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
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
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
detected trecheries against Gods church haue bene seuerally sealed with his visible markes of vengeaunce vvritten not vpon the vvall but successiuely on theyr carcasses vvith a heauēly fingar not by torch light but at noone day in the eyes and eares of the vvorld in so much as Baltazar the father had hys Maneh grauen in the apple of hys eye and that in the eysight of Anne du Bourg vvhose death for professing Christ he had voued to see His first son had his Tekel told in his eare vvhych rotted hym vvhyle he was yet aliue And his next sonn had his Phares marked in euery vent of hys body that as he had shed Christian blood vvith Iulianus so he mighte take of hys owne blood in his hand and saye with Iulianus Vicisti Galiaeè VVho vvould not tremble to come nere this kindred so vvrathfully marked of God vvho vvould become one vvith thys generation so hatefull to men let vs bost in this Galilean and defie Iulian. let vs vvith confidence glory in the crosse of Christ and not vouchsafe to ioine vvith these apostate princes This present king besides the sinnes of his auncesters haue giuen the Lorde cause enowgh of personall actious by hys owne excesses VVhich though the Lord doe not yet bring in vppon hym thorough hys long suffering yet assuredly there is a measure of hys wickednes measured out and a tyme for his iudgements vvhensoeuer the Saintes of God haue filled his bottle vvith teares The plague common to the house he hath That is he vvants one of his loins to sit vpon his seate So that vve see by proofe in three brothers that the Lord wyll not leaue one of Ahabs house An ill disposed body he hath a suspitious and fearefull mynde euen of hys friendes Touching thys prynce novv offered to thys church in mariage if he be behynd in mischiefes remember he is younger in yeeres and neuer came to that hability by myght of a kingdome to performe his inborne malice to the church and the discredit of hys brethern haue notably hindred hym that vvay Neuerthelesse so farre as his place vvould suffer he hath bene vsed to doe that seruice to Rome and damage to the church that he vvas fit for At the mas sacring mariage he vvas not old ynough to execute any thing but vvas set by hys mother to cry and vveepe at the cruelties that so shevving some misliking of them hys credit might be saued for such another desperate match all the rest of the credites of the king then and hys mother brother and sister being lyttle enough to colour that mischiefe since that tyme he hath bene set a vvorke in Fraunce and Flaunders diuers counterfeit fallings out betvveene hym and his brother and suddein appeasings VVhen he fled from the Court to Dreux declaring hymselfe protector of common liberty he quickly made first a truce and then a peace vvhereby to frustrate the gathering and keeping together of that great armie of protestants If hys meaning had bene but indifferent to religion he vvould not haue bene at that stately assembly and signed with them the abolishing of religion in Fraunce He vvas content to be vsed to pull townes out of the protestantes hands and in warres agaynst them namely La charite Issoire where after hys reuolt he committed such abominable cruelties and beastly disorders as if he novv meant neuer so good fayth had neuer so honest a mynd in these matters yet is it not lyke that this mans foule hands should lay one stone of Gods church Yea so farre is the Lord from blessing such a disloyall hand in his publicke seruice to the saluation of others that he curseth hym in publick and priuate in towne and field euen in hys ovvn soule and body to euerlasting death vnlesse he make open acknovvledgement of so open and shamefull outrages and perseuer in vvell doing After thys he leapes ouer Paris vvalles as fleeing frō the Court and tooke on hym the voyage into Flaunders vvyth shew of some tollerable mind to religion or at least to helpe the oppressed professors vouing vvith diuers solemne othes and making others to sweare that they vvould neuer come at the court againe and yet presently vpon his retorne he left his poore court all amased at Alencon and vvith tvvo or three gentilmen onely posted to yeeld himselfe into the kings hands vvith these words Syr I yeeld my selfe to you to dye at your feete in your seruice assuring you that neuer vvill I be estranged from you vvith moe lyke vvords such as detect greatly the French lightnes and french falshood in hym generall to all papistes of that nation The king vvith many embrasings and caresses gaue hym the best vvelcome in the vvorlde On vvhich day also came to the Court the Duke Guise the great ennemy to the church of God vvith fiue or sixe hundred horses vvith vvhom vvhatsoeuer vnkindnesses he had seemed before to haue he novv entered into a present familiariaritie and open kindnes VVhen vve speake therefore of Fraunce and of the practises there against the church of their some time mitigated nature tovvards Religion or of dissentions in apparance and bruites of ielousie vvhich the Queene mother puts as visarde vpon her practises vve must cast our eye wholly to her as the very soule whereby the bodies of the king of Mousieur of theyr sister Marguerit and of al the great ones in Fraunce do moue as a hundred hands to effect hyr purposes And vvhen we speake of Queene mother vve muste straightvvayes present before vs but a body or tronk vvherein the Pope moueth as hyr soule to deuise and haue executed vvhatsoeuer for the appetit of that sea euen as Necromancers are sayde to cary about a dead body by the motion of some vncleane spirit And thys soule of Fraunce as it hath bene moste eager and obstinately bent against Christes church in all thinges vvherein she entermedled so aboue the rest hath she bene a dāgerous practiser in mariages For to begin vvith the mariage of her other daughter into Spayne in the lyfe of her husband vvhat tyme a sister of hys vvas maryed into Piemont so three greate princes linked in a threefold cord as it vvere by that alliaunce all the world knoweth that the capital capitulation and article of inprimis as I may say in that threefold mariage was against God and his annoynted which strong cord though the Lorde vvhich is in heauen laughed to scorne and turned to the strangling of the tvvisters thereof insomuch as the father dyed presently and the daughter liued but a shorte tyme after and with small ioy yet hath not thys spyder left to twist once more And albeit in the mariage of the first daughter she spedde not so well by reason there was no sin of the church in it for they yoked themselues asses to asses yet in ioyning thys latter sister vvith the king of Nauarre she had better luck
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
high linage should seeke or consent in mariage vvith any lovv borne or contemptible person Haue the lavves of common vveales prouided thus vvel for men the vvorld standes it thus vppon her slippers of reputation in obseruing what is comely in mariage and honourable for ech personage and shall the lavves of God trovv you be of none effect or shall it not be much more ougly before God and hys angels vvhen an Hebrew shal mary a Cananite ' there is no such inequalitie as that of religion no such disparagement as not to be faythfull no such dignity of Principality as to be a good christian and no such slauery as to be a Barbarian from Christ Iesu. Perhappes some man vvill defende these vneuen Irreligious mariages by abusing that place of 1. Cor. 7. But vvithout any other helpe that text it selfe is selfe sufficient to deliuer it self from that violence and the lavv of God from the beginning to the end all one vvith the obedient practise of Gods children and the plages vpon the transgressors do euidently shevv that Paul there speaketh onely for the continuance of such mariages as were first not vneuen being made in time of infidelitie on both partes and by the aftercalling of one party are become vneuen for thè cōtinuance I say of such mariages and not vneuenly to yoke any Christian which is free to one not faithfull Novv as by reasons it appeares vnlavvfull so by examples it may appeare hurtfull Those good men of whom vve loue to be esteemed the children and follovvers Abraham and Isaac had euen a religious care not to haue their sonnes matche vvith the Cananeans dwelling at theyr next doores but sent further of for the daughters of god VVhat a diameter of religion vvere it for vs dvvelling emong Christians to admit from ouer sea the sons of men in mariage The children of Iacob vvere so vvell taughte bytheir father in the religion of their grandfather great granfather that they could ansvver vve may not giue our sister to the vncircumcised that is to say vve can not or vve may not lawfully for that vve onely may vvhich by the lawe of God vve may Those ill men to vvhome vve vvoulde be ashamed to be resembled made this maner of mariage The old vvorlde vvhich thus defiling it selfe was therefore vvashed in the vniuersall flood And Esau whose fault yet was in this poynt lesse then ours for they wythout care of Religion tooke the fayrest and such as perhaps vvere next hand vve should in this match send further of for our mariage and haue not so much respect as to the fayrest being so far giuen ouer of God as to forget euen that part whyche we would gladliest please And emong those good men whome we set for holy examples this maner of mariage vvas euer noted by the scripture emong theyr faults As the Israelites which thus fel away from the seruice of God and withal out of his protection As Samson and Salomon whose vertues we must imitate and not these their sinnes VVhere Salomon might serue for all examples and hym will I chiefely name and namely vrge speaking novv of kingly mariages and courtly mariage makers because he vvas a king and also because that godly Courtier Nehemiah doth notably apply it in a stronger case vsing Salomons sin în this maner of vnholy mariages as a reason to separate the Israelits frō their wiues vvhich they had already maried yea and by vvhome they had had children born to thē thinking it an ilfauoured noise to heare theyr children gibber in the streetes halfe Hebrewe halfe Ashdod I pray you marke then how much more force Salomons example hath to disswade a mariage that is yet but in parle not concluded to make no such fayre reckoning of a babe yet vnborne whose shape we see not and how much more ilfauoured it vvere for vs that in our churches speake the language of Canaan to ioyne vvith thē that in their masse mumble the straunge tongue of Rome And if woman that vveaker vessel be strong enough to dravve man through thaduantage vvhiche the deuill hath vvithin our bosome I meane our naturall corruption and proonesse to Idolatry hovv much more forcibly shall the stronger vessell pull vveake vvoman considering that vvith the inequalitie of strength there is ioyned as great or more readinesse to Idolatrye and superstition And if the husband vvhich is the heade be dravven aside by his vvyfe ouer vvhome neuerthelesse he hath authoritye and rule hovve muche more easely shall the vvife be peruerted by her husband to vvhome she is subīecte by the lavve of God and ovveth both avve and obedience hovve soeuer the lavves by prerogatif or her place by preeminēce may priuiledge her And here note this that euery vvhere it is set dovvne hovve the vvicked peruerted the good but no vvhere that the better part conuerted the wicked for euen the ill ralke or other conuersation of ill men corruptes good maners And sith Salomon a peereles king beloued of God as Nehemiah saith so furnished in vvisedome and of vvhome there vvere such certaine demonstrations that he was the child of God dyd yet thys foulye fal by ioyning himselfe in mariage vvith Idolatrons vvemē in so much as diuers now thinke they find almost as many reasons to call in some doubt his saluation I pray God it may seeme fearefull in the eyes of all other Princes and princesses vvormes to him in wisedom to do the like fault for dread of the like sequele VVherby it appeares how vaine that promise is of theirs who say that Monsieure shall be instructed in our religion and drawen frō his by going with our Queene to hers besides that we woulde be loath with so certaine great peril to our Queene who is emong men and vvomen the chiese to vs to attempt the vncertain winning of him who is emong all men the least to vs And if there were in him any hope of tollerable inclination to religion it wold rather shevve now in the time of his sute to our Queene by that meanes perhaps thinking to be lesse lothsome to her and les abominable to her people but we haue no cause to hope it for he vseth no protestant in the matter of mariage although for some other colour he hath seemed to make some reckoning of some in some respect And if there were hope yet in so vnaduised rashnes to venture against the word of God we may well looke for Gods iudgement to come betwene and punish our folehardines that he which loueth peril may abide and perish therein But these discoursers that vse the word of God with as little conscience as they doe Machiauel pycking out of both indifferently what may serue theyr turnes perhaps they will thinke to escape all hetherto sayd by calling in question for their mouthes are their owne to dispute of any thing without care of resolutiō whether to mary with the Papist that worshippeth the
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
credit emong the protestants in Fraunce as they vvould trust him for a leader and not hold him stil for a suspect could hys goodly aydes offered to the states in the low countryes vvith personall taking vpon him their defence preuaile so farr that he could come any farther vvithin them then that they could by their own forces vvel auoyde hym No no the hurtfull helpe of thys shiuering reede hath appeared by the euent in both countryes and that it is no staffe of trust Most vnhappy therefore are they that may take heede by others whose hands it hath hurt and vvill not But let vs against our con science admit Monsieur to be in this matter simply seely or simply bonest yet is he set a work and ruled by his brother and mother and this sute follovved for him vvith the manifest goodwyll of hys mother the motherpractiser of France VVith the winking of the pope vvho though against the mariage of the king of Nauarre to their sister and against Monsieurs voyage in to Flanders he sent his legat yet here he sits quiet vvhich is a token that hee lookes through his fingers This sute is pursued vvith the good alovvāce of the french king For Monsieurs messenger hath continuall conuersation at home and abroade and one table vvyth the kings Ambassador a thing playnely arguing the kings good liking and continuall intelligence vvith Monsieur for the proceedings herein The strange papistes and our rebelles are in deepe silence not one opens his mouth against this mariage Thys prince can not but eythe◠for loue or feare be great with the Guysian duke and in deede of very late more theu euer euen vvhen ît vvas sayd he should come ouer hither he vvas neerely in vvard and in deepe conferences vvith that duke vvho is to vs an enemy by kind and for neer consanguinity a fast friend to the late scottish Queen vvho is the most hidden and pestilent aduersary creature that liues to our Prince state The fayrest daugh ter of the pope and shotanchor of all papistes for as the holye league hath tyed all these great on s togither by oth and their duty to the pope vvhom they wyll not displease to hate to the death all religious princes so haue they voued it in the fourth degree agaynst our prince as chiefe support of religion and in vvhose life or death as they thinke dependes the exercise or not exercise of the Gospell in England and elsvvhere Againe besides theyr afectiō in many other respects to this late Scottish Queen they haue set her down as the onely loadestone that should drawe traytors together and rent our kingdome that should set vp I dolatrous altars from S. Michils mount to Barvvick and make al the Israel of England and Scotland to sinne Hyr iniurious challenges in Fraunce hir great and disloyall attempts in england hir confederacies vvith the Spanish Generalls or regents in Flaunders vvyl easely tell a wise man vvhat deuotion she hath to the Queene vvhat impatient greedines to snatch the crowne from hir heade by oportunity or importunity vvhich so euer come first There open and violent attemptes of this purpose haue bene by Gods grace frustrate as enemyes they can doe no thing agaynst hyr Maiestie Now must some great meane be vsed and that vndercloke of loue vvhich is euer the last popish practise From no place more fitly then out of Fraunce can they fetche thys instrument of our vvoe Fraunce is a neighbour therefore conuenient by the place It is a land ful of a vvell trayned soldiar hath all ready great numbers mustered that abyde but theyr vvatch vvord it is now at peace vvithall and therefore at leasure onles they vvyll make vvarrs to themselues for cruelty they are approued to execute any thing For treason they are so embrewed in blood as they are like to assent vnto what soeuer plat neuer so barbarous And thys is also a deuice fit ynough for such a soliciter as is that false Scot prelate Rosse mortall enemy hether vvho is presently in Fraunce and like ynoug hyr agēt to procure this deuise Yea onlesse vve our selues close our owne eyes vvee may see that it is a very french popish vvoeng to sende hyther smooth tongued Simiers to glose and glauer hold talk of mariage and yet in the meane while Iaques Fitzmaurice who hath bene in France and conuersant vvith Rosse and euen novv came immediatly thence into Ireland to inuade our Queenes dominion there and assemble the trayterous papistes in nomine domini domini papae Is it possible for the breath of mariage vvell meant to England and vvarr performed in Ireland to come out of one mouth She hath already cost vs ynough of our Englishe blood and she cares not though she make hauock of nobilitye people she seekes hyr own turne by hooke or crooke Aboue all the dangers to hir Maiestie I wold she had one that might eueryday cry vvith a loud voyce TAKE HEEDE OH ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND AND BEVVARE OF SCOTTISH MARY The Lord hyr God defend hyr from all hyr popish enemies Let other mens squaymish iudgements keepe them in vvhat temper of suspecting it lykes them I can not be so blockish but to thinke that it is more then lykely he comes for thys Mary to the end that vvhereas yf there be any rebellious papists at home which can do nought for want of a leader those fugitiue rebels abrode can doe nothing onlesse there be first some hurliburly in the land this man may be he vvhere they shall firste make head and so grovv into a body of rebelliō which aftervvard they meane to ayde vvith theyr forrein forces to the destruction of those foolish rebelles as vvell as of vs And though in truth with out flattery she be inferior to our Queene in all the best gyftes yet may I vvell ynough thinke that Monsieur vvyll stoope to hir as vvell as king Phillip theyr old example vvhome yet againe they vse euen here did stoop in Flaunders and other vvhere most lowly in that respecte and beyonde all curtesie euen in Queene Maryes lyfe yea I doe not see vvhy I should not make these gyfts and excellencies of our Queene so many arguments to proue great likelihood of impossibilitye to knit fast to hyr the mind of Monsieur so contrarily qualified For loue is a knitting of lyke myndes togyther first then of bodyes by accident And though foule bodyes be oft in loue vvith the outvvard beauty of others yet vvas there neuer foule vicious and Irreligious mind in loue vvith a vertuous and religious soule If any man yet againe thinks it an vnvvorthy suspition of so hygh a prince let hym heare once agayne that one of that brotherhood dyd compasse as vnvvorthy a purpose and all by laying to gage that vvorthines vvhych hys maiesty myght chalenge and by hys personall action vvhych he iudged no man vvould once suspect in a mariage of hys
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