church of Christ wil you deny me your help which yet againe and againe in the name of the eternal God I require for the precious deth passions sake of Iesus Christ I earnestly desire at your handes My Ll. and whosoeuer are parlament men as you would haue the Lord to entertaine your souls in the life to come as you would haue him shewe you any mercy as you loue her Maiesty and her life as you would haue the continuance of her peaceable raign over vs which the Lord vndoutedly threatneth to shorten because he woulde bring destruction vpon you and vs al for the contempt of his truth as you would not haue your names razed from vnder heauen as you would not haue the Lord to bring vpon vs and our land the Spanish Italian Romish or Guisian forces as you would not haue these who shal liue to see the desolation and desperat sorrow which the Lord is likely to bring vpon this land not abide to see you or your childrē ride or go in the strets as you would not haue the most contemtible to stretch forth his hand vpon the derest things you posses and offer violence vnto the frute of your bodies So entertaine this cause grant this suite and be careful of the Lords true seruice in wales Otherwise the vengeance of God I feare me will neuer leaue you and your posterities as long as there is a man of your houses left vnder heauen Ezekiel in deed is not nowe liuing to put you in mind of the necessity of redressing the things amis by laying open the corruptions of all estates vnder your gouernment as he doth cap. 22. of his prophesie His words I wil set downe that you may wey our estate with the time wherin the prophet liued and see whether the Lorde wil spare you vs if we stil prouoke him to smite There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the middest thereof saith the prophet like a roring lyon rauening the pray they haue deuoured soules they haue taken the riches and the precious thinges they haue made her many widdows in the middest thereof her priests haue broken my law and haue defiled my holy things they haue put no difference betweene the holy profane neither discerned between the vncleane and the cleane and haue hid their eies from my sabboth and I am profaned among them Her princes in the middest thereof are like wolues rauening the pray to shed blood and to destroy soules for their owne couetous lucre And her prophets haue daubed her with vntempered morter seeing vanities and deuininge lyes vnto them sayihg thus saith the Lord Iehouah when Iehouah had not spoken The people of the land haue violently oppressed by robbing and spoiling and haue vexed the poor and needy yea they haue opressed the stranger against right Thus far Ezechiel Be the sinns of our prophets of our princes and of our people the same that here he speketh against be they greater or be the lesse yet without controuersie if the Lord may say I haue sought for a man in the parliament of England that should make vp the hedge stand in the gapp before me for the land that I should not destroy it but I found none then woe be vnto vs for that shal follow which is set downe in the prophete Therefore haue I powred out mine indignation vppon them and consumed them with the fier of my wrath their own waies haue I rendered vpon their heads saith the Lord Iehouah And vnlesse there were just cause to thinke that this Lorde had either already or shortly ment to pronounce this sentence against vs we might cōtemne and scorn at the broken assalts of the Spaniards or any other the enemies of the Gospel and her Maiesties whosoeuer But as long as we giue not the right hand to the Lord by entering into his sanctuarye we haue just cause to feare a nation that is no nation much more a people in number as the sand which is by the seashore Our leagues and most stable couenants with the enemies the Lord will soone disanul standing thus at the staffes end with his Maiestie as we doe Let it not be sayd in this pIace that the Lord would not haue so wonderfully wrought our late deliueraunce out of the hand of the Spaniarde if he ment at al to haue called the land to reckoning for the great ignorance and wicked ecclesiasticall constitutions which are truly sayd to be maintained therein For this both Moses and Saloman Deut. 29.18.49.20 note to be the man of all those that shall not prolong their dayes Moses warneth al states in any case to take heed that there should not be among them man woman family nor tribe which should turne his hart away from the Lord God so that when he heareth the wordes of the curse he blesse him selfe in his hart saying I shall haue peace though I walked after the stubbornenes of mine owne hart thus adding drunkennes vnto thirst For saith he the Lord wil not be mercifull vnto that man but then the wrath of the Lorde shall smoke against that man and euery curse that is written in this booke shal light vpon him and the Lord shall put out his name from vnder heauen the Lord shal seperate him vnto euil according vnto all the curses that is writen in the booke of the lawe Eccles 8.11.13 And Soloman knowing the corruptions of men to be such as their harts are fully set in them to doe euil because sentence against their euil works is not spedely executed openly testifieth that although a sinner doe euill an hundreth times the Lord prolong his days yet it shal only be well with them that feare the Lord and do reuerence before him But it shall not be wel with the wicked saith he for he shal be like a shadow because he feareth not before God And therefore although at this time the Lords anger hath not visited nor caled the sinnes of our land to account with gret extremity by the hand of the Spanyard yet let vs be assured that it shall not goe wel with vs vnlesse you of the high court of parliament shew that you feare your God and doe reuerence before him in purging out of his holy seruice what soeuer is superfluous therein and in adding whatsoeuer is wanting therevnto The Lord by that deliuerance gaue vs warning that he passed by vs but so as vnlesse the corruptions of his seruice be clean don away with speed by her Maiesty and the parliament meaneth to passe by vs no more but to suffer his whol displeasure to fall vppon vs at his next comming And in deed as often as I consider our late defence from the Spanish invasion together with our deserts I am induced to think that the Lord then was affected towards vs as somtimes he was towards Israel his owne people concerning whom he speaketh Deut. 32.26 I haue sayd I would scatter them abrod I wold
this honourable â—ourt of Parliament you are not to learne that â—o defend by lawe or to countenance by authoriâ—ie the breach of gods ordinance is the defence of sin and that the defence of sinne is the hatred of God who rewardeth them to their faces that â—ate him Deut. 7.10 and therefore also you are â—ot to be taught what horrible sinnes you shall â—ommit Nomb. 26.9 if hereafter you stil maintaine such plain manifest impieties They are no trifles as you â—ee For I assure you that Dathan and Abiram â—he sonnes of Eliab men famous in the congregation had more colour of right to claime vnto themselues either the ciuill gouernement from Moses or the priesthood from Aharon Because they were the sonnes of Reuben the firste borne vnto whose lotte had he not defiled his fathers a Gen. 49.4 bedd by all likelihood either the scepter or the priesthood should haue fallen then these vsurpers haue to claim the places they are in wherevnto either by right of inheritance according to the flesh or ordinaunce from God they came by no title Here it must needes followe you of this honorable assemblie hauing regarde vnto the estate of your soules and bodies before the Lord and your good names amoÌ„g posterities that if these things set downe be true if not bring vppon me deserued shame and punishment you wil either labor to redres the miserable estate of distressed wales by erecting there a godly ministerie and abollishing all Cananitishe relikes or for the defence of a fewe vnconscionable and godlesse men aduenture to vndergoe the fierie and flaming execution of the burning decree of Gods wrath My Lords and you the rest of this assemblie be not deceiued the Lord of heauen is angrie with you and his whole hoast for the Babilonish garments of these Achanes Ioh. 7.9.21 Retayne them no longer if you would not fall before the enemie When the L. shall plead with you your wiues children family the whole land Ezek. 38.22 with pestilence or with blood as he is likely to do for these wedges of execrable golde it is not the pontificall Lordships of Bishops at whose commaundement the Lords sword wil returne again into his sheath when your gasping soules shal cry for mercy at the Lords hand it is not the proud and popelike Lordshipps of Bishopps their vsurped jurisdictions their profane excommunications their pitiles murthering of soules their railinge slaunders against Gods truth and his seruants their impious brething of the holy Ghost vpon their Idol priestes that wil driue the Lord to giue you any comfort Let me therfore thogh my persoÌ„ be base entreat you that the judgments of God against sin both in this life in that other of eternal wo misery may apeare so terible in your eies and of that vndouted consequence as you wil no longer retain vnder your gouernment these things whose continuance do giue the Lord just cause in this life to pronounce this sentence by the mouth of Ieremie against euerie on of you Iere. 22.29 that wil not promote this sute and execute the same O earth earth earth here the wordes of Iehouah write these men destitute of children men that shall not prosper in their dayes yea there shal not bee a man of their seed that shall prosper and bee a-parliament man or beare rule in England any more And in the life to come to say moreouer These mine enemies that would not haue me to beare rule Luk. 19.27 by mine owne lawes ouer them and their people bring hither slay before my face yea bind them hand and foote and throw them to vtter darknes there is weeping gnashing of teth And let me crauing vpon my knees with all submission and earnestnes and more earnest if it were possible to obtane that my countrymen by your meanes may haue the word preached euen the meanes whereby they may liue for euer with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of heauen Graunt them this my Lordes though I dye for it And this the Lord knoweth is the only scope of my writing and not the discrediting or galling of our Lorde Bb. Let not their places withstand the saluation of my brethren and the true seruice of God among them and if euer I either write or speake more against them any further then their places are like to be the ruine of hir Maiestie and the whole state let it cost me my life Here me in this sute good my Ll. The reward thereof your soules shall find otherwise I am likelie to become a wearisom and an importunate sutor vnto this high assemblye The cause is so juste that if it were as sometimes it was by the apostle him selfe decided in the Athenianes Areopago a court for heathen justice of famous and celebrated memory I doubt not but it should be hard And shal it not haue justice in the christian parliament of England Iustice my Lords I say for I seeke nothing else but that the statutes of the God of judgment and justice may be made known in my country wher now they are vnhard of Then the which I know not what can be more just neither can I see what justice in truth can be administred by them that neglect this cause Trulie for mine owne parte God aiding me I wil neuer leaue the suite though there shoulde bee a thousand parliaments in my dayes vntill I either obtaine it at your handes or bring the Lord in vengeance and bloud to plead against you for repelling his cause I hope it wil not be here said that the parliament can doe nothing in the matter because hytherto all Churche causes haue bin referred vnto the conuocation house the leaders thereof namelie to our Bishops And doe you meane it shal be so still Then shall you still maintain these horrible profanations of Gods sanctuarie whereof I haue spoken Then may it be said vnto your shame that Sion lying vppon the ground and mourning like a widdow stretched out her handes vnto the parliament of England but could find no comfort Then may you stil be said to betray Gods truth to betray the saluation of his people yea and to betray the liberties of this parliament For what assembly is there in the land that dare chaleng vnto it selfe the ordering of religion if the parliament may not When you say then that you may not deale in the matters of religion because the determinations of that cause is referred vnto the Bishops assembled in the conuocation house who in their Cannons are to prouide and see that the church be not in a decaied state do you not thereby thinke you rob your selues of your owne prerogatiue and liberties and take order that the church without controuersie may be starued and spoiled In deed if the conuocation house were such as it ought to be vz. a sinod of sincere and godly learned ministers wherein matters of relligion were determined of according to the worde and
and in vvhose eyes the glory of God is not esteemed and yet the Lord knovveth I hate them no farther then they are Gods enemies Their fauor I desire not as long as they continue to be the aduersaries of the Church If they vvould yeeld peace vnto it I vvould be soon brought to lay dovvn my complaints against thē Concerning you my deare countrimen vvhom God of his infinit goodnes and mercy hath translated out of the kingdome of darknes vnto the blessed possession of the heauenly Ierusalem I beseech you very earnestly that you vvould be carefull to walk vvorthy the Gospel of christ Be carefull hereof vvhether your abode be in England or in VVales and at any hand endeuor to liue vvhere you may enioy the meanes of the vvord And be carefull to haue the Lord purely vvorshipped in your families Take heed of the profanenes vvhereby the most novve liuing are dravvn to contemne Gods iudgements against their sinnes The time vvil come wherin it shal be made known that your hope vvas not in vaine Labor diligently as far as your callings vvill suffer you to be a means to conuay that treasure vnto your country vvhereof you your selues haue bin made partakers Particularly let me here put you in minde R. honourable and vvorshipfull vvho of my countrye are in this Parliament to acquaint this honorable court vvith the miseries of our country and to be earnest for a redresse And you my brethren vvho hauing fit gifts and are employed in the ministery either in your ovvn countrie or in England forget not I pray you to be remembrancers of Sion giue the Lord no rest vntill the righteousnes thereof breake foorth as the light and the saluation thereof as a burning lampe J vvould to God that I might ioyne vvith you and you vvith me in some endeuor vvhereby the means of saluation might be had in our natiue countrie it is my harty desire The God of peace who hath called vs to his eternall glory by Christ Iesus make vs perfect confirme strengthen and stablish vs to the ende Amen A viewe of some part of such publike wants disorders as are in the seruice of God within her Maiesties countrie of VVales togither vvith an humble PETITION vnto this high Court of Parliament for their speedy redresse Anno 1588. THe aeternall God before whom I nowe stand and shall stande in that day eyther to be acquited or condemned knoweth that the pitifull miserable estate of my pitifull and miserable countreimen the inhabitants of Wales doe inforce me in most dutifull and humble maner at this time both to lay open before your eyes whoe by the prouidence of God are now to be assembled togither in this highe court of parlament the wantes and deformities of the seruice of god in wales my deere natiue country and also to intreat with the like submission that the same by your wisdomes may be speedely redressed The Lords holy seruice amonge that people hath many corruptions and more wants Their case in regarde therof is very pitifull Few or none there be who are thorowly touched to haue compassion thereof The means of redresse is in the hands of this assembly who are met together to the end that al the subiects of this kingdome may with fredome and liberty acquaint them with their suits and Petitions for the promotinge of Gods glory and the good of their cuntry And therfore in that I make known vnto this high court the greefes of my country desire the redresse thereof therin I neither intreat any thing which lieth not in your power to grant nor craue that wherin the case being neglected by others I may not lawfully be a suter The reason that mooueth me thereunto is the discharge of my duty towards the Lord my God towards his Church towatdes my natiue country and towards you of this honorable assemblie which coulde not stand with my silence nowe in this suit Concerning the Lorde because I am a pore wretched sinner vpon whom he hath shewed great mercies in pardoning my great offences often committed against his maiestie I haue by his grace taken a bonde of my selfe to seeke the promoting of his honor by al means possible and in the seeking thereof to vtter the truth as far as my calling wil permit without respect of person time place estate or conditiō of life whatsoeuer and so to become an vtter enemie vnto all these corruptions by what authoritie or person soeuer they be maintained whereby his holy seruice is hindred And therfore you of this honorable assembly are not to maruel that I both seeke the ouerthrow of these corruptions in Wales whereof a non I wil speak more at larg wherby the Lords holy and sacred ministery is shamefully polluted and his seruice with the saluation of his people greatly withstood and also lay vppon you whose authority good name credit estimation and high place I ought and by the grace of god wil defend against al the detractors therof euē with the losse of my life when it shal be needful the staine and discredit of denying gods heauenly truth the passage joyned with the continuance of the lamentable miserie of soules and the defence of monstrous impietie euē in gods own house vnles you yeeld vnto the suit whervnto at this present you are entreated to be fauorable As for the Church of God into which I haue bin begotten thorowe the word preched by means of my abode in Englande in these peaceable dayes of her highnes I haue wholly dedicated my selfe to seeke the flowrishing estate thereof by labouring to beutifie the same both in the plucking vp by the rootes of these filthie Italian weedes wherwith it is nowe miserably deformed and planting therein whatsoeuer might be for the comlines of Gods orchard in respect of my poore countrey because it pleased the Lord of life that therin I first sawe the light of the sunne and haue been by my parents there liuing brought vp in both the vniuersities of this land to the end if euer the Lord enabled me I should procure the good of my natiue countrymen I haue vowed my selfe dutifully to benefite them al the waies I may And in doing them good I purpose not to respect mine own quietnes yea or life where my death can win them the gospel And wherein shal I stand my deare cuntrimen in any steed if not by speaking in their behalf then when their wantes are most pitiful they not able or not willing to make knowne their miserie if not in blessing their deaf ears in remouing the stumblinge blocke from before the eies of the blinde if not in labouringe to bring them to heauen who of their owne natures should liue eternally in a worse place to their woe Their misery at this day consisting partly in the great ignorance of God wherein they liue partly in those corruptions and vnlawful callings where by the Church generally within her maiesties dominions is pestered I am
the one to haue writen the verie same thing for the Aâ—ch that the other hath for the pope Into which booke he hath crammed as plaine poperie for the defence of our Bb. as euer Harding Saunders Turrian Bellarmine or any other the firebrands and ensigne bearers of Romish treason against her Maiesties crowne haue brought for the Popes supremacie And for as much as he in that booke hath both vndertaken the defence of those corruptions for the tollerating wherof the anger of God hangeth ouer the whole land and also shewed himselfe to be Ammonitish Tobiah against the buylding of Ierusalem in Wales by defending the very breaches ruins of the Babylonish ouerthrow which by the just judgements of God vnder poperie we sustained to be the perfectest building that Sion can be brought vnto and so by this slander withstandeth the saluation which I doubt not her Maiestie and the parliament wishe vnto my country I haue so framed the reasons following as they ouerthrow the very foundation and whole frame of that wicked book of al others writteÌ„ for the defence of our established Church gouernment Now that our dumbe ministers nonresidents L. bishops archdea c. are nothing els but an encrease of sinnefull men Num. 22.14 risen vp in steed of their fathers the idolatrous Monkes and Fryars stil to augment the fierce wrath of God against this land and our gouernors that this booke of D. Bridges and whatsoeuer els hath bin written for their defence are nothing els but edicts trayterous against God and slanderous to your sacred gouernment to defend the sale and exchange of Church goods the very destruction of souls to speak al in a word that both these corruptions their defences are coÌ„demned by the Lords own reuealed wil as things directly against the same and the lawes of her Maiestie expressed in his written word and therefore not to be tollerated by your authoritie vnlesse you thinke that you may tollerate sinne by your lawes nor yet once to be spoken for or countenaunced vnlesse you would plead for Baal I prooue by these reasons That forme of Church gouernement whiche maketh our Sauiour Christ inferior vnto Moses Iudg. 6.38 is an impious vngodly and vnlawfull gouerment flat contrarye to the worde Heb 3 6. Nom. 12.7 and therefore in no case to be tollerated by any lawes or authoritie and the booke or bookes defending the same are vngodly and impious bookes But our Churche gouernment in Wales by L. bishops archd dumb ministers and other ecclesiastical officers as for nonresidents let this one reason for all serue against them they as much as in them lieth bereaue the people ouer whome they thrust themselues of the onely ordinarie means of saluation which is the word preached is such gouerment as maketh the Lord of life Iesus Christ inferiour to Moses and this booke of D. Bridges with all other bookes of the like arguments doe the same Therfore this gouernment is a gouernment not to be tollerated by law in any state vnlesse men woulde feele Gods heauie judgementes for the same and therefore also it is a gouernment most pernicious and dangerous euen in pollicie vnto the ciuil gouernment where it is established and this booke or books defending the same are vngody wicked and pernicious bookes trayterous against the Maiestie of Iesus Christe crying for vnsufferable vengeance vpoÌ„ such as tolerate theÌ„ The proposition is not to be doubted off For is that Church gouernment or bookes to be tollerated which make Christ Iesus the sonne of the aeternall God yea God himselfe inferiour vnto Moses The assumption is thus prooued That gouernement and that booke or bookes whiche holdeth Iesus Christ God and man to haue prescribed no externall forme of the gouernment oâ— his Churche but such as at the pleasure of the magistrate when time and place requireth may be altered without sinne preferreth Moses before Iesus Christe This is manifest out of the expresse wordes of the text Heb. 3.2.6 Because the Lord Iesus being the sonne is in that place compared with Moses a faithfull seruant in deed and preferred before Moses in regard of the external gouernment which Moses had so faythfully prescribed vnder the law as it was not to be chaunged at the pleasure of any magistrate vntill a Dan. 9.27 the Messiah should cause the oblations to cease For what king was there euer in Iudah who without the breach of Gods law 1 Chron. 23.24 could alter the external regiment of the Iewish Church in the Leuitical priesthood and officers Dauid I grant ordained some things not mentioned in the bookes of Moses but that whiche he did proceeded from the spirit of God and he had the worde for his warrant The same is to be saide of whatsoeuer was done by any other of the godly kings in Iudah Nowe that the former comparison Heb. 3.2.6 betweene the sonne and the seruant Christe and Moses is concerning the externall regiment of the church and not the spiritual gouernment of the inner man as D. Bridges affirmeth pag. 51. lin 30. it is plaine Because Moses had nothing to do with the gouerning of the inner man and therefore it were no prerogatiue for the Lorde to be preferred in faithfulnes before Moses in that dispensation wherein Moses neuer dealt Hence theÌ„ I assume that our forme of Church gouernment in Wales and this wicked booke holdeth Iesus Christ to haue ordained such an externall forme of gouernment in his Churche at his departure from earth to heauen as at the pleasure of the magistrate might be altered without the breach of Gods institution which thing D. Bridges affirmeth pag. 55. And all our prelates grant that this high court of parliament may lawfully alter the forme of Church gouernement now established Therefore this gouernment and this booke preferreth Moses before Iesus Christ And I cannot see how far this differeth from blasphemie Now if Christ should be saide to ordaine no externall regiment at all then Moses is far before him and the thirst of superioritie in our prelates and their accomplisses is turned into extreame drunkennes of impietie by this assertion I beseech the Lord in mercy to open your eies that are of this assemblie that you may see how he and his people haue been dealt with by retaining such laws in force as justle ouerthrow the 〈◊〉 prerogatiue of his sonn And the Lord make you to see whether those men that defend the interest of the sonn of God in this point against the tiranicall vsurpation of Bb. and haue brought for his title vnanswerable euideÌ„ce out of the sacred records of Gods owne writings offending eyther in matter or circumstance in no one thing but that they haue not dealt more earnestlie with your Hh. and more roundly with the aduersaries in the right of their master haue deserued to be imprisoned thruste out of their liuinges reuiled railed vpon by vngodly and wicked prelats vnto the state as
not onely monstrously maymed the outward face of the church in the matter of gouernement and ceremonies but also grieuously wounded the same in the matters of doctrine and sacramentes vnto the mayntenance of all which corruptions in the gouernment of the Churche in the ceremonies in the doctrin sacraments they haue joyned the crimes of seducing and deceiuing the ciuill state and people by bearing all estates in hand that al hath bene and is well in the Church and in like manner as much as in them lay they haue vexed and persecuted as many of the deare seruants of God as haue but entended to motion the redresse of any of the former corruptions Hereof if I shall not be able to prooue the eyes and leaders of this synagogue consequently the whol house to bee guiltie let mee to the terror of all slaunderers be put to all the torments that may bee invented The Conuocation house cannot here object that I deal injuriously with the whol assembly by laying vnto the charge of the whol those crimes whereof our Bb. alone are guiltie For the whole house neuer as yet disauowed the hierarchie of Bb. their practises in vrging subscription in maintayning the dumbe ministerie nonresidencie c. And vntill the corruptions of the Bb. be ouerthrown in that assembly the whol house shall be still justly subject vnto the former accusations See now my Lords whether they doe not bewray their impietie who think that men weary them selues about small matters when they call for a reformation of the church And see whether there be not many and vrgent causes to inforce the parliament to take the gouernment of the Church out of the hands of these men vnlesse the continuance of the ruinous breaches of our Church would be stil maintined it is not the matter of capp surplice tippet and other beggerlie and popish ceremonies whence al the dissention and dissagreement in our church is sprong vp But the controuersies arise because our Archbb. and Bb. are not permitted with the silence and consent of the seruants of God to smother persecute depraue corrupt the truth of that true religion which in name they professe to vndermine and captiuate the church of God in this land Those who withstand their vngodly procedings haue hitherto dutifully kept them selues within the bonds of the calings wherin the Lord hath placed them they haue in al submission and duty entreated that the cause of God might be equally hard and that her Maiestie and the parlament would amend the things proued to be amis they haue neuer as yet presumed theÌ„selues to take in hand the correction of any thing But how quietly on the other side haue the leaders of the conuocatioÌ„ house behaued them selues wheÌ„ a redres hath bin caled for at the hands of the ciuil state Surely they haue alwais hitherto preseÌ„tly betakeÌ„ theÌ„selues to imprisonments and bonds and would neuer suffer the truth to haue the hering nor any man with quietnes to stand in the defence therof And therefore also al the tumults that hereafer are like to arise in the Church of God within this land about these controuersies the leders of the conuocation house are the causes thereof for they wil not yeeld vnto the truth but labour by all meanes possible to smother the same Gods seruants cannot winke at their procedings vnlesse they would betray Gods truth and the libertie of his church The least parte of the sinnes of our Bb. hath bin in the maintenance of vnprofitable supersticious and corrupt ceremonies If they would but yeeld free passage vnto the truth and hir authority vnto the church in other matters they should not be gretly molested for these things And woe be vnto them if they had rather prouoke god and his church to battel against them for the defence of the truth then receiue the light grant peace vnto the church Concerning her Maiestie who as it is thought can neuer be induced to aulter the established gouernment I answere that if it be made known vnto her and proued out of the word that the established regiment of the church is traiterous against the Maiestie of Iesus Christ that it confirmeth the popes supremacie O therfore it is dangerous vnto her crown that it is besides the commission giuen by our Sauiour Christ vnto his apostles and therefore accursed that it sheweth them to be void of all care of reâ—igion who wittingly countenance the same and that it calleth for the judgments of God against her and her kingdom and then if shee yeeld not vnto the razing of all sinful callings out of the church I will not desire to liue if this be thought a matter worthy of death for a man to be dutyfully perswaded of his soueraigne Be it that her Maiestie hath bin moued by some of this house for the redresse of the church you should moue her againe and againe and neuer leaue vntil you be heard Great matters are neuer brought to passe without great and mighty endeuours Our sinnes haue otherwise deserued then that the Lord should at the first encline mercy vnto vs in the sight of her highnes Would any of you alter any part of the gouernment of his family being perswaded by leud flatterers that all were well vnlesse the abuse were shewed and you earnestly dealt with for a reformation And can you then maruel that our soueraigne is hardly drawne to reforme the church whose estate in her hearing is daily said out of the pulpit to be most florishing wheras the deformity therof is not made knowne vnto her I know it is no smal perswasion that should driue a monarch to abrogat the receued constitutions and establish new vnles the vnanswerable necessiry thereof were made knowne vnto her or him I am perswaded that her Maiestie knoweth not the exacting necessitie that lieth vppon her sholders of reforming the church Shee knoweth not the estate of her vntaught and damned subiects to be as it is Wherefore serue parliament men if her eies must be in al places to see euery thing and what doe you see if you do not see our miserie and lament it I grant indeed that of this point she ought to be most careful but if of oversight the waightiest matters be omitted shoulde not you put her in mind hereof And in submission entreat her and neuer leaue entreating vntill shee yeeld to turne away the wrath of God from her and her kingdome by abollishing vngodly ordinances and restoring beauty vnto Zion Well I haue forged the most notable slanders that euer were coined or els the state of my cuntrey vnder her Maiesties gouernment is very miserable yours no lesse lamentable if it so continue And if you make not the same knowne vnto her Maiestie and see it be speedely amended the Lord make Quene Elizabeth and her crown free from the bloude of her destroyed people And I pray God if it be his will that their soules be not required at your