to flie and lurk in corners Till the Earl of Huntingdon apprehending him brought him up again to his old lodging in the Tower where he made an unfortunate end I shall not urge the practises of Sir Nicholas Throgmorton a man of great wit and policy notwithstanding he was Indicted of high Treason and arraigned at Westminster with Arnold Warner and others because though the case were plain yet the Jury acquitted him but to their own cost and trouble And it was well for him the Advocates of those times desired not so much to triumph in the calamities of poor men nor that the prisoner should loose his head rather then they their oration and the glory of the day But say some there were no Ministers had any hand in those tumults none of them were Trumpeters to Sedition at that time What was Goodman and Gilby Were not they Ministers Was not Jewel a Ministâ—â— â—ho preacht at Gl ceâ—â—er against the Queens proceedâ—ngs Was not Doctor Sands a Ministâ—r though Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge when he walkt abâ—ut with the Ragged Staff and assisted the proclaimers of Lady Jane Were not Hooper Rogers Crowly Ministers all enrolled as friends and favorers of these actions And were there not divers other Ministers both of Kent and other Counties who upon Wyats fall forsook the Realm or was there any thing more likely to drive them out then a guilty Conscience what shall we say of those two Apostles falsly so called of the time Cranmer and Ridley W re not they Ministers yet great instruments of the Queens troubles And that not in King Edwards time onely upon which account some would excuse them but after his death and under the Reign of Queen Mary For Ridleys Sermon of Pauls Cross wherein like another infamous Shaw he so highly magnified and defended the Title of Lady â—anâ— and perswaded the people to accept and obey her as Queen iâ—pugning against all honesty and conscience the right of King Henries two Daughters was the Sunday after King Edward was dead And 't is well known the Reign of a Prince commenceth not from the time of his Coronation but instantly upon the death of his predecessor And therefore was he justly attainted and convicted of Treason Cranmer was both Counsellor and Oracle in the business and was therefore arraigned and condemned with the Lady Jane and Guildford Dudly as contriver and principal assistant in that Treason as appeareth by the Records in the Kings Bench. This man was a very Proteus in all his actions and of a disposition most servil and vitiously plyable to any humor of the King and ready always to follow the prevailing party He was first a principal instrument of the Kings divorce from â—â—â—en Kâ—â—bâ—â— ne whereby the 〈◊〉 Gatâ—â— were let opon to the Lady Anne Bolen yet afterward to serve the Kings Appetite he was used again as a chief instrument in her condemnation as appears by the Statute where Cranmâ—rs Sentence is recorded judicially 28. Hen. 8. c. 7. as of his own knowledge convincing her of some fowl act Nor can any wise or indifferent man but condemn him of inexcusable iniquity that being a Counsellor of State Primate and M tropolitan of the Realm pretending also to be a Reformer of Religion would so much betray his Master whose creature he was as to frustrate and make void his will whereof himself was made chief Executor subscribe to extinguish his issue as much as possibly he could by disinheriting his two Daughters and transferring the Crown to another Line and Family and all this most basely and contrary to his conscience onely to please a Subject and to avoid â—omâ—â—inde of affliction which he feared upon the Succession of Qâ—een Mary and against which 't is manifest by the frequent changings lapses relapses and perjuries which he made he was never well armed It is manifest therefore that in all places at home as well as abroad this Spirit of Reformation hath ever been and is seditiously pragmatical and dangerous unto Princes and States wheresoever it getteth footing and is not countenanced and advanced so far as to bear all the sway it self It is in this onely respect not in any other like the Motto of her who meerly for temporal and worldly ends made her self the great Patroness of it that is it is Semper Eadem always the same and never changeth This was it which induced them of Genevah to expel their Bishop and Leige-Lord This was it which induceth them of Sâ—ethland to renounce their lawful King Them of Holland to depose their Sovereign Prince This was it which Sollicited the Bohemians to depose the Emperor their Elected Crowned and Acknowledged King That imprisoned the most Vertuous and Religious Queen and Martyr Mary Queen of Scotland and cast her undeservedly into those calamities which pursued her to death This was it which held out Rochel and Montauban in defiance against their King and lastly that which begat so many conspiracies commotions and causes of jealousie unto Queen Mary of England So as within the space of Sixty years it hath been observed More Princes have been deposed and persecuted by Protestants their Subjects upon the quarrel and difference of Religion then had bin by the Popes excommunications or by the attempts and practises of any Subjects Catholikes in Six hundred before Of the troubles which have arisen to other Princes upon this occasion we have spoken somewhat already The business of Sweden is defended by one Master T. M. upon these grounds First That it was done by the demand of the whole State But this is a manifest falshood For if you take the whole State formally that is for all the people of the Nation it is certain that Sigismund their lawful King had not onely a great but the far greater and better part of the people well affected to him If you take it Virtually that is for some general Assembly representing the people legally met and resolving upon that business there never was any such called The meetings that were were onely of Duke Charls his faction who in comparison of the Kings party both of Nobility and Commons were but few yet as it often happens the better case was more negligently managed and those for the Duke who were also inclined to Innovation in Religion being more active industrious and unanimous in their design made shift to secure the Military provisions and to invest themselves of the chief Strengths of the Kingdom before the others and so prevailed as Chytraeus himself a Protestant Author is sufficient witness Chytra Continuat Crantzii Secondly he saith it was for the defence of their Priviledges and Liberties None of which were violated as by the same Chytraeus appeareth Thirdly that it was for the fruitoin of Religion That 's true indeed and confessed That they might introduce and establish a new Religion they renounced their old King which is the thing we charge them with and wherein whatsoever they did
were men which of all others were thought to care least for Religion Sir Philip Sidney indeed like a Noble and worthy Courtier as he was endeavored by a short Treatise to present unto Her Majesty the unfitness disproportion and inconveniencies of that Match both in relation to Her Person and the whole Realm but he did it privately and with discreet circumspection Stubs like an indiscreet and fiery Zelot taking the question in hand and prosecuting it in a way more likely to incense and corrupt the people then to advise or inform the Queen Cund in Elizab. his hand paid for his presumption And though some of the greatest and wisest of the Councel appeared very earnestly for it as a thing which was likely to unite the whole Kingdom of France unto England and would surely bring along with it the offer of the Netherlands by the Prince of Orange and the States whereby England was like to become a petent Monarchy yet was the whole Body of the Kingdom cast into much distemper and jealousies thereby Some upon partiality and faction others upon distrust of the practises of France some for their own some for their friends sinister ends and ambitions as in this very case I am perswaded men are not a little possessed with the same diseases and humors And if I did not well know the nature of the multitude which is a Beast with many heads and as mad brains I should wonder how they durst oppose the designs of their Sovereign a Prince of so great Experience and Judgement and who hath managed this business from the beginning with such wariness caution and prudence as this great Conjunction cannot portend any other effects then honor comfort and prosperity to the whole Nation Is he not the fittest to judge in his own case And his case being the case of the Commonwealth in general if any private man shall arrogate to himself either more wisdom to amend what is already done or pretend more affection to the State or more providence to foresee and prevent inconveniences certainly he must needs fall into the custody of the Court of Wards till he recover himself But having said this I shall leave the whole matter as a deliberative still and tell you in few words what the occasion was of this Discourse which followeth The occasion of the following Discourse THere met at a Merchants House in London where Merchants for their Table and Hospitality do worthily bear the Bell from all the Merchants in Europe divers persons of quality where being together in a Garden before Dinner T. Aldreds Letter the Pamphlet aforesaid and some strange reports of seditious practises from Amsterdam were read and discoursed upon In the midst of all comes in a fine Chaplain belonging to a great person in England and one that was of the Merchants acquaintance who hearing but a little of the discourse which at that time was the common Table-talk of City and Country with much vehemency he affirmed the Match was likely to breed great troubles and mischief to the Kingdom and that forsooth in regard as well of the increase of Catholikes within the Realm which it would occasion as also in regard of Spain which he ignorantly called an ancient Enemy Hereupon also he took occasion to rail bitterly against the Church of Rome as the Seminary of all the commotions in Europe and the contriver and plotter of all Treasons in England And being resolved to shew his Rhetorick in the Ruff and to omit nothing which might exasperate the company against Catholikes he alledged for examples in thundering language Heywards Reign of Edw. 6. the death of King Edward the Sixth sillily enough that you will say the many conspiracies against Queen Elizabeth buâ— especially that horrible project of the Gun-powder Treason which being undertaken onely by a few desperate Male-contents in justice might rather be buried with the offendors then objected perpetually to innocent men who do generally with great sorrow abhor the very memory of the fact and were publikely acquitted thereof by the King himself in the next Parliament following See the Kings Speech in Parliament Besides this he urged That Princes be disquieted yea endangered many times by Excommunications Bulls and other censures from the Pope by the Catechisms and Doctrines of Jesuites and that the Subjects of England are withdrawn by them from their obedience to their lawful Princes Lastly That they are a people so full of treacheries and disloyalty as no Nation can shew the like He forgat nor you must think to arm himself with the authority of Doctor Morton whose Maxim it was That we may now as well expect a white Aethiopian as a good Subject of that Religion He produced a Book entituled A discovery of Romish Doctrine in the case of Conspiracy and Treason wherein the Author playeth his master-prize against poor Catholikes with equal malice and indiscretion charging them with an infinity of scandalous accusations able to drive men into despair of the Kings Grace towards them and to breed in His Majesties Royal Heart an everlasting distrust of them He urged Parson Whites rash and uncharitable judgement against them That all their Religion was full of such Doctrines as afforded Monsters of conspiracy against the State that they teach men to murther Kings to blow up Parliaments and that since Bells time never was there such a ravenous Idol found as are the Priests of the Seminaries Ormerode also that famous Picture-maker was alledged in this heat who by a great mistake took upon him to condemn the singular and renowned Doctor Allen as affirming That Princes may be slain by their Subjects from the Text Numb 25. At length he concluded all with that Rhetorical flourish of Monsicur Lewis Baily in his Book of The Practice of Piety pag. 783. which he produced with much oftentation as if it alone had been enough to cast the whole Society of the Fathers into a fit of a Quartane Jesuites and Priests saith he are sent to withdraw Subjects from their Allegiance to move Invasion and to kill Kings If they be Saints who be Scythians Who are Cannibals if they Catholikes This conclusion for the art and wit of it could not but deserve a plaudite so the company went to Dinner and after Dinner this fine Chaplain was gone in haste Thereupon some of the company not so much taken with his Rhetorick as were the rest desired a Gentleman then present who well understood the World and was a freeman not obliged to any particular order furthen then as a Son of the Church to deliver his opinion of the Ministers invective which at last upon their much importunity he was perswaded to do in such maner as is here with his leave and particular information represented to you After some pause Claudius accusat Maechos quoth he Catilina Cethegum This is most ridiculous who can endure to hear a Gracchus inveigh against Sedition A man may perceive by the Prologue That
of Conde and the Hugonots pretending it was not against the King but against an evil Counseller and to deliver themselves from the oppression of one who abused the Kings youth That same one was the Duke of Guise who being himself a stranger say they and hating the Nobility of France on purpose to oppress them of the Reformed Religion and to set the Crown on his own head in case the King should die armed himself into the Field c. That thereupon the Nâ—bles of France perceiving his malicious designs viz. To murder and destroy so many innocents took up Arms to defend themselves against such a Tyrant That for the Kings consent it was not to be expected nor as the case stood much to be regarded seeing he was in the hands of the Guises and had neither age to discern nor freedom to deny nor power to execute the Law Lastly say some Beza teacheth obedience to Magistrates in his Book De confess fid very largely Cap. 5. Sect. 45. and prescribeth no other remedy to private persons oppressed by a Tyrant but prayers and tears to amend their lives Touching the first point the Apologists will seem confident that this Battle of Dâ—eux was neither against Law nor the King and yet afterward confess that they understand not the Law of France nor the Circumstances of the War So they pretend certainty in a matter wherein they have not Science which is to beat themselves with their own weapon But was indeed that War neither against the King nor the Law Assuredly against them both as will appear by the Laws of Charls the Eighth 1487. of Francis the First 1532. of Francis the Second 1560. at Fountain Bleau which I shall cite hereafter in the case of Rochel and Montauban Secondly it is certain that Battle was not in King Francis his time but in the Reign of Charls the Ninth And after the death of King Francis all men not unacquainted with the proceedings of that time know full well that the House of Guise did bear no sway at Court the Duke was made as it were a stranger to the State the Queen-Mother the King of Navar and the Constable sate at the stern and ruled all Therefore it is not true that the King was in captivity under the faction of Guise nor true that the Duke armed himself into the Field for the Constable commanded in cheif he and the Marshal of Saint Andrews were the Kings Lieutenants and had the Kings Commissions to warrant what they did The Duke of Guise lead onely the Rear of the Army Mons Lanow's discourses Mons Mauvissier Comment and though it were his fortune to stand master of the Field and to win the day yet he had not any charge in the Battle but onely of his own Companies Thirdly Neither did the Princes of Bourbon take arms onely to deliver themselves from the oppre sion of Guise For if it were so why did they not lay down when they saw not the Duke of Guise but the Constable Montmorency coming against them armed no less with the Kings Authority then with his Forces to chastize them as Rebels The Constable was a man against whom they could pretend nothing he was the Honor of the Admirals House the Admirals Kinsman and his great friend especially when he was prisoner at Melun by commandment of Henry the Second He was now the Kings Vicegerent in the Field why did they not reverence him yea why did they themselves begin the fight why did they first affront and assail the Kings Army This therefore is but matter of meer pretext for Beza himself confesseth plainly This Field was fought to restore or establish their pretended Religion Vbi supra Fourthly Neither is it true that the Duke of Guise is a stranger in France Is he a stranger in France who is descended clearly from the Stock and Line of Charlemaign who is no stranger in France I wis Is he a stranger in France who is a Peer of France and Cosin-German to the Prince of Conde their Protector whose own Mother was Antonietta Princess of Bourbon whose Ancestors have enjoyed the greatest Offices and Honors in the Court of France Neither may we forget the great services they have done for the Crown of France at Rome at Metz Verdun Theonville and at Calice especially in a time when all Franâ—e was in mourning and distress too for the loss which Monsieur the Admiral had received at St. Quintins Lastly that dream viz. That the Duke should aspire to the Crown is the pitifullest of all a meer fable taken out of the Legend of Lorrain and other Libels of that time For how many Walls of Brass were betwixt him and it The King himself yong his Brothers yonger their Mother living the King of Navar their trusty and Noble Friend with the whole Nobility of France as they themselves acknowledge Was it not then a likely object for such a Strangers pretensions It being then apparently false That the King was in the hands that is under the power of Guise let us consider the last Proposition viz. That the Kings Commission which the Constable had and the Prince wanted and fought against at the Battle of Dreux was not much to be regarded because at that time the King had neither age to discern nor liberty to deny c. As for Liberty it is answered already And for age what if the King wanted age naturally in his politick capacity he did not We are to know a King hath two bodies or his person may be considered under a double capacity that of Nature and that of Policy His Body politick as it never dieth so it is never defective of Authority or Direction The acts of the Body politick be not abated by the Natural bodies access The Body politick is not disabled to govern by the non-age of the natural See 26. Lib. Assis Placit 24. where by Justice Thorps judgement the gift of a King is not defeated by his non-age In the Book of Assis tit droit placit 24. Anno 6. Ed. 3. for a Writ of Right brought by Edward the Third of a Manor as Heir to Richard the First the exception of non-age against the King was not admitted For though the Natural body dieth yet the Body politick which magnifieth and advanceth the quality of the Natural is not said to die So 4. Eliz The Leases of the Dutchy made by Edward the Sixth were resolved by all the Judges to be good though made in the Kings minority So though the Kings Body natural cannot discern or judge yet that disableth not the King that the acts of his Minority ordered by his Counsel and the Regent should be of no validity which their own Hottoman in his France-Gallia might have taught them And let them resolve us whether the Counsel and State of England would take it well if a Catholike should affirm as he might do much more truly that the change of Religion made
any good authority or proof do precipitate themselves unhappily into far greater Zeal in them is like a Sword in a mad mans hand dangerous to himself and others But to the matter What other probabilities did they produce against her Many She mourned faintly for his death which is a sign she was weary of his life She acquitted Bothwel for his death and did not punish him as he deserved Ergo let her die But what a Nugipoliloquides is this Buchanan are such conjectural presumptions as these matter of evidence sufficient to depose Princes As for her Mourning and the Funerals His Body was Embalmed and laid by James the fifth her Father the Lord Tracquaire Justice Clerk and others attended the Corps indeed most of the Counsel being Protestants the Catholike Ceremonies were not permitted and in Scotland it is not the custom to reserve the Corps Fourty days Nor was it decent that the Queen her self should have been there personally mourning as a Subject therefore she mourned privatly as his Sovereign and Wife which she did so long that her Counsel and Physitians both were forced to disswade her from it and to cease All which Sir Henry Killegrew might witness who was sent from England to condole and comfort her What could be required more of a Wife But as concerning Earl Bothwel and the Marriage following herein the jugling of Murray and his faction was most admirable and worthy to be known For First was not Bothwel acquitted for this crime by his Peers was not Murray himself who best knew the Plot together with the Lord Lindsey Sempil and other adherents principal to procure his purgation The Queen did not acquit him out of her own affection or will onely but by their advice and Counsel who were the chief Pilots of the State at that time Nay did not the same parties Murray Sempil c. procure others of the Nobles to joyn with them and sollicited the Queen to Marry Bothwel pretending it necessary for her to take such a Husband to defend her in troublesome times yea did they not in some maner force her to it and by their Hand-writing to Bothwel did they not binde themselves to obey him in case he would marry her did not they themselves viz. Murray Sempil and the rest in order to this procure the Divorce of Bothwel from his first Wife sister to the Earl of Huntly and are thereby most cleerly convinced of double dealing But what follows The charg of the Murther And of this the Lord Harris accused Murray himself viz. that at Craigmillar he Morton and Bothwel did consult conspire and determine the Kings death for the effecting whereof Indentures were there drawn and subscribed by them And to convince it more evidently Pourry Paris and Hay who were all three Executed for the Murther confessed at their death and called God to witness that those two Murray and Morton were the principal contrivers of it The like did John Hepburn Bothwels servant at his Execution for the same Fact protesting that he had seen the Articles and Writings drawn to that purpose as we said To blinde the world therefore a little Murray and Morton take up Arms upon a pretence to apprehend Bothwel and send out ships to pursue him at Sea whom themselves had sent away yea had sent the Lord Grange on purpose to him to advise and will him for his own safety to be gone promising that no body should pursue him as indeed none did very hastily for he stayed after this no less then two Months in Scotland viz. until Murray was returned out of France Then of necessity he must be gone otherwise by his stay or their taking him they would be all betrayed themselves So he finding himself over-reach't by his Associates in the Conspiracy and being as sure to be overpowered by them if he should abide it was content at last to withdraw and be offered up as a Sacrifice to the censure of the world for their purgation This therefore was the Texture and sum of the Plot concerning the death of the Lord Darley Husband to the Queen and the Queens Marriage of Bothwel These two Catilines Murray who was the Queens base Brother and Morton caused the King to be slain using Bothwels consent and assistance in it which Bothwel they perswade afterward to Marry the Queen and deal as effectually with the Queen that she should be willing to Marry Bothwel and this on purpose that they might have ground hereby to ruin them both and possess themselves of the government as in a short time they did upon a colourable though feigned accusation brought against them viz. against the Queen and Bothwel as conspiratours and contrivers of the Kings death T is well known the Earl Murray never truly loved the Lord Darley He was once in Arms and in the field to have kild him and thereupon flâ—d into England After this he perswaded the Lord Darley to give his consent to the Murthering of David Riza the Queens Secretary in which action a Pistol was also set to the Queens Belly being then great with Childe to terrifie her and if it could have been to procure her Micsarrying but the Lord Darley having obtained the Queens pardon for this yet fearing lest Murray should inform Her Majestie concerning him further then he liked he resolves with himself to kill Murray but first out of I know not what reason discovers his intention to the Queen whom he supposed to be very much incensed against Murray but she utterly disliked the business and would not endure him to speak of it which coming afterwards to Murrays knowledge as he had before practisd to estrang the Queen from her Husband and offered to procure her a Divorce from him which she also utterly condemned so now he resolves to make away him viz. the Lord Darlâ—y and to that end Plots with the Earls Morton and Bothwel as hath been said yet himself cunningly to divert suspicion and that he might be thought absolutely innocent in the business when as now all things were agreed upon withdraws himself from the Court first and then goes into France a little before the Murther was committed All which passages being indeed the most intricate maze of Treachery one of them that ever was devised by wicked men were made to appear plain enough unto Queen Elizabeths Commissioners at York as is manifest by Sir Ralph Sadlers Notes concerning that business which I have seen but afterward more cleer then the Sun at the Tryal and Execution of the Earl Morton Surius Chron. For Murray had met with vengeance before having been Pistolled by a man of his own profession as he rode in the Street at Edinburgh about the year 1570. Yet upon such false and treacherous Foundations as these do they ground all their disloyal proceedings and hard usage of the Queens Majestie their natural Sovereign afterward viz. That which they used towards her at Carbery hill their slanderous Libels their imprisoning her
in such sort that never any Common-wealth in Christendome groaned under the like burthens T is certain The Gentle Father of the people as they once called that Fox the Prince of Orange did propound and endeavor to wrest from them not the Tenth but the Sixth Penny towards his charge and maintenance in the year 1584 Mich. ab Isselt de bell Belgic after he had made them a Free State This you will say was a Note above Ela. And though the people denied it and murmured grievously at the motion yet is he still in Holland Pater Patriae so well and cunningly doth he both shuffle his Cards and play his Game Barnevelt in his Apologie confesseth that in the year 1586. he found the order of Government out of all good frame many Protestant Preachers would not acknowledge the States because they had not that command and discipline after the French fashion which they desired The Common people all contrary-minded one to another and the Towns wishing for Peace The Expences of the State exceeded all incomes by Twenty six Millions and that which I cannot but wish the Reader to observe West-Frizeland which in the beginning of the troubles did contribute onely Eighteen hundred thousand Florens was now charged to pay Quadragies centena millia librarum duos Milliones I have put it down in the Authors own words because I would not have the Reader poâ—â— bly mistaken Who is now the Tyrant and Exactor It seems though the people have changed their Lord they have not laid down their burthen D'Alva may be said to have beat them with Whips but the States with Scorpions Do but consider their Excises and Impositions upon all sorts of Commodities even the most necessary for humane life and subsistance viz. Meat Drink Fewel yea men-servants Wages and what not Besides Loans and Benevolences which are both commonly required and heavy Cnickius directly chargeth them that they exact one way or other the Fourth part of the peoples Revenues that are Hollanders and live out of the Country But saith he Si in Provinciis nostris c. if they live in any of our Provinces by leave Semissem jubent solvere c. they require them to pay the one half and in case they refuse or neglect They take all As for the cruelty of D' Alva which was objected so much to little purpose in the Treaty at Colen and hath been since Rhetorically aggravated by their Doctor Baudius let us call to minde See Baudii orat what provocations were at first given him by the oppositions and malice of the Nassovians by the War at Montz by the practises used to impead his entrance into Brabant and by so often contriving his death yet were these venial sins But when he found the Nobility so far engaged with the Geuses as they were that the Kings Authority was slighted Catholike Religion generally deserted and profaned the chief solemnities thereof in some places most impiously and contumeliously abused in the face of Heaven and of the Catholike Army when he saw the Towns in Holland and Zealand revolt Harlem Alcmar and others refusing the Kings Authority what indifferent man can wonder if severity were used at first to such of them as fell under his power Who would not think that Cauterizing was necessary when there appeared so much proud flesh in the wound and that purgations must be somewhat violent when the body is so much and so generally distempered Nor could the peaceable nature of the Commendador Ludovicus Requesens who succeeded D'Alva do any good upon such rough and irreconcileable spirits How often was he heard to cry out Dios nos libera de estos estados God deliver me from these States once Insomuch that Sir Roger Williams a Gentleman of our own Country and Soldier of good note who had served on both sides and knew the nature of the people very well condemns the revocation of D'Alva as an error of State Because saith he See his History nothing but rigor could reduce such violent Spirits unto order and nothing but a Sword in hand keep them in obedience As for the Kings Oath which they say he hath broken in the matter of priviledges if they would decide the matter by justice they must make it plain and evident by what Fact in what case instance example he hath broke it and ought not to presume so much as they do viz. to be Themselves both Plaintiffs Accusers and Judges Again supposing that the King had broken his Oath may not many things happen after his Oath-taking to excuse him from perjury By Law every Oath or promise how absolute soever yet hath always this necessary condition tacitly implyed in it viz rebus sic stantibus that things remain so as they were when the Oath was taken But if such difficulties or alterations happen as render the promise either impossible or unlawful to be performed a man doth not then commit perjury nor any other kinde of injustice by not performing his promise What if that which the King at his Inauguration promised for the good of the Province cannot be observed now but with the great dammage of the Province and of all Europe and this occasioned by the distemper and change of the people themselves of the Province of necessity if the case that is to say the condition and state of affairs be so far changed resolutions and proceedings upon them must also change Again supposing he had broken his Oath suâ culpâ and blameably yet were not the States thereby inabled or authorized to depose him and chuse a new Prince For in the Articles of the Joyful Entry this is a Clause Vt si in omnibus aut in vno quopiam Articulo pacta ista Dux Brabantiae violasset c. That if it shall happen that the said Dake of Brabant doth violate or break either all or any one of these Articles it shall be lawful for his Subjects to deny him the accustomed services until the thing in Controversie be either revoked or amended So long they might but after the grievances complained of should be redressed they were to return again to their duty and to rest in statu quo prius of obedient Subjects And the world knows how oft the King offered unto the Emperor to other Forreign Princes and to the States themselves to revoke and amend whatsoever could be proved amiss Beside the States and Courts of Brabant are more proper to decide this question then the States of Holland who have no such priviledges Originally but onely by Participation and Vnion And they that is Brabant Flanders Artois Henault and the rest have conformed themselves and are returned to their due Allegiance being obedient to the King his Laws and Government And if Holland would but follow their example the business were at an end To draw therefore to some conclusion in this matter of Priviledges and of the Kings Oath it would be demanded who granted these Priviledges
which tasted of the severity of those Laws were not a little insolent and prone to attempt Yet that she was withal a Princess very merciful is manifest by her compassion shewn to such as deserved not well of her that is To the Dutchess of Somerset to Sir John Cheek who had been the principal corrupter of King Edward her Brothers Infancy to Sir Edward Montague Lord Cheif Justice who had both counselled and subscribed to her disinheriting to Sir Roger Ch lmley to the Marquis of Northampton to the Lord Robert Dudly to Sir Henry Dudly to Sir Henry Gates c. who stood all of them attainted and the Duke of Suffolk All which persons were very obnoxious to Her Justice she knew very well they neither affected Her Religion nor Title They were already her prisoners in the Tower yet she released them all But for all this the Zealots of her time would not be quieted nor suffer her to enjoy any quiet They Libel against the Government of Women they pick quarrels and murmur at her marriage they publish invectives and scurrilous Pamphlets against Religion yea they forbear not to conspire and plot Her Deprivation out of a desire to advance Her Successor to the Crown under whom every Calvinist expected a Golden Age. The austerities and abstinences which Catholike Religion prescribed and which the Queen by Authority of Parliament had but lately reduced and was her self very exemplary in the observation of them were not much pleasing to some Gallants about the Court nor to many others both in City and Country whose affections were better satisfied with the Liberties of the former Age and therefore desired some change of this But among other Instruments of mischeif that Book written by Goodman intituled Of Obedience was a most pernicious Incentive among the commons teaching expresly Ad Nobil Scot. P. 94. That Queen Mary deserved to be put to death as a Tyrant and a Monster And that other of Knox with whom the Zealots of England did correspond too much where he hath among many other of like nature this passage Illud aud actèr affirmaverim c. This I dare boldly say saith he the Nobility Magistrates Judges and whole people of England were bound in Conscience not onely to oppose and withstand the proceedings of that Jesabel Mary whom they call their Queen but even to have put her to death and all her Priests with her After this Sir Thomas Wyat takes up Arms for which Master Fox worthily Chronicles him marches his Army like another Cyrus as some called him over Shâ—oters-Hill threatning both the Court and the City Prince and People And for this Goodman in his Book Of Obedience commends him saith He did but his duty and that it was the duty of all who professed the Gospel to have risen with him This was their doctrin then And though it be said That Goodman recanted his opinion in Queen Elizabeths days it was perhaps onely that part of it which opposed the Government of Women And if he did it absolutely what doth it prove but the inconstancy of such men and how easily they can conform themselves to times that favor them and of what spirit they are under the cross and affliction Wyats pretence was particoloured looking as he would seem both at Religion and bonum Publicum in his opposing the Queens marriage with Spain as both Holinshead and Stow agree They that suppose it to have been meerly upon a civil account are confuted by the Queen her self in her Speech at Guildhal where she tells the City That she had sent divers of her Counsel to Wyat to demand the Reasons of his Insurrections and that they found The business of the marriage was onely a cloak to cover Religion which was the thing principally aimed at For he urged also to have the Tower delivered to him to have power to nominate and chuse new Counsellors declaring plainly That he would not trust but be trusted But Master Fox is plain in the case for he confesseth of all that Rabble which followed Wyat That they conspired among themselves for Religion and made Wyat their cheif The marriage was looked upon by them onely as an accessory thing and a means to strengthen that which they meant to overthrow and eo nomine for that respect onely it was to be hindred Upon this account William Thomas a Gospeller of those times conspireth to kill the Queen and at his death is so far from repenting of such a foul intention That he glorieth to die for the good of his Countrey Yea the Faction grew so tumultuous and bold That Doctor Pendleton was shot at in the very Pulpit Preaching at Pauls and Master Bourn had a Dagger thrown at him in the same place the multitude being so disorderly That the Lord Major himself had much ado to quiet them and the Lords of the Counsel were forced to come thither the next Sunday with a guard to keep things in order and to prevent further combustions which were feared At Westminster upon Easter-day a desperate fellow wounded the Priest as he was at Mass in Saint Margarets Church there After this they found out a Perkin Warbeck and brought him upon the Stage one Wilâ—iam Fetherston counterfeiting King Edward whom the world and some of themselves especially knew well enough to be dead on purpose to amuze the Queen and disturb the State There was one Cleber sometimes a Pedant living at Yakesly in Norfolke put to death for a conspiracy against the Queen Vdal Staunton Peckham and Daniel were committed for the same crime for which and for attempting to rob the Exchequer and her Treasury and also for Heresie they had their desert Not to speak of the Treasons of Dudley and Ashton set on by the French In Devonshire Sir Peter and Sir Gawin Cary great Protestants together with Sir Thomas Denny took arms to impede King Philips arrival in England possessed themselves for some time of Excester Castle but afterward seeing things go contrary to their expectation they made an escape by getting over into France Thomas Stafford coming well instructed from Genevah made Proclamations publickly in several places of the Kingdom that Queen Mary was not lawful Qeen was unworthy to reign and to abuse the people further gave out no less boldly then falsly that already Twelve of the best fortified places in England were committed to the Spaniards Upon which pretense Bradford Proctor Streachly and he surprize the Castle of Scarborough in Yorkshire a Fort of singular strength which they would hold against the Spaniards they should have said against their Queen and Sovereign but they lost it and their heads beside Henry Duke of Suffolk one to whom the Queen had given life before being Father to the Lady Jane and a privy Counsellor in those Treasons of Northumberland fled into Leicestershire with the Lord Gray making Proclamation against the Queens marriage but not being able to raise a Commanding Army as he hoped was compelled
Honor and Strength of the Nation Titulus Secundus HItherto Schisme and Sacriledge annexed to it chiefly reigned but the second plague was the utter ruin and extinction of Religion For by abuse of the name and authority of King Edward the very Church it self was entirely subverted Religion absolutely changed Heresie introduced and established in the full open and publike profession thereof And we might say the craft and malice of the Devil whose work it is to corrupt true Religion confound States herein most perfectly appeared For though indeed the way to Heresie and all publike disorder were sufficiently levelled and made plain by King Henry the Eighth who onely by reason of his greatness and imperious cruelty was fit to begin such a work yet Religion it self was suffered to stand a while longer at least in the general and more visible parts of it he knowing well that all could not be effected at once and that it was necessary for him to seduce States as he doth souls gradatìm by degrees opportunity and succession of time And being also confident that if those forts of Piety and true Christian-Catholike Devoâ—â—on that is the Religious Houses were once-razed the Church in England brought under a Lay head and by consequence the sheep made Governors of their Shepherds he should easily upon a second attempt there and by some other hand overthrow Religion it self King Henry at his death had appointed by will sixteen Executors who during the minority of his Son King Edward should be as it were his Guardians and Counsellors for the better governing of the Realm Among these one who made himself afterward Principal was the Lord Edward Seymour Earl of Hartford who being the Kings Uncle by the Mother-side procured himself in a short time to be made Protector and by that means gat as he thought a dispensation from his Joynt Executorship with the others and demeaned himself now in all things concerning the Affaires of the Realm as their Superior A thing which King Henry least of all intended rather he had provided with as much caution as was possible against the encroaching of any one upon the rest under any title or pretence soever But this was the way to bring about some furthâ—â— designes intended by that Party which advanced the Protector to that dignity and which the other and more honest part of the Councel did not either so providently foresee or so faithfully resist as they ought to have done One of the first things which the Protector set on foot after the Protectorship was secured to him was Innovation of Religion abolishing the Old Catholike and introducing a New under the title of Reformation Not so much out of any great preciseness that was ever observed in him or devotion that he was thought to have more one way then another but because he was thirsty and desired to drink to the bottom of the Cup which in King Harries time it seems he had but onely tasted There was yet some Game in his eye which he intend-to bring into Toyls viz. some few remains of Church-Lands Collegiate-Lands and Hospitals which he could not compass or draw into possession by any Engine better then that pretence of reforming Religion Cranmer that unworthy Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was his Right Hand and chief Assistant in the work although but a few months before he was of King Harries Religion yea a Patron and Prosecutor of the Six Articles To this end viz. the more to amuze the people and as they thought to give some strength and countenance to what they meant to set up a couple of strangers Religious men indeed by profession but such as were long since run from their Orders that is Peter Martyr and Bucer must be sent for as far as Germany and placed in the Divinity Chairs at Cambridge and Oxford That the world might see how contrary not onely the Pastors of the Church and Clergy but even all the learned men in both the Universities and of the whole Kingdom generally were to his proceedings By these two Apostate Friers together with Cranmer Ridley Latimer and some others was a new Liturgie framed and the old abolished together with that Religion which had been so many hundreds of years observed in this Nation with great happiness and honour The Protector though powerful of himself by abuse and pretence of the Kings name in all things which he did although the King were but a Child of nine years old was yet well seconded by the Duke of Northumberland and by the Admiral his onely Brother by the Marquis of Northampton c. all of them persons seemingly at least much inclined to Reformation and by them he overbore all the rest that opposed him or were any thing contrary to his designs As there were many both eminent and wise men and equally intrusted in the publike affairs with himself could things have been carried rightly In particular the Lord Privy Seal the Lord St. John of Basing Bishop Tonstall Sir Anthony Brown and that wise Secretary Sir William Paget but most especially the Noble Chancellor the Lord Wriothsley a man of singular experience knowledge prudence and who deserveth to be a Pattern to his Posterity far to be preferred before any new Guides But being made Earl of Southampton though it neither won him to the Faction nor contented nor secured him yet he stood thâ— more quiet and made no great opposition to their doings All things now grew to confusion there remained no face nor scarce the name of Catholike Church in England and though there were great multitudes of men well affected to the old Religion and discontented that the Church should be thus driven into the Wilderness and forced to lurk in Corners Yet did they shew loyalty obedience and love to the publike Peace notwithstanding They took up no Arms they raised no Rebellion not so much as against the shadow of a King or the usurper of his Royal name The Protector in the mean time goeth on with his work which is principally to enrich himself with the Remains of the Church having long before as 't is said tasted the sweetness of such Morsels in the Priory of Aumesbury He now seizeth two Bishops houses in the Strand and of them buildeth Sommerset house which as the world saw quickly reverted and slipt out of his hands After this he procureth an Act to be made whereby all Colledges remaining all Chantries Free Chappels and Fraternities were suppressed and given to the King And how greedily he entered into the Bishop of Bath and Wells his Houses and Manors that Church will never be able to forget Notwithstanding that Bishop Bourn afterward by his industry recovered something but nothing to the spoiles and wast which was made Nor was he satisfied with this For shortly after contrary to all Law to King Henries will and against his own Covenants those I mean which he entred to his Advancers when they made him Protector He committed the Lord Chancellor
Posse Tyrannum a quoquam c. That a Prince though Tyrant can be put to death by any private Authority And at a Councel held at Oxford under Steven Langton Arch-Bishop of Canterbury about the year 1228. Excommunication is decreed against all such as violate the Kings Peace or disturb the State of the Kingdom Yea the Councel of Constance Sess 15. declares it to be an error in Faith to hold otherwise Nuper accepit sancta synodus c. This Holy Synod saie the Fathers of it hath been lately informed that certain erronious opinions are holden contrary to Peace and good Estate of the Common-wealth viz. That a Tyrant may be lawfully and meritoriously taken away and killed by any Subject or Vassal of his c. Non obsâ—ante quocunque juramento c. Notwithstanding whatsoever Oath of Fidelity or Allegiance that he hath made to him Such Doctrine saith the Councel is contrary both to Faith and Manners and whosoever shall hold it pertinaciously are Hereticks and as such to be proceeded against according to the Canons What can be said or desired more upon the Parricide of Henry the Fourth King of France the Parliament of Paris a Court ever most studious of their Princes safety and extreamly vigilant against the encroaching of any forreign power contrary to his just Authority in Temporal causes yet thought it sufficient to publish this decree of the Church against the Assassinates of Princes both to shew the heinousness of the crime as also how much the Catholike Doctrine doth condemn such practises So that hereby as in a Glass the world might see the integrity of Catholike Loyalty if men would judge of them not by the private and perhaps misinterpretâ—table assertions of some particular Doctors but by these publike and avowed principles of their beleef This is the Basis on which they build the rule by which they walk and govern themselves in point of obedience towards their Sovereign Princes Or if they would judge of them by their proceedings and addresses to their Superiors their frequent petitions professions protestations of all just obedience will sufficiently cleer them If by their practice and manner of life their quiet deportment their peaceable manner of living and conversing with all men yea their prayers which they daily make unto Allmighty God in the behalf of their Prince and for the happiness of their Country do shew how innocent they are and how little they deserve those black aspersions and calumnies of Treason Rebellion Disloyalty Et quid non which some men are so diligent to cast upon them Yea to speak with no greater confidence then we justly may they shew how much more secure Princes may be and how much better Tye and assurance they have of Catholikes Loyalty then either of Lutherans or Calvinists For although Protestants do seem sometimes to teach obedience to the Civil Magistrate very freely and that it is sin for private Subjects to resist them as for Example Melancthon in his Epitome of Moral Philosophy makes it Peccatum Mortale No less matter then Mortal Sin I use his own words To violate the Tempâ—ral Laws of the Magistrates Yet is their Doctrine so clogged with exceptions so many limitations and Proviso's as it were are commonly added to it that Princes especially such as differ from them in Religion cannot finde I say not full and plenary but not so much as probable or competent security from them Melancthon in the place before mentioned limiteth himself thus Debet autem haec sententia c. But this which I have delivered saith he concerning obedience to the Civil Magistrates must be rightly understood viz. of such Magistrates as command nothing contrary to the Law of God as all Catholike Princes do in his opinion What security therefore have they from his Doctrine Lib. de Consens Evang. Beside we have shewen before according to his doctrine the people or inferior Magistrates may reform Religion and overthrow Idolatry as they call it without any publike Authority or Commission So that if the Justices of the Peace in some County or but the Petty Constables in Towns do beleeve the Religion professed by the Prince or State to be Idolatrous and not according to Gods word they are discharged of obedience by Melancthon and may fall to reforming solely of themselves And what his Master Luthers opinions were concerning this matter hath been sufficiently shewen already there need be no repetition of them here Danaeus teacheth the same or worse Lib. 6. Polit. c. 3. So doth Peter Martyr on Judges Cap. 11. and in his Common places And Althusius Politic. Cap. 35. P. 37. where among other causes of a Just War maintained by Subjects against their Sovereigns Purae Religionis defensio defence of True Religion hath the Second place Yea it is wel known that Sureau a Protestant Minister in France otherwise called Rosâ—eres wrote a Book expresly on this subject That it was lawful to kill Charls the Ninth Belfor lib. 6. cap. 103. his natural Sovereign and the Queen-Mother if they would not obey the Gospel But to conclude with one instance for all The Hugonots of France having in the Nine and thirtieth Article of their Confession professed That men ought to be obedient to the Laws to pay Tributes and to bear the Yoke of subjection quietly even under unbeleeving Magistrates They adde a limitation which corrupts and nullifies all that they had said viz. Dummodo Dei summum imperium integrum maneat So long onely as Gods Supream Authority is entirely acknowledged which under the Government of an Infidel Magistrate cannot be easily conceived Therefore upon the matter they profess nothing but abuse their Prince and the world with bare words as it is usuall with them to do Which is yet more evident by the Declaration which their Synod at Bearn in the year 1572. purposely made of this Article and of the Limitation of it Dei imperium dicitur manere illibatum Poplon nier lib. 34. cum Rex exterminatâ Catholicâ Religione c. Gods Sovereign Authority say they is then understood to be entirely acknowledged when the King abolishing or rooting out Catholike Religion shall set himself to advance onely the true and pure worship of God that is to say that which is so in their sense and opinion But to do this is it a thing to be supposed of an Infidel Prince to whom they pretend to profess subjection or is it to be expected of a Catholike Therefore I say they contradict themselves apparenly in their profession and do indeed profess nothing really but that they are Impostors and deserve to be branded with Characters of jealousie and distrust by all the Princes States of Christendom The book called Comment de Statu Relig. â—c a Protestant piece is ful of such stuff but especially Pâ— 2. Lib. 12. Cap. 1. where he affirmeth expressly That in all Oaths of Allegiance and Duty there is this condition always implyed at