a woman threw upon him from a turret as hee made an assault in sport against his owne Castle to try the valour of his souldiers Ex vita Henr. quanti quae bibotur in fasciculo rerum sciendarum Coloniae impresso Then did Egbertus by the Popes encouragement ascend the Imperiall throne whereon he sate but a while for as hee stepped aside from his army into a mill to rest himselfe in the heat of the day hee was discovered by the miller to the Emperours friends and lost his life for his labour During this hurly-burly in that state Walthramus a godly Bishop wrote to one Ludovicus an Earle of the Empire diswading him from partaking with the seditious against that good Emperour whom the Pope had deposed Walthram by the grace of God that hee is to Lewes the noble Prince with instance of prayer offreth himselfe in all things serviceable Concord is profitable to every Realme and justice much to bee desired these vertues are the Mother of devotion and the consecration of all honesty But whosoever seeketh after civill dissention and incenseth other to the effusion of bloud hee is a murtherer and partaketh with him who gaping for bloud goeth about seeking whom hee may devoure The worthy vessell of election that was taken up to the third Heaven protesteth saying Let every Soule submit himselfe to the higher power there is no power but from God Hee that resisteth power resisteth the ordinance of God If that bee true which some men prate among women and the vulgar sort that wee ought not to bee subdued to the Kingly power Then it is false which the Apostle teacheth that every Soule must submit himselfe under power and superiority Can the truth lie did not Christ the Lord speake by the Apostle Epist Wald. quae habetur in appendice Marian. Scot. Why doe wee provoke the Lord are wee stronger then hee Doth not hee thinke himselfe stronger then the Lord that resisteth the ordinance of God seeing there is no power but of God what saith the Prophet Confounded bee they that strive against the Lord and they that resist him shall perish Rodolphus Hermanus Egbertus with many other Princes resisted the ordinance of God in Henry the Emperour but for they are confounded as though they had never beene for as their end was ill their beginning could not be good c Haec ille Pope Paschalis seeing the bad successe of those seditious subjects which his Predecessours Gregory and Vrbanus had armed against Henry that worthy Emperour did perswade the Emperours owne Sonne against all Law of God Nature and Nations to rebell against his Father The Bishop of Leige tooke the Emperours part against this young Prince for the which hee was excommunicate his Church interdicted and Robert Earle of Flanders commanded by the Pope as hee hoped to have the forgivenesse of his sinnes and the favour of the Church of Rome to destroy that Bishop and his false Priests The Churchmen of Leige terrified with the Popes excommunication and fearing the Earles oppression wrote an Apologie for themselves about the yeare 1106. Wee are excommunicate say they because wee obey our Bishop Epistol Leodiensium apud Simonem Scard who hath taken part with his Lord the Emperour These are the beginnings of sorrow for Sathan beeing loosed compasseth the earth and hath made a division betweene the Prince and the Priest who can justly blame the Bishop that taketh his Lords part to whom hee hath sworne allegiance perjury is a great sinne whereof they cannot bee ignorant that by new Schisme and novell tradition doe promise to absolve subjects from the guilt of perjury that forsweare themselves to their Lord the King c. In the progresse of their Apologie they determine three great questions First whether the Pope hath power to excommunicate Kings Secondly to whom it belongeth to inflict temporall punishment when Church-men offend against faith unity or good manners And thirdly what remedy subjects have against their Kings that are impious or tyrannous Si quis respectu sancti Spiritus c. If any man having respect to the Spirit of God shall turne over the old and new Testament he shall plainely find that Kings ought not at all or very hardly be excommunicate whether wee consider the Etimologie of their names or the nature of their excommunication Even till this day hath this point beene questioned and never determined Kings may bee admonished and reproved by such as bee discreet and sober men for Christ the King of Kings in earth who hath placed them in his owne stead hath reserved them to his owne judgement c. Their answer to the second question is grounded on the testimony of Saint Augustine the practise of Princes and the authority of Paul Kings say they and Emperours by their publike Lawes have forbidden Heretiques to enjoy any Worldly possession Wherefore seeing wee are no Heretiques and that it belongeth not to the Pope but to Kings and Emperours to punish Heresies why doth our Lord Paschalis send Robert his Armour-bearer to destroy the possessions and to overthrow the Villages of the Churches which in case they deserved destruction ought to bee destroyed by the edict of Kings and Emperours which cary the sword not without good cause c. For answer to the third question they shew by sundry places of Scripture that there is no other helpe against evill Princes then prayer and patience Nihil modo pro Imperatore nostro dicimus c. Wee will for the present say nothing in defence of our Emperour but this wee say though hee were as bad as you report him to bee wee would endure his government because our sinnes have deserved such a Governour Bee it wee must needs grant against our will that the Emperour is an Arch-heretike an invader of the Kingdome a worshipper of the Simonaicall Idoll and accursed by the Apostles and Apostolike men as you say of him even such a Prince ought not to bee resisted by violence but endured by patience and prayer Moses brought many plagues upon Pharaoh whose heart God had hardened but it was by prayer and the lifting up his hands to Heaven And Saint Paul requireth prayers to bee made for all men for Kings and such as are in authority which Kings were neither Catholikes nor Christians Baruch also from the mouth of the Prophet Jeremy wrote unto the Iewes which were captives unto the King of Babylon that they must pray for the life of Nabuchodonoser the King of Babylon and Balthazar his Sonne that their dayes in earth may bee as the dayes of Heaven Epist Leod. c. Saint Paul teacheth why wee ought to pray for evill Kings namely that under them wee may lead a quiet life It would become an Apostolike man to follow the Apostles Doctrine it were propheticall to follow the Prophet c. Thus farre they in their Epistle Apologeticall Hee that wrote the life of this Emperour Henry the fourth Vita
It is therefore cleare and manifest that the plagues which come downe from Gods indignation doe not come through us poore persecuted Christians but from him whom we serve for the wrong done unto us So far Cyprian As many as lived according to Christs institution did never revile the Government of Tyrants much lesse by force resist their violence following the patience of Christ who could by his owne power the might of his Angels or the strength of his creatures have at the first withstood or at the last revenged the injury of the people the buffet of the Priests servant the scorne of Herod the judgement of Pilate Ioh. 19.15 Ioh. 18.22 Luk 23.11 Mark 15.15 Matth. 27. 27.28.29 and the violence of the souldiers Hee yeelded himselfe patiently to death to teach all his Disciples that an injury done by authority is patiently to bee endured not forcibly to bee repelled As soone also as Paul became a Christian his seditious and bloudy Spirit which he had learned of the Pharisies was changed into a desire of peace and quietnesse Hee honoured the Heathen Magistrates as Agrippa Faelix and Lisias ratifying his Doctrine by the practise of his life I know that Cardinall Alane Cardinall Bellarmine Ficlerus Simancha other upholders of the Papall tyrannie that Stephanus Junius Franciscus Hottomanus Georgius Buchananus and other pillars of the Puritane anarchy doe answere that the Church then as it were swathed in the bonds of weakenesse had not strength sufficient to make powerfull resistance But these Fathers that then lived doe convince them and all other sectaries of falshood by making demonstration of the strength and potency of the godly Christians in case they would have put their forces to the strongest proofe Seing that all publike places as Courts Camps Consistories Cities and Countrey villages were stored and furnished with men of that profession and quality as doth most evidently appeare by the words of Tertullian in his Apologeticall defence of the Christians Vna nox pauculis faculis c. One night with a few firebrands wound yeeld us sufficient revenge if it were lawfull for us to reqâ—ite evill for evill But God forbid that Christians should either revenge themselves with humane fire or be grieved to suffer that wherewith they are tried Were we disposed not to practise secret revenge but to professe open hostility should we want number of men or force of armes Are the Moores or the Parthians or any one Nation whatsoever more in number then wee that are spread over all the World Wee are not of you and yet wee have filled all the places and roomes which you have Your Cities Ilands Castles Townes Assemblies your Tents Tribes and Wards yea the Imperiall Pallace Senate and seats of judgement For what warre were not wee able and ready though wee were fewer in number then you that goe to our Martyrdome so willingly if it were not more lawfull in our religion to bee slaine then to slay wee could without armour not by rebelling against you but by departing from you doe you displeasure enough even with our separation For if so great a multitude as we are should breake out from you as in any other corner of the World the losse of so many Citizens would shame and punish you You would feare to see your selves left solitary even amazed as among the dead You should then see silence and desolation every where You would have many more enemies then inhabitants Whereas now you have fewer enemies because of the multitude of your Citizens that are almost all Christians Haec Tertullian Wee see by these three witnesses that the Church of God in the first 300. yeares wanted neither number of men strength nor courage to resist persecution and to have established the Christian faith if that course had beene lawfull but because their Lord had given them no sword to strike withall they chose rather to bee crowned Martyrs for their Religion then to bee punished as Traytours for rebellion What number of men what strength of armes had the Church thinke you the next 300. yeares after it had beene backed by Princes defended by lawes provoked by honourable favours to professe Christianity Yet all that while the servants of God neither did nor would resist Apostasie Heresie or Tyranny but yeelded their lives with all submission though they wanted neither meanes nor multitude convenient for any warres as the next chapter by impregnable demonstration shall shew The third Chapter proveth by the Fathers of the second 300. yeares that the pleasure of Princes must bee endured with patence when their decrees cannot bee obeyed with a good Conscience THe next 300. yeares the Christians did as patiently endure Heresie Apostasie and Tyranny to the glorious triall of their faith and the eternall reward of their patience Whereof wee have a cloud of witnesses namely Hosius Liberius Athanasius Hilarius Basilius Magnus Gregorius Nazianzenus Lucifer Calaritanus Cyrillus Alexandrinus Optatus Milevitanus Ambrosius Augustinus Chrysostomus Leo the first and Gregory the great Hosius was a famous Confessor in the Church before Constantine the great a worthy Bishop during that Emperours raigne and after his death greatly esteemed of all good men yea even of Constantius the Arrian Emperour himselfe for his old age great experience excellent learning and good conversation When this worthy Prelate was commanded by the Emperour to subscribe to the condemnation of Athanasius hee returned to the Imperiall Majesty this stout constant Christian and dutifull answere Ego confessionis munus implevi primum cum persecutio moveretur ab avo tus Maximiniano I was then a Confessor when your Grandfather Maximinian persecuted the Church Obsequere scribe contra Athanasium qui enim contra illum scribit ille plane nobiscum c. And if you doe now raise persecution I am ready to endure any thing rather then betray the truth and shed innocent bloud I doe not like your manner of writing against Athanasius Cease from it bee not of the Arrian opinion Give no care to the Easterne Bishops beleeve mee rather that for age might bee your Grandfather Leave off I beseech you and call to mind that you are a mortall man Feare that dreadfull day of judgement Interpose not your selfe O Emperour into the Ecclesiasticall service neither command us in this kind to condemne the innocent but learne rather of us God hath entrusted your Majesty with the Empire and committed unto us the service of the Church hee that with an envious eye maligneth your imperiall Soveraignty contradicteth the ordinance of God Take heed O Prince least drawing to your selfe the right of the Church you become guilty of grievous transgression It is written Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars Hosius apud Athan. ad solitariam virans agentes and to God the things that appertaine to God it is therefore neither lawfull for us Priests to usurpe your Kingdome not for you Princes to meddle with the sacred service and
Christian men then that which the holy Ghost this day spake in you Wee beseech O Emperour wee offer not to fight wee feare not to die wee intreat your clemency Oh it was seemely for Christian souldiers to desire the tranquility of peace and faith and to bee constant in truth even unto death Thus farre Ambrose Saint Augustine relateth the same of the Christian souldiers under Iulian the Apoâ—tate-Emperour Iulianus extitit Imperator infidelis Iulian was an unbeleeving Emperour was hee not an Apostata an Oppressour and an Idolater Christian souldiers served that unbeleeving Emperour When they came to the cause of Christ they would acknowledge no Lord but him that was in Heaven when they were commanded to adore Idoles and to offer sacrifice they preferred God before their Prince But when hee called upon them to warre and bad them invade any nation they presently obeyed They did distinguish their eternall Lord from the temporall King yet they submitted themselves to their temporall Lord August in Psal 124. for his sake that was their eternall King So farre hee Optatus Milevitanus is another pregnant witnesse Cum super Imperatorem nemo sit nisi solus Deus Seing there is no man above the Emperour beside God alone which made the Emperour De schism Donatist l. 3. Donatus by advancing himselfe above the Emperour doth exceed the bounds of humanity and makeeh himselfe a God rather then man in that hee feareth and reverenceth him not whom all men should honour next after God So farre Optatus Saint Cyril is of the same judgement Com. in Evang Ioh l. 12. c. 36. Cuilegis prevaricatores liberare licet nisi legis ipsius authori Who can acquit them that breake the law from transgression beside the Law-giver as wee see by experience in all humane states no man can without danger breake the law but Kings themselves in whom the crime of prevarication hath no place For it was wisely said of one that it is a wicked presumption to say to a King Thou doest amisse So farre hee And also Saint Chrysostome In 1. epist ad Timoth. c. 2 v. 1. What meaneth the Apostle saith hee to require prayers and supplications inter cessions and thansgiving to bee made for all men hee requireth this to bee done in the dayly service of the Church and the perpetuall rite of Divine religion For all the faithfull doe know in what manner prayers are powred out before the Lord morning and evening for all the world even for Kings and every man in authority Some man will peradventure say that for all must bee understood of all the faithfull Which cannot bee the Apostles meaning as may appeare by the words following viz. for Kings seeing that Kings neither did then nor in many ages after serve the living God but continued obstinately in infidelity which by course of succession they had received Thus farre Chrysostome Our Moderne Reformers teach us that which Paul and Chrysostome neither knew nor beleeved See the preface before Basilic Dor. that wicked Princes are not to bee prayed for but to be resisted c. When the faction of Eutiches had prevailed against the Catholikes Leo the first had no other remedy then prayers to God sighes teares and Petitions to the Emperour Epist 24. ad Theod. Imper. Omnes partium nostrarum Ecclesiae c. All the Churches of these parts all wee Priests even with sighs and teares beseech your Majesty to command a generall Synod to bee held in Italy that all offences being removed there may remaine neither errour in faith nor division in love Favour the Catholiques grant liberty to protect the faith against Heretiques defend the state of the Church from ruine that Christ his right hand may support your Empire Thus farre Leo. When Gregory the great was accused for the Murther of a Bishop in prison hee wrote to one Sabinianus to cleare him to the Emperour and Empresse Epist lib. 7. epist 1. Breviter suggeras serenissimis Dominis meis You may briefly enforme my soveraigne Lord and Lady that if I their servant would have busied my selfe with the death of the Lombards that nation would by this time have had neither Kings nor Dukes nor Earles and should have beene in great confusion and division but because I stood in aw of God I was ever afraid to meddle with the shedding of any mans bloud so farre Gregory These Lombards were Pagans Invaders of the Countrey Ransackers of the City Persecutours of the Saints Robbers of the Church Oppressours of the poore whom Gregory the first might and would not destroy Quia Deum timuit because hee feared God It is very like that his Successour Gregory the seventh feared either God nor man when hee erected the Papall Croisier against the regall scepter and read the sentence of deprivation against the Emperour Henry Ego authoritate Apostelica c. I by my power Apostolicall doe bereave Henry of the Germane Kingdome and doe deprive him of all subjection of Christian men absolving all men from the allegiance which they have sworne unto him And that Rodolph whom the Peeres of the Empire have elected may governe the Kingdome I grant all men that shall serve him against the Emperour Carol. Sigon de Regno Ital. lib. 9. in vita Hen. 3. forgivenesse of their sinnes in this life and in the life to come As I have for his pride dejected Henry from the Royall dignity so I doe exalt Rodolph for his humility to that place of authority Thus farre Gregory the seaventh It is no wonder Benno Card. in vit Gregor 7. that Gregory his chaire clave asunder as some Writers affirme at the giving of this sentence because the proud Pope and his wicked sentence were too heavy a burthen for Peters stoole of humility to beare The fourth Chapter proveth the Immunity of Kings by the Fathers of the third 300. yeares AFter the death of Gregory the great which was about the yeare of our Lord 604. Sabinianus did succeed him who lived but one yeare after whom came Boniface the third which obtained of Phocas to bee called Vniversall Bishop since that time Periit virtus Imperatorum pietas Pontificum the Emperours waxed weake and the Bishops wicked What the judgement of those Fathers then was concerning subjection to wicked Kings I will make evident by the testimony of Gregorius Turonensis Isidorus Damascenus Beda Fulgentius Leo 4. and the Fathers assembled in a Councell at Toledo in Spaine Gregory Turonensis acknowledgeth such an absolute power in Childerick a most wicked King of France as was free from all controll of man Histor l. 5. c. 1. Si quis de nobis Rex justitiae limites transcendere volâ—erit c. If any one of us O King doe passe the bounds of justice you have power to correct him but if you exceed your limit who shall chastice you Wee may speake unto you if you list not to hearken who can condemne you
Lord Edward by the grace of God the Noble King of England caused your Letters to bee read openly before us touching certaine occurrents of state betweene him and the King of Scotland wee did not a little marvaile at the contents thereof so strange and wonderfull as the like hath never beene heard of Wee know most Holy Father and it is well knowne in this Realme and also to other Nations that the King of England ought not to make answer for his right before any Iudge Ecclesiasticall or secular Parliament at Lincolr c quoted by M. ekenshaw by reason of the free estate of his Royall dignity and custome without breach at all times unviolably observed Wherefore after treaty had and diligent deliberation this was our resolution that our said King ought not to answer in judgement nor send Procuratours or Messengers to your Court seeing that tendeth manifestly to the disinheriting of the right of the Crowne the overthrow of the state of the Kingdome and the breach of the liberties customes and lawes of our Fathers for the keeping whereof wee are bound by the duty of an oath and will by Gods helpe maintaine and defend with all our power and strength c. Dated at Lincolne Ann. Dom. 1301. Anno Edwardi primi 29. This was then the resolution of the State of this Land if our late Sectaries Popish or Puritan bring in any other Doctrine wee may not leave the cawsey of truth and obedience whereon our Fore-fathers walked to their commendation to follow these new guides in their bypaths of pride disobedience and contempt of authority to our destruction Vincentius in his Speculo Historiali hath a notable place to disswade from sedition and perjury Lib. 15. c. 84. Vt pace omnium bonorum dixerim haec sola novitas ne dicam Haeresis nec dum è Mundo emerserat That I may speake with the favour of all good men this meere novelty if not Heresie was not sprung up in the World that Priests should teach subjects that they owe no subjection to wicked Kings and albeit they have given an oath of fidelity unto them they are not bound to keepe it Nay they that obey an evill Prince are to bee held as excommunicated and all such as rebell against him are free from the guilt of the crime of perjury So farre hee I will end this Chapter with Aeneas Silvius Pius 2. de ortu author Imperii c. 23. who died in the yeare 1464. Sit tandem finis litium Let there bee an end of contention and one principall head to determine all temporall matters let the occasion of perpetuall debate bee taken away let men acknowledge themselves subject to their Prince and give reverence to him whom God hath made his vicegerent on Earth As that which God commandeth must bee obeyed without contradiction so the temporall Commandements of Caesar may not bee resisted But let the Kings themselves beware that they oppresse no man unjustly nor give their people cause to crie to God against them for the Earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof hee will not forget the crie of the poore and for the sinne of the Prince hee translateth the Government from one Nation to another There is nothing more offensive to the greatest God the King and Creatour of Heaven and Earth then the neglect of justice and the oppression of the poore as the Psalmist saith The poore shall not alway bee forgotten and the patient abiding of the needy shall not perish for ever So farre Silvius The seaventh Chapter sheweth the concord of Papist and Puritan for the deposition of Kings and their discord about the meanes and persons to bee imployed in the execution of their designements CHilderick was deposed and Pipine crowned King of France about the yeare 750. The truth of which History is this Childerick void of all princely gravity gave himselfe over to pleasure and wantonnesse leaving the burthen of the state to Pipinus that was his Lord Marshall Who conspired with the Nobles to advance himselfe by the deposition of the King his Master To set a better colour on the matter Pipine sent his Chaplaine to Pope Zachary to have his answer to this Question Whether should bee King hee that bare the name and did nothing or hee that governed the Kingdome The Pope gave sentence with the Marshall against the King whereupon Childerick was made a shorne Monke and Pipine a crowned King It is a wonder to see how these opposite Sectaries doe insist upon this fact of the French-men to justifie their dangerous doctrine and seditious conspiracies against Princes As Cardinall Bellarmine de Pontif. lib. 2. cap. 17. Thomas Harding against the Apologie of the Church of England fol. 181. Franc. Fevardentius in his Commentaries on Hester pag. 85. Boucher alias Raynolds de justa abdicatione Henrici 3. lib. 3. cap. 14. Ficklerus de jure Magistratuumfol 30. Alexander Carerius patavinus de potestate Papae lib. 2. cap. 3. D. Marta de temporali spirituali Pontificis potestate lib. 1. c. 23. and Doleman in his conference touching succession part 1. cap. 3. pag. 48. And also these Puritans Christopher Goodman in his treatise of obedience pag. 53. George Buchanan de jure Regni apud Scotos pag. 47. Danaens de politia Christiana lib. 3. cap. 6. pag. 221. Brutus Celta dejure Magistratuum pag. 286. Phyladelphus dialogo 2. pag. 65. Franc. Hottomanus in his Francogallia cap. 12. and Speculum tyrannidis Philipi Regis pag. 27. The Papists which ascribe this deposing power to the Pope endeavour by tooth and naile to disprove that interest which the Puritans grant the Peeres or the people First this example served Gregory the seventh to excuse his presumptous practises against Henry the fourth Quidam Romanus Pontifex A certaine Bishop of Rome deposed a King of France not so much for his ill life as for that hee was not fit for government Lib. de unit Eccles apud Scard pag. 3. and placed Pipine which was Father to Charles the great in his place absolving all the French-men from the oath of allegeance which they had sworne to their King Thus farre Gregory in an Epistle to one Herimanus that was Bishop of Metz in France Thomas Harding concludeth from this fact a Divine power in the Pope Consut of the Apolog. fol. 181. Can you not see saith Harding what strength and power is in the Pope which is able with a word to place and displace the mightiest King in Europe with a word I say for I am sure you can shew us of no army that hee sent to execute his will Is it in the power of man thinke you to appoint Kingdomes can the Devill himselfe at his pleasure set up and depose Kings no surely Much lesse can any member of his doe the same Remember you what CHRIST said when the Iewes objected that hee did cast out Devils in the name of the Prince of Devils