to feare if these Israelites feared so much at the building of an Altar vvhych vvas meant to the honour of God and onely contrary to the outward shevv of the vvordes of the lavve shall not vve tremble at thys Alter vvhich all the charity in the vvorld can not conceiue vvell of as that vvhich hath none vse but to serue the deuil good Nehemiah for one piece of thys our sin found in the people feared the wrath of God proclaymed publike fasting prayer Let vs folovv his example that the Lord may be still our God and remember vs to do vs good Much more haue vve to shake for that thys our turning frō God in straunge mariage and permitting strange Gods vvhich the liuing God turne from vs should be more foule and more grosse thenany of those former vvhiche neuerthelesse deserued and had such plagues For it cannot I dare say be shevved in all the holystory that those people of God in the vvorst mariage emōg them did yet euer make any precedent pact or articulat cōdition aforehand vvith the Idolaters that they should quietly agaynste the lavves of theyr holy land commit Idolatry but rather at firste the Idolaters dissembling theyr ovvne or making semblant of the true religiō fayre foftly vvan by little little through familiarity mutuall conuersation of lyfe after mariage by a stealing insinuation or flattery and creping persvvasion daungerous therefore to haue any sort of felovvship vvith the vvicked an open exercise of theyr paganisme But if any man perswade our Prince in vvhose handes the Lorde hath put and holden a soueraigne scepter of peace novv twenty yeeres and more and by vvhose handes the Lord hath quite expelled Idolatrye he make her and vs thankfull for it vppon cammunication of thys mariage to indent vvith man hovv farre God should be honoured vvhat is thys but to sinne more then the supposed sin of the Reubenites to excede the transgressions of Salomon or Iehoram euen to erecte an Idolatrous altar not in a corner of the Realme but on the hyghest hyll of the land in London vvhich is our Ierusalem and to make an open fault not of infirmitye but by addised composition agaynst the Lord and hys truth not in tvvo shires and a halfe but in the greatest part of the realme and head of the land our prince in so much as it should be safer to set vp a thousande hyll alters for hedgecreping Priestes other where rather then thys high Altar so neere the Court. The sinne of Achan though not in thys kind proues that the sin of one man and hym pryuate doen in secrete and buried close vnder the ground gaue forth such a stench in the Lords nostrels as was contagious to the vvhole host and hys garmente brought the plague emong them Much more shall the hygh sin of a highest magistrate doen and auoued in open son kindle the vvrath of God and set fire on church and common weale And this fire if it fasten on our church it is like wild fyre or fire from heauen that all the seas can not stoppe nor quench but the flakes thereof wyll flye ouer sea and keepe hauoke in the churches both on thys side and beyoind seas Our neighbour vvel builded church of Scotland must needes think hir selfe to haue some what in hand vvhen our wall is aburning The infant churches in the lovv countryes shall loose a nource of vs The elder churches in Garmani a sister of strength And vvhen I remember the poore orphane churches in france I must needes giue the pryce of godlesse impudencie to those vvhich vvyll needes forsooth mayntaine thys mariage as a mean to assure religion in fraunce and to preferue the professors there from more massacres These men haue lyke vnkind mothers put as it vvere theyr owne child the church of England to be nour sed of a french enemy and friend to Rome and novv very kindly they take in both armes the church of fraunce and giue it a priuy deadly nipp vnder colour of offering it their teates vvherein is nought but vvind if not poyson As therefore the ennemies to Gods truth seeke those churches ruin throug hatred to religion so should we who are members of one body vvith them haue a care of them as of our selues The enemies think there kingdom of Antichrist can not stand vnles Christ be put out of these churches let vs knovv as those reformed Churches next vnder God and theyr owne forces haue stoode by good neighbourhood euen so that there standing is our necessary strength Certainly the Pope seeth vvell that one great staye vvhy neyther the French King in Fraunce nor the Spanish king in the low countryes can destroy religion is the helpe and avve of other Princes confessing the gospell emong which our Queene is in regard with the chiefe A game he seeth as vvell that next vnder God one greate cause vvhy hys interdictions against vs take no place in England nor Ireland and that those kings to whom hee hath giuen our land as it vvere to vvhom soeuer occupanti can not come to take possession of vs is because that they of the reformed religion in both those countryes are as a brazen doore and an yron wall agaynst our popish enemies and therefore by thys match he seekes to sunder them from vs and vs from them and so by vnbarring our brazen doore and treading dovvne our vval to lay open hys passage to vs I vvill not therefore vouchsafe this straunge suppositon of these persvvaders the place of an obiection to be aunsvvered in the ende but vvill vse it for an other mayn reason of proofe in thys part that thys mariage is agaynst the church because it is agaynst the churches of Fraunce the vvhich it must needes kill in the place as they say and vvithall giue our church a deathes wound Here is therefore an imp of the crovvne of Fraunce to marye vvith the crovvned Nymphe of Englande It is proued alreadye that his comming shakes the church in Englande and hovv shall he stablish the religion in France VVhat is France to the church of God and to England for religions sake Fraunce is a house of crueltie especially against Christians a principll prop of the tottering house of Antichriste and vvithout vvhich our VVesterne Antichriste had bene ere this sent to his brother Mahomet into Greece vvhether he long sence sent his maisters the Emperoures of Rome The long and cruell persecutions in Fraunce the exquisite torments and infinite numbers there put to death doe vvitnes hovv worthy that throne is to be reckoned for one horn of that persecuting beast the primitiue Empire Thys man is a son of Henrye the second vvhose familie euer since he maryed vvith Catherine of Italie is fatal as it vvere to to resist the Gospell and haue bene euer oney after other as a domitian after Nero as a Traian after domitian and as Iulianus after Traian VVhose manifest cruelties and
father must goe and take Marguerit the daughter of Lewis the eyght for a vvyfe to hys son Henry and for his son Richard tooke Aelix an other daughter of Fraunce vvhich alliances proued such assurances to Henry the second as his last fiue or sixe yeeres vvere nothing but an vnkinde stryfe with his ovvne sons and especially hys sonne Rychard made open vvarre against him and vvan from him a part of Normandie by the helpe of his trustie friend Lewes the French king After thys vvhen Rychard him selfe was king not vvithstanding all the French friendships and alliances at vvhat tyme he vvas taken prisoner in hys returne from Ierusalem the French king vvas not ashamed to excite Iohn the brother of England to seize himselfe of the crovvne The sayd Iohn vvhen he vvas king marieng the daughter of the Earle of Engolesme in Fraunce and his son Henry the third hauing maried first a daughter of the Earle of prouence and secondly french Marguerit sister to Phillip the fayer found in the seueral dayes of theyr raignes the French king to be no better then a pricke in theyr sides taking part against them and prouoking theyr people to be as it vvere thornes in theyr feete Edvvard the second succeding his auncesters aswell in theyr vnhappy folly as in they re kingdome vvill needes marry vvith Isabel daughter to the same Phillip vvhich proued such an assurance to hymselfe as that hys French vvife vvas able to bereaue hym first of hys son carying him into Fraunce and hauing there made a strong part could returne and bereaue her husband of hys liberty and kingdome and in the ende of hys lyfe to after a vvretched captiuitie vnder hys owne son So that of old the alliances of Fraunce dyd set husbande and vvife together by the eares as in Henry the second and Edvvarde the second the father and son together as they did Henry the second and hys three sons Henry Rycharde and Iohn brother against brother as Rychard and Iohn the king and hys people togither as they did king Iohn and Henry the thyrd against the people and as they did aftervvard in Rychard the second Henry the sixt vvhich the duke Thomas of Glocester in his tyme vvell foresavv and therefore vpon treaty of the like mariage for Rychard the second vvho hauing novv raigned xix yeeres and being thyrtye yeeres olde fell amourous most vnkindlye and vnkingly vvith a french girle but eyght yeeres of age daughter to Charles the sixt French king he the same Thomas of Glocester vncle to the king stept vp and vvithstode that match hauing belike in these former experiences obserued the truth of that general rule set dovvne vpon the French by that Greeke Emperor And because I find the vvords of thys Duke set dovvne more expresly in a French chronicle then any vvhere els I vvill vse theyr ovvne vvords as the fittest testimony in thys case The alliance of Fraunce sayth that Duke in that french story hath bene the ruine of England and this nevve frendship betvveene these kings sayth the Duke shall neuer make me loke for any assured peace attvvene thē for sayth he ther vvas neuer yet any trust or religiō or truth in the vvord or promises of the french VVhat an auncient hereditary disease of disloyalty is this in the royall seate of Fraunce especially since the Maiors of the housholde became kinges And though thys Dukes voice in thys counsell vvere ouerruled by the multitude or rather by the lust of the king yet did the king and his people and their children feele hovve true it was in sequele For first thys externe amitie with Fraunce bred home enemitye in England It cost vs for an earnest penny the tovvne of Brest in Britanie by meanes of the kings outlandish Queen And poore king Richard vsing in priuate connsaise altogether the French companions such as his vvyfe brought began to disdeyne his ovvne naturall kinsmen and subiects and finallye follovving ouermuch the cruell and riotous counsel of such minions namely the Constable of Fraunce and Erle of S. Pol vvhō the French king sent of purpose to king Rycharde his son in lavve polling the people and putting to death such nobles as his french counsail put in hys head in the end he vvas quite vnkinged by Henry of Lancaster afterwardes Henry the fourth vvho during the tyme that he platted thys enterprise founde hospitalitye in Fraunce for all king Rychards alliance vnder his father in lavves nose The French match it vvas vvhich vvithin one yere brought the king to dishonorable captiuitie death and deposing vvhich appeares for that in story it is rekoned emong other thinges that alienated from him the loue of hys subiects so farre as when he vvas taken hys enemy vvas fayne to saue hys lyfe by garde from hys ovvn people and also it is obiected agaynst hym that he had made thys alliance vvith Fraunce not calling to counsail the thre estates of England Euen the last mariages vve made vvith France vvere lyke vnhappy to the end Henry the fift that noble king had the alliance of Katherin daughter to Charles the seauenth of Fraunce and after had the possession of Fraunce first by right of descent and mariage then by conquest of sword and lastly by couenant agreed with king Charles and his peeres yet coulde he none othervvise hold theyr loue but hauing theyr necks vnder hys yoke VVhych vnion of possession and right to that realme vvas aftervvard fortified by crouning hys sonne Henry the sixt in Paris and by a nevv match betweene hym and Marguerit daughter of a French Charles as most men saien vvhich cost hym first for a princely brybe the dukedome of Angeow and Ereldome of Main and after many miserable destructions of our English cheualry people lost both the new cōquired title ancient heriditarye dominions on that side and finally vvrought an ignominious depriuation of Henry the sixt from this realme I think I might set dovvue all such matches as vnhappy ones and contrarivvise those matches nothing so vnhappy but for the most parte prosperous vvhich were made eyther at home or in other places as vveren al those mariages made since Henry the sixt as by Edvvarde the fourth her Maiesties greatgraundfather and by her maiesties graundfather and by her father And if a sister or daughter vvho had no or dinarye counsail allowed her out of France could yet continually preuaile so much to the trobling of the state and deposing of the king here vvhat peril is it to dravv hether a brother vvho is to haue his ordinarye counsail and some gard of force and continuall-intelligence with the French king and is also to be a leader and executer of any deuise himselfe vvhich a French woman could not doe so vvell the daunger therefore in thys match is encreased beyond that in the former matches for there the party for or by vvhom the danger came vvas a vvoman and therefore
dishonour to her spouse vvith the separating her from her Lord God and vvith the treading vnder foot of that precious lavve vvhich îs her holy rule for order and souereigne preseruatife againste all headlong confusion if they say yea vve say nay and proue it nay Namely that this procuration of mariage is a breach of Gods lawe and not onely for the sinne thereof is against the church because it hasteneth vengeaunce but vve shevve by demonstratiue reasons that it goeth to the very gorge of the Church I trust I shall not neede to proue to these mens consciences this Maior proposition or Maxime that is to say Syn prouoketh the wrath of God and that greate sinnes call down great plages and mighty sinners are mightily punished This argument The vvorld sinneth such a citie sinneth such a land sinneth such a try be such a kindred such a family such a soule sinneth Ergo the vvorld such a city land trybe kindred family soule shall feele the vengeance of that high lavvgeuer against vvhom they sinne is a most necessary consequence This next though it be but the Minor in order and vvill not perhappes vvithout farther proofe be yelden vnto by thys kynde of protestātes yet is it as true as the former that is that it is a sin a greate and a mightye sinne for England to geue one of Israels daughters to any of Hemors sonnes to match a daughter of God vvith one of the sonnes of men to couple a Christian Ladye a member of Christ to a Prince good sonne of Rome that Antichristian mother citie For the inuincible manifestastion therfore of this truth let vs first consider England as a region purged from Idolatry a kingdome of light confessing Christ and seruing the liuing God Contrariwise Fraunce a den of Idolatrye a kingdome of darkenes confessing Belial and seruing Baal Then let vs remember vvhat was the first institution of mariage which is set before vs as a directory rule for vs in our mariages for euer and vvhereunto Christ teacheth vs playnly in al cases and other incidentes of mariage to looke back vvhen vpon a case put of mariage he aunsweres IN THE BEGINNING IT VVAS NOT SO. The first mariages were betvvene payres in Religion and in the feare of god And the first vvritten commaundements that are giuen by Moses touching mariage haue their regard to that first institution as it were to the oldest lavve The vvhich Moses rightly vnderstanding and according to the interpretation of al lawes vvhen they bid or forbid any thing do therevvith forbid or bid the contrarye He also in Denteronomie forbad those matches vvherein the sonnes of God vvere giuen to the daughters of mē adding thys reason for saith he such mariages wil make thy children to fal from me And this place at once may expound those other many places vvhere it is sayd least they make thy children to commit Idolatry to be added as a certaine punishment by the iudgement of God and not for a doubtfull reason as some vvould fayn haue it that seke to dravv the lavves of God to their lustes who should rather rule theyr lustes by the lawes VVhich pure institution of mariage S. Paul also continues when enlarging the holy vse thereof to all sortes of men he yet hath this restraint that it be in the Lord that is to saye in his feare as it was from the beginning and according to his former commaundements in his vvorde It is more then enough to breake the holy ordinaunce instituted of God vvhich ought to gouerne vs without further enqui rye of reason or commodity But as the holinesse of his lavves is holesome to vs euen in this life by obedience so doth theyr trāsgression breede vs infinite incommodities For the ende of this holy kind of mariage is our mutuall helpe and vpholdiug one an other in the feare of god vvhich appeareth by the reason of forbidding those vnholy mariages vvhich is least sayth the spirit of God their sonnes drawe your daughters or their daughters your sonnes from the lord Nowe as the one comes to passe vvhere thorder of God is kept so the contrary effect must iustly followe vpon neglect especially if such a mariage be made in a gospellike land vvhere the lavv of God is preached and contrarye to warning giuen out of Gods booke Then vvithout peraduenture all blessing is taken awaye and the plague follovveth And to teach our politiques by reasonable argumentes what other reasons haue the lavves of all lands to ioyne like to like in mariage but for the norishing of peace and loue betvvene man and vvife and for the vvell bringing vp of the children in euery familye vvherby to make them profitable members in some seruiceable vocation considering that families are the seedes of Realmes and petie partes of common vveales where if there be good order the vvhole land is vvell ordered and contrary as in anye instrument if euery string or many strings be out of tune the whole musick is marred and who so vvill preserue any entier must conserue euery part so if the families be distempered and out of tune the vvhole land is disturbed Thinke you that the common vveal can haue this care for her lesse partes and thus prouide for the vvell trayning vp of her chil dren that the church of England vvherin this holy lavv of religious matching marying the faithful vvith the faythful is giue by Christ to this end that their children might be sanctified and holily brought vp in christian religion thinke you I say that the church wil easely depart vvith her deere daughter her daughter of hiest honor Elizabeth the Queene of England vvho is the tēple of the holy ghost and vvill not hold her fast in her louing armes as being loath to giue her to a straunger one that hath shevved no signes of regeneration and her selfe vvant thassistaunce of a faythfull husband and her children of her body if any she haue vvhich receiue outvvard sanctification and entry into the bosom of the church thorough the promise of their faythfull parentes be in danger to be profaned before they be borne and to be corrupted after they are borne and thorovvout al their education S. Paul speaking of contrary couplings together compareth them to the vneuen yoking of the cleane Oxe to the vncleane Asse a thing forbidden in the lawe And here againe the lawes of men vvhieh medle but vvith the distribution of the things of this life haue learned this equitie of the lavves of God that it is a greate disparagement for health to be ioyned in mariage vvith any foule disease for beuty vvith deformity youth vvith decrepite age or to tender a townes man daughter to a gentilman of birth A citizen of Rome vvoulde hold foule scorne to mary a Barbariane And the common vvealthes of England Fraunce I dare say vvould meruail if eyther our Queene or Monsieur being both great princes borne and of
Lord of Heauen and earth be against those interdictions in the law which seeme to compas in no more but the Canaanites Iebusites c. And mere pagan nations and whether to mary with the papist who in generall termes protesteth Christ be to mary in the lord To answere these men whose doubts procede euer of they re lust to giue themselues liberty and not of a conscience affrayd to offend God I might say that if to confes the Lord of heauen and earth be ynough to auoid those interdictions then might we entermary with Turks Iewes Moscouites and diuers other painnimes and as far as I remēber with some of the Cannibals Looke the storyes of the new Indians And albeit the Papist protest Christ in word yet sith the vnity of the Church is noted to be herein that Christians be the houshold of faith in the fundamental doctrine whereof what it is what is the vse worthines working thereof the papistes dissenting from vs as farre as they that scatter wher we gather it wil be hard to make them of one faithful houshold with vs. But to yeelde them a degree somevvhat nearer vs then Canaanites compare them with the Moabites and the Ammonites who were cosens to Israell by the flesh and had Lot for theyr father or let them stand with Ishmael Abrahams bastards son yea at once let them be in regard to vs with Edome Israels twinne brother both which had the circumcision of flesh yet vvas it not lavvful for the Isralites to mary with them in Salomon namely it is counted emong other his sinful mariages that he maryed with those nations But that we may yet giue somewhat more to these strayners for lustes sake at a gnat and swallowers of a Camel through conscience for they are more precise to doe popery wrong then to doe the gospell right let vs I say suffer the popish churche to be made more of then she is worth let vs take her at the best and in as good accompt as any learned gospeller hetherto hath set her and let her haue the allowaunce of two or three graines to be massier then the Edomite and finer then the pagane to hang in an euen ballance and to be of one assaie or touche with the Idolatrous and trayterous Israelits that fel from God and were false to the house of Dauid theyr king yet shal papistes be to light and to drossie to mary with vs For neither was it lawfull nor luckie for the Iewes to mary with those Ieroboamical Israelites for al theyr ontward circumcision and though they worshipped on the hill of the patriark fathers For this purpose reade well the storye of Iehoram king of Iehuda the son of good Iohosaphat that made a notable reformation in Gods house and for all his fathers sake you shall see it obiected against him and rendred as a reason of his other great outragious sins that he had maried in the house of Achab king of the Samaritane Israelites The wickednes and sinne of vvhyche kinde of mariage as it is euinced by the very word of God and punishment vpon the person of Iehoram so îs it proued by the horrible punishments following vpon his generation For Ahaziah or Ochoziah son of Iehoram by reason of the Quene mother Athalia fell in such a leag vvith the king of Israell that taking his quarel he fel with him vpon the svvord of Iehu After vvhose death the Queene mother and dovvagier Athalia plaied Rex and slew al the princes of the blood and peeres of Iudah All which murdures began and are set downe to haue com for that mariage with the daughter of Achab whose seede the Lord had sayd to purseu to the rote VVherby it appeares that whoso matcheth with any vvicked race doe make themselues and their sede partakers of the sinnes and plagues of that race and their auncesters And because the match of fraunce with thitalian Athalia hir furies in that lande especiallye those at the mariage of her daughter Margeret vvill of themselues applye them selues in euery respect to agree vvith her of Iudea and proue the sin and punishment of such vvicked vvilling matches betvvene Christian true Ievves and popish bastard Israelites I onely name it and leaue it to the trembling consideration of all especially of suche as it neerest toucheth vvhom I besech in Gods name to stand vveightily vpon it These things do necessarily infer the third proposion vvhich is the conclusion or finall sentence of Gods punishment against this poore church for this sinne if it be committed Faire therefore is their pretext of peace to the Church vvho seeke that thing that must be the cause of such a vvoefull effect So that if our mariage makers be not so spirituall as that the sin vvhich this mariage hath simply in it selfe and of it selfe onely for being against Gods lavv can not make them yeld to confes the daunger it bringeth to the church let vs compel them to come in by looking at the tayle of sinnes and punishments that this venemous serpent of sin draggeth after it It is not in Gods church as in the Grecian host there delirant reges plectuntur Achiui but vvith vs Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis The sin of the Prince maketh the people to sin vvhereby euery one beareth his sin and the Lord findes matter ynough in Prince and people to vvrap the one and the other in the same calamitye In reasoning it is truely sayd one absurditie begetteth an other euen so hath sin a fruitfull generation and as the vertues are sayd to be chained together so is neuer one vice or sin alone But specially the breach of this lavve of God in vvhom soeuer priuate person it lighteth dravveth not onely a certaine falling avvay to the goodman or goodvvife of the house so vngodly maryed but a daunger also to children seruants and euery reteiner of that houshold much more manifold is the danger vvhē the honorable dame and as in humblenes I may say the goodvvife of Englād shold be so which God forbid vneuēly matched It vvere more perilous to the ouerthrovv of Religion in thys faythful houshold of England then if in one day vvere consummate the like mariages of a hundred thousand of other her subiects for the straightest and roundest going Prince shall vvyth much a doe keepe his people vpright especially in Religion But let the Prince laake neuer so little and the people vvil halt right dovvne The Princes fal is like that of a mighty Oake vvhich beares dovvn vvith it many armes and braunches therfore is it often recited in the scripture that Ieroboam sell avvay frō God and all Israell vvith him again for the sins of Ieroboam vvhereby he caused all Israell to sinne against the Lord. Novv if the French fautors of this mariage vvhich can enlarg theyr pollicy and mince the vvord of God as they list vvill yet cast about an other
the morrovv after our mariage and Monsieur repare home as we may be svre he would into hys natiue country a larger and better kingdom then by all likelihode eyther must our Elizabeth goe vvith him out of her ovvne natiue country and svvete soyle of England vvhere she is Queene as possessor and inheritor of thys imperial crovvne vvithall regall rights dignities perogatiues pre heminences priuileges autorities and iuredictions of thys kingly office and hauing the kingrike in her owne person into a forrain kingdome vvhere her vvritt doth not runn shal be but in a borovved Maiestie as the moone to the sonn shining by night as other kings vvyues and so she that hath ruled all this vvhile heere shal be there ouer ruled in a straung land by some belledame not vvithout avve perhapps of a sister in lavv and vve hyr poore subiects that haue bene gouerned hetherto by a naturall mother shal be ouerlooked at home by some cruel and proud gouernour or els must she tary here vvithout comfort of her husband seing her selfe despised or not vvifelike esteemed and as an eclipsed son diminished in souereinty hauing such perhappes appoynted to serue hyr and be at her commaundement after the french phrase vvhich in playn English vvill gouerne her and her state In thys great matter vvhat an illuding ansvver is it agayn by the particular example of the king of Spayne to put avvay thys reason grounded vpon these tvvo generall rules The first is that a straunger mighty king brought into a realme to ayde them as vvas the Turke and his sarasins or vpon any lighter occasion vvill hardly be gotten out againe The second a straunger king dravven in by our sins and sent by Gods iustice for our punishment is not ridd vvithout Gods extraordinary help Novv syr because vve vvere once happily dispatched of Spayne therefore vve shall once againe commit thys gross follye and contemne that generall rule of policie And because the Lord in mercy dyd once deliuer vs from Spayn therfore vve vvill tempt him agayn by deliuering our selues into the hands of Fraunce Alas for these men if king Phillip had neuer maryed Queene Mary and if thys matter had ben to dispute xxvij yeeres agoe then had they had no one reason for theyr side nor no ansvver to escape any of our arguments and thys absurd manner of reasoning is very Macciauelian logick by particular examples thus to gouern kingdoms and to set dovvn general rules for his prince vvhereas particulars should be vvarranted by generals But there mayster vvrested hys vngratious vvit euer to the mayntenance of a present state and these foolish schoolers put forth theyr gross conceipts to the ouerthrovv of thys present in hope of I vvot not vvhat futur common vvealth of their ovvn head Some subtilty ther is also in this aunsvver that vvhen vve are to deliberate of Fraunce vvhych is the more nere and more auncient therfore more daungerous enemy to anoy vs vvith his forces and to hold vs if he once haue vs they bryng vs in example Spayn a more remote potentate an auncient friend one that vvas at that tyme of one religion vvith thys kingdom and therfore not so pricked to hasten some chaung in our state as thys man vvho being ledd by Antichrist must not endure vvith any patience that state vvher Christ is Moreouer our dispofitiō more ready to vvarr with Fraunce then vvith Spayn is holpē by more continual occasions giuē of both sides by more cōueniencie of means to perform sodenly vvhich vvill make them let no opportunity slyp that may bring so com bersome a neighbour vnder thē as vve are And better may they do it novv then might the king of Spayn then for thē was Spain at vvars with Fraunce neyther vvas it lyke that Fraunce would haue bene holden by any frendship while he should haue suffered a more pnissant neighbour set hys foote heere vvhom he might so easely let by helping vs But now is there no enemity betvvene Fraunce and Spayne to let thys practise they are of kin by the flesh and by theyr religion and the holy leage ties them togither in that respect as it vvere faggotstiks And in truth Spayn being so far and Fraunce so nere Fraunce hath great aduantage in thys cōparison and cannot be so letted of Spayne as Spayn may be by him These daungers vvherein this daungerous pactise of mariage vvrappeth Queen Elisabeth in hyrlyfe time and hyr England together alike vvill I doubt not moue those in authority to auoyd them and others that are priuate to pray against them most seruently But these calamities alas end not vvith thys age For wher as these persvvaders lay for a chiefe ground theyr certain expecting issue of hyr Maiesties body vpon thys match and the commodities therof ensuing therby perswading thys strange conceipt I vvill at once dispatch that reason that might be obiected agaynst me make it a chiefe argument for I esteeme it my second politique reason to diswade the French mariage especially If it may please her Maiestie to cal her faythfullest vvyse phisitians and to adiure them by their conscience tovvards God theyr loyalty to hyr and fayth to the whole land to say theyr knovvledg simply without respect of pleasing or displeasing any and that they consider it also as the cause of a realm and of a Prince how excedingly dangerous they find it by theyr learning for her maiestie at these yeeres to haue hyr first chyld yea hovv fearfull the expectation of death is to mother and chyld I feare to say vvhat wyll be theyr aunswer and I humbly besech hyr Maiesty to enforme hyrselfe throughly euen in hyr loue to the vvhole land whych holds deere hyr life and peace and vvhich as it hath hetherto deutifully sought hyr mariage whyle hope of issue vvas desiring it as the chiefest common wealth good and vvithall that feare God English or straunger vvould haue reioyced to see that the reigne of Queen Elizabeth might haue ben dravven foorth as I may say in hyr faythfull ligne yet dare we not novv otherwyse craue it but so as it might be by such afather as had a sound body and holy soule and yet not thē neither onles she may first find it to stand with her lyfe and safety And vvhen I think more earnestly of thys matter me thinkes it must needes come first of a verye French loue to our Queene and land to seeke thys mariage euen now so eagerly at the vttermost tyme of hope to haue issue and at the very poynt of most daunger to her Maiestie for childbearing whereby they think if her Maiestie haue issue to see eyther the mother die in childbedd vvhich the Lord forbid and the land left again as theyrs hath bene to an infant or els to see both mother and childe put in a graue and so the land left a spoyle to forrein inuasion and as a stack of vvood to ciuill vvars All is one to
them sauing that they desire the vvorst to befall vs And if there be any perswader of this straunge mariage in whom remaynes yet a simple mind but missed or miscaried I desyre hym or her and I charge thē as they vvill answer to God of theyr truth to their Mistres of England English brethren that they close theyr hand and put theyr fingar to theyr mouth and vvaigh better hereof as vvell by the lavve of God as of humane policie vvhich must no doubt agree vvyth Gods law I cousell them to consider these daungers common to them selues vvith all other and if they looke vvell about them they shall find thys mariage a right vnhappy one and on no side happy vvheresoeuer they turne them For let it be that he haue issue by her and that none but feamal only vve haue hazarded our kingdom for putting it in the hands of the father vvho vnder colour of some tutorship to hys daughter vvill haue her into Fraunce and so eyther adioyne this land to Fraunce or mary her to some French or other stranger at hys lyking and all this vvhyle vve neuer the neere possession of our old right in Fraunce whych vve so much desired for the Salique lavve barres hyr quite And though she should come and dwel in England yet her bringing vp being in Fraunce her father will nousell her in hys own religion and so she comming home shall striue to staplish popery as the late Queene of Scotts did when shee came out of Fraunce vvherupon ensued those bloodshedds and redde vvarres besides the ilfauoured examples of the French Court and kings vvhich vve vvould be loath our English princes shall learne and bring home hether If thys issue by Monsieur should be a son and but one sonne then vvill he translate his Court into Fraunce and leaue thys poore prouence to the mannaging of a viceroy the greuances whereof are ynough set foorth by referring you to the proconsulates of Rome vnder that Empire to the vndergouernours in the former monarchies to the viceroyes and Luogotenenti of Spayn in Naples-Cicil and here nerer in the lovv countryes VVho like boares in a fat nevv broken vp ground by sovving first some seedes of dissentions to breed partialities in the countrye doe roote out the auncient homegrovving nobilitie and turne vnder perpetuall slauery as cloddes the country people yea and perhaps in the end caught with the liquerishnes of gouernment seize thēselfe of the absolute kingdome and deceiue their mayster so did the auncient Monarchies melt so did this pre sent Empire lose her prouinces and is novve become lesse then a kingdom and so may this auncient kingdom be transferred to a rebellious seede Such rough plovvers doe our sins deserue to plovv deepe furrovves on our backs if the Lord in mercy looke not on vs I am not ignorant that some passe easily this incommoditie of viceroy affirming it to bring honor not perill for say they thys son being born here shall be king of both kingdomes with great honor as hath bene heretofore But they be svveete Englishmen if you marke theyr english vve reason of the dishonor and seruitude vvhich comes to the nation and they ansvvere of the honor that comes to the prince more lyke Basciaes to the great Turke then Christian commonvvealthmen as though our Christian and naturall Queen could thinke any thing profitable to her vvhich might any way though a farr off tend to the perpetuall bondage of hyr people here though they subtilly let slippe the assured hurt vvhich hereby falles to the common weale I wyl not forget to shew hovv incertain yea and hovv certainly perillous to the prince thys honor is wherewith they flatter hyr Holy king Henry as they call hym vvhom I suppose they wyll bring in for example vvas crovvned in Paris and yet lost all on that side before he was a man as I remember or soone after and before hys vnhappy death he lost thys land also vvhich losse of both came by striuing for both So that he may with more reason be recorded emong those fallen princes at the lowest of Boccaces vvhele or in our English booke of fallen Maiestrates then to be reconed vp by any faythfull English man for a patern of imitation to our present Queen Elizabeth VVho so vvyl auoyd those feareful effects must auoyd the cause from vvhence they procede and not bring such examples to be followed This example of Henry the sixt vvould proue like to our present case if it vvere pursued For the complection and constitution of Monsieur is not to liue long but to leaue his child in the cradle for the reasons hereafter remébred And if the byrth of thys child should any vvay endanger our Queen the poore infant if he ouerliued shold haue tvvo ouer great scepters to play withall euen as Henry the sixth had and so much the worse as there are euen novve one or tvvo houses in Fraunce vvhich vvould easely be saluted as kings and of whom both Monsieur and the king that novve is may vvell stand in feare perhappes these men wold prouide that this chyld should be borne in Monmouth and not at vvinsor and then they would think all sure Me thinks they should runn headlong on this remedy that are blinded in thys euill Thus it comes oftentimes to passe that flattery vvoundeth princes euen vvyth the very self thinges it so fairely beareth in hand And if he should haue a son and a daughter so as both of them ouer liuing theyr parents the son should be actually king as vvell of hys fathers as of his mothers kingdome and then dye wythout issue hys sister yet liuing is it not more then probable in this case that the next prince of the blood in Fraunce vnder pretence that England vvas once vested in the blood of the French king and vnder theyr gouernment vvyl drawe it also by thys vnity of possession vvith the crown of Fraunce vnder the law Salique and so quite vnqueen the desolate sister for the least color in the worlde ioyned vvith the sword in a stronge highminded kings hande makes a good tytle to a kingdome euen agaynst father mother wyfe brother and sister as storyes witnes and according to that vvhich is sayd No fayth in matter of a kingdome Much more agaynst that poore daughter vvhich then should be a straunger in the house of Fraunce The actuall possession of her brother vvyll make no tytle neyther wyll it be any plea to say that by our lavves lands descended from the mother are guyded to the heyrs of the part of the mother but our issue must be battel vvhich is a tryall most incertain most perilous to the daughter vvho being out of possession shal haue much adoe to find equiualiant champions And if thys Monsieur should haue by our Queen two sons or moe it must needes breed forrain vvars and ciuill partaking thorough disagreement of the brethren vvhyle the younger looking back to the
occasion to shew the strange aunswer that is made thereunto by these persvvaders who in theyr common discourse and talke for this mariage obiecting a gainst themselues this danger of his absence doe yet agayn bring in K. Phillip as theyr example that Monsieur need not be long absent from his wife no more then vvas K. Phillip First all that they can say herein is that he neede not belong absent Then can vve say that thys K. Phillip was so long away that his absence pinched Qu. Maries hart and killed hir with vnkindnes But in deed I feare not this inconuenient for his being chosen king any vvhere One head reason yet remaines which perhaps you think long for and me thinks I haue sayd nothing in this last part till I haue vsed it That is the danger to her maiesties person many wayes namely and aboue the rest lest this should be but a frandulent se king of hir by him the more easely to possesse an other afterward Of which meaning there is such apparant presumption and the great peril ensuing hath such euidence of being ineuitable as we may not rest in the credulous security of these smoth dangerous words that in good sooth it is not so to be thought of by a christiā prince but to be reiected as a senceles conceipt once to suspect that he wold seeke to any other so far inferior to our Queen in Godlines vertue vvisedom beauty and vvhose peere in many respects is not to he found This is but Reinards flattering of our kingly byrd and vvell natured Chanticlere in his goodly svveete voyce and fayre fethers VVhen noble men and princes in Fraunce stoode on theyr honor for all theyr actions and vvould say nothing but true they vvere vvorthely beleeued in the honorable vvord of a noble mā Now that they haue degenerate from the honor of auncient noble mē their othes ben traps to deceiue it vvere foolishnes ioined with peril to clad such Idolnoblemen vvith that purple garment of credit in their honorable vvord which is due onely to true Nobility Yea we are derely taught not to heleeue them in theyr oth And this rule that they presse vs vvith of not suspecting lightly holds more streightly emong priuate men in their priuate matters then for maiestrates and counsailors vvho in their charges for church and common weale cannot lightly be to chary or suspitious And that vve may not here seeme to forge our selues a doubt but that wee suspect such a thing as is very lyke to be meant by them and the very lyke vvhereof hath ben committed by them heretofore let vs speake of this forrein prince sauing his grace that vvhich othervvise vve could forbeare euen of reuerence to a prince vvere it not that it makes necessarily to the helth and vveale of our naturall princ VVhat then is this Christian prince thus set before vs whose credit must be so sacred as no charity must suspect it he is the brother of the most Christian king so called many foule men haue fayre names All the popes canonized dead saints are not saintes no more are all hys lyuing treschrestiens of the best sort of christians This most christiē family of kings is that vvhich euer made more deinty to fall out vvith the great Turke then vvith other euen popish Christians and hath held peace with the Turke when others haue ben in vvars vvith out regard of that secrete society vvhich is without speaking contracted betwene men of one religion against a common enemy and vvhich as a former fayth is implicatiuely excepted in any truce vvith an infidel Yea which former fayth ought to be kept though vvith breach of expresse words of any subsequent league and therfore more then treschres tienne heede to be taken in such leagues This is that most Christien Prince vvhose brother not long since accepted a kingdom vvith promise and oth to maintaine therein thopen exercise of Turcisme arrianisme iewisme papisme anabaptisme and such monstruous professions besides the truth of Christes gospel this is that most Christien prince vvhose most christien brother hath sworn to the tolleration of our religion in his owne kingdome vvhich yet he seekes to destroye by slieghte or force vvith out choyse This is that most christien court vvhere Macciauel is theyr nevv Testament and Atheisme is theyr religion yea whose vvhole pollicie and gouernment seemes te set the Turkish tiranny as a patarne and they dravve as neer to it as they re auncient lavves vvill any vvayes suffer in so small time To conclude thys is that treschrestien thron vvhich to the shame of all kinges so much as in them lay by the disceite of an oth in person of a king vvith some hypocrisie in religyon by the bayt of a mariage by hope of assurance in forreine leagues by the base abusing of hys ovvn mouth to speake fayre and personall visiting him in hys sicknes vvhose lyfe he sought stained themselues vvith the blood of a number of theyr subiects vvhich resting vpon theyr kynges fayth came vpon confidence vnder the lee as it vvere of rheyr protection Insomuch as they are novv bankrupt of all credite vvith theyr ovvn subiects and vvith theyr own brother in lavve husband to theyr sisters so as vpon no royal oth they vvil come in ▪ but stand on theyr gard and keepe tovvnes for theyr defence Neither vvould the king of Nauarr trust theyr sister so far as to receiue hir for his vvyfe til her mother rydyng rounde aboute Fraunce caryed her to him and together with her daughter put him in quiet possession of more tovvnes for hys fvrther defence And yet vve may not suspect this Christian prince a brother of the same brother and sister and if vve do suspect him in behalfe of our Queenes sauftie we are streightvvayes sencelesse and suspitious without ground of our conceites and vvho so forsoth deuiseth these doubtes vvill deuise anye thinge that may hinder this mariage This dare I boldly say that he who casts not these doubtes is not vvisely suspitious and he that passeth them ouer being once put in doubt may passe ouer any thing that makes for hir maiestes good estate And a most strange dreame it is of theirs vvho will haue thys match a bridle to the french king a snaffle to Spayn and a stopgamble to all practises of competition for popery or any other trayterous attempt at home or abroad vvheras all the contrary it layes the raynes at randon on the necke of thys horse of hidden treason and sets a rider of choyse vpon him for the nonce yea and opens all the portes to forraine ennemies For to come neere the person of thys our french prince could all his countenances of being restrayned vppon his brothers first returne from Poleland and fallinges out with him aftervvard his ronning from his mother his secrete vvithdravving from the Court and the Queen mothers trotting betwene hir sonnes as a broker of reconcilation win him so much
honorable Counsailors â—udges and other Maiestrates mai not hold their honors authorities For if the mother being a forraigner to Fraunce vvhere al maner gouernmeÌ„t is denyed hir by their lavves can depose natural Maiestrates and help hir couÌ„trimeÌ„ to the richest offices promote an Italian to be high Chanler there make hir halfe Italians to be marshals of fraunce you may be sure a french husband will easely aduaunce his Italianate french meÌ„ to our English preferments Our lavvyers shall be fain to learn some other occupation For nevv maisters new men and new Lords new laws No doubt the lavvs of fraunce vvil preuaile against the lavves of Normandy yea the forrein lavv called ciuil wâ—l eate vp our free customs natural lavves Our soldiars of necessiâ—y must be sent out vnder some Ioab for some more desperate seruice then S. Quintin one vvay or other to be dispatched and cut in pieces For of all English people they vvill be worse loued of these french Our Lord bishops may think it ther greatest honor to take such part as other poore men doe sure they are all to loose theyr dignities and riches and so many of them as euer vvere votarie priests must part froÌ„ wiues and children Our Merchants and poore richmen they may quickly without any counters cast vp theyr bookes of reckonings by that time such factors and malefactors as these men haue ransaked their coffers Touching the meanest sort of men euen in france it selfe this ve ry day al be contemptible pesants and Lackeys And if ther own natural poore labouring men find no better condition of life vnder these vncourteyus kings it vvere madnes for vs to looke for so good vve must doubtles be one degree at least beneath vile pesants â–ª Lackeis And if these nevv surueiers come into this land we may bid farevvel to thold English liberall measure of syxtene foote and a halfe to the pole our Ortyards must be measured by the foote our houses by the stories vvindowes chimnies and accordingly nevv rents raysed vpon them our children shall not come freely into the world without some vnnaturall excise for euery birth as the earnest penny of a trybu tary lyfe our maydens vvho in some coÌ„mon vveals are vvont to be bestowed wyth the publike purse must vnder thys vyle stranger yeld a share of their own mariage portions vvhich Impositions I neyther dravv from old Tyrans nor Imagin here of myne own head but they are such as the french king very lately demanded and such as hys subiectes euen novv denye vvherevpon the former trobles are lyke to reuiue notvvithstanding his mothers late ryding about france vvith fayre promises for the release of such brutishe exactions Much might be sayd in these particulars by thys lyttle the noble gentle and others vvhat soeuer may learn to hate strange coÌ„maunders and to esteeme our naturall regiment to detest the Turkish tyrany of Valoys to thank God for the kind gouernment of Queen Elizabeth which the Lord grant hir happely to hold on and finally to end as she began But I had rather we shold feele our griefe in the ache of our head the Queen theÌ„ to esteme our gteuances apart Farre from vs then is this great assurance imagined to hyr Maiesties selfe by thus matching euen as farr as certein peril is from safety vvhere is the preseruation of Religion vvher is the streÌ„gth and gayn to the land vvhere is thys honor to our kingdom euen as farr from thys mariage as preseruatife is from poyson gayn froÌ„ spoyle and beggery and honor from danger of perperual slauery I should haue bene afrayd to haue spoken thus much had not the streight of this necessitie driuen me and my words ben the words not of a busie body speaking at all aduentures but of a true Englishman a sworne liegeman to hir Maiestie gathering these necessary consequences by theyr reasonable causes And sith the faith of a man is broken sometime asvvel in not doing or not saying as in doing or saying I humbly besech that vvhatsoeuer offence any thing here sayd may breed it be vvith fauor construed by the affection of my hart vvhich must loue my country and Queene though it shold cost me my lyfe yea rather let them of this land vvho excel seuerally in all good professions hauing wisedom disposition vvords at vvil that hearing so publickly famously notoriously a mariage to be practised by the pope vvhich is against al lavves of God and man vnvvritten and vvritten of nature and nations of the land and of policie of armes peace tending to the losse of our religion to the subuersion of our state and freedome to the captiuity of our Queene and hir people vnder our hateful foe the french can not yet be stirred vp to any pietye tovvards theyr God theyr country or theyr prince to handle this matter in theyr seuerall skils as it requires You Noble men and high counsailors ioyne to your vvisedoms courage and adding to them both the feare of God remember you be born chosen for fathers of aduise to the prince and in a secondary degree assisting Tutors to the common vvee le render to the Queene that faythfull counsaile vvhich she may vvel chalenge for aduauncing you to thys honor and pay to vs again that duety of carefull loue vvhîch our reuerence of honor most vvyllingly acknowledged to you doth deserue You bishops and others who sometime speak in the eares of our prince let not your study be to leern french for the entertayning of thys stranger as though then you should be ioly gentilmen vvith the rest but learn to speak the word of God and speak it boldly for keeping out this stranger You vvhosoeuer in Court honored by hir Maiestie vvith any speciall fauoure and grace alas that none of you vvill doe hyr that right as to tell hyr hovv farr more precious hir royall person is and vvith hovv farr greater daunger thereto it is then that this odd fellow by birth a french man by profession a papist an Atheist by conuersation an instrument in Fraunce of vncleannes a fly worker in England for Rome and Fraunce in this present affayre a sorcerer by common voyce fame shold haue such free and gracious accesse to hyr chayre of estate great presence vvho is not fir to looke in at hir great chamber doore All England in a tenderiealous loue to hyr person besecheth God to preserue hir prayeth hir to take heed of popish french men You of the meaner sort throughout the land all priuate ones knovv your place to be in all subiection peaceable patience vvith your prayers to sollicite the Lorde for his church for this common vveale and for the Queen that of his great mercy he vvill turne away this plague of a stranger in Christian Israel and forreigne frenchmen in England The onely noise of whose making hither toward gaue al these causes
of fear and wrong thus much hitherto said to be written as it were vvith the teares of an english hart And his soden arryuall here with all the maner and circumstances thereof would yeelde nevve argumêts of an other much lōger discourse For first his cōming hither as it vver in a maske bewraies a strange melancholik nature in himself who delights to make all his iourneis in such sullē solitary sort therfore belike an ill companion to liue withall in any felovvship Then yt shewes his extreeme want of abilitie to defray the expence of woeng in a bountiful shew sitting such a prince as cōmeth to obtein out Queen This his secrete comming departing discouers a mistrustfulnes in him towards our people and therefore no loue which must needs come frō his own ill conscience of fearing french measure in England for on our part the Lord be thanked we haue not committed such villenies all men deeme him vnworthy to speed who comes in a net as though he were loath to auow his errand Some men may think he is ashamed to shevv his face but I think verely that he meanes not sincerely who loues not light wil not com abroade The last noble princely gentlemā that went out of Englād to vvin a Queen in france gaue trial shew of vvisdome manhod behauiour and personage by open cōuersatiō performing al maner of knightly excercises which makes vs in England to find very strange this vnmanlike vnprincelike secrete fearful suspitious disdainful needy french kind of woeng in Monsieur we can not chuse but by the same stil as by all the other former demonstratife remonstrāces conclude that thys french mariage is the streightest line that can be dravvne frō Rome to the vtter ruine of our church the very rightest perpendicular downfal that can be imagined frō the point france to our English state fetching in vvithin one circle of lamentable fall the royal estate of our noble Queen of hir person nobility and commons vvhose Christian honorable healthful ioyful peaceful and long souereigne raigne without all superior ouerruling commander especially french namely Monsieur the king of kings hold on to his glory and hyr assurance of true glory in that other kingdom of heauen Amen Amen Amen The church Sin draweth vengeance This mariage is sin Iustitution of mariage The first Lavves Deut. 7. 3. The end of holy maria The hurt of vnholy ma. The disparagement of such mariages Examples Gene. 24 3. Gene. 28. 1. Gen. 34. 14. Iudg. Psal. Salomon Nehe. 13. 23 Papist Cananite Pagan Moabite Ammonite Ishmalite Edomite King. 1. 11. Idolatrous Israelites Athalia Conclusiō againste England The Kings sin striketh the Land. Monsieurs masse no priuate mas Iudgemēts for Idolatry 1. Kin. 15. 13 2. Chr. 15. 16 The hurt of this church hurts others Especially the french churches France Valois Medices Henry the. 2 Francise 2 Charles 9. Henry 3. Monsieur Queene Pope France marieth vvith Spaine and Piemont Parisien mariage Feeble hope of Monsieurs change Two tryals of these persvvaders The first The second tryall Common vveale A forraign match Forreigne againste kind This state Lawes of England Aliē enimy Alien friend Aliē denizē Priors aliens Frenchmen Alteration of gouernment K. of Spayn Contrary religion Valois Examples modern Examples auncient Henry first Henry 2. Prince H. Rychard 1. R. Iohn 1. Henry 3. Edvvard 2 Richard. 2. A vvitnes vvithour ecception Henry 5. Henry 6. Home mariges happy Englishmē K. of Spayn A charge to the Realme Monsieur heir asparāt of Fraunce the dangers therby Spanish K. strange ayd French mariage more dangerous thē spanish Issue dangerous to the Queene Note Issue female onely Issue male one onely Viceroy Mark vvell these Englishmen Henry the sixth no good example to persvvade by Issue male and female Two sons or moe These faire vvords make no wise man fayne Dominiō Reuenue As the wise is subiect to hir husband so is hir coūtry to hys land English French little vvorth Alliance with fraunce what it is The sely great party of Monsieur Monsieurs companiōs Counsailors Seruants Enterprises VVoeng messenger Fraunce an old foe A new friēd A dāgerous friend An vnsure friend A needlesse friend A dishonorable alliāce A dammage able friendship Burgundy Scotland Allemain Ottoman the great Turke Duke of Saxe Palsgreue Spires Frankford No plurality or totquot in stately friendship Lavves of armes Tode Lyon. The Queen in hir natural and priuate consideratiō Dislike to mariage in generall Monsieur no Paragon His person His ill spent youth hither to His youth presently His religion Pope playes fast loose in mariages His absence by being chosen K. dls where A capitall perill iustly suspected The credit that the french king lends his brother His sister not trusted by hir husb Monsieur his owne credit This mach no stopp to practises of competition or popery Qu. mother the mouer Pope vvinketh vvils French king denieth not Papistes forrain rebel silent Guyse Scottish Mary New french falshod nevv English wisedome This match no snaffle to Spayne The lovv countryes Artoyes and Henault Gant. This match no bridle to Fraunce This vvoing comes not of loue to our Queen Mother King. Monsieur England can not loue Monsieur It is the lord by whome Queen Elizabeth reignes vvhile other princes dye and are deposed Keepe couenant with thy God O Queen and defie thys alliance Forrein ayds Englande needes no friends especially out of Fraunce Nobilitye Gentry of England Hugh Capet Carrola manus Maiestrates Iudges Lawyers Lavves soldiar L. bishops Merchants richmen People strange tallages