth to judge and punish deeds words and writings of the same matter none can make question but that the offending of ones reputation favouring of Tiranny and dishonesty either with deeds or with words are offences subject to the Secular Iudgement Therefore those which are committed in writing also shall belong to the same By what reason can he pretend to censure the bookes of any of the foresaid causes who confesseth of himselfe to have no power to censure the words and the deeds Since that by the Princes Ministers such a disorder is put in practise vid. that under pretence of favroring honesty and Iustice and preserving a good name temporall authority comes to bee usurped peradventure because it is a very new thing that the Ecclesiasticall power should prohibite bookes for any other cause besides that of Religion since no Pope ever attempted it before the yeare 1550. therefore as a fresh thing it hath not yet beene well examined or because that some who give attendance upon publicke affaires thinke it not ill to discharge themselves of this burthen of looking over bookes and leave it to them as desire it But as every Government requires watchfulnesse and carefulnesse and he that discharges himselfe of these dispoileth himselfe also of his authority and doth not perceive it till it be lost and cannot be recovered againe so the most renowned Common-wealth which hath ordered that her Officers should over-see every booke which is Printed to prevent any inconvenient Doctrine from comming to light hath knowne very well that this care belongeth to the Prince and thence is necessarily inferred that his Deputies ought also to see whether that there be any inconveniences in bookes already printed which may hinder the reprinting of them To the same Person belongeth the preventing of evill to whom the reforming of an evill already sprung belongeth If the Prince may Lawfully by the authority he hath from God forbid the printing of a booke because it containes blasphemy against the God-head favoureth Tiranny offends publicke honesty teacheth evill manners or takes away another mans authority and reputation Hee may also Lawfully and by the same authority prohibit them that are already printed and doe containe the like inconveniences The Index of the bookes made in the yeare 1595. is already received with publicke authority by agreement therefore the bookes contained in it are to be prohibited without exception But if hereafter it be propounded by Ecclesiasticall Persons to have bookes prohibite for any of the aforesaid reasons it must not be granted that they should doe it but notice may be taken and the booke prohibited by Temporall authority onely leaving it to the Ecclesiasticall power onely when the booke is prohibited for cause of Religion There remaines the third prejudice which is new but of greater annoyance than the other two because that to bee deprived of ones authority and to lose good bookes are indeede very great evils but tollerable in respect of this to be constrained to endure within their owne Dominions a booke knowne to bee hurtfull The Court of Rome though it hath assumed to itselfe to prohibite bookes also for causes which concerned not Religion and did not belong to Ecclesiasticall power yet before these last yeares they have not dared to goe so farre as to say that the Prince may not also forbid those bookes which he seeth doe breede scandall evill example sedition or other perturbance within his Dominion Cardinal Baronius would be the first that should free this passe and speake it boldly who being conveniently opposed by that Prince who was particularly touched none ever since hath dared to this houre to maintaine the Cardinall his enterprize But because hereafter some may attempt the like with greater Art or upon an opportunity when mens eyes shall not be so open the businesse being of such moment requireth to have the successe of that businesse briefly set downe for a generall example and document adding thereunto the true Doctrine with her Grounds answering the objected cavillations That Cardinall in the beginning of the yeare 1605. printed his eleventh Tome of the Ecclesiasticall Annals wherein hee inserted a very long discourse against the Monarchie of Sicily Of which discourse what concerneth the Truth of the relation is not fitting now to be spoken of but to be left to his proper place This onely belongeth to the present purpose that the discourse is full of slanders and eagernesse against many Kings of Arragon of famous memory and especially against King Ferdinand the Catholicke and the progenitors on the Fathers side of him who now Reigneth The booke comming to Naples and to Milan was by the Kings Officers there prohibited that it should not be sold nor had there for the respects of their Prince which were too apparent to every vulgar person The Cardinall having notice of it assembled the Colledge of Cardinals in the vacancy of the Sea of Clement the eight and made an invictive against those Officers that in prohibiting of that booke had laid hands on Ecclesiasticall authority And afterwards when Paul the fifth was made Pope he writ unto the King of Spaine a long Letter dated the 13. of June in the same yeare with this conclufion amongst the rest That to the Pope onely belongeth the approving of bookes of all kinds much more Ecclesiasticall ones complaining greatly that in contempt of Ecclesiasticall authority the Kings Officers in Italy had prohibited his booke The wisedome of that King thought it best to answer with deeds and let the prohibition runne on which was published by his Officers The Cardinall could not containe himselfe but that printing his 12. Tome in the yeare 1607. he must insert to small purpose a discourse of the same matter saying formally that it was an impious and abhominable thing that in these our most unfortunate dayes the Kings Officers should dare to censure bookes approved by the Pope not suffering them to bee sold by the Booke-sellers but with their Licence which they would grant but when they pleased yea and would absolutely forbid the sale of them that they doe it because the bookes rebuke their unjust acts and that it was to take out of St. Peters hands and putting into the Princes one of the Keyes given him by Christ vid. that of knowledge to discerne good customes from bad The Counsell of Spaine proceeded still with their wonted staidnesse and resolution nor did not move for the third time but let three yeares more run on And in the yeare 1610. the King made an Edict whereby hee condemned and forbad the booke in so grave a manner that hee aptly touched Cardinall Baronius as well as he had touched the Kings his Progenitors
evill with the colour of good this being a pernicious dissimulation but to set up one good thing behind another to cause it to passe without naming of it to make the execution of it easie or for some other end is not to be reproved and the Holy Scripture doth give infinite examples of it If an Edict were made by a Secular Magistrate that no Booke-seller should sell bookes without Licence because Hereticall bookes should not come in having an intent that way to hinder not onely Hereticall but all other kind of evill bookes also it were not a thing to be reproved neither had the Cardinall any reason to enveigh against so just a thing But it is worse when he saith that they must have a recourse to the Bishop for that would bee a most unperfect Government which in it selfe had not a meanes to provide for a thing so necessary and should stay for a remedy from him that should give it according to his proper interests and not according to the publicke necessity In matter of bookes wee ought to distinguish that it is one thing to judge whether a booke bee Hereticall or no which belongeth to Christs Ministers onely neither hath Secular power any part therein And another thing it is when a booke is knowne by the Church to bee Hereticall to forbid it by Law which is not so proper to the Ecclesiasticall but that it may very laudable bee done by the Secular power In the Primative Church Hereticall bookes were examined and declared to be such by the Counsels but not prohibited by them but by the Prince The first Counsell of Nice condemned of Hereticall Doctrine of Arius the Emperour Constantine did forbid his bookes by Imperiall Law The second Counsell of Constantinople did declare Eunomias to be a Hereticke The Emperour Arcadius did prohibit the bookes of the Eunomians by a Law which is in the Theodosian Code The third Counsell of Ephesus declared Nestorius to be an Hereticke and his bookes were forbidden by a Law of Theodosius which is in the body of the Civill Lawes The fourth Counsell of Calcedon condemned the Entichians and their bookes were forbiden by a Law of the Emperour Martian who is in the same foresaid booke This was the manner of the ancient Church untill the yeare 800. since which time the Popes of Rome have declared divers Writers to be Hereticks And the Princes have let that Declaration passe without any other Law of theirs but it is not therefore to be said that they have deprived themselves of their authority of forbidding things hurtfull to their State A Hereticall booke offends the Church and disturbs a peaceable life The first respect which is spirituall belongeth to the Ecclesiasticall to discerne good bookes from evill and to the Secular as Protector of the Church to helpe it But for the second respect to withstand novelties for the publicke repose the Secular ought not to trust to other mens care nor have recourse to any one but to abound in care forbidding all what may in any respect hurt a good Government It ought to be held for an undoubted conclusion that the Secular power may forbid within its owne jurisdiction any booke though approved by any other and besides his power hee ought also watchfully to consider what danger it is if his subjects doe swallow any opinion which is repugnant to good Government I will also put it in remembrance that as it is a great good to the Common-wealth to have every booke that is to be printed examined with such care as is accustomed in this State so it would not be of lesse good to have every booke which is printed abroad and brought hither examined before it be sold It is a folly to thinke that the Common-wealth may be damnified by the printing of an evill booke and not if it be printed in another place and so scattered abroad It is true that some things may be suffered in one that is already printed which would not be suffered in one which is not printed But things of importance ought equally to be handled as well in those that are printed as in those that are to print And as it is sometimes wisedome in the prohibiting of a booke which is printed without the State to doe it with silence onely intimating it to the Booke-sellers to not have the businesse regarded nor spoken of so it should bee my respectfull advice that sometimes about bookes which are very pernicious it should bee done by Edict and writing for that would bee a putting in practise the proper authority and not giving way to them who say that prohibiting of bookes is a thing properly Ecclesiasticall and that would also accustome the people to it For if the exercising of that authority bee put off till some most urgent or most dangerous case should happen it would run in danger of being thought to bee a novelty and so bee disobeyed It is necessary before wee come out of this matter to adde that some others who have not dared to speake so great an absurdity as Baronius did have stumbled upon another not much lesser granting that the Prince may prohibit bookes as seditious dishonest or infamous but adding thereunto that this prohibition ought to be obeyed for feare of temporall punishment and not because it tyeth the conscience so that he that reades them or keepes them secret is not culpable before God This is a false and perverse opinion and contrary to Christian Doctrine St. Paul with precepts and plaine words saith that every one is bound to obey temporall power not onely because of the punishment but for conscience sake When one commands any thing having not power from God he that doth not obey him him doeth not offend his Divine Majesty But disobeying in that wherein the authority commeth from God hee himselfe comes to be disobeyed and offended Saint Paul who hath beene often alledged but never enough saith that God hath given the Prince charge of tranquillity quietnesse piety and honesty and if for these respects the Prince prohibits a booke because it is seditious another because it is impious another because it is dishonest it cannot be said without contradicting St. Paul that every one is not bound in conscience to obey If it would please God to open the eyes of many to bring to passe that this Doctrine as it is true and Christian so it might be taught and the contrary as pernicious should be confuted innumerable inconveniences would cease which wee doe now see daily Because if there be some in the World who doe worke for the love of honesty the great number of the rest is divided into two sorts The one sort are they who doe well for feare of spirituall punishments and the other for feare of temporall punishments When spirituall feare is taken away their obedience is lost who thinke that they shall lye concealed and shall through favour and other meanes hinder and eschew the punishment And those also
which doe make no account of it which both put together doe make a great number On the other side let us behold how easily some are brought to obedience through a spirituall feare Since God then hath given the Prince these two meanes to cause him to bee obeyed vid. for feare of temporall punishments and for conscience sake for so St. Paul teacheth it were a great losse to forgoe the second of these meanes which is not least necessary with letting the contrary bee spread abroad contrary to Catholicke Doctrine Recapitulating then the heads gathered in this matter of bookes they will be ten The first that those which are contained in the Index of the yeare 1595. what cause soever they are prohibited for the Princes consent having bin to it are alwayes to be held for such The second that for the time to come no prohibition bee suffered what clause soever there be in it although it bee with censure if it be not admitted by publicke authority as it was agreed The third that if the Ecclesiasticall shall desire the publicke consent for prohibition of bookes which treate of matters of Faith so they containe 〈…〉 their proposition being verified shall be agreed unto The fourth that heede shall be alwayes taken that under pretence of Religion Christian Doctrine be not forbidden which defends temporall authority The fifth that it shall not bee granted to the Inquisitor to prohibit bookes for any other cause but onely of Heresie but if any behad for any other respects it shall be prohibited by the Magistrate The sixt that books printed elsewhere though approved by any one else by what authority soever if they be hurtfull to the Common-wealth they shall bee prohibited by the Secular Magistrate or by a publick Edict according to the occasion The seventh that in the printing againe of bookes heed be taken that those things be not taken away which favour temporall power The eight that if any of those that are gelded in which the Doctrine maintaining temporall power is taken out be new printed they shall be printed againe according to the old Coppies The ninth that if the Index of the yeare 1595 be new printed care be taken that no new names be inserted The tenth that together with the same Index the agreement be printed There remaines another poynt to be briefly touched in this matter which is not of so great importance and yet such as of it selfe merits some consideration Which is that the prohibition not being used with due moderation is hurtfull to the sale of bookes and to the Art of printing for if a booke be printed which hath bin seene by the Inquisitor and the Bishop and by them approved yet if at Rome any thing be found though of small moment not against Religion for in such a matter nothing can be of small moment but against somewhat touching the Court which the Inquisitor hath not entred into who granted the Licence They prohibit the booke to his losse who caused the booke to be printed and is in no fault having the Inquisitors approbation and this disorder is frequent and would be more frequent if they did not feare that upon the Booke-sellers complaints Princes would give eare unto it for every Courtier to get credit sheweth himselfe carefull in marking the prejudices of the Court and also the shadowes of them not onely in bookes printed out of Italy but in them also which are approved by the Inquisition and even in them which are printed in Rome it selfe It were just that if any thing were found contrary to Religion in a booke printed with approbation the charges should be paid by him that hath approved it since the Booke-seller is not in fault But if any thing bee found which for its owne proper respects is displeasing to the Court it seemeth not reasonable that a prohibition should be granted which seemeth also to be so resolved on by the agreement of the yeare 1595. when it saith that for the time to come no bookes be prohibited but forraigne ones or printed without Licence or with false Licence although such words might be cavilled upon because they have made no exception of Religion but the agreement beeing Construed in this Sence cannot chuse but bee Commended The Exposition of the 30. and 31. Chapters THe thirtieth and one and thirtieth Chapters which speake of Secular Arts and of Artificers faults can never bee too exactly observed Every well ordered Common-wealth when some cruell kinde of offence ariseth doth make a Magistrate a purpose to take notice of that onely that the care of other things may not divert him For this cause in the Christian Common-wealth was the office of the Inquisition appointed which should tend onely to the rooting out of Heresie It is most naturall for every one who hath the universall jurisdiction to put over many things to him that hath the particular jurisdiction or suffer him to usurpe it and it useth to be easily done because of the great power that is given him and because that he who hath the universall jurisdiction employed in many businesses sometimes doth not give heede and sometimes if he he not a man of good knowledge thinkes that it is a helping of him so that he doth not onely not withstand the inconvenience but doth favour it A cause not belonging to him that hath the particular jurisdiction being once taken serves for example to take it the second time and from divers times a Custome is framed which afterwards serves for a Law and cannot be taken away without many difficulties and the universall jurisdiction comes to be diminished and the way is opened to the disturbing of the government By these wayes and occasions the Inquisitors against Heresie have not onely strived to draw divers other causes to their Office but also to appropriate unto themselves the government of the trade of Bookes and to command divers others alleadging therefore two kindes of reasons The one is that they doe not command any new thing and that which without their command ought to bee done for if they doe enjoyne the Butcher that he shall not sell flesh in Lent hee is bound without that to not sell it so that the command ement is an admonishing them of their duties So likewise they say that they doe not cause such persons to sweare any thing but what they are bound to doe For if they cause Booke-sellers to sweare that they will not sell prohibited Books they are already tyde to doe it so there is nothing done but to adde a greater provocation to performe their owne duties But this reason is cavillous it being one thing to warne one of his duty and another to command it him The Preacher and the Confessor doe admonish without usurping others authority because they impose no penalty nor use any meanes to make them obey this is onely a teaching which is not joyned with constraining That commanding which carryeth in consequence a revenge against the disobeyer
which concerne that Office doth remove all difficulties If any one offend a Minister of that Office he shall not be comprehended but shall be Iudged in the ordinary Court and because the case was assumed from the Inquisition it must plainely appeare that the offence was done because of the office and any one may likewise call the same Ministers into the ordinary Court for any other cause and particularly for that cause which shall be unfolded in the nine and thirtieth Chapter The Exposition of the foure and thirtieth Chapter IT was wisely ordered by the most excellent Counsell of Ten of cases happening in Castles or Villages that they should be handled in the Cities as in the 34. Chapter for doing otherwise the way was made to take away the assistance if the Inquisitors might have gone or might have sent into Villages or Castles to frame Processes for then they might have framed secret ones and so have hit upon all those inconveniences which the Assistance prevents The Exposition of the five and thirtieth Chapter LIkewise the five and thirtieth Chapter was needfully ordained which serving onely to take away the competency of the Court amongst the representants being for the Inquisitors good who may more commodiously deale in the place of his Residence there needs no other consideration The Exposition of the thirty sixe and thirty seven Chapter VPon the sixe and seven and thirtieth there needeth likewise no more to be considered since they are to give just punishment to the guilty which can not be given by the Office and it is so much the greater favour done to the faith as the more severely that the stubborne are punished The Exposition of the eight and thirtieth Chapter THe eight and thirtieth Chapter which imposeth punishment on them who are cited or examined in other places for Heresie if they retire themselves into this state it is not to bee supposed for the offence because that the examined or cited in other places might be punished with other punishments and therefore in the order it reserved to the Inquisittion to give him also other punishment The Inquisitors use to advertise one another when those that are examined by them are to goe into some other place Wherefore if any that hath bin â—â—amined or cited elsewhere should happen into this state the Inquisitor of this place would be informed of it the office would Decree that he should be retained to which the representant should agree then the office ought to provide according to the tenure of the 16. Chapter vid. sending of the Evidences to the Inquisition of that City where the party is in prison which should proceed and come to the execution of the cause whence would follow that either the accused person would be freed or receive deserved punishment but which soever of the two should happen the publick will is that such a one be punished with imprisonment and banishment onely for comming hither knowing himselfe to be examined and this Ordinance is good to keepe it still alive because it sheweth the pious Government of this renowned Common-wealth which will purge their State not onely of Hereticks but also of such as are suspected or discovered will take away the thought and all hope from any suspected person of expecting any better condition in this State than else where The Exposition of the last Chapter THe last Chapter of Calumniators and false witnesses is of great consideration not so much to maintaine the proper jurisdiction nor taking away that which belongs to others as for the defence protection of the subjects which being granted by God to the Prince when he suffereth them to be oppressed without justice he grievously offends the Divine Majesty It is an ordinary custome of the Office of Heresie to punish very seldome times calumniators or false witnesses but excuse them upon any the least seemingnesse that they can shew them moved by a good intention saying that it ought not to be supposed that in matters of faith a Christian be moved for any bad end and if that they cannot avoyde the punishing of some they do it with very slight punishments and they are spirituall that so other affrighted by the punishment of these might not feare to renounce or to testifie For thence it would follow that many things would bee concealed which are discovered doing great service to the Faith which ought to bee preferred to the punishment of them although they deserved it Whether this caution bee just or no is a matter which must now be left out and onely consider that it is a great lightning and comfort to a wretch that seeth himselfe calumniated when there remaineth a way to-releâ—â— himselfe with the punishment of the calumniators and â—alse witne 〈…〉 in other Courts since that in thâ—â— they doe not use it The Inquisitors would not have the accused who have bin calumniated by no meanes have power to have recourse to any other Tribunall and so they write in their bookes alleadging for reason that the injury is done to that Tribunall to which that falsary hath not borne respect and therefore it ought to be judged by it and that it cannot bee judged but onely by a processe framed in that Office which is not just that it should be remitted to other Courts But contrariwise other Doctors doe hold that calumny and false witnesse being no Heresie doth not belong to the Inquisition but unto the ordinary superior Court of the calumniator or of the false witnesse and especially because these ought rather to be punished with temporall punishments of cutting off the Tongue or the head than by the Inquisition Other more discreet Lawyers approving the reasons on both sides distinguish that the calumny or falsity may either appeare out of the Processe framed in the Office of the Inquisition without any new framing as when the witnesse which happeneth often goeth of himselfe to revoke his saying to aske pardon in other like which do notoriously appeare by the onely sight of the Processe and in this case the judgement belongs to the Inquisition and the Inquisitors reasons doe prevaile But if out of that Processe the calumny cannot appeare and there be neede of new instance and Processe either by complaint or by office the judgement belongs to the ordinary Court which is effectually proved by the reasons alleaged by the contrary part because that calumny falsity are not Heresie nor Ecclesiasticall offences but meerely Secular neither is there any neede of seeing the first Processe because it is proceeded in with other instance and other Processe This advice as well grounded and without interest ought to be put in practices FINIS