that Dauid had by diuers wyues and so great perill to the kingdome The comparison of Israell and England and subiects of Dauid The consideration whereof made Dauid carefull to end the controuersie in his life-time But now amongst vs the contention for the crowne when God hath once taken you hence if by like meanes by you it be not preuented is like to bee amongst the children of diuerse families and therfore the more deadlie and consequentlie the more dangerous Wherefore as the state of Israell then mooued Dauid to make his successor knowne so nowe the state of England ought to moue you for herein he did but that which Moses example taught him to doe and therefore that which as a king he was bound to doe Againe it is euident in the story that the Lord did lyke and allowe of his so doing and therefore there was obedience therein to the Lordes will for mans owne will-works he neuer delighteth in An example then it is to follow in the like case to all good Kings and Queenes and as a mirrour it remayneth still to all such to teache them to doe the like when like neede requyreth For whatsoeuer is written in the Scripture Application of the former examples to her Maiestie Rom. 15. 4. is written for our learning Think therefore moste gratious soueraigne that these facts of Moses and Dauid are thus recorded in the holiestoric not onlie that you should knowe that God his Magistrates thus gouerned but especiallie that hereby you may learne to gouerne to the safetie of your subiectes as they did Thus you see that neither perill to their persons nor feare of Eclipsing of their owne present honors could stay either of these from gouerning to the safetie of their people and yet they had sufficient wisdome to foresee what might befall them that way And therefore if it were vertue and obedience to God in them and so no worke of supererogation as sufficientlie it hath alreadie appeared how can it be but a falt and disobedience to his holy will in your Maiestie if vppon so vrgent and iust occasion as they or euer any Prince had you refuse to doe as they did Further we reade that when Esay the Prophet brought Hezekiah word that he should set his house in order for that hee should die that the king wept sore of Esay 38. 1. 2. The fift argument from the example of Ezechiah who wept when he heard that he should die becaus then there was no heire apparant to succeed him which his weeping S. Augustine vppon Esay affirmeth this to bee the principall cause that if theÌ„ he had died he had died without an heyre apparant And very well may it be so for if it had so falne out to his griefe he foresawe that not onely great calamities and troubles therevpon would haue ensued to his people but also that it was some testimonie of the Lords wrath towards him if in him God should haue ceased from performing his promise to Dauid of neuer leauing him without one to sit on his throne after him which caused him rather to weepe then the newes of his death saieth Augustine And to vse a good proofe for the truth heereof this is certaine that Manasses his heire that succeeded him was not either borne or begotten when he so wept For it is said that he was but twelue yeares old when he began to raigne and Ezechiah vppon his repentance had 15. yeares added to his life after thus he had wept Least therefore your Maiesty haue iust cause bitterly to weepe for the denying of this mercie to your naturall people euen then when you woulde moste gladelie haue comfort and consolation and doe moste ferventlie craue it at the Lords hand Sweet Ladie prouide aforehand that there may be one known who of right is to sit vppon your throne after you when you be gone to the Lord. The rather most noble soueraigne The sixt argument from the example of her Maiesties father King Henrie the eight your Maiestie is to take these examples to heart and to imitate them because your owne most noble Father King Henrie the eight of famous memory shewed himself as appeareth not onelie by diverse statutes made in his time and by him produced to that end but also by his wordes yet in Chronicle to his great â—â—â—â—ton pag. â—â—76 honor and renowne most carefull willing to imitate the same for it is chronicled that hee saide thus in Parliament to his subiects When wee remember our mortalitie and that we must die then do we think that our doings in our life-time are cleerlie defaced and worthie of no memorie if wee leaue you in trouble at the time of our death for if our true heire be not knowne at the time of our death see what mischief and trouble shall succeede to you and your children Marke gracious Queene your deare father in his wisdom fore-saw wonderfull miseries immediatlie and directlie arising from his leaving of his subiectes without succession knowne and established and that of his compassion and commiseration that therein hee had of his naturall subiectes hee was a prouoker of them that therein sufficient order might bee taken to preuent it Marke also that hee contented not himself with ruling of them well and protecting of them in safetie peace whilest hee himself liued but that his care for them stretched to their children childrens children God for his Christs sake grant your grace to proue his naturall childe heerein But that it might appeare that vppon sound aduise and good experience he had spoken the former words he addeth a dole-full president saying vnto his Nobles The experience whereof some of you haue heard what mischief and man slaughter continued in this Realme betwixt the houses of Yorke and Lancaster By which dissention this Realme had like clearlie to haue bene destroied O Christian and sweet words worthie such an heroicall and mightie Potentate of the world truly worthy to be written in letters of gold and alwaies to be carried and drawne in a Table before the eies of all his successors to the worldes end for though the things done by him in his life-time for the good of his people were manie and great euen such as ought neuer to be for gotten yet see he counted al them clearlie defaced and worthie of no memorie if before his death to prevent the mischiefs that otherwise would ensue to his subiects hee did not make knowne vnto them who of right ought to succeede The lamentable euils that befell this land by the dissension of the houses of Yorke and Lancaster proceeded hence that the right of succession was not cleered and established him yea it seemeth by his speach that he was of opinion as indeed it may be well gathered that all the euils that came to this Land by the dissention of the two houses of Yorke and Lancaster whiche were infinite arose even hence that ther had not sufficient care
villanies wil be freelie in euerie corner committed Oh therfore but once to think that this land is like to come to these woful calamities will teare anie godlie pitifull or natural English hart in peeces Beholde therefore most gracious Ladie your Nobles Commons yea euen all your people men weomen and children lye prostrate now before your feete most lamentably humblie beseeching you to saue them and to preserue them from these heapes of confusions and chaos of miseries and most instantlie with bitter teares beg at your handes that you leaue them not who are now most readie to lay downe their liues for you in this lamentable miserable case to lose their liues with all that they haue and all at the beck and pleasure of euerie furious peasant Remember that Moses tooke the people without a certaine knowne head and governour as sheepe without a sheep-herd and that your most noble father fore-saw that no better then the fore-rehearsed calamities would be the state of this land if hee had died before hee had made his heire knowne yea that hee imputed all the miseries that this land had abode through the contention betwixt the two houses of Yorke and Lancaster to this to wit that the order right of successiō had not bene in former time carefullie enough looked vnto made publikely knowne And so you may perceiue that herein we doe not forecast more perils then these wise and graue persons haue done in the like case Yet for further That calamities doth befal any nation where the Prince dieth without a knowne successor proued by the example of the Israelites The booke of Iudges ground of this our fore-casting of perils the whol book of the Iudges of Israel serueth most fitlie for through that book we see how that when soeuer they were left without a knowne gouernour as in those times they were often they fell into extream miseries were straight brought into slauerie vnder the hands of their enemies the Cananites the Moabites the Midianites the Amalekites Philistins in which state sometimes they continued 18. yeeres sometimes 40. yeeres sometimes more sometimes lesse Wee reade also that Alexander the great when hee Of Alexanders empire Arrianus Q. Curtius had made himself the greatest Emperor in the world yet dying not determining of his successor before hee died but leaving his noble Empire to them that could catche it and hold it that therevpon immediatly after his death there grew most hote fierce bloodie warres amongst his noble Dukes Captaines and so in the end his kingdome or Empire was rent and torne into as manie severall kingdomes as he had noble Dukes able to take them and keep them Wee Of Scotland after Alex. 3. read also in the Scottish Chronicles of Alexander the third king there who lived in the time of Edward the first King of England that hee dying leauing his heire and successor vnknowne it came to passe that vppon his death his kingdome was torne into two parts the one part following one Bayllioll studied to make him King and the other fauoring one Brussius sought to advance him But in the meane time whiles thus the title was in debating it appeareth in the storie that the whole kingdome was brought to extreame desolation But what need we in this case to peruse forrain stories O that your Maiestie would but remember And of England after Lucius and Gorbodug the miserable state of this land after King Lucius and after the death of King Gorbodug and his two sonnes Ferrex and Porrex for you shall in those hystories finde that the root and fountaine of all those lamentable miseries of 15. and 50. yeares civill dissension grewe of this that then the land was left without a certain known successor Yea infinite be the stories in all Chronicles that lay forth most doleful sequels alwaies of this And sure wee are such is your Maiesties wisdom that you must needs fore-see that if you should so leaue vs it wer neuer more likely that thervpō would follow the extreamest miseries that euer befell kingdome Wherfore once again most mercifull Lady cast your pitifull merciful eies vpon your noble Realme all your subiectes who with stretched out hands cry vnto you to shewe mercie vnto them in this point in delaying no longer to the hazard of the spilling of all their bloode and losing all their good to make knowne vnto them who of right is to succeede you O sweete Ladie let this long longed for and looked for most necessary drop of mercie drippe nowe at last downe from you to the chearing and comforting of all your true English subiects and so shal you establish your throne in mercie and purchase vnto your self the moste glorious title of a most mercifull Queene to the comfort of your owne conscience both before God and man and to your perpetuall good name and fame with all posteritie The 9. argument is from the safety honor and profit which will ensue the establishing of a successor both to her maiesty and to her subiectes But to prouoke you the more easilie to yeeld to shew this especial point of mercy cōsider yet further that so to do is not onlie verie necessarie both for you vs in respect of both our safeties and also that it is not onlie profitable to vs but also euen very profitable and honorable to you both in respect of God man That it is verie necessarie and profitable for vs the contemplation of the good that wee shall reape and quyetlie enioye by it and the viewe of the euill that directlie shall therby be turned from vs maketh it most euident And that it is necessary for you also yea profitable honourable as we haue said diuersly it may appeare for first it cannot be denyed that amongst all the meanes that otherwise Princes haue amongst men in this world to make them selues strong by and to sit safe in their throne this is a principall one That they alienate not the hearts of their subiectes from them by their vnkinde and mercielesse dealing towardes them For howe stronglie soever Salomon left his sonne Rehoboam established in his kingdome yet hee by listning rather to the counsell of young greene heades about him then Princes that woulde establishe their thrones must deale kindlie with their subiectes plant in their hearts lone and affection 1. King 1◠to the advise of the graue and auncient and so by his vnkinde and hard answere to his subiects alienating the heartes of them grew so weak that a mean man a servant of his Ieroboam by name rose vp against him and ten Tribes of twelue farre the greater part of his kingdom revolted from him did cleaue to Ieroboam and neither hee nor anie of his successors could euer recouer them againe And on the otherside there is no one thing in the foresaid respect more necessarie profitable and honorable to anie King Queene or Emperour
protest before the Almightythe searcher of al harts that true and heartie loue first towards God and his true Religion secondlie a loyall and dutifull affection towardes your highnes person preseruation lastly a minde by all lawfull meanes vnfainedly wishing the good peace prosperity of this our natiue country of England and no other respectes whatsoeuer haue moved and stirred vs vp first to deuise and write and nowe to offer and deliuer vnto your Maiestie this short discourse following Whereby though it might be feared we shall incurre your graces displeasure are not ignorant that the anger of a Prince is as the roaring of a Lyon and euen the messenger of death because it is so said in the Scripture yet notwithstanding the former respects haue so preuailed with vs that wee durst not but aduenture thus far forthough the matter which herein wee labour to perswade you vnto be such that by great likely-hood it wil at the first prouoke you to wrath and kindle your displeasure towards vs yet wee nothing doubt but that we shall make it appeare to bee a thing moste necessarie profitable and honorable for your highnesse The knowledge of the second person necessarie before God and man to yeeld vnto both before God and man and the most safe meane for your Maiesties present preseruation also We therefore presume and therewith wee haue encouraged ourselues that such is your graces wisdome and gratious disposition that in the end this our enterprise both will be well taken and fauorablie construed For our consciences beares vs witnesse before God that we aime at nothing else herein but his glory your safety The writers purpose most allowable the good of the Church and profite of this noble Realm according to which our meaning we humblie craue that all that we haue written may be expounded For as loath are we needlesly and wilfullie to offend your Maiestie as any poore subiects you haue But yet you knowe such is or ought to be the faithfull loue of euerie true hearted Christian subiect towards his soueraigne that feare to offend A true subiect regardeâ—â— the saiftie of his Prince more then the feare of his vnâ—ust cause him may not stay vs from performing of a necessarie profitable and honorable seruice vnto God our Prince countrie Wee beeing therefore perswaded and fullie resolued that euen such is this present now tendred seruice of ours we hope we shall not be blamed of you Meere regard of consciâ—nce to God glorie and the good of the Prince hath eâ—â—â—â—ced â—he Author â—o hiâ— dâ—â—course sithence a desire to shewe our selues true louing and faithfull subiectes to God and to your Maiestie hath ouerweighed with vs all humaine feare Wherfore we in the behalfe of all your true and faithfull subiects do lye euen prostrate before your Graces feete most humblie and heartilie beseeching your Maiestie to peruse these fewe leaues following and as the matter therin handled is waightie so to consider accordingly what we your faithfull and loyall subiects haue therein vttered vnto you In perusing whereof this we woulde wishe to be still in your Maiesties minde that if we a fewe of the insufficientest of many thousands of your subiects haue saide thus much that then very much more it is that can and may be saide to this end The Lord of heauen earth who hath the harts of al Princes in his hand to rule them as it pleaseth him so direct in his fauour your Royall heart herein that you may reade willinglie marke attentiuelie and performe spedilie and effectuallie the wholsome counsell ministred therein vnto you THe thinge most Gratious Soveraigne which wee and all true English hearts haue long wished which now wee would most gladlie perswade The aime and drift of this book and the method thereof your highnes vnto is this That it would please your Grace with all convenient speede in Parliament to cause all titles and claimes to the Crowne of England after your Maiesties decease throughlie to be tried examined And then forthwith by sufficient authoritie thereof to declare and make knowne to your subiects in whom the right to succeede you resteth Concerning which point as this discourse is like to want all kinde of eloquence so also it will want all order and methode First we will set downe the reasons and arguments which as we conceiue ought to moue your Highnes to yeelde heerevnto which done wee will confute all the obiections of anie force which wee can imagine haue beene or can be made to staye you from yeelding herevnto First we presume that you will easilie yeelde that it is your duetie to doe that The first argument Princes ought to obey God which God by his written word hath enioyned all Christian Princes to doe and that therein the setling of the Imperiall Crowne is enioyned to all such Princes as a most necessarie dutie plentifully and diuerslie it appeareth For first therin it is an vsuall thinge with the holy Ghost to cal you Princes Gods nursing Fathers Psal 82. Esay 46. 23. and nursing mothers vnto his Church What Princes are to learne in that they are called Gods and nurses by the holy Ghost Which names and titles as they proue the honorablenesse and lawfulnesse of your high callings against all Anabaptisticall spirites so they are giuen you to teache you your duties and what you ought to bee towardes the people committed vnto your charge Namely that your dutie towards them is to be as gods and naturall fathers and mothers for the resemblance that is betwixt the office of God towards man his creature and parents towardes their Children is the ground certaine cause why these high names are communicated and giuen vnto you by the spirit of God Now who is so simple but he knoweth and wil confesse that God not onlie careth and prouideth for his people for the present time or some certaine season onlie but also for al times seasons And it is most euident that nature hath taught parents to think that they do not their duties vnlesse they prouyde not onlie what they may for the good of their children whylest they them-selues liue but also for their wealth and prosperity to the vttermoste of their powers after their death Wherefore if your Maiestie would bee iustlie honoured with these high and regarde-full titles and haue right indeed vnto them then you see that it is not enough for the tyme present while you your self liue to prouide for the safetie and welfare of your subiectes what you may but also that you are bound to doe what lyeth in you for their peace safetie wealth and prosperitie after you bee gone And how can this be by anie meanes The conclusion of the first argument ioyned with an exhortation more conueniently then by yeelding to this motion yea if this be not yeelded vnto you beeing of that rare wisdom fore-sight that you are you
bene taken to mak publiklie knowne and to establish the right of succession and it seemeth also that he feared no lesse evils to ensue after him if hee in his life-time shewed not himself carefull in this point And trulie Madame we think there is none that dulie The application and enforcing of this example of K. Henry 8. to her Maiestie considereth in what termes the title of the crowne after you standeth nowe amongst vs but he presentlie seeth that if it were so dangerous then when your father vttered these words he hauing then issue of his owne bodie to leaue the Realme vnto without further determination declaration of his right heire that it cannot but be far more dangerous for you nowe to leaue it quyte without establishment to whomsoever can catch it The fore-sight of mischief to ensue by reason of not making knowne in his life his certain heire apparant was reason of sufficient waight and force to moue incline and to binde your noble fathers heart notwithstanding he could foresee and forecast as wiselie as anie the reasons to the contrarie to bee most forward to determine it therefore so should you his naturall daughter and heire do vpon the like ground and bee therein likewise affected Otherwise you see your owne father being your iudge that al your noble acts done in your life time are not onlie blemished but also clearlie defaced and worthy of no memorie It is glorious for you to bee the daughter and heire of so noble a king in so noble a kingdome but trulie farre more glorious to bee also his naturall daughter and true heire in his princelie affection towards your subiects And therefore as you are his naturall daughter and true heir in the one so shewe yourself to bee as naturall also in the other Thinke not moste deare soveraigne The 7. argument from the examples of the heathen The heathen by the light of nature did see this duty to be necessarie and performed the same to their subiects much more ought Christian Princes to do the same that this was anie singularitie in your father and that you may doe well enough though you be not like him therein for besides that therein he did but as the examples of Moses and Dauid taught him and bound him to do he did that which verie nature it self vsuallie hath taught even heathen Princes from time to time to doe For we reade that it was an vse amongest the Medes and Persians when they went but forth to battel therein being some danger of their life before they went to make knowne who shoulde succeede them insomuch that the better to make him knowne he was appointed to raigne in the stead of the Prince absent vntill his returne as was Cambyses in the rowme of Cirus whilest hee went to warre against the Scythians and Darius long-hand in the rowme of Xerxes whilest he warred against the Greeks Hence also it came that wee reade that the Romane Emperours when otherwise their successor was not known did in their life-time adopt them heires to whome by order of that gouernement they caused the right to succeede them to be established Suetonius Thus Iulius Caesar adopted Octavius Augustus and hee Tiberius Caesar Dion Spartianus Nerua Traian Adrian Antoninus Pius and hee againe Antoninus Philosophus And for further proofe of the force of the light of nature yet remaining in a meere naturall man to teach him this lesson it is written in Chronicle that the Emperour Tiberius Caesar a little before his death said That of all the griefs and troubles that the greuous pangs of death brought with it this greeved troubled him most how to preserue the kingdome committed to him of trust and also to see the inheritance thereof conveied vnto him to whome of right it did appertain concluding with these words This is the dutie of a king Oh what a strange thing were it then for a Christian Prince hauing not onelie light of nature but also the light of the word shining vnto her to direct her heerevnto if all examples both divine and humaine forraine and domesticall of all ages and times provoking also therevnto she should not or would not suffer her self to bee drawne vnto this Christian dutie trulie strange it were yet God forbid but that wee should conceiue verie good hope and ere it be long see and vnderstand according to our hope that we your subiectes shall finde you willing for your and our good to deale effectuallie heerein and that spedilie Howbeit yet the better to hasten you to this resolution that wee to our comforts may see the effects thereof First let your pitifull and merciful heart enter into consideration of the miserable state that you shal leaue euerie way your dominions The 8. argument is the avoyding of manifold calamites like to ensue her Maiesties death if the successor be not before knowne established and subiects of all sorts in if you should bee translated hence to the Lord before you haue yeelded vnto this present motion and effected it Whereof when we thinke wee may tremble everie iointe For when that day shall come which God for his mercies sake put far off and graunt that wee neuersee then straight al the competitors and their partakers wil bee vp in armes and the common people that are not acquainted with their titles will then of necessitie be at their wits end not knowing what part to take and yet some they shal be driven to followe so that presentlie the whole Realme wil be rent into as many shivers as there be competitors at the least And thus while the title to the crowne is in trying in the fielde by the dint of bloodie The lamentable miseries of civil warrâ— sword one part will consume deuoure another and so the land is like to be everie way so weakned that it may easily become a praie to any of our forraine malitious enemies Oh the riuers of blood which then by these doleful consequents will ouerflowe euery where this noble Iland the strong men shall be slaine in the fielde children and infants murthered in euerie towne honest matrons maides euerie where ravished then also strong holdes shall bee razed and burned with fire faire buildings in cittie and countrie defaced made even with the ground the riche shall not bee able to say this is mine but they aswell as the poore shall think themselves happy if they may haue their life for a praie To bee short then then alas all the mischiefes that the mischeevous wit of man can deuise will be practised amongst your louing subiectes by one towardes another without controlement For all the bandes of all good order and Policie will then be broken asunder Religion and all the good exercises thereof will be laid in the dust with small hope of euer rysing vp againe and neither God nor man will be regarded but according to the variable suggestions of Satan all kinde of
regarde of all these exceeding benefites you are not bounde to serue the Lorde with all your soule with all your strength Fiftlie whither you do not think that it is an especiall dutie that Princes owe vnto God and their people to doe what may be done to preserue them and their posterities from all evils mischief Sixtlie whither you do not plainly palpablie feele and fore-see that if you leaue your people without a known successor that then it must needes followe that you shall leaue both Gods religion his people your dominions in evident hazarde of extreame confusion and vtter overthrow Seventhlie whither you do not think that in your life-time to make knowne your successour bee not by all likeliehood the best and onlie way to prevent all these dolefull evils Eightlie whither then you doe not think it a grevous sin in you if you should not doe the best that lieth in you by making your successor knowne to prevent these perils to your whole people Ninthlie and whither that therefore if these perils bee not prevented you though a Queene shall not come one day before the tribunall seate of God the revenger of all vngodlines to make straight accompt of this greevous sinne Lastlie whither in the meane time it bee not a meane greatlie to your perill thereby not only presentlie to harden the hearts of your subiectes against you but also to provoke the Lord to bee angrie with you and so to withdrawe his hedge and strong wall of defence from about you if anie humaine perswasion whatsoever continue you still in this vnnaturall sinne TRue and vnfained loue doeth even The conclusion of the whole treatise and exhortation enlarged with two new arguments the one from the ignominie which is like to befall to her Maiesties person afâ—er her death for wanting the honor of buriall the other from the danger the conusellors are like to fall into after her decease for not procuring the establishing of a successor as though by their default her Maiestie had neglected the same force vs to vtter vnto you our most deare and natural Soveraigne that when soever it sall please God to touche you with the pangs of death as die most certainlie you shall and howe soone is knowne to none but to the Lord onlie if your Maiestie doe not settle the succession in your life-time which God for his mercies sake long prolong we do greatlie feare that your grace shall then finde such a troubled soule and conscience yea ten thousand helles in your soule even such bitter vexation of soule hart for the perilling of the Church of God and of your naturall countrie as to be released therof you would giue the whole world if you had it Of true loue to your Maiestie and of a reverent regarde that wee haue vnto your honour and good name after your decease wee beseeche your Maiestie to consider whither your noble person is like to come to that honorable burial that your honorable progenitours haue had or that as we doubt not your grace will take order for by your testament or whither anie part of yourwil shal be performed by your executors if your successor be not setled before your death It may be that this is a matter neither thought of nor yet doubted of by your highnes but that you holde it as a cleere and vndoubted matter or question To let your maiestie vnderstand our opinions herein we do thinke it our duties Wee doe assure our selues that the breath shall be no sooner out of your body if your successor be not setled in your life-time but that al your nobility counsellours and whole people will be vp in armes with all the speede they may yea their care and haste to arme themselues will be so earnest that they will thinke themselues moste happie that can first draw themselues and their power into the fielde and then there will be as many kings proclaimed as there will be competitors the which will be fowre or fiue at the least though all haue not the like right so that then your executors will be so busied to set vp a new king yea it is likelie two or three that they shall not possiblie haue one howres leysure to attend nor once thinke of your buriall or will and then it is to be feared yea vndoubtedlie to be iudged that your noble person shall lye vpon the earth vnburied as a dolefull spectacle to the worlde but chieflie to such as dearelie loue you The shame and infamie hereof wee beseeche your grace to be careful of and true and vnfained loue yea our duties do force vs to warne your maiestie of it for it would be a wonderfull sorow to a great number of our hearts if your noble person being the restorer of true religioÌ„ should come to that shame as to lye vnburied Againe we feare if your maiestie do not prevent these perils before your death that after the dissolution of your life you shall leaue behind you such a name of infamie througout the whole world even in such an opprobrious manner that the forethinking therof cannot we do perswade our selues but deepelie grieue wound your honorable pitifull tender heart especiallie sithence your wisdome and kinde heart cannot but foresee that those whome you shall leaue behinde you which bee of naturall kinred or beare anie heartie or true loue and affection towardes you will daylie die a thousand deathes to heare the evils that shall be howrelie vsed in vile reports songs and rymes against your noble person may not with truth defend you for that you haue not dutifullie prevented the overthrow of the Church of God and of your noble kingdome but haue suffered both to be subverted even by the most cruell meanes that may be to wit by the mercilesse shedding of rivers of innocent blood by all those endlesse bloodie battailes which shal be fought in that cause and al for that you haue not shewed pitie mercy in the setling of the succession of the imperial crown of your noble realm This is not al for your privie counsellors which you shal leaue aliue after you who of feare to trouble you haue suffered you to sleepe in quiet as though you had no iust cause to take care for the safetie of the Church of God and of your countrie and also in that they haue not incessantlie called vpon you thereby stirring you vp with all ferventnesse to prevent these intolerable evils shall in all likelyhoode pay full dearelie for their silence after your decease For wee cannot perswade our selues but that the realme wil call them to a sharpe accompt for suffering the Church of God and the crowne of England to be vtterlie subverted And well they shall deserve it both at the Lords hand and of this their worthy and natiue countrie if it should so fall out for they tooke their corporall oathes to be true counsellours vnto this noble realme Counsellers sworne aswell