it that it should raine whenas by the prayers of the Christian Legion the Armie of the Pagan Emperour being enuironed by the Quadi ☞ being presently like to perish for want of water obteyned a plentifull showre from heauen while the hoste of their enemies perished being stricken with thundring and lightning from heauen whereupon it was called the thundring Legion of the Christians And when as the witnesses of God being so vnworthily and cruelly dealt withall threaten eternall fire vpon the wicked Gentiles and did perhaps foretell that fire should come from heauen whereby Cities and Camps were deuoured may they not be said after a sort to cast out fire out of their mouthes to consume their enemies And when as Gods cruell enemies the Emperors did destroy one another by mutuall warre and committed such massacres by sea and land that they seemed to turne whole fields and riuers into blood might not God seeme according to the Prophecie most iustly to haue reuenged the wrongs of his witnesses especially when he raised other witnesses as Phenixes out of their ashes who should beare witnes to the truth and so Gods two witnesses in singular persons may seeme to rise againe in a succession And because not onely the triumphant Church but the militant also is often called heauen both in the Apocalyps The Church called heauen and in the Scripture elsewhere therefore when the witnesses of God had built againe the Temple of God out of these ruines and reliques so as the Prophet speaketh they seemed to ascend vp and to bee in beauen But if any thinke it conuenient to expound this place of the persecution of Antichrist which did liuely expresse the cruelty of the first Beast and of those Antichristians which did most cruelly persecute the Church in these latter ages for the space of 494. yeeres I will not greatly striue against them when as they did play the Gentiles vnder the name of Christ as Tertullian speaketh Onely I shew what other learned men haue probably thought without preiudice to them that thinke otherwise But all that I haue sayd is refuted of the Aduersaries in 3. words for thus they cry out Antichrist is not yet come and they call all things to question whether there be Antichrist which if you please we still discusse in the last place CHAP. XXIX Wherein it is disputed whether Antichrist be that is whether hee bee come THat Antichrist is foreshewed in the Scripture it is euident enough now whether he be to be shewed in the world it shall yet further appeare when wee shall haue discussed whether he be come or no. Of this comming Bellarmin giues sixe tokens Tow going before 1. The Preaching of the Gospell ouer the whole world 2. The subuersion and desolation of the Romane Empire so that the very name remaine not Two accompanying 3. The preaching of Enoch and Elias 4. The most greeuous and publike persecution of the Church which shall clean take away the publike worship of God Two following 5. The continuance of the Kingdome of Antichrist for three yeeres and an halfe 6. The destruction of the world 45. dayes after Out of the first token thus he disputeth If the Gospell be not as yet preached ouer the whole world Antichrist is not yet come The first is true Therefore the second is true The first note whether the Gospell haue bin preached The consequent of the proposition he prooueth out of the words of Christ Matth. 24. ver 14. The Gospell of the Kingdome shall bee preached in all the world that it may be a testimonie to all nations saith Christ but he saith not that then Antichrist shall come but then shall the end come that is either the end of the world as Bellarmine thinkes or the rasing of Ierusalem as wee haue euicted But grant that the end of the world is vnderstood by those words yet vnlesse Bellarmine will take that for granted which is in controuersie that Antichrist shall not come before the end of the world which we most stifly doe deny this exposition can help Bellarmine nothing at all But what if the place be to be vnderstood not of the end of the world The destruction of Ierusalem taken for the end of the world by Papists but of the destruction of Ierusalem it will auaile him much lesse Heere therefore first I oppose Chrysostome against Bellarmine which interprets the place not of the end of the world but of the destruction of Ierusalem which the context of the place doth conuince for first Christ answers to his Disciples to whom he had sayd The 24. of Matthew expounded Vers 2. it should come to passe that the city and the Temple should bee vtterly ouerthrowen so that a stone should not bee left vpon a stone First I say answers them about the ouerthrow of Ierusalem which they thought should haue stood for euer They asking him Vers 3. Tell vs when these things shall be that is when shall the Temple bee destroyed and afterward they aske him of the end of the world and of his comming to iudgement The parts of the question are therefore double first of the destruction of Ierusalem the second of the end of the world which they thought should not continue longer then Ierusalem To the first Christ answers first from ver 4. Vers 4. to 23. to the 23. To the second he answers from the 23. Ver. 23. to the 42. to the 42. And first Christ fore-sheweth the calamities which went before the destruction to the fifteenth verse in that verse hee expounds the destruction fore-tolde by Daniel But if any body thinke that the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place be to be taken by an anologie for the sitting of Antichrist in the Church I will not gaine say it but if hee expound it properly and to the lettter hee shall not haue onely Chrysostome and Luke but Christ himselfe gaine-saying him Among other calamities which were before the destruction of Ierusalem he fore-shewed two spirituall ones especially a seducing of false Prophets a defection of the people Christ doth therefore forewarne and comfort his Disciples hee forewarneth them that they beware of false Prophets hee comforts them with a double promise one of eternall saluation vers 13. Vers 13. if they shall hold out to the end another of a prosperous successe which their ministery by spreading the Gospell ouer all the world shall haue before Ierusalem be vtterly ouerthrowen That it might be a witnesse to euery nation that the Church shall endure when Ierusalem shall bee destroyed whose bounds the Apostles and their Disciples by the preaching of the Gospell before the destruction of Ierusalem had extended ouer all nations both Gentiles and Iewes Neither is it to bee thought that Christ had confounded all these prophesies in the handling of them that he might not nourish an errour which the Disciples had conceiued of the continuance of Ierusalem till the end
A LOOKING-GLASSE FOR THE POPE Wherein HE MAY SEE HIS owne Face the expresse Image of ANTICHRIST Together with THE POPES NEW CREEDE containing 12. Articles of superstition and treason set out by Pius the 4. and Paul the 5. masked with the name of Catholike Faith Refuted in two Dialogues Set forth by LEONEL SHARPE Doctor in Diuinitie And translated by EDWARD SHARPE Bachelour in Diuinitie 1. KING 18. How long will you halt betweene two religions if GOD be GOD follow him if Baal be GOD follow him LONDON Printed by EDWARD GRIFFIN dwelling in the little old Bayly neere the Kings-head 1616. THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY to the most Reuerend Clergie of ENGLAND IT must not seeme strange most Reuerend Fathers in GOD and my much beloued Brethren if seeing the Captaines of Israel be gone forth to warre against Antichrist a Souldier of a meaner rancke moued with the goodnesse of the cause enter the battaile and ioyne himselfe to the standard For all doe see the Pope renew the old warres and cannot rest quiet but assayes by all meanes Papistas nostros nostras dicerem how he may recouer the possession of GREAT BRITAINE being lost and in a vaine hope thereof our Papists in the masculine I should haue said in the feminine but that I should seem to some to haue spoken false Latine are growne more in number and farre more insolent then they were wont heretofore Who then though he be the meanest seruant of Christ borne vnder or rather with the Gospell restored without which he would not deeme Paradise it selfe to be a pleasant Country would not resist and withstand to his teeth Antichrist himselfe renewing his forces and taking courage vnto him with such earnestnesse to recouer that seat from whence aforetime he was iustly cast out I was not ignorant what labours were to bee vndertaken what wronges were to be digested by them who enter combate and maintaine fight with so cruell an enemie so that it were better for them to be silent if they thought what were auaileable rather for their owne priuate then for the publicke estate of the Church of Christ But that which vsually falles out in warre that the tried prowesse of the Captaines doth by their ensample whet on the courages of the Souldiers and doth stirre vp and pricke forward their sluggish mindes to the effecting of some exploite The very same doth happen to Gods Ministers in this spirituall warfare to whom there is abilitie giuen from God to some greater to some lesse to all some Whereby though they can adde nothing to the matters in controuersie and it may bee they ought not because not new things are to be deliuered by Diuines but after a new manner as Vincentius wrot nor with a diuers faith but with a diuers stile as Austen warneth yet notwithstanding both by the consent of their testimony with the difference of their giftes and the varietie of discourse they can and ought giue their helping hand to the Gospell That was also an encouragement that assoone as the beast wounded with the kings speare began to grunt Bellarmine Parsons Pacenius Christano Becan Coquaeus and many others it presently cast vp out of his mouth a great swarme of Iesuites who should not so much refute with arguments as traduce with slanders written with the hand of scorpions the Kings maiestie being not onely the best of Kings but the best of men and vndoubtedly the true Defender of the Faith Right Heretickes who murther men not with the sword but with their wiles as Ierome writeth for a mans style may bee counted aswell a cutthroate as a sworde drawne against Kings whose honour seemes to be more deare and tender vnto them then their liues So that Iames Clement or Francis Rauillacke were no more cruell in wounding the Kings body then Bellarmine or Pacenius in wounding the Kings name It is said that Ethnicke Rome did imprint that letter whereof Cicero makes mention not to the table of iudges as diuers interpret it but as Cicero and Pliny to the head and forehead of false accusers to the leaden head and iron forehead that they may carry countenances as stigmaticall slaues branded with the markes of those letters in disgrace of their slanderous tongues whom Plautus doth therefore tearme litered men Truely it may seeme very vniust if I doe not desire that those Iesuits should be accompted litered whom popish Rome doth nourish and cherish within her as those old geese and dogges who by their cackling and barking did pursue any that assaulted the capitall Adde that those two staues whereof Zacharie the Prophet maketh mention the authority of Magistrates and the obedience and agreement of Subiects Za cap. 1. vers 7. calling the one the staffe of beauty the other the staffe of bondes These gracelesse Iesuits endeauour to breake them both making rebellion an Arittle of their faith wherein they goe so farre that they be not only conuinced of our side but euen of their owne For of late certaine secular Priests as they are called more moderate in shew then the rest that they may the more freely disperse abroad closly among vs the seedes of superstition do cunningly inueigh against the Articles of treason brought in by the Iesuits whenas Alan and many other secular Priests do both command and practise treason Our men therefore both as good Patriottes and as faithfull Ministers being bound with the double bond of warfare euery one of them for his Graces for his time and place much more for his power ought to oppugne both these Articles whereby we may maintaine according to our vocations the liberty of the kingdome vnder which we were borne together with the truth of the Gospell by which we were borne again Wherein the most learned Byshoppe of Elye doth very iustly taxe the Ministers that are luke-warme and silent in a businesse of such importance Epist Dedicat to the KING who do not bestow their paines in writing when as this cause as hee saith is to be reckoned among those wherein he that gathereth not with Christ doth scatter abroad with the enemie of Christ wherein if any man shall not deliuer his faithfull knowledg eâ—e shall not deliuer his owne soule And doth adde this that in such a busines you were better want power then will and abilitie then faithfulnesse Which I remember was sometime tould me of that most Reuerend Archbyshoppe D. Whitgift then when the quarrell on both sides was not so hot when hee wished that in so great a plenty of excellent Diuines among vs there were more that would imploy their spare times from their duty of preaching in the paines of writing I am come therefore into the fielde being thereto prouoked with the goodnesse of the cause the ensample of the Captaines the iniury of the enemie the Oath of warfare the encouragement of the Fathers that I might somewhat daunt the enemie insulting so vnworthily To which purpose I thought good to set this taske
the foundations of mans saluation laid by the Apostle as it shall plainly appeare by the discourse vpon the popish Creede Antonie Marinarius did withstand that wicked decree euen in the Councell it selfe who taught the perseuerance of the faithfull was secure and their securitie to be perseuered in Ambrose Catharinus did likewise resist who maintayned that a sonne of God by the certaintie of faith doth know that he is in the state of grace as any man may be sure that there is Rome yea and that without doubting or feare so that he openly did resist the Councell Albertus Pighius did afterward oppose himselfe who of set purpose doth defend that our righteousnesse is imputed to vs by faith alone vnto life The Councell of Colen may thee ioyned to these wherein many learned Diuines True it is say they and it is required to the iustification of a man that he certainely beleeue not only in generall that they who do truly repent shall obtaine mercy by Christ but that the man that beleeueth shall obtaine forgiuenesse of his sinnes by faith in Christ which they learned out of the Apostle by the interpretation of Bernard Thou hast Gentle Reader the Glasse of Christ the summe of the Apostolike doctrine to be set before the doctrine of the Trent Councell who doth strike vs with a curse for the same more fully hereafter to be propounded and maintayned The power whereof is such that it doth clip the winge of humane pride that it doth aduance the glory of Gods grace that it doth stirre vp an earnest desire of godlines and doth fasten a sure anchor of saluation that the sonnes of God may be made lowly in sinne thankefull in blessing holy in life and cheerefull in death This doctrine Trent Councell doth ouerthrow from whence those twelue articles of faith proceeded which Pius the 4. brought into the forme of a Creede enioyned to be publikely professed of his by his Bull vnder an oath which though they had their birth and beginning from heretikes yet they carry the name of the true faith and counterfeit the Apostles to be their parents that the greater store of Christians may be induced to receiue them As wee heretofore haue heard that Lambert counterfeting the name and kindred of the Earle of Warwicke had many followers when in truth he was the bastard of a villanous Priest So if any shall compare these twelue bastardly and false articles of the Popes creede with the true and right articles of the Apostles creede hee shall finde them to be as like the Apostles as the bastard of Simon the Priest was like the soone of the Duke of Clarence The schoolemen and the Canonists haue had great adoe between them whether the Pope could make any new articles of the faith Bellarmine as a worshipfull moderator takes vp the matter in Tortus He diuides the articles into two sorts He writes that some are of immediat reuelatiō others drawn fetch from them which notwithstanding are to be receiued with a catholike beleefe How foolishly I shall shew hereafter now only I shew what they hold Articles of the first sort Bellarmine denieth may be made of the Pope As much as if he should deny the sunne could be made by the Pope so many ages fastned to his globe by the hand of God The articles of the second stampe hee doth plainly affirme may be made by the Pope as if he should say that he professeth himselfe to be the author and maker of that booke whereof he is the expounder and interpreter Now the Iesuites haue diuided those that were drawne from the first into two other kindes which are so cunningly coucht together that they can hardly be distinguished Some of them consist in practise whereby treason is nourished other consist in doctrine wherby superstition is cherished Those they scatter mystically and closely these plainly and openly Those I call practicall and mysticall which concerne the Popes power in deposing of Kings by the sentence of excommunication and absoluing subiects from the oath of fealtie and conspiracies and rebellions to be concealed vnder the seale of confession and Clerkes to bee exempted from the iudgement of a secular Prince and the power of the Pope aboue the Councell and other wicked conclusions of the same kinde with the schoole of Paris hath lately condemned And a certaine Priest termed a more moderate answerer that hee may more couertly and freely teach the professed articles of superstition doth ouerthrow those mysticall articles of rebellion for which cause he complayneth that their salary is denyed him and the Priests of his order by the Pope Whom I thinke good hee should answer as the Asse answered Balaam Am not I thine Asse whereon thou wert wont to ride euen till this day Tell me if euer I did the like before and now I haue once offended in telling the truth why wilt thou beate mee and take my prouender from me If such Priests will giue eare to me let them forsake so vnthankfull and vniust a master and come ouer to our side For I feare lest while they secretly sow their open articles of superstition among our Country-men that they will draw them from the faith of Christ and beget schollers for Iesuites whom they will infect with their hidden articles of rebellion and bring them from their allegeance and obedience to the King These are fetcht from the first bastards borne of bastards vipers bred of vipers the last more wicked than the former shortly bringing forth an of spring more vilanous Those that are fetcht from immediate revelations as they bee supposed make truth the way for heresie as the authors thereof pretend iustice for wickednesse But this is the disposition of all heretikes that out of a generall truth propounded they alway assume and draw out heresie which as a witch doth cast in a sacred furie into their deceiued mindes The Pelagians from the generall allegation of Gods grace and helpe do gather a speciall rule of their heresie which as poyson they distill more easily into the mindes of their simple Auditors The Papists holding those articles of Christ generally do infuse hereticall poyson deepe into their mindes being seasoned with the sweet of those generals I will giue you one example which doth farther spread it selfe They beleeue in generall that Christ is ascended vp into heauen and sits at the right hand of God and shall come from thence to iudge both the quicke and the dead Yet the Priest doth daily bring Christ from thence to wit out of heauen into the sacrament so that he is corporally present in the sacrament when it is manifest that hee is conteyned in heauen till all things be fulfilled But here they distinguish that Christ shall come once from heauen visibly to iudgement but commeth invisibly euery day into the sacrament O notable deduction that ouerturneth the principle from whence it is drawne O notable distinction which doth by distinguishing vtterly ouerthrow the
I heare of some I hope they bee but a few false brethren like to Ianus are wont to bee though lightly bitten and reprehended Who if they be not ours they might doe very well if they would more open themselues if they be ours as I rather desire let them fauour our holy labours vnlesse they desire to heare of some writer of ours which Lelius a certaine criticall reprehender heard out of Martiall When Lelius carpeth mine and keepeth in his verse Or let him hold his prate or else his owne rehearse For it is both greeuous and vnseemly that their writings should be closly bit with a Theonine tooth by false brethren whose throates are first assailed with a leonine crueltie by open enemies There is almost none of our writers who haue not written that the Pope is Antichrist But there be certaine men among vs very moderate forsooth and politicke who would not haue the Aduersarie so angered and stirred vp with so sharpe a conclusion and that thereby all hope of composition and peace betweene the parties should bee cut off betweene whom they thinke to bee a great difference of wordes but little or none at all of things that God is alike deare to each Church and that the liturgie of each is alike accepted of God that saluation is in both when each doth rest vpon Christ the foundation that a Papist may although halting come to heauen and that the hatred of Papists is not so great as we make it and that it is not conceiued by their owne accord but that it is encensed by such bitter disputations and that the quarrell had been ended if certaine hot spirited Theologians had not encreased the controuersie These luke-warme Christians that seeme to bee of no side and of both sides seeme to dispute soberly and politickly But your religious wisedome Christian Reader doth better vnderstand that the Romane Synagogue is full of idolatrie and that it doth therefore hate God and by Moses iudgement is againe hatefull to God neither was Caine prouoked with any iniurie of Abels but by his owne malice and hatred of godlines And though both of them were wont to sacrifice to God in Adames house yet Caines sacrifice was reiected Abels accepted and the worke pleased God for the person not the person for the worke that which Saint Gregorie gathereth out of Moses because the person was first made righteous by faith as the Apostle taught Heb. 11. and that therefore there is no lesse difference of worship and faith betweene a Protestant and a Papist then was betweene Caine and Abell And that the Synagogues anger against our Church is as implacable as Caines against Abell and Ismaels against Isaac and that before it was stirred vp with the blast of contention it was moued with hatred of the promise And as the hatred of Ismael against the promise which he derided being couered with a visard of circumcision brake out against the sonne of the promise so the hidden and secret hatred of the Synagogue of Rome against the holy scriptures the tables of the promise as I said being couered with a certaine shew of voluntarie religion did greiuously breake and burne out against our Church the heire of the promise so that Agar doth not leaue off to persecute Sara againe the Haidmayde her Mistris in the house of Abraham And when it can bee proued that Caines sacrifice was as well accepted of God as Abels then I will grant that the Papists Masse be as acceptable to God as the Liturgie of the Protestants and when it can be euicted that Christ alone apprehended by faith without our workes is not the foundation of the church I wil grant that the same is the foūdation of both Churches Lastly when it shall appeare that Ismael the sonne of the handmaide borne by the power of nature is coheyre of the house of Abraham with Isaac the sonne of the free woman borne by the force of the promise then I will grant that an obstinate Papist may come halting to heauen In the meane time I will warne these luke-warme and halting Protestant that they will giue sentence in Gods matters according to the certaine truth of God not out of their prevaricating charitie and that there be no middle counsell to be taken neither let them trust the Pope being more ioyntly and easily intreated by them will be the more easie and gentle to them Whom we by short conclusions out of holy Paul and Iohn excellently expounded by notable worthies of our Church although a little more bitterly and roughly then seemeth good to some we shew to be Antichrist I confesse that this is a weighty and darke prophecie whose importance doth reiect the vanitie of tales whose obscuritie requireth more cleare light of interpretation So it falleth out sometime that the exposition is larger the conclusion shorter For a short exposition and a long conclusion are faultie alike when hard and controuersies of importance are handled For a short exposition wants light and a long conclusion wants sharpenesse of wit The Aduersarie doth offend in both while hee is busied in the interpretation of the prophecie for it doth lessen things of weight neither doth it make plaine matters obscure For hee doth depresse the excellencie of the prophecy by stuffing it vp with the vanitie of many fables and being satisfied with vncertaine coniectures of Fathers and with their naked names hath not driuen away the obscuritie So it falleth out that from strange and vnkinde expositions of the prophecie they gather weake and idle conclusions In the vnfoulding of this mysterie the holy fathers haue stood vs in good steed and more had if they had beene Prophets But whenas they Daniel being the Authour doe teach that the vnderstanding of the prophesie is to be taken from the performance of it and grant that truth is the daughter of time we that are fallen vpon the endes of times conferring all the parts of the prophecie betweene themselues with great study and reuerence and bringing light to the text out of the context and to the context out of the euent because Christ hath opened the booke that was sealed vp nor called it an a A thing sealed hidden apocrypse but an b A thing opened and reuealed apocalypse we do from thence more confidently drawe a conclusion not as an Article of faith but as asure demonstration of the doctrine of Christ Although the popish Synagogue which without any testimonie of Scripture makes this the thirteenth Article of their faith I beleeue that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ may iustly pardon the reformed Church if being taught by so many testimonies of Scripture it make this to be an Article of their faith I beleeue that the Pope is Antichrist Now I did foresee that when I made a looking glasse for Paul the 5. it would come to passe that the Iesuites who do so often traduce the King of great Britaine with their slanderous and infamous libels
erre greatly It was their office to discerne the leprosie the Magistrates to separate lest they should faint others That we may therefore vrge this figure against you It is the duty of Princes to separate the leprous that is hereticall Popes rather then of Popes to separate hereticall Princes But whereas you said the person of the King was stoutly assalted by Azaria and 80. other Priests and by violence cast out of the Temple that is an error far more dangerous For they did not violently cast him out but as the text hath it they caused him to make hast to go out of the temple no force at all being attempted For it followeth because the Lord stroke him he was forced of his owne accord to depart And so the word signifies and so your vulgar translation hath it which you call Ieromes he made hast to go foorth 2. Chron. 26. The Iesuits violence taxed But this error hath brought forth that dangerous sin Saturnine by the helpe of your conclusion as it were by the aide of a Midwife For you conclude it is a manifest example that it is lawfull for Priests by force of armes and by violent meanes to represse the wickednesse of Kings Azarias I confesse and the other Priests did resist the King but with words not with weapons And because he had broken the Law by burning of incense they did as it was meete sharpely reproue him neither did they forceably rush vpon the Magistrate or lay strong hand vpon him to driue him out of the temple much lesse out of the kingdome But your men Saturnine go further and from admonition fly to rebellion from reprehension to force from reprofe to armes being cousoned and deceiued by the false interpretation of this and the like places § 37 Here I appeale to you Princes neither to you only who haue departed from the Pope but to you who cleaue vnto him ☜ How long will ye suffer these martiall and swaggering Priests to abuse your patience how long shall this superstitious madnesse deceiue you An Ap strophâ— to popish Kings how long shall this wolâ—ish fearcenesse vnder sheepes cloathing assaile you how long shall they couer their detestable rebellion against kings vnder the cloake of religion And as if they fetcht poyson from heauen as Hercules Aeteus in the tragedie abusing the authoritie of holy Scriptures and examples of holy Priests gather force against your sacred persons and opprobry to your Maiesties This is said Saturnine to chaffe with vs not to dispute § 38 with vs. But marke the reason if you please why Ozias the king was stroken with the leprosie because he presumed to execute the spirituall and priestly function whereof you haue ordained your Kings supreame Gouernours I marke it well said Patriotta and when we maintain that it is lawfull for our Princes to preach the Gospell to baptise to minister the supper of the Lord to forgiue sinnes then cast vs in the teeth with Ozias pride and plague In the meane while learne that it is not for priests but kings to beare armes and the kings of Iuda who vsed the temporall sword to restore the truth and suppresse error which Dauid Iehosophat Ezekias Iosias were said to haue done got great fauour with God and great honour with men But wee when wee are iustly displeased with you whenas like seditious tribunes you stirre vp the commons against Kings and call them to armes wherewith they may vanquish the professours of the Gospell as occasion is offered then here I pittie you exceedingly that from Azarias example peeuishly vnderstood and wretchedly drawn to your purpose you draw from an idle figure so slender an argument of your out-rage that there appeareth neither probabilitie in the Antecedent or necessitie in the consequence And whereas you said that Athalia was depriued of § 39 her kingdome and put to death by Iehoida the priest with the forces of the priests and people Athaâ—â—â— iustly deposed but not by the Priest Ioash the right heyre whom hee preserued in the temple being proclaimed annointed and crowned king you held that the Pope might likewise rightly depriue a lawfull king for heresie both of his kingdome and life it doth lay open apparantly the wretchednesse of your cause For what can you say else then that a wicked woman who flew all Ochasias the kings ofspring one sonne only excepted and did vniustly vsurpe the kingdome was surprised and punished by the vndoubted and lawfull heire of the crowne the king being proclaimed and annointed and the crowne set on his head by the consent of the whole kingdome as you your selfe haue confessed But Iehoida the high priest commanded to put her to death not the king True but hee commanded it by the authoritie of the king not his own But the king you say was but a childe of seuen yeares of age but hee was no lesse a king at seuen yeares then if he had beene of seuentie yeares For age cannot take away the right of a kingdome which bloud hath giuen him Iehoida had Gods law mans law to approue his action But Iehoida when he commanded Athalia to be slaine in the kings name did it both by Gods law and mans law First he preserued the young king in the Sanctuarie being kept from the rage of Athalia and nourisht him secretly in the Lords house Againe hee was the chiefe of his Tribe as others were of theirs that hee might arrogate so much to himselfe as others might in the nonage of the king to pacifie the kingdome and to take vengeance vpon the vsurping Queene for the cruell tyrannie against the kings progenie Besides that his wife was the kings Ant and he was his neerest kinsman and therefore was bound both by the law of nature and nations to defend the kings right his age and innocencie Last of all whatsoeuer hee attempted was with the Kings authoritie and with the common counsell and consent of all the nobility For he conuented all the captaines and cheife Fathers of Israel vnto him into the house of God and made a couenant with them and exacted an Oath of them in the house of God and shewed the kings sonne vnto them And so being not only the high priest but chiefe also of his Tribe and neerest allie to the king nor with his owne but with the common counsell and consent of the Peeres nor commanded with his owne but with the kings authoritie that wicked Athalia iniustly vsurping the kingdome the kings ofspring being first murthered and extinguished to be cast from her kingdome and of her life What is this to the Pope to depose a lawfull king to be murthered by a rebellious people being first by excammunication deposed from his kingdome And whereas you bragge of Elias zeale who did not § 40 only answere king Ahab very stoutly but slew 400. Elias killed not Baals Priests of Iesabels false Prophets you tell vs of the act but you cunningly conceale
iustification and of the saluation of the Elect by the grace of Christ before Peter gaue his sentence and that not sitting but arising and that very modestly and gently Afterward Iames did onely yeeld his opinion but pronounced and set downe in writing the decree it selfe which all the assembly of Apostles and Preists did follow It seemed good also not to Peter alone but to the Apostles and Preists with the whole Church to send certaine choice men to Antioch with the Apostle Paul and Barnabas and the Synodall Epistle did not beare the name of Peter but of all the Apostles Preists and Brethren And if Peter had receiued the primacy of iurisdiction from Christ the other Apostle had done him great wrong that suffered not Peter to bee President of the Councell that they sent Peter as inferior into Samaria that they took accompt of his doing that they met not together by his appointment that they suffered him not to sit aboue others to propound the decree to send Legates and to seale vp the Synodall Epistle in his owne name But the Apostles did no wrong to Peter It followeth then that Peter receiued no primacy of iurisdiction from Christ but was equall to the rest of the Apostles and inferiour to the whole Councell The Papists doe grant a double gouernment to Peter § 201 Peters double pretended gouernment Galat. 2. Paul nothing inferiour to Peter They make him Lord of the spirituals and temporals Therefore the Apostle Paul did ill bee it spoken with reuerence who made himselfe equall to Peter and gaue out that he was inferiour in nothing vnto Peter and which was more reprehended him sharpely to his face as his equall and fellow-seruant and that publikely when hee tooke him in a fault For the Gospell saith he was committed to me ouer the Gentiles as it was to Peter ouer the Iewes For hee that was powerfull through Peter in the Apostleship of the Iewes the same was powerfull in mee ouer the Gentiles And when as Iames Cephas and Iohn who seemed to bee pillers knew that grace was giuen me then they gaue the right hands of fellowship to me and Barnabas See Cephas doth acknowledge Paul his fellow hee had him not for a subiect neither did hee challenge to himselfe the highest top of gouernment but gaue the right hand of fellowship which was done by Peter not only in respect of humilitie of minde but for equalitie of office Farre be it from vs to thinke it was written by Paul for pride of minde but for the truth of the matter And if Christ had appointed Peter the vniuersall Bishop Prince of his Church how durst Peter and Paul couenant betweene them-selues in the 18. yeare after Christ his passion that Peter should exercise the Apostleship ouer the Iewes and Paul ouer the Gentiles not only but chiefly whereby Paul by the Antients is called the Prince of the Apostles as well as Peter But the equall hath no gouernment ouer his equall Peter would be are no rule ouer the clergie 1 Pet 5. Neither could Peter himselfe beare rule ouer the Clergie that he might not seem to permit that to other which he would not take to himselfe when hee called himselfe not a chiefe Priest but a fellow Priest Much lesse did he vse the sword and ciuill gouernment and iudge Caesar to be subiect vnto him but admonished himselfe with all other Christians to submit themselues to Caesar as to the most excellent and to other Magistrates as sent from him neither did at any time exercise ciuill gouernment He had it not therefore for that is not a power which is neuer brought into act Therefore Peter was no more ouer Kings than hee was ouer Apostles § 202 Nay Christ himselfe as a man was not aboue the Emperour Christ himselfe as man not aboue Emperors As he is God he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords as he was man he did not only submit himselfe to Tiberius but to Pilate Tiberius Deputie in Iurie You had no power said he ouer me if it were not giuen you from aboue Againe he saith that his kingdome was not of this world when he was demanded of Pilate what kingdome he laid claime vnto Whereby it appeareth that Christ was to haue not a temporall August in Psal 47. but a spirituall kingdome as Austin gathereth out of those words Harken to this ô yee Kings and enuy not Christ is a King after another fashion than you are who said my kingdome is not of this world Feare not therefore if the kingdome of this world be taken from you you shall haue another giuen vnto you and that a heauenly one whereof he is King If Christ had not a temporall kingdome was it for Peter to haue it what is this else but to make the seruant aboue his master and the embassador aboue him that sent him and if it did not belong neither to Christ nor to Peter do you thinke that not only the temporall kingdome but the chiefe gouernmēt ouer all temporal kingdoms was giuen to the Pope Christs supposed Vicar Peters counterfeit successor fie vpon such foolish pride fie vpon such loftie vanitie which Christ did reprehend in many places in the the Apostles when he said the Kings of the earth beare rule ouer them but you not so And as my father sent me so I send you And my kingdome is not of this world And yet Bellarmine dares to write Bellarmine contrary to Christ that the supreme temporall power was giuen to the chiefe Bishop which Christ himself by his owne confession did not exercise Christ saith the Kings of the earth beareth rule ouer them but you not so Bellarmine contrary but you so Christ as my Father sendeth me so I send you Bellarmine contrary not as my Father sendeth me do I send you The Father sent me in humilitie and ignominie I send you in pompe and maiestie Christ my kingdome is not of this world Bellarmine contrary yea it is of this world and of all this world So manifestly doth the Cardinall contradict Christ But although Christ as man did not exercise temporall § 203 power he might if he had so liked saith Bellarmine Here the question is not what Christ could haue done but what he did Neither is the authoritie of Peter to be grounded vpon that which Christ could haue done but vpon that which Christ did indeed Christ could if he had pleased haue made the world in an instant but he would not the Scripture witnesseth he would not because it is said that hee tooke to him six daies to bring forth that worke He could if he would haue redeemed the world with one drop of blood without death but he would not that hee would not the Scripture beareth witnes wherein it is said that he must die for vs. So he could if hee would as man exercise the dominion of temporall things but hee would not that hee would not truth it selfe
doth witnes which said my kingdom is not of this world From a possibilitie to a deed the argument is not of force in Christ much lesse in Peter O pleasant madnes of Bellarmine wherby he dreameth that the temporall power in possibilitie as hanging in the ayre is bestowed vpon his Bishop § 204 But marke the mans reason God hath appointed Christ to be heyre of all things How the temporall rule forsooth descendeth vpon the Pope Therfore if he would he could haue cast Tiberius out of his throne and Pilate out of his iudgement seate for he was the heyre of all things Peter could if hee would haue wrested Nero's scepter out of his hands for he was heyre to Christ And the Pope can if he will cast of the Crowne from the head of any King heretike or catholike if he begin to go astray for he is Peters heyre For all comes to this at last that the temporall dominion of the whole world descends from Christ to Peter from Peter to the Pope That the Pope forsooth might haue and exercise power ouer Kings which Christ had but vsed not but might haue vsed if hee had been so pleased A vant with all these foolish quiddities which inferre such dangerous consequences Austin and Maldonate against Bellarmine But if hee had consulted not only with Austin but also with Maldonat on of his owne side hee should haue vnderstood that that place was to be interpreted of the spirituall not temporall inheritance of the world granted to Christ by the Father For what he that refused the iudgement of diuiding a priuate inheritance would he take to him the publike inheritance of the whole world And he that willingly submitted himselfe to the authoritie of Pilate giuen from aboue euen to the death of the Crosse did hee shew himselfe a temporall Lord both ouer Tiberius and the whole world The power of Pilate saith Bellarmine was not ordeyned § 205 but permitted And this is the sense of the place that Pilate could do nothing against Christ if God had not permitted it As that place is also vnderstood this is your houre and power of darknesse Luc 22. but because S. Thomas saith he vpon the 13 to the Romanes vnderstandeth the place of the ordinarie power we do not disagree But that this power did extend it selfe to Christ we thinke that to be done out of Pilates ignorance who not knowing the worthines of Christ iudged him as some priuate Citizen of the country As if in our dayes a Clergie man were brought to the bar of a Secular Iudge vnder the name and habite of a Lay-man hee may be condemned by that power wherewith a Laicke may out of the ignorance of the Iudge yet it doth not follow thereby that Clarkes by law are subiect to the iudgement of Lay-men or that Christ was subiect to the iudgment of Pilate Thus far Bellarmine But Christ said that Pilates power was not permitted § 206 but giuen from aboue The permitted power was that power of darknes whereby God suffred that the Iewes should kill the Lord of Glory wherein they sinned most greiuously And therefore it is called the power of darknesse not giuen from aboue as was Pilates the Iudge which Austin called not an vsurped but an vniust power Which place saith he when I heard it to be expounded by S. Thomas of a lawfull power I do not withstand it Bellarmine contradicteth himselfe It is well that which before you did wickedly affirme being instructed by Thomas you honestly deny The man speakes out of a boate now enclining to this side now to that neither doth he somtime contradict others so much as himselfe But marke how by turning himselfe into all parts he hath found a starting hole to escape by Whereas Pilate did stretch out this power against Christ it was out of Pilates ignorance that knew not the worth of Christ As if a Clerke vnder the habite of a Lay man should bee brought before a lay-Iudge he might by the ignorance of the Iudge be condemned as a Lay-man which notwithstanding the Law doth not allow c. That which he imputes to the ignorance of Pilate Austin imputes it to his feare lest he should offend Caesar in loosing of Christ. But this may be ascribed to his ignorance that he beggeth the question Bellarmine begs the question For he takes it as granted which is in question that a Clerke may not by law be condemned by a secular Iudge though out of the Iudges ignorance he may being attired like a Layman As if he should say that Alexander the 3. being in his pontificalibus might not rightly be iudged by Fredericke the Emperor Alexander 3. but being in his cookes apparell he might by ignorance or that Bishop who bare armes against Richard the first King of England An English Bishop in K Richard the first dayes Odo brother to W. Conqueror could not be hanged in his Bishops attire but being found in a coat-armour hee might by ignorance Or that Odo the brother of William the first a very wicked traytor could not be committed to ward as Bishop of Bayon but as Earle of Kent Or that some trayterous Iesuite imagine some Garâ—et or Oldcorne could not bee hanged in his massing robes but might by ignorance being clad in a Courtiers attire I could wish rather that such Clerkes were vnknowne than knowne But he doth very vntowardly make Christ his innocencie a cloake for a harmefull Clerke that because Christ could not be rightly condemned by Pilate therefore euery Clerke is exempted from the iudgement of a secular Iudge It is as I said a manifest begging of the thing in question For I can better dispute after a contrary manner There was no exempting of the person of Christ from the iudgement of Pilate Therefore there is no exempting of Paul the fift from the iudgment of the Emperor For if Christ the chiefe Bishop was not exempted from the iudgment of the Emperor whose power was from aboue then certainely the Bishop of Rome ought not to be exempted from the iudgement of the Emperors power The actions of Christ are rules for the Pope the actions of Popes are not rules for Christ But whereas the Cardinall brings in his Clearke in § 207 a Lay-mans weede before a secular Iudge hee doth very ill apply it to his purpose For he hauing got this freedome or exemption as is taught he should not say to the Iudge that hee hath power from heauen against him but the contrary you haue no power against me froÌ„ aboue for I am a Clerke but when Christ said not this but the cleane contrary you haue power against me froÌ„ aboue he allowed not the exeÌ„pting of a Clerke vnles the prerogatiue of a Clerke be greater than the prerogatiue of Christ But you haue brought in a very dull-pated Clerke who being endowed with a priuiledge as you call it cannot vtter it that he may be safe from danger being