A defence of the Apologie of the Churche of Englande conteininge an answeare to a certaine booke lately set foorthe by M. Hardinge, and entituled, A confutation of &c. By Iohn Iewel Bishop of Sarisburie.

The B. of Sarisburie.

The Office of a Kinge, yée saie, was no more in Kinge Henry the Eighth, or in Charles the Fifthe, then it was in the Heathen Princes, Iulius Caesar, or A∣lexander the Greate. And therefore, yée saie, a Christian Princes Office stan∣deth onely in Maters Temporal: and for that cause yee so often calle him a Mere, Laie, Temporal Prince: as if he were in Authoritie not mutche better, then an Heathen Magistrate.

Euen so, M. Harding, is your Pope no more a Bishop, or perhaps, mutche lesse a Bishop, then Annas, and Caiphas: Neither is your Prieste more a Prieste, then the Prieste of Dagon, or Baal. The difference standeth, not in Office, but onely in Truthe. Yet neuerthelesse, yée knowe, that Heathen Princes had euermore a Soueraine Authoritie, not onely ouer theire Priestes, and Bishoppes, but also ouer al Cases of Religion.* 1.1 Aristotle saithe, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉: The Kinge, that is Lorde, and Ruler of thinges, that perteine vnto the Goddes.

And therefore Socrates in his storie saithe, Imperatores vnà complexi sumus, &c. Wee haue also herein comprised the Emperours Liues, for that, sithence the Empe∣rours were first Christened, the affaires of the Churche haue hanged of them, and the grea∣test Councelles bothe haue benne, and are keapte by theire aduise.

Yee saie, The Prince in doubteful Cases was commaunded to take Counsel of the Highest Prieste. This is true. But wil yée conclude hereof, that the Highest Prieste maie saie, & doo, what he listeth, without controlmente? What if the Highe Prieste woulde answeare thus, as he answeared sommetime in déede, This Christe is a Samaritane, a deceiuer of the people, and hath a Diuel? What if he teare his owne roabes for anger, and crie oute, He Blasphemeth: he is vvoorthy to die? Yet muste the Emperoure néedes geue eare vnto him, and beleeue him without exception? Certainely, in the Olde Lavve, if the Bishop either had benne negli∣gente in his Office, or of malice, or ignorance had answeared vntruthe, he was e∣uermore vnder the General controlmente of the Prince.

VVithin the Churche, yée saie, the Prince is inferioure to the Prieste: notwithstandinge, with∣out the Churche he is in Temporal cases aboue the Prieste. Thus yee fetche your mater rounde, within, without, and rounde aboute, with al the Circumstances: as if Princes were as changeable, as your selfe: and woulde be other without, then they are within.

In déede, in that the Prieste dothe his Office, in that he either openeth Goddes VVil, or declareth his threates, or rebuketh sinne, or Excommunicateth, and cut∣teth of a deade member from the Body, so farre foorthe the Prince, be he neuer so mighty, is infe••iour vnto him. But in this respecte the Prince is infertoure, not onely to the Pope, or Bishop, but also to any other simple Prieste: And the Pope

him selfe,* 1.2 in this respecte, is inferioure to his Confessoure, be he neuer so poore a Prieste. So the Emperoure Constantinus was woonte to saie to the godly Bi∣shoppes: Bee you Bishoppes within the Churche: and I wilbe Bishop without. But if the Bishop had beene faulty, either in Negligence, or in Falsehedde, whe∣ther he had benne within the Churche,* 1.3 or abroade, he was alwaies to be control∣led by the Prince.

Yee saie, VVhen the Highe Prieste had geeuen Sentence, the Prince mighte see the Execution thereof to be donne. And thus yée make the Emperoure the Popes man, to put his Sentence in Execution. So Pope Bonifacius S. telleth you, Materialis Gla∣dius exercendus est manu Regum, & Militum, sed ad nutum, & Patientiam Sa∣cerdotis: The Temporal Swerde muste be drawen by the hande of Kinges, and Souldiers: but at the becke, and sufferance of the Prieste.

But, I beseehe you, at whose becke did Kinge Salomon depose Abiathar the Highe Prieste? At whose becke did Iosias, and other godly Princes, of whome wée haue saide before, redresse the Religion of God, whiche they founde shamefully de∣caled? At whose becke did they rebuke the carelesse negligence of the Priestes? Verily,* 1.4 one of your owne Doctours saithe, In Veteri Lege Sacerdotes, qui Reges inungebant, indubitanter Regibus subdebantur: In the Olde Lawe, the Bishoppes, that a••ointed the Kinges, out of doubte were subiecte vnto the Kinges.

And S. Augustine saithe, Quando Imperatores Veritatem tenent, & ipsa Veri∣tate contra Errotem iubent, quisquis illud contempserit, ipse sibi iudicium acquirit. Nam & inter homines poenas Iuit, & apud Deum frontem non habebit, qui hoc facere noluit, quod ei per Cor Regis ipsa Veritas iussit: When the Emperoure holdeth the Truthe, and by force of the same Truthe geeueth out Lawes, and Proclamations againste Erroure, who so euer despiseth the same, procureth iudgemente againste him selfe. For he shalbe pou∣nished before menne, and before God he shal haue no face, that refused to doo that thinge, that the Truthe it selfe, through the harte of the Prince, hathe commaunded him.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Aristotel. Foli∣ticor. Li. 3. Socrates, Lib. 5. in Prooemio. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• * 1.2

  The Prince is a ludge in Ecclesi∣astical cau∣ses.
• * 1.3

  9. Quaest. 3. Ne∣mo, in Gloss. Abb. Euseb. De vita Constant. Orat. 4 De Maiorita & Obedient. vnam Sanctam.
• * 1.4

  Heruaeus De Po∣testate Papae, Cap. 18. Augustin. Epist. 166. ad Dona∣tistas.