Bellarmine · Apologia pro Responsione sua · Apology for His Answer to the Book of James, King of Great Britain, Entitled Triplici Nodo Triplex Cuneus
Chapter 14: The King's Peroration Is Examined
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. XII, Apologia pro Responsione sua ad Librum Jacobi Magnae Britanniae Regis, an apology of 1609. The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
In his final peroration the king first admonishes all princes in common, as Vicars of God, to think seriously of the planting and propagation of the Gospel, and to provide in good time for the security of their sceptres, since the goodness of God has willed spiritual liberty to be joined with temporal. Then he exhorts the princes estranged from the Roman Church to preserve the unity of the true faith, and the communion of the spirit in the bond of peace, lest by schisms made among themselves a scandal to the faith arise, and they become a byword of reproach to the adversaries, to whom unity is one of the chief marks of the true Church. And he adds that almost half of the Christian world agrees in his religion. Lastly he rouses the Catholic princes, whose minds he says are not yet illumined by the brightness of truth, to open their eyes, and above all to be willing to read through the Scriptures, and to seek from them the rule of believing, and to place the foundations of faith not on the uncertain opinions of others, but on their own certain knowledge. And indeed, as to the first part of the admonition, it seems to me plainly contrary to the holy Gospels. For Christ in the Gospel nowhere makes the princes of the world his Vicars; nowhere commits to them the planting or propagation of the Gospel; nowhere joins spiritual liberty with temporal, so that namely princes free in temporal things should be free also in spiritual; but to the Apostles, who were not temporal kings and princes, he said: Going, preach, saying: The kingdom of heaven is at hand, Matthew 10; to the same he said: Going, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, last chapter of Matthew; to the same he said: Preach the Gospel to every creature, last chapter of Mark; to the same he said: As the Father hath sent me, I also send you; and: Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them, John 20. But to Peter, first of the Apostles, not to Tiberius, first of temporal princes, he committed his fold, saying: Feed my sheep, John 21. And who are the successors of the Apostles the Apostle Paul teaches in Acts 20, where he says that bishops have been placed by the Holy Spirit to rule the Church of God, which he purchased with his own blood; and that the successors of the Apostle Peter are the Roman Pontiffs the most ancient Fathers teach who enumerate them, Irenaeus, book 3, chapter 3, Eusebius in the history and in the Chronicle, Epiphanius, heresy 27, Optatus, book 2 against Parmenian, Saint Augustine in the epistle to Generosus, which is the 165th, lastly Jerome and Prosper in the continuation of the Chronicle of Eusebius. Let the king see, then, while he strives to make temporal princes free from obedience to the shepherds of the Church, and to set them over the Church herself, lest he make them captives of the devil, and shut them out of the Church. For whoever are in the Church of Christ are either shepherds or sheep; and that sheep ought to be subject to shepherds not Scripture only but reason itself shows. That temporal princes are not shepherds in the Church instituted by Christ we showed a little before, nor can they themselves deny it, unless, not content with throne and sceptre and crown, they wish to invade also the chairs of bishops, and the pastoral staffs and mitres of pontiffs. It remains, then, that they are sheep, and thereby ought to be obedient to their prelates, and subject to those who watch, as being to render account for their souls, as the Apostle warns in Hebrews 13.
Now in the second part of the admonition the king boasts that almost half of the Christian world agrees in his religion; which indeed is true if by his religion he understands all the sects, as many as are at variance with the Catholic faith. For there are very many in the East and South, Nestorians, Dioscorians, Jacobites and the like, with whom for a great part the Abyssinians agree; there are very many also in the West and North, Hussites, Lutherans, Zwinglians, Anabaptists, Confessionists, Calvinists, Arians too and Samosatenes. If the king acknowledges all these as his own, he rightly boasts that his sect has been so propagated as to hold almost half of the Christian world. But if he acknowledges as his own only the mixed Calvinists, the Puritans namely being excluded, I do not know whether he could count half of his own kingdom among those who agree in his religion. But as to the king's desire that all who descend from Luther come together into unity of faith, since unity is the principal mark of the true Church, he is held by an empty desire, labours in vain, longs for impossibilities. For how can it be that they end disputes who admit no judge except the Scriptures, which each twists at his pleasure to his own opinions? Certainly if in settling civil suits we had nothing besides the laws, judges and arbiters being wholly excluded, what end of suits could we hope for? And have not the Lutherans now for about ninety years found by experience that in the gravest discords about the sum of the faith they have tried concord in vain? Let the king cease, then, to seek unity of spirit among those who are full of the spirit of contradiction; nor let him hope that there will ever be concord in the faith among those who have made shipwreck concerning the faith, who have changed divine faith into human opinions, and who lastly (which is the chief thing) have once withdrawn from the unity of the Catholic and Apostolic Church, established and founded on a most firm rock.
I come to the third part of the admonition, in which the king says that our Catholic princes are not yet illumined by the light of truth, and therefore warns them to look at the light. Where first I ask whence that new light shone on the English? From the North, he will answer; for thence their first prophet Luther came forth. But we hear the Prophet saying: From the North shall all evil break forth, Jeremiah 1. And if all evil, certainly also the darkness of errors, not the light of truth. Then, Christ foretold that in the last times false prophets would arise, Matthew 24, not new prophets. The Apostles Peter and Jude warned that mockers would come in the last days, not reformers, 2 Peter 3, Jude verse 18. The same Apostle Jude foretold that wandering stars would arise for those who have lost the true light. Lastly Saint Paul, 2 Timothy 3: In the last days, he says, shall come dangerous times: men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers; and in 1 Timothy 4 he says that there will be in the same last times those who, departing from the faith, will give heed to spirits of error and doctrines of devils. Therefore if the king is willing to search the Scriptures, he will altogether understand that those new architects of the faith are not reformers but mockers; not prophets but false prophets; not bright and morning stars, but wandering stars, for whom the storm of darkness is reserved for ever. And that the orthodox princes may plainly see what kind of light the king of the English shows them to look at, let them weigh those words which the king set in his final exhortation, when he says: “With Paul I wish you all to become such, in this one thing, as I am: above all that you be willing to turn over the Scriptures, to seek from them the rule of believing, and to place the foundations of faith not on the uncertain opinions of others, but on your own certain knowledge, since the just shall live by faith, and each is saved by his own faith.” Where he teaches plainly enough that each ought to be judge in matters of faith, and to rest on his own judgment rather than on that of the Church, or of councils, or of the Supreme Pontiff. Which doctrine is not the king's own, but common to those who now handle theology in England. For so in clearer words Whitaker, one of the chief writers of the English, hands down this same thing in the book which he wrote properly against me, first controversy, question 5: “Each ought to be judge for himself, and to stand by his own judgment, not plainly private indeed, but divinely inspired”; and a little below, giving the reason, he says: “Councils, Fathers, Popes are men, and Scripture witnesses that every man is a liar; how then shall I rest on their opinion?” So he. Which dogma surely opens the way to all heresies, and is not so much a heresy as the door of all heresies. For most truly Saint Cyprian wrote, book 1, epistle 3, that heresies have arisen from this, that one priest for the time, and one judge for the time in the place of Christ, is not thought of in the Church of God; for how can heresies be prevented from being born, or, once born, be cut off lest they spread, where there are as many masters as disciples, as many judges as litigants? And not only from this one dogma are many heresies born, but the very certainty of faith is wholly lost; since no one can promise himself that he has the true Spirit of God, or has attained the true knowledge which the king requires for establishing faith. For Scripture witnesses of the Church herself that she is the pillar and ground of the truth, 1 Timothy 3; of one's own spirit or knowledge it nowhere witnesses. The Fathers gathered in a lawful council truly and safely say: It hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us, Acts 15. Private men will not dare to say this except rashly, however learned and spiritual they seem to themselves. To the Prince of the Apostles it was said by the Lord: I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren, Luke 22. And since this privilege was given to Peter, the first supreme Shepherd, for the sake of the Church, it is not rashly believed by the faithful to belong also to the successors of Peter; of private men nothing of the kind is read. Lastly, the tables of both Testaments in doubtful matters send us to the judgment of the high priest; they send no one to his own judgment. If thou perceive that there be among you a hard and doubtful matter in judgment, arise, and go up to the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, and thou shalt come to the priests of the Levitical race, and to the judge that shall be at that time; and thou shalt ask of them, and they shall show thee the truth of the judgment, Deuteronomy 17; and Malachi 2: The lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth, because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts. And the Lord in the Gospel, Matthew 23: The Scribes and the Pharisees have sitten on the chair of Moses; all things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do. And Matthew 18: If he will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican. And why did the Lord commit the sheep to Peter to be fed, except that the rational sheep should receive the pastures of doctrine not from themselves, but from him? And why did God set in his Church pastors and doctors, according to the Apostle in Ephesians 4, if each ought to be pastor and doctor to himself? But councils, Fathers, Popes are men, and according to the testimony of Scripture liars. I answer that the Apostles too and the Prophets were men, and yet they could safely be believed, because the spirit which spoke in them was not a liar. So then councils lawfully gathered, Fathers proclaiming with unanimous consent, the Pope sitting and teaching in the chair of Peter, are men, and by the frailty of human nature liars; but the Holy Spirit is not a liar, who teaches the Church through men of that kind. But particular men are not only men, and of themselves and by themselves liars; but have no promise that the spirit of truth assists them. We have learned by experience that the heretics of this time, who profess contrary and mutually conflicting dogmas, all without exception boast the illumination of the Holy Spirit and knowledge of the Scriptures; and that those very men glory the more in the Spirit and knowledge who are further from the truth, such as are, in the judgment of almost all, the Anabaptists. Wherefore if the foundations of faith are to be placed on one's own knowledge, or on a private illumination of the spirit, the house of our faith, founded not on the rock but on the sand, will not be able to escape, when the wind of temptation blows, a great ruin. But if King James was allowed to wish with Paul that all Catholic kings and princes might become such as he is, why will it not be allowed, with greater reason, to so many great kings and other orthodox princes to wish that King James may become such as they are, and such as were all his forefathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers, the kings of Scotland from Donald I, who received the Christian rites from Pope Saint Victor the martyr, to Mary his mother, a most excellent and most holy woman? For it is well enough established that the kings of Scotland, succeeding one another by a singular blessing of God for thirteen hundred years, were Catholics, the one James VI excepted, who by the injury of the times, deprived of the care of godly parents, fell among heretical educators, and, instructed by them, turned from the way of his forefathers. They wish, therefore, as of their supreme piety and charity I confidently presume, all Catholic kings and the other princes, above all the emperor Rudolf himself, and pray from God, that King James may at some time seek again the footsteps of his forefathers, and, returning to them and treading in them, may so live and reign in the present age that he may deserve also in the future to live and reign with them for ever.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT XI Y. Excutitur peroratio regis. (i a ) In extrema peroratione sua rex, pri¬ mum admonet in communi principes omnes, tanquam Vicarios Dei, ut serio cogitent de Evangelii plantatione, et propagatione; et sceptrorum suorum securitati mature provi¬ deant, cum Dei benignitas spiritualem liber¬ tatem, cum temporali voluerit esse conjun¬ ctam. Deinde hortatur Principes alienos ab Ecclesia Romana, ut verse fidei unitatem conservent, et communionem spiritus in vinculo pacis; ne factis inter ipsos schisma¬ tibus, scandalum fidei oriatur, et fiant para¬ bola opprobrii adversariis, quibus unitas una e praecipuis est verai Ecclesiae nota. Addit autem, mediam prope partem Orbis Christiani in suam religionem consentire. Denique Principes Catholicos, quorum men¬ tes dicit, nondum veritatis fulgore esse illu¬ stratas, excitat ut oculos aperiant, atque in primis ut Scripturas perlegere velint, atque ex illis credendi normam petere, neque su¬ per aliorum incertis opinionibus, sed super propria, et certa scientia, fidei fundamenta collocare. Et quidem quod attinet ad primam par¬ tem admonitionis, videtur ea mihi sacris Evangeliis prorsus esse contraria ( b ). Chri¬ stus enim in Evangelio, nusquam principes saeculi Vicarios suos facit ; nusquam illis mandat Evangelii plantationem, vel propa¬ gationem, nusquam libertatem spiritualem cum temporali conjungit, ut videlicet princi¬ pes liberi in temporalibus, liberi sint etiam in spiritualibus : Sed Apostolis, qui reges, et principes temporales non erant, dixit : Euntes praedicate dicentes , quia appropin¬ quavit regnum Coelorum , Matth. x. iisdem dixit : Euntes docete omnes gentes baptizantes eos in nomine Patris , et Filii , et Spiritus sancti , Matth. ultim. Iisdem dixit : Praedicate Evangelium omni creaturae, Marci ult. Iisdem dixit : Sicut misit me Pater et ego mitto vos : Et quorum remiseritis peccata remittentur eis , Joan. xx. Petro vero Apostolorum pri¬ mo, non Tiberio Principum temporalium primo, ovile suum commissit dicens : Pasce oves meas (1), Joan. xxi. Qui sint autem Apostolorum successores Apostolus Paulus docet Actor, xx. ubi dicit, Episcopos positos esse a Spiritu sancto regere Ecclesiam Dei, quam acquisivit sanguine suo : Apostoli vero Petri successores, Romanos esse Pontifices docent antiquissimi Patres, qui eos enume¬ rant, Irenseus lib. m. cap. 3. Eusebius in historia, et in Chronico, Epiphanius heeresi 27. Optatus lib. ii. cont. Parmenian. S. Au¬ gustinus in epist. ad Generosum, quse est 163. Denique Hieronymus, et Prosper in continuatione Chronici Eusebii. Videat ergo rex, dum principes tempora¬ les liberos facere nititur ab obedientia Pasto¬ rum Ecclesiae, et super ipsam Ecclesiam con¬ stituere, ne captivos diaboli faciat, et ab Ec¬ clesia excludat, (c) Quicumque enim in Eccle¬ sia Christi sunt, aut Pastores, aut oves sunt ; oves autem pastoribus subditas esse debere, non Scriptura solum, sed et ratio ipsa demon¬ strat. Principes temporales, non esse in Ec¬ clesia Pastores a Christo institutos, paulo an¬ te monstravimus, neque ipsi negare possunt, nisi non contenti solio, et sceptro, et coro- (1) Matth. X, 7 ; Matth. XXVIII, 19 ; Mare. XVI, 14; Joan. XX, 23; Joan. XXI, 17. (a) Summa totius perorationis tribus capitibus comprehensa. — (b) Evangelii plantatio et Ec¬ clesiae gubernatio Apostolis , non regibus , a Christo commissae. \ — (c) Reges in Ecclesia esse debent , non super Ecclesiam; quippe oves, non Pastores, APOLOGLE GAP. XIV. na, cathedras quoque Episcoporum, et ba¬ culos pastolares, et mitras Pontificum velint invadere. Restat igitur ut oves sint, ac per hoc obedientes praepositis esse debeant, et subjacere eis, qui pervigilant, tanquam ra¬ tionem pro animabus illorum reddituri, ut Apostolus monet ad Heb. xm. Jam vero in altera parte admonitionis glo¬ riatur rex, mediam prope partem orbis Chri¬ stiani in suam religionem consentire, quod quidem verum est, si per religionem suam intelligat omnes sectas quotquot sunt a Ca¬ tholica fide discordes. Plurimi enim sunt ad Orientem, et Meridiem Nestoriani, Diosco- riani, Jacobitse, et similes, cum quibus ma¬ gna ex parte Abyssini conveniunt : plurimi quoque sunt ad Occidentem, et Septentrio¬ nem Hussitee, Lutherani, Zwingliani. Ana- baptistse, Confessionistse, Calviniani, Ariani quoque et Samosateni. Si hos omnes pro suis rex agnoscit, recte gloriatur, sectam suam ita propagatam, ut mediam prope partem Christi orbis obtineat. Si vero pro suis non agnoscit nisi Calvinianos mistos, puritanis videlicet exclusis, nescio an (a) mediam par¬ tem regni sui numerare potuerit in iis, qui religioni suse consentiunt. Quod autem rex cupit, omnes qui a Lu- thero descendunt, in unitatem fidei conveni¬ re ; cum .principalis verae Ecclesite nota sit unitas ; inani desiderio tenetur, frustra labo¬ rat, impossibilia concupiscit, (b) Quomodo enim fieri potest, ut lites finiant, qui judicem nullum admittunt, nisi Scripturas, quas unus¬ quisque pro arbitrio sui ad opiniones suas detorquet? certe si in litibus civilibus diri¬ mendis nihil haberemus praeter leges, judi¬ cibus, atque arbitris omnino exclusis, quem finem litium sperare possemus? Et nonne jam per nonaginta circiter annos Lutherani experti sunt, in discordiis gravissimis de summa fidei se concordiam frustra tentasse? desinat ergo rexunitatein Spiritus apud eos quaerere, qui spiritu contradictionis pleni sunt : neque speret concordiam in fide apud eos unquam futuram, qui circa fidem nau¬ fragaverunt, qui fidem divinam in opiniones humanas commutaverunt, et qui denique (quod potissimum est) ab unitate Ecclesiae Catholicae, atque Apostolicae, in petra firmis- (1) Hier. I, 14. — (2) II Timoth. III, 1. 189 sima stabilitae, atque fundatae semel reces¬ serunt. Venio ad tertiam partem admonitionis, in qua rex Principes nostros Catholicos, non¬ dum luce veritatis illustratos esse dicit, at¬ que ideo ( c ) monet, ut lumen aspiciant. Ubi primum quaero, unde novum istud lumen Anglis affulserit? ab Aquilone respondebit : inde enim primus eorum propheta Lutherus emersit. At nos Prophetam audimus dicen¬ tem : Ab Aquilone pandetur omne malum (1). Hierem. i. Et si omne malum, certe etiam tenebrae errorum, non lux veritatis. Deinde Christus in novissimis tempori¬ bus pseudoprophetas surrecturos praedixit, Matth. xxiv. non Prophetas novos. Apostoli Petrus, et Judas illusores venturos in ulti¬ mis diebus admonuerunt, non reformatores. II Petri iii. Judae v. 18. Idem Judas Apo¬ stolus, sidera errantia praedixit exoritura iis, qui veram lucem amiserunt. Denique sanctus Paulus II ad Timoth. iii. In novis¬ simis , inquit, diebus instabunt tempora peri¬ culosa : erunt enim homines seipsos amantes, cupidi , elati , superbi, blasphemi (2) et I Ti¬ moth. iv. diqit, futuros in iisdem novissimis temporibus, qui discedentes a fide intendant spiritibus erroris, et doctrinis daemoniorum. Ergo si scripturas scrutari rex voluerit, in- tclliget omnino, novos istos fidei architectos, non reformato res, sed illusores ; non Prophe¬ tas, seu speudoprophetas ; non stellas lucidas, et matutinas, sed errantia sidera esse, quibus procella tenebrarum servatur in aeternum. Atque ut principes Orthodoxi plane per- spiciant, quale lumen aspiciendum Anglorum rex ipsis ostendait, verba illa perpendant, quae rex in extrema sua adhortatione posuit, cum ait (d): Cum Paulo opto vos omnes fieri tales, hac una in re, qualis ego sum : in pri¬ mis ut velitis scripturas pervolvere, ex his credendi normam petere, neque super alio¬ rum incertis opinionibus, sed vestra ipsorum certa scientia, fidei fundamenta collocare, quando justus ex fide vivet, et unusquisque sit fide propria salvus.» Ubi satis aperte docet, unumquemque debere esse judicem in rebus fidei, suoque judicio potius quam Eeclesiee, vel Conciliorum, aut sumini Pon¬ tificis acquiescere. (a) Non media pars orbis Christiani , sed vix media pars Anglios in religionem regis consentit. — ( b ) Unitas fidei inter haereticos optari potest , obtineri non potest. — (c) Proprium est haeretico¬ rum, cum in tenebris errorum degant , lucem veritat is polliceri. — [d) Hic omnibus hoer esibus janua aperitur . 190 APOLOGLE CAP. XIV. Quffi doctrina non est ipsius regis propria, sed illis communis, qui nunc in Anglia rem theologicam tractant. Sic enim clarioribus verbis hoc idem tradit Witacherus, unus ex primariis Anglorum scriptoribus, in libro, quem proprie contra me scripsit, controver¬ siae primae quaestione quinta: « Unusquisque sibi Judex esse debet, et suo judicio, non plane piivato quidem, sed divinitus inspi¬ rato stare » :et paulo infra rationem reddens ait : « Concilia, Patres, Papae homines sunt, et Scriptura testatur, omnem hominem men¬ dacem esse : quomodo ergo illorum senten¬ tiae acquiescam ? » Haec ille. Quod sane dog¬ ma omnibus haeresibus aditum aperit, ne¬ que tam esthaeresis,quamhaeresum omnium janua. Verissime enim sanctus Cyprianus lib. i. epist. 3. scripsit, hinc haereses orta esse, quod unus in Ecclesia Dei ad tempus sacerdos, et ad tempus Judex vice Christi non cogitatur, quomodo enim haereses impe¬ diri possunt, ne nascantur; vel jam natae re¬ secari, ne propagentur; ubi tot sunt Magi¬ stri, quot discipuli ; tot judices, quot litiga¬ tores? Neque solum ex hoc uno dogmate nascun¬ tur haereses multae, sed omnino ipsa fidei certitudo (a) : cum nemo sibi polliceri possit, se verum spiritum Dei habere, aut veram scientiam adeptum esse, quam ad fidem sta¬ biliendam rex requirit. Scriptura siquidem de Ecclesia ipsa testatur, quod sit columna, et firmamentum veritatis, I Timoth. m. de spiritu, vel scientia propria nusquam testa¬ tur. Patres in concilio legitimo congregati/ vere, et tuto dicunt, Visum est Spiritui San¬ cto , et nobis. Act. xv. Privati homines nisi temere hoc dicere non audebunt, quan¬ tumvis docti, et spirituales sibi esse videan¬ tur. Apostolorum principi dictum est a Do¬ mino : Rogavi pro te, ut non deficiat fides tua , et tu aliquando conversus confirma fra¬ tres tuos (2). Luc. xxii. Et quoniam privile¬ gium hoc Petro primo summo Pastori pro¬ pter Ecclesiam datum est, non temere a fide¬ libus creditur ad successores quoque Petri pertinere : de privatis hominibus nihil tale legitur. Denique utriusque testamenti tabulae in rebus dubiis ad Sacerdotis summi judicium non remittunt : ad judicium proprium nemi¬ nem remittunt. Si difficile, atque ambiguum judicium apud te esse perspexeris , surge , et ascende ad locum , quem elegerit Dominus Deus tuus , veniesque ad Sacerdotem Levit ici generis, et ad Judicem qui fuerit illo tempore : quae- resque ab eis , qui indicabunt tibi judicii veri¬ tatem , Deut. xvn. et Malach. ii. Labia Sacerdotis custodiunt scientiam , et legem re¬ quirent ab ore ejus, quia Angelus Domini ex¬ ercituum est. Et Dominus in Evangelio Matth. xxiii. Super cathedram Mosis sederunt Scri¬ bas ■, et Pharisaei : quaecumque dixerint volis servate , et facite. Et Matth. xvm. Si Eccle¬ siam non audierit, sit tibi sicut Ethnicus , et Publicanus (2). Et cur Dominus Petro pa¬ scendas oves commisit, nisi ut oves rationa¬ les pascua doctrinae non a se ipsae, sed ab illo acciperent? Et cur posuit Deus in Eccle¬ sia sua Pastores, et Doctorcs, juxta Aposto¬ lum ad Ephes. iv., si unusquisque sibi Pa¬ stor, etDoctor esse debebat? At concilia, Patres, Papae, homines sunt, et secundum Scripturae testimonium menda¬ ces (b). Respondeo Apostolos quoque, et Prophetas homines fuisse, et tamen eis tuto credi potuisse, quoniam non erat mendax spiritus, qui loquebatur in eis. Sic igitur concilia legitime congregata, Patres unanimi consensu praedicantes, Papa in Cathedra Pe¬ tri sedens, et docens, homines sunt, et ex na¬ turae human« fragilitate mendaces ; sed non est mendax Spiritus Sanctus, qui per ejus¬ modi homines Ecclesiam docet. Particulares vero homines, non tantum homines sunt, et per se, atque ex se menda¬ ces ; sed neque promissionem ullam habent, quod eis spiritus veritatis assistat. Ex expe¬ rimento didicimus haereticos hujus tempo¬ ris, qui contraria, atque inter se pugnantia dogmata profitentur, omnes omnino Spiritus sancti illustrationem, et scientiam Scriptu¬ rarum jactare : et illos ipsos magis de Spi¬ ritu, et scientia gloriari, qui longius a veli¬ tate absunt, quales sunt omnium fere judi¬ cio Anabaptistee. Quare si super scientia pro¬ pria, vel privata spiritus illustratione funda¬ menti fidei collocanda sunt, non super pe¬ tram, sed super arenam d mus fidei nostree fundata, non poterit effugere, quin flante vento tentationis, fiat ruina illius magna. •Sed si rei Jacobo licuit, optare cum Paulo, (1) Act. XV, 2< ; Luc. XXII, 32. — (2) Deut. XVII, 8 ; Matth. XXIII, 7; Matth. XVlII, “2, 17. (a) Qui i>ro/>rium yirHvm judicem controversiarum, fidei facit , amittit fidei certitudinem, — (6) Solvitur objectio adversariorum. APOLOGLE GAP. XV. 19! ut omnes Catholici reges, et principes fierent, qualis ipse est ; cur non majore ratione lice¬ bit tot magnis regibus, aliisqne principibus Orthodoxis optare, ut rex Jacobus fiat qua¬ les ipsi sunt, et quales fuerunt omnes majo¬ res ejus, avi, proavique Scotiae reges a Do- naldo primo, qui a sancto Victore Papa, et Martyre Christiana sacra suscepit, usque ad Mariam parentem ejus, feminam optimam, at¬ que sanctissimam? Satis enim constat, Sco¬ tiae reges, singulari Dei benedictione perannos mille trecentos sibi invicem succedentes, Ca¬ tholicos fuisse, uno Jacobo sexto excepto, qui temporum injuria, piorum parentum cura destitutus, in educatores haereticos in¬ cidit, atque ab illis institutus a via majorum deflexit. Optant igitur, quod de illorum summa pietate, et charitatefidenter praesumo, omnes Catholici reges et principes caeteri, in primis Caesar ipse Rudolphus, atque a Deo precan¬ tur, ut Jacobus rex aliquando majorum suo¬ rum vestigia requirat, atque ad ea rediens, iisque insistens ita vivat, et regnet in prae¬ senti saeculo, ut etiam in futuro una cum ipsis in aeternum vivere, ac regnare merea¬ tur.