is euer to argue our selues of ignorance then to accuse GOD of improuidence But if so much Scripture be lost as is alleadged farewell GOD his prouidence farewell the fidelitie of the Church to whose care was concredited the Oracles of GOD. Let vs come to the writings of Kings where we shall not incurre any danger of this controuersie that were so farre from being acted by GOD his Spirit that they were more like those Disciples of Iohn that had not heard whether there were an Holy-Ghost or no that knew nothing of GOD though they felt neuer so much of his Goodnesse that neuer beleeued his Omnipotencie though they had neuer so much experience of his Power To beginne with the Assyrians whose first Monarch was Nimrod and his chiefe Citie Babel from his time to Sardanapalus the last of that Monarchie there was no King amongst them that gaue himselfe to Letters for as their Kingdome was founded in Tyrannie so they laboured to keepe it in Barbaritie neither must we euer looke to see Learning flourish where Tyrannie beareth the Standerd for Learning hath no more a facultie to bring the minde to vnderstanding then it hath with it a power that workes the will to libertie neither of which can euer consist with Tyrannie And therefore it is no wonder that this aage affoorded no learned Kings for in that State which continued thirteene or foureteene hundred yeeres yee can scarce reade of a learned man Therefore let either Histories or Poets paint that out for a Golden aage as they please there was neuer any aage that hath left so little memory of the Golden tincture of their Witts After the time of Sardanapalus in the dayes of Phull Tiglath-Philasar and Salmanasar of whom mention is made in Scripture and to whom as it is thought Ionas preached and with whom some of the Prophets were conuersant when as these Kings came into the land of Israel as they did in the dayes of Menahem who gaue to Phul-Belochus a thousand Talents of Siluer for a Tribute And in the dayes of Hezechiah came Salmanasar and besieged Samaria three yeeres and caried away a great part of the people of the Kingdome of Israel From that time forward their Kings gaue themselues to Letters insomuch as in the dayes of Nabucodonolor who set vp the Monarchy of the Babylonians within one hundred yeeres of Salmanasar King of the Assyrians learning was in great estimation and the Kings Court was a Schoole for the best witts of the Kingdome to be bred in that they might bee able to stand before the King furnished with all learning and vnderstanding And if Stories do not intollerably deceiue vs Daniel and his companions instructed fiue great Monarches as in the trew knowledge of GOD so in the vnderstanding of all excellent Arts and Sciences Namely Nabuchodonosor Euilmerodack Baltazar Darius of the Medes and Cyrus of the Persians And it were no hard matter to proue the trewth of this out of Daniel himselfe Come to the Persians who conuersed more with the Prophets as with Ezra Nehemiah Zachary Malachy and the people that were in captiuitie we shall finde them giuen much to Letters Cyrus the first Monarch is recorded to haue written large Commentaries of all his diurnall Actions amongst those Books are found saith Esdras the Edicts of reducing of the Iewes to their Countrey He wrote diuers Letters for the same purpose to all the chiefe Cities of Asia some whereof we haue in the 11. of Iosephus Chap. the first Many things likewise are reported to haue bene written of Artaxerxes Darius and some others of those Monarches as wee may partly conceiue by the Canonicall Bookes of Ezra and Nehemiah and more by the Apocriphal Esdras who reports it to haue bene a custome of those Kings so much to delight in learning and in the sayings of wise men that they vsed for an exercise in their greatest Solemnities to haue solemne Orations made in the presence of the King and State of sundry purposes which whoso performed to the liking of the King was rewarded with the highest Preferments that so mighty a Monarch could aduance them vnto Come we to the Graecians and there we shall finde Learning in the Tropicke of Cancer at such a height as it neuer was before nor euer that we read of since And surely it is worth the obseruing that when that extarordinary Diuine Light went out humane Learning came in and the ende of the Prophets was the beginning of the Poets The last of the diuinity of the one the first of the Philosophy of the other for from the end of the Captiuity till the Comming of our Sauiour Christ the space of foure hundreth yeares and more in which there was no Prophet that euer J reade of there were so many Orators Poets and Philosophers of such singular giftes in all kindes as wee are onely their Schollers since and can neuer attaine to the Excellency of our Master Jn this time Alexander the Great was as famous for his Learning and writings as he was for his Victories He wrote to Antipater of all his owne Actions in Asia and in India as Plutark reports in his Life S. Ciprian in his Tractate of the vanitie of Jdoles saith that Alexander the Great wrote Insigne Volumen to his Mother wherein he signifies vnto her how it was tolde him by a certaine Egyptian-Priest that all the Gods of the Gentiles had bene but men And S. Augustine also in his twelft Booke De ciuitate Dei makes mention of other of the writings of Alexander to Olimpias his Mother about the Succession of the Monarchies Amongst the Kings of Syria Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes writ many Bookes and sent them into Iudea about changing the Rites and Ceremonies of the Iewes into the Religion of the Grecians The principall heades of his Bookes may be found in the Bookes of Machabes and in Iosephus Amongst the Romans which of their Emperours did not aduance his fame by Letters Iulius Caesar besides many other things writ his Commentaries after the example of Cyrus Octauius as Suetonius reportes writ many Volumes The historie of his owne life Exhortations to Philosophie Heroick Verses Epigrams Tragedies and diuers other things of whom I will only relate two Stories not impertinent to my purpose He is reported to haue bene a very diligent searcher out of all such Bookes as appertayned to the Roman-Ethnick-Religion All the Bookes Fatidicorum of Fortune-tellers that proceeded not from approued Authors both of Greeke and Latin he cast in the fire to the number of two thousand Onely he reserued the writings of the Sibills but with that choise as hee burnt all such of them as he thought to bee counterfeit J relate this Story the rather for that J thinke it were a good President for our Augustus to follow to make a diligent search of all good and profitable Authors As for all Hereticall Pamphlets slaunderous Libells and impertinent writings to commit them to Vulcane for one of
peccauerit modò semper rationes suorum dictorum modestè reddere paratus sit That is to say Euery man is a lyer yea more vaine then vanity it selfe God onely is trew c. Which seeing wee ought euer humbly to acknowledge in all great and weighty causes most of all ought we to confesse it in the most holy cause of our Faith insomuch as we should not therefore easily condemne euery thing which at the first seemes strange yea false and absurd vnto our eares nor on the contrary side ought wee foorth-with to approoue and that with an opinion of precise necessitie whatsoeuer is commonly receyued especially in matters abstruse and intricate whereof the knowledge is not necessarie to saluation In such poynts as these if any man shall say that such a King or Prince howsoeuer otherwise most godly and religious yea that many such Kings and Princes nay I will not except Bishops or the like Doctors of the Church haue in some sort erred I am of opinion hee shall not giue any iust cause of offence either to the Maiestie of Kings or to the dignitie of Princes and Bishops so as hee bee alwaies ready modestly to yeeld a reason for that which hee shall affirme In which words hee maintaineth two Principles First that euery man is a lyar aswell in matter of Faith as in any thing else and next that wee must not euer esteeme the vulgar opinion and that which is generally receiued in matter of Faith to be the trewest nor alwayes condemne euery opinion for absurd which at the first seemes vnto vs vncouth and new Now we pray you obserue that this man is not accused of small scapes and therefore beeing not charged with lesser peccadillos then those which before wee haue mentioned it necessarily followes that in his excuse hee must vnderstand the same points whereof he is accused And wee hope by the mercy of GOD that no Christian wee speake in this particular as well for the Papists as for our selues shall euer be found to erre in any of those maine points at the least wee will answere by the grace of God for one of those Kings whom he names in general And as for his new opinions which he would so gladly vent abroad the ancient Faith needes not be changed like an old garment either in substance or fashion Furthermore in the third page of his Preface hee vseth these words Sed neque plures vno aliquo semper hîc ditiores sunt Nemo igitur vnus sibi arroget omnia Nec numero plures vni alicui singulare quidquam inuideant Neither are many men alwayes richer in knowledge then some one man Let not therefore any one man arrogate all things to himselfe Nor let the greater multitude enuie a particular man for hauing some singularitie more then his fellowes The trew principle and foundation of the error of the Anabaptists taking away by this meanes all maner of gouernment from the Church For hauing first ouerthrowen the Monarchicall power of the Pope he sweepes away next all manner of power both Aristocraticall and Democraticall from the Church cleane contrary to the Apostles institution which ordeineth that the spirits of the Prophets should bee subiect to the Prophets For if one particular man may take vpon him such a singularitie as this how shall he bee subiect to Generall Nationall and Synodicall Councels For straight will he say vnto them Sirs yee haue no authoritie to iudge mee for I haue a singular gift aboue you all And in the fift Page these are his words Plamssimè enim persuasus sum Serenissimo Regi nunquam in animo fuisse nunquam in animo fore alienae conscientiae quod ne Apostoli quidem sibi vnquam arrogârunt fiue directè fiue indirectè siue per seipsum siue per alios vllatenùs dominari vel fidem nostram vlli humanae authoritati alligare velle For I am absolutely perswaded that it was neuer his Maiesties meaning nor euer will bee either directly or indirectly by himselfe or by others in any sort to ouer-rule another mans conscience which euen the Apostles neuer challenged to themselues nor did or will his Maiestie euer seeke to tie our Faith to any humane authoritie Whereby hee is plainely discouered to bee resolued not to bee subiect in any sort to the iudgement of the Church in those matters whereof hee is accused For hee knowes too well that the ancient Church hath established vpon necessary consequences drawen from the holy Scripture both a forme of beliefe and a forme of speach concerning the holy Mysteries aforesaid And this is the reason why hee will not in these points submit himselfe to the iudgement of any mortall man But vpon this occasion in the seuenth page of his Preface maintaines his Christian libertie in this maner Qui quidem humanas decisiones à Diuinis mysterijs scrupulosé segregem praesertim in audaces Scholarum hypotheses pro Christiana libertate interdum diligentiùs inquiram I who curiously make a separation betwixt the iudgements of men and the Diuine mysteries and especially according to Christian libertie doe sometimes more narrowly looke into the bold supositions of the Schoolemen As if the Schoole Diuines had bene too ventrous to explaine and to defend the Articles aforesaid already so established by the Church But we may trewly wish in that point as Bellarmine did touching Caluin Vtinam semper sic errassent Scholastici Would God the Scholemen had alwayes so erred For in the maine grounds of Christian Religion they are worthy of all commendation Reade Aquinas against the Gentiles But in matters of controuersie where they were to flatter the Pope in his resolutions and to auow the new ordinances and traditions of their Church there they yeelded alas vnto the iniquitie of the time and the mysterie of iniquitie which was euen then in working got likewise the vpper hand ouer them And as for this Christian libertie which he doeth vrge so much certainely he doeth it with no other intention but onely vnder this faire pretext to haue the better meanes and with more safetie to abuse the world For Christian libertie is neuer meant in the holy Scripture but onely in matters indifferent or when it is taken for our deliuerance from the thraldome of the Law or from the burden of humane traditions and in that sense S. Paul speaketh in his Epistle to the Colossians Quare oneraminiritibus Why are ye burdened with traditions But to abuse Christian libertie in presuming to propound a new doctrine vnto the world in point of the highest and holiest mysteries of GOD is a most audacious rashnesse and an impudent arrogancie Concerning which S. Paul saith Though an Angel from heauen preach vnto you otherwise then that which we haue preached vnto you let him bee accursed And Saint Iohn likewise commandeth vs that wee should not so much as say God speed to that man which shall bring vs any other doctrine as wee haue obserued before
what purpose Onely to die vpon the points of the Saracens pikes or by the edge of their barbarous courtelasses battle-axes fauchions and other weapons without any benefit and aduantage to themselues or others Then the Nobles were driuen to sell their goodly Mannors and auncient demaines to the Church-men at vnder prises and low rates the very roote from which a great part of the Church and Church-mens reuenewes hath sprung and growne to so great height Then to be short See the Bull of Innoc. 3. at the end of the Lat. ter Conc. his most bountifull Holinesse gaue to any of the riffe-raffe-ranke that would vndertake this expedition into the Holy land a free and full pardon for all his sinnes besides a degree of glory aboue the vulgar in the Celestiall Paradise Military vertue I confesse is commendable and honourable prouided it bee employed for iustice and that generous noblenesse of valiant spirits bee not vnder a colour and shadow of piety fetcht ouer with some casts or deuises of Italian cunning Now let vs obserue the wisedome of the Lord Cardinall through this whole discourse His Lordship is pleased in his Oration to cite certaine few passages of Scripture culls and picks them out for the most gracefull in shewe leaues out of his list whole troupes of honourable witnesses vpon whose testimonie the Popes themselues and their principall adherents doe build his power to depose Kings and to giue order for all Temporall causes Take a sight of their best and most honourable witnesses Peter said to Christ See here two swords and Christ answered It is sufficient Christ said to Peter Put vp thy sword in to thy sheath God said to Ieremie Ier. 1. I haue established thee ouer Nations and Kingdomes 1. Cor. 2. Paul said to the Corinthians The spirituall man discerneth all things Christ said to his Apostles Whatsoeuer yee shall loose vpon earth by which words the Pope hath power forsooth to loose the oath of allegiance Moses said In the beginning God created the heauen and the earth Vpon these passages Pope Boniface 8. Extrauag Vnam Sanctam grapling and tugging with Philip the Faire doth build his Temporall power Other Popes and Papists auouch the like authorities Christ said of himselfe All things are giuen to me of my Father and all power is giuen vnto me in heauen and in earth The Deuils said If thou cast vs out send vs into this herd of swine Christ said to his Disciples Yee shall finde the colt of an asse bound loose it and bring it vnto me By these places the aduersaries prooue that Christ disposed of Temporall matters and inferre thereupon why not Christs Vicar as well as Christ himselfe The places and testimonies now following are very expresse Psal 45. In stead of thy fathers shall be thy children thou shalt make them Princes through all the earth Item Iesus Christ not onely commaunded Peter to feed his lambs but said also to Peter Arise kill and eat the pleasant glosse the rare inuention of the L. Ioh. 12. Cardinall Baronius Christ said to the people If I were lift vp from the earth I will draw all things vnto me who lets what hinders this place from fitting the Pope Paul said to the Corinthians Know ye not that we shall iudge the Angels how much more then the things that pertaine vnto this life A little after Haue not we power to eate These are the chiefe passages on which as vpon maine arches the roofe of Papall Monarchie concerning Temporall causes hath rested for three or foure aages past And yet his Lordship durst not repose any confidence in their firme standing to beare vp the said roofe of Temporall Monarchie for feare of making his auditors to burst with laughter A wise part without question if his Lordship had not defiled his lips before with a more ridiculous argument drawne from the leprosie and drie scab Let vs now by way of comparison behold Iesus Christ paying tribute vnto Caesar and the Pope making Caesar to pay him tribute Iesus Christ perswading the Iewes to pay tribute vnto an heathen Emperour and the Pope dispensing with subiects for their obedience to Christian Emperours Iesus Christrefusing to arbitrate a controuersie of inheritance partable betweene two priuate parties and the Pope thrusting in himselfe without warrant or Commission to bee absolute Iudge in the deposing of Kings Iesus Christ professing that his Kingdome is not of this world and the Pope establishing himselfe in a terrene Empire In like manner the Apostles forsaking all their goods to followe Christ and the Pope robbing Christians of their goods the Apostles persecuted by Pagan Emperours and the Pope now setting his foote on the very throate of Christian Emperours then proudly treading Imperiall Crownes vnder his feete By this comparison the L. Cardinals allegation of Scripture in fauour of his Master the Pope is but a kind of puppet-play to make Iesus Christ a mocking stocke rather then to satisfie his auditors with any sound precepts and wholefome instructions Hereof he seemeth to giue some inckling himselfe For after he hath beene plentifull in citing authorities of Scripture and of newe Doctors which make for the Popes power to depose Kings at last he comes in with a faire and open confession Pag. 85. that neither by diuine Oracles nor by honourable antiquitie this controuersie hath beene yet determined and so pulls downe in a word with one hand the frame of worke that he had built and set vp before with an other discouering withall the reluctation and priuie checkes of his owne conscience There yet remaineth one obiection the knot whereof the L. Cardinall in a maner sweateth to vntie His words be these Page 84. The champions for the negatiue flie to the analogie of other proceedings and practises in the Church They affirme that priuate persons masters or owners of goods and possessions among the common people are not depriued of their goods for Heresie and consequently that Princes much more should not for the same crime bee depriued of their estates For answere to this reason he brings in the defendants of deposition speaking after this maner In the Kingdome of France the strict execution of lawes decreed in Court against Heretikes is fauourably suspended and stopped for the preseruation of peace and publike tranquilitie He saith elsewhere Conniuence is vsed towards these Heretikes inregard of their multitude because a notable part of the French Nation and State is made all of Heretikes I suppose that out of speciall charitie he would haue those Heretikes of his owne making forewarned what courteous vse and entreaty they are to expect when he affirmeth that execution of the lawes is but suspended For indeed suspensions hold but for a time But in a cause of that nature and importance I dare promise my selfe that my most honoured brother the King of France will make vse of other counsell will rather seeke the amitie of his neighbour Princes and
of our Catholike Religion then if it should bee granted the Church hath decided the said points without any authoritie c. Mee thinkes the L. Cardinal in the whole draught and course of these words doeth seeke not a little to blemish the honour of his Church and to marke his religion with a blacke coale For the whole frame of his Mother-Church is very easie to be shaken if by the establishing of this Article she shall come to finall ruine and shall become the Synagogue of Satan Likewise Kings are brought into a very miserable state and condition if their Souereigntie shall not stand if they shall not bee without danger of deposition but by the totall ruine of the Church and by holding the Pope whom they serue to be Antichrist The L. Cardinall himselfe let him be well sifted herein doeth not credit his owne words For doeth not his Lordship tell vs plaine that neither by Diuine testimony nor by any sentence of the ancient Church the knot of this controuersie hath bene vntied againe that some of the French by the Popes fauourable indulgence are licensed or tolerated to say their mind to deliuer their opinion of this question though contrary to the iudgement of his Holinesse prouided they hold it onely as problematicall and not as necessary What Can there be any assurance for the Pope that hee is not Antichrist for the Church of Rome that she is not a Synagogue of Satan when a mans assurance is grounded vpon wauering and wilde vncertainties without Canon of Scripture without consent or countenance of antiquitie and in a cause which the Pope by good leaue suffereth some to tosse with winds of problematicall opinion It hath beene shewed before that by Gods word whereof small reckoning perhaps is made by venerable antiquitie and by the French Church in those times when the Popes power was mounted aloft the doctrine which teacheth deposing of Kings by the Pope hath bene checked and countermanded What did the French in those dayes beleeue the Church was then swallowed vp and no where visible or extant in the world No verely Those that make the Pope of Soueraigne authoritie for matters of Faith are not perswaded that in this cause they are bound absolutely to beleeue and credit his doctrine Why so Because they take it not for any decree or determination of Faith but for a point perteining to the mysteries of State and a pillar of the Popes Temporall Monarchie who hath not receiued any promise from God that in causes of this nature hee shall not erre For they hold that errour by no meanes can crawle or scramble vp to the Papall See so highly mounted but grant ambition can scale the highest walls and climbe the loftiest pinacles of the same See They hold withall that in case of so speciall aduantage to the Pope whereby he is made King of Kings and as it were the pay-master or distributer of Crownes it is against all reason that hee should sit as Iudge to carue out Kingdomes for his owne share To bee short let his Lordship be assured that he meeteth with notorious blocke-heads more blunt-witted then a whetstone when they are drawen to beleeue by his perswasion that whosoeuer beleeues the Pope hath no right nor power to put Kings beside their Thrones to giue and take away Crownes are all excluded and barred out of the heauenly Kingdome But now followes a worse matter For they whom the Cardinall reproachfully calls heretikes haue wrought and wonne his Lordship as to mee seemeth to plead their cause at the barre and to betray his owne cause to these heretikes For what is it in his Lordship but plaine playing the Praeuaricator when he crieth so lowd that by admitting and establishing of this Article the doctrine of Cake-incarnation and priuie Confession to a Priest is vtterly subuerted Let vs heare his reason and willingly accept the trewth from his lips The Articles as his Lordship granteth of Transubstantiation auricular Confession and the Popes power to depose Kings are all grounded alike vpon the same authoritie Now he hath acknowledged the Article of the Popes power to depose Kings is not decided by the Scripture nor by the ancient Church but within the compasse of certaine aages past by the authoritie of Popes and Councils Then he goes on well and inferres with good reason that in case the point of the Popes power be weakened then the other two points must needs bee shaken and easily ouerthrowen So that hee doeth confesse the monstrous birth of the breaden-God and the blind Sacrament or vaine fantasie of auricular confession are no more conueyed into the Church by pipes from the springs of sacred Scripture or from the riuers of the ancient Church then that other point of the Popes power ouer Kings and their Crownes Very good For were they indeed deriued from either of those two heads that is to say were they grounded vpon the foundation of the first or second authoritie then they could neuer bee shaken by the downefall of the Popes power to depose Kings I am well assured that for vsing so good a reason the world will hold his Lordship in suspicion that he still hath somesmacke of his fathers discipline and instruction who in times past had the honour to be a Minister of the holy Gospel Howbeit he playeth not faire nor vseth sincere dealing in his proceeding against such as he calls heretikes when hee casts in their dish and beares them in hand they frowardly wrangle for the inuisibilitie of the Church in earth For indeed the matter is nothing so They freely acknowledge a visible Church For howsoeuer the assembly of Gods elect doth make a body not discerneable by mans eye yet we assuredly beleeue and gladly professe there neuer wanted a visible Church in the world yet onely visible to such as make a part of the same All that are without see no more but men they doe not see the said men to be the trew Church Wee beleeue moreouer of the vniuersall Church visible that it is composed of many particular Churches whereof some are better fined and more cleane from lees and dregs then other and withall we denie the purest Churches to be alwayes the greatest and most visible THE FOVRTH AND LAST INCONVENIENCE EXAMINED THE Lord Cardinall before he looketh into the last Inconuenience vseth a certaine preamble of his owne life past and seruices done to the Kings Henry the III. and IIII. Touching the latter of which two Kings his Lordship saith in a straine of boasting after this manner I by the grace of God or the grace of God by mee rather reduced him to the Catholike religion I obtained at Rome his absolution of Pope Clement 8. I reconciled him to the holy See Touching the first of these points I say the time the occasions and the foresaid Kings necessary affaires doe sufficiently testifie that he was induced to change his mind and to alter his religion vpon the strength of other
adiudged by the Councill of Constance to expresse damnation For in these words the L. Cardinall preferreth a bill of inditement to cast his Holinesse who vpon the commencing of the Leaguers warres in stead of giuing order for the publishing of the said Ecclesiasticall Lawes for the restraining of all parricidicall practises and attempts fell to the terrour of his fulminations which not long after were seconded and ratified by the most audatious and bloody murder of King Henry III. In like manner the whole Clergy of France are wrapped vp by the L. Cardinals words and inuolued in the perill of the said inditement For in stead of preaching the said Ecclesiasticall Lawes by which all King-killing is inhibited the Priests taught vented and published nothing but rebellion and when the people in great deuotion came to powre their confessions into the Priests eares then the Priests with a kind of counterbuffe in the second place when their turne was come and with greater deuotion powred blood into the eares of the people out of which roote grewe the terrour of those cruell warres and the horrible parricide of that good King But let vs here take some neere sight of these Ecclesiasticall Lawes whereby subiects are inhibited to kill or desperately to dispatch their Kings out of the way The Lord Cardinall for full payment of all scores vpon this reckoning layeth downe the credit of the Councill at Constance which neuerthelesse affoardeth not one myte of trew and currant payment The trewth of the history may bee taken from this briefe relation Iohn Duke of Burgundy procured Lewis Duke of Orleans to be murthered in Paris To iustifie and make good this bloody acte he produced a certaine petimaster one called by the name of Iohn Petit. This little Iohn caused nine propositions to be giuen foorth or set vp to bee discussed in the famous Vniuersitie of Paris The summe of all to this purpose It is lawfull iust and honourable for euery subiect or priuate person either by open force and violence or by deceit and secret lying in waite or by some wittie stratagem or by any other way of fact to kil a Tyrant practising against his King and other higher powers yea the King ought in reason to giue him a pension or stipend that hath killed any person disloyal to his Prince The words of Petits first proposition be these It is lawfull for euery subiect Gerson without any command or commission from the higher powers by all the Lawes of nature of man and of God himselfe to kill or cause to be killed any Tyrant who either by a couetous and greedie desire or by fraud by diuination vpon casting of Lots by double and treacherous dealing doeth plot or practise against his Kings corporall health or the health of his higher powers In the third proposition It is lawfull for euery subiect honourable and meritorious to kill the said Tyrant or cause him to be killed as a Traitor disloyall and trecherous to his King In the sixt proposition The King is to appoint a salarie and recompence for him that hath killed such a Tyrant or hath caused him to bee killed These propositions of Iohannes Paruus were condemned by the Councill of Constance as impious and tending to the scandall of the Church Now then whereas the said Councill no doubt vnderstood the name or word Tyrant in the same sense wherein it was taken by Iohannes Paruus certaine it is the Councill was not of any such iudgement or mind to condemne one that should kill a King or Soueraigne Prince but one that by treason and without commandement should kill a subiect rebelling and practising against his King For Iohn Petit had vndertaken to iustifie the making away of the Duke of Orleans to be a lawfull acte and calls that Dukea Tyrant albeit hee was no Soueraigne Prince as all the aboue recited words of Iohn Petit doe testifie that he speaketh of such a Tyrant as being in state of subiection rebelleth against his free and absolute Prince So that whosoeuer shall narrowly search and looke into the mind and meaning of the said Council shal easily perceiue that by their decrees the safetie of Kings was not confirmed but weakened not augmented but diminished for as much as they inhibited priuate persons to kill a Subiect attempting by wicked counsels and practises to make away his King But be it granted the Councill of Constance is flat and altogether direct against King-killers For I am not vnwilling to be perswaded that had the question then touched the murdering of Soueraigne Princes the said Councill would haue passed a sound and holy decree But I say this granted what sheild of defence is hereby reached to Kings to ward or beat off the thrust of a murderers weapon and to saue or secure their life seeing the L. Cardinall building vpon the subtile deuise and shift of the Iesuites hath taught vs out of their Schooles that by Kings are vnderstood Kings in esse not yet fallen from the supreame degree of Soueraigne Royaltie For being once deposed by the Pope say the Iesuites they are no longer Kings but are fallen from the rights of Soueraigne dignitie and consequently to make strip and wast of their blood is not forsooth to make strip and wast of Royall blood The Iesuiticall masters in the file of their words are so supple and so limber that by leauing still in their speech some starting hole or other they are able by the same as by a posterne or backdoore to make an escape Meane while the Readers are here to note for well they may a tricke of monstrous and most wicked cunning The L. Cardinall contends for the bridling and hampering of King-killers by the Lawes Ecclesiasticall Now it might be presumed that so reuerend and learned a Cardinal intending to make vse of Ecclesiasticall Lawes by vertue whereof the life of Kings may be secured would fill his mouth and garnish the point with diuine Oracles that wee might the more gladly and willingly giue him the hearing when hee speakes as one furnished with sufficient weight and authoritie of sacred Scripture But behold in stead of the authenticall and most ancient word hee propounds the decree of a lateborne Councill at Constance neither for the Popes tooth nor any way comming neere the point in controuersie And suppose it were pertinent vnto the purpose the L. Cardinall beareth in his hand a forke of distinction with two tines or teeth to beare off nay to shift off and to auoid the matter with meere dalliance The shortest and neerest way in some sort of respects to establish a false opinion is to charge or set vpon it with false and with ridiculous reasons The like way to worke the ouerthrow of trew doctrine is to rest or ground it vpon friuolous reasons or authorities of stubble-weight For example if we should thus argue for the immortalitie of the soule with Plato In Phaedone The swan singeth before her death ergo
change longer then we are well able to deduce the whole life and reigne of Solomon We haue not the Daughter of Pharao an Idolatrous King nor feare we strange women to steale away his heart from the Seruice of GOD But a Queene as of a Royall so of a Religious Stocke professing the Gospell of Christ with him A Mirrour of trew Modestie a Queene of Bounty both beloued and admired of all his People A Posterity that we need not feare for folly in the one Sexe nor for leuitie in the other Both which made Solomon speake so much as the Iewes say in his Prouerbes of a foolish sonne because his owne was not wise and of wanton Women because he feared the vanity of his owne Daughters But GOD hath left his Maiestie a Sonne a Prince as in outward Liniaments so in inward Abiliments I need say no more an Alter-Idem a second-Selfe A Daughter a Princesse of that Piety singular vertue and Modestie as makes her both beloued at home and admired abroad J haue done Only I desire the Readers of these Workes to pray to GOD that as he hath so farre aduanced vs as to bestowe vpon vs with the Heauenly Treasures of his trewth the riches of his earthly Iewels in so Sacred a King so admired a Queene so hopefull a Prince so vertuous a Princes He would for his Mercies sake for his Sonnes sake continue this the Light of his Countenance vpon vs in them and their Posterity till the comming of that Kingdome which neuer shall haue end AMEN Thine in the Lord IA. WINTON THE SEVERALL TREATISES ACCORDING TO THE TIME WHEREIN THEY WERE WRITTEN AND THEIR PLACE IN THIS Collection c. A PARAPHRASE vpon the Reuelation Pag. 7. Two Meditations The First vpon the 7. 8. 9. and 10. Verses of the 20. Chap. of the Reuelation Pag. 73 Second vpon the 25. 26. 27. 28. and 29. Verses of the 15. Chapter of the first Booke of the Chronicles Pag. 81 Daemonologie First Booke Pag. 94 Second Booke Pag. 108 Third Booke Pag. 123. Basilicon-Doron First Booke Pag. 148 Second Booke Pag. 155 Third Booke Pag. 180. The trew Law of Free Monarchies AnonymΩs Pag. 193 A Counter-blast to Tobacco AnonymΩs Pag. 214 A Discourse of the Powder Treason AnonymΩs Pag. 223. An Apologie for the Oath of Allegiance first set out AnonymΩs and afterwards published with the Praemonition vnder His Maiesties owne name Pag. 247 A Praemonition to all Christian Monarches Free Princes and States written both in English and Latine by his Maiestie Pag. 289 A Declaration against Vorstius written by His Maiestie first in French after translated into English by His Maiesties leaue Pag. 349 A Defence of the Right of KINGS against Cardinall Perron written by His Maiestie in French and thereafter translated into English by His Maiesties leaue Pag. 392 Fiue Speaches THE First in Parliament ANNO 1603. Pag. 485. Second in Parliament ANNO 1605. Pag. 499. Third at White-hall ANNO 1607. Pag. 509. Fourth at White-hall ANNO 1609. Pag. 527. Fift in the Starre-Chamber ANNO 1616. Pag. 549. THE EPISTLE TO THE WHOLE CHVRCH MILITANT in whatsoeuer part of the Earth TO whom could I haue so fitly directed Christian Readers this Paraphrase of mine vpon the Reuelation as vnto you who are the very and true posteritie of those Churches to whom the Booke it selfe was dedicated and for whose instruction and comfort the said Epistle was endited by the Holy Spirit and written by that great Theologue IOHN the Apostle whom our Master beloued deerely J doubt not but it will seeme strange to many that any of my aage calling and literature should haue medled with so obscure Theologicall and high a subiect But let my earnest desire by manifesting the Trueth as well to teach my selfe as others serue for excuse considering also that where diuers others in our aage haue medled with the interpretation of this Booke pressing with preoccupied opinions onely to wrest and conforme the meaning thereof to their particular and priuate passions J by the contrary protest that all my trauailes tend to square and conforme my opinions to the trew and sincere meaning thereof Which causes mooued me to vndertake this worke not thereby to despise infinite others who to the glory of God and great comfort of his Church hath giuen it a great light already but rather that by oft perusing and dew considering therof whereto this worke hath led mee J might be the better acquainted with the meaning of this Booke which J esteeme a speciall cannon against the Hereticall wall of our common aduersaries the Papists whom I would wish to know that in this my Paraphrase vpon it J haue vsed nothing of my owne coniecture or of the authoritie of others but onely haue interpreted it in that sense which may best agree with the methode of the Epistle and not bee contradictorie to it selfe The meaning whereof I expound partly by it selfe and partly by other parts of the Scriptures as the worke it selfe will beare witnesse And therefore this one thing J must craue of our Aduersaries that they will not refute any part of my Interpretation till they finde out a more probable themselues agreeing with the whole context cum serie temporum and where their consciences beare them witnesse that J speake the Trueth that they will yeeld vnto it and glorifie God therein and this is all the reward I craue for my paines But of one thing I must forewarne you Christian Readers to wit that yee may vnderstand that it is for the making of the Discourse more short and facile that I haue made IOHN to be the Speaker in all this Paraphrase and not that I am so presumptuously foolish as to haue meant thereby that my Paraphrase is the onely trew and certaine exposition of this Epistle reiecting all others For although through speaking in his person I am onely bounded and limitted to vse one and not diuers interpretations of euery seuerall place yet I condemne not others but rather allow them to interpret it diuersly so being it agree with the analogie of faith with the methode of the Text cum serie temporum as I said before for those three being obserued it may fall out that diuers diuersly expound one place and yet all be according to the trueth and very meaning of the Spirit of God as may easily be proued by the Text it selfe For in the 17. Chapter the Angel expounding to Iohn the seuen heads of the beastes that came out of the Sea hee saith the seuen heads which thou sawest vpon the beast are the seuen Hills and they are also seuen Kings Here ye see one thing is expounded in two very farre different fashions and yet both true And therefore let wise men take their choice in these things obseruing alwayes these rules I haue spoken of as specially for example This Hebrew word Arma geddon in the 16. Chapter and sixt Phiale although I expound it to signifie destruction by
many one to conspire and attempt the like against the late Queene and in my time to attempt the destruction of a whole Kingdome and State by a blast of Powder and hereby to play bankerupt with both the soules mentioned in the Scriptures Animus Anima But notwithstanding of this their great Lamentation they are commanded by a voyce from heauen to doe two things Verse 4. One to flee from Babylon lest they bee partakers of her sinnes and consequently of her punishment Which warning I pray God that yee all my Beloued Brethren and Cousins would take heed vnto in time humbly beseeching him to open your eyes for this purpose The other command is Verse 6. to reward her as shee hath rewarded you yea euen to the double For as she did flie but with your feathers borrowing as well her Titles of greatnesse and formes of honouring her from you as also enioying all her Temporall liuing by your liberalities so if euery man doe but take his owne againe she will stand vp * Cornicula Aesopica Verse 7. naked and the reason is giuen because of her pride For shee glorifieth her selfe liuing in pleasure and in her heart saith shee sitteth as a Queene outward prosperitie being one of their notes of a trew Church and is no Widow for her Spouse CHRIST is bound to her by an inuiolable knot for he hath sworne neuer to forsake her and she shall see no mourning for she cannot erre nor the gates of Hell shall not preuaile against her But though the earth and worldly men lament thus for the fall of Babylon in this eighteenth Chapter yet in the nineteenth Cap. xix Verse 1. Verse 2. Heauen and all the Angels and Saints therein doe sing a triumphall Cantique for ioy of her fall praising God for the fall of that great Whore Great indeed for our * Bellar. in Res ad Gerson confid 11. Cardinall confesseth that it is hard to describe what the Pope is such is his greatnesse Verse 19. Verse 20. And in the end of that Chapter is the obstinacie of that Whore described who euen fought to the vttermost against him that sate on the white Horse and his armie till the Beast or Antichrist was taken and the false Prophet or false Church with him who by Miracles and lying wonders deceiued them that receiued the marke of the Beast and both were cast quicke into the burning lake of fire and brimstone vnde nulla redemptio Like as in the ende of the former Chapter to describe the fulnesse of the Antichristes fall not like to that reparable wound that Ethnicke Rome gate it is first compared to a Milstone cast into the sea that can neuer rise and fleete againe Cap 18.21 Ibidem Vers 22 32. And next it is expressed by a number of ioyfull things that shall neuer bee heard there againe where nothing shall inhabite but desolation But that the patience and constancie of Saints on earth and God his Elected may the better bee strengthened and confirmed their persecution in the latter dayes is shortly prophesied and repeated againe Cap. 11. Verse 2. after that Satan hath beene bound or his furie restrained by the worlds enioying of peace for a thousand yeeres or a great indefinite time their persecuters being named Gog and Magog the secret and reuealed enemies of CHRIST Verse 8. Whether this be meant of the Pope and the Turke or not who both began to rise to their greatnesse about one time I leaue to bee guessed Verse 9. alwayes their vtter confusion is there assuredly promised and it is said that the Dragon the Beast and the false Prophet Verse 10. shall all three bee cast in that lake of fire and brimstone to be tormented for euer Verse 11 12 13. Matth. 24.22 And thereafter is the latter day described againe which must be hastened for the Elects sake and then for the further comfort of the Elect and that they may the more constantly and patiently endure these temporall and finite troubles limited but to a short space in the last two Chapters are the ioyes of the eternall Ierusalem largely described Cap. xxj xxij Thus hath the Cardinals shamelesse wresting of those two places of Scripture Pasce oues meas and Tibi dabo claues for proouing of the Popes supreame Temporall authoritie ouer Princes animated mee to prooue the Pope to bee THE ANTICHRIST out of this foresaid booke of Scripture so to pay him in his owne money againe And this opinion no Pope can euer make me to recant except they first renounce any further medling with Princes in any thing belonging to their Temporall Iurisdiction And my onely wish shall bee that if any man shall haue a fancie to refute this my coniecture of the Antichrist that hee answere mee orderly to euery point of my discourse not contenting him to disprooue my opinion except hee set downe some other Methode after his forme for interpretation of that Booke of the Apocalyps which may not contradict no part of the Text nor conteine no absurdities Otherwise it is an easie thing for Momus to picke quarrels in another mans tale and tell it worse himselfe it being a more easie practise to finde faults then amend them Hauing now made this digression anent the Antichrist which I am sure I can better fasten vpon the Pope then Bellarmine can doe his pretended Temporall Superioritie ouer Kings I will returne againe to speake of this Answerer who as I haue already told you so fitteth his matter with his manner of answering that as his Style is nothing but a Satyre and heape full of iniurious and reprochfull speaches as well against my Person as my Booke so is his matter as full of lyes and falsities indeed as hee vniustly layeth to my charge For three lies hee maketh against the Oath of Alleagiance conteined and maintained in my Booke besides that ordinary repeated lie against my Booke of his omitting to answere my lyes trattles iniurious speaches and blasphemies One grosse lye he maketh euen of the Popes first Breue One lye of the Puritanes whom he would gladly haue to be of his partie And one also of the Powder-Traitours anent the occasion that mooued them to vndertake that treasonable practise Three lies hee makes of that Acte of Parliament wherein this Oath of Alleagiance is conteined Hee also maketh one notable lie against his owne Catholike Writers And two of the causes for which two Iesuites haue beene put to death in England And he either falsifies denies or wrests fiue sundry Histories and a printed Pamphlet besides that impudent lye that hee maketh of my Person that I was a Puritane in Scotland which I haue already refuted And for the better filling vp of his booke with such good stuffe hee hath also fiue so strange and new principles of Diuinitie therein as they are either new or at least allowed by very few of his owne Religion All which lyes with
to continue or hold eighteene yeeres like the Councill of Trent should not poore France I beseech you be reduced to a very bad plight should she not be in a very wise and warme taking To be short His Lordships whole speach for the vntying of this knot not onely surmounteth possibilitie but is stuft with ridiculous toyes This I make manifest by his addition in the same passage If the Pope deceiued in fact shall rashly and vniustly declare the King to be an heretike then the Popes declaration shall not be seconded with actuall deposition vnles the Realme shall consent vnto the Kings deposing What needes any man to bee instructed in this doctrine Who doth not knowe that a King so long as he is vpheld and maintained in his Kingdome by his people cannot actually and effectually be deposed from his Throne Hee that speaketh such language and phrase in effect saith and saith no more then this A King is neuer depriued of his Crowne so long as he can keepe his Crowne on his head a King is neuer turned and stript naked so long as he can keepe his cloathes on his backe a King is neuer deposed so long as he can make the stronger partie and side against his enemies in briefe a King is King and shall still remaine King so long as he can hold the possession of his Kingdome and sitfast in his Chaire of Estate Howbeit let vs here by the way take notice of these words vttered by his Lordship That for the deposing of a King the consent of the people must be obtained For by these words the people are exalted aboue the King and are made the Iudges of the Kings deposing But here is yet a greater matter Can. Si Papa Dist 40. Nisi sit à side demins For that Popes may erre in faith it is acknowledged by Popes themselues For some of them haue condemned Pope Honorius for a Monothelite S. Hierome and S. Hilarius and S. Athanasius doe testifie that Pope Liberius started aside and subscribed to Arrianisme Pope Iohn 23. was condemned in the Councill of Constance for maintaining there is neither hell nor heauen Diuerse other Popes haue been tainted with errour in faith If therefore any Pope hereticall in himselfe shall depose an Orthodoxe King for heresie can it be imagined that he which boasts himselfe to beare all diuine and humane lawes in the priuy coffer or casket of his breast Omnia â—â—â—a in serinio pectoris will stoope to the remonstrances of the French and vayle to the reasons which they shall propound though neuer so iustifiable and of neuer so great validitie And how can he that may be infected with damnable heresie when himselfe is not alwayes free from heresie be a iudge of heresie in a King In this question some are of opinion that as a man the Pope may fall into error but not as Pope Very good I demand then vpon the matter wherefore the Pope doth not instruct and reforme the man or wherefore the man doth not require the Popes instructions But whether a King be deposed by that man the Pope or by that Pope the man is it not all one is he not deposed Others affirme the Pope may erre in a question of the fact but not in a question of the right An egregious gullery and imposture For if he may be ignorant whether Iesus Christ died for our sinnes doubtles he may also be to seeke whether we should repose all our trust and assured confidence in the death of Christ Consider with me the Prophets of olde They were all inspired and taught of God to admonish and reprooue the Kings of Iudah and Israel they neither erred in matter of fact nor in point of right they were as farre from being blinded and fetcht ouer by deceitfull calumniations as from beeing seduced by the painted shew of corrupt and false doctrine As they neuer trode awry in matter of faith so they neuer whetted the edge of their tongue or style against the faultlesse Had it not beene a trimme deuice in their times to say that as Esay and as Daniel they might haue sunke into heresie but not as Prophets For doubtlesse in this case that Esay would haue taken counsell of the Prophet which was himselfe To be short If Kings are onely so long to be taken for Kings vntill they shall be declared heretikes and shall be deposed by the Pope they continually stand in extreame danger to vndergoe a very heauy and vniust sentence Their safest way were to know nothing and to beleeue by proxie least if they should happen to talke of God or to thinke of religion they should be drawne for heretikes into the Popes Inquisition All the examples hitherto produced by the Lord Cardinall on a rowe are of a latter date they lacke weight are drawne from the time of bondage and make the Popes themselues witnesses in their owne cause They descant not vpon the point of deposition but onely strike out and sound the notes of excommunication and interdiction which make nothing at all to the musicke of the question And therefore hee telleth vs in kindnesse as I take it more oftentimes then once or twice that hee speaketh onely of the fact as one that doeth acknowledge himselfe to bee out of the right Hee relates things done but neuer what should bee done which as the Iudicious know is to teach nothing THE SECOND INCONVENIENCE EXAMINED THE second Iuconuenience like to grow Pag. 86. as the Lord Cardinall seemeth to be halfe afraid if the Article of the third Estate might haue passed with approbation is couched in these words Lay-men shall by authoritie bee strengthened with power to iudge in matters of Religion as also to determine the doctrine comprised in the said Article to haue requisite conformitie with Gods word yeathey shall haue it in their hands to compell Ecclesiastics by necessitie to sweare preach and teach the opinion of the one fide as also by Sermons and publike writings to impugne the other This inconuenience he aggrauateth with swelling words and breaketh out into these vehement exclamations O reproach O scandall O gate set open to a world of heresies He therefore laboureth both by reasons and by authorities of holy Scripture to make such vsurped power of Laics a fowle shameful and odious practise In the whole his Lordship toyles himselfe in vaine maketh suppositions of castles in the aire For in preferring this Article the third Estate haue born themselues not as iudges or vmpires but altogether as petitioners requesting the said Article might be receiued into the number of the Parliament bookes to bee presented vnto the King and his Counsell vnto whom in all humilitie they referred the iudgment of the said Article conceiuing all good hope the Clergie and Nobilitie would be pleased to ioyne for the furtherance of their humble petition They were not so ignorant of State-matters or so vnmindfull of their owne places and charges to beare themselues
to display the colours and ensignes of their censures against Princes who violating their publike and solemne oath doe raise and make open warre against Iesus Christ I grant yet againe that in this case they need not admit Laics to be of their counsell nor allow them any scope or libertie of iudgement Yet all this makes no barre to Clerics for extending the power of their keyes many times a whole degree further then they ought and when they are pleased to make vse of their said power to depriue the people of their goods or the Prince of his Crowne all this doeth not hinder Prince or people from taking care for the preseruation of their owne rights and estates nor from requiring Clerics to shew their cards and produce their Charts and to make demonstration by Scripture that such power as they assume and challenge is giuen them from God For to leaue the Pope absolute Iudge in the same cause wherein hee is a partie and which is the strongest rampier and bulwarke yea the most glorious and eminent point of his domination to arme him with power to vnhorse Kings out of their seates what is it else but euen to draw them into a state of despaire for euer winning the day or preuailing in their honourable and rightful cause It is moreouer granted if a King shall command any thing directly contrary to Gods word and tending to the subuerting of the Church that Clerics in this case ought not onely to dispense with subiects for their obedience but also expresly to forbid their obedience For it is alwayes better to obey God then man Howbeit in all other matters whereby the glory and maiestie of God is not impeached or impaired it is the duety of Clerics to plie the people with wholesome exhortation to constant obedience and to auert by earnest disswasions the said people from tumultuous reuolt and seditious insurrection This practise vnder the Pagan Emperours was held and followed by the ancient Christians by whose godly zeale and patience in bearing the yoke the Church in times past grew and flourished in her happy and plentifull increase farre greater then Poperie shall euer purchase and attaine vnto by all her cunning deuices and sleights as namely by degrading of Kings by interdicting of Kingdoms by apposted murders and by Diabolicall traines of Gunne-powder-mines The places of Scripture alleadged in order by the Cardinal Pag 66. in fauour of those that stand for the Popes claime of power and authoritie to depose Kings are cited with no more sincerity then the former They alledge these are his words that Samuel deposed King Saul or declared him to bee deposed because hee had violated the Lawes of the Iewes Religion His Lordship auoucheth elsewere that Saul was deposed because he had sought prophanely to vsurpe the holy Priesthood Both false and contrary to the tenour of trewth in the sacred history For Saul was neuer deposed according to the sense of the word I meane depose in the present question to wit as deposing is taken for despoiling the King of his royall dignitie and reducing the King to the condition of a priuate person But Saul held the title of King and continued in possession of his Kingdome euen to his dying day 1. Sam. 23.20 24.15 2. Sam. 2.5 Yea the Scripture styles him King euen to the periodicall and last day of his life by the testimony of Dauid himselfe who both by Gods promise and by precedent vnction was then heire apparant as it were to the Crown in a maner then ready to gird and adorne the temples of his head For if Samuel by Gods commandement had then actually remooued Saul from his Throne doubtlesse the whole Church of Israel had committed a grosse errour in taking and honouring Saul for their King after such deposition doubtlesse the Prophet Samuel himselfe making knowen the Lords Ordinance vnto the people would haue enioyned them by strict prohibition to call him no longer the King of Israel Doubtlesse Dauid would neuer haue held his hand from the throat of Saul 1. Sam. 26.11 for this respect and consideration because he was the Lords Anointed For if Saul had lost his Kingly authority from that instant when Samuel gaue him knowledge of his reiection then Dauid lest otherwise the Body of the Kingdome should want a Royall Head was to beginne his Reigne and to beare the Royall scepter in the very same instant which were to charge the holy Scriptures with vntrewth in as much as the sacred historie begins the computation of the yeeres of Dauids Reigne from the day of Sauls death Trew it is that in the 1. Sam. cap. 15. Saul was denounced by Gods owne sentence a man reiected and as it were excommunicated out of the Kingdome that hee should not rule and reigne any longer as King ouer Israel neuerthelesse the said sentence was not put in execution before the day when God executing vpon Saul an exemplarie iudgement did strike him with death From whence it is manifest and cleare 1. Sam. 16.23 that when Dauid was annointed King by Samuel that action was onely a promise and a testimony of the choice which God had made of Dauid for succession immediately after Saul and not a present establishment inuestment or installment of Dauid in the Kingdome Wee reade the like in 1. King cap. 19. where God commandeth Elias the Prophet to annoint Hasael King of Syria For can any man bee so blinde and ignorant in the sacred historie to beleeue the Prophets of Israel established or sacred the Kings of Syria For this cause 2. Sam. 2.4 when Dauid was actually established in the Kingdome hee was annointed the second time In the next place he brings in the Popes champions vsing these words Rehoboam was deposed by Ahiah the Prophet 1 King 12. from his Royall right ouer the tenne Tribes of Israel because his father Salomon had played the Apostata in falling from the Law of God This I say also is more then the trewth of the sacred history doeth afoard For Ahiah neuer spake to Rehoboam for ought we reade nor brought vnto him any message from the Lord As for the passage quoted by the L. Cardinal out of 3. Reg. chap. 11. it hath not reference to the time of Rehoboams raigne but rather indeed to Salomons time nor doeth it carry the face of a iudicatorie sentence for the Kings deposing but rather of a Propheticall prediction For how could Rehoboam before hee was made King be depriued of the Kingdome Last of all but worst of all to alleadge this passage for an example of a iust sentence in matter of deposing a King is to approoue the disloyall treacherie of a seruant against his master and the rebellion of Ieroboam branded in Scripture with a marke of perpetuall infamie for his wickednesse and impietie He goes on with an other example of no more trewth 1. King 19. King Achab was deposed by Elias the Prophet
vnking'd by deposition is not killing of a King For the present I haue one of that Iesuiticall Order in prison who hath face enough to speake this language of Ashdod and to maintaine this doctrine of the Iesuites Colledges The L. Cardinall harpes vpon the same string He can like subiection and obedience to the King whilest he sitteth King but his Holinesse must haue all power and giue order withall to hoyst him out of his Royall Seat I therefore now answer that in very deed the former passages of S. Paul and S. Peter should come nothing neere the question if the state of the question were such as he brings it made and forged in his owne shop But certes the state of the question is not whether a King may doe some acte by reason whereof hee may fall from his right or may not any longer be acknowledged for King For all our contention is concerning the Popes power to vn-authorize Princes wheras in the question framed and fitted by the L. Cardinal not a word of the Pope For were it granted and agreed on both sides that a King by election might fal from his Kingdom yet stil the knot of the question would hold whether he can be dispossessed of his Regal authoritie by any power in the Pope whether the Pope hath such fulnes of power to strip a King of those Royall robes rights and reuenewes of the Crowne which were neuer giuen him by the Pope as also by what authoritie of holy Scripture the Pope is able to beare out himselfe in this power and to make it good But here the L. Card. stoutly saith in his owne defence by way of reioinder Page 71. As one text hath Let euery soule be subiect vnto the higher powers in like maner an other text hath Obey your Prelates and be subiect vnto your Pastors for they watch ouer your soules as men that shall giue an accompt for your soules This reason is void of reason and makes against himselfe For may not Prelates be obeyed and honoured without Kings be deposed If Prelates preach the doctrine of the Cospell will they in the pulpit stirre vp subiects to rebell against Kings Moreouer whereas the vniuersall Church in these daies is diuided into so many discrepant parts that now Prelates neither doe nor can draw all one way is it not exceeding hard keeping our obedience towards God to honour them all at once with due obedience Nay is not here offered vnto me a dart out of the L. Cardinals armorie to cast at himselfe For as God chargeth all men with obedience to Kings and yet from that commaundement of God the L. Cardinall would not haue it inferred that Kings haue power to degrade Ecclesiasticall Prelates euen so God giueth charge to obey Prelates yet doeth it not follow from hence that Prelates haue power to depose Kings These two degrees of obedience agree well together and are each of them bounded with peculiar and proper limits But for so much as in this point we haue on our side the whole auncient Church which albeit she liued and groned for many aages together vnder heathen Emperours heretikes and persecuters did neuer so much as whisper a word about rebelling and falling from their Soueraigne Lords and was neuer by any mortall creature freed from the oath of allegiance to the Emperour the Cardinall is not vnwilling to graunt that ancient Chrisuans in those times were bound to performe such fidelity and allegiance for as much as the Church the Cardinall for shame durst not say the Pope then had not absolued them of their oath No doubt a pleasant dreame or a merry conceit rather to imagine the Bishop of Rome was armed with power to take away the Empire of the world from Nero or Claudius or Domitianus to whom it was not knowen whether the citie of Rome had any Bishop at all Is it not a master-iest of a straine most ridiculous to presuppose the Grand-masters and absolute Lords of the whole world had a sent so dull that they were not able to smell out and to nose things vnder their owne noses that they saw so little with other mens eies and their owne that within their capitall citie they could not spie that Soueraigne armed with ordinary and lawfull authority to degrade and to turne them out of their renowned Empire Doubtlesse the said Emperours vassals belike of the Popes Empire are to be held excused for not acknowledging and honouring the Pope in quality of their Lord as became his vassals because they did not know there was any such power in the world as after-times haue magnified and adored vnder the qualitie of Pope For the Bishops of Rome in those times were of no greater authoritie power and meanes then some of the Bishops are in these daies within my Kingdomes But certes those Popes of that primitiue aage thought it not expedient in the said times to draw their swords they exercised their power in a more mild and soft kind of carriage toward those miserable Emperours for three seuerall reasons alledged by the L. Cardinall The first because the Bishops then durst not by their censures whet and prouoke those Emperours for feare of plunging the Church in a Sea of persecutions But if I be not cleane voide of common sense this reason serueth to charge not onely the Bishops of Rome but all the auncient professors of Christ besides with deepe dissimulation and hypocrisie For it is all one as if he had professed that all their obedience to their Soueraignes was but counterfeit and extorted or wrong out of them by force that all the submissiue supplications of the auncient Fathers the assured testimonies and pledges of their allegiance humilitie and patience were but certaine formes of disguised speech proceeding not freely from the suggestions of fidelity but faintly and fainedly or at least from the strong twitches and violent conuulsions of feare Whereupon it followes that all their torments and punishments euen to the death are wrongfully honoured with the title and crowned with the crowne of Martyrdome because their patience proceeded not from their owne free choice and election but was taught by the force of necessitie as by compulsion and whereas they had not mutinously and rebelliously risen in armes to asswage the scorching heat and burning flames of tyrannicall persecuters it was not for want of will but for lacke of power Which false and forged imputation the Fathers haue cleared themselues of in their writings Tert. Apol. cap. 37. Hesterni sumus omnia restra impleuimus Tertullian in his Apologet All places are full of Christians the cities isles castles burroughs armies c. If we that are so infinite a power and multitude of men had broken from you into some remote nooke or corner of the world the cities no doubt had become naked and solitarie there had beene a dreadfull and horrible filence ouer the face of the whole Empire the great Emperours had beene driuen
Church as of secular Lords and to make ordinances for the confiscation of all priuate persons goods By this Canon the Kingdome of Naples hath need to looke well vnto it selfe For one duell it may fall into the Exchecquer of the Romane Church because that Kingdome payeth a Reliefe to the Church as a Royaltie or Seignorie that holdeth in fee of the said Church And in France there is not one Lordship not one Mannor not one farme which the Pope by this meanes cannot shift ouer to a new Lord. His Lordship therefore had carried himselfe and the cause much better if in stead of seeking such idle shifts he had by a more large assertion maintained the Popes power to dispose of priuate mens possessions with no lesse right and authoritie then of Kingdomes For what colour of reason can bee giuen for making the Pope Lord of the whole and not of the parts for making him Lord of the forrest in grosse and not of the trees in parcell for making him Lord of the whole house and not of the parlour or the dining chamber His Lordship alleadgeth yet an other reason but of no better weight Betweene the power of priuate owners ouer their goods and the power of Kings ouer their estates there is no little difference For the goods of priuate persons are ordained for their owners and Princes for the benefit of their Common-wealths Heare me now answere If this Cardinal-reason hath any force to inferre that a King may lawfully be depriued of his Kingdome for heresie but a priuate person cannot for the same crime be turned out of his mansion house then it shall follow by the same reason that a Father for the same cause may bee depriued of all power ouer his children but a priuate owner cannot be depriued of his goods in the like case because goods are ordeined for the benefit and comfort of their owners but fathers are ordeined for the good and benefit of their children But most certain it is that Kings representing the image of God in earth and Gods place haue a better and closer seate in their chaires of Estate then any priuate persons haue in the saddle of their inheritances and patrimonies which are dayly seene for sleight causes to flit and to fall into the hands of new Lords Whereas a Prince being the Head cannot bee loosed in the proper ioynt nor dismounted like a cannon when the carriage thereof is vnlockt without a sore shaking and a most grieuous dislocation of all the members yea without subuerting the whole bodie of the State whereby priuate persons without number are inwrapped together in the same ruine euen as the lower shrubs and other brush-wood are crushed in pieces altogether by the fall of a great oake But suppose his Lordships reason were somewhat ponderous and solide withall yet a King which would not bee forgotten is endowed not onely with the Kingdome but also with the ancient Desmenes and Crowne-lands for which none can be so simple to say The King was ordeined and created King which neuerthelesse he loseth when hee loseth his Crowne Admit againe this reason were of some pith to make mighty Kings more easily deposeable then priuate persons from their patrimonies yet all this makes nothing for the deriuing and fetching of deposition from the Popes Consistorie What hee neuer conferred by what right or power can he claime to take away But see heere no doubt a sharpe and subtile difference put by the L. Cardinall betweene a Kingdome and the goods of priuate persons Goods as his Lordship saith are without life they can be constrained by no force by no example by no inducement of their owners to lose eternall life Subiects by their Princes may Now I am of the contrary beliefe That an hereticall owner or master of a family hath greater power and meanes withall to seduce his owne seruants and children then a Prince hath to peruert his owne subiects and yet for the contagion of Heresie and for corrupt religion children are not remoued from their parents nor seruants are taken away from their masters Histories abound with examples of most flourishing Churches vnder a Prince of contrary religion And if things without life or soule are with lesse danger left in an heretikes hands why then shall not an hereticall King with more facilitie and lesse danger keepe his Crowne his Royall charge his lands his customes his imposts c For will any man except he bee out of his wits affirme these things to haue any life or soule Or why shall it bee counted folly to leaue a sword in the hand of a mad Bedlam Is not a sword also without life and soule For my part I should rather be of this minde that possession of things without reason is more dangerous and pernicious in the hands of an euill master then the possession of things endued with life and reason For things without life lacke both reason and iudgement how to exempt and free themselues from being instruments in euill and wicked actions from being emploied to vngodly and abominable vses I will not deny that an hereticall Prince is a plague a pernicious and mortall sickenesse to the soules of his subiects But a breach made by one mischiefe must not bee filled vp with a greater inconuenience An errour must not be shocked and shouldered with disloialtie nor heresie with periurie nor impietie with sedition and armed rebellion against GOD and the King GOD who vseth to try and to schoole his Church will neuer forsake his Church nor hath need to protect his Church by any proditorious and prodigious practises of perfidious Christians For he makes his Church to be like the burning bush In the middest of the fire and flames of persecutions hee will prouide that she shall not be consumed because hee standeth in the midst of his Church And suppose there may be some iust cause for the French to play the rebels against their King yet will it not follow that such rebellious motions are to be raised by the bellowes of the Romane Bishop to whose Pastorall charge and office it is nothing proper to intermeddle in the ciuill affaires of forraine Kingdomes Here is the summe and substance of the L. Cardinals whole discourse touching his pretence of the second inconuenience Which discourse hee hath closed with a remarkeable confession to wit that neither by the authoritie of holy Scripture nor by the the testimonie and verdict of the Primitiue Church there hath bene any full decision of this question In regard whereof he falleth into admiration that Lay-people haue gone so farre in audaciousnesse as to labour that a doubtfull doctrine might for euer passe currant and be taken for a new article of faith What a shame what a reproach is this how full of scandall for so his Lordship is pleased to cry out This breakes into the seueralls and inclosures of the Church this lets in whole herds of heresies to grase in her greene and sweet pastures
of his life in the city of Tours Certaine it is they neuer abandoned that Henry 3. nor his next successor Henry 4. in all the heat of reuolts and rebellions raised in the greatest part of the Kingdome by the Pope and the more part of the Clergie but stood to the said Kings in all their battels to beare vp the Crowne then tottering and ready to fall Certaine it is that euen the heads and principalls of those by whom the late King deceased was pursued with all extremities at this day doe enioy the fruit of all the good seruices done to the King by the said Protestants And they are now disgraced kept vnder exposed to publike hatred What for kindling coales of questions and controuersies about Religion Forsooth not so but because if they might haue equall and indifferent dealing if credit might be giuen to their faithfull aduertisements the Crowne of their Kings should bee no longer pinned to the Popes flie-flap in France there should bee no French exempted from subiection to the French King causes of benefices or of matrimonie should bee no longer citable and summonable to the Romish Court and the Kingdome should bee no longer tributarie vnder the colour of annats the first fruits of Benefices after the remooue or death of the Incumbent and other like impositions But why doe I speake so much in the behalfe of the French Protestants The Lord Cardinall himselfe quittes them of this blame when he telleth vs this doctrine for the deposing of Kings by the Popes mace or verge had credit and authoritie through all France vntill Caluins time Doth not his Lordship vnder-hand confesse by these words that Kings had beene alwaies before Caluins time the more dishonoured and the worse serued Item that Protestants whom his Lordship calls heretikes by the light of holy Scripture made the world then and euer since to see the right of Kings oppressed so long before As for those of the Low Countries and the subiects of Swethland I haue little to say of their case because it is not within ordinary compasse and indeed serueth nothing to the purpose These Nations besides the cause of Religion doe stand vpon certaine reasons of State which I will not here take vpon me like a Iudge to determine or to sift Iunius Brutus Whom the Lord Cardinall obiecteth is an author vnknowne and perhaps of purpose patcht vp by some Romanist with a wyly deceit to draw the reformed Religion into hatred with Christian Princes Buchanan I reckon and ranke among Poets not among Diuines classicall or common If the man hath burst out here and there into some tearmes of excesse or speach of bad temper that must be imputed to the violence of his humour and heate of his spirit not in any wise to the rules and conclusions of trew Religion rightly by him conceiued before Barclaius alledged by the Cardinall meddles not with deposing of Kings but deals with disavowing them for Kings when they shal renounce the right of Royalty and of their owne accord giue ouer the Kingdome Now he that leaues it in the Kings choice either to hold or to giue ouer his Crowne leaues it not in the Popes power to take away the Kingdome Of Gerson obtruded by the Cardinal we haue spoken sufficiently before Where it hath beene shewed how Gerson is disguised masked and peruerted by his Lordship In briefe I take not vpon me to iustifie and make good all the sayings of particular authors We glory and well we may that our religion affordeth no rules of rebellion nor any dispensation to subiects for the oath of their allegiance and that none of our Churches giue entertainement vnto such monstrous and abhominable principles of disloyaltie If any of the French otherwise perswaded in former times Richcrius now hauing altered and changed his iudgement doth contend for the Soueraignty of Kings against Papall vsurpation He doubtles for winding himselfe out of the Laborinth of an error so intricate pernicious deserueth great honour and speciall praise He is worthy to hold a place of dignity aboue the L. Cardinall who hath quitted and betrayed his former iudgement which was holy and iust Their motions are contrary their markes are opposite The one reclineth from euill to good the other declineth from good to euill At last his Lordship commeth to the close of his Oration and bindes vp his whole harangue with a feate wreath of praises proper to his King He styles the King the eldest Sonne of the Church a young shoot of the lilly which King Salomon in all his Royaltie was not able to match He leades vs by the hand into the pleasant meadowes of Histories there to learne vpon the very first sight and view That so long so oft as the Kings of France embraced vnion and kept good tearmes of concord with Popes and the Apostolike See so long as the spouse of the Church was pastured and fed among the lillies all sorts of spirituall and temporall graces abundantly showred vpon their Crownes and vpon their people On the contrary when they made any rent or separation from the most holy See then the lillies were pricked and almost choaked with sharpe thornes they beganne to droope to stoope and to beare their beautifull heads downe to the very ground vnder the strong flawes and gusts of boystrous windes and tempests My answere to this flourishing close and vpshot shall be no lesse apert then apt It sauours not of good and faithfull seruice to smooth and stroake the Kings head with a soft hand of oyled speech and in the meane time to take away the Crowne from his head and to defile it with dirt But let vs try the cause by euidence of Historie yea by the voice and verdict of experience to see whether the glorious beauty of the French lillies hath beene at any time blasted and thereupon hath faded by starting aside and making separation from the holy See Vnder the raigne of King Philip the Faire France was blessed with peace and prosperity notwithstanding some outragious acts done against the Papall See and contumelious crying quittance by King Philip with the Pope Lewis 12. in ranged battell defeated the armies of Pope Iulius 2. and his Confederates proclaimed the said Pope to be fallen from the Popedome stamped certaine coynes and pieces of gold with a dishonourable mot euen to Rome it selfe Rome is Babylon yet so much was Lewis loued and honoured of his people that by a peculiar title he was called the Father of the Country Greater blessings of God greater outward peace and plenty greater inward peace with spirituall and celestiall treasures were neuer heaped vpon my Great Brittaine then haue beene since my Great Brittaine became Great in the greatest and chiefest respect of all to wit since my Great Brittaine hath shaken off the Popes yoke since she hath refused to receiue and to entertaine the Popes Legats employed to collect S. Peters tribute or Peter-pence since the Kings of England