were as yet not seen moved with reverence prepared the Ark to the saving of his Household By faith Abraham obeyed God when he was called to go into a place which he should afterwards receive for an Inheritance By faith Sarah received strength to coâ—ceivâ— Seed and was delivered of a Child when she was past Age. By faith Moses forsook Egypt By faith he with his people passed through the red Sea as on dry Land By faith the Walls of Iericho fell downe after they weâ—e compast about seven dayes And by faith â—he Prophets subdued Kingdoms stopped the mouthes of Lyons quenched the violence of Fire escaped the Edge of the Sword of weak were mâ—de strong waxed valiant in Battaile and turned to Flight the Armies of the Aliens Then since faith is of this force and efficacy shall not the faithfull bee able to convert them by whose conversation they shall reape no small benefit for if any man hath erred from the truth saith St Iames and some men hath converted him know that he that hath called the sinner from going astray out of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins And is it not a thing commendable before men acceptable unto God and worth the lâ—bours of any good Christian to save a soul and to hide a great multitude of sins But to leave these Divine arguments and to come unto humane reasons because they are more pleasing and acceptable to children of this world whom mee thinketh it should suffice for proof that Papists and Protestants may live in peace and quietness together because that in Poland where there are many Religions professed you seldome heare of any civil contention and in Switzerland in many Townes thereof the Papists and Protestants eate together lye in bed one with another marry together and that which is most strange in one Church you shall have a Mass and a Sermon and at one Table upon Fish daiâ—s Fish and Flesh the one for Papists the other for Protestants And whosoever shall look upon the present State of Spaine or the present Government of Italy in this Age in which Countries there is but one Religion professed shall finde no greater peace no more assured Friendship no streighter League of Amiâ—ie amongst them then there is amongst the people of Poland Switzerland and other Nations which give Friendly entertainment unto pluralitie of Religions neither can any mâ—n say with reason that the Protestants of Flanders have been the occasion of the unnaturall variance and civill dissention which now troubleth their Country For there is no man that reverenceth the Magistrate obeyeth the Laws of God and man or fulfilleth the true sense and meaning of boâ—h Laws more willingly then they as their Supplications their Leâ—ters their Apologies do testifie It is not they but their Enemies not they but their evill Governors not the Inhabitants of their Country but the Strangers sent into the Country and delâ—ghted wiâ—h the pleasures and the profits thereof that have occasioned these Troubles Neither is it to be thought that so many Princes as the King of France the Queen of England the Archduke of Austria and the late Duke of Anjou being all strangers unto them would ever have undertaken their defence and pâ—otection if they had thought or seen that the principal câ—use of Sedition might justly be imputed unto them It was the Tyranny of Don Iohn de Austria the Crueltie of the Duke of Alva the intolerable Priâ—e of the Spaniards in general the unreasonable exaction of the Hundreth the Twentieth and the Tenth Penny of â—vâ—ry mans substance together with other Causes mentioned in the bâ—ginning of this discourse that caused the forcible distraction of them from the usuall and dutifull Obedience Devotion service and observance of their Prince Iâ— the time of Philip the Fairâ— King of France as now in the Raigne of Philip the second King of Spaine whereby it may appeare that the name of Philip hath been fatall unto this Country there were the like troubles is Flanders as there are now and as now there were some of the Country it selfe that favoured Spaine more then their owne libertie so then there were many Liliari that tendred the French Kings Factions more then the safetie of their owne Connâ—ry and as now so then those Liliari together with the King of â—â—ance imputed the cause of the Troubles and Wars unto the peevish willâ—ullness of the poor Flemings and not to the perverse obstinacy and obdurate malice and crueltie of the French King and his Councellors Moreover as now so then diverse flourishes and shâ—wes of peace were made unto the Flemings not because they that offered those conditions of peace meant to performe them but to make the world believe that they were desirous of Peace whereas indeed their tender of peace was but to save themselves from the hazard of a Battel when they saw there was no way but to take it either with some great disadvantage or to forsake it with great dishonour Such offers of peace were those that have been lately made unto the United Provinces and such were they that were tendered many years ago by which the Spaniards received alwaies some benefit sometimes he got a Town a Hold or a Castle sometimes he distracted some of the Nobility from the Prince of Oranges faction and at other times he avoided some eminent danger which could not otherwise be escaped This will appear most true and manifest unto as many as shall read divers Apologies set out by the Prince of Orange and the States of the Low-Countries And therefore I know not with what conscience or with what shew of truth the cause of this Civil Discord may be ascribed unto the Subjects of Flanders and not unto the king of Spain and his evil Officers The first and second Reasons are sufficiently refuted Now to the third He hath promised the Popes Holiness not to admit any other Religion but his in any part of his kingdoms or Dominions How is his promise proved What ground hath it Upon what Reasons standeth it He is in some manner subject unto the Pope Be it he holdeth all or most of his kingdoms and dominions of him Let it be so he beareth the title of the Catholick king as an especial gift from him or his Predecessors It shall not be denied Lastly it is he whose friendship and amity â—is father willed him to embrace and entertain this must also be granted But what of all this He may not break promise with his Holiness True if the promise be possible for no man is bound to things impossible And is this promise impossible It is or at least-wise like to a promise that standeth upon â—mpossibilities â—r whatsoever cannot be done by a Prince without offence â—o God without effusion of blood without ruin of his Estate and without manifest and great prejudice unto his honour and dignity that may in some respect be esteemed impossible and whosoever
living a long time as a banished man in Brittany with the Duke thereof could never be sent into his Country unto Edward the fourth or Richard the third although both of them knowing that that they could not Reign in security so long as he lived had requested him very earnestly of the Duke And the last of them ruled still in great fear but in Peace and Quietness untill that Isabella wife of Edward the fourth and Margaret the said Henries Mother by the help of a Physitian came to conferre together and in the end they concluded of this agreement that they would cause her Son the said Henry to return into England and to possess the Crown thereof with the help of his aid and their friends if he would take to wife the daughter of Edward the fourth Henry being certified hereof and also given to undeastand that Richard Thomas a man trained up in arms all the dayes of his life and Sir Iohn Savage would adventure their lives for him and that the Lord Bray had provided great sums of money to pay his Souldiers withal easily obtained of the king of France a small Army of 2000 men with which arriving in Wales and joyning with the Forces of the said Thomas he went towards London and upon his way daily received greater strength even of the Souldiers of king Richard his Enemy who by reason of the great cruelty and â—yranny which he used was forsaken of his own Friends and his Souldiers detesting his proud and cruel Government fought so in his behalf that they seemed more desirous he should lose then win the Field which fell out according to their desire By these Examples and others like unto these you may perceive that never any man had any good success against England who had not both a just cause to invade the same and a strong faction within the Realm And by that which hath been spoken you may understand that the Spaniard wanteth both the one and the other Here might I conveniently if I had not sufficiently declared the strength of England to make the difficulty and impossibility of the Spaniards purpose more apparent enter into a large discourse of the Forces thereof but let that suffice that hath been spoken And yet I may not forget to let you and as many as doubt of our strength understand that we have been and I know not why we should not still be so strong and fortunate that when the French were so many in the Field against us that they thought the very Boyes and Lacques in their Camp were able to subdue our Army and when the Scots thinking that because our king was in France with fourscore thousand English we had none but Priests and women left at home to encounter with them entred with main force into our Country and with assured hope and confidence to conquer the same we neither fearing the multitudes of the French nor being danted or terrified with the Scots suddain and advantagious Invasion subdued both Nations and took both their kings prisoners in the Field But our Englishmen cannot live with a little Bread and a Cup of Wine as the Spaniards can do they are not accustomed to endure cold to lie abroad in the Field to stand up to the knees in dirt and water to watch nights and dayes and briefly to take other such pains and travels as are incident unto wars To pleasure our Adversaries let us grant this to be so although the the contrary indeed is most true who amongst the bravest Spaniards or the greatest Souldiers in the World would willingly go to the wars if he should alwayes be subject unto these or the like incommodities And yet who would not rather endure and suffer them patiently then live in servitude or thâ—aldom or yeeld unto his mortal Enemies All Histories are full of examples of base and faint-hearted people the which having been compelled to fight for their lives because there was no other way to save or redeem the same have behaved themselves most manfully and have enforced their Enemies to yeeld unto reasonable Conditions of Peace which sometimes would not hearken unto any agreement and have constrained them to become humble Sutors who would not once vouchfaâ—e to hear their humble Petitions and truly extream perils and irresistible necessities have such force and vertue that oftentimes they put both heart and Courage into them which by nature are neither hearty nor couragious Considering therefore that our men shall fight at home and the Spaniard abroad that we will be as valiant to defend our selves as they can be couragious to offend us that when they have soiled us by Sea they must fight afresh with us by Land they being weary and we fresh they weak and we strong they lame and diseased and we whole and in perfect health Briefly they far from home and we at home for our wives for our houses for our children and for our goods Is it not likely that we should fight with greater courage with better success then they Considering again the England is fertile and replenished with all things necessary for mans sustentation That her Majesties Councellors are wise and provident her people rich and full of money her Subjects loving and well affected to her Highness and their Country Can there be any thing wanting that shall be needfull for the maintenance of a convenient Army Considering thirdly that if any want shall fall out their cause being general as the maintenance of the Spaniards Religion is universal and common to all his Confederates is it not to be thought that the Princes Protestants will supply those wants and fight for England as well and as willingly as the Papists will for Spain Considering fourthly that when Charles the fifth a Prince as I have said of greater power and of better experience then the Spanish king warred with the Protestants of Germany not onely the Princes of the Reformed Religion but also the French which hated their Religion aided and assisted them Can it be supposed that England should not finde the like aid and assistance Briefly Considering that the Spaniard cannot land his Army in any place in England where he shall not finde at the least ten thousand men to finde him work until a greater power come what hope can he then have to Land without Resistance to proceed without a Battel to fight without loss and to lose without extream confusion Our Armies therefore being equal to his and our hope more assured then his no wise or Politick man will doubt but that our success is likely to be far better then his and therefore his hope and expectation vain his purpose and intention ridiculous as well in regard of his course taken therein as of his possibility to attain thereunto But it behooveth a king to bridle and correct his Rebellious subjects and it is the part of a Protector of the Catholicks not to permit his own subjects or any other aiding or assisting them in
be a Heretick a Waster of his Revenues a Lover of dishonest women a Murderer of the Duke and Cardinal of Guise and a Prince neither able nor worthy to govern so great and mighty a Kingdom as France I heard the Spaniards attempts and enterprises against England justified because our Queen was excommunicated her people not able nor willing to help and succour her her Subjects overcharged with unaccustomed Subsidies our Forces not sufficient to encounter with his strength and our Realm easie to be subdued by Forraigners I heard again some men condemn the Spaniard of great folly for ruling the Low Countries by strangers for not granting liberty of conscience unto his Subjects in those Countries for taking upon him to enforce them to alter and change their Religion for intending to reduce all Protestants to the ancient profession of Papistry for aiding the Leaguers in France and for attempting to make himself Monarch of the world I heard some think it a thing impossible to subvert him others suppose it to be a very easie matter to overthrow him and many desirous to know the means how to weaken him I heard the tumults of Aragon diversly construed the murder of Escovedo sundry wayes censured and the proceedings against Antonio Perez justified by some and condemned by others To be short I heard many say more then I can well and readily remember and yet not so much as I can be content to hear in praise of my Countrey and in disgrace of Spain in commendation of our Princess and in dispraise of the Spaniard in allowance and approbation of all her actions and in reprehension of all or most part of his Enterprises These things were in substance all that I heard some to my comfort and others to my grief And if in clearing all these things you will vouchsafe me your paines I will warrant your return within a very short while after that you shall have sent me your Treatise Your credit with Cardinal Allen your acquaintance with Morgan your Friendship with Thomas Throgmorton your conversation with Charles Pagett and your long experience in forraign affairs hath undoubtedly enabled you to give me a full satisfaction to all these demands If you run through them lightly you shall rather point at them then please me If you dwell upon them long you may fear to be thought too tedious And yet because you have leisure enough to handle them at large I shall take great delight to see and read them somewhat largely handled Such was his speech and this my short reply In hope of performance of your promise I will undertake your task not because I take my self able to answer your expectation but to shew you that I will hazard my poor credit to recover my dear Countrey and because I trust you will use my labours for your instruction and not to my discredit You may be instructed if you read them advisedly and I discredited if you make them common To be short with assurance of his secrecy I undertook his task if he shall hold his promise I shall think my labours well bestowed if they may procure my return I shall have employed my pains to my contentment And if my pains may pleasure and satisfie the Readers their satisfaction shall double my joyes when I shall attain safe and free access unto the long desired place of my Nativity The singular affection which you bear unto me and the great good opinion which unworthily you have conceived of me have greatly deceived you in making especial choice of me as of one better able then any other of your wise and discreet friends to deliver unto you a sound and sure Judgment of the present Estate of Christendome You see Flanders in trouble France in Arms Scotland in division and the whole remainder of the universal Christian world either as Neutrals idly looking and gazing on their miseâ—ries or as men interessed in the same cause voluntarily ayding and abetting them or their enemies This sight seemeth unto you very strange because that professing one Christ Crucified fighting under one Master and bearing the general name of Christians they give occasion unto the professed enemy of Christianity by taking advantage of their unnatural dissention to to enlarge his already too large Confines and Territories In truth you have some cause to marvel hereat But if it may please you to remember That things in common are commonly neglected that perils which be far off and not presently imminent are little regarded That dangers which are at hand and hang dayly over our heads carry us away with their due confideration from the vigilant care and providence which we ought to have of common Enormities And lastly that this careless negligence or the common Adversary is no new thing but a matter of great Antiquity and long continuance You will leave to wonder thereat and begin to prâ—y unto the Almighty as I do to remove the Causes of our unnatural 〈◊〉 to change the minds of our malicious Christians and to illuminaâ—e the hearâ—s of our lawful Princes that they may with the eyes of Indifferency and 〈…〉 upon the calamity of their loving Subjects Consider the cause 〈…〉 thereof consult upon the ways and means to redress the 〈…〉 deliberation put in present practise those remedies 〈…〉 and singular Wisdom shall seem most meet and convenien◠〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 but silly Ship-Boys in this huge Vessel tossed with the raging Waves of 〈◊〉 unmerciful Seas We may look upon the Masters behold the Pilots â—nd be ready at the Call and Command of the other Officers and this is all that we can do and who so looketh for more at our hands erreth as much in your Opinion as you are deceived in your Choice But the Interest which you have in me and the hopes which I conceive of you make me rather to hazard my poor Credit then to incur your heavy Displeasure You may and I hope you will conceal or excuse my follies but I would not and God forbid I should deserve the least diminution that may be of your accustomed favours towards me In hope therefore of your Secresie I will boldly enter into this Tragical Discourse The chief Actors whereof are The mighty Monarch of Spain The merciful Queen of England The unfortunate Don Antonio of Portugal The valiant King of France The Imperious Prelate of Rome The sleeping and secure States of Germany The Politique and Grave Senate of Venice And the weak but wise Princes of Italy Spain coveteth more then his own Portugal and France would gladly recover their own Rome and England labour and indeavour only to conserve and maintain their own Germany feareth not the peril that is far off Venice temporizeth wisely and the rest of Italy sheweth an outward affection to him that is mightiest but inwardly wisheth his weakness and the good and prosperous success of his Adversaries This is in brief the open and hidden Idea of the present Estate of Christendome wherein the
life and welfare of his Subjects but when the Prince casteth off humanity and the Subjects forget their duty when he mindeth nothing less then the publique wealth and they suffer things whereunto they have not been accustomed when he breaketh Laws and they desire to live under their ancient Laws when he imposeth new Tributes and they think themselves sufficiently charged and grieved with their old when he oppreseth and suppresseth such of the Nobility as favour the common people their ancient Lawes Priviledges and Liberties and they take the wrongs that are done unto their Favourers and Patrons to be done unto themselves and their Posterity Then changeth love into hatred and obedience into contempt then hatred breedeth disdain and disdain ingendereth disloyalty after which follow secret conspiracies unlawful assemblies undutiful consultations open mutinies treacherous practises and manifest rebellions The chief reasons whereof are because the common people are without reason ready to follow evil counsel easie to be displeased prone to conceive dislike not willing to remember the common benefit which they received by a Prince when they see their private Estates impoverished by him or his Officers forgetful of many good turns if they be but once wronged more desirous to revenge an injury then to remember a benefit quickly weary of a Prince be he never so good if he be not pleased to satisfie all their unreasonable demands easily suspecting those who are placed in authority over them commonly affecting time that is past better then the present briefly all liking what the most like all inclining where the greatest part favoureth all furthering what the most attempt and all soon miscarried if the most be once misled This natural disposition of the common people is proved by common experience observed by wise Polititians and confirmed by many examples not of one Realm but of many Nations not of one age but of many seasons not of barbarous people but of civil Realms not of Kingdoms alone but of other manner of Governments briefly not of Subjects living only under Tyrants but also under the best Princes that ever were for there is no Kingdom comparable unto France for antiquity or for greatness for strength or for continual race of good and vertuous Kings for absolute government of Rulers or for dutiful obedience of Subjects for good laws or for just and wise Magistrates and yet France that hath this commendation and these benefits hath many other times besides this and for other occasions besides the causes that now moveth France to rebel revolted from her liege Lords and Soveraigns for proof whereof let us examine and consider the causes and motives of this present Rebellion begun in the late Kings time and continued in this Kings days They that write thereof at large and seem to understand the causes of this revolt more particularly then others affirm that this Rebellion began upon these occasions The Authors and chief Heads thereof saw Justice corruptly administred Offices appertaining unto Justice dearly sold Benefices and Ecclesiastical dignities and livings unworthily collated new Impositions dayly invented and levied the Kings Treasures and Revenues prodigally consumed old Officers unjustly displaced and men of base quality unworthily advanced they saw the late King carried away with vanities governed by a woman entred in League and Amity with their Enemies and fully resolved to follow his pleasure and to leave the administration and government of the whole Kingdom unto their mortal Enemies They saw him careless in the maintainance of their Religion unlikely to have any issue to succeed him not willing to establish any succession of the Crown after him and obstinately minded not to enter into League with them that intended and purposed to uphold and maintain their Catholick Religion Lastly they saw that as long as he lived the King of Navar and his followers could hardly be suppressed and that as soon as he dyed the said King was likely to be his Successor which hapning they considered the desperate estate of their Religion the sure and certain advancement of the Protestants and of their cause and quarrel the utter subversion of all their intents and purposes And lastly the final and lamentable end of the greatness of themselves and of their Families Wherefore to withstand all those mischiefs and inconveniencies and to prevent some of them and to redress and reform others they called a general Assembly of the three Estates implored the help of forreign Princes levied as great Armies as they could possibly gather together propounded means of Reformation to the King and when they found him not willing to yeild to their advise and counsel they combined themselves against the Protestants his pretended and their open enemies seized upon greatest part of the Kings Treasure took possession of his best Holds and Towns of strength removed such Officers as disliked them and in all Affairs that concerned the advancement of their Cause imployed men fit for their humours made for their purpose brought up in their Factions practised in their Quarrels affectioned in their Cause and wholly devoted to their wills and pleasures And because they found themselves unable to encounter with the late King and his Confederates unless they were also assisted by some forrain Princes they sought all ways and means possible to insinuate themselves into the Grace and Favour of strange and mighty Potentates to recommend their Cause and Quarrel unto their protection and to joyn their Domestical power with their forrain Enemies They consider therefore that the Popes Holiness by the heat and vehemency of the hatred which he beareth unto Protestants The King of Spain by the greatness of his Ambition and the Duke of Lorrain by the ancient envy and enmity which hath been and which is betwixt him and the House of Bourbon might easily be perswaded and induced to favour their party and further their Attempts and Enterprises The Duke of Guyse as chief Head and Patron of these Actions sendeth Messengers unto every one of these Princes beseeching them as they had heretofore secretly favoured him and his complices so they would now that matters were grown to ripeness and secret Conspiracies to open resistance vouchsafe him and his Confederates their help and assistance to the utmost of their power In which Suit he findeth happy success and with promise of assured and sufficient aid is animated to proceed with courage and not to omit any manner of cunning and policy to win unto himself as many friends as he might possibly He therefore considering that for the better accomplishment of his designs it was needful and expedient for him to continue at the Court and there to draw unto himself as many partakers as by any means possibly he might obtain repaireth thither with all diligence And knowing that he should undoubtedly fail of his purpose unless he might effectually compass three things of special consequence he laboureth to the utmost of his power to bring them
which they bear unto him might hinder his designs and purposes he sent an express Messenger unto the Pope to declare unto him the true sense and meaning of their Oath and to intreat his Holiness to make such an Interpretation thereof as might serve his turn the effect of which Interpretation was That since the promise which the French-men made unto their King was conditional and reciprocal and that their King was likewise sworn unto them they being his Subjects were not bound any longer to their Oath since he being their King had broken his because he was neither religious valiant just or in any respect answerable to those conditions which were inserted and included in his promise to them In hope of performance of which conditions they had sworn unto him all manner of duty service succour faith and obedience This was Pipin's policy to supplant Childerick and to set the Crown of France upon his own head Now let me compare the Duke of Guise his practices with these mens devices his wit with their wisdom and his aspiring mind with their ambition Sejan and Caesar were lowly and humble when they saw occasion and what was the Duke of Guise when he went bate-headed unto Porters and Crochelers Caesar drave Pompey out of Italy and Sejan Tiberius out of Rome into an Island and what did the Duke of Guise when he forced the late French King not to leave but to fly from Paris Caesar suppresseth Pompey and Crassus and Sejan indeavoured to destroy Drusus and Nero and what did the Duke of Guise when he caused the Admiral of France to be massacred and the Duke of Espernon to be banished the Court Sejan and Caesar spared no money to win men to their service and devotion What did the Duke of Guise when he spent all his own Patrimony and his Wives Inheritance and the King of Spains yearly Pension and infinite Pistolets to purchase himself Friends and Favourers Casar and Sejan subverted their enemies by their own friends And what did the Duke of Guise when he sowed sedition betwixt the King and his brother Caesar and Sejan used the Marriage of Livia Drusus his Wife of his own Daughter and of Pycos Sister for the furtherance of their purpose And what did the Duke of Guise when he caused the Massacre of Paris to be performed at the Marriage of the present King of France with the late Kings Sister Caesar and Sejan could be proud when occasion was offered And what was the Duke of Guise when he equalled his power and strength with the Kings Caesar could brook no equal And what could the Duke of Guise when he contended with the Kings Brother for Superiority and Precedency Sejan set variance betwixt Drusus and Nero to the end the one should take occasion to destroy the other And what did the Duke of Guise when he perswaded the French King to send his only Brother into Flanders where he devised divers means to endanger his life Caesar assumed by cunning and pollicy all the Power and Authority unto himself which was sometimes equally divided betwixt him Pompey and Crassus And what did the Duke of Guise when he suffered no man to be in credit at the Court but himself Sejan offered the Empire unto Drusus not for favour which he bore him but to incense and incourage him to seek the ruine of Nero And what did the Duke of Guise when he profered the Kingdom in the late Kings days unto the King of Navar now King of France but seek means to breed such a distrust and jealousie betwixt the King and him that the one might let no occasion slip that might procure the destruction or overthrow of the other Caesar observed diligently the natures and dispositions of such men as were in special credit with the common people and to purchase their favour furthered their purposes when they tended not to his own hinderance And what did the Duke of Guise when he fawned upon those whom the King loved and labored to prefer his Secretaries to higher places to the end that both they and their Successors might be always willing and ready to pleasure him Pipin shewed himself wise in using the Kings weakness and his own credit for a Ladder to climb to the Kingdom And the Duke of Guise came not much behind him in wisdom when he weakned the late Kings forces and strengthned himself and his complices with intention to set the Crown of France upon his own Head Hugh Capet pretended right to the Crown because he was in some sort alley'd to Lewes the fifth by his Mothers side And the Duke of Guise fortified his Right by pretending Alliance unto the Duke of Larrain whom Hugh Capet deprived of the Crown Pipin hired men to comâ—end himself and dispraise Childerick And the Duke of Guise wanted not his writers and his flatterers who in Books and common Table-talk did daily set forth his praise and took hold of every small occasion to enveigh bitterly against the King Pipin again used Religion and Zeal for a means to win the Popes favour and to procure him to make a friendly Interpretation of the French Subjects Oath to their King And the Duke of Guise with a shew of suppressing the Protestants of France drew divers Popes to join with him in alliance and to draw other Princes with the same line into the same League and left not until the Pope had Excommunicated the late King Hugh Capit disabled Childerick as a man not sufficient to Rule and therefore caused him to be shut up in a Monastery And the Duke of Guise was so bold as to bring forrain power into France and to tell the King that he had procured their help to suppress the Protestants because his Majesty had neither men nor money enough wherewith to overthrow them and common fame greatly wrongeth him if he intended not in time to have shut the King up in some religious house and to have put a Friers Weed upon him Briefly Pipin Iulius Caesar and Hugh Capet attained their desires by their cunning practises and their subtile devises And the Duke of Guise by his slights and Stratagems had not failed of his purpose if the King had not by doing him suddenly to death prevented his intended Usurpation By this that hath been said you may plainly perceive that the Frenchmen rebelled against their Soveraigns long before this time And that they are in a manifest Error who commend their Loyalty so much as in their Writings to call them The most Loyal Loving and Dutiful Subjects of Europe For to omit other Rebellions of the children against their own Fathers in France whereof their Histories are full and plentiful It cannot be denyed that both Pipin and Hugh Capet were Usurpers and that as many as favoured and furthered them against the lawful Heirs of the Crown were notable and traitorous Rebels and in no respect inferiour to those who in these days combine themselves against the
had rather have the French King a profess'd enemy then a dissembling friend And not satisfied with the indignity of this disdainful Answer he sent presently after him another Embassadour into France to tell the King thereof That the Spaniards were not so foolish and so unwise as not to see and perceive that whatsoever the Duke of Alencon did was done by permission counsel consent and furtherance of the King his Brother Out of this Answer and this Embassage I gather thus much That it is better for a Prince to have an open enemy then a deceitful friend And to prove the Spaniard to have been always such a friend unto the State of England I use these Demonâ—trations First It is not unknown as I have said before all the Treasons and Conspiracies which have been attempted intended and practised against her Majesty ever since her first coming to the Crown have had their beginning or their comfort their counsel or their furtherance their countenance or their invention from Spain Witness to omit others of lesser moment and yet of most dangerous consequence the Treasons of the late Duke of Norfolk since whose death it is better then twenty years and more then forty since he first began to be a Traytor Is it not more then twenty one years ago that Robert Rudolphy a Florentine Merchant who had lived many years in England departed out of England for fear that the Duke being committed to prison should reveal the practises and means which he had used by the solicitation of the King of Spain and of the Pope to draw the Duke unto those Treasons which he afterwards intended and had executed had he not been happily discovered did not the same Redolphy go from hence to Rome and there communicated with the Pope how the Duke was apprehended and thereby their Plot and device broken and prevented Was he not sent from Rome into Spain there to make the same relation and to consult with the Spanish king what means might be used for the liberty of the said Duke and if that might not be happily wrought and effected for some other kind of of annoyance to be done to England Was it not publiquly noised and certainly beleeved that the Duke of Alva should have joined with the said Duke and have done us more wo then I may boldly speak of and my heart can even without extream grief to relate or remember Witness again the most unnatural practises of the late Queen of Scots unnatural because she was a Queen as her Majesty was because she was her neer kinswoman and her Vassal beholding unto her Highness for her life and for the life of her own only child which unto good and loving Parents is always more dear then their own life Lived not this unthankful ungracious and unfortunate Queen more then twenty years prisoner in England and which of all those years lived her Majesty free from some Treason or other But hereof in another place Now let it suffice that it is apparent to all the world that she had secret Messengers secret help and counsel from Spain as well before as after her Imprisonment to animate encourage and set her forward in all her mischievous endeavours and purposes against our gracious Sovereign and her Realms Is not then the Spaniard a deceitful friend unto England Is he not then by his own confession more to be feared and more to be disliked then an open enemy Or are not we so wise as the Spaniard to see and perceive such deceitful proceedings and seeing them shall it not not be lawful for us to think of him as he thought of the king of France and to deal so with Spain as he dealt and dealeth with France such justice as a Magistrate useth unto others such must he expect himself saith the Emperour Iustinian He that seeketh dayly to increase his own power purchaseth to himself envy and batred So Said Sabellicus The Prince that desireth Cities that are far off cannot but covet those which are near at hand So said Leo Aretinus and it is hard and difficult to beware of such friends which secretly play the part of enemies So said Dionifius Hallicarnesus If therefore the king of Spain hath nourished civil dissention in France if he hath been so ready to maintain the Rebels thereof against their King that rather then the Realm should be without troubles he hath relieved and succoured the very Protestants of France and the heads of their Faction against their Sovereign and other their professed enemies And if he hath done all this to the end the French king might not be able to encroach upon him in Italy Flanders or any other of his Dominions Why may not our Queen who as a woman is fearful and timerous and as a Prince ought to be careful and provident for the safety of her Realm and of her Subjects relieve the States of the United Provinces being her ancient friends and Allies to the end that he Spaniard being busied in those parts may have no time leisure or commodity to work any manner of open or secret prejudice unto her Realm and her Subjects Dinothus a true Historiographer of the civil Wars in Flanders reporteth That when the King of Spains Embassador said unto the late French King that it was neither seemly nor convenient for his Majesty to receive the States who were Rebels unto his Master The French king Answered him that he neither received nor harboured them as Rebels unto his Master but as men wrongfully oppressed and that Christian Princes have always used to grant and give help and succour unto the oppressed And further that the States had assured him that they had oftentimes sent many supplications unto their King therein submiting themselves unto his mercy and humbly beseeching his Majesty to remit their offences and to receive them into his favour yea and when they might have any commodity they delivered themselves such supplication unto the Kings own hands but could never have any reasonable Answer from him And that therefore it was lawful for them to appeal from him that denyed them justice and to seek aid against him where they might hope to find the same If then the king of France a Prince of contrary Religion unto the States a Prince of as neer Alliance and of later Affinity unto the Spanish king then our Queen is a Prince that in his own Realm could never endure Protestants because he thought it very dangerous to suffer two Religions in one Kingdom held it the part of a Christian Prince to succour the oppressed and to be their Protector unto whom justice was openly denyed Why should it be a fault imputed unto our Queen that she releeveth her oppressed neighbours since she doth it not in malice towards the Spaniards but in mercy towards the afflicted not so much to offend him as to defend them not to enlarge her Dominions but to preserve her Realms and Subjects for how can she
had in his life time many wars with divers Princes but none more notable famous and worthy of perpetual memory thâ—n his wars in France Italy and Germany For the wars which he had against the Turk are not properly to be termed his because his Forces alone were not imployed therein but the aid and help of the best and most part of Christendom His Forces in Germany were not above 9000 Horsemen and 50000 Footmen as Lewis Guicciardine testifieth in his Commentaries And although he used in these wars all his wit and policy to increase his own power and to weaken and diminish the strength of the Protestants performing the one by drawing into League with himself and unto his aid the Pope and other Princes of his own Religion And effecting the other as Sleidan writeth by great cunning and policy used in distracting many Princes concurring in opinion touching matters of Religion with the Protestants from their side and Faction yet the Protestants Army consisting of 10000 Horsemen and 90000 Footmen was far greater then his in number and had undoubtedly gotten the day against him when they joyned battel together had not divers of their Confederates left and abandoned them before the battel was fought Or had not the Duke of Saxony committed a gross error in joyning battel with him His Armies brought into France were many but none greater then at Laundresy and Marcelles In the first he was aided by our King And in the second by most of the Princes of Italy and other his confederates Insomuch that the King of France who had been first overthrown by him in Italy was constrained to implore the help of the Turk against him For when he came to Marselles he had as Dr. Illescas reporteth in the life of Paulus tertius in his Army about 25000 Almains 8000 Spaniards and ten or twelve thousand Italians the Almains gaâ—hered within the Dominion of the Empire the Spaniards within his own Realm of Spain and the Italians not onely in the Kingdom of Naples and the Dukedom of Milan but also in the Dutchy of Savoy and in other parts of Italy At Laundresey reckoning therein the Forces which he had out of England his whole Army came not to above 50000 as the said Guicciardine affirmeth These were the greatest Strengths that ever he gathered together and these are not so great but that our Queen without the help of any other Allie or Confederate hath oftentimes brought far greater Forces into the Field as both our Histories and the French and Scotish Chronicles do witness And Mr. de la Noüe his opinion before mentioned sheweth that the French King of himself is very well able to raise a far greater Army then any of these were against any of his Enemies I shall not therefore need as I might conveniently do in this place confer the Forces of England or of France with the strength of this Emperor who had never gotten the happy victory which he obtained against Franciâ— the first King of France had not the Italian Captains whom the French King put in trust deceived him by taking pay for many more Souldiers then they had in their bands a fault too much used in our Modern Wars had not the Switzers when there was most need of them departed to their own homes had not the French King given himself too carelesly to pleasures which caused his Forces to decrease and diminish daily or had not the said King very unadvisedly attempted in the cold Winter to besiege Pavia For the Marquess of Pescara understanding that the King of France being counselled thereunto by Captain Bonnevet was gone to besiege Pavia said unto his Souldiers We that were no better then men already conquered are now become Conquerors for our Enemy being therein ill advised leaveth us in Lody and goeth to fight with the Almains at Pavia where the French-men will not onely lose that Fury with which many times they work wonders but also will spend their chiefest Forces in a long and tedious siege of a Town not easie to be taken and in fighting with a very valiant and most obstinate Nation and in the mean while we shall receive fresh supplies out of Germany and without all doubt if the War continue long as it is likely to do we cannot but hope for a most happy and victorious end thereof Now if this Emperor in these Wars the worst of which was far more just then the best which the King of Spain hath lately undertaken could with the help and furtherance of all his Allies and Confederates make no greater Forces then are before mentioned nor with his Forces should ever have had so good success as he had if his Adversaries had been so wise and wary as they might have been Why shall his son King Philip be thought able to bring more men into the Field then were in those Armies or worthy of so good fortune as his Father had since his strength is in no respect comparable unto his and his Actions and his Enterprises have not the like colour and shew of Wisdom or of Justice as the Emperor had That the Father excelled the Son in strength all men will confess saving those wich carry a partial and prejudicate opinion of the present greatness of Spain for albeit the son hath lately added the kingdom of Portugal unto those Realms and Dominions which his Father possessed and left unto him although the Empire hath continued for these many years and is likely to â—emain still in the House of Austria and his very neer kinsmen in regard of whose Affinity and kindred he may boldly rest in as great hope and assured confidence of the Aid and Assistance of the Empire as he might if himself were Emperor Yet having so governed in Flanders that by reason of the long and continual Civil Wars those Countries cannot yeeld him such Aid of Men and â—oney as they did unto his Father who in all hâ—s Wars as Lewis Guicciardinâ— in the second Book of his Commentaries affirmeth had greater help both of Men and money from them alone thâ—n from all the rest of his Dominions he hath greatly impaired his strength and made it far inferiour unto his Fathers or unto that same which he himself was like to make before or at the first beginning of his Civil Wars For to omit that he can now hardly make such strength as the Duke of Alva or Don Iohn de Austria have had in their Armies in Flanders whereof the first had at one time 6000 horse and 30000 foot and the other as many footmen and 4000 horsemen more The decrease and diminution of his strength doth manifestly appear in this that the Low-Countries are now reduced unto that poverty and to such a penury of men that he cannot possibly fetch any reasonable great number thence to imploy them in forreign services but he is fain to bring in Strangers to defend his Towns against the united Provinces Iacobus Meyerus in the
maketh any such vow or promise first it had been very good that he had never made it and next it were very convenient never to put the same in execution bâ—cause the sin that hurteth but one man alone is much more tolerable then that which may endanger many This promise therefore if it were never made but suggested requireth no performance and if it were once made it likewise ought not to be performed because it is impossible and cannot be maintained without great effusion of blood without hurt unto many and prejudice unto a whole estate From this promise therefore unto tâ—e fourth Reason a Reason almost as easie to be refuted as to be repeated For the Emperor Constans maintained the Corps and Colledge of Arrianus not for any affection that he baâ—e unto them but because he thought it part of his charge and duty to conserve and preserve the life of his Subjects Theodosius sirnamed the Great who was always a most moâ—tal enemy unto their opinion did likewise permit them to live in company with his other Subject And Valens and Valentian whereof the one wâ—s an Arrian and the other a Catholick suffered men of both Religions to live under their Government The Emperor Ferdinand granted leave and liberty unto his subjects of Silecia and Lituania which are Provinces of Bohemia to change their Religion And not long after him Maximilian the Emperor licensed them to build Churches after the manner and fashion of Protestants Besides the Pope himself the Dukes of Mantua Ferrara Florence and Baviera together with the Seigniory of Venice suffer Iewes to live in their Country And the Kings of Poland and Moscovia vouchsafe to suffer a number of Tartarians and Mahometists to lead their lives in their Countries Imitating therein the example of Constantine the great who after that he had established Christian Religion in Rome excluded not any Pagans and Infidels out of Rome In the Kingdom of Poland the Greek and Roman Religion was at one time a long whiâ—e professed And now there are many Lutherans Catholiques Anabaptists and Calvinists Lastly it cannot be denied and this methinketh should move the King of Spain most of all that his Father Charles the 5 after that he had fought a long while with the Princes of Germany which professâ— Luâ—herasme being aided in the same Warrs by the Pope and all the Princes of Italy granted at the length that Peace unto the Protestants which is called the Peâ—ce of Aubspurge Considering therefore that al these Popes Emperors Kings Dukes Princes and Barons having no less regard then the King of Spain of their Soules health hoping to have no worse part then he in the kingdom of Heaven did permit do yet permit the professed and sworn Enemies of Christ and of his Gospell namely the Jewes to live nay to be born and to enrich themselves within their kingdomes Dominions and Principalities What Shame Dâ—shonor or prejudice can it be unto the King of Spains Catholick Majesty to give leave unto his loving and trustie Subjects to adore and worship the same Goâ— which he himself honoreth and reverenceth in such forme and manner as they desire I know not what should be the cause that he who is so desirous in all other things to follow his Fathers 〈◊〉 Examples and Counsells doth not vouchsafe to imitate him in this Toleration which will be acceptable unto his Subjects answerable â—nto their desires agrâ—eâ—ble unto Gods word and very proâ—itable for the Advâ—ncement of his own reputation It is to come unto the fift Reason because the Queen of of England and the King of France will not yeeld unto any such Toleration in theâ—r several kingdoms Alaâ— neither the example of the one nor the other can serve to strengthen his cause For he hath not the like Authority in Flanders as they have in France and England They are free and he is bound They are tied to no conditions and he is fastened unto many and especially unto these not to break their ancient Priviledges nor to innovate any thing without the consent of the States of the Country by whom he is to be directed in all matters of great counsel and importance Besides there must needs follow farr greater Inconvâ—nience unto him then unto her by denying Liberty of conscience unto their Subjects For his are so many that require the same that above 30000 departed at â—ne time out of Flanders because he refused their humble Request and the number of Traditioners in England is so little that all that were of any note and name amongst them were heretofore and are at this present reduced into one little Island nay into no great house of a little Island But the late King of France who was esteemed one of the wisâ—st Princes of Europe would not in any wise suffer two Religions to be professed in his kingdom but because he would plant one onely there he made wars a great while against his own subjects destroying their houses wasting their Fields ruinating their Cities and Massacring their persons But who gave him Counsel so to do Was it not the King of Spain or his Pensioners And what advantage got he therefore Truly no other but the ruin and desolation of his Country And what end had he of his war before he died Forsooth such an end as made him to repent that ever he undertook those wars And what continuance had these wars Certainly they lasted above thirty years and the Protestants are now stronger then ever they were And what issue is come of these French troubles Undoubtedly the issue was such that whereas the Realm was divided but into two Factions a little before the Kings death there were three and of those three the last was most unjust pernitious and execrable For in the same one Papist killed another the son bore Arms against the father the brother against the seed of his mothers womb and the subjects being in their opinion of a good Religion against their King whose Religion was as good or better then theirs It is not then the French kings examples that moveth him It beseemeth not his Catholâ—ck Majesty to be directed by other Princes what to grant or what to deny to his subjects This is the last and in effect the best of his Reasons For it is usual amongst Princes and therefore no shame to crave counsel advice and direction one of another in matters of great weight and moment and happy haâ—h that Prince been alwayes accompted who could and would follow such advice as hâ—s faithfull Friends abroad gave him Thence it cometh that Princes send Ambassadors one unto another that they crave conference one with another that they have oftentimes Interviews and solemn Meetings and according to this custom he either dissembleth egrediously or meant truly that the Ambassadors sent by the Emperor the Queen of England and other Princes of late years to Cullen should have ended all contentions and controversies betwixt him and his Subjects
the maintenance of their Errors and Heresies to profess a contrary Religion unto his especially when he is able to suppress them and their Patrons This supposed Ability emboldeneth the Spaniard and his confidence must be shewn to be as foolish as other of his vain hopes of his rash conceits First therefore I will make it appear that he is not able to enforce any general alteration in Religion Then that though he could yet he should not compell his Subjects by force and violence to change and alter their opinions There is nothing as I have said more common then to judge of things to come by things that are past and to conjecture what a Prince can do by that which his Predecessors did and were able to do before him And therefore to clear this question it shall not be amiss to consider what the Spanâ—sh kings Fathâ—r did and was able to do during the long time of his Reign against Luther and his followers and if it shall appear that he with all his might his Friends his Allies could not suppress the Princes Protestants at their first beginning and when neither the number nor the power was so great as it is now It must needs follow as a necessary consequent that the Spaniard with all his Adherents shall never be able to enforce a general alteration and change in Religion At what time Martin Luther began first to discover the Abuses Errors and Heresies of Papistry Pope Leo the tenth of that name thinking it convenient to withstand an Evil at the beginning thereof and knowing that if Luther were suffered great danger and many inconveniences would follow thereof he Excommunicated his person condemned his opinions and intreated the Emperor Charles the fifth to ratifie his condemnation in a general Assembly held in Germany and to command all his Subjects to take him prisoner wheresoever they should finde him But what was the end and issue of this rigorous Sentence Did the Almighty suffer it to be put it in execution No but he so crossed the Pope and the Emperor therein that neither their Counsel not their condemnation took effect About twenty three years after this sentence was published and although that the Advancement of Luthers Doctrine depended onely upon his life and that it was a matter of no great diffiâ—ulty to supplant him and to suppress his discipline yet it pleased God meaning to shew thereby that it lieth not in mans power to Prevent much less to Cross his resolute intent and purpose not to permit any manner of prejudice to grow unto the Reformed Religion by the same Excommunication For he presently troubled the Emperor and busied him with a sudden and unexpected occasion of wars which gave unto the Protestants sufficient time and opportunity to strengthen themselves against their Enemies Not long after the Emperor to subvert Luther and all that followed him entred into League with Francis the first King of France and they agreed not onely to imploy all their own Forces but also to implore the aid and assistance of the Pope and of all others of his profession against the Princes Protestants This undoubtedly was a great conspiracy not onely intended but also very like to be executed by two mighty Princes had not the Almighty hindred the accomplishment of their designes and purposes by breaking the bond of their League and Amity and by sending a suddain occasion of Wars betwixt them But as after Rain there follows fair weather so after those Wars succeeded a friendly Peace in the Articles whereof the Emperour and the said Francis covenanted that they should joyntly and with all the Forces they could possibly make War against the Protestants and use the Popes Cruciadoes in these Wars even as Christian Princes were and are wont to do when they wage War against the Turk Besides the Emperor made a Proclamation that all Lutherans should either convince and prove their Doctrine to be answerable unto the Word of God or else leave and forsake the same within the space of five moneths And the Pope at the Emperors Coronation gave him great charge to see the same Proclamamation duely executed The Protestants had never greater occasion to be afraid then they had at that time when the Emperor was so bent and so many Princes joyned with him against them But whether it were because the Protestants during the time of the War betwixt the Emperor and the King of France grew so strong that their Enemies feared them or because the Lord of Hosts who never fâ—ileth his people had undertaken to protect them or because that the true and holy Religion of the immortal God increaseth daily notwithstanding the Threats and Menaces of mortal men this alliance and confederacy availed Caesar nothing at all but it pleased God so to abate his pride and humble him that when he purposed most of all to hurt and annoy the Protestantâ— he was constrained to crave their Aid against the Turk who with a mighty and terrible Army invaded Austria and had undoubtedly endangered the Emperor had not the Princes of our Religion assisted him and God so disposed his heart that to make the Protestants more willing to help he most willâ—ngly and of himself without any manner of intercession and intreaty so mitigated the rigor and extremity of his former Proclamation that through his lenity and sufferance our Religion began to receive great increase For as Dogs although they bark and bite one another yet as soon as they see and discover the Wolf they agree presently And as when fire taketh hold of an house of which the Master and Family are at variance they forget their private contentions their hatred and their quarrels and run with one consent and mind together to extinguish the fire And as in a great Tempest the Master and Mariners of a Ship who before the Tempest were at mortall feud amongst themselves become friends and endeavor by all means possible to save their Ship least they all perish together with their Ship So the Protestants seeing there was no Wolfe more cruel no fire more terrible no Tempest more dangerous then the Turk submitted themselves with all humility unto the Emperor and aided him with all their power against the Turk In regard of which his Majesty used them most courteously and yeelded much more unto them then they hoped to obtain of him And because his Highness found a rare Loyalty a strange constancy and a marvellous affection in them he vouchsafed to afford them all kind of courtesie until that after that he returned from Tunis where he had got a notable Victory the Catholick Princes bearing themselves bold in regard of that fortunate and happy Success began to brave contemn and despise the Protestants and to threaten them that the Emperor should not keep the Peace of Norimberge nor of Ratisbone Of which insolency the Princes Protestants complained unto his Majesty who answered them most lovingly and assured them that he desired to
end and compose all contentions and Controversies that were in Germany for Religion not by force and violence but by fair means and gentleness praying them to have such an opinion of him and not to be moved with the threats and menaces of their Adversaries This Answer was given unto them when the Emperor was leading his Forces unto Marcelles in France against the King thereof with whom as soon as he was reconciled the Catholicks thinking that he had but dissembled with the Protestants but for a time hoping that he would bend his whole Forces against the Lutherans But he deceived them all and went into Spain from whence he sent an Honourable Ambassage into Germany to let the Protestants and all others understand that he would be very glad that all Contentions Debates and Controversies touching Religion should receive a final end and agreement by a General Assembly and Disputation of learned Divines to the end that the right and true Doctrine of Jesus Christ being by that means laid open and discovered he might establish and confirm the same with his Imperial power and authority It happened not long after that the Emperor had an occasion to pass through France into Flanders then the Enemies of the Reformed Religion began to promise to themselves great wonders and to conceive an assâ—red hope of an invincible power to be levied by the Emperor and the King of France against the Protestants for that then the two cheif Protectors of their Catholick Faith were throughly reconciled and were equally bent against Luther and his Followers and their conceits proved to be most vain and of that Journey followed no good success for them For the Emperor either because he would be still mindful of his promise or for that he knew that the Protestants strength increased daily caused a General Diet to be Assembled wherein although he was daily entreated by the Catholicks to declare open Wars against the Protestants yet he would never take that violent course but ordered that shortly after there should be a general Assembly in which the cause of Religion might be freely and lovingly decided by learned Divines who having lightly discussed some Points of Controversie were commanded by his Majesty to come to Ratisâ—one Where when as all Contentions could not be fully ended his Majesty was contented to refer the final Conclusion unto another General Assembly of which the success and event was so well known that I shall not need to acquaint you with the particulars thereof Now considering the Reasons Varieties and Circumstances of all that hath been said what may a man judge thereof but that the Almighty prevented crossed and hindered the determinations purposes and Enterprises of the Emperor and so guided and directed them that it lay not in their power to confoâ—nd the Protestants by force of Arms For if we shall consider the great strength of the Catholick Princes as well in Foot as in Horse the number of their Souldiers the multitude of their Provisions the greatness of their Treasure the vehemency of their hatred the wilfulness of their perseverance therein their courage their animating and provoking the Emperor against the Protestants and how to win him thereunto they spared no kind of policy cunning and deceit that humane wit could invent and that notwithstanding all their utmost endeavors they were then so far from attaining their purpose that in the very last Diet that was held certain points of Doctine were yeelded unto which before that Assemby both the Emperor and his best Divines held to be most erroneous It must needs be confessed that it was Gods pleasure so to dispose and govern the hearts of those Princes for in that Diet many opinions were received and allowed for good and godly for the maintenance whereof many Protestants had lost their goods their Countries and their lives The Catholicks therefore seeing that they prevailed not greatly by force and violence they cast off the Lyons skin and put on the Foxes whom they counterfeited so well that they brought the Protestants into disgrace by sowing false Rumors and Accusations against them And because they had rather lost much then gotten any thing by disputing with them they caused it to be bruited abroad that the Protestants durst no longer dispute with them and they gave liberty unto all sorts of people without any regard of learning or modesty to raile upon Luther and to write malicious and false Invectives against him A strange course and too much used in these dayes but in my simple opinion a course not now like to have better success then that course then had For as Luther when he saw that it was law 〈◊〉 for every man to exercise the bitterness of his pen against him conceived such malice against the Pope that he discovered many of his follies which might have lien hidden unto this day Even so it is greatly to be feared if men having more Zeal then Learning of greater Malice then Judgement shall be suffered to preach and write against the foolish impugners of our Ecclesiastical Discipline that either their Malice or their Ignorance will utterly disgrace the same because preaching by preaching may unhapply be disgraced and a few turbulent and unquâ—et spitâ—ts may with a small Pamphlet or with a simple Sermon do more harm then a number of learned men shall be able to amend or reform with great pains and travel Had not the Pope given too great encouragement to such as wrote against Luther Had not rude and ignorant men been suffered bitterly to inveigh against his Doctrine Had not certain malicious persons laboured to disgrace him with the Pope and the Emperor Had he not been condemned before he was heard Briefly had not his Books been unjustly adjudged to the fire he had never appealed from the Pope unto a General Council he had never laboured so much as he did in searching out and laying open the Popes Errors He had never made so bitter Invectives as he wrote against the Pope and his Bishops He had never impugned the Pope and his General Councils Auâ—hority He had never implored the Duke of Saxony and other Princes help and countenance He had never procured the Popes Canons to be burned Briefly he had never written a Book against the Catholicks Reformation so many things might and should still have remained as it were buried in obscurity which are now brought to light and made known and palpable to very Babes and Infants They therefore in my simple cenceir did not a little hurt and prejudice unto the Papists and their Cause who peâ—swaded the Pope and Emperor to make wars against Luther and his Adherents For since that time many other Nations besides Germany are fallen from their obedience to the Pope and from their good liking of his Religion and so many and divers opinions are now crept into mens hearts that I take it a thing almost impossible to reconcile those diversities For such is the nature of man that
we hardly change our opinons and yet when we have changed we stand stiff and obstinate in our new and late received conceits and are very hardly removed from them Insomuch that whatsoever the Childe receiveth from his Father or whatsoever the Grandfather teacheth the Grandchildren that seemeth to be irremoveable and subject to no kinde of alteration A man may therefore boldly say yea swear that the Spaniard let him try all the means he can possible shall never inforce a general change in Religion For since his Father whose power although he should surpass yet he shall never match him in good fortune could not constrain the Protestants in the very infancy of Religion to return unto his profession is it credible that the Son should ever be able to compel far and remote Nations mighty and great Princes manly and warlike people which of late years have forsaken Popery to reassume their old opinions But if any man think him great sufficient and mighty enough to effect his disire let that man consider how many how noble and how learned men the cruel War of Charls the Fifth against the Protestants in Germany the most barbarous cruelty of Francis the First against them in France the bloody five years persecution of Queen Mary in England the Spanish Kings terrible and horrible Inquisition in Spain Italy and Flanders lastly the most execrable and hateful Massacre of Paris hath sent headlong and before their times unto another World And when he hath considered all these let him likewise remember that the more these Tyrants murthered the more the Protestants as though others sprang out of their blood encreased daily If all these shall not content and satisfie him let him call to mind how many years the Wars continued in France and Flanders for Religion with far greater obstinacy then with good success and happiness Lastly Let that man weigh with himself how unlikely a thing it is for the Spaniard to prevail against so many Nations who in almost Thirty years continuance hath not been able to replant his own Religion in a few Provinces of one Nation Besides the rare success and the wondrous events that have alwayes followed the Proâ—estants make me beleeve that their Cause is a good Cause and whosoever so beleeveth must likewise beleeve that were their number smaller their Forces weakerâ— their exprience far more slender then it is yet God that can win with a few as well as with many with the weak as well as with the strong will not onely protect them but also confound their Adversaries How many examples find we in prophane Histories which record that small sroops have oftentimes subdued great Armies and that mighty Kings have been put to flight by weak Princes How can we then but think that the Protestants who are Gods Souldiers who fight in his Cause and are defended by his Forces are able to beard the proud Spainard yea to brave and foil all his Confederates It is no small comfort to have God on our â—ide It is a geat Consolation to sight in a good cause And who can desire better advantage then to contend with and Adversary that beginneth to decline that is ready of himself to fall And is not the Pope and his Kingdom in this case Have not many Nations as I said said long since shaken off the intolerable burthen of his grievous yoke and bondage And do not all States when they begin once to decline sooner fall from the half way towards the end and to their utter destruction then from the beginning of their first declination unto the middest of their downfull Shall not those then that seek to defend Popery do even as a Physitian doth when he laboureth to preserve a very weak and old man from the danger of death Hath not St. Paul said that Antichrist shall perish as soon as he beginneth to be known And if God by the mouth of St. Paul hath pronounced this Judgement this Sentence against him who either can or will be able to prevent or hinder the execution thereof He is now no more able to encounter with Henries Othons and Fredericks great and mighty Emperors He hath no more Kings of France to fight in his quarrels No more Kings of England to be Defenders of his Faith No more Switzers to be Protectors of his Church all these have forsaken him and by Example of these many other Princes have learned not to set a Fig by him Thus the First point is cleared now it remaineth to clear the second and to make it appear that the Spanâ—ard although he could yet he should not constrain his Subjects by force of Armes to change their Religion This point although it hath been already touched in some manner yet it was not so sufficiently handled but that it needeth a more ample Declaration For the better understanding therefore of this Question you shall understand that the Common people which are Princes Subjects never did and particular men although they change their lives yet they leave most commonly behinde them their posterity and their Children which succeed them not onely in their Lands and Inheritances but also in their quarrels and affections Insomuch that there dieth scant any man so bad so wicked so unbeloved but that he leaveth behinde him either children kinsmen or friends who will not onely be sorry for his death but also revenge the same if he chance to be violently or wrongfully put to death This appeareth by the Wars of France and Flanders This appeared most evidently by the Bloody and long Civil contentions that were betwixt Lewis the last Earl of Flanders for after his death the Earldom fell to the House of Burgondy as it did after the death of the County Charles unto the house of Austria and the Citizens of Gaunt who after that they had unadvisedly born arms against their said Earl and began to repent themselves of their folly most humbly intreated the Dutchesse of Brabant the Bishop of Leige and other Noble men to be Mediators of a friendly peace betwixt them and their Earl The Dutchesse and the rest became humble Suitors for the poor Gantois the Earl was obstinate and would not yeeld to their Request unless the Inhabitants of Gaunt would be content to meet him at a place appointed bare-headed and bare-footed with halters about their necks and there ask him pardon and forgiveness which being done he would then pardon them if he thought good The rich Citizens hearing these hard conditions and considering that when they had made this humble submission it was doubtfull and uncertain whether they should be pardoned or no of humble Suitors became most desperate Rebels and as Men careless of their lives resolved rather to die then to yeeld to so unreasonable conditions and with this resolution before they were constrained to leave their Town not above Five Thousand of them issued out of the City and as roaving Wolves seeking for their prey went in a great
and the Chastilians and Montmorency then those competencies were nourished by the Spaniard for his benefit and not to subvert the protestants and that the King might and would easily have reduced all his subjects to one Religion had not the Spaniard hindred his course for even towards his latter days perceiving that wars were not the right and ready means to subvert the protestants he took another way which was to forbid them to resort to the Court or to enjoy any Offices Dignities Governments or Benefices whereby he mâ—de the old Hugonots cold in their Religion and to suffer their children to become Catholiques that they might be admitted as well as others unto Honours and that very few or none that were not protestants before fell to the open profession of their Religion which course if it were taken with both kind of Recusants in England would sooner call them home then other courses that are taken against them Again The same Author thought the French King worthy of deprivation because he was in his opinion disloyal and not trusty unto his old and ancient friends and favoured not the House of Guise so much as they deserved the which crime may very well be returned upon the Spanish King who when he might have pleased one of his best friends and one of the mightiest Kinsmen that he had refused to pleasure the one or the other when the pleasure done unto them should greatly have benefitted all Christendom For when as Pope Gregory the thirteenth purposing with the aid and assistance of certain Christian Princes to have undertaken a sudden enterprise against the Turk to the benefit and augmentation of Christendom prayed the Spaniard to have some help and succour he not only refused to send him any manner of help but also would not lend him any of his Gallies which the Pope offered to have entertained and sent to that enterprize at his own charges But this unkindness was nothing in respect of the discurtesie and disloyalty which he shewed unto Don Sebastian late King of Portugal the which unnatural and unkinde practise all Christendom hath occasion to lament for when as Sebastian intending to aid Muly Mahomet King of Fez and Morocco against Muly Malucco his brother who had driven him out of his Kingdom which intention by reason of the profitable composition which Sebastian had made with the said Mahomet had greatly advanced all Christendom required the Spaniard his Uncle to give him help towards this honourable action he promised to furnish him with fifty Gallies well appointed and with four thousand fighting Souldiers The which when Malucco heard he offered him presently certain Maritime Cities if he would not assist his Nephew the which condition the covetous Spaniard accepted and was not ashamed to forsake his own Kinsman and a Christian King and entred into League with a barbarous Infidel But he was rewarded accordingly for when he sent Vernegas his Ambassadour to take possession of the City Zaracha and of other Towns that were promised unto him The Barbarians mocking him for his covetousness and disloyalty made his Ambassador to dislodge with cannon shot But he forsook his Nephew as some say of purpose knowing that for his honour and the maintenance of his promise Don Sebastian would adventure himself in that enterprize although he had not help from the Spaniard and so losing his life in defence of so honourable a quarrel leave him a great possibility to attain unto the Kingdom of Portugal which fell out as you have heard according to his expectation Lastly The same Author concludeth the French King to deserve to be deprived of his Crown because he was in his opinion a Tyrant But you shall hear the marks whereby a Tyrant is known and then judge whether he or the Spaniard may best be called and reputed a Tyrant Bartol in his short Treatise of Tyrannie setteth ten principal observations to know and discern a Tyrant from a good and just King which he took out of Plutarch his book de Regimine Principum First Such Princes kill the mightiest men in their country that they may not rebel against them Secondly They keep their doings hidden and secret from wise men that they may not reprehend their actions and provoke the common people to rebellion Thirdly They suppress Learning and the Students and Professors thereof left they should wax wise and dislike their unlawful proceedings Fourthly They suffer no great meetings or general assemblies of their Subjects lest that they should enter into some conspiracy against them Fifthly They have their spies in every corner and place to hearken and observe what men say of them for knowing that they do not well they alwaies fear to be ill spoken of and therefore they entertain those spies very willingly Sixthly They maintain their Subjects in Divisions that the one part standing in continual fear of the other both may be afraid to rebel Seventhly They keep their subjects as low and poor as they can possible that being continually occupied and busied in getting their livings they may have no time or leisure to conspire against them Eighthly They nourish wars and send their souldiers afar off from home because that by wars their subjects are impoverished and they provided of sufficient souldiers to defend them in their unjust quarrels Ninthly They have their guards of strangers and not of their own subjects because they stand in great fear of their own Lastly When their subjects are divided they favour the one part that the other may the more easily be destroyed by their help These be the properties which Bartol examineth in this manner to kil Noblemen and not to spare his own brethren is the action of a tyrant unless the murther be grounded upon a just occasion to suppress wise men is likewise tyrannical except they commit some offence worthy of death to hinder Learning is not a work beseeming a just Prince unless he doth forbid the study of such Sciences as are not lawful and fit to be entertained in a Christian Commonwealth to permit no assemblies of subjects argueth tyrannical inhumanity if their assemblies tend not to evil purposes to entertain spies may be lawful if it be for the punishment of sin and not for the suppressing or false accusation of good and loyal subjects to nourish divisions can in no wise be commendable because a good Prince should procure his subjects peace quiet and tranquility to impoverish subjects is simply most unlawful for that the wealth of their subjects is the riches of good Princes and good Kings will rather labour to enrich them then to impoverish them to comfort then to afflict them to succour then to leave them succourless to procure forraign wars for any other cause but to avoid wars at home is a manifest argument of a notable Tyrant and especially if his wars be unjust to have a guard of strangers may be lawful if a Princes subjects may not be trusted if they have been such
it was not Religion but private quarrels that caused a division in his Kingdom and this division was as you have heard and shall hear maintained and nourished by the Spaniard For when the troubles began first in France the princes of Vendosme and Conde being displeased with the greatness of the House of Guise drew into their faction and side the Houses of Montmorency and Chastilian that they might be the better able with their help to prevent and withstand the encrease and advancement of the late Duke of Guise his Father and Uncle who had usurped and gotten into their hands all the authority credit and power of the Kingdom during the minority of Francis the second their Nephew afterwards the same Duke of Guise and the Constable fall into variance for no other cause but for that the first was jealour of the other both of them being in great favour and credit with Henry the third Four principal causes encreased and nourished the contention between these two princes The first was the office of great Master of France which the King gave unto the Duke of Guise when he made the Duke of Montmorency Constable of France who was great Master before and had a promise of the King that the office should have been reserved for his son The second occasion of their discontentment was the Earldom of Dampmartin which both of them had bought of sundry persons pretending right thereunto and when they had sued for the same a long time in Law the Constable obtained the suit The third cause of their discontentment was because the one of them seeking by all means possible to discredit and disgrace the other the Constable procured the Duke of Guise to be sent into Italy that he might in his absence possess the King wholly and alone and when he was there he could not do any thing worth his labour or worthy of commendation because the Constable either fore-slowed or hindred his business But the Duke of Guise being returned out of Italy and finding that the Constable was taken prisoner at St Laurence to be revenged of the indignities offered whilst he was in Italy procured that the Constable was held a long time in prison and used all the policies that he could devise to delay and defer his deliverance the which delays occasioned his Nephews of Chastilian to crave aid and assistance of the late King of Navarra and the Prince of Conde his brother who had married his Neece The fourth and last cause of their strife and difference was the competency between the Prince of Conde and the Duke of Iamvile for the office and charge of Colonel of the light Horsemen of France This debate and emulation being begun and having continued a long time debate and emulation being begun and having continued a long time in this manner it hapned that the first Author thereof being dead the Duke of Guise prevailed too much in the French Court the which the Lords of Chastilian perceiving to their great sorrow and discontentment left the Court and in returning from thence were it in earnest or in policy began to favour the Lutherans of France who at that time began to preach in cellars and in houses secretly and became their friends more to defend themselves from the House of Guise then to seek and procure any alteration or change of Religion until that the King himself at the instigation and instance of the Duke of Iamvile took Monsieur de Andeles at Cressy and sent him prisoner to Molin and imprisoned the Videan of Chatres and many others These imprisonments and years of further mischiefs caused the friends and followers of the Constables to prepare with great silence and secrecy a mighty Army in Germany with which he purposed to make an horrible execution of the House of Guise under a colour to free the King from that bondage wherein the late Dukes of Guise and Aumale held him of which followed the great execution of Amboise the rigorous commandment that was given to the King of Navarra and the imprisonment of the Prince of Conde at the assembly of States held at Orleans and many other accidents which had continued with far greater cruelty then was used against the Houses of the Constable and of Chastilian had not the sudden death of the young King prevented the bloody intentions of the House of Guise The unexpected death of the young King perplexed and dejected the House of Guise much and surely they had been reduced unto extream desperation had not the Spanish King revived their hope and put them in great comfort who until he saw them in great extremity stood in doubt which part to favour most and kindled the fire of dissention on both sides to the end it might at the length burn and consume France in such manner as it did of late years It was the Spanish King that when the King of Navarra was made Governour of Charls the ninth and the Constable restored to his ancient Honour and Dignity supported the Duke of Guise and gave him such counsel that he both won the King of Navarra and the Constable to favour him and his enterprises against their own Brothers and Nephews and took the young King and his Mother at Fountain-bleau and carried them to Melind The Queen-mother grieved with this captivity of the King and her self was sain to entreat the Prince of Conde and the Lords of Chastilian to help to set him and her at liberty And then the said Prince and Lords not being able to resist of themselves so mighty enemies as the Guisards were especially being aided with the power and authority Royal became protestants in good earnest and declaring themselves Protectors and Heads of the Huguenots craved their assistance wherewith they seized upon many Cities of France not making any mention of their Religion but pretending to free the King and his Mother from that captivity wherein the House of Guise held them It was the King of Spain who when the Duke of Guise was slain at Orleans by Poltrot practised with the Cardinal his Brother to entertain and maintain the divisions in France not to subvert the Lutherans but to weaken the Kingdom wherein the Cardinal proceeded so cunningly that he drew the Queen-mother from the Prince of Conde and the Chastilians by whom she was set at liberty by perswading that the Prince of Burbone the Constable and the Chastilians sought her utter ruine and subversion and would never leave until they had sent her into Italy unto her friends there for which she conceived so great displeasure and indignation against them that she caused the one brother to be killed at the Battel of Iarvack and the other at the Massacre of Paris it is thought that if the Montmorencies had been there at the same time they had drunk of the same cup. Thus you see that the troubles of France grew not for Religion but for competency and emulation that was betwixt the House of Guise