pay tribute, unless they be exempted by the favour and privilege of princes freeing them from so doing: which thing Thomas Aquinas also affirmeth, writing upon the same place. Secondly, the same is proved out of the ancient. For Urbanus saith, "The tribute-money was therefore found in the mouth of the fish taken by St Peter, because the Church payeth tribute-money out of her outward and earthly possessions." And St Ambrose saith, "If tribute be demanded, it is not denied; the church-land payeth tribute." Now if Urbanus, bishop of Rome, and worthy Ambrose, bishop of Milan, (than whom there was never any bishop found more resolute in the defence of the right of the Church,) say that tribute is not to be denied, but paid unto princes by men of the Church, and in respect of church-land, I think it is evident there is no exemption by any law of God that freeth the goods of church-men from yielding tribute to princes. For touching that text (where our Saviour saith unto Peter 3, "What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the Gentiles receive tribute? of their own children, or of strangers ?" and Peter answereth, "of strangers;" whence Christ inferreth that "the children are free,") brought by some to prove the supposed immunity of clergymen to be from God's own grant, Bellarmine sufficiently cleareth the matter. For first he sheweth that Christ speaketh of himself only, making this argument,-Kings' sons are free from tribute, as being neither to pay to their own fathers, seeing their goods are common, nor to strangers, to whom they are not subject: therefore himself being the son of the great King of kings, oweth no tribute to any mortal man. So that when he said "the children are free," he meant not to

1 "Tributum in ore piscis piscante Petro inventum est, quia de exterioribus suis quæ palam cunctis apparent ecclesia tributum reddit."Gratian. Decret. Part. 2. Caus. 23. Quæst. 8. cap. 'Tributum.' [col. 1497.]

2 "Si tributum petit, non negamus. Agri ecclesiæ solvunt tributum."-Ambros. Orat. de tradend. basilicis. [Ad calc. Epist. xxi. Tom. IL. col. 872. F.]

2 Matt. xvii. 25.

4 "Secundum hanc expositionem quæ verissima nobis videtur vis argumenti hæc est. Reges terræ non exigunt tributum a filiis suis, sed ab alienis: igitur neque rex cœli exiget tributum a me, qui sum ejus proprius et naturalis filius."-Bellarm. De Clericis. [ubi supra.]

M

signify that any other are free; but only that himself was free. Secondly, he rightly observeth that this place would prove that all Christians are free from tribute, if it proved any other than Christ to be so; for all Christians are the sons of God by adoption and grace. And Hierome', writing upon this place, hath these words: "Our Lord was the King's son both according to the flesh, and according to the spirit, descending of the stock of David, and being the Word of the Almighty Father: and therefore as being the Son of the kingdom owed no tribute; but because he assumed the humility of flesh, it behoved him to fulfil all righteousness: but, unhappy men that we are! we are called after the name of Christ, and do nothing worthy so great an honour. He, for the great love he bare towards us, sustained the cross for us, and paid tribute: but we for his honour pay no tribute, and as kings' sons are free from tribute." These words are brought by some to prove the imagined freedom we speak of: but first, they are so far from proving any such thing, that Erasmus thinketh Hierome reprehended it, and disliked it as a thing savouring of arrogancy, that clergymen should refuse to pay tribute, which he saith is contrary to the conceit of men in our time, who think it the height of all piety to maintain this immunity. And Sixtus Senensis saith 3, that Hierome speaketh not of that tribute

1 "Dominus noster et secundum carnem et secundum spiritum filius regis erat, vel ex David stirpe generatus, vel omnipotentis Verbum patris. Ergo tributa quasi regum filius non debebat, sed qui humilitatem carnis assumpserat, debuit adimplere omnem justitiam. Nosque infelices qui Christi censemur nomine, et nihil dignum tanta facimus majestate; ille pro nobis et crucem sustinuit et tributa reddidit, nos pro illius honore tributa non reddimus, et quasi filii regis a vectigalibus immunes sumus."-Hieron. [In Matt. Lib. I. cap. 18. Tom. VII. col. 136.]

2 "Hieronymum hæc exponentem Erasmus Roterodamus annotationibus suis notavit his verbis. . . . Videtur Hieronymus hoc arrogantiæ tribuere quod ecclesiastici graventur tributum pendere principibus, cum hodie summa pietas habeatur pro immunitate clericorum modis omnibus digladiari.”—Erasm. citat. a Sixto Senensi, Biblioth. sanct. Lib. VI. Annot. 75. [p. 453. Par. 1610.]

3 "Hæc Erasmus: cui ne pro aculeis aculeos referamus, breviter, servata evangelica modestia, respondemus, Hieronymum non loqui de eo tributo quod principibus hujus mundi eorum subditi debent; sed de eo tributo quod omnes debemus Christo; qui cum talis ac tantus

which subjects pay to their princes here in this world, but of that which we all owe to Christ; so that this is that he saith, Why do not we wretched men, professing ourselves to be the servants of Christ, yield unto his Majesty the due tribute of our service, seeing Christ, so great and excellent, paid tribute for our sakes? St Austin, in his first book of "Questions upon the Gospels," saith', that "Kings' sons in this world are free, and that therefore much more the sons of that kingdom under which all kingdoms of the world are, should be free in each earthly kingdom:" which words Thomas and Sixtus Senensis 3 understand of a freedom from the bondage of sin, but Jansenius rejecteth that interpretation, because Austin saith, "the children of kings are free from tribute," and thinketh that Austin's meaning is, that if God the King of heaven and earth had many natural sons, as he hath but one only begotten, they should all be free in all the kingdoms of the world: and other apply these words to clergymen, though there be nothing in the place leading to any such interpretation. But whatsoever we think of the meaning of Austin, Bellarmine saith it cannot be inferred

pro nobis vectigalia solverit, cur nos miseri, inquit Hieronymus, qui servos Christi nos esse pro se profitemur majestati ipsius debitum servitutis tributum non reddimus."-Sixtus Senens. [Ibid.]

1 "Quod dixit, Ergo liberi sunt filii, in omni regno intelligendum est liberos esse filios, id est, non esse vectigales. Multo ergo magis liberi esse debent in quolibet regno terreno filii regni illius sub quo sunt omnia regna terrena."-August. Quæst. Evang. Lib. 1. Quæst. 23. Tom m. Part. 2. col. 244. B.]

2 "Illi qui fiunt filii Dei per gratiam liberi sunt a spirituali servitute peccati.”—Thom. Aquin. Secunda Secundæ, Quæst. 104. Art. 6. [Tom. VI. p. 114.]

3 "Opinor Augustini expositionem esse mysticam, et in ea agi de tributo carnalis et diabolicæ servitutis, a quo filii regni in libertatem spiritus evocati ubicunque vivant, liberi esse debent; non autem de externo et politico tributo."-Sixt. Senens. Lib. vi. Annot. 76. [p. 454.]

4 "Dicit potest melius, Augustinum dum dicit filios supremi regis liberos esse in quolibet regno terreno, loqui de filiis naturalibus, sicut de his est sermo in conclusione Domini, unde illud infert Augustinus, ut quod Augustinus dicit pluraliter tantum locum habeat in Christo, babiturum tamen locum etiam in pluribus, si plures essent filii naturales."-Jansen. Comment. in Concord. Evang. Cap. 69. [p. 444. Mogunt. 1612.]

from these his words that clergymen by God's law are free from the duty of paying tribute: because (as Chrysostom noteth) Christ speaketh only of natural children: and besides prescribeth nothing, but only sheweth that usually among men kings' sons are free from tribute; and therefore, whereas the authority of Bonifacius the Eighth, who affirmeth that the goods and persons of clergymen are free from exactions, both by the law of God and man, is brought to prove the contrary; he answereth, first, that haply the pope meant not that they are absolutely freed by any special grant from God, but only that there is an example of Pharaoh2, an heathen prince, freeing the priests of his gods mentioned in Scripture, which may induce Christian kings to free the pastors of Christ's Church. Secondly, that it was but the private opinion of the pope, inclining to the judgment of the canonists; and that he did not define any such thing. So that men may lawfully dissent from him in this point. So that we see, by the testimonies of Scripture and fathers, and the confession of the best learned among our adversaries themselves, that Almighty God did not by any special exemption free either the goods or persons of clergymen from the command of princes, and that in the beginning they were subject to all services, judgments, payments, and burdens, that any other are subject to, and required by Christ the Son of God, and his blessed apostles, to be so.

But some man happily will say, that though Christ did not specially free either the goods or persons of clergymen from the subjection to princes, yet there are inducements in reason, and in the very light of nature, such and so great, to move princes to set them free, that they should not do well if they did not so. Whereunto we answer, that there is no question to be made but that the pastors of the Church that watch over the souls of men are to be respected, and tendered more than men of any other calling; and so they are, and ever were, where any sense of religion is, or was. The apostle St Paul testifieth of the Galatians3, "that they received him as an angel of God, yea, as Christ Jesus himself;

6

1 In 6. cap. Quanquam' de Censibus. [Lib. sext. decret. Lib. II. tit. 20. cap. 4. col. 417. fol. Par. 1612.]

2 Gen. xlvii. 22.

3 Gal. iv. 14, 15.

and that they would have even plucked out their eyes to have done him good." The emperor Constantine1 honoured the Christian bishops with the name and title of gods, acknowledged himself subject to their judgment, though he swayed. the sceptre of the world; and refused to see what the complaints were that they preferred one against another, or to read their bills, but professed that to cover their faults he would even cast from him his purple robe. Whence it came that many privileges were anciently granted unto them, both in respect of their persons and goods. For first, Constantine the Great not only gave ample gifts to the pastors of the churches, but exempted them also from those services, ministries, and employments, that other men are subject to. His epistle to Anylinus, the proconsul of Africa, wherein this grant was made to them of Africa, is found in Eusebius 2. Neither is it to be doubted but that he extended his favours to the bishops of other churches also, as well as to them. The words of the grant are these: " Considering that the due observation of things pertaining to true religion and the worship of God bringeth great happiness to the whole state of the commonwealth and empire of Rome; for the encouragement of such as attend the holy ministry, and are named clergymen, my pleasure is, that all such in the Church wherein Cæcilianus is bishop be at once and altogether absolutely freed and exempted from all public ministries and services." Neither did the emperors only exempt them from these services, but they freed them also from secular judg

1 Ruffin. Lib. I. cap. 2. Theodoret. Lib. v. cap. 11.

2 Ἐπειδὴ ἐκ πλειόνων πραγμάτων φαίνεται παρεξουθενηθεῖσαν τὴν θρησκείαν ἐν ᾗ ἡ κορυφαία τῆς ἁγιωτάτης ἐπουρανίου αἰδὼς φυλάττεται, μεγάλους κινδύνους ἐνηνοχέναι τοῖς δημοσίοις πράγμασιν, αὐτήν τε ταύτην ἐνθέσμως ἀναληφθεῖσαν καὶ φυλαττομένην μεγίστην εὐτυχίαν τῷ ̔Ρωμαϊκῷ ὀνόματι, καὶ σύμπασι τοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων πράγμασιν ἐξαίρετον εὐδαιμονίαν παρεσχηκέναι, τῶν θείων εὐεργεσιῶν τοῦτο παρεχουσῶν ἔδοξεν ἐκείνους τοὺς ἄνδρας τοὺς τῇ ὀφειλομένῃ ἁγιότητι καὶ τῇ τοῦ νόμου τούτου παρεδρίᾳ τὰς ὑπηρεσίας τὰς ἐξ ἑαυτῶν, τῇ τῆς θείας θρησκείας θεραπεία παρεχόντας, τῶν καμάτων τῶν ἰδίων τὰ ἔπαθλα κομίσασθαι, Ανυλῖνε τιμιώτατε, Διόπερ ἐκείνους τοὺς εἴσω τῆς ἐπαρχίας τῆς σοὶ πεπιστευμένης ἐν τῇ καθολικῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ἡ Κεκιλιανὸς ἐφέστηκε, τὴν ἐξ ἑαυτῶν ὑπηρεσίαν τῇ ἁγίᾳ ταύτῃ θρησκεία παρεχόντας, οὔσπερ κληρικοὺς ἐπονομάζειν εἴωθασιν, ἀπὸ πάντων ἁπαξαπλῶς τῶν λειτουργιών βούλομαι ἀλειτουργήτους διαφυλαχθῆναι — Euseb. H. E. Lib. x. cap. 7.