Selected quad for the lemma: prince_n
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A62858
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Le Tombeau des controverses a grave for controversies, between the Romanist & Protestant, lately presented to the King of France / Englished by M.M.
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M. M.
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1673
(1673)
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Wing T1793; ESTC R15915
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30,396
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50
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God and requite no more from the people but what God himself requireth then the people give to Caesar and to God that justice and obedience which is due to them by one and the same act because Caesar desires all and only that which GodS Wills 15. When the vulgar speak of the uniting of the two Religions in France they speak of a thing impossible because they consist of Propositions which are named Contradictories of which the first are necessarily false if the Opposites are true in this condition they can never be united as may be seen by these Examples one maintaining that the body of Christ in his very Flesh Blood and Bones is really present in the Sacrament the other saying that there is no reality of flesh though there be a real presence and spiritual grace Can these two Notions unite and be conjoyned one saith the souls separated from the bodies being in a state of grace burn in a fire under-ground to satisfie for their sins the other holds that souls justified by grace have no obstacle which can hinder them from possessing or injoying glory One affirmeth that the Pope is Monarch of all Kings and Bishops with the same power which Christ had when he was upon the Earth the other is perswaded that this Bishop hath not this power and that he can neither maintain it without error nor exercise it without Tyranny these propositions can never agree and if one would speak rightly of the design of his Majesty we must interpret it a unity of good Society which may be effected but not a unity of Conformity which can never be 16. I believe that according to the Kings will those of both Religions may agree in the same thoughts and make but one Religion both good and pious In the fourth Age all Christendom was divided upon the Propositions of the Divinity of Christ these two Propositions viz. Christ is God in substance and Christ is not God in substance but by resemblance are discourses and notions never to be reconciled In a word after many unjust Fends of the one and other Party all did agree after the Truth was justly known and sincerely sought after We might experiment the same unity if minds would cease to be prae-possess'd by Interest or Custome Let us search with sincerity the will of God and the reality of his thoughts and then we shall easily be of one mind piously following that which God bids us 17. This Union of Minds in the same apprehensions of things cannot be done with fatisfaction if as some pragmatically say the King should use his absolute Authority without suffering any disputes about it One I Will is not enough to perswade the profound Reason of the Soul One I Will not cannot root out the first Impressions all the effects that these commands can produce is terrour or dissembling one may study to hide one self for fear of anger for the respect one ought to have for his Majesty but every one will keep those thoughts which he thinks necessary for his Salvation What pleasure can the King have to see his Realm full of Dissemblers who fear his Anger or of miserable ones if he should use Violence 18. They rank that which you told me of the Embassage to Rome to obtain a permission for a Conference about Religion Amongst the ill news we hear His Majesty hath too much knowledg of the practices of the Romish Court to expect that the Pope should give him liberty to argue against him and his Universal Power Dare the Signiorle of Venice ask the King of Spain the power to debate whither the Dutchie of Milan and the Kingdome of Naples belong to him by a Ligitimate Right Can one believe that Romane Polity hath ever been so civil to praise Catholick Majesty to ordain a conference upon the posession of Sicily and that it hath ever asked the liberty to publish the Bull in canâ Domini in the Lords Supper by which that King is Excommunicated The King is not under Age let him govern his Subjects in the fear of God even from the bottom of our Souls we all desire it and those who would not have it so are neither Rational nor French-men Can we be in a better hand than that of a King who speaks our own Language whom Nature engageth to cherish his Country whose Inclinations are agreeable to our Climate which is his and whose Interests are necessarily tyed to ours Let the King freely take his own let no body dispute it in his Kingdome let no Stranger rule over us It is one of the most horrible punishments which God hath brought upon his people of which the Hebrews complain most bitterly and which may be compared to the crime of which the Lord himself complains in Jerem. 2.25 But thou sayest there is no hope no for I have loved Strangers and after them will I go and in Jerem. 5. You shall serve Strangers in Lament 2. Our Heritage hath been overturned by Strangers Is not the King a Christian and The most Christian King is he not a Sacred person is he not the Lords Anoynted ought he to ask the Pope leave to search the true Law of God and to offer it naked to his people Let the King speak as the generous Henry le Grand for his Marquisdome of Salus he answered to all the cunning devices of Pope Clement the 8th and the addresses of Cardinal Aldobrandin and the Artifices of the Duke of Savoy with these words I will have my Own It is the Kings right to propose the Law of God as t is his duty to search and meditate it hath not he as well as the Prince of Rome both Moses and the Prophets the Holy History the Doctrine of the Apostles and the Confession of Faith of the Council of Nice hath he not as much Ingenuity and as Penetrating a Wit as the Pope to discern Good from Evil Truth from Falshood and Sincerity from Interest hath he not more Zeal or more Natural Inclination for the good of his Subjects than a Stranger who appears to all reasonable men to make no Conscience of any thing if he can but raise never so little his glory and advantage by it Will he take measure from the Pope to oblige the French to give their Souls to God rendring their Respects to their King can any one believe that France hath no body in it who is enlivened with a Zeal by a sincere and unspotted Soul and by an inlightened Piety Can his Majesty expect Know ledge and Conscience from Italy to make us Famous and Conduct us 13. Believe Sr. that if the King hath designed that of which we discourse he hath too much Grandeur and Light in his Mind to commit it to the Pope or acquaint him with it 19. If the Pope should admit of this Conference he would never suffer that any thing should be concluded on to his disadvantage no one hates his own Flesh The Council of Trent was
Constantine the Great order the Bishops to assemble at Nice where he himself sate President in person the Bishops of those times made no Scruple of proposing Eclesiastiques to the Prince since they presented him with an Account of all their Disputes and though he would not judg of them but cast the Writings into the Fire yet his great Discretion was a prudent Management of his Grandeur either to Confound or Convert them Those that shall read that which passed in the Churches some Ages after will see that the Sovereign-Authority of Princes hath regulated the conduct of Synods after they had assembled them the Emperour Arcadius sent Count Candigian to Rule in his Name the Synod at Ephesus that of Chalcedon had for its Soveraign President the Emperour Mortian or the Commissaries whom he Deputed and that of Constantinople held in the Imperial Palace was governed by the order of Constantine Le-Barbu the Emperour The celebrated Author of the History of the Councel of Trent specified all these passages to draw this conclusion in the second Book that it was a custom very proper where they governed with Liberty which was when the world was without a Pope il che come e un uso molto proprio diove si Governa in Liberta quale era all hora quando il mondo era senza Papa When the Empire of the West was governed by the house of France Charlemaing the Emperour preserved his Power Gloriously which his Successors have lost by too much yielding The Acts of the Council of Mayence held in the Year 813 under the Authority of that Emperour began with these Words to Charles Augustus Governor of the true Religion and Frotector of the Holy Church of God Another Council held at the same Place gave the same Title to Lewis the Emperour surnamed the Debonair and in the Records of the Synod named Francisque we may read the procedings of Carloman under the title of Duke Prince of the French who spoke in this manner we have ordained Bishops in every City and have Established over them the Arch-Bishop Boniface All those who have any knowledg in History know that the Bishops of Rome whom they give out and believe at present to be so soveraignly Soveraign have written to the Emperours as to their Masters and asked Pardons or Favours intreated to have Synods in the stile of humble Suppliants We read that the Emperour Charlemaign took without contradiction the liberty of chusing the Bishops of Rome The Books of Stella Platin and of Sigonius testify that this right was preserved a long time after When the Empire passed into the house of Saxony Otho deposed Pope John the Thirteenth and put Leo the Eighth in his Place and another Otho caused the Eyes of John the Seventeeth to be put out because he resisted Bruno a Germane named Gregory the Fifth which the Emperour had chose Bishop of Rome Let the Wise and Prudent search over the Antiquities in the Hebrew and Christan Churches and they will find that Princes have never made any scruple to regulate Religion 9. If Authority upholds my thoughts reason either natural or politique will be advantagious to them since that Monarchs cannot as sure themselves of the wellfare of their Countrey the dignity of their condition nor the quiet of their minds if they take no care in the government of Religion Let us consider the condition of Sovereigns without having any respect to the practice of Religion we cannot deny that they are established in the conduct of two things which appears more important in the politique state the first is War against a forreign enemy the second is Justice against the wicked men in his own nation These two actions which ought to take up all royal Authority obliged the Hebrewes when they demanded a King to say that we also may be like all the nations and that our King may judg us and go out before us and fight our battels Sam. 1.8.20 But since one cannot reject the thoughts of St. Paul when he saith that righteousness is profitable for all things one ought to believe that war is an unhappiness and that justice cannot subsist without true Piety from whence it was that the generous and wise Joshua seeing himself ready to make war against the Infidels heard these Words Streng then thy self and be not dismaied the Lord is with thee whither thou goest And when he went to do justice to Hacon he said to the People Sanctify your selves for to morrow and say to the sinners give I pray you glory to the God of Israel Joshua 7.19 17 from whence I conclude that the King who will succeed well in both his politique Employs ought necessarily to take a special care to establish the true Religion and to rule his conduct he ought to remember that which God said to Joshua Fortify thy self more more to the end thou mayst take care to do according to all the law which Moses my servant hath commanded thee and turn neither to the right hand nor to the left that thou mayst prosper whither soever thou goest Josh 1.7 He ought to remember the command of God which orders that the King sitting upon the throne of his Kingdome should take a Copy of the written Law and read it every day that he might learn to Fear the Lord Let not his Heart be lifted up above his brethren let him not turn from this Law neither to the right nor left hand Let his dayes be long and let him reign him and his Posterity in the midst of Gods people I know not how one can maintain after this reason confirmed by Sacred Authority that the King doth an unjust Action if he takes care of Religion is it not the perfect Equity of the divine Law which conducts principally the orders of War and rules of Justice and cannot one easily prove that War is a tyrannick usurper or a savage beastliness if not bridled by Religion is it not true that without Piety which begets the fear of God the Authority of the Magistrate is barbarously Executed unprofitably Established for without Religion men would be as imaged Lions but Justice would destroy them all if she were strong enough but where she suffers all she is found weak if then the King is the first Captain and the first Magistrate of his Kingdome he may name himself and ought to appear the principal Bishop 10. The King may find a great advantage in the words of St. Paul who speakes very Christianly when he ordered that Subjects should be held under the Powers Authorized by God not only to shun the violence of anger but to acquit themselves also of the duties of conscience This Doctrine establisheth obedience in the Subject more strongly by Religion than by Force If then the King will preserve himself in a just and full Authority his care must be to endeavour to Establish true Religion which tyeth the Subjects more to his will than Force or