had once committed any businesse of trust though of the highest nature to a seruant he would neuer conceiue the least suspicion of his fidelity adding hee had rather run the hazard of his loyalty then imbitter his generous trust with mixture of feare A strong obligation sure to a seruant so intrusted But some of his seruants trembling replyed what if he proue treacherous hath hee not the more free and secure opportunity to worke his wicked ends But quoth his Highnesse my care shall be such in the Choyce as my trust shall bee built vpon a sure ground Pray God it bee so said his seruants Now this wee see verefied on the Kings part towards your Grace What a liberall trust hath he reposed in you such as not all the gold of Iudai should euer ouer ballance But we all beseech the Lord that his Maiesty may not bee deceiued And haue we not cawse Doth not the safty of the Kings Person Crowne of this Church State of three goodly Kingdoms yea of the Gospell of Christ and of true religion at home and abroad euen ouer Christendome throughout the world depend in a maner vpon this trust committed to your Grace King Achish would haue made Dauid keper of his Head for euer But his Nobles thought it not safe least all their own heads should haue payd for it But the trust committed to your Grace is not only of the Kings head but of all our heads of many millions more that neuer saw your face Haue you not neede then not only of Davids true heart toward his King but of Argus his 100 eyes in watching over Io committed to his trust Yet Argus for all his eyes was so inchaunted with Mercuries pipe whom Iupiter had sent to steale her away that falling all a sleep Io was taken away and Argus had all his eyes puld out and put into the peacocks traine But where are any such Mercuries to inchaunt your Grace Where Alas where are they not specially where reatnes dwelleth at ourt Haue we any need of madd men said the King of Gath And may not the Court say haue we any need of flatterers These be the inchanting Mercuries And of all other none more to be feared then the Iesuites whom the Iupiter of Rome sends into England to inchaunt and impose vpon our most prudent and vigilant Arguses as the learned Bishop hath well obserued in his Tortura Torti Iesuites a generation who as they are the most exquisite Artists in the science of flattery so none hath more cause to beware abhor them then your Grace But you know no Iesuites The greater is your danger and ours For they cōe in sheeps clothing in disguised habits so bold as they can no more blush then their visards lowly lowting charming thechiefest with a counterfet adoration admiration of their I wot not what excellency And were it not miraculous if the Court it selfe especially your Graces house should be free even from many of such flyes which fliblowe the purest flesh with their flatteries The croaking Froggs of Aegypt crawled up into the very Kings chambers and are not these cōpared by the Holy Ghost to Froggs which goe vnto the Kings of the earth and by their crouching and croaking and their Sardonian smiles would allure them to warre against Christ and his gospell It is good therefore your Grace should make a speedy diligent search in the Court in your owne howse and in all the skirts of it round about and so also throught the whole land what Iesuites are lurking any where and to giue them the reward of Traitors Shall wee dally with such shall wee thinke to winne them with complements Wee know the fable of the snake fostered in the mans bosome it is but the Morall of a Iesuite intertained with a Court-like Curtesy Jesuites are nettles if gently handled they sting but if hard grasped they hurt not Contrary to the Basil the Embleme of the Throne established by mercy which being gently stroked on the hand yeelds a pleasant smell but crushed hard vpon it vnsauory Your Grace takeing this course Parcere subjectis et debellare superbos therein you truly discharge the trust committed vnto you Whereas if the execution of good lawes should bee suspended if treason traitors suffered Yf in this perillous season our potent profest enemies should thus be armed against vs what can wee expect but confusion of all And how shall your Grace in the ruine of this goodly state escape scot-free shall your house stand notwithstanding Nay assure your selfe if at this time you doe not bestirre your selfe to reforme things amisse but that they bee suffered to runne on headlong to destruction I may apply that speech of Mordecai to Hester vpon the like occasion Thinke not with thy selfe that thou shalt escape in the Kings howse for yf thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time then shall inlargement and deliuerance arise to Gods people from another place but thou and thy fathers howse shall be destroyed Nor let this my boldnesse seeme strange to your Grace though perhaps you bee not much acquainted with such as will speake the downe right truth Of all Iobs friends hee found but one Elihu who sayd Let me not I pray you accept any mans person neyther let me giue flattering titles vnto men For I know not to giue flattering titles in so doing my Maker would soone take me away If Iob in his Misery found but one such no maruaile if your Grace find scarce one As for mee I am an English-man a free borne subiect a true louer of my King Countrey yea I am also an vnworthy Minister of Christ a poore watch-man of Israell and when I see my soueraine King my Mother Country the Glory of God the Gospell of Christ the Church of England yea the Church of Christ ouer the world in danger to bee destroyed and all brought vnder the tyranny of Antichrist and the Spanish yoake shall I bee silent shall I not speake shall I not lift vp my voice like a trumpet shall I not thus free my soule whatsoever shall become of my body Yea for Sions sake I will not hold my tongue and for Ierusalems sake I cannot rest vntill the righteousnesse thereof goe forth as brightnesse and the salvation thereof as a Burning Lampe I feare neither prison nor death it selfe that I may discharge a good conscience both towards my God my King Countrey Nor feare I to be censured as a Polypragmaticke What haue Ministers to doe to meddle in State-mysteries Sir let mee speake boldly it were happy if as in the apostatized Kingdomes of Christendome the Priests of Baals counsels I mene Iesuites Priests which must needs bring ruine to them are followed So in this Kingdome of Iuda onely the truth-telling Micaia's were heard Good King Dauid could say I am wiser then my teachers then the aged then mine Enemies for thy testimonies are my delight and my
least I should offer both violence and wrong with my vnskilfull pensil to limme out more largely this most beautifull and well proportioned Image of a Princes vertuous mynd But I dare say which I referre to the best judgement of Your Majestie ablest to judge of Your owne noble sayings it is an exquisite Aphorisme or Abstract of that divine Rule prescribed to Kings by the Lord and Iudge of Kings It shall be when the King sitteth vpon the throne of his Kingdome that he shall write him h copy of this Law in a Booke out of that which is before the Priests and Leuites and it shall bee with him and he shall read therein all the dayes of his life that hee may learne to serue the Lord his God to keepe all the words of this Law and these Statutes to doe them that his heart be not lift vp aboue his brethren and that hee turne not aside from the Commandement to the right hand or to the left to the end that he may prolong his dayes in his Kingdome hee and his children in the midst of Israell Now what is the summe of all this but Honesty is the best Pollicy From this Root to wit Honesty the heathen deriued all the branches of vertue As those foure Cardinall vertues Prudence Justice Fortitude and Temperance the subiect of those three bookes of Offices Tully draweth from the force and nature of Honestie as himselfe expresseth And those foure also Iethro Moses father in law in his direction to his Sonne requireth to bee in all Magistrates saying Thou shalt prouide out of all the people men of Courage such as feare God men of truth and hating Couetousnesse Still the summe totall is Honestie is the best Policy Thus neede wee goe no further then Your Maiesty to learne the rule of all good policy whereof Honestie is the ground as containing all duties both to God and man in Prince or people Thus haue I though slenderly for the which I most humbly craue Your Maiesties generall pardon discharged my faithfull dutie in discovering so great a danger towards Your Maiestie It pertaines to the wisdome of Your Maiestie to provide speedy meanes for the prevention that Your Kingdomes may not become a prey to the enemie nor Your sacred Person exposed to the perill of beeing forsaken by Your owne Subiects whom the Pope instigateth by the authority of his Bull and by the incessant industrie of his Iesuites to stand closse to his Holinesse against Your Maiestie when occasion serveth His Breeue also mentioneth what anxious prayers the Church of Rome now maketh for hir Catholicke Sonnes in England There is some waighty cause in hand sure Wee poore Ministers hope that Your Maiestie will bee pleased to call a generall Fast to frustrate all Romes prayers Wee haue all fared the better for the last publicke Fast which Your Maiestie proclaimed for the averting of vnseasonable weather against the last harvest And it is memorable that on the same day wherein the Fast was kept generally over all England began the heavens to cleare vp their clowdy countenance and so continued till they had brought vs in a plentifull harvest in stead of a feared famine Not that wee place any vertue in a Fast but because a Fast with humble prayer preuaileth much with God not onely as being commanded by him and hauing a promise annexed but for the necessity of it to bee joyned with true repentance and reformation not onely of mens manners and all raigning sinnes publicke and private but also of the worship of God being purged from all the pollutions of Idolatry and superstition which are an abomination in Gods sight and especially a clearing the Coast of all Romish Iesuites and Idolatrous Priests whose religion is treason against Your Majesty and God himselfe When the good King Hezechiah had received the blasphemous letter of Senacherib King of Assyria he went into the Temple of the Lord humbled himselfe and prayed spreading the Letter for the Lord to read and revenge all the blasphemies contained in it both against God and the King perswading his subjects to defection from him But loe here a letter sent into England from the King of the spirituall Babylon full of most impious blasphemies against Your Maiesty most Antichristianly vsurping a power over Your subiects charging them to disavowe their fidelity vnto Your Maiesty shall not this iustly provoke Your Maiesty with Hezechiah to go into the Lords Temple and there publickly intreat the Lord to take revenge on such blasphemies and to turne the mischiefe which Rome and her confederates now intend and machinate against Your Person and Crowne vpon their owne head as Ezechias obtained of the Lord yea Your Maiestie thus doing all Gods faithfull Ministers as so many Esayes to King Ezechiah as so many Azariahs to King Asa dare promise Your Maiestie both certaine victory ouer Your enemies and a constant peace with prosperity while You constantly follow the worthy examples of those religious Kings of Juda which grace the Lord giue vnto Your Maiestie in abundance Amen Your Maiesties most loyall subiect though vnworthy servant HENRY BVRTON TO THE LORD DVKE OF BVCKINGHAM his Grace Right Honorable THE Dutifull zeale I beare to the safety of my dread Soueraigne and deare Country inforceth mee otherwise loth to put my finger into the fire in the second place to sollicite Your Grace to bee the more carefull to preuent the danger When King Saul and Abner with the whole guard were in a dead sleepe so that Dauid had the opportunity to take away the Kings speare and Pot of water by him onely to testifie his fidelity to the King hee called alowd to Abner and awakening him said Art not thou a valiant man and who is like to thee in Israell wherefore hast thou not kept thy Lord the King surely yee are worthy to dye c. But neither can I say so altogether nor neede I cry so loud to your Grace vnlesse these many businesses which will scarce suffer you to sleepe so soundly as did Abner will neither suffer such a dwarfe as my selfe easily to bee heard But speaking for the King I hope I shall not be denied Audience Nor are they good subiects persecuted as Dauid of whom the King is in danger but such as though they haue small cause to complaine of persecution yet are instigated to deny vnto their Soueraigne that loyalty and Allegiance which all true subiects owe vnto their lawfull Prince Doth not your Grace erect your most earnest attention to this But who dare thus instigate the Kings subiects against him No lesse then the Pope and that by a Breeue or Bull lately sent ouer into England wherein he straitly chargeth his Catholique Sonnes as hee termes them vpon no termes to take the Oath of fidelity to the King inciting and animating them as against their Enemy as the Breeue can testify Nor had I I confesse beene thus bold to meddle in such a matter if
this is the holy Ghosts vsuall phrase to say They that shall be accompted worthie of that life not They that shall be worthie thereof But this accompt here mentioned is not according to Gods account but the Popes accompt such as the Pope accompts worthie to suffer reproches for the name of Iesu to wit for his Iesutish doctrines teaching the lawfulnesse of rebellion against Princes For vnder this name of Iesu doth that society of the Iesuites the more easily play the Iudasses as hee did with Haile Master no man easily suspecting that there should bee the least affinity betweene that sweet sauing name of Iesus and the massacring Abaddon or Appollyon But the reward of such is They seeme to possesse onely The Pope dares not say They do possesse it c. for then he should seeme to grant the certainty of saluation if men in this life were in possession of it But he must not ouerthrow that Canon of Trent which dischargeth a sulphurious Anathema against the doctrine of the certaintie of remission of sinnes as an Arch-enemy vndermining the golden mines of his Purgatorie Well what seeme they to haue The bill of exchange of Gods loue and abound with that price wherewith they purchase the Diadem of eternitie Here the Pope fals downe right vpon his doctrine of selfe merits so derogatory from yea so destructory of that most precious and pearlelesse ransome payde for the purchase of those Diadems of glory Although the Church of Rome makes little difference betweene Christs paying of our debts himselfe and his inabling vs our selues to pay them sauing that they choose rather to haue the fingering of the money themselues then to trust to Christ for the payment of it As here the Pope they pretend Gods loue Christs merits but all is to enable them by graces infused their Bill of exchange to merit ex condigno the kingdome of heauen or thereby to purchase the Diadems of eternitie Well But ô yee Pontificians doe you not teach that those graces of yours infused may bee altogether and irreuocably lost if then by the way as you are trauailing to make your purchase and so to take possession of those heauenly diadems yee chance to meete with theeues that robbe you of your treasure and take your purse from you what will become of your purchase then were it not therefore safer for you to follow Christs counsell Lay not vp your treasures on earth where the moth and canker corrupt and where theeues breake through and steale but lay vp for your selues treasures in heauen where it is out of all danger what is this to lay vp for your selues treasures in heauen Is not Christ our treasure Is not he in heauen is not the laying vp of this treasure for our selues in heauen our laying hold on Christ by faith aske the ordinary Glosse In Goelo 1. Omnem spem in calestibus ponite lay vp all your hope in heauen fide gradientes charitatem amplectantes walking by faith imbracing charity or following the Apostles practise 2 Tim. 1. 12. I know whom I haue beleeued and I am perswaded that he is able to keepe that which I haue committed vnto him against that day Aske Lyra the meaning Depositum meum c. my pledge that is my reward which by faith I haue laid vp to be kept with him against the day of my dissolution when my soule shall be glorified against the day of iudgement when my body shall be made immortall So the ordinary glosse excellently quia potens est Dominus Depositum meum seruare spe c. the Apostle is secure in the hope and magnificence of his Sauiour because what he committeth vnto him is in safety and that which he committeth vnto him is his saluation This was the ancient Catholique doctrin of the Church to trust in Christ wholly for their saluation But now from this ancient faith the present Church of Rome is vtterly fallen trusting her selfe for saluation which being in hir owne custody she confesseth not without iust cause that she may come vtterly to loose it No doubt of that yea they haue altogether shut themselues out of the kingdome of heauen already by this their doctrine of Iustification by their grace infused For betweene faith and justification they make such a separation as they decree in their Trent Councill that though by euery mortall sinne the grace of iustification receiued is lost although faith be not lost calling it a Doctrine of Gods Law which excludeth not onely vnbeleeuers but the faithfull also such as they call their fideles fornicarios adulteros molles masculorum concubitores fures c. out of the kingdome of God This is that doctrine of Romes Apostacy from the faith shutting hir selfe out of Gods kingdome as hauing expressely renounced and abandoned that faith in Christ the onely purchase of our saluation as might more abundantly bee shewed But this may suffice for the present occasion so punctually offered by the Pope in this place and that in his owne expresse words which no doubt were throughly scanned in his Conclaue betweene himselfe and his Cardinalls before they should come to see the light as Paul the fift confessed of the contents of his Breeue sent hither Anno 1607. So that in nothing doth the Pope vary from himselfe but in all points shewes himselfe to be that great Apostate that Antichrist from toppe to toe But to conclude this clawse if Treason if rebellion if disloyaltie of subjects against their Prince whereat the Pope here aimeth be so meritorious as to purchase the Diadems of Eternitie then let no malefactor neuer so notorious feare hell or iudgement so hee can but intile his villanies as committed for the Catholique cause The old heathen Rome had hir Culleus for Parracides but Catholique Rome his Diadems would not this startle and astond the very Indian when he should be told that the Kingdome of heauen is full of such gracelesse vnnaturals as for betraying their lawfull Soueraigne their natiue sweete Countrey for blowing vp the beautie and glory of their Nation yea of the whole world at a blast doe now raigne in heauen wearing eternall Diadems would not he make a solemne vow neuer to come there Nay more would Iesus Christ trow you trust such Parricides and Traytors to come neere his person now in heauen lest with Iudas they should againe betray him and with the Iewes and Romanes kill and crucifie him afresh for how could he be perswaded that such would spare his person in heauen who accounted it the speciall point of their religion to Martyr and massacre him in his members heere on earth or that they would yeeld obedience and reuerence to his Royail Majestie in heauen that stucke not to deface and defile his image imprinted vpon his annointed Vicegerents here below Certainly that heauenly Ierusalem is compassed with higher and stronger wals then to be scaled by such Gyant-like assaylants Lucifer was cast out
yet against your hope the prayers of Christs Church are neuer wanting for the frustrating of your fairest hopes Our Church in particular publiquely prayeth That it may please God to bring into the way of truth all such as haue erred and are deceiued And in another prayer for the whole estate of Christs Church in the end of our Communion booke Wee beseech thee ô Lord to reduce all such as bee yet ignorant from the miserable captiuitie of blindnesse and errours to the pure vnderstanding and knowledge of thy truth that wee all with one consent and vnity of mind may worship thee our onely God and Sauiour And for our King blessed bee God his heart is established vpon firmer grounds then to be remoued from that true faith wherein hee was bred and brought vp so easily as you hoped yea that pietie which with your solemne Crosse you haue so crowned our hope is that his Maiesty may in time by Gods grace so purifie and persit as that royall Queene shall account it the most rich dowry of her wedlocke to be made partaker of the liberty of that faith which her Royall husband professeth that so they may long enioy a sweet sociall conjunction as in their affections so in their Religion If that noble Lady Anne Sister sometime to Wenceslaus King of Behemia being married heere to Richard the 2. King of England and that in a deplored time when the Kinges of England were ouer-awed by the Popes vsurped power being tyrannized ouer also with that spirituall Egyptian seruitude if shee I say by the meanes of this marriage comming and liuing in England became so happy as to be made acquainted with the Gospell of Christ which shee had written in the English tongue namely the foure Euangelists with the Doctours vpon them in the reading thereof shee was dayly exercised and so by this meanes also many Bohemians comming hither into England comming to the sight and knowledge of Wickliffes workes conveyed the same into Bohemia whereby a good foundation was laid of planting and so establishing the true religion there what hopes then may wee perceiue of this our noble Queene who beeing married to such a royall husband who is not onely in title but in realty Defender of the faith yea a Prince who is excellently able to worke vpon such a noble disposition by infusing into her the seedes of the true Christian faith that so not onely her selfe may become a sound Protestant but by the blessing of God this religion may from so noble a roote multiply and branch it selfe into those her fathers Countries also so that when they shall taste of the clusters of Chanaan growing by the meanes of this blessed vine hir fathers house may then blesse the time that euer she was transplauted into so happy asoyle The Lord bring these faire blossomes of our hope to a timely maturity as your Pontifician hope is heerein already blessed be God blasted in the bud And the same God that preuented that intended massacre of Religion in Bohemia by the death of the King Ladislaus at whose intended marriage with Magdalene the French Kings Daughter of Prague where and when the confluence of so many Pontifician States should haue beene the massacre should the more easily haue beene effected that God hath and will wee trust euer preserue this his true religion professed in England and that by preseruing the life of our gracious Soueraigne long amongst vs to his glory and his Churches good maugre all Pontifician hopes of the contrary But it should seeme the Popes hopes are turned into feares but now saith he the vowes and councells of your enemies are feared Whom doth he meane here by enemies Surely by coherence with the premisses he must needes meane the most Potent King of whom he spake in the former part of the sentence And certainely in nothing shall our noble King show himselfe more Posent then by rooting out of his Dominions all Popish Priests and Iesuites and by establishing in vnity of doctrine that Religion which for these many yeares hath beene so happily mayntained therein Herein herein stands the potency and securitie of our Most Potent King The establishing of true religion is the establishing of the Kinges Throne It were happy if other Kinges in Christendome had their eyes opened to see their miserable thraldome vnder the Popes yoake and vpon what a tottering foundation their Kindomesstand where Papall authoritie and Iesuiticall doctrines take place But here we may not passe ouer that he faith Your Enemies Who or whose enemies what the King an enemy to whom to the Popes Sonnes here in England what to the Priests and Iesuites in England There were some reason why the King should showe himselfe an enemy to these for who are more mortall enemies to the King and his Crowne then they But it is playne by the sequell that hee meaneth chiefely heere such Catholique sonnes of his as are or at least ought to bee true subiects to the King Loe here then Pontifician malice The Pope doth here most subtilly insinuate that the King is an enemy to all those his subiects who are Roman Catholikes Enough with such a brand to kindle the flames of hatred and rebellion in such subiects against their King while the Pope thus blowes the bellowes But wherein is the King an enemy to their persons no but to their religion which is enmity against God and the King But the Pope feareth the Kings Councells Now the good Lord so direct the King and blesse him in all his Councells that they may more and more be matter as of feare to the Pope so of ioy and comfort to himself and all his People But hee feares also his enemies vowes What vowes For tolleration forsooth of the Popes Orthodox religion Yf Orthodox then ought it not onely to bee tollerated but publikely imbraced professed avowed But if it bee as it is the Antichristian Babylonian Apostaticall idolatrous religion of Rome that Where of Babylon then no vowes ought either to bee made or much lesse kept for the tollerating of such a religion It is against our vowe in baptisme wherein we disavow the Deuill and all his works and therefore all doctrines of Devills A precontract with our spouse Christ disanulleth all after contracts with Antichrist with a harlot Yea vowes made against God and his word are ipso facto voyd and become a meere nullity And if the Pope at his pleasure can dissolue all lawfull vowes which being duely made obliege men inviolably to keepe them hath not God himselfe power to disanull all impious vowes which are made to maintaine the religion of Antichrist Therefore the Pope must giue vs leaue herein not to giue credit to his Holinesse complaint which howsoeuer wee knowe to bee most vniust And whereas the Pope calls his Religion orthodox let the contents of this Bull witnesse Wee need goe no further for proofe Ipse dixit Yet you complaine that notwithstanding your orthodox Religion a