Lord of Heauen and earth be against those interdictions in the law which seeme to compas in no more but the Canaanites Iebusites c. And mere pagan nations and whether to mary with the papist who in generall termes protesteth Christ be to mary in the lord To answere these men whose doubts procede euer of they re lust to giue themselues liberty and not of a conscience affrayd to offend God I might say that if to confes the Lord of heauen and earth be ynough to auoid those interdictions then might we entermary with Turks Iewes Moscouites and diuers other painnimes and as far as I remēber with some of the Cannibals Looke the storyes of the new Indians And albeit the Papist protest Christ in word yet sith the vnity of the Church is noted to be herein that Christians be the houshold of faith in the fundamental doctrine whereof what it is what is the vse worthines working thereof the papistes dissenting from vs as farre as they that scatter wher we gather it wil be hard to make them of one faithful houshold with vs. But to yeelde them a degree somevvhat nearer vs then Canaanites compare them with the Moabites and the Ammonites who were cosens to Israell by the flesh and had Lot for theyr father or let them stand with Ishmael Abrahams bastards son yea at once let them be in regard to vs with Edome Israels twinne brother both which had the circumcision of flesh yet vvas it not lavvful for the Isralites to mary with them in Salomon namely it is counted emong other his sinful mariages that he maryed with those nations But that we may yet giue somewhat more to these strayners for lustes sake at a gnat and swallowers of a Camel through conscience for they are more precise to doe popery wrong then to doe the gospell right let vs I say suffer the popish churche to be made more of then she is worth let vs take her at the best and in as good accompt as any learned gospeller hetherto hath set her and let her haue the allowaunce of two or three graines to be massier then the Edomite and finer then the pagane to hang in an euen ballance and to be of one assaie or touche with the Idolatrous and trayterous Israelits that fel from God and were false to the house of Dauid theyr king yet shal papistes be to light and to drossie to mary with vs For neither was it lawfull nor luckie for the Iewes to mary with those Ieroboamical Israelites for al theyr ontward circumcision and though they worshipped on the hill of the patriark fathers For this purpose reade well the storye of Iehoram king of Iehuda the son of good Iohosaphat that made a notable reformation in Gods house and for all his fathers sake you shall see it obiected against him and rendred as a reason of his other great outragious sins that he had maried in the house of Achab king of the Samaritane Israelites The wickednes and sinne of vvhyche kinde of mariage as it is euinced by the very word of God and punishment vpon the person of Iehoram so îs it proued by the horrible punishments following vpon his generation For Ahaziah or Ochoziah son of Iehoram by reason of the Quene mother Athalia fell in such a leag vvith the king of Israell that taking his quarel he fel with him vpon the svvord of Iehu After vvhose death the Queene mother and dovvagier Athalia plaied Rex and slew al the princes of the blood and peeres of Iudah All which murdures began and are set downe to haue com for that mariage with the daughter of Achab whose seede the Lord had sayd to purseu to the rote VVherby it appeares that whoso matcheth with any vvicked race doe make themselues and their sede partakers of the sinnes and plagues of that race and their auncesters And because the match of fraunce with thitalian Athalia hir furies in that lande especiallye those at the mariage of her daughter Margeret vvill of themselues applye them selues in euery respect to agree vvith her of Iudea and proue the sin and punishment of such vvicked vvilling matches betvvene Christian true Ievves and popish bastard Israelites I onely name it and leaue it to the trembling consideration of all especially of suche as it neerest toucheth vvhom I besech in Gods name to stand vveightily vpon it These things do necessarily infer the third proposion vvhich is the conclusion or finall sentence of Gods punishment against this poore church for this sinne if it be committed Faire therefore is their pretext of peace to the Church vvho seeke that thing that must be the cause of such a vvoefull effect So that if our mariage makers be not so spirituall as that the sin vvhich this mariage hath simply in it selfe and of it selfe onely for being against Gods lavv can not make them yeld to confes the daunger it bringeth to the church let vs compel them to come in by looking at the tayle of sinnes and punishments that this venemous serpent of sin draggeth after it It is not in Gods church as in the Grecian host there delirant reges plectuntur Achiui but vvith vs Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis The sin of the Prince maketh the people to sin vvhereby euery one beareth his sin and the Lord findes matter ynough in Prince and people to vvrap the one and the other in the same calamitye In reasoning it is truely sayd one absurditie begetteth an other euen so hath sin a fruitfull generation and as the vertues are sayd to be chained together so is neuer one vice or sin alone But specially the breach of this lavve of God in vvhom soeuer priuate person it lighteth dravveth not onely a certaine falling avvay to the goodman or goodvvife of the house so vngodly maryed but a daunger also to children seruants and euery reteiner of that houshold much more manifold is the danger vvhē the honorable dame and as in humblenes I may say the goodvvife of Englād shold be so which God forbid vneuēly matched It vvere more perilous to the ouerthrovv of Religion in thys faythful houshold of England then if in one day vvere consummate the like mariages of a hundred thousand of other her subiects for the straightest and roundest going Prince shall vvyth much a doe keepe his people vpright especially in Religion But let the Prince laake neuer so little and the people vvil halt right dovvne The Princes fal is like that of a mighty Oake vvhich beares dovvn vvith it many armes and braunches therfore is it often recited in the scripture that Ieroboam sell avvay frō God and all Israell vvith him again for the sins of Ieroboam vvhereby he caused all Israell to sinne against the Lord. Novv if the French fautors of this mariage vvhich can enlarg theyr pollicy and mince the vvord of God as they list vvill yet cast about an other
that may so earnestly send hym hither he is here apparant to Fraunce dangerous therefore in respect of reasons otherwhere alledged for hym to be absent espetially the present king being so far gon and spent in the disease as some of these perswaders vvill say vvhen they wyll further thys match And if he should come in with that honorable shew becomming hys greatnes and as any other such man wyll come that woeth with good meaning and feareth not any detectioÌ„ of hydden trecheryes â–ª hys voyage hyther would be mightely chargable a thing ill becomming hym vvho is already drawen drye to the botom and extremely indetted vvith hys other coloured voyage into Flanders And onelesse some notable practise pricked hym hyther the very passage ouer the sea vvould appall this fresh water soldiar hauing read that betvvene thys and Normandye there perished in one bottom three kingly children but vtterlye vvould he be discouraged by thaduenture of honour whych he makes in sayling hyther vpon so slender likelihoode of speeding or rather vpon great reason of repulse if his care of honor vvere not lesse then his greedines to accomplish hys other mischiefe And if he should speede which God forspeake yet must he com to a people that loues hym not nor hys trayne and vvhere neuerthe lesse he must haue hys gardes and trayne prescribed and limitted in regard of the state And thys people if heretofore it hath bene so manly as to mayster thys generation of Capet in hys own or rather our home of Fraunce me thinks thys Monsieur can come with small hope to finde good seruice at our handes vvhose fingers wyll itch at hym in our home of England But aboue all vvho can thinke that he being the last of hys fathers ligne and the onely forlorne hope of raysing vp seede to hys brothers would match heare vvith so farr gon hope of hauing issue endaungering by that means a vvylling translation of the crown of France from hym and hys fathers posterity to another prince of the blood No no no the king hys brother and hys mother haue some other meanyng agaynst the church state and person of our prince euen to haue an eye in the heade of our Courte if they can bring it to passe and an hand in the heart of this realm to vvorke our ruin and theyr great hatreds and that as the mother hath long time ruled and turned the wrong side outvvard of Fraunce so she might haue thys land another while for hyr stage she is dressing hir Prologue to sende him in trust him not The players be tragicall though he vveare peacible laurell on his head Yea the wordes that escape from some of them that are come on thys message doe bewray hovv lovvdly they vvyl speake here after I pray God they to vvhom it belongs may keepe avvay such gamsters And sith the Lord for hys own name sake of his loue to the gospel vvhich we haue emoÌ„g vs hath weakned the hands of our forreine enemyes broken the deuises of theyr heads hither to since he hath engraueÌ„ such a searing loue in hyr subiects harts as children beare to there mother and such a reuercut note of souereignete in hir person as he is wont to sett on them vvhom he calls by hys owne name and are his ordinances in so much as it may be sayd of hir most truely it is the Lord by vvhoÌ„ kings reign since I say the blessed vvord of Christ hath made hir sword as the svvord of Gâ—deon keeping hir safe from many practises agaynste hyr person while other kings and Queenes haue thorowe Gods iudgement for theyr manifest sins bene subiect to tombling and suffered change in person and estats Let vs styll rest in those maenes and approue that vvhich vve haue proued for good It is a foly to seeke forreine ayde but vpoÌ„ extreme necessitye It is lyke desperate phisick vvhen one is giuen vp by al phisitions it sends hym speedely eyther one vvay or other They suffer themselues to be abused vvhich beleeue the french men vvhen they say that England is vnfurnished of friends neyther in perfect league nor good opinioÌ„ nor neere allyed with any prince in Christendome Our alliances are better then his and more assured as in another place it is shewed vve haue the Lords right hand on ourside and all the hatts and handes of those of our religion Yea vve were able by Gods mercy to throvv out popery euen then vvhen it had more friends vvithin the land and vvhen diuerse princes and multitudes vvere enemies to vs for our religion that are since become religious euen to the death vve doubt not therefore but much more easely vve shall be able to hold our prince vvorthy of hyr I can not chuse but say that this prince of Fraunce of all other vnmaried princes is moste vnworthye of hyr for euen that Christianity vvhich hir Maiestie is called vnto and hyr princely priesthoode in Christ Iesus is as farr aboue all hys pryde in fleshe as heauen is aboue earth hir earthly septer being added to the former excellency settes him at hir foote or rather driues him from hir presence in iudgement of God and men being but a subiecte in the kingdom of Fraunce as yet no enrolled citesin in thouvvard kingdom of heauen The assured and great euils that grovv here out to our head the Queene make no lesse agaynst the vvell doing of the lesser limes of the land For to let passe the doings of auncient and present kings vvho vvhen by such meanes they vvinne a countye into theyr pavves first dispatch the auncient Nobilitye destroye the greatest kindreds and scatter the meane sort into seruile vnlearned and vnarmed trades for thentreaty that our Nobility and Gentry are to looke for I vvyll note but thys one vvord euen of thys very family of Hugh Capet the first of thys third and present kingly race in Fraunce vvhen by such meanes as theyr ovvn chro nicles doe mention he had vvrested the sceprer from the handes of theyr Mayster and soueraign seede of great Charles Peppines son the first deede they did vvas to prouide that the chiefe of that ligne might dye the death perhaps some of them did chuse some pinig death at Orleance but die they must This is a slip of Hugh Capet and the practise of theyr mother and them in their ovvn country at this present is to raze all auncient french houses and to reare vp new bringing al as neere as they can A la Turkesque that all being there creatures may fall dovvn and vvorship them And if the present vvoeng messenger a man of so bace place and petie coÌ„panion in the french court is yet so sausie as to be checkmate vvith our Queen and to enter malapart comparison vvyth our Noble men doubt you not but the friends of of the brydegroome vvyll be euery man a petie king ouer our English Nobilitye Our
high linage should seeke or consent in mariage vvith any lovv borne or contemptible person Haue the lavves of common vveales prouided thus vvel for men the vvorld standes it thus vppon her slippers of reputation in obseruing what is comely in mariage and honourable for ech personage and shall the lavves of God trovv you be of none effect or shall it not be much more ougly before God and hys angels vvhen an Hebrew shal mary a Cananite ' there is no such inequalitie as that of religion no such disparagement as not to be faythfull no such dignity of Principality as to be a good christian and no such slauery as to be a Barbarian from Christ Iesu. Perhappes some man vvill defende these vneuen Irreligious mariages by abusing that place of 1. Cor. 7. But vvithout any other helpe that text it selfe is selfe sufficient to deliuer it self from that violence and the lavv of God from the beginning to the end all one vvith the obedient practise of Gods children and the plages vpon the transgressors do euidently shevv that Paul there speaketh onely for the continuance of such mariages as were first not vneuen being made in time of infidelitie on both partes and by the aftercalling of one party are become vneuen for thè cōtinuance I say of such mariages and not vneuenly to yoke any Christian which is free to one not faithfull Novv as by reasons it appeares vnlavvfull so by examples it may appeare hurtfull Those good men of whom vve loue to be esteemed the children and follovvers Abraham and Isaac had euen a religious care not to haue their sonnes matche vvith the Cananeans dwelling at theyr next doores but sent further of for the daughters of god VVhat a diameter of religion vvere it for vs dvvelling emong Christians to admit from ouer sea the sons of men in mariage The children of Iacob vvere so vvell taughte bytheir father in the religion of their grandfather great granfather that they could ansvver vve may not giue our sister to the vncircumcised that is to say vve can not or vve may not lawfully for that vve onely may vvhich by the lawe of God vve may Those ill men to vvhome vve vvoulde be ashamed to be resembled made this maner of mariage The old vvorlde vvhich thus defiling it selfe was therefore vvashed in the vniuersall flood And Esau whose fault yet was in this poynt lesse then ours for they wythout care of Religion tooke the fayrest and such as perhaps vvere next hand vve should in this match send further of for our mariage and haue not so much respect as to the fayrest being so far giuen ouer of God as to forget euen that part whyche we would gladliest please And emong those good men whome we set for holy examples this maner of mariage vvas euer noted by the scripture emong theyr faults As the Israelites which thus fel away from the seruice of God and withal out of his protection As Samson and Salomon whose vertues we must imitate and not these their sinnes VVhere Salomon might serue for all examples and hym will I chiefely name and namely vrge speaking novv of kingly mariages and courtly mariage makers because he vvas a king and also because that godly Courtier Nehemiah doth notably apply it in a stronger case vsing Salomons sin în this maner of vnholy mariages as a reason to separate the Israelits frō their wiues vvhich they had already maried yea and by vvhome they had had children born to thē thinking it an ilfauoured noise to heare theyr children gibber in the streetes halfe Hebrewe halfe Ashdod I pray you marke then how much more force Salomons example hath to disswade a mariage that is yet but in parle not concluded to make no such fayre reckoning of a babe yet vnborne whose shape we see not and how much more ilfauoured it vvere for vs that in our churches speake the language of Canaan to ioyne vvith thē that in their masse mumble the straunge tongue of Rome And if woman that vveaker vessel be strong enough to dravve man through thaduantage vvhiche the deuill hath vvithin our bosome I meane our naturall corruption and proonesse to Idolatry hovv much more forcibly shall the stronger vessell pull vveake vvoman considering that vvith the inequalitie of strength there is ioyned as great or more readinesse to Idolatrye and superstition And if the husband vvhich is the heade be dravven aside by his vvyfe ouer vvhome neuerthelesse he hath authoritye and rule hovve muche more easely shall the vvife be peruerted by her husband to vvhome she is subīecte by the lavve of God and ovveth both avve and obedience hovve soeuer the lavves by prerogatif or her place by preeminēce may priuiledge her And here note this that euery vvhere it is set dovvne hovve the vvicked peruerted the good but no vvhere that the better part conuerted the wicked for euen the ill ralke or other conuersation of ill men corruptes good maners And sith Salomon a peereles king beloued of God as Nehemiah saith so furnished in vvisedome and of vvhome there vvere such certaine demonstrations that he was the child of God dyd yet thys foulye fal by ioyning himselfe in mariage vvith Idolatrons vvemē in so much as diuers now thinke they find almost as many reasons to call in some doubt his saluation I pray God it may seeme fearefull in the eyes of all other Princes and princesses vvormes to him in wisedom to do the like fault for dread of the like sequele VVherby it appeares how vaine that promise is of theirs who say that Monsieure shall be instructed in our religion and drawen frō his by going with our Queene to hers besides that we woulde be loath with so certaine great peril to our Queene who is emong men and vvomen the chiese to vs to attempt the vncertain winning of him who is emong all men the least to vs And if there were in him any hope of tollerable inclination to religion it wold rather shevve now in the time of his sute to our Queene by that meanes perhaps thinking to be lesse lothsome to her and les abominable to her people but we haue no cause to hope it for he vseth no protestant in the matter of mariage although for some other colour he hath seemed to make some reckoning of some in some respect And if there were hope yet in so vnaduised rashnes to venture against the word of God we may well looke for Gods iudgement to come betwene and punish our folehardines that he which loueth peril may abide and perish therein But these discoursers that vse the word of God with as little conscience as they doe Machiauel pycking out of both indifferently what may serue theyr turnes perhaps they will thinke to escape all hetherto sayd by calling in question for their mouthes are their owne to dispute of any thing without care of resolutiō whether to mary with the Papist that worshippeth the