I see for the happy and flourishing estate therof and for the maintenaunce of Gods true Religion and defence of his Church and congregation wanteth no enimies to pursue the daunger of it nor coullorable freendes that seeke to betraye it to spoyle which could they as easilie accomplishe as they willinglie put in practise and had not GOD more care of his chosen then their malicious stomackes can affoord God knowes the heauie burden should lye on our necks which I pray God they neuer liue to lay on nor we â—o feele But as the marke is easilie seene which they so mightilie and continuallie ayme at and for that God praysed be his name therefore hath hytherto preuented all their trayterous attempts turning their daggers into their owne bosomes and causing them to fall into the pitte they made for others so is it expedient for vs to continue in prayer that it may please him long to vouchsafe that prouideÌ„t care ouer vs and that we lykewise applie our owne duetifull wisdome and pollicie to vphold that plant by whose meanes we prosper and preuent their deuises who would robbe vs of so high a treasure It is our dread and soueraigne Lady whose shyning vertues fret the polluted eyes of these vnnaturall Subiectes whose heroicall gouernement which no Realme in the world is able to match for peaceable continuaunce that sticketh lyke sharpe needles in their venoumed and disdainefull stomackes and it is the rare president of her famous lyfe her Christian zeale and aboundaunce of all excellent giftes which woorthelie winneth the heartes of her true Subiectes and inflameth them with desire of her long prosperitie that calling their barbarous conceite into question thundreth such Maiestie into their deceyued eares as they pollishe theyr tongues to depraue spare no penne-worke to slaunder whette their weapons and deuise all tretcheries that lost and forsaken mindes can doo to extinguishe the lyght of that Sunne whereon their seared-consciences wyll not suffer them to looke and to deface that perfect Emeralde which the more they seeke to blemishe with the oyle of venemous reportes the more perfect it sheweth it selfe in beautie I neede not report vnto you for that your wisedomes and iudgementes are verie well acquainted therewith that the prosperitie of the Prince is the assured safetie of the whole Kingdome and common wealth and the least motion of greefe that toucheth her concerneth the whole state ingenerall by reason that her Highnesse is the most louing Mother and Nurse of all her good Subiectes and is lykewise the husband of the common weale maried to the Realme and the same by ceremony of Ring as solemnly signified as any other mariage Can we then that are her Maiesties chyldren her true and faithfull subiectes endure to see our mother wronged her authoritie defamed her lyfe endaungered and shall we not thinke the same concerneth vs Can we see proud reprobates seeke to seuer the knot of loue and agreement which hath beene iustly and lawfully vnited betweene her and vs to yeelde our liues in slauerie and seruitude to an vsurping tyrant and shall not the breach of this bonde of sacred wedlocke mooue vs to regard how highly it harmeth vs Nature causeth the chylde to worke all policies he may for his Mothers defence and the estimation of that holy league of loue is of force to compell the faithfull to maintaine and continue it The case then touching vs so neerelie as it dooth the verie meanest subiect is bound for his Princes defence much more they whome God hath called to office of Magistracie and bearing rule their care ought to be both night and daye how to set downe good lawes and orders to be vigilant and carefull in dilligent search and enquirie to bring such stubborne and gracelesse men to open lyght who spurne at her Maiestie that hath put the Sworde in your handes of honour and authoritie and trying theyr deedes to be contrarie to the duetie of good Subiectes to let them be soone cutte off by the sword of Iustice. And if I maye without offence speake one word to your Honour and VVorshippes not by waye of teaching but for vnlading some part of the burden of true loue I beare to my Countrie I would desire you to haue an especiall eye to the Cittie of London for it is a receptacle to many of these bad people and many fauourers freends they haue in the Cittie who bearing the countenaunce of good and honest Subiectes are neuerthelesse but hollowe hearted and giue aide and releefe to such as seeke the ruine of the whole state Your Honour and VVorships shall notablie witnesse the loue you beare to God and his Church and the zeale affection and duetie you owe to her Maiestie in being respectiue to this especiall cause for it is high tyme the enimies are nowe growne so bolde and full of mischeefe as if such as are in authority doo not laye too theyr helping handes to represse them they will in tyme beso wylde as they will be past bridleling This shall be therefore my last request vnto you that the premisses considered the effect may be put in execution and when you haue perused this smal worke I doubt not but you will thinke my request honest and lawfull and expedient to be redressed to the vttermost of your powers Thus wishing prosperous successe to all you goe about that may set foorth Gods glory and be to her Maiesties defence from her enimies I humbly take my leaue Your Honours and Worships well-willer A. M. A VVatch-vvoord to England THE state of this Realme considered and specially such accidentes touching the same as late troubles haue ministred doo make it dailie more and more euident how precious and how déere a Iewell is the safety of the Quéenes most excellent Maiestie our most louing and beloued Soueraigne Ladie Compare the time of her most noble and gratious gouernment with the times and ages long since past and gone and especiallie with the miserable and dangerous daies immediatlie precéeding her most happie princelie and comfortable raigne call to mind the weaknes and perils wherin the common weale stoode before the comming of her highnes to the Crowne weigh the infinite benefites bothe bodilie and ghostlie that the whole Realme hath and all her Subiects both haue had and doo enioy by her meanes thinke vpon the gréeuous and vnspeakable miseries that we all shall be like to sustaine by the losse of her vnualuable presence It shalbe plaine that he is wilfullie blind that cannot sée he is wickedlie malicious that will not acknowledge he is obstinatelie stone harted that wil not with sorrowe and trembling déepelie imprint in carefull hart those motions and thoughts that such consideration shall lay before him Remember the quiet of conscience the comfort of true seruing of GOD the fréedome of the Realme the deliuerance of soules from foreine thraldom the escape of the heauie yoake of straunge Dominion the recouerie of wealth the benefit of
the poysoning of him at length the giuing the Land to the French Kinges sonne the inuading thereof by the Dolphin of Fraunce his so long possessing a great part of it the rebellion of the Barons to take the French mens part all the mischéefes that fell in all this whyle were they not the good workes of Popes and Papistes The great deuision of the two noble houses of Lancaster and Yorke which cost so much Englishe blood that there remayneth no house of high or meane Nobilitie that hath not smarted for it So many foughten fieldes within the Realme so long and so great vncertaintie which side were true men and which were Traitours and for how many dayes or howres they should be so estéemed such desolation and miseries to whome are they to be imputed but to the Popishe Clergie and Papists and among other to Thomas Arundell Archbishoppe of Canterburie that trayterouslie practised the deposing of his lawfull Soueraigne Lord King Richard the second But come yet to later times Howe was the Quéenes Maiesties most noble Father assaulted by the Pope and Papistes His Realme was interdited and giuen away to him that could catch it Legates and one notable English traitour were sent about to perswade Christian Princes to inuade England to destroye and depose King Henrie and to take the Realme in reward for their labour When Charles the late Emperour was setting forward against the Turke Cardinall Poole being sent by the Pope made a solemne Oration to him which is yet extant in print to perswade the Emperour to turne his prepared power from inuading the Turke and to bend it against King Henrie the eight as one wurse then any Turke What turmoile was then raised by the Northren Rebelles against him whereof some by his clemencie a good example haue liued to this day to raise a new rebellion How troubled they her Maiesties most excellent Brother with vnhappy seditions How vexed they and how endaungered they the Realme and the Quéenes own person in her Sisters time as in the Storie before rehearsed you may reade at large What might Charles the Emperour haue doone for recouery and enlarging of Christendome if his force that way intended had not by the Popes practise béene peruerted sundrie wayes and times to â—â—â—in shedding of christian blood and wasting of Christendome and to the ouerthrowe of his victorious course What tempests hath the late conspiracie of Trent blowne vp in Christendome that cannot yet be quieted and all because the Pope hath instilled an opinion into his Papistes that Princes if he dispence with them are not bounde to kéepe faith and promise no not the word of a King wherby no peace can be assured Whereof yet ryseth one good admonition to trust them no more and to be well ware of them and speciallie to thinke of this one particular that wicked persons who haue giuen occasion of daungerous rebellions against the Quéenes Maiestie their chéefe and onelie succour and refuge will neuer be withholden by any respect from attempting or procuring to be attempted any most high and heinous treason and mischéefe against our Soueraigne Ladies safetie if an auauntageable oportunitie may serue them so long as such persons are infected with Papistrie and can thinke the Pope able to pardon or rather willing to reward them yea so farre as they shall suppose themselues not onely to winne the Kingdome of England therby but also the kingdome of Heauen It is perillous to thinke what traiterous rage may doo being armed with drunken superstition It is a sore thing to consider the impotencie of ambition specially when it is ioyned with the furie of reasonlesse loue The common experience is how daungerous those knottes of théeues be where there is a woman in the company Thus is it plaine that for as much as the Pope claymeth such wrongful vsurpation and tiranny ouer Kings Realmes and sith Papists holde that he sayth true and claymeth but his right and cannot erre in discerning it all such Papists are Traitours to all Kinges and Kingdomes As for the second Conclusion which accuseth Englishe Papistes of treason to the Quéenes Maiestie it is sufficientlie prooued for that it is a perticular within a generall included in the former Yet for the speciall confirmation of it it hath certaine priuate and seuerall reasons It is well knowne and you haue read the whole discourse before how they sought her Graces death in her Sisters time what practises what fetches were vsed for it what examinations what searchinges were to finde couller of her destruction yea how farre without couller they procéeded if God had not miraculouslie kept her to the preseruation of this Realme and the comfort of all Christendome But to make some demonstration of their hatred to her Maiestie by reason after to discend to the examples and practises let vs examine the causes Whereas the Papistes holde that the Pope is head of Gods vniuersall Church and that such authoritie as the Quéene claimeth in England ouer Ecclesiasticall persons and in Ecclesiasticall causes as due to her Highnesse in right of her Crowne is not due to her but belonging to the Pope in so saying they must saye that her Maiestie claymeth an vniust tyrannicall power And who so euer shall so saye though not in the same sillables is an vniust and an errant traitour and cannot loue her that hath pul led him downe whome they call head of their Church Where the Pope hath accurssed the Quéenes Maiestie as an Heretique and Scismatique all those Papists which suppose that the Pope hauing the disposition of Gods sentence and the thunderbolte of excoÌ„munication in his hand cannot erre doo also suppose that the Quéenes Highnesse our Quéene Elizabeth I meane is not lawfull Quéene of England as many of them haue not spared to saye for so must all Papistes holde that holde the Pope to say true for the Pope dooth not so accept her And Papistes haue published that Gospellers whome they call Heretiques ought not to haue any office among Gods people much lesse a Kingdome And this point is well to be considered that they which take from the Quéenes Maiestie the Supremacie ouer Ecclesiastical persons and causes doo transferre the same iurisdiction to the Pope for they neuer yet vouchsafed to giue it to any other And yet I am sure that after so many examples of Bées and Beastes and other thinges they will not nowe haue any perticular Church headlesse and destitute of a supreme Gouernour either vniuersal like a Monarch as they would haue it or speciall vnder God of eche Kingdome or Dominion as Gods good disposition hath forced it If then the Pope haue in their opinion any Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction in England he must haue I us excommunicandi lawfull power and authority to excoÌ„municate in England without which the Ecclesiasticall power cannot stand Which power if he iustlie haue hath excommunicated and accurssed her Maiestie
are mur derers of Gods flocke The seuenth conclusion of the causes of supplan ting assured safetie The eight conclusion how tymerous policie is wurst in a good cause The ninth conclusiō of zealous boldnesse in seruing the Queen The tenth conclusion that boldnesse dooth encourage the freendes The eleuenth conclusion of the daunger in medling with a naughty man The twelfth conclusion of tyme. The thirteenth conclusion as good the killing a true mā as sparing a traitour The foureteenth conclusion that the life of a king is the lyfe of his kingdome The fifteenth conclusion the most perillous traytour The sixteenth conclusion of such as stand against the Princes defence The seuenteenth conclusion when God is lesse serued then the deuill The eighteenth conclusiō that no attempt against her Maiestie ought to be accounted a priuate cause The meaning and proofe of the first conclusion Not all Papistes are traitours Note this England Which Papistes are traytours Learned Papists wilfull traitours Treason offence against Maiesty Treason against God Papists violate the Maiestie of God which is high treason against him The Pope an high Traitour against God and the Turke but an enimie Papists Traitours to Kinges and Kingdomes Traiterous doctrines of Popes for Kinges and Kingdomes The Pope will giue heauen to Subiectes to rebell against their Prince Traiterous dooinges of Papistes against Kinges Kingdomes speciall matter for England to marke Behold the horrible pride and villainous dealing of Popes Papistes and slauerie of Princes Example of the Popes Papistes dealing with King Iohn The great deuision between the two noble houses of Lancaster and Yorke caused by the Popish Clergy and Papistes Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury practised the deposing of King Richard the second King Henry the eight assaulted by the Pope and Papistes King Edward the sixt vexed by the Papistes The conspiracie of the late Coūcell of Trent The Pope teacheth to keepe no faith The whoore of Rome an actuall dealer in all wicked practises against Kinges Kingdomes The second conclusion prouing Englishe Papistes traytours to the Queene Papists that hold the Pope head of the Church in England are traytours to her Maiestie Papistes that hold the Popes excommunication against the Queene lawfull are traytours The Pope cannot excommunicate in England vnlesse he had iust authoritie so to doo Papistes drawe obedience from the Queene Papistes meritorious treason Seditious writers that send theyr trayterous Lybelles into England The circūstances of those trayterous Bookes These trayterous Bookes want no fauourers to spread them abroad and to credit them with what cōmendations they may The euyll dealing of Papistes a good lesson for England The third conclusion proouing English papistes traytours to the Realme of England The Papistes reuerence to theyr Pope hath made them carelesse of theyr Prince and Countrie Such an one as alloweth of all these wicked causes must needes be a traytour to his Countrie Clemencie cannot win a Papist whyle he continueth a Papist speciall examples for England to remember All dueties of loue kindred and nature broken by Papistes Example of the Papistes thankefulnes to Bishop Cranmer Example of the Papistes kindnes toward her Maiestie for the great lyberalitie of her most noble Father Papistrie increaseth and flourisheth by lenitie Christian trueth respecteth Heauen and Papistry the world Too much clemencie may be great crueltie A Booke called the Court of Conscience which I entend God aiding me to publish verie shortly God graunt that such Papistes as be enimies to her Maiestie and the Realme may be quickly cutte off