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A20216 An answeare to the supplication Against him, who seeming to giue the King counsel to become a Catholike, indeuoureth to stirre vp his good subiectes vnto rebellion. Faithfully translated out of French by E.A. Aggas, Edward. 1591 (1591) STC 664; ESTC S115374 30,730 40

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is very difficult yea euen vnpossible but in succession of time there will bee mixed among the ceremonies I wot not what of man and so consequently euill customes I speake not therefore of abuses one of the quarrels of our new commers but I speake of the impiety that harboured in our Church so soone as the name of League was brought in I will not tel you that abandoning the gospell she would needes preuaile by armes which I may well say by the way is an heresy Our Lorde Iesus Christ after whose patterne we are to frame all our actions his Apostles and Disciples and after them the martyres did neuer establish our Church by this meanes They planted our religion by preching and exhortations and with their blood sealed the christian faith in the magistrats hands out of the fountaine whereof sprang a sea of true Christians which ouerflowed the whole earth Afterward when wée taking our selues to be more wise would néeds extend our religion by armes in our voyages ouer the sea we thereby reaped no other fruit but that the East in the end was made the toombe both of vs and our religion This article doe I purposely passe ouer as being a fault which at this day is accounted no fault Let vs come to that which within these two yeares only hath passed before our faces Shal I not call this impiety that a college of Sorbonne abusing the name of the holy-ghost shall aduise the simple people to arme themselues against their king shall I not call it impiety that neuer expecting the popes decrée whereto these our Maisters referred themselues the nexte day after such aduise they proclaymed warres all ouer shall I not call it impiety that wretchedlie murdered their king and hauing no other ministers of their slaughter but monkes shall I not call it impiety that they haue canonized the wretched Iacobin shall I not call it impiety pardon me O good God though I presume to smite euen at the head that in the great consistory of Rome Pope Sirtus compared that wretches entry into the kings cabine to the comming of the Angell Gabriel when he announced to the virgine the future mystery of the natiuitie of our Lord Iesus Christ I wil not affirme that he so did but sure I am that such his Oration was printed in Paris flyeth all ouer France importing more erroneous propositions then this Our king is wise and hath seene all these thinges for whie should not he haue séene them sith the Leaguers haue ambitiously sought to make them their trophée After al this hath he not reason to desire to be instructed in our religion before he come into our Church I thinke him the honester man for desiring it and if he shall doe otherwise I woulde say hée hath no soule Where I set downe that he ought to be instructed yet is not that enough for withall we are to addresse our prayers and supplications to God not to the king When I desire to obtaine some gift of the king I deliuer him my petition but in this case it dependeth vpon Gods grace not vppon his Him therefore we must beséech to touch our kings heart Among so many thousand persons as be in Fraunce we néede not past a dozen good deuout soules to obtaine our desires S. Aug. in his youth was greately infected with heresie S. Cyprian before he became a Christian doated greately in the loue of a discréete christian lady yea he so doated that to the end to seduce her he learned tha Arte Magicke S. Monique S. Augustins mother neuer intreated her sonne to giue ouer his heresie for it had bin lost labour because the same is a leprosie of the soule which is not healed by mans hand But she directed her prayers to God as did also the other lady for S. Cyprian Their prayers were heard with such aduantage that afterwardes these two persons grewe to be two of the greatest doctors of our Church Let vs vse the like and I doubt not but the K. wil be on our side considering how wel he is borne He commendeth himselfe to the prayers of our church as taking the prayers as I suppose of all good men of either religion to be of great force with God as already he hath in part felt the effects For the same day that he obtained the two great victories in two seuerall partes of France the one at Yurie the other in Auuergne there was a generall procession in Toures wherein all the inhabitants were present euen the litle children who in their virgin-like deuotion cried God saue the king round about the towne And while we were yet in our prayers the king grewe to handie strokes and his miraculous victory wherein he was chieflie assisted by the catholike nobility continued so long as the procession lasted Our prayers were the prayers of Moses when the children of Israel fought and his victory was the victorie of Aaron Thinke you he marked not this chace Peraduenture in heart he is the same that we desire The most catholike king that euer we had in France and not onely a founder of an infinit number of Churches and Hospitals but also a wonderfull reformer of the abuses in those dayes in our religion was S. Lewis Thinke not then that after so many reuolutions of yeares God hath reserued the crowne of France to this great and noble race of Burbon the last sprig of this holy stocke but onely to the ende to renew the same piety wherewith that great king was possessed It is therefore requisite that toward this worke we not only addresse our prayers to heauen but also that withal we bring repentance Why shal we be so vnwise as to imagine that God is not displeased with our Church for so many the impieties by me afore rehearsed whereof the priestes and monkes haue béene the chiefe Ministers And who knoweth whether in reuenge of the same he hath sent vs a king of a contrary religion to ours Were it not a iust iustice of God and such a one as a certaine French spirite durst promise to himselfe in this Lattin Epigramme Henricus monachi manu periuit Qui consortia cellulasue fratrum Totus ex animo suo petebat Et quem vel monachum putes fuisse O caedem miseram impiam nefandam Regno nunc lacero potitur alter Henricus monachis acerbus olim Rex purus sceleris boniue custos Infandae necis acer vltor idem Quid mors haec tibi parturit requiris Excors Gallia pacis omnis expers Te nisi immeritam Deus iuuabit Poenas perfidiae lues cruentae Occîdit monachus pium monarcham Occîdet monachos pius monarcha Who euer made this hold epigram spake not as one that knew that the K. was willing to entertaine all monasteries religious houses in their ancient fréedomes and liberties as he hath plainely shewed in all the places where he hath passed but as he that feared least a greater King then
amongst them and to the same end also was the lord of Luxembourg chosen to go to the Pope to giue him to vnderstand of al that was passed which he acknowledged to be iust holy and most lawfull I doe not here tell you of those house-doues and dormice who in their houses doe watch on which side the storme may light to the ende to apply themselues to the other for these men I account as cyphres so that if you haue no other then those you might much better for your honours sake haue suppressed your request Well on to you do I now denounce warre euen as you haue done to the king for I am of the number of those Catholikes whome you speake of in the beginning of your petition who imitating the ancient christians do continue in his obedience If you be as you say so catholike so good a subiect vnto the king such a louer of publike peace for I must yet returne to our first point sith you will reade a lesson to our maister of that which you thinke to appertayne to his duetie ought you not also to haue done the like to the people of that that belonged to them It is a matter that you forgot not for lacke of notice for it is one of the first dishes where with you haue serued our king when you tolde him that his good subiects did imitate the ancient Christians yet stayed you so sodainely that your word dyed so soone as it was borne and such a word as being wel disgested in good mens consciences would procure a generall peace throughout the realme Let vs therefore beginne here by our selues let vs reade to our selues a lecture of our dueties to our king so being growen wise in our owne dueties we may the better indeuor by supplications aduice or other faire spéeches to teach him that which we thinke méete for him to do First I am of opinion that euery good citizen shoulde wish there were but one religion in ouery well ordered common wealth and euery good Christian that there were no exercise of any other theuthecathol apost religion That is the same wherein we haue béene of all antiquity brought vp in France the same wherein we were baptised the same wherin we should liue and die as being the spring and assurance of our saluation vnder the banner of our sauior Iesus Christ God hath giuen vs a king of an other religion then ours yet a vertuous valeant noble wise and iust prince such a one as accompanyeth all his actions with the feare of God Where the Wise man sayth that the feare of the Lorde is the beginning of wisedome I suppose he meant that the feare of God is the ground of all religion Neuerthelesse if he were other if a Nabuchod●nozer who was the greatest scourge vnto the house of God ye● were it our partes to doe for him the same that the Prophet Baruch exhorted the children of Israell to do for the said Nabuchodonozer that is to loue honour and obey him and to remember him in our prayers and whie Because God hath giuen him vs and will haue vs to haue such a one whether to be reuenged of vs for our sinnes or to proue the stedfastnesse of our faith or vpon any other reason which he will not any should know but himselfe When our Lord said Giue vnto Caesar that belongeth vnto Caesar c. Peter in one of his Epistles c. Paule to the Romans and to Titus commaunded the christians to pray to God for the earthly powers and to obey them they knewe that all the kings monarches and princes of those dayes were heathen as were all the other the emperours from Augustus to Constantine the great yea Constance the sonne of Constantine albeit a christian was infected with the heresie of Arriux and Iulian his successor from christianitie returned vnto his Idolatrie all which notwithstanding we stil obeyed them For the proposition of our Christianitie imported that wée ought rather to obey the vice-emperour then the inferiour iudge the emperour then the vice-emperour and God then the emperour because vpon the one depended onely the losse of goodes and life things perishable and transitorie on the other eternall damnation of our soules to be briefe that the good christian should make a buckler of his life against such assaults as might be deliuered him by the emperour when he contrarieth the honour of God but that in all other things we owe him our obedience This was the trophée erected by our fathers Reade S. Cyprian S. Hierom S. Augustine and especially Tertullian the ancientest of them all where he writeth to Scapula the gouernour of Affrike We said he do in all and through all obey the emperour we acknowledge him to be our soueraigne Lorde we willingly pay him tributes aides and subsidies One onely thing we desire to obtaine of him that is that he will permit vs to line in peace of conscience The like saith he in his Apologie and aboue all things in this generall obedience he will not that the christian stray one tittle from the common course of his religion but that rather he should abide all kind of forments and this is it that he doth at large discourse vpon in his treatie of the crowne of a souldier And to the ende you should not thinke that they liued so because force so commaunded you shal find that T. of Aquine one of our chiefe schoole diuines discoursing vpon this article is of opinion that of whatsoeuer religion the prince be yet the subiect ought to obey him also that there is one only cause that may dispense with the othe of sidelitie vz. when from christianity the prince declineth to paganisme wherein likewise he is gainesaide by antiquity for it is certaine that the christians neuer doubted to obey Iulian the Apostata Yea that great Saint Martin the holy buckler of our Fraunce was vnder his pay fiue whole yeares while he was a Catechist that is during the time of his probation wherein such as were disposed to make profession of our religion were strictest in their actions This is in my opinion the lesson you shoulde haue taught the French nation and which now I do deliuer in manner of a supply to the second line of your Supplication for being so carefull for the saluation of the kings soule you should not haue neglected the rest of France A lesson as catholike and holy as the heresie is detestable that hath course among the Leaguers vz. to vpholde that because our kings religion is contrary to ours we lawfully may not onely deny him our obedience but also leauy warre against him For were their opinion true wée must condemne the whole doctrine of the primitiue Church we must condemne S. Peter and S. Paule yea we must condemne the great patron and foundation of our religion Iesus Christ yet it is such an heresie as slideth into the harts of those that are taken to be the honestest men for
take breath Then is the king slaine by a Monke which was one chéese péece of seruice of the holy vnion the preachers in their pulpits exclaimed that that Prince was of no religion Oh very God if they thought him such a one this I speake by the way why did they choose a monke to execute so wretched a purpose vnles they were assured that vnder that habit the murderer might without difficulty haue accesse to this poore princes closot They then imagined that by this vnexpected death all the affaires of the realme woulde chaunge countenance also that the king of Na. vpon hatred to his religion should be abandoned of al men howbeit against this cursed counsell GOD otherwise prouided for the valiant bloud of the French Nobility did wholly vowe it selfe to our natural and lawfull king And as by the death of the D. of Guise al the leaguers gaue ouer their quarell against these of the new religion to set themselues against their king so vppon this second murder executed on the person of our late king all the French Nobilitie forgetting their mallice against the same religion aymed onely at reuenge of this death against the Leaguers hauing neuerthelesse first sworne the king to enter into our religion if once he were well instructed therein Thus our king by two deaths whereto he neuer consented the one of his mortall enemy the other of his greatest friend attained the Crowne and at a time appoynted came before the head city of France which had professed greatest hatred against him enuironed with all the Princes of the bloud officers of the crowne and as braue an army as hath of late béene séene in France Whom is he now to thanke for so many blessings First God onely next his enemies whom God made the principall instruments for al that is aforesaid as being more beholding to them then euer he was to all his seruants and friends for had they without wakening his weapons by anticipation of time suffered him to haue liued close and quiet as he did in an out-corner of France at the length both his minde and weapons had béene ouergrowen with rust but they forced him to stand vppon his defence wherby at one instant of an apprentise they made him a persite maister He who otherwise had beene vndone had not his enemies sought his vndoing for as well his religion as the small knowledge that we had had of his maners woulde not easily haue suffered vs to fauour him after the late kings decease But he hath this gift that so soone as we do but smel him he maketh euery one to loue honour and regarde him yea euen his very enemies Moreouer where could he haue found the passages ouer the riuers open to haue come to Paris Where should he haue found such an army To be short he is indebted both of his crowne and forces to those who by all worldly pollicies sought to bring him into misery Yea he is so indebted albeit he brought no more with him but a stedfast hope that he hath in his great God I doe here omit his victory at Diepe his entry into the suburbs of Paris which doth counteruaile the best Towne in Fraunce where God to the ende euen to leade him by the hand dispersed a thicke mist to blinde the Paristans eyes I will also leaue his Conquestes which after this he obtained in the middest of winter in the Countries of Vendosme Mayenne and almost all Normandie his two victories that he had in one day at Yurie and in Auuergne the shamefull retraict of the D. of Parma his glorious recouery of Corbeil with the turning of a hand where this great beater downe of walles had soiourned fiue weekes with eighteene canons before he could take it and finally that which of late memorie chanced miraculously in the towne of S. Denis for I haue not vndertaken this to trace you an history To what then is al this for now it is time for me to end this argument Peraduenture to turne the king from abandoning his religion wherein he hath receiued so many fauours at Gods hand I would not wish you so thinke for I haue done it onely to shew to al Macheuelists that God rather assisteth princes of whatsoeuer christian profession when in al their aduersities they call vpon him with their whole heartes and repose their whole confidence in him then such as saining themselues to be Catholikes haue no religion in their soules and do referre their stay to the pollicie that they gather out of the visard of religion Let vs therefore blot out of our papers that that you seek to teach the king that is that so long as he was simply king of Nauarre he might vse the new religion but being king of France he must play an other part as if his soule that was then king of Nauarre were other then his that is nowe king of France Let vs not therefore desire him to become a Catholike by groping and march onely in darkenesse Now do I come to my catholike in religion such a one as I wish our king to be Now that he may so be I thinke there be three things requisit first to make him capable next to poure forth our praiers to GOD for that end and lastly that we be penitent To make him capable he must of necessity be instructed I say instructed not by Ministers as you do falsely presuppose he will but by a generall or nationall counsell I tell you againe he must for so haue we agreed in the middest of his army and we may not shrincke from our consent sith it is euident that the fault is not in him that he performeth not his promise Are you eyther wiser or honester then all these great princes and lordes that were of that opinion that now you should propound an other Yea admit we had not consented yet were it his part to feele him selfe and not finding himselfe strong enough to embrace it without being taught our petition were wretched and wicked if we should intreat him to the conerary Yet thinke not that I would wish this instruction to consist onely in words our Bishops Abbots and other prelates of the church must bring example Our L. Iesus Christ to winne the Iewes hearts began first by well doing and afterward he taught The first point requisite in an aduocate to perswade his Iudges is honesty the rest of his arte is but eloquence and the more he vse it the more wary the iudge is specially if he mistrust the speaker Therefore to perswade our K. let vs ioine the word and the effect Why I pray you haue we not prepared him matter sufficient to desire to be instructed There was neuer church with great griefe I must say it more rent then ours I will not speake of the abuses A matter that almost no religion can dispense withall the reason because no religion can be exercised without outward ceremonies to make the peoples hearts intentiue And it
your selfe do seeme to be somewhat spotted there with sith of set purpose you omitted this principall peece which would greatly haue enriched your worke How then Will I disswade the king from becomming a Catholike because I teach his subiects to obey him God forbid The tipe of all my desires tend to sée him vnited in the same religion with vs but to tel you true I could wish that neither you nor I had vndertaken the vnweauing of this webbe It is very daungerous to become an arbitrator in the causes and opinions of a mighty king especially in an argument of so great consequence as this withall considering the diuersity of humours amongst vs at this day Stand you vpon this that the king ought to become a catholike In hast post hast as you do vnles he follow your counsell sundry tickelish soules will strait imagine that it procéedeth of want of deuotion and mindeth to féede his faythfull subiects with delaies in respect of his promise at his comming to the crowne and so shall you perhaps be the cause of a new commotion against him But let me vpholde the contrary and I shall prouide some conceit for diuers slippery mindes that by his consent I am vnder hand taught by those of his religion to play this part which will be a newe preparation to mistrust a matter no lesse dangerous then the other and wythall it will be thought that in heart I professe an other religion then the same that outwardly I exercise Neyther you nor I are Lisippus or Apelles that we should represent Alexander in imagery or picture I meane we are not sufficient to discourse vpon this high point that aimeth both at religion and the state neuerthelesse sith you abusing the liberty of the tyme wherein euery one thinketh it lawfull to doe what he list séeming to bring a medcine for the state do bring poyson I beléeue the better sort will not mislike that I also do take leaue to bring in a counterpoyson I will tell you then that I am of opinion that the K. become a catholike and that as soone as it may please God to giue him grace for it is a blessing that procéedeth from God not from vs but that he should so become vpon the mould that you prescribe him I do not thinke that any good seruant to God or the king can so thinke good I pray thée Reader haue patience to the end and be not dated at this first step Our religion is the holiest c. I will beginne wyth this word Holie which is the first point of your reason for as for the rest which concerneth the reputation profit and necessity thereof al your subtilties are vaine in the sight of God which notwithstanding I will discourse vpon in their places as I thinke méete Our king must become a catholike because our religion is the best I tell you againe he must but not a state Catholike such a one as you would frame him that is to say a Prince that shall abandon his religion that shall hencefoorth goe to masse that vpon the solemne festiualles shall communicate wyth vs in the holy sacrament so to content his people wyth faire shews but in heart shall scorne all our ceremonies for so shall you forme vs a king without religion who before in the profession of his own reposed his whole confidence in God For why shoulde not I imagine that you woulde make hym such a one euen you who tearme his zeale and deuotion in this behalfe when he offereth to submit himselfe to the ordinances and decrées of a good counsell which hymselfe wil procure sometimes ceremoniall sometimes courtizanicall In the religion that he professeth he doth with his whole heart confes one God and abhorreth by gestures only to acknowledge him Vpon a request exhibited by his princes and great lords that he would vouchsafe to become a Catholike hée besought them not to wish in him a rash alteration of his religion but rather that wyth rype deliberation he might be by our men instructed not in grosse as you wish but particularly and by péece-meale A matter that he desired not vppon courtezany or ceremony but for that he coulde not so easely as you iest wyth his conscience for if néede be vpon his conuersion he will do open penance for his error This manner of dealing do you mislike and would haue him at vnawares and blinfolde take our part and this do you terme a miracle But for my part my spirite is ouer dull to disgest this great metamorphosis of the conscience Yet knowe I that God wrought a greater miracle in the conuersion of S. Paul but in our church there neuer was but one S. Paul whom God had especially chosen to be his trumpet to all the nations of the Gentiles Thus may we sée how euery man misconstrueth the Scriptures and for the most parte applyeth them to couer his owne impietie To this purpose I remember that in the time of S. Cyprian sundry ecclesiasticall persons admitted to lodge wyth them some of their kindred to guyde and as they sayde to ouersée their housesholde affayres But this great and holy parson misliking this vse as knowing the inconuenience that in processe of tyme might growe thereof they for their defences alleadged the example of the Virgins Mary and S. Iohn who dwelt together after the death and passion of our sauior Iesus Christ Oh wretches cryed this holy man dare you gather any consequence of the particular blessing of these two excellent soules therewyth for to couer your impudicities There is no example to be taken of those examples Bring in the mystery of the conuersion of Saint Paule to strengthen your aduice and al Macheuellian princes shall hereafter become S. Paules But the people say you are troubled with a sicknes of mind they feare least the king continuing in this state wherein he now is should suppresse the Catholike religion and therefore there is no other remedy for that disease but that he become a Catholike First who is the people that you speake of Haue you searched into the hearts of all the kings good and loyall subiects You will grant mée as I suppose that all these Princes and great Lordes that haue subscribed the aforementioned declaratiō that he made are none of them as also that they are not those who since wythout subscribing haue come to yéelde hym their due seruice neyther such as accompanyed them Procéede throughout the rest of the people which are many and howe knowe you that they are troubled with this disease of the mynd that you should so boldly assure our king thereof If you should be disaduowed what would you say And séeke you any greater disaduow them thrée answers written against you The quiddities of your Supplication might peraduenture bréede this mischiefe in some weake mindes but not in any such as haue any more certayne information of the affaires both of God and the worlde and wythall thinke that for
euery one that is of your mind there be an hundred of a contrary opinion And to tell you the trueth you flatter your selfe and do measure others by the mete wand of your opinions yet God grant I do say truth and that it be your opinion and not rather a slie subtilty to wythdrawe the good and loyall Catholikes from their vowed obedience to the king Moreouer you go about to daunt the king wyth an imaginary feare of the people whereas he in his soule is sufficiently terrefied wyth the feare of God He feareth and in good reason least if hée should mocke his Maister as you wish him to do his Master would afterward mocke him he who otherwhiles hath receyued such fauour and graces of God that all the harmes of others haue turned to his profite You may make of your conscience a cameleon that turneth into as many colours as it seeth obiectes But the kings conscience is not made after any such fashion he thinketh that man to haue no soule that can so easily play wyth his soule that he is vtterly voide of religion that can frame his religion according to the diuersity of raignes to be briefe that he is the same Ecebolius mentioned in the Ecclesiasticall history But you haue none say you but the nobilitie to take your parte your enemy hath the Communaltie and yee knowe that one Iulius Caesar with the assistance of the Communaltie defeated Pompey and all the Nobilitie of Rome Oh stay man you iudge boldely of our estate and do not consider that the policie of our France heretofore called Gall doth farre differ from that of the Romanes For euermore euen in the dayes of your Caesar and that by his owne testimony the force of this nation depended vppon the Nobilitie A custome which by succession of time and age is conuerted into nature so that at this day the Duke of Mayenne wyth all his rebellious townes and popular power doth but warde our blows and is driuen to the end to raigne in France to become the Spaniards slaue yet do I make no accompt of this worldly pollicy Our king buildeth not his hope vpon eyther the Nobility or the communalty but vpon God only he is his buckler his fortresse and his vpholder yea he is all in all vnto him and hée beléeueth that wythout him all the forces of the worlde are but winde But let vs graunt all the fashions possible to the argument that we entreate of for to say trueth it is the highest point and must not be weakely handled As the Diuell the father of dissention hath within these thirty yeares party-coloured vs with religions vnder these two words Catholike and Huguenot so are we our selues also as well in the one as in the other parti-alized For some take part for the states sake others for religion onely I will therefore stand vppon the tearmes of Catholike which we will here forme vs and will say that we haue two kindes of Catholikes the one catholikes of estate the other catholikes in religion The first are worldly catholikes and so consequently the diuels Catholikes The second are the true catholikes in our church and so consequently the children of God If we consider the first sort you are not in my iudgement of sufficient practise in the estate to shape vs a Catholike prince by your patterne If the second then albeit you haue learning yet haue you not catholike religion enough in your head to make a prince catholike by religion Now let vs speake of the estate catholike as of him who peraduenture as at this day beareth greatest sway throughout all christendome I meane of him that hath no consideration of the saluation of his soule in the sight of God but of the aduancement of himselfe or his state wherein I beséech those that shal spend some houre in the reading of this my discourse to thinke that I do not in any wise alow of such catholike policies but doe vtterly condemne abhorre and detest them as abhominable in the sight of God Howbeit in as much as now we are to giue the people to vnderstand that there was neuer counsaile more pernitious then that which the Supplication importeth also that it is a marchandise fetcht out of the leaguers backe shop who vnder a false shew of séeking to husband the peace of the realme doe practise a new disunion between the king and his good subiects I beséech you giue me leaue to strike vpon this tenour which hath recourse vnto the state and afterward I will touch the base that hath relation to the catholike church when I come to speake of the catholike in religion I vpholde that if the king become a catholike wythout that which you terme ceremony or courtezany and I call most holy wel ordered deuotion he looseth his reputation among all men and wythall aduentureth the losse both of himselfe and his realme There is nothing of like importance to the mighty as honor That is it that may most perswade them Our king hath from his infancy bin brought vp in the doctrine that he yet followeth he hath as a man should say euen sucked in with his nurses milke his religion together wyth the expresse commandement that his mother the Q. of Nauarre at her decease gaue and lefte vnto him as it were a testamentarie legacie namely that he should perseuere therein vnto the death He hath since defended it against all worldly indeuors with the price of his bloud and life and hath had good successe He that being simply king of Nauarre with a handfull of men hath vpon this opinion braued his ennemy that was armed with the pretence of the holy sea of Rome with the authority of the late king and of the king of Spaine shall now being king of France and assisted wyth so many princes dukes péeres marquesses earles and barons stoope for a weake stripe with a réede to him that doth but warde his blowes This was not the opinion of Pope Sixtus last deceased as may witnes some honorable personages whom he charged to tell the king that as well in respect of his conscience toward God as of his reputation among men it stoode him vpon to take great héede of altering his religion vnlesse with such order as he had taken with his Nobilitie I do expresly alleadge vnto you the authoritie of this great person as well in respect of his degrée of dignity oner vs as for the wisedome that his age and long experience had purchased We other men are but ceremonies Banish the ceremonies of our vows in matters of greatest cōscience as religion and ye shall ere ye be aware banish a great part of all religions There is nothing that a great king ought so much to feare as to incurre an opinion of lightnesse and inconstancie The which to eschue he must vse all possible means in any alteration that he purposeth in matters of cōsequence If when there ariseth any question or argument about the giuing of
our deuotions the offences of the Ministers of our Church haue attayned their last period let vs therefore earnestly and in equall ballance purge them Let vs wrap our heads in sackeloth our bodies in haire and our heartes in contrition and with teares crie vnto God that he will vouchsafe to forget all the offences that I doe abhorre to remember let that great K. and prophet Dauid be our guide whome God vouchsafed to giue vs for an example of one of the greatest sinners among all the kings of Israell as also for one of the greatest penitents one who vpon his repentaunce obtained all his petitions at Gods handes When we shall take the same course God who is our true father will embrace our prayers and make our king such a one as we desire It is therefore in thy sight that I doe nowe humble my selfe it is thou O Lord who with all my heart I call vpon to be our helpe I knowe the transgressions that against thy Maiesty we haue committed euen from the highest to the lowest both generally and particularly there is none of vs that can exempt himselfe If thou list to poize our cause in the balance of thy iustice who dare appeare in thy sight Thou I say who by thy especiall titles hast reserued vengeance to thy selfe but O Lord I know also that thou art the GOD of mercy We present our selues before thy face not to be iustified but in our shirts bringing a pardon which it may please thée of thy holy grace to allow of Thy word is true Thou hast said If in Sodome and Gomorrha there were but ten good men the rest of the wicked shoulde for their sakes haue no harme Alas are there not an infinit number of thy faithfull seruants that neuer consented to all these impieties who notwithstanding at this day doe beare the penaunce of other mens wickednesse driuen out of their houses depriued of the view of their wiues whome thou hast comanded vs to cleaue vnto banished from the presence of their parents and children and whatsoeuer they loue best Euen they that haue béene the authours of these calamities doe they not suffer if not penance yet at the least most grieuous punishment for their offences These deaths these pouerties these extraordinary sicknesses this famine this generall ruine of Paris this second desolation of Ierusalem let them be O Lorde God let them be accounted as penance in thy sight Albeit there be some among vs most wickedly hardened in their fellonies yet be there also many in the Towne who in their soules do wéepe howle and lament for all that is past Grant O good God that they may be those ten whom thou desiredst to finde in Sodome and hauing nowe with thy roddes chastized vs in our bodies and goodes suffer not our soules to be lost We all are thy lawfull and naturall children through the regeneration of the holy Sacrament of Baptisme and we do beléeue that through thy passion we be inheritours of thy Paradise Thou O Lord who of a heauy and greate lumpe diddest in the beginning of the world bring all things into good order doest exercise the same liberality ouer thy Church After this miserable Chaos that haue disordered all the affaires of thy religion reunite vs all vnder the banner of thy Church suffer not the diuell the father of diuision to separate the head from the members vouchsafe to illuminate our king with the beames of thy holy spirit so to reduce him into thy catholike apostolike and Romish Church to the end that to the honour and exaltation of thy holy name euery man may acknowledge thée to be the Father of concorde and peace O most eternall goodnesse this we do most humbly beséech thée as taking this to be thy wil whereto we wil referre al our Prayers and Supplications FINIS