Confutation of the Popes Bull, Part 27
¶ That the Nobilitie and Commons of England must not obey the popes commaundement, nor feare his curse. And here is shewed what thing subiectes owe to theyr Princes, by Gods appoyntment, and how greuously God hath alwayes punished rebelles and sedicious persons.
The bloudy sentence of the pope.LAstly the Bishop of Rome in his definitiue sentence, commaundeth all the Nobilitie and People of England that be subiectes to the Quéene, that vpō paine of his curse, they obey not hir Maiesties lawes and commaundementes hereafter. What shall they do then? Marie, forsake theyr allegiance, & cast of the yoke of obedience, and with hurliburly ryse vp against the Quéene, whome God hath geuen them to be theyr soueraigne Ladie, and thrust hir from hir crowne, and through vnspeakable treason murther hir, and then set all the Realme on a broyle, beat downe all the faythfull, and rid them out of the way, fill all places with slaughter, and confound heauen & earth together. These are the counsels and commaundementes of this blissed syre, borowed of that father of his, of whome the Lord speaketh in hys Gospell,Iohn. 8. saying: You are of your father the deuill, and you will folow the desires of your father. He was a murtherer from the beginning, and continued not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. They therefore that louelove godlinesse, and their owne saluation, and the honor, peace, and welfare of their owne countrie (as eueryevery good and godly man must of duetie do) let them flye as far as may be from thys diuelish, cruell, and bloudy decrées of the pope. Neyther is there any cause why they should feare to incur the displeasure of almightie God, for disobeying the Popes Decrées. For the Pope hath published those Decrées agaynst God & against the true word of God.Princes must be obeyed. For God hath taught thinges plaine contrarie and fighting full but against the Popes Decrées: namely that eueryevery man ought to yeld both honour & feare to his Prince or Magistrate, and also to pay him tribute and custome, and performe due subiection and obedience to him. And these things are to be read word for word written by the Apostle Paule in the xiij. to the Romanes.
For subiectes ye and all good men must both thinke and speake reuerently and honorablie of their Princes or Magistrates,Princes and Magistrates must be honored. as whom God in his word vouchsaueth to call by the name of Gods, as by whom God himselfe gouerneth, iudgeth, defendeth, bridleth, and preserueth his people. In consideration wherof, in the booke of Iudges, iudges be termed Sauyours. Which thing al subiectes ought to acknowledge, with a certeine reuerence, admiration, and giuing of thankes. For we be commaunded to make earnest intercession for our Princes in our prayers vntounto God: we be commaunded to louelove our Magistrate vnfeynedly, and in a comly, decent, and diligent wise to honor them with the honours accustomed to eche countrey. So hauehave all the holie Priestes, Prophetes, and faithfull seruauntes of God done to their king: as it is to be séene in many places of the holy Scripture. Besides this, it is an expresse commaundement in Gods law,Exod. 22. Thou shalt not speake euill of the Gods, nor curse the Prince of thy people.Princes are to be feared. Moreouer the Prince is also to be feared of his subiectes, that they practise not any thing against him, and much lesse make not insurrection against him as enemies, or moue sedition, or otherwise commit vngracious actes and worthie to be punished. For if thou do the thing that is euill (sayth Paule,Rom. 13.) then feare: for he beareth not the sword in vayne. For he is Gods Minister to punish him that doth euill. And truly good men feare their Princes, not as executioners, but as fathers. For agayne the Apostle sayth: Princes are not a terror to them that do well, but to them that do ill. And wilt thou not stād in feare of authority? then do the thing that is good, and so shalt thou receiue prayse of him.
All dewties be to be payde vntounto Princes.Moreouer, subiectes must pay their Princes all maner of tributes, customes, and all other dewties. For againe the Apostle saith: who goeth a warfare at his owne charges? But Princes serue the common weale: therfore it is good right that they should be mainteined of the common charges. Surely Paule saith expresly, euen therfore do ye pay tribute: for they be Gods Ministers seruing for the same purpose. Therfore render vntounto eueryevery mā his dew, tribute to whom tribute is due: Custome to whom custome is due: awe to whom awe is due: honour to whom honour is due. The same Apostle willeth subiectes also to obey their Princes, that is to wit, their lawes and ordinaunces, not onelyonly that they may by their due obedience escape the punishments which Princes execute vponupon the disobedient: but bycause it is Gods will we should do so, and we must yeld obedience to his commaundement, except we had leuer to fall into the hand of Gods vengeance, although princes punish vsus not. And this is it that the Prophet ment by saying, ye must obey, not onelyonly for feare, but also for conscience Also: they that resist the Magistrate procure themselues damnation. And truly this obedience stretcheth so farre, that if the Prince néede thy seruice in the warres, for the defence of his Realme against inuasions: thou owest euen thy body to thy Prince, yea and thy life, and therefore much more thy goodes. These are the thinges, these (I say) are the thinges that all subiectes owe to their souereines by the allowance and commaundement of God: and therfore the Englishmen also owe the same thinges to their Quéene. True it is in déede that S. Peter sayd, we must obey God rather then men howbeit, that is in such things as are commaunded expresly against God and his word. But the politike or ciuill gouernement is stablished, and not infringed by Gods word. And most of all it is stablished if the Princes be godly. For the Princes that gouerne their people quietly, and enforce not their subiectes to any wicked thinges, but honour Gods seruice & spread it abroad more & more:Agaynst seditions and seditious persons. are well liked of God and helped by him. And truly, this obedience of the subiectes which God hath inioyned them, kepeth them in their dewtie, and perswadeth them that they attempt not any thing against their Prince or Magistrate. As for those that rise against their Prince either by priuie practise or open force, and breake the common peace: they are not onelyonly disobedient, but also traytors and hated of God. And yet it is the thing that the Pope in his Bull, not so much teacheth as by his manaces indeuereth to inforce the noblemen and commons of England vntounto. The noble Realme of England, through Gods grace, cleaueth well together in lawes spirituall and temporall, and the subiectes therof enioy peace and publike profite, by the benefite of their most gracious Quéene. Therfore not to be willing hence forth to obey her, (as the Pope would hauehave it) what els is it, then to trouble the state of the whole Realme, and consequētly to stirre vp rebellion and sedition wickedly, and to procure themselues assured and greuous damnation at Gods hand.
But heare how God hath alwayes hated seditious persons,Plagues & punishments executed vponupon rebelles by God. and how greuously also he hath euermore punished seditiōs. Chore, Dathan, and Abyron with their complices raised a sedition against Moses the chaplein of Gods people:Num. 16 But the earth opened and swallowed them vp with their housholdes and all that euer they had. A right dreadfull example surely, to the intent that none should hereafter ryse agaynst their Princes any more.Num. 13. & 14. The Israelites also raysed an insurrection agaynst the same Moses in the wildernesse. But for their so doing they were shet out of the land of promise, and by the space of xxxviij. yeares together ouerwhelmed with sundry calamities, tyred and forspent with dayly trauelyng in the desert, and at length also in sundry times consumed and made away with horrible kindes of death. Also in the booke of Iudges, the Ephraemites made an vprore against Iephthe who had deserued well at their handes. But through the vengeance of God for their vngracious rebellion and vnthankefulnesse, there were slaine of them about a xlij. thousand. What befell in Dauids time to Absolon & Seba the sonne of Bithri when they rebelled seditiously against their lawfull king Dauid, it is better knowen then that if may séeme requisite to be setforth in many wordes. There are in the holy Scriptures and the wordly histories of sundry kingdomes, many exā ples to be seene no lesse horrible then these, of seditious persons that were most greuously confoūded by the Lord. For the Lord being rightuous, and a louer of order and peace, neuer spared any such.
I notable example of Gods greuous punishment vponupon kyng Rodolphus for hys periurie and rebellion.And to the intent I may also bring somewhat out of latter tunes: there is a notable example of the punishment of traiterous rebellion, and disobedience, and periurie in king Rafe of Rinfield chosen king of Romanes at the cōmaundemēt of pope Gregorie the vij. against the Emperour Henry the iiij. lawfully ordeined of God, and succeding in the Empire by descent from his aunceters who were very good Princes. The said Gregorie had prophesied out of that chayre of his, in the Easter wéeke, that ye same yeare (which was the yeare of our Lord .1080.) ye false Emperor should dye, adding this protestation further: neuer take me more for Pope, but plucke me from the Altar, if the false Emperour be not dead betwene this and Whitsontyde. Which prophesie (like as was the prophesie of Caiaphas) was fulfilled in déede, howbeit after another meaning then ye Pope thought of. For the false Emperour Rafe who was created Emperour by the Pope against Henry whom the Pope had deposed, discharging all his subiectes of their faith and obedience towardes him: was wounded to death the selfe same yeare. Thrise before, had he traiterously fought with Henry to his owne losse: and now trusting to the prophesie of his blessed dad Pope Gregorie the vij. he repayred his power againe the fourth tyme, and in the monethmonth of October encountered with the army of Henry in the fieldes of Misnia, where he was put to shamefull flight agayne, and receiued a very great losse and blouddy slaughter? In the same battell, the right hand of the sayd Rafe was striken of: of the which wound he dyed within a few dayes after, leauing the Empyre which he had receiued of the Pope, & fulfilling the prophesie of the Pope his creator.Marke this It is reported (sayth Abbas Vspurgēsis in the 238. leafe of his Chronicles,) that Rafe now drawing towardes his end and beholding his right hand cut of, gaue a sore sigh and said to the Bishops which by chaunce were present: Lo, this is the hand wherwith I tooke mine othe of allegeance to my Lord Henry the Emperour. And behold, now I leaue both his kingdome and this present life. Sée whether you, that made me mount vp into his chayre of estate, hauehave led me a right way: which thing other storywriters report in these wordes: it was by your impulsion that I hauehave fought so often vnluckely. Looke you to it, whether you hauehave led me a right way or no. Ge your wayes & performe your first faith plighted to your king: for I shall go to my fathers.
Now ye honorable Péeres of England, and thou noble Realme of England in generall, learne ye by all these thinges, to kéepe your faith plighted to your gracious souereine Lady by othe, and to obey her faithfully, to mainteine the peace of the Realme, and to abhorre & eschew the trechrie and traiterousnesse leawdly wound in, or rather wickedly commaūded by the father of sedition the Bishop of Rome that sinnefull man, to the intent you may also eschew the sore punishmentes of God.