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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68221	Antisixtus An oration of Pope Sixtus the fift, vppon the death of the late French King, Henrie the third. With a confutation vpon the sayd oration, wherein all the treacherous practises of the house of Lorraine, are largely described and layde open vnto the view of the world, with a briefe declaration of the kings death, and of many other things worthy the noting, which neuer yet came to light before. Translated out of Latin by A.P.	Hurault, Michel, d. 1592.; Sixtus V, Pope, 1520-1590. De Henrici Tertii morte sermo. English.	1590 (1590)	STC 14002; ESTC S114241	39,544	58

to offer vnto all Kinges and Emperours which wee most willingly would likewise haue bestowed vpon him if the holy scriptures in this case had not altogether forbidden it There is saith S. Iohn a sin vnto death I say not that any should pray for it which may be vnderstoode both of the sin it selfe as if he shoulde say for that sin or for the remission or forgiuenes therof I will that none should pray because it is not pardonable Or else in the same sense for that man who committeth such a sin vnto death I say not that any should pray for Whereof our Sauiour himselfe hath spoken in S. Mathew saying that he that sinneth against the holie Ghost shal not be pardoned neither in this worlde nor in the world to come Where he setteth downe thrée sorts or kindes of sinne to wit against the Father the Son and the holy Ghost and that the two first are lesse hainous and pardonable but that the third is altogether vnpardonable and not to be remitted Al which difference procéedeth from the destinction of the attributes as the diuines teach vs which seuerally are appropriated vnto euery seuerall person of the holy Trinitie And although as the essence of all the thrée persons is but one so also is their power wisedome and goodnes as we haue learned in the symbole of Athanasius where he saith almighty is the father almighty is the Sonne and almighty is the holy Ghost yet by attribution power is ascribed vnto the Father wisedome vnto the Sonne and loue vnto the holie Ghost whereof euery seuerall as they are tearmed attributes so are they so proper vnto euery seuerall person that they can not be attributed and referred vnto any other By the contraries of which attributes we come to discerne the distinction and greatnes of sinne The contrary to power which is onely attributed vnto the Father is weaknes and therefore that which we doe amisse through infirmity of nature is said to be committed against the Father The opposite vnto wisdome is ignorance and blindnes through which when any man sinneth is said to sinne against the Sonne therefore that which we commit through naturall infirmity and ignorance is more easier forgiuen vs. The thirds attribute which is the holy Ghostes is loue hath for his contrary ingratitude and vnthankefulnes a vice most detestable and odious which causeth men not to acknowledge the loue of God and his benefites bestowed vpon them but to forget despise yea and to hate them Whereout brieflie and finally procéedeth that they become altogether obstinate and impenitent And this way sinne is committed against God with greater danger and perill then if it were done through ignorance and weakenesse of the flesh and therfore it is termed a sin against the holy Ghost And because such sinnes are seldome and difficultly pardoned and not without great aboundance of grace in some sorte they are said to bee vnpardonable whereas altogether through vnrepentance only they become simply vnpardonable For whatsoeuer is done amisse in this life although it be against the holy ghost by repentance it may be wipt out defaced before death but they that perseuere therin til death are excluded from all grace mercy hereafter And therefore for such sinners and sinnes the apostle hath forbidden to pray after their decease Now therefore because wée vnderstand not without our great griefe that the saide king is departed out of this worlde without repentance and impenitent in the company to wit of heretickes for all his army was made almost of none other but of such men and that by his last wil he hath commended and committed his crowne and kingdome to the succession of Nauarre long since declared an hereticke and excommunicated as also in his extremity and nowe ready to yéelde vp his ghost desired of him and such like as he was there standing by that they would reuenge his death vppon those whome hee iudged to be the cause thereof For these and such like most manifest tokens of vnrepentance we haue decréed not to solemnize his death with funeralles not that we would séeme to coniecture by these any thing concerning the secrete iudgementes of God against him or his mercies who could according vnto his good pleasure in the departing of his soule from the body cōuert and turne his heart and deale wyth him mercifully but this we haue spoken being thereunto mooued by these externall signes and tokens God grant therefore that all being admonished and warned by this fearefull example of heauenly iustice may repent and amende and that it may further please him to continue and accomplish that which he hath mercifully begunne in us as we do put our trust in him to the end we may giue euerlasting thanks to him to haue deliuered his church from such great imminent dangers Wherof when his holines had spoken he brake vp the Consistorie hauing giuen his blessing let them al depart ANTISIXTVS THe ages past haue séene many that vnnaturally haue rebelled against their country and with violēce defiled their hands with the blood of their princes and parents but none yet that euer approoued or commended the facte But nowe of late and in our dayes a notorious murtherer is come forth the B. of Rome knoweth the cruell and bloody crime and reprooueth not the offendor but prayseth him This therefore is false Sixtus although it bée an oldé saying that villanie and mischiefe is more easier committed then excused whether I compare thée with Papinian or rather with Caracalla both notable tyrantes yet it will holde in none of them both With right then may I saye with thée fact um est opus in diebus nostris there is wroght a worke in our dayes to the eye and eare most detestable and gréeuous and horrible to be remembred and spoken of The greatest and mightiest king of Europe lieth ouerthrowen and slaine by the treacherous fraude of a friar But doost thou tearme this a worke onely Nay rather thou shouldest haue called it a most hainous execrable and cruell act and therefore the more hainous that not one of the common people but thou the ruler of christendome Christ his vicar the gate of heauen hast bene the aduocate defender and commender of this great offence Truely who can suffer the hands of priests which by their laws should be harmelesse and vndefiled of all christen blood although most guilty to be embrued and stayned wyth the blood of a prince Who should not curse and detest the bloody butchar of the father of his country Haue not the incensed and angrie people reason then to crie torture torture and all things else wherewith such cruell monsters are to bée punished Yet this is but small Sixtus and that which thou thinkest to be the greatest part of this villanous acte is the least Thou wyth it onely art to be charged because thou alone art sounde that commendest priuse murtherers and praisest manslaughter and not onely giuest licence

sorrowe was seene in al the Campe but greate ioye among the ennemy whose reioysing voices were hearde at that instant demanding one of another whether the Friars knife was sufficiently sharpe or not The King thus wounded was laid in his bed wher he yeelded by his ghost vnto God the next night following hauing before made his will and set al things in good order Here haue you hearde the ende of this mighty Prince and here may you beholde as in a looking glasse the ouerthrowe of a whole Realme I see many thinges in it to bee lamented Wheresoeuer I turne my selfe I can perceaue nothing but a dreadfull horrour a cruell and blouddy spectacle yet nothing more heauily doth present it selfe afore vs then thine Oration Sixtus an ouerplus to the common griefe Farre bee such a shame from vs lette it suffice vs to haue lost a good Prince and that by our owne faulte and negligence as to suffer the name of the dead to bée slandered and defamed and the Monuments of so many worthy acts destroyed Therfore I demand first of thée Sixtus by what lawes that I shall contend with thée With Christian lawes But what hast thou to doe with Christ whose birth and buriall thou ●landerest with a most detestable murtherers comparison With the lawes of nature but by what bandes of nature can bee vpholden the maintainer of willfull murther Howe then with the ciuil lawes The statutes of Princes and the ciuill lawes haue enacted diuers and seuere punishmentes vnto those that offended but by chaunce but vnto those that reuenged their priuate quarrell by their own authoritie fearfull torments What punishments doe they alot then vnto those who violat ouerthrow the welfare af a common wealth truly almost incredible But I see that I am constrained to séeke out new lawes to deale with thée I am ready for it Thou the autor of new offences shalt bée my lawe and witnesse Europe the court and the Heauens the Iudges and vpon these equall conditions I will pleade against thée Come then and hearken first vnto this It séemeth verie straunge vnto mee and therefore make me somewhat better acquainted with it that thou so oftentimes vsurpest the worde of Gods iudgement Could not this suffice thee to know God to bée the best of all goodnesse but to say that hée willed such a detestable and wicked act In déede wée sée euerie where his wonderful iudgements and we know that Princes the larger their gouernement hath béene the greater accounts they haue to make Besides if kinges had committed any offence that not onely themselues did smart for it but sometimes all their subiects felt the punishment thereof Both is to be séene in the holie Scriptures I will not deny but that this prince hath suffered deserued punishment if thou doest regard God onely in whose eies all thinges are corrupt naught and crooked nothing entire or vndefiled But leaue the iudgement hereof vnto God not vnto thy selfe Sixtus How knowest thou whether this is in stéede of a blessing and benefit which thou thinkest to be a curse and a punishment Did not Iosias also die an vntimely death doth not God most often cal them first vnto him whom he loueth Are tirants not séene oftentimes to raigne and liue longest and good princes seldome come to great age Superfluous nay too curoius it were Sixtus to search examin these things more impious to iudge them But let it be so I grant this vnto thée Shall therfore the excuse and cloake of Gods iudgement protect defend the cause of a murtherer the king of France for his offences hath deserued some heauy punishment at Gods hāds doth it follow therfore the he is to he accounted godly great famous happy and worthy the title of an Emperor whosoeuer of the common people the most abiect and vilest shall haue murthered his Prince Then with thée that sonne shall be accounted innocent that is a reuenger of his fathers offence by his fathers death and the indignation of those children estéemed iust spilling the bloud of their parentes in Gods quarrell What is he worthy any longer to be reuerenced and honored with the title of a father who liketh the example of naturall affection violated and quite extinguished Herewith thou art touched Sixtus but wherfore art thou so soone afeard thou hast no cause yet to tremble these are but toyes and trifles come but néere for to heare that which shall not make thée pale but altogether senselesse Let first the lawes of bloud and nature which are the sacred bandes of humaine societie depart and goe aside for as long as they are present I haue no reason to speake any word at all I grant againe that it is lawfull by thy lawes to kill parents condemned by iudgement and an executioner not to be wanted in the citie as long as the offenders sonne is found present Let thy iudge then pronounce sentence and say That lawfully the sonne may kill the father but let him adde vnto it at the least accused noted and condemned of a notorious offence as an enemie vnto the cōmon wealth that by these meanes the priuate lawes of a familie may be disanulled by those which concerne the publike vtilitie But contrariwise if thou destroyest the publike commoditie by a publicke offence away with thy lawes for they cannot be exogated with the welfare of a common wealth Let vs now sée then Here lyeth wallowing in his bloud not the father of a priuate familie but hée of a great kingdome not the griefe of one household but the heauinesse and sorrow of a whole realme most trecherously procured And yet doest thou commende this and sayest that he is murthered worthely Well let it be so so that he for whom we mourne be too worthy for to die after such a manner But what was the offence in the reuenge whereof the diuine the ciuill the common and priuate lawes did cease and loyter Thou sayst that he hath commanded Lodouick the Cardinall the Guise his brother to be executed whose consecrated head was not to be touched but only by full authoritie from the Bishop of Rome Thou cruell beast dost thou say that it is not lawfull for a King ruling onely by Gods grace and authoritie to punish traytors against his Maiestie and conuicted so oftentimes to haue troubled the publike peace and that it is permitted vnto a gracelesse Friar to stabbe a Prince for to haue iustly executed a Cardinall What say ye to this O ye Princes of Europe vpon whose neckes this cruell and bloudie Lyon treadeth If he were to be punished it was not to be done after that order witnesses were to be produced the offender was to be heard iudges to be chosen no hast was to be made vpon the execution of so great a Potentate As if he wanted witnesses by whose ambition now 3. yeares together France hath béene disquieted with ciuill warres but his execution was to be delayed to what end To the

dayly increases of tallages and tributes and that the people were altogether vnable longer to endure this beauie burthen Besides nothing Something by the way as concerning religion and Heretikes For vndoubtly they would not that so many ennemies should be raysed vp at once thinking that the king had drawen hatred and enuie enough vppon his head by the gouernement of his realine and that therefore they had sufficient matter and occasion of warre It is most euident truly through the priuate grudge which they did beare vnto their king the Duke Espernon that some small and casuall trisles of anger haue beene the first cause of these last troubles In reuenge whereof so many dead bodyes so many murthers and finally the death of the king himselfe and the ruine of the whole Realine haue all scarce suffised But warned by a Spaniard who milli●●ed the order of making the accounts of the Realine as also by thée Sixtus that looked for no benefite to fall vnto thy share by this warres but by the ouerthrowe of the Heretikes they chaunge their Ensignos and proclayme open warre against those of the reformed Religion Héereuppon presently the Pope sent his thunderboltes whereby he excluded the king of Nauarre at this present ruling in Fraunce and the Prince of Cond● vnheard innocent and thinking nothing such from his Apostolicke blessing but hereby may easely appeare that God and none of the Apostles were present at the rash iudgement of the cause They nowe hauing turned their long spake nothing more of the king or his gouernement but only in his singular cōmendation Extolled the prime of his age admonished him of his former valour and prowesse and with exquisite wordes shewed that the memorie of so many victories wherewith he had so ostentimes repressed abated the courage of the Heretiks was yet recont fresh That his time of rest was not yet come and that vnto such a valiaunt and strong Prince the victory of the battaile and the slaughter of a whole nation belonged Moreouer they laide before his eies his 〈◊〉 and want of children and their miseries wherin they were like to fall if after the desease of such a most Christian king with dissembling wise they saide that they greatly seared they should be forced to submitt themselves vnder the yoke and bondage of an hereticke Finally desired his Maiesty that it woulde please him to appoint Charles of Borbon Cardinal being weakned with age and sicke●●●● haste vnto the Crown reiecting Nauarre And breaking the alliance and treaty of peace with the hereticks should take armes against them which if he liked would perform they neuer would refuse any due obedience vnto him their lawful prince Showed besides that they had their swordes ready and sufficient wealth and aide wherewith they might not onely reuenge themselues ●ppon the Heretickes but also vpon their fauourers The duke of Guise hauing spoken thus not farrying if the King would further determine hereupon hauing gathered forced for to assault those of the reformed religion made them indeede to march agaynst the King himselfe dispossessed him partly by force and partly by pollicy frō such Citties as hée could where the name of Luther or Caluin had neuer béen hearde robbed their treasure imposed new tributes vpon them and finally where no ennemy was exercised all hostshty and eruchresse The king in the meane time destitute of courage and good counsel rather then of force distristed himselfe for his corupted friends told him wonders of the Ginses power and army and feared him that the catholikes should but once heare the name of Hereticks they would presently all retire and goe backe from him That he should linger therefore a while vntill he had hearde the counsell of his néerest friendes who with all spéede if néede required would soone prouide all necessaries for the warre and ouercom by the coūsell of his mother who alwaies had fauoured the contrarie side and fraighted by the Iesuites vaine superstitions was not brought but drawen therevnto And so the articles of peace were agreed vpon and concluded betweene him and the duke of Guyse and warre intended against those of the reformed religion vnto whom by generall proclamation was commanded to departe at the appointed tyme out of the realme otherwise to stand to the aduenture and hazard of their liues About the end of the same yeare great forces were raysed vp and enrolled the duke de Maine was ordained chiefe ouer them and being sent into Guyan or Aquitane returned next yeare againe wyth little good successe recalled as they say by his brother who impatient of all delayes was 〈◊〉 alike with enuy anger and ambition cryed that the ennemie was not for to be sought for that hee was at hand and stoode before the doore that the head of a Prince onely gréeued him and hindred his enterprises and finally that he onely was to be assaulted emitting and leauing the other And so riseth againe against the king being occupied in other warres and that hee coulde not obtaine by his first rebellion by this he forceth it Complaineth that his brother was forsaken in Aquitane frustrated and destitute of men money and munition as also that hee was not sent sooner against the enemie before all the treasure of the realme was spent for to lacke nothing That these were sure arguments that the Catholikes were betrayed that his Maiesties mind was corrupted by ill counsell and those whome he should loue and embrace that hee hated and despised them and that therefore it could not be but hee had intelligence with the Heretickes And finally if hee reiected and disherited not the king of Nauarre and the Prince of Condy and openly would appoint and declare a successor that there was nothing remayning that all good and godly catholickes should any longer commit their liues and safety vnto the protection of a dissembling Prince who did all things wyth delay and proclaimed warre wyth his tongue agaynst them and called for peace wyth his hearte This was spread abroade Souldiours are taken vppe and agayne a newe contracte of Peace was to bée made for agréement The King at one tyme cumbred wyth two enemies thought it necessarie that wyth one of them an appoynment was to be concluded gaue care againe vnto his mothers counsell and againe by her meanes agréede wyth the Guyse Hée demeth him little deliuereth vnto him the demaunded Cities and commaundeth newe forces to be taken vppe to inuade Aquitane the dwelling place of those of the refournied Religion and publisheth agayne newe and cruell Ordinances and Statutes against them The Guyse nowe hauing obtayned his purpose and thinking that he was crept farre enough in the peoples fauour to vndertake and enterprise whatsoeuer pleased him and that the Prince was brought into sufficient hatred that all thinges were sette in a hurlie burlie that the heartes of the Communaltie were dismayed and that now but little hindered hym to come vnto his pretence watched for a fitte opportunitie to

and lust and that therefore all things were readie easie vnto her But that all things crost the Friar that in euery thing was great trouble and trauell but yet more daunger that he alone surely without any bodies helpe or induction had conceiued secretly the boldnesse of this desperate enterprise That he had not only to go through the watches of the ennemie but by the Citizens straight wardes Sentinels and if his face his words or his pace had bewrayed there any token of vnconstancie which oftentimes is séene in those that doe attempt high and great matters he had to looke for nothing but for present death destruction Here if the letters had béene found about him he had no lesse to feare the like of those that were ignorant of the matter and being besiedged were afeard of euery trifle So that as Homere sayth as Aeneas was carryed by the helpe of Neptune out of the battell euen so Sixtus leadeth this Fryar through the Citie the Campe couered with a cloud that he could not be séene of any body I maruaile that he hath not set him vpon the winges of angels to carry and bring him in safetie to the kinges tente I appeale vnto your authoritie O honourable and reuerent antiquitie what is become of shamefastnesse Who thinkes now a dayes a lie to be a discredite Come to heare a historie not a fable Clement by a great summe of money by further hope by a notorious harlot was solicited taketh counsell with the chiefe conspirators of the kings death and it is knowen now who were present at that instant who were the coūsellers who were the furtherers It were iniurious that our posterity should be deceiued depriued of the memory of this cruell act and as I hope cre long of the example of the execution thereof They did counterfaite letters from certaine prisonners vnto the King bewraying some great matters to be declared by the mouth of the Fryar the which when he had receiued taketh the knise which he had made and poysoned to kill the king withall and goeth out of the Cittie but first hauing lest charge that all those that were suspected might be kept within that by these meanes the life of a bloodie murtherer should be in safetie with the danger of thousande innocents if he should haue fallen a liue in the enemies handes This is the first part of this miracle these are the diuine motions this is the celestiall inspiration and this the infallible argument of the present assistance of Gods power He commeth in the kings campe no man letting him and at that troublesome time when Fryars onely were frée and had onely safe conduct to goe where they would themselues But why goe I about to spend my time in confuting Sixtus his lyes where so many blasphemies doe offer themselues before me All these are toyes of the common people Let euery mans vertue separate and distinguish him from the common sort but the Bishop of Rome let him be knowen by his notorious and extraordinarie villanies It is an old saying where lawfull things are onely permitted vnto gouernours there they command by intreatie a Priest doth not differ from a Lay-man but onely in libertie of offending It is sayth hee speaking of the murthering of the Prince a most famous and a memorable act and not atchieued without the particular prouidence and disposition of the Almightie pardon me Oeuerlasting holy and omnipotent God pardon me Opietie and naturall affection rehearsing wordes which are impious and full of blasphemie what Sixtus if thou hadst onely sayde that this befell by his permission vnto whom it is casie to hinder all thinges although it be true it were not godly and lesse godly for thée to affirme this that knowest not all thinges that are present and therefore the more that thou callest in witnesse and defence of thy villanyes him whom thou callest good and almightie Hei thou Doctor in Israell art thou ignorant of this that all good things are ascribed vnto God only and that all the rest is attributed vnto our selues Who can suffer then that vnto the same God who is good onely onely omnipotent the bloudie offence of an outcast from all man kinde is referred And yet thou doest estéeme it but small to saye that the King was slaine not onely by thy knowledge but by thy counsell not dissembling at it but commaunding it and hauing set a side all celestiall and infernall care that it hath béene thy will onely and procurement that at thy pleasure such a haynous and execrable murther was committed in France Doe the heauens heare this and suffer it for whom are the gulphes of the earth the vnluckie rockes and the fearefull whirlpooles and déepes of hell reserued Lightnings and thunderbolts should be wanting if no part of these villanies were left vnpunished Nowe long agone my eares are hardened and acquainted with these execrable wordes And what is all this which I haue sayde but vulgar and common nothing worthie of high Ioue his anger nothing notorious nothing pontificiall I would willingly follow childrens fashions when they are to drinke a medicine they inuent delayes they leaue nothing vndoone they turne the cup and oftentimes put it vnto their mouth to taste it then they shake their heads as if they were angry they aske for swéet things to ouercome or to mitigate the bitternesse of the potion But finally they being wearied with the continuall cryings of the standers by turning their head aside stopping their nostrels do not drinke the medicine but powre it in The like happeneth vnto me at this time I would if I might Sirtus passe by thy horrible blasphemies impious wordes wherewith thou hast polluted by an abhominable comparison of a most villainous offence the holy mysteries of our Sauiors birth and buriall I would to God that Christian eares had only hard it who are déeper grounded in religion better perswaded of faith who neuer would haue giuen credite to thy impious Dration if it were vnknowen to the Barbarians Heathen and Turkes who will hereafter make a mocke of the true Christian doctrine by thy authoritie Sixtus and example Art thou not ashamed that thou being the Pastor of the redéemed flocke by whose guiding it draweth the water of life out of the holy well whose wordes should haue sounded nothing but that which was sainct pure and godly that thou the liuely interpretor of the written lawe of God and the seuere punisher of blasphemies and of those that falsefie and corrupt the sense of the holy Scriptures and moreouer of those that abuse or vse too fréely wordes taken out of the booke of GOD I will not say hast deluded the Prophetes and Apostles hast called in doubt the trueth of the hystorie hast corrupted the holy Scriptures wrested and falsefied them by a false interpretation by godly examples hast coulloured impious offences and hast protected them by thine authoritie these are but small

thinges because they are vsuall vnto thée but to compare the eternall counsell of the redemption of mankinde which onely was committed vnto the seconde person of the Trinitie onely of him suscepted with the vngodly and detestable conspiracie of the murthering of a Prince And to equall the cafuall audacitie of an imaged and bloudie butther vnto the reuerende myracles of our Lordes natiuitie death and resurrection Anoyde impietie auoyde blasphemie infect not the holy Lambe with thy poysoned breath What hast thou left vntouched whome hast thou spared what hath not Mahomet nowe to obiect vnto vs what hath the Iewe any longer to holde his peace Loc yée Christians if the Sarrisins the Indians and the Barbarous people of Calico inueigh most bitterly against you they haue borrowed it of the Bishoppe of Rome Diddest thou lacke prophane examples Sixtus to compare them vnto thy villaynie that thou hadst a refuge vnto most holy and diuine comparisons I am glad sir Bishoppe that the world hath béene voide vntill thine age of such hainous and publicke murthers that both were reserued vnto thy time to wit hee that durst attempt such a detestable acte and he that was not ashamed to command it Come forth all yee whome the religious antiquity hath seperated from the worlde to bee adicted vnto celestiall meditations whome the sonne neuer saw but throwe some narrowe ristes bring shutt vp in high walles and iron doores Arise I say and come forth Sixtus calleth you vnto villennie to the murthering of Kings and princes now the gates are kept no longer by a seuere and frowning porter And those bars and doores that kept you from the frendly imbrasing of your fathers and the swéete kisses of your affectionated mothers are nowe fréely remoued and opened vnto you to shed by treacherye and treason the bloud of your parents and dearest frends I was determined Sixtus to leaue thy lies surmises and false accusations vntouched But I am prouoked to the contrarie through thy impudency which deserueth no smal indignation as those may easely iudge that are somewhat acquainted with our estat and affaires Dost thou say that Monkes and Friars were kild or at the least ill vsed in the Kings Camp I would to God it had beene so if it be lawful and godly to desire it But at the least I wish that all this idle and vnprofitable cattle should haue béene pounded and imprisoned then our Prince should liue yet worthy of a longer life and then as a fearfull hare thou durstest not tread vppon the body of the dead Lion and deride our griefe and mishappe As if all the world knew not that vnto these slaues he neuer was harde where as oftentimes he was vnto his most familiar friendes seuere Truely his vntimely facillity hath hurt him hauing had as yet no experience how much hipocrisie and deceite there lay hidden vnder a Friars hood As if thy selfe didst not know that hee alwayes had with him two Friers in his armie whose help he alwayes vsed in his diuine seruice Let me be vndon and cast away if I would not haue wisht a Friars wéede and forsaken my counsellers gowne if by that meanes I coulde haue perswaded him to the best Truly none were so mighty in the Realm whose welfare and cōmodity nay not his owne hée esteemed not lesse then these peoples delights and pleasures onely Thou hast no lucke Sixtus with thy lie it will not forge thou mightiest more easier haue made the worlde beleeue any thing els The enemy himselfe dare not say that Friars were ill vsed as long as he liued Here I woulde make an end if I were but certified of one pointe Resolue mee Sixtus of this I inquire no further causes of the murthered Prince it sufficeth mee to knowe that thou hast commaunded it thy will shall stande for a lawe But wherefore dost thou persecute his shadowe wherefore doest thou accuse him of obstinacy impenitency vnthankefulnesse and to haue sinned against the holy Ghost Why doest thou compare him with Cain and Iudas By what iustice or equitie canst thou doe this when hee lay vppon his death bedde did hee doubt of Christian faith Did hee deny the euerlasting Sonne of the eternall GOD Hath hee neglected the auncient customes of the Church and the most comfortable Sacramentes vnto those that he in their extremity Yet once againe herein thou art a notable lier Why dost thou force mee so oftentimes to repeate the remembraunce of my bitter griefes It is certaine that the godly Prince as soone as the Phisitions and Surgeons had bounde vp his wounde and had laide him vppon his bedde hauing a little slepte vppon his paine and griefe that hee pronounced with his owne mouth his Prayers and with a loude voice made confession of his faith and of the feeling which hee had of his redemption adding therevnto these wordes vnto GOD. If it bee to thy glory O GOD and the commoditie of my people graunte mee I most humbly desire first pardon for my sinnes and then some longer dayes of life But if it bee otherwise I thanke thee most highly O Father that thou doest barre mee hence forth from the thraldome of sinne whereby wee moste oftentimes procure thy wrath against vs. And therefore I am readie most willingly to come where thou callest me Hauing made an ende of his Prayers he sendeth for his brother the King of Nauarre and for the chiefest of his army and vnto his brother he commendeth the charge of the Realme and the gouernment of his subiects the Lawes of France importing as much and repeted oftentimes these words whereby he charged him to haue a speciall care to kéepe Christes flocks in vnity and concord and as he was heire vnto the crowne that he likewise would be heire to godly and ancient institutions Desiring this most earnestly at his hands with a solemne protestatiō shewing that this had bin his only desire from his childhood They al depart very sorrowful whervpō he confesseth his sins in the eare of a priest hauing craued pardon of God for his offences he had a sensible féeling that they were forgiuē him for Christs sake And nowe ready to communicate of his sacred body openly that al might hears it that grace which he had fréely receiued of God in the forgiuenes of his sins that same he frankly imparteth to al his enemies nay to them that had béene the conspirators of his death his murtherers And thus hauing receiued his last due farewell departed ioyful glad out of this worlde not without the great griefe of all the standers by bewraying the inward sorrowe with outward abundant teares Here Sixtus I sée no tokens of desperation no signes of impenitencie And I thinke not that thou art so farre voyde of al reason as to compare a most Christian prince vnto K. Saule But let him be cōpared yet to him so that he heare no bitterer words suffer greater torments Beholde with what words Gods indignation vpon this impious king is expressed The spirite of the Lorde is gone from Saule saith the prophet And in another place the Lord speaketh vnto Samuel saying How long wilt thou lament ouer Saul when I haue cast him off that he shall not raigne Doth he saie that he is miserable vnhappie worthy of eternal damnation God forbid When the scripture speaketh of his death marke the most christian wordes of Dauid directed vnto the vnluckie yongman who boasted but falsely that hee with his owne handes had slaine the Prince in the battell How wast thou not afraid to put forth thy hand to destroy the annointed of the Lord And in many other places who shall stretch forth his hands vpon the Lords annointed and shall be innocent Answere Sixtus is not thy oration crueller whereby thou commaundest wilfull and publike murther in praisnig it or say that this example is not to be folowed and to be abolished by thine authoritie Saule was slaine in the battell an Amalekite his enemy had doone it here is nothing that was forbidden by lawe yet the Lorde hath reuenged the death of his annointed Sée further what the holy Chronicles tell of Ioab and Ammon being murthered although vngodly kings authors of abhominations and hated of God Sée reade and peruse all the sacred and prophane histories and thou shalt finde that not onely the lawe of nature of men and aboue all Gods ordinances but also the seuere and horrible examples of the punishmēt therof debarre impious and bloodie handes from the annoynted bodies of kings and Princes Rome fertile alwayes in all villanie hath féene of twelue her Emperors eight murthered wyth the sword but none vnreuenged He Sixtus therefore that succéedeth shall be I hope the reuenger and that which thou hast now long agone knowne by other histories thou shalt come to learne it ere long by thine owne Auoyde therefore thou Bishop and be prowde with this answere Go vnto the Indians or in some other corner of the world a iust punishment is reserued for thée vnder some greater ennemy FINIS