He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?
Ver. 25. He saith, Yes] Christ submitted himself "to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake," 1 Peter 2:13; and hath bidden us, Give unto Caesar those things that are Caesar's, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, &c., Matthew 22:21; Romans 13:7. So doth not the great Heteroclite of Rome; he not only detains, but demands Peter Pence and other undue payments from kings and states. One pope said that he could never lack money so long as he could hold a pen in his hand. This kingdom was of old called the pope's ass, for bearing his burdens and exactions. Innocent IV said, that England was the pope's Paradise, and a pit that could never be drawn dry, Hortus delieiarum et puteus inexhaustus. What vast sums drained they hence in King John's days! Otto (one of the pope's muscipulatores, mice-catchers, as the story calleth them), sent hither by Gregory IX, after three years' raking together of money, left not so much in the whole kingdom as he either carried with him or sent to Rome before him. But I hope ere long the kings of the earth, awakened by their gross abuses put upon them, will fleece that withered whore, and burn her flesh with fire, a punishment before prophesied, and well befitting so foul a harlot.