invention, saying, it is gathered out of St. Austin, and Thomas Aquinas, who only found out the way of saying nothing in such cases and questions, asked by judges; but this invention was drawn out by assiduous disputations. He that promises to say an Ave Mary, and swears he will, or vows to do it, yet sins not mortally, though he does not do it, said the great Navar, and others whom he follows. There is yet a further degree of this iniquity; not only in words, but in real actions, it is lawful to deceive or rob your brother, when to do so is necessary for the preservation of your fame for no man is bound to restore stolen goods, that is, to cease from doing injury, with the peril of his credit. So Navar, and cardinal Cajetan and Tolet teaches; who adds also, "Hoc multi dicunt, quorum sententiam potest quis tutâ conscientiâ sequi:" "Many say the same thing; whose doctrine any man may follow with a safe conscience," Nay, "to save a man's credit, an honest man, that is ashamed to beg, may steal what is necessary for him," says Diana. ད་{ d Now, by these doctrines, a man is taught how to be an honest thief, and to keep what he is bound to restore; and by these we may not only deceive our brother, but the law,— and not only the law, but God also, even with an oath, if the matter be but small: it never makes God angry with you, or puts you out of the state of grace. But if the matter be great, yet to prevent a great trouble to yourself, you may conceal a truth, by saying that which is false, according to the general doctrine of the late casuists. So that a man is bound to keep truth and honesty, when it is for his turn, but not "if it be to his own hindrance;" and, therefore, David was not in the right, but was something too nice, in the reso lution of the like case, in the fifteenth psalm. Now although that we do not affirm, that these particulars are the doctrine of the whole church of Rome, because little things, and of this nature, never are considered in their public articles of confession; yet a man may do these vile things (for so we understand them to be), and find justifications and warranty, and shall not be affrighted with the terrors of damnation, nor c Manual. c. 18. u. 7. d Apud Tolet. instruct. Sacerd. lib. v. c. 2, In Compend. p. 335. Lugduni, A. D. 1641. ́ ́ the imposition of penances: he may, for all these things, be a good catholic, though, it may be, not a very good Christian. But since these things are affirmed by so many, the opinion is probable, and the "practice safe," saith cardinal Tolet £. But we shall instance in things of more public concern and catholic authority. No contracts, leagues, societies, promises, vows, or oaths, are a sufficient security to him that deals with one of the church of Rome, if he shall please to make use of that liberty, which may, and many times is, and always can be granted to him. For, first, it is affirmed, and was practised by a whole council of bishops at Constance, that faith is not to be kept with heretics; and John Huss and Jerome of Prague, and Savanarola, felt the mischief of violation of public faith; and the same thing was disputed fiercely at Worms, in the case of Luther, to whom Cæsar had given a safe conduct, and very many would have had it to be broken; but Cæsar was a better Christian than the ecclesiastics and their party, and more a gentleman. But that no scrupulous princes may keep their words any more in such cases, or think themselves tied to perform their safe conducts given to heretics, there is a way found out by a new catholic doctrine; Becanus shall speak this point instead of the rest": "There are two distinct tribunals, and the ecclesiastical is the superior; and, therefore, if a secular prince gives his subjects a safe conduct, he cannot extend it to the superior tribunal; nor, by any security given, hinder the bishop or the pope to exercise their jurisdiction:" and upon the account of this or the like doctrine, the pope and the other ecclesiastics did prevail at Constance, for the burning of their prisoners, to whom safe conduct had been granted. But these things are sufficiently known by the complaints of the injured persons. a But not only to heretics, but to our friends also, we may break our promises, if the pope give us leave. It is a public and an avowed doctrine, that if a man have taken an oath of thing lawful and honest, and in his power, yet if it hinders him from doing a greater good, the pope can dispense with his oath, and take off the obligation. This is expressly affirmed by one of the most moderate of them, Canush, bishop of the Canaries. But beyond dispute, and even h Relect. de Pœnitent. without a dispensation, they all of them own it, that if a man have promised to a woman to marry her, and is betrothed to her, and hath sworn it, yet if he will, before the consummation, enter into a monastery, his oath shall not bind him, his promise is null; but his second promise, that shall stand. And he that denies this, is accursed by the council of Trent'. Not only husbands and wives espoused may break their vows and mutual obligation, against the will of one another, but, in the church of Rome, children have leave given them to disobey their parents, so they will but turn friars; and this they might do, girls at twelve, and boys at the age of fourteen years; but the council of Trent enlarged it to sixteen but the thing was taught and decreed by pope Clement III., and Thomas Aquinas did so, and then it was made lawful by him and his scholars, though it was expressly against the doctrine and laws of the preceding ages of the church, as appears in the capitulars of Charles the Great. But thus did the Pharisees teach their children to cry 'corban,' and neglect their parents; to pretend religion, in prejudice of filial piety. In this particular, Erodius, French lawyer, an excellently learned man, suffered sadly by the loss, and forcing of a hopeful son from him, and he complained most excellently in a book written on purpose upon this subject. a But these mischiefs are doctrinal, and accounted lawful: but in the matter of marriages and contracts, promises and vows, where a doctrine fails, it can be supplied by the pope's power; which thing is avowed and owned without a cover: for when pope Clement V.' condemned the order of knights templars, he disowned any justice or right in doing it, but stuck to his power: "Quanquam de jure non possumus, tamen, ex plenitudine potestatis, dictum ordinem reprobamus;" that is, "Though by right we cannot do it, yet by the fulness of power we condemn the said order:" for he can dispense always, and in all things where there is cause, and in many things where there is no cause; sed sub majori pretio,' under a greater price,' said the tax of the datary,' iSess. 8. can. 5. * Cap. eum virum de regularibus. Aquin. 2. 2. q. 88. art. 9. Lib. i. c. 101. Thom. Walsingham. where the price of the several dispensations, even in 'causâ turpi,'' in base and filthy causes,' are set down. Intranti nummo, quasi quodam principe summo, Nay, the pope can dispense supra jus, contra jus,' above law, and against law and right,' said Mosconius, in his books of The Majesty of the Militant Church:' for the pope's tribunal and God's is but one; and, therefore, every reasonable creature is subject to the pope's empire,' said the same author". And what dispensations he usually gives, we are best informed by a gloss of their own upon the canon law, "Nota mirabile, quod cum eo qui peccat dispensatur; cum illo autem qui non peccat, non dispensatur:" "It is a wonderful thing that they should dispense with a fornicator, but not with him who marries after the death of his first wife." They give divorces for marriages in the fourth degree, and give dispensation to marry in the second. These things are a sufficient charge, and yet evidently so, and publicly owned. We need not aggravate this matter, by what Panormitan and others do say, that the pope hath power to dispense in all the laws of God, except the articles of faith; and how much of this they own and practise, needs no greater instance, than that which Volaterran tells of pope Innocent VIII., that he gave the Norwegians a dispensation, not only to communicate, but to consecrate in bread only. As the pope, by his dispensations, undertakes to dissolve the ordinances of God, so also the most solemn contracts of men: of which a very great instance was given by pope Clement VII., who dispensed with the oath which Francis I. of France solemnly swore to Charles V., emperor, after the battle of Pavy, and gave him leave to be perjured. And one of the late popes dispensed with the bastard son of the conde D'Olivarez, or rather, plainly dissolved his marriage, which he made and consummated with Isabella D'Azueta, whom he had publicly married when he was but a mean m Deferunt aurum et argentum, et reportant chartas. Card. Cusan. n Lib. i. de Summo Pontif. vide etiam Jacobum de Terano: et Ravis. de Concile du Trent, cap. Quia circa Extra. de Bigamis. • Cap. Proposui, de Concess, Præbend, n. 20. person, the son of Donna Marguerita Spinola, and under the name of Julian Valeasar. But when the conde had declared him son and heir, the pope dissolved the first marriage, and gave him leave, under the name of Henry Philip de Guzman, to marry D. Juana de Valesco, daughter to the constable of Castile. And now if it be considered, what influence these doctrines have upon societies and communities of men, they will need no further reproof than a mere enumeration of the mischiefs they produce. They, by this means, legitimate adulterous and incestuous marriages, and disannul lawful contracts: they give leave to a spouse to break his or her vow and promise; and to children to disobey their parents, and, perhaps, to break their mother's heart, or to undo a family. No words can bind your faith, because you can be dispensed with; and if you swear you will not procure a dispensation, you can as well be dispensed with for that perjury as the other; and you cannot be tied so fast, but the pope can unloose you. So that there is no certainty in your promise to God, or faith to men; in judicatories to magistrates, or in contracts with merchants; in the duty of children to their parents, of husbands to their wives, or wives to their contracted husbands; of a catholic to a heretic; and last of all, a subject to his prince cannot be bound so strictly, but if the prince be not of the pope's persuasion, or be by him judged a tyrant, his subjects shall owe him no obedience. But this is of particular consideration, and reserved for Sect. III. SECTION II. THERE is yet another instance, by which the church of Rome does intolerable prejudice to governments and societies: in which, although the impiety is not so apparent, yet the evil is more owned, and notorious, and defended; and that is, the exemption of their clergy from the jurisdiction of secular princes and magistrates, both in their estates and persons not only in the matters of simony, heresy, and apostasy, but in matters of theft, perjury, murder, adultery, blasphemy, and treason; in which cases they suffer not a |