civill Court thus farre Iustinian In which first part of the Emperour Iustinians Novel I may not passe diverse points untouched this for one That Menua is glad to come on his knees and to make humble suite for this priviledge then surely his Churchmen had no such exemption before from God himselfe or Iure divino by Gods law for had the good Patriarch had that string to his Bow by Gods holy Ordinance or constitution doubtlesse his humble begging and earnest Petition for this humane priviledge had been by his leave and yes too Hetrodox no better then direct and voluntary rushing into sinne This for another that Iustinian grants not Menua the Court in any absolute straine or terme but only allowes him to give judgement or sentence without any clamorous noyse and without any formall instruments in writing a course clean contrary to modern practise in our Ecclesiasticall Courts where commonly more clamour and noyse more Advocates Proctors Notaries more Offices and Ministers more chargeable Fees are paid for Transcripts breviats Bookes and such like instruments then are in Courts of secular justice This for a third that Iustinian puts down the reason whereby he was induced to grant such priviledge to wit that Clerics not disquieted nor disturbed with clamours and noises of Courts might more diligently and freely attend upon their divine offices and Ministeriall Functions This for the fourth and last Iustinian grants no absolute but only conditionall priviledge The second point observable in the Novell that in criminall causes of civill nature and kind meerely temporall without any smack or rellish of spirituals which Couaruvias expounds in these words Quae spiritualia non attingunt such as touch not the hemne of the spirituall garment Church-men within the City of Constantinople shall be tryed and judged by competent secular Judges and through the whole Empire besides by the Prefects or L. Presidents in their severall Provinces and that moreover with a certain limitation or stint of time namâ—ly that within the tearm and space of two moneths the matter shall be drawn to a head and shall come to a finall issue or end and that sentence being once sped or passed against a Cleric by the L. President of any Province the President shall not proceed to execution before the said Cleric is degraded and quite divested of his priestly or sacerdotall dignity by the Bishop according to the laudable custome and usuall manner in such cases The Emperours own words are thus directly couched in the Novell Si tamen de criminalibus conveniantur c. but if a Church-man be convented or brought Coram nobis upon some criminall cause of a civill nature that is to say such as no way hath dependance or correspondence with Ecclesiastic Regiment or Church-discipline in such a case he shall come to tryall within this imperiall City before competent Judges and in all the Provinces before the most honourable Presidents of the same provided the suite depend or hold not above two months after the Actor hath put in his Declaration and the Reus his Answer or defence that so the suite may have the shorter cut and the more expedite dispatch And in case the President shall find the party impleaded to be guilty in the action and thereupon shall adjudge him to undergo and suffer the punishment ordained and inflicted by Law then the party so judged shall first be deposed from his Priestly Orders and Church dignities by the Bishop beloved of God and after that he shall come under the hand or suffer the penalty of the Lawes In which words likewise divers points are to be observed viz. That some offences criminall are meerely civill meerely politic no way within compasse of spirituall respect or consideration that crimes and offences of such nature are tryable and punishable by temporall Magistrates that Churchmen for the said offences may be sentenced and condemned to death by a temporall Judge that Justinian bindes not himselfe or his LL. the Judges within the City of Constantinople to cause a Priest or Cleric first of all to be degraded and after to be transmitted over into the hands of civil Ministers of justice but in such case he binds only the provinciall Presidents himselfe as the Soveraign and the Judges in Constantinople as his Commissioners Delegates or Subaltern Magistrates remaining exempt and free from such obligation to give order for the degrading of such Delinquents before execution that sentence of the secular Judge must precede and then degradation is to follow before execution for Manus legum the hand of the lawes is the executioner of haut justice from whence it is directly to be deduced that Hetrodox hath drawn but a sinister left handed untoward and perverse construction of Iustinians Novell in bearing us in hand that Churchmen for offeâ—ces and crimes of this nature are first forsooth to be judged and withall to be degraded by the Bâ—shop and after to feel the weight of the secular arme for faith Hetrodox Et tâ—nc sub legum fieri maâ—â— and then to undergo the deadly stroake of the law whereas without all ambiguity the great and learned Emperour speakes in perspicuous tearmes and sayes that a definitive sentence of the secular Judge shall precâ—de degradation by the Bishop shall second execution of the sentence shall follow in the Reare and yet withall that such course of proceeding shall be only held in the Provinces and not in the imperiall City The third point or branch of the said Novell that in case a Clerics offence be of Ecclesiasticall nature namely such as requires and calles for justice by some ecclesiasticall censure or penalty thâ—n the punishment shall be inflicted and the penalty awarded according to the divine and sacred rules or Canons which in such cases the lawes imperiall do not hold it any abatement or disparâ—gement of their honour to follow The Emperours proper words runne precisely thus Si vero Ecclesiasticum siâ— delictum c. But when the offence is meerely Ecclesiastic such as requires the censure and correction of the Church then shall the Bishop beloved of God take due contemplation of the nature quality and merit of the offence the right honourable Judges residing and exercising their charge in the severall Provinces shall beare no hand and strike no stroake in the busines neither as head nor foot for it is not our pleasure or mind at any hand that civill Magistrates take any cognizance at all of such cases because they are to be sifted scanned and tryed by ecclesiasticall proceedings and the faults of delinquents in that kind are corrigible only by Ecclesiastic censures according to the sacred Canons which our lawes imperiall do not disdaine to imitate In which branch or context of the Novell these few heads come in like manner to be observed that some offences are meerly ecclesiasticall and annexed to the clericall order that when the holy Canons and sacred Scripture make it lawfull for Prelates to inflict and
Expressis verbis by perspicuous termes or by Gods Law Naturall or in any other manner To all such doubtlesse any former Epithets will be found agreeable The first of our three Races is now runne let us rest for some few minutes if you please that wee may gather the more breadth for the better performing of the other two courses The sixth daies Conference upon the seventh Proposition Orthodox SO long as the Signorie of Venice is not culpable and commits no sinne howsoever the State stands now and lyes under the Censure of Excommunication by the high Bishop or Pope Paulus V. in the Breve of Censures published by his Holinesse howsoever the sacred Temples and holy places lye now under the Interdict neverthelesse the sentence of our holy Father the Pope is of no force to no effect and as no Sentence First by the Law positive because the order prescribed by the Canon hath not been observed duly and Canonically as we read in the manifest Secondly by the Law Divine Can. de Senten Excom in 6. because all Authority to Excommunicate stands tyed to a condition with a Si peccaverit c. if thy Brother sinne against thee c. So that where no sinne there no place for Excommunication and the sentence fulminated against one that hath not sinned Nulla est ex defectu materiae becomes no Sentence for Defect or want of due matter And I would not have any mans wit so blasted to thinke that howsoever the Signorie hath not offended as hath beene proved nor doth offend in holding their owne Right neverthelesse they offend in shewing their disobedience to the Pope and persisting in their opinion For Constancie in a good opinion is not Obstinacie and he that hath not offended should not be termed obstinate or disobedient For as hee that keepes the Law doth a most holy and meritorious worke so he that is not obedient in matters which cannot be commanded or enjoyned him to performe commits not any sinne or offence at all Hetrodox In this Proposition you are bold to affirme two things That our holy Fathers Excommunication and Interdict is a sentence of Nullity both by positive Law and also by the Law of God By positive Law because the order prescribed by the Canon hath not been observed in this case A notorious falsitie For in the Title De Sententia Excommunicationis in 6. there be only three Canons by which the Judiciarie order is determined In the first Chapter the sentence is commanded to be put down in Scriptis in the Chapter Solet it is commanded that no man shall be Excommunicated after hee hath appealed In the Chapter Statuimus it is commanded that no man shall be excommunicated except first he be Canonically thereof advertised by three Admonitions And albeit every Defect makes not a sentence to be no sentence yet in the present case we need not flie unto this excuse For the sentence of our Lord the Pope was given in Scriptis and with all the three Admonitions of eight daies for the first Terme eight for the second and eight for the third No Appeale interposed nor could be interposed where the Pope is the Supream Judge So that with all exactnesse the Judiciarie Order commanded by the Canons De Sententia Excommunicationis in 6. hath beene duely observed it was your part Orthodox to produce the Canon and to demonstrate in which of these three points it hath not been observed but alas you could not as it seemes and thinking it sufficient by like to beguile the ignorant you passe it onely in generall termes By the Law of God the sentence of our Lord the Pope you say is without any validity and no sentence for want of matter because Excommunication is a punishment which may not be inflicted without some precedent offence and for as much as the Signorie of Venice hath not offended the Lords of that State could not be subject unto Excommunication This hath beene answered before where I have shewed how the Signorie hath most grievously offended First In making unjust Lawes against the Church and in committing Ecclesiasticall persons to prison then againe in being disobedient unto the high Bishop and refusing to be reformed by his Holinesse in their evill waies But were it a matter of doubt whether the Signorie hath sinned or no it is most certaine that doubt is to be put out of doubt and resolved not by the judgement of the Signorie but of our holy Father the Pope the Supreame Judge in Christs roome and place If the Pope then be the Judge over sinne which point you have confessed in the fourth Proposition then the Pope and none but he hath power to discerne whether a thing be sin or no sin that 's his proper office A figure whereof we have in the old Testament where it was the Priests office to judge whether one was infected with Leprosie or free from that infection Now the Pope the Priest of Priests hath judged the Duke of Venice to have grievously sinned to be all-over-run with a Spirituall Leprosie of great Malignitie and Contagion whereupon 〈◊〉 Holinesse by sentence of Excommunication hath separated the Duke from the company and fellowship of the Faithfull How can the Duke be defended or excused in this case It is true that constancie in a good opinion is not as you have well said to be counted and termed obstinacie provided the question remaine and long in a doubtfull ballance But when the question is once judged and ended by the Judge to whom all men are bound to give credit as in this case then the opinion of all such as maintaine the cause of the Venetian Signorie is no longer an opinion but an Errour and then constancy therein is obstinacie Orthodox Your oppositions to this our seventh Proposition have been effectually reproved before as touching matter of Right It onely remaines to give your Errours by tale Bona Emphytheotica et ager Emphytheoticus i.e. vestigalis macer Nam Emphytensis est genus locationis quo inculti ac deserti agri colono alicui eâ lege in perpetuum locantur et quamdiu praestituta merces solvatur nunquam ad Dominum revertatur in your Exposition touching matter of Fact 1. Before his Holinesse denounced sentence against the Lords of Venice he Canonically gave them Admonition you say three severall times I would faine know how that can be when his first Monitorie was no Monitorie but onely a Declaratorie and a Definitive Sentence without any Monitorie at all going before Againe in the third Monitorie the cause of Emphytheaticals as they are termed in Rome not once mentioned in the first and second Monitorie is interserted This one point were there none other drawes the sentence into Nullitie Besides when Monitories are no Monitories but sentences like those of his Holinesse for want of Juridicall citation they have that inexcusable Defect which makes every cause void every Sentence no Sentence But of this matter I
forbeare to speake any more presupposing it is most evident as a matter tossed from one to another in every Venetians mouth Howbeit I build not so much upon this foundation because I have this answer of Rome at my fingers ends When the Pope doth any thing against the Canons that is the Pope is Supra Canones he is above the Canons How this can hold water or weight with truth I leave to your consideration For that Canon is grounded upon the order of Brotherly correction prescribed by our Saviour himselfe the alteration of whose Ordinance is too far out of the Popes reach 2. The â—â—â—â—â—ce of our holy Father the Pope you say is not a void 〈◊〉 â—â—nce of nullified by Gods Law and that you have sufficiently proved the Venetian Lords have most grievously sinned I doe not deny that you have in Affirmation charged the noble Lords with I wor not what grievous offences But Sir that you have made any Demonstration of your bold Assertion according to your stout pretence that you must give me leave to deny againe and againe Will you have my Reason It is indemonstrable that such as goe not against any Law doe fall into sin That such as tooth and naile doe stand for defence of their ancient Rights and Possessions doe fall into sinne That such as obey God rather then men fall into sinne That such as resist violence doe fall into sinne Such are the lawfull and laudable Actions of the Venetian Lords and therefore they doe not fall into sinne as to effectuall purpose hath beene declared before Whereas your oppositions against this Doctrine have not one myte of probability no not in appearance much lesse of certainty or Demonstration as you pretend 3. I have confessed the Popes power extends unto Spirituall matters and is over sinne you hereupon doe inferre that the Pope hath power at all times and in all causes to judge what is a sin and what is no sin This your opinion smels of Durandus his Chimnie and smoke an opinion of all men reproved but your opinion is much worse For Durandus doth not professe that in every sin we should stand to the Popes judgement whether it be sin or no for that is not necessary He onely affirmes the Pope hath power to judge all Christian People ratione peccati for sinne at his pleasure and to draw all matters into his Court Whereas you Hetrodox passe a whole degree further For if the Pope shall judge an action of vertue to be sin though I be never so certain it is no sin you forsooth will have the Popes judgement shall make it sinne This perswasion containes intolerable Errors 1. The first whereof is That in judiciis Facti in judgements of the Fact our holy Fathers judgement is infallible False for in cases of the Fact he may erre and hath oftentimes erred So teach all the Doctors in the Fact of Pope Stephen and Pope Pâ—â—â—osus with other Popes of whom Platina writes This Doctrine is held for most certain in the Church The Pope then may erre in affirming a thing to be sin which is no sin so the Pope can be no infallible Judge 2. The second Howsoever in a doubtfull case whether a thing be sin or no recourse may be had to the Popes Judgment or some other Doctors yet in cases which are certain and certainly known such recourse to the Pope for his Judgement is not necessary For example I know for certaine it is a sin to steale such a rich Jewell or such a piece of Plate again I know for certain it is a vertue to defend my Life my Land my Leases and to serve God Shall I give credit and faith to the Pope â—he should affirme the contrary to that whereof I am so certain and no way doubtfull Those Authors who grant all Authority to the Pope and judgement between Leprosie and Leprosie that is whether it be Leprosie or no Leprosie doe grant it only in doubtfull bâ—â— not in certain cases For in matters cleer evident and certain either the light of Nature or the sacred Scripture or the common estimation and account of all men is unto us a Law vox Populi vox Dei 3. That in the present case and assures of the Venetian Lords to make the world believe they sin it is all sufficient for the Pope to speake the word and to say the Venetian Lords doe grievously offend and transgresse the Lawes of God of the Pope of the Church c. Whereas you know Hetrodox it is the perverse the froward the wicked intention that makes a thing to be fin according to that of Bernard Tolle voluntatem Infernus non erit if a man be cleare from all wicked intention he shall be cleere and free from Hell-fire for ever because according to St. Augustine Peccatum est dictum factum concupitum contra legem sinne must be something spoken or acted or coveted against the Law of God If one therefore hath a good intention he goeth not against Gods Law Howsoever the Pope shall say he sinnes yet he sinnes not which according to all the Doctors as hath been said must be understood in re certâ Now because the Venetian Lords are certainly assured they have not sinned or offended and carry a cleer conscience fâ—â—e from any sinister and evill intention this knowledge is their sufficient warrant without running to the Pope for his judgement in such a cause especially wherein his Holinesse makes himselfe both Judge and Partie 4. The Supreame Judge you say hath judged the Duke of Venice to be covered all over with Leprosie from head to foot the Duke is therefore unclean all over Why good Sir the ancient Priest under the old Testament judged not of any mans Leprosie He onely said thou art an unclean Leper and therefore I will not suffer thee to enter into the Temple Now this judgement belongs to all Physitians and indeed to all other men when the Leprosie is manifestly seen and when every man knowes the partie to be smitten with Leprosie Besides if it be doubtfull whether a man be leprous or no men may runne to the Priest or goe to the Doctor to be certified of the truth But when a man is already assured and certain that he is not rotten but sound not run over with knots and knubs but of a cleer and smooth skin what needs he run or send his Vrine to the Physitian for the matter except his Phantasticon be like unto the immaginative apprehension of one who being Infra limites sanitatis as Physitians use to speake as whole as a Fish when his Physitian told him he had an Ague in his Phantasie so deepely made impressions of the Physitians words that he was in a trice surprised really of an Ague and thereof soone dyed To be short If Christ Jesus the Supreame Judge indeed who cannot erre should say contrary to the judgement and assured knowledge of the Venetian Lords you sin in these
such as have contrived and penned Constitutions contarry to Gods Word but likewise the whole Church that holds the said Canons for most reverend as holy Rules given by the Holy Ghost howsoever they first came from the heads and hands of Popes or sacred Counsels Orthod If ever that Latine Pâ—â—veâ—b had any truth Tuo te gladio jugulas the man hath cut his owne throat with his owne knife it will surely prove more then true in this occurrence For you Hetrodox will be found murthered with your owne murthering shot I mean refuted if not confounded with your own example which is Cardinall Bellarmine you affirme that in case the French King shall adjudge and commit a man to the Gallies he doth it by his Temporall power and not by vertue of Spirituall power whereof he is cleane void like a Fowle when she is bared of all her Feathers Now I dâ—mand in case the Pope shall serve his Inhibition upon some abâ—olute P ince or State prohibiting them to make wholesome Lawes for the more godly and peaceable government of their Liâ—ge-Pâ—oplâ— By what power shall the Pope send forth such Bâ—ll Sâ—â—â—l not by vertue of any Spirituall power because the Spiriâ—â—â—â—l power hath no manner or measure of extension to Temporall Judgements or Temporall goods Then sure he shall doe iâ— by vertue of his Temporall power But by his Holinesse good leave he is not invested with any such Teâ—porall power and therefore he â—a not by his Bâ—lls and Inhibitions disanull or cause the foresaid wholsome and godly Lawes And as the King sends to the Gallies because he is King not because he is Pope so the Pope as being Pope and no Temporall King of any absolute Prince or States Territories cannot put downe and repeale many Lawes that his Holinessâ— prohibits and while he takes that violent course and is not obeyed therein by any absolute Prince or State the disobeying Prince or State runs into no sin because the Pope hath no mandatory power in such cases your particular Errours in this Article are palpable 1. You interpret my scope and enâ—d in this Proposition at your pleasure and say I speake nothing o the purpose intended True it is â—hat my Principall end is to prove the censures of our holie Faâ—hâ—r the Pope in a certaine hypothâ—sis to be altogether invalid and of none eff ct But for as much as to make some proof thereof it is first necessarie for me to pâ—ove that in such cases the absolute Prince or State commits no sinne seeing the censure thundered against one who doth not sin is of no force or effâ—ct I have therefore drawne this Proposition wherein I make demonstration that where the Pope hath no authority to command there neither Prince nor State nor People are within the termes of obligation to yeeld obedience and that not obeying in that case their conscience is not defiled not wounded with anie sinne 2. You are of opinion that my drift is to prove the said censures to be of no force or validitie Ex defectu Authoritatis Spiritualis by reason of some lamenesse or weakenesse in the Spirituall Authoritie But you are verie far wide of my purpose For my purpose and endeavour is to make this good and unmalleable by any of your greatest hammers That all censures in that kind and nature are in qualitie of meere Nullitie because no absolute Prince or State commit anie sin when they use all good and lawfull meanes possible to hold fast and to defend their own right and lawfull Jurisdiction which makes a defect in the Pope not of Spirituall Authoritie as we Catholiques maintaine but of Temporall The Spirituall Authoritie gives him the power of the Keyes to excommunicate but defect of Temporall Authoritie makes the censure meerlie void and no censure because there is no obligation which inforceth or constraineth obedience to him that hath no Authoritie over the partie because in their not obeying they commit no sinne and because in committing no sin they run not into any kind of censure 3. You cannot denie that in re and upon the matter I hold and maintaine and truth in this thiâ—d Proposition howsoever you twitch or give some jerke at my drift and citation of Authors you therefore cannot justlie charge me with anie corrupt affection of mind herein That man hath a corrupt and perverse heart Prov. 27. who rises by night and in deceit blesses his neighbor with a loud voice but howsoever Maledicenti similis erit he shall be like one that curseth For as Gold is tryed in the Furnace and silver in the fier so is a man tryed in the mouth of him that praiseth For this reason at last it is better to be reproved by a wise man then to be deceived by the flatterie of fooles It is better therefore to utter a truth and to be reproved of men then to practise flatterie Gal. 1. and to be punished of God witnesse the Apostle si adhuc hominibus placerem c. If I should seeke to please men I should not be the servant of Christ 4. You count and call and wonder immodestie and so you found the wonder of Sotus with an Epiphonems of my proper Art For those words that such Doctrine is full of scandall and built on a sandiâ— foundation are neither the words of Sotus not of Bellarmine but my owne words and they are flowers of praise if they be put in the ballance with your words uttered of my Doctrine Howbeit you reprove both me and my doctrine in the Concrete whereas I propund the doctrine in the Abstract and in that sense of the Abstract my doctrine is not denyed but granted For what scandall can be greater then whereas our Saviour hath said of the perfect men If thou wilt be perfect Maâ— 19. go and sell all that thou hast and give it to the poore the Disciple is not above his Master to determine on the contrarie that he I meane our holie Father the Pope who above all other B shops is most bound to the state of perfection and to the imitation of Christs poverty should be Lord of the whole world in Temporall affâ—iâ—es Besides can that Doct ine stand upon any other but a sandy foundation which is contrarie to the verie words and example of poore Christ himselfe 5. You deny that Sotus wonders at our Canonists and yet as you cannot be ignorant he cites Augustinus Triumphus Dist 23. qu. art 1. with Silvester and Panormitanus whom he cals Juris-peritoâ—s great learned Legists or Canonists and terme their opinion of the Popes power directè in Temporalibus commentitious that is a verie fable an invention whereof they are the Patrons as he speaketh and the great Champions In particular he much complaines of Silvester and wonders that he hath swerved from the opinion of his Master St. Thomas being the opinion of the best Diviâ—es The Lord Cardinall Bellarmine himsefe not onely citeth Sotus but in his
the streame Moreover you affirme that Priests ought not in any wise to make a rent or separation from their Head the Prince What can a Protestant Heretique of England say more Who ever heard that a Secular Prince is the Head of Priests and consequently Head of the Church but since Henrie VIII turned Rebell to the Pope and caused himselfe to be stiled Head of the English Church for all this you Orthodox dare tell us that in these Treatises there is handled no matter of Faith but onely of Manners Besides you highly extoll the Ecclesiastics of Venice in being most ready to lay downe their life for their Prince Surely they must needs be a new and strange kind of Saints that are so willing to spend their life in the cause and quarrell of a Prince by whom they are compelled to commit Sacriledge and to disobey the Vicar of Christ The Saints till now have been commended in the Lyturgie to be Triumphatores qui contemnentes jussa Principum mernorunt praemia aeterna to be valiant and Triumphant Champions who contemning the Precepts of Secular Princes have merited Eternall rewards From henceforth by like the Hymne shall have need to be altered that we may sing Isti sunt Triumphatores qui contempserunt Deum ut servarent justa Principum These are the valiant and Tryumphant Champions who have contemned God to keepe and observe the Precepts of Princes at least if wee shall believe these new Doctors Againe The Lords of Venice you affirme have commanded the Religions upon paine of death to keepe their Churches upon and to celebrate all Divine Offices that vain feare might not cause nor bring them to be intermitted in that City most Catholique in all former Ages and now professing to continue Catholique more then at any time heretofore You shall receive no answer to this point from the lips of Hetrodox the Holy Ghost shall give the Answer by the mouth of Samuel 1 Sam. 15.22.23 Hath the Lord as great pleasure in burnt-offerings and Sacrifices as when the voice of the Lord is obeyed Behold to obey is better then Sacrifice and to hearken is better then the Sacrifice of Rammes for Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and transgression is wickednesse and Idolatry If you shall reply that Samuel there speakes of obedience to God heare what our Lord saith in the Gospell Hee that heareth you heareth me Luke 10. and hee that despiseth you despiseth me The Venetian Republic therefore may be well assured that such Divine Offices and Sacrifices as are offered against obedience to Christs owne Vicar can not be pleasing unto Christ himselfe they cannot appease and pacifie but incense and kindle the wrath of God against all those by whom they are offered and all those by whom the Priests are compelled to present any such oblations Againe you puts us in mind to peruse the Doctrine of Navarrus and are bold to affirme That Navarrus makes for your side in all that before hath beene declared At last you fall upon a course of exhortation that all men would retire themselves unto the secure port of this Doctrine that such Exemption as all Ecclesiastics now enjoy are not enjoyed by Gods Law but by Priviledge of Secular Princes in whom there is full power to retract diminish dilate and amplifie the said priviledges at their pleasure I answer Herein Orthodox doth unjustly defame and undiscreetlie blemish the reputation of Navarrus as one that favours and bolsters Orthodox in so many Errors as Orthodox hitherto hath taught and uttered in this Defence But for so much as Navarrus his workes are extant in print and read of all men I referre my selfe to the Readers judgement But Sir that Secular Princes by any power of their owne may retract or diminish the Priviledges of Exemption granted to Ecclesiasticall persons that 's a Doctrine so false and so new that by Conarruuias himselfe an Author of all other least favourable to Ecclesiasticall Exemption it is in Specie reproved and condemned Thus have I fully satisfied if I be not greatly deceived all your Objections in your owne conceit worthy to be highly prized and had in great Estimation if not Admiration Now comes my turne to advise to exhort and to beseech as with my best heart I doe the most noble Republic and her most excellent Prince deeply to weigh and consider in their most grave and incomparable wisedome in what Doctors and Teachers they repose their trust In Summa cap. 25. nu 16. What Is Navarrus wholly on their side when he pronounceth it is a sin to constraine or command Ecclesiastics not to keepe and observe the Interdict When he pronounceth Clerics and Monkes are exempted from the power of Secular Princes Cap. Novit de judiciu notab 6. nu 30. by Gods Law as touching Criminall Spirituall Causes with others of the like nature annexed to Clericall Order and after when he subjoines this to be the common Sentence of Divines and Canonists So that according to the Doctrine of Navarrus the Prince that casts either Clerics or Monkes in prison or presumes in a Criminall cause to judge either of both sinneth against Gods Law he sinneth likewise against Gods Law when he commands Clerics or Monks to say Masse or Divine Service because these things are Spirituall and lastly he sinneth against Gods Law if he attempt to annull or to diminish Exemption granted to Clerics or Monkes by Almightie God Thus the Lords of Venice may see how falsly they have been instructed by some of their owne Doctors and how under the name of Navarrus they have been deceived The same fraud and imposture hath been put as a trick of cunning upon the said Lords by all such as to this day have given themselves the reines of libertie to put in print certain Librets or small Pamphlets of like matter and stuffe but all farced and stuffed with Novelties and lies Againe I exhort and beseech all Ecclesiastics to thinke that none can beare more ardent sincere and indulgent affection to the Child then the naturall Parents Father and Mother that howsoever they have as Paul speaketh many Paedagogues Teachers or Schoole-masters yet but one Father Their Mother is the holie Romane Church their Father is the High Priest or chiefe Bishop by whom in Christs place they have had their Nursing and Education untill they are now grown great and capable of the Inheritance of the Celestiall Paradise They are therefore to presuppose this Mother and this Father wish and worke for their building up in Faith in Truth in all wholesome Doctrine much more then these Paedagogues who teach them Rules and Lessons backwards by that order commonly called Arsie-varsie Last of all I exhort and beseech not onely the said Lords but all Ecclesiastics in the Venetian Government and Territorie well to consider and thinke upon Gods Judgements which many times he brings the highest and stoutest Princes to feele even in this life Pope Gregorie