to ther liberties vpon great suite and vpon such conditions as he thought good Neither of these great citties obiected to the Dukes ther breach of oath at ther entrie or that they had forfeited ther estates they wanted the cloke of Holland and such a conductor as Oreng Yet it is worthie also to be considered why the Prince vrgeth so much the kings keaping of his oath and yet he maiks no religion to perform his own For when he was to taik vpon hym the government of Brabant he took his oath to mantain the Catholick Michael Barus do vnione stat religion in Brabant And haith he performed it when he retyred into Holland he professed and protested publicklie he would chainge and alter nothing nor disposses the Cleargie of ther liuings and the like he ded at Amsterdam and bownd hym self with a solemn oath and yet he performed none of these So to serue his own turne he taketh hold of the kings oathe and for his own oath religion and bonum publicum geue hym a dispensation which Caluin ded confirme vnto hym Libro 4. c. 13. § 21. Aman saith he illuminated vviâ—h the truthe simul vinculis omnibus obediendi legibus Ecclesiae solutus est he that once haith perfect knovvledg of the gospel is absolued from oath and all such suares Is not this a holie gospel and a blessed lesson But yet I see no particularitie alledged wherby it may appear that the king ded break his oath was it for exactions it is answered was it for bringing in the Spanyards it was tyme and necessitie that mayd the king to his great trowble to his greater charge to his greatest greafe to taik armes to defend the Cleargie to defend the religion of his ancestors according to the lawes and lawble customes of these prouinces and to force them to acknowledg that he was ther Prince Was it for religion In dead it is trew ther is a clawse in the vnion that they ar therby to defend them selfs contra omnem vim quae sub pretextu religionis aut nominis Regij inferetur At first the Prince Horn and Montigny offred to Ioyn vvith the people against the Inqusition they assisted comforted and encooraged Brederode they desyred and vrged the Religions Vried and published books to defend it mayd liberal promises to be content vvith the vse of ther own religion and not to preiudice nor offend the Catholick And with much art they hid and dissembled ther intentions the better to draw on the Catholicks to ioyn with them for the general good of the state For by that deuise they wonn manie prelates and men well affected in religion to cooperate with them for the furteranc and defence of the Archduke Matthias with ther bodies and goods and still vnder the fayre names of liberties and religion Now that religions Vried being granted it was a supersedeas to the inquisition and a prohibition of all violenc and seueritie and what could they desyre more Besides Holland and Zelland ever since the pacification of Gand haue bean offendors more then defendors and haue enioyed ther Religion liberties denique quid non so as they had no iust cawse to maik this vnion and conspiracie speciallie when all other prouinces submitted them selfs to the king But faction and haeresie is ever humble till they can get the svvord of povver and authoritie in ther hands For novv they of Holland ar in Gloria Patri and sing an other tune they haue expelled all the Cleargie seazed ther lands and liuings emprisonned those that vvil not be conformable to ther Synodes holden at Dort 1574. and at Midlborough 1581. they haue vsed much crevveltie both in drovvning and executing men for religion but no toleration they vvill permit nor more fauor then to the Puritans Anabaptists an semi-Arrians emoug them And for the matter of Religion at the making of that vnion they mayd them selfs cheaf gouernors of religion and the church by these words Quant au poinct de religion ceux de Hollande Zellande s'y comporteront comme bon leur semblera les autres selon le placcard de l' Archiduc Matthias So then by this belike the States of Holland and Zelland ar aduanced to be head of the church in those prouinces for all must be touching Ecclesiasticall matters comme bon leur semblera They ar now the Regula Lesbia to square iudg direct gouern and order all and what religion they will allowe that must pass for currant and in that manner and for so long tyme as they please Now this authoritie being in the states generall then that church must be gouerned by manie not by one one spiritual bodie by manie temporall heads and most of them artificers merchants of Amsterdam brewers of Delft Staplers of Dort seamen of Horn c. An anarchie vvithovvt learning and vvhich is pittie a forenoon head better then an afternoon too manie for vnitie too ignorant for veritie and skarselie able too determin with iudgment vvhether the Gomarists or the Armenians should be Doctors of the Chayre And that appeared well by ther edict published at Haghe 1614. that no man should preach Deum aliquos in exitium creasse which sentenc was afterward retracted bycaus the heads of the church had erred therin for they admitt not the ministers as in France to sharewith them anie part of ther iurisdiction Now to draw to an end yf the king had taken armes to introduce anie nevv religion like a Mush-rump growen vp in a night and to compell the consciences of his subiects to obeye that I must neads saye he had much encroached vpon the liberties of the contries and had incurred iustlie ther mallice And I can not but saye also that the Hollanders taking armes against ther soouerain for defenc of such a religion and innouation can neither by law reason not religion be excused and defended Now yf the Hollanders be so precise in vpholding ther religion yf the Elders of Geneua will permitt no toleration yf the french church insult and oppress the poor humble Catholicks that liue emoug them yf Romulus by his law enacted Deosperigrinos ne colunto yf Numa would not heare Lib. 4. de repub of anie noueltie yf Socrates ded wiselie aduise that people should reseru and refer all mutations and matters of religion to Apollo yf nature and all nations concurr in this had not the king of Spayn reason to endeauor to preuent that confusion of opinions and that multitud of sects which had so daingerouslie infected the west part of the world And yf they of Holland think it necessarie for the peace of ther state is not the case a like for hym yf for ther conscienc sake they will barr ovvt the Catholick and ancient religion should he be bard for his conscienc sake to taik the same course against the Caluinists hovv doe ther beginning and ther proceadings differ and how doe ther profession and performanc agre for
least the Emperor should either preuent or circumvent them they prepared to come into the feald with a mightie armie whearof the yong Duke of Saxonie Iohn Frederick his father being dead and the Lansgraue wear ganeralls vvho resolued by armes to fynd right or to maik right The Duke of Wirtemberg assisted them The Imperiall towns Auspurgh Vlm Strasburgh and Frankfort sent them ayd The Count Palatine leuied two hundred horse for them but wiselier reuoked them being on the vvaye the Duke of Brunsvvig and his sonnes the Duke of Lunenburgh the yong Marques of Baden the Princ D'Anhald the Counts of Furstenbergh and Mansfeald ioyned vvith them in person and povver So as the armie contayned abovvt threskore and ten thovvsant men vvheareof ther vvas 7700. horse and 112. Cannons and feald peaces vvith infinite prouision and almost the hope of an assured victorie The eyes of all princes vvear fixed vpon this action and all Germanie trembled expecting the event and success of this great armie prepared to svvallovv vp the Emperor vvho had onelie king Ferdinand the Duke of Bauier and the Duke of Cleaue assured to hym for tho Duke Maurice ded follow the Emperor yet was he sonn in law to the Landsgraue and might be suspected also for his religion I will not tell yow a tedious tale and impertinent the event was this The emperor for all this huge preparation became maister of the feald and Conqueror the tvvo generalls a rare accident vvear bothe taken prisoners and ther armie defeated The Duk of Saxonie an honorable man and much pittied had his lyfe giuen and conniuenc for his religion but his impregnable fort of Gotha vvas Demolished Neâ— and the electorate and the lands therto belonging wear bestowed by the Emperor vpon Duke Morrice The like mercie for his leyfe was showed to the Landsgraue The Duke of Wittenbergh for two hundred thovvsand Duckets and the Imperial townes vpon ther petition and submission by the mediation of Angels and Duckets sollicited and mayd ther peace with the Emperor And so by the prouidenc of God and prosperitie of Cesar the Empyre was preserued and keapt in statu quo prius and the Electores Ecclesiasticall and Prelates wear still continued and ther dignities mantained Tho by all probabilities it may well be coniectured that as these great princes had in ther own prouincies extinguished and buried the title state and Iurisdiction of Bushops so yf they had wonn the glorie of the daye and had bean conquerors they vvold haue vsed the same deformation in all the empyre Yf yovv ask hovv this vvarr of the That this vvar vvas vulavv full Princes ded concern Luther of Lutheranisme Or hovv he or his religion vvear to be condemned as the motiues of that Or whether the Actors them selfs could be iustlie accused for that rebellion I must ansvver that Greathes and Innouation never vvanted patrons to defend them not vvitt to coolor ther falts D. Bilson in his book of the difference 1. D Bilsons opinion betwean Christian subiectioÌ„ an vnchristian rebellion to palliat the falt and excuse both Luther and the Confaederats affirmeth that the lawyers of Germanie but he nameth none in particular ded permit Resistance coninglie insinwating that the Lawes ded permitt and tollerate the protestants to resist And secondlie that the States of Germanie wear not absolutelie subiect to the Emperor but Conditionallie And therfor he concludes with a quare why should not the states of Germanie enioye the same liberties and securitie ther forefathers ded and so he concludes that wheareof no man mayd quaestion and is nothing to the matter in question The Deuines of Magdeburg held 2. Osiâ—â—der Centur 16. this opinion That yf the magistrate passe the bownds of his authoritie and commaÌ„d things wicked and vnlaw full he may well be resisted and not obeyed And Sleydan l. 19. fol. 263. saith vve 3. may resist Caesar vvith good conscience intending a destruction bothe of religion and libertie But Philip Melancthon lib. Consil 4. Euangelic parte 1. pag. 314. confidentlie enableth the inferior magistrate to alter religion and ouerthrow Idolatrie And so they conclude this warr was lawfull and allowable both by gods lavv and mans se defendendo Hear is a harmonie of fovvre parts and yet all to mantain Discords and impugn the magistrates authoritie and they containe the substaÌ„c of the reasons alledged by the Duke and the Landsgraue both vvhen the league vvas first mayd at Smalcald and aftervvard vvhen they proclaimed vvar against the Emperor Novv yf yovv examin vvel these seuerall Doctors opinions yow shall fynd therby that it must first be prooued 1. That Caesar passed the bownds of his authoritie or els it is playne they passed theirs 2. Secondlie that he commanded things wicked and vngodlie and against gods commandement Thirdlie that he went abowt to Destroye trew religion and ther libertie and all these must be doon before it be lawfull to taik armes and resisthym for to resist onelie is ther pretence I wil first demand of them this quaestion When Caesar or the supreme magistrate commandeth anie thing to be doone which is not apparentlie against the lawes of the Empyre then in force who is to be Censor whether Caesar passeth the bownds of his authoritie and whether the things he commandeth be impious ar no They answer he ded absolutelie seak to ouerthrow ther liberties and trew religion scilicet Lutheranism which is fownded vpon the trew preaching of the word and administration of the sacraments This surelie is not a sufficient answer ad idem and to my question and yet I may replie that it is and haith bean an old and vsual stratagem of Satan to oppose religion against religion that so he might bring in Atheisme and leaue vs no religion Besides they maik that ther principal argument the presumption of theâ— trew religion whearof Caesar at wormes mayd the greatest quaestion and so they infer ignotum per ignotius Add therfor to this that they when they ded presume to establish a nevv religion ded passe them selfs the bownds of ther authoritie The world might iudge Caesar a verrie simpl Prince yf he wowld either haue changed his religion or tollerated theirs vpon the bare credit of Luthers priuate spirit and opinion or vpon the protestation of the Confaederates For think yow them coÌ„petent Iudges of the Cleargie or to decyde what should be receaued in the Empyre for trew religion Can religion lavvfullie and orderlie be changed by temporal magistrates onelie and vvhen neither a general counsel nor a national councel hath decreed it nor anie Imperial Dyet haith established it May euerâ—ie elector or prince frame for his prouinc by law a religion of a nevv Cutt withowt the consent of the Emperor and the states Geue me an instanc show a president when anie such innouation was mayd in the Empyre withovvt an Imperial Dyet or els as ther taking armes was withowt Iustice so ther
king And vvhat estimation Musculus holds them vvorthie of appeareth locis commun cap. 10. tit de officijs ministrorum So yow see neither of them bowe the knees to this Baal nor magnifie Caluins Idol But yf yow would look thorough with a pearcing eye the absurdities of the Disciplinarians read Schulting his Hierarchica Anacrisis lib. 15. cap. 19. 20. and 22. Whearby yovv may perceaue how all kings ar mayd subiect to ther excommunications the trevvlie Brutum fulmen of these Eldors and what confusion it breadeth in the ciuil state which learned Hooker wiselie noted and gow both nobilitie and commons must assamble at the summons of the pastor as the head of the parish the President of the Counsell and then vvhat conclusions they determin and decree arr rules and of sufficient authoritie to bynd the Parish to obedienc So euerie parson is a demi-Pope in his parish the elders ar suprem magistrates and Caluin really Papa and cheaf pastor though ovvt of his humble pryde he vvill not vouchsafe to be nor be called Doctor Besides maister Butler knevv that vvheare Philautia and Phantasia arr conioyned and raign as matches predominant in the breyneand bodie ther must neads be a hart svvelled and blovvn vp vvith singularitie and vvith a conceipt that they onelie knovv the truthe and the trevv vvorship of God and that onelie they stand in grace as men predestinated to glorieand blesse Vpon this dreame they contemne all others for ther defects and imperfections and being transported vvith strong passions and inflamed vvith the feruor of a provvd spirit more then of charitie and sober zeale they ronn into desperate actions as furies that regard neither Maiestie iustice or gouernment And in dead ther be some diseases that ronn in a blood and arr almost hereditarie to some of ther familie as frensie oft doth vvhich leaueth alvvaies a taynt and a spice of the staggars in ther vitall spirits as yf they had bean bitten with a mad dogg And therfor maister Butler knovving the sumptomata of ther disease might with skill and iudiciouslie sett it dovvn as an Aphorism That a Puritan vvas a Protestant ovvt of his vvitts And so I leaue hym till it please God to cure or convert hym speciallie in Scotland TITVLVS QVARTVS TOVCHING HOLLAND AND THE VNITED PROVINCES VVE ar now to arriue by course at Holland and Zelland that horrible The 4. proof of disloyaltie By exampl of Holland Akeldama and feald of blood and the theater of tragical and lamentable stories Whear I will rather declare then delate with what furie the Lutheran faction begonn and with what violenc the Caluinists proceaded and with what calamitie they both continued for as yow haue hard ther axiomes and positions before at large so the practises and tyrannie of ther followers ar hear best to be discouered And aboue all the actions of ther conspiracie the Vnion of Vtreght vvas the most capitall and infamours A deuise according to the rules of Iunius Brutus an imitation of Swiz and the Cantons and a strong argument to conuince them of rebellion though they euer marched vnder the name of Religion and bellum sacrum This Vnion was mayd by the states 1578. The formâ— of the vnion of vtreght who seing the fortunate proceadings of the Duke of Parma and the course of the Malcontents entered into a perpetual league comprised in 20. articles for ther mutual support and succor First they of Holland Zelland Frize and Gelders ded ioyn Contra omnem vim quae sub praetextu nominis Regij aut religionis inferetur After that the contriuer and ringleader of all the Prince of Orenge and they of Anvvarp and Gand cam vvith into the league and subscribed it the 14. Februarij 1579. the vvhich vvas after ward again confirmed at Haghe 20. Iulij 1581. and the scope of all this was to abandon and expell ther leage lord the King of Spayne and to depose hym from his ovvn dominion and inhaeritanc Therfor vpon that they established an edict que le Roy d'Espaigne est descheu de la Seigneurie du Pays-bas And to maik it more authenticall they deuised a forme of Abiuration from the king and a particuler reuocation and dispensation of ther former promise and oath of obedience in these vvords I. W. N. Svvearanevv and bynd my self to the prouinces vnited to be loyal and faithfull to them and to ayd them against the King of Spayne comme vn bon vassal du Pays And when they had taken that oath they broke all the kings seales pulled dovvn his armes seazed and entred vpon his lands rents customes and all other haereditaments and took the same into ther own hands And as absolute lords they coyned moonie in ther own names placed and displaced officers of the state banished all the kings counsellors published edicts possessed the church liuings suppressed Catholick religion beseaged Amsterdam and vsed all the marks and notes of sooueranitie in ther own names Whearupon Raald a counsellor for frizeland hearing this new oathe which was generallie tendered to all men vpon the horror and greaf thereof he dyed soodainelie as of an Apoplexie The reasons they gaue why the king of Spayne had forfeited his title and right wear these For 1. suppressing ther religion 2. for oppressing them vvith tyrannie 3. for abrogating ther priuiledges and for holding them in bondage and seruitude for such a magistrate they ar not bownd to obey they said but to eiect hym as a Tyrant An example and president of daingerous consequenc and which deaplie concerneth all princes to look vvel to For yf subiects may depose ther prince and maik them selfs iudges when he shall forfeit his crown and dignitie vvhich praerogatiue the Rochellors may challenge as lawfullie as the Hollanders qui stat videat ne cadat kings had nead to maik ther seat sure and sit fast for these men maik it but a slipperie hold And in dead ambition and treason can neuer fynd a fitter cloake for ther wearing then that which is mayd of the Holland fashion by religion Now that yow may the better iudg of The general quarrell the particuler quarrel of the Hollanders I will set down the trew grownds for the defenc of the general and why they took armes at first The original and principal cawse of this long and crewel warr was the spring of the new sects in the low contries and vnder the shadow of religion all the factions in the state and all discontentements wear masked singulare commodum and priuatum odium And as the peoples natural inclination to noueltie ded set it much forward so ther wanted not a concurrenc of forreiners who serued as bellowes to blow the coles both owt of France and England Charles the fifth owt of his wise prouidenc remembring what a peace of work Luther had cut owt for hym in Germanie and with what dainger charge and difficultie he overcame it Intended for the quietnes of this contrie and
fictions mayd faults by law deuised by pollicie and mayd offences rather then being so of them selfs How playne was her gouernement and how farr from triks a litl seuear to which â—he was oft forced for thoughe she was a great Iusticer yet withall how merciefull she was appeared manifestlie by her gracious compassion to the Dutches of Sommerset to Syr Iohn Cheak to Syr Edward Mountagevv the cheaf Iustice to Syr Roger Cholmlie to the Marques of Northampton Syr Henrie Dudlie Syr Henrie gates the Lord Robert Dudlie who stood attainted and to the Duke of Suffolk whome all she knew and had before fownd to be enemies of her religion and no frends to her title and yet she released them all ovvt of the tovvre whear they weare prisonners Notwithstanding all this the Protestants wear never quiet nor suffred her to be quiet Some ded libell against the regiment of voemen some picked quarrels to her marriage some published discourses and invectiues against her religion and some conspired her depriuation to aduance her successor by vvhose aduancement euerie Caluinist expected a golden fleace The grovvnd of all these seditious actions vvas the religion they professed then nor fullie six yeares old a religion of more libertie more pleasing to the gallants of a court and voyd of these austerities and mortifications which the ancient Catholiques obserued with reuerence But emong manie others that book of obedienc prepared most the vulgar to insurrections and mutinies for pag. 94. he affirmeth that Quene Marie deserued to be put to Death as a tyrant and monster Ded euer anie Catholich write so or ded the pen of anie seminarie man blot the paper with so barbarous a sentenc Yet knox libro appellat ad nobilitatem popul Scot. ioyneth hands with a Goodman and backeth his opinion Illud inquit audacler affirmauerim debuisse nobiles rectores iudices populumque Anglâ—anum non modo refistere repuguare Mariae illi Iesabeli quam vocant reginam suam verum etiam de ea Sacerdotibus eius supplicium sumere and these yet vvear not all Procead Syr Thomas VVyat is worthielie chronicled for his rebellion vvho marched as a Cyrus ouer Shooters hill with his armie threatning both court and cittie Prince and people Yet this holie Goodman cap. 14 in his Obedienc commends hym and saith he ded but his dewtie and that it was the dewtie of all that professed the gospell to haue risen with hym and pag. 43. He affirmeth that it is lawfull to resist the superior powers and vrgeth all states to taik armes against her But whear ded Goodman and knoâ— suck this sweat doctrine at Geneua the school of Monarchomachia whear Buchanan ded learn the same and all for one end and maister VVhitingham in his preface to that book confesseth that it was approoued to be a good and godlie treatise by the principal of that cittie that is Caluin and Beza And albeyt in Qurne Elizabeths tyme Goodman is said to haue recalled that opinion yet it was neuer publicklie recalled by hym and disalowed and besides it showeth in Quene Maries tyme vnder the cross and affliction of what spirit he end his faction weare of Yf yow dowbt vpon what pretenc wyat ded rise bycause some maik quaestion thereof surelie it was partlie for religion partlie for bonum publicum to hinder the Quenes marriage for both ioyntlie concurred as Stow and Hollinshead agree He that shall presume to defend that it was not for religion Quene Marie in her oration at the Guildhall in London doth refell hym for she declared that she had sent diuers of her counsell to wyat to demand the pretences of his insurrection and she sayd it appeared to her counsell that it vvas a Spanish Cloke to Couer religion It is trew that wyat vrged to haue the Towr deliuered to hym and to haue powr to nominate and choose new counsellors and that he would not trust but be trusted Wear these in different demands af a subject Or regalities fitt to be offred to his mercie was this to preseru the Quene Surelie Violenc and the Svvord be vnfitt keapers of a Prince person And touching Religion Fox hym self saith that for religion they coÌ„spired emong them selfs and mayd vvyat ther Cheafe the reason was that by forren marriage the Quene vvould bring a seruitude vpon the realme and establish popish religion ther in Vovv vpon these premisses mark vvhat ensevved VVilliam Thomas conspired to kill the Quene and at his execution he gloried that he dyed for the good of his contrie Doctor Pendlton preaching at Povvles Crosse one discharged a peace against hym and at the same place an other daye one threw a Dagger at maister Bourn being in the pulpit wheare the lord Maier could skarselie appease the tumult so as the lords of the counsell the next sonday after together vvith the Garde vvent thither to preuent or to punish such disorders yf anie should there happen againe And at vvestminster vpon an Easter daye a desperare fellovv wounded a preasts as he was saying Masse in saint Margerets Church So great vvas the distemperature of these inflamed puritans vvho complayne so much against the persecution of that tyme and yet they prouoked it and hauing no powre to command yet had they no humilitie to obeye and when they might haue liued quiet them selfs yet vvould not suffer others to liue quiet in whose authoritie it laye to disquiet them But I will mount to offences a degree higher William Fetherston a counterfet king Edward was brought vpon the stage as a Parkin Warbeck to disturb both the Quene and the state What strains of inuention and pollicie wear these against a Prince for her religion but hear they stay not for One Clebar sometymes a Paedante remaining at yakeslie in Northfolk vvas put to death for a conspiracie against the Quene Vdal Stanton Peckam and Daniel wear committed both for conspiracie and haeresie and for attempting to robb her threasure and the Exchecquor for which they had there dew punishment To let passe the treason of Dudlie and Ashton who wear sett on and stirred vp by the French Syr Peter and Gawin Carse great protestants together with Syr Thomas Dennie took armes in Deuonshyre to hinder and empeach the king of Spayne his arriual in England possessed them selfs or Excetor Castl and afterward perceauing ther own weaknes and less assistance then they expected they fled into France which was then the harbour for the malcoÌ„tents of his nation Thomas Stafford comming vvell instructed from Geneua mayd proclamations publicklie in seueral places that Quene Marie was not lawfull Quene and vnworthie to be Quene and so abuse the people he gaue owt boldlie and falselie that twelf of the strongest houlds in England and best fortified wear committed to the custodie and command of the Spanyards to maik them the more odious whome they hated onelie for ther religion and povver and no other particuler quarrel and therfor he Bradford Procter and
desyred to walk at libertie in the wyde world and were wearie of Cloysters and spiritual exercises Anno 28. to loose no tyme all small religious howses of or vnder 200. pownds per annum with all ther lands and haeteditaments of vvhich there vveare 376. wear giuen to the king by parliement and these vvear able to dispend aboue 3200. povvnds per annum of old rents of Assise and the mooueables of these howses being sovvld at vndervalevv amounted to aboue 100. thowsand pownds The religious and ther dependants vvear all voyded and left vnprouided of habitation so as moe then ten thowsand persons weare turned owt of ther own doores to seak ther fortunes Which mooued the common people to much compassion to see them forced to liue by almes vvho by ther bountiefull hospitalitie had releaued so manie Anno 30. Battel Abbie in Sussex Martin in Surrie Stratford in Essex Lewes in Sussex wear suppressed and converted to the kings benefitt and vse for all things wear doon politiquelie and by degrees At last anno 32. and 33. generallie all other monasteries of what valew soever and all the lands of S. Iohns of Hierusalem wear giuen to the king and the corporation of the knights was dissolued and to satisfie them with some contentment they had pensions distributed emong them of 2870. pownds during ther liues So hear was left in England and Ireland no care of the general good of the Church to mantain anie succors assistanc or fortification of Europe against the Turk nor no nurceries of deuotion and prayer again sinn and the deuel And to conclude all Chantries Colledges and Hospitalls for the releafe of the poore vvear offred and bestowed vpon the king and left to his order and disposing anno 37. The valew of all the Church lands in England at that tyme amounted to aboue 320180. pownds 10. per annum wheareof the king took into his own possession and appropriated to the crovvn 161100. per annuÌ„ The which was so great a bootie that an offer was mayd once in the parliement as Howse reporteth in preface to H. 8. to create and mantain with those reuennues fortie Earles 60. Barons 3000. knights and 40. thowsand soldiers and also that so the Commons should never after be charged with anie more subsidies or impositions The like motion and proiect was commended The Cavvses of the Supression and offred at the lay mans parliement in the tyme of king Henrie the fourth by some that loued Wiclef better then the Church and wear better frends to ther lands then to ther Religion but Thomas Arondel Archbushops of Cantorburie ded stowtlie and vertuouslie resist ther motion and preuayled with the king to preuent there platts and the mallice of auarice The Lutherans in England ded reuiue and set on foot again the same motion by ther book called the supplication of Beggars which was opposed by the supplication of Sovvles endited by the vertuous and learned penn of Syr Thomas Moor. yet at last they fownd a patrone an vnworthie Thomas of Cantorburie to geue waye to ther deÌ„uises and to fead the kings humor and so he vvho should haue bean the cheafe protector and intercessor for the Cleargie prooued the Cheafe Cateline that betrayed the Church and conspired ther oppression Add to this the kings own inclination to vayn-glorie which begot his auarice whose prodigal expences could not be mantained vvithovvt such extraordinarie support And think yow that the Lords and courtiers disliked the proposition no they knew what a rich praye it would prooue whearof each man hoped and thirsted to haue a share and speciallie maister Cromwel who knew no better ladder to climbe to greatnes and welth then by an innouation so full of spoyle whearby one might easilie rise by the fall of so manie who being a man of experienc and bred vp in a forge knew the better which way to hammer and frame his busienes in some good forme that the king might vndertaike the action and stand stowtlie to a matter of his domination and profitt knovving well that his conscience was all readie buried in Ann Boolens tomb And tho maik he waye playner and remooue all blocks the thre principall Abbots Glastenburie Reading and Burie thre Barons of the parliement stowt and religious men and likest to crosse and empeach these practises wear executed for denijng the supremacie bothe to discoorage the Bushops from mediating for them and to terrifie the rest of the religious that they might not withstand the king who was now armed with suffieient powre to bring them vpon ther knees all forren intercession being cut of But quo iure quo titulo vvas this suppression The titl of the religious hovvses compassed The Abbies hold these lands in frank Almoine and in see they vvear possessed of them by the donations of Saxon English and Norman kings and subiects continued legallie by prescription established by law and confirmed by the Charters of kings and so they held ther inheritanc and immunities by the same lawes the temporall Lords hold ther Baronnies and the king his reuennues What nead I remember the Charters of the realme the magna charta 9. H. 3. or the confirmation thereof 28. Ed. 1. vvhear it is granted that the Church of England shall be free and haue her liberties inuiolable and cap. 2. iudgment against them shall be held for naught and 4. Bushops wear authorised to excommunicate those that shall seak to vndoe ther charters And 3. E. 1. the Bushops ded accurse those that attempted to spoyle the Church or by force and craft to diminish ther liberties or the charter of the realme and all those that either should maik statutes or obserue them being mayd against the sayd liberties for which is to be noted by one and the same Charter both the Church and all the subiects hold ther liberties so as king H. 8. might as well break the one as vndoe the other and yf the parliement could geue powre to abrogate the one that is a president to dispence with the other But in Peterboâ—ow Ledgerbook yow shall fynd king Iohns grants more at large and fullier then anie printed book setteth down What nead I remember sententia lata super confirmatione cartarum by E. 1. or 42. Ed. 3. cap. 8. yf anie statut be mayd contrarie to magna charta it shall be voyd Or the confirmation of all these 1. 6. 7. 8. of R. 2. and 4. H. 4. Which all wear intended to preuent tyrannie to secure the Church then being visiblie knowen and generallie reuerenced for to no other Church they wear granted nor no other can enioye theÌ„ yf the king so please But to return to the suppression The The surrendors king to maik his title either to be or to appear stronger to which he had no title of hym self but by parliement and hovv farr that powre is extended to geue awaye the lands of a third parson not being hard nor convicted
performed yf the Admiral for his own particular had not layd a block in his vvays But aboue all others it is memorable and worthie to be remembred vvhat a bloodie quarrel it vvas mayd that king Edvvard the sixt the first protestant king in England might not marrie Quene marie of Scotland vvho was euer honored and esteamed a Catholik and yet the protector vvould haue mayd no scruple of Conscienc in that Caluinisme and Lutheranisme ar as opposite as Antipodes and yet they haue matched oft together and ther Issews ar the records thereof And was it then tollerable in the reformed churches and is it intollerable vvith Spayne what then is the cawse of this great scrupulositie and feare Is it for the state of the kingdome or feare of alterations The husband is head of the vvyfe and tho the Infanta vvear born in familia Imperatrice yet ther is no soverainetie invested in her she can maik no mutation of State without the censent of the state And yovv haue the les cavvse to distrust that hauing a president before of king Philip vvho being king of England yet neither could nor vvould attempt anie alteration And yf the protestants ar sure to hould ther religion it is inhumanitie to repyne that she shall be suffred to enioye hers No man of honor vvil offend a ladie of such honor for a quarrel to her sovvle to her faithe and her vvorship of god What then is the reason vvhy this match is so distaist full Is it for the hate and odiousnes of the name and qualities of a Spanyard surelie ab initio non fuit sic that is neither an anciēt quarrel nor a naturall impression in the English For in the tyme of king Edvvard the 3. Ther vvas a firm and fixed amitie betvvean England and Portingal and of Lancaster ther king ar discended And for Castil they matched Constance the Daughter and heyr of king Peter to Iohn of Gaunt by vvhose right the crovvn appertained to hym And his daughter Catharin married vvith Henry the third king of Castil and therby the vvhich remaineth in the Sauoye records resignation of that crovvn vvas mayd by Iohn of Gannt and so all the controuersie vvas ended betwean them and the kings of Spaȳne as floorishing brainches of the tree and stock of Lancaster haue peacablie possessed that kidgdome So as Prince Charles shal by this match vvarme his bedd with his own blood I may add further that king Henry the seuenth married his sonn̄ to king Ferdinando his daughter to continew the succession of amitie I might remember the treaties of 1505. betvvean k. Henry the 7. and king Philip for the preseruation and noorishment of that league and frend ship And hovv much and hovv tenderly Charles the 5. embraced and esteamed yt vvell appeareth by the Treatie arctioris amicitiae 1543. And by the renoumed treatie of Callice the greatest honor that was evver doon to the crovvn of England and by the treatie 1507. bevvean Maximilian the Emperor Charles king of Spayne and king Henry the 8. by the treaties for entercourse 1515. and 1520. by the treatie of Cambray 1529. and by that famous treatie 1542. Thus the tvvo kings and kingdomes still renewed and noorished mutuallie and vvarmelie a perfect frendship and kind correspondencie till the schisme of Henry the 8. the diuorce disgrace and dishonor of Quene Katharin and the cōfederation therupon with France cooled the zealle of this seruent affection So as ther vvas at that tyme no such cavvse of hatred disfauor or vnkindnes bevvean these tvvo kingdomes nor anie national dislike or contention vvhich first brake out end appeared in England in Quene Maries tyme principallie for the quarrel of a new religion then fiuee yarres old For ther vvas no pretenc but onelie that to maik the breach which Wyat desired Yet this is not the trevv and sole motiue of the grudg ther is and impostume vvhich can not be cured till it be lanched The hatred and remembranc of 1588. Manet alta mente repostum It is trew Hinc illae lachrimae But let vs be indifferent look vpon the wrongs doone to them aswel as ther attemps for reueng And vnpartially consider who gaue the cawse and forced them to taik armes The Moonie intercepted which the king had sent to the Duke of Alua the Assistanc of the princ of Oreng by Gilbert Morgan and others ther seconds the first voiage of Syr Frances Drake the inuasion and sacking of S. Domingo the protection of Holland by the Earl of Leicester the infinite depredations and letters of mart to the wnspeakable dammage of Speyne the Philippicae and inuectiues in euerie pulpit ballets and libels in euerie press against king Philip wear such prouocations as flesh and blood nay crovvnes and scepters could hardlie disgest I speak nothing of the Portingal vorage of the surprize of Cales nor of the Iland viage and can anie vvise man imagin that the king of Spayn vvas not sensible of such indignities vvas it not probable that he vvould send a futie to Kinsale to reuenge that Yet for all this hostilitie vvhen his maiestie cam to the crovvne how frendly and quicklie ded the king of Spayne alter his course and send the high Constable of Castil as the doue owt of the Ark to see yf the flood of mallice vvear fallen and vvith an Oliue brainch in his hand to seak for peace to maik an Amnestia and perpetual obliuion of all vnkyndnes past to couer all offences to burie all quarrels and to reconcile the two crovvnes and the subiects thereofs And surelie Cursed vvil he be vvho shal seak to violate that peace and vnder the coolor of religion to banish peace and Charitie the badges of religiō a malicions Cayn he is that maiks all contentions perpetuall and searsehe can he be holden loyal that remēbreth onelie the sudes and quarrels vvith Scotland and not what and how dear wnto vs it is now and so should be euer embraced and esteamed Furthermore the Crovvn of England shal hearby be thus more beautified and magnified But staye My pen shall intrude no further into the secret Cabbienet of counsel wthowrt warrant Bycause I kow not whether it be agreable to the kings pleasure or whether it be sit to be discoursed and speciallie bycause I hold it impossible forme to satisfie so profovvnd a Iudg vvithovvthis ovvn instructions and directions For I consider vvel hovv vnsearchable the secrets of princes art vvhich lie oft in abisso and ar too deape to be sovvnded by euerie shallow discourser And I remember also both what praying and preaching vvas vsed against the match of Quene Elizabeth vvith Monsieur in the like case and for feare of alteration and afterclaps and yet some vvho ded then most impugn it vnder pretenc of religion ded in dead least of all other counsellors regard religion Syr Philip Sydnie like a noble and vvourthie courtier laboured by a short treatise to present to her Maiesties iudgment the
vntfitnes disproportion and inconuenience of that match bothe to her self and the realme but he ded it priuatelie and with discreat circum spection Stubs like a professor of an vnseasoned zeal took the question in hand and as a punishment of his presumption for feited his hand for that being rather published to incense and corrupt the people then to aduise and inform the Quene And tho some of the greatest and vvisest consellors ded earnestlie sollicit and seake to further the match bycause it vvas like both to vnithe the kingdome of france to England and was sure that the possession of the Netherlands wold also be offred vnto theÌ„ by the prince of Oreng and the states whearby England was like to be a most potent Monarchie yet was the whole bodie of the kingdom cast into much distemper onelie which bare conceapts and iealosies Some vpon partialitie and faction some for distrust of the practises of France some for ther own or ther frends sinister ends and ambition as Iam perswaded euen in this case ther ar men posseded with the same diseases and humors And yf I ded not wel know the nature of the multitude a beast of manie heads and mad braynes I should wonder how they durst oppose the desseins of a king of that experienc and iudgment who haith managed this busienes with so great warienes caution and prudence that this great Coniunction can portend no other effect then honor confort and prosperitie He is the sittest to iudg of his own cawse and his own cavvse being the Commonwelths cawse yf anie priuate Man should arrogate to hym self either more vvisedome to controll his proceding or an opinion of more affection to the state or more prouidenc to foresee and preuent daingers therby I see not which waye he can avoyde not to fall into the custodia of the court of wards till he come to hym self again But to leaue this matter as a deliberatiue which requireth a Crassus or Antonius I will come to that which gaue the occasion of this treatise Ther met at a merchants howse in London The occasion of this â—â—ea I se wheare merchants for ther table and hospitalitie beare worthilie the bell aboue all merchants in Europe diuers persons of excellent qualitie met there in a garden before dinner T. Aldreds letter the pamphlet aforesayd and some strainge rumors and seditious practises from Amsterdam being perused examined and discussed A fyne Chaplain to a great person and one of the merchants acquanitance cam into the companie and hearing but a litl of this discourse which at that tyme vvas the subiect of all tabletalk with much The ministers or ation vehemencie he ded affirm this match to be like to bread great incombrance and mischeafe to the kindome bothe ni regard of the encrease 1. Of Catholiques in the Realme and in respect of Spayne which he ignorantlie called an ancient enemie 2. Whearupon he took occasion to rage and raile bitterlie against the church of Roome as the Seminarie of all commotions in Europe and the Contriuer and plotter of all treason in England 3. And bycause he vvould shovv his Rhetorick in the ruff and omit nothing which might exasperate the companie against the Catholicks he alledged in thunder and vehemencie the death of king Edvvard and that sillielie the manie conspiracies against Quene Elizabeth and speciallie that horrible proiect of the Gunpovvder treason by a fevv priuate hotespurres vvhich in iustice is rather to be buried vvith the offendors then obiected and imputed to innocent men vvho generallie vvith great sorrow abhorr the memorie of it 4. Besides he vrged that princes be bothe disquieted and endaingered by the excommunicats ans and bulls of popes by the Catechismes and doctrine of the Iesuits And that the subiects of England ar withdrawen by them from ther obedienc to ther prince and ar so full of treacheries and disloyalte as no nation can be paralleled with them 5. Yow may think also that he forget not to arm hym self vvith the authoritie of D. Murtons censure for vvhich I think he ded not studie much VVe may novv asvvel expect a vvhyte Aethiopian as a loyal subiect of that religion He produced a book entituled A discouerie of Romish doctrine in the case of conspiracie and Treason Whearin the Author playeth his maister prize against the professors of the Catholick religion vvith an Hyperbole of criminal accusations and scandalous imputations able to driue men into dispayre of the kings grace vnto them and to bread in his maiesties Royal hart a diffidenc of them 6. He vrged parson vvhytes vndiscreat vntruth and vncharitabl sentenc that all ther religion is full of doctrine whence procead monsters of Conspiracies against the state and that they teach men to murther the king and blovv vp the parliement And that since Bells tyme ther was never such a raue nous Idol as the preasts and seminaries 7. He ded not omit the like allegation owt of Ormerode the picturemaker who vpon erroneous misconceauing condemned that singuler and renoumed Doctor Allen for affirming that princes might be slayne by ther subiects by the 25. Numeri 8. And so he concluded all with that Rhetoritall sentenc of monsieur Lewes baylie in his book of the practise of Pietie pag. 783. vvhich he produced with such ostentation as if it wear able to cast all the learned societie of the fathers into a fitt of a quartane Iesuits and preasts saith he ar sent to vvithdravv subiects from ther allegiance to mooue inuasion and to kill kingâ— yf they be Saints vvho be Scithians VVho ar Canibals yf they be Catholicks Which conclusion for the art and the witt worthilie deserueth both a praemium and a Plaudue sâ—c pueri crepundia gestant After this delicate oration they went to dinner and presentlie after dinner the minister departed in great haist Therupon all the companie vehementlie desyred one gentlman of ther companie who ded well vnderstand the world and was a freeman not obliged to anie religious orders but as films Ecclesiae to deliuer his opinion of the ministers Inuectiue Which he was at last contented at ther importunitie and for the satisfaction of ther Conscienc to vndertaike and which with his license and information I taik vpon me as his Amanuâ—nâ—â—s and secretarie to set downe and deliuer the same to yow After a long pavvse quoth he lodius The trevv state of the Quâ—stion accusat Machos Catalma Cethegum Is not this ridiculus who can endure to heare a Grace hus complain against sedicion I perceaue by the premisses that the protestants set this down as a Decree against Catholiks and labor to imprint that in the harts of the people as a perpetual scandal and stayne That the Catholik religion and doctrine is daingerous and preiudicial to the safetie of kingdomes and an enemie to Sooueraintie and so they censure it as neither allovvable not tollerable in a vvel gouerned monarchie Now this being a matter of
an extent of Dominion 4. And to maik this bad proposition seame good cap 5. v. 25. Kings saith he forget they ar men that is of the same mould that others arr They ar called kings and Dukes Dei gratia To vvhat end serue these vvords to shovv by ther title that they acknovvledg no superior And yet vvill they tread vpon God vvith ther feate vnder that cloke So it is but an abuse and disguisement vvhen they vaunt that they raign Dei gratia Is not this excellent doctrine to be preached in a Monarchie and a fyne Deskant vpon Deigratia Yet he goeth an further c. 5. v. 21. Kings maik ther boast that they raign Deigratia yet they dispise the Maiestie of God Voila quelle est la rage forcenerie de tous Rois. Hear is no exception but a generall accusation and to maik that good he addeth this strenth to it It is common and ordinaire to all kings to exclude God from the government of the vvorld Consider wel that Caluin writt this not as a Politician but as a Deuine and in his prime and maister peace his institutions he deliuers these daingerous positions in his sermon to the people and in his readings vpon Daniel not in priuat discourses and as matters of discipline and doctâ—ine to be generallie beleaued and so making a course against Nabugad nezzar he run the wild goose chace against all kings and that rather owt of pleaÌ„ then owt of his text For to what end and pupose tend these speaches so scandalous and derogatoire to princes certanlie to disgrace scepters and sooueraines both for follie and impietie And bycause yovv shall see hovv vvell Caluin and Luther doe symbolise in this poynt that they speak one language and both weare like coolors and the same fashion I will deliuer vnto yow how Luthers opinion of thes poynts agreeth with Caluins These knaues of the nobilitie tyrants tom 7. fol. 441. Nebulones isti ex nobilitate tyranni c. qui inducunt animum ideo Deum nobis euangelium dedisse eosque ex carcere pontiâ—icio expediuisse vt possent ipsi auaritiae suae litare And in epistolis fol. 350. Principem esse non ex aliqua parte latronem esse aut non aut vix possibile est a Prince can not be but a robber and oppressor tom 3. fol. 325. Non est Principis esse Christianum paucos esse Christianos oportet And tom 6. fol. 143. in psalm 101. Mirum non est seculares Reges Dei hostes esse eiusque verbum hostiliter persequi Hoc â—psis à natura est insitum haec eorum proprietas whear it is vvorthie to be obserued Nota. vvhat an Antipathia ther is betvvean Royaltie and religion by Luthers rules and so betwean Lutheranisme and loyaltie by as good consequenc vvhich is the mayn quaestion But procead tom 3. latin fol 459 in psal 45. Aulae principum verè possunt dici sedes thronus diaboli vbi tot sunt diaboli quot ferè aulici For such as the king is such is the court like to be and yf the courts be the thrones kings must be the Deuels Tom. 2. fol 81. De seculari magistratu Principes flagitiosissiminebulones The reason he giueth is this Sunt enim Dei lictoreâ— carnifices quibus ira diuina ad puniendos improbos ad conseruandam externam pacem vtisolet fol. 190. Nullum nequè tus nequè fidem nequè veritatem apud principes seculares reperiri licet And then yf kings and princes haue neither honestie truthe nor Iustice Quid ego principes doceam huiusmodi porcis scribam vvhy should I vvrite and instruct such porck tom 3 fol. 149. Who can not discern hovv these tvvo holie men iumped in vnitie as led vvith the same spirit ay ming bot-at one end which is to noorish a deadlie feud in all mens mynds against kings and crownes that will not subscribe to ther superintendencie and Caluins Institutions And that yovv might more euidentlie discern that read c. 6. v. 25. vpon Daniel Saith he Darias by his exampl vvill condemn all those vvho at this day profess them selfs either Catholik kings or Christian kings or defendors of the faith and yet not onely they doe deface and burie altrevv pietie and religion but they corrup and depraue the vvhole vvorship of God Hear is in dead vvork for the Covvper not by a Marprelat but by a Mar prince The most Christian king must be again nevv Catechised and learn a new Christian Credo Hear is a new portraicture of a reformed Catholik dravven for the instruction of the most Catholik king and a nevv priuate spirit to direct the Catholik The defendor of the faith bycaus he erreth in his faith not hauing a sauing and iustifiâ—ng faith must haue a nevv faith created and inspiret into hym by this great Prophet And so by this nevv model all the old religion in the church and all the lavves in the state concerning it must be abolished Thus presumed Caluin to reform kings and government and to build a nevv ark to saue and preserue the vvorld from an inundation of impietie ignoranc and irreligion of vvhome I may trevvlie say plus quam regnare videtur cui ita liceat censuram agere regnantium But of this I shall more pertinentlie speak in the appendix In the interim Can a man sovv more seditious seads yf he vvould seak to Cantonize a kingdome into seuerall circles as they haue doon ther french church Yet shall yovv heare hym preach more like a Svvisser and Lutheranize vvith the proper spirit of Luther cap. 6. v. 3. 4 he toucheth kings to the quick and describes what kynd of beasts they ar at this tyme. Les Rois sont presque tous hebetez brutaux aussi semblablement sont-ils comme les cheuaux les asnes de bestes brutes And he giueth this reason bycause they honor and preferr most ther Bavvdes and ther vices What a seditious declamation is this against the title and maiestie of Gods anointed Mark the age and tyme when Caluin writ this book and note in that age what renoumed kings France had Lewes 12. Frances the 1. and Henry the 2. what maiestie wisedom and magnificenc wear in the emperor Maximilian and Charles vvhat state in Henry 8. of England what hope in Edward what vertue in Marie for Scotland Iames the 5. raigned and two such Maries as at worthie to be Canonized And for Castill and Portugal there kings never floorished more for government greatnes encreas of state discoueries of a new world peac and plentie Then what was his meaning to affirm that almost all kings wear so stupid and brutish Surelie to bread and noorish a contempt of hings and to induce the people that liue in free states to despise and hate them and conninglie to seduce them that liue in kingdomes to be sorie for ther yoke and seruitude to shake of ther fetters and purchase
ther libertie Speciallie for religion for at that he aymed most the propagation of his doctrine and he knevv vvell that in popular estates he might preuayle stronglier and vvith bette hope of success for all his religion is popularitie and pleasing and as Swinglius fovvnd he could not induce FraÌ„ces the first to applaude hym So by the exampl of Henry the second Caluin ded perceaue that kings and Deigratia vvear blocks in his vvaye And therfor to remooue them that they might not empeach the course and current of his preachings and proceading C. 6. v. 22. he speaks in a tune full of sharpes and menaces Abdicant se potestate terreni principes dum insurgunt contra Deum imo indigni sunt qui consâ—anturâ—â— hominum numero Potius ergo conspuere oportet in illorum capita quam ilâ—is parere vbi sic proteruiunt vt velâ—nt spâ—liare Deum â—uo â—â—re What a learned homelie is this to teach subiects obedienc Ioyne all these good instructions together and so shall yovv best interpret and explain one by an other D. Bilson in his book of Christian subiection taketh paynes to expovvnd and vvrest Caluins vvords and to saue his credit sets the berst coolors on them he could I. Caluin saith he in this place Speaks not a vvord of depriuing princes or resisting them vvith armes but onelie shovveth that Daniel ded rightlie defeÌ„d hym self for not obeying the kings vvicked edict ioyned vvith the dishonor of god Secondly by Abdicant se he meanes not they loos ther crovvnes but that they loose ther povver to command in thes things but in lavvfull things they retain ther povver 3. For the phrase conspuerè it seams something hard yet the comparison so standing as he maiks it whether it wear better to contemn ther impious edicts or to obey them Caluin vrgeth it in vehement wordes And this is farr from Rebellion An other excuseth it that it was spoken comparatiue not rebelliouslie that is yf the king should contradict Gods lavv A poor shift but he sets not dovvn vvho should be iudg of that betwean God and the king And so it is nihil ad rem I answer to the first it is idle and impertinent what yf he vse not these words of depriuation and resistanc for then had he erred too palpablie ar therfor the other words he vseth excusable For Daniels right full defenc it is not pertinent to the quaestion D. Allen mayd Besides what was Daniels defenc what arms took he All with owt contemps of the king humilitie prayer and patienc Not after the Geneua fashion so brauelie as to spitt in Nabugodonosors face nor alledging that he was not worthie to liue emong men And for the second by abdicantse what meanes he that kings doe loose not ther Crownes but onely povver to command let vs speak plaine English withowt halting Yow confess the king looseth his authoritie and soouerain power to command and yow add obscurlie in thes things Yovv mean in matters of religion for so it is to be vnderstood tho yow cast a cloke over the words and cover the matter Then I desyre to know what is a kings crown withowt power to coÌ„mand He that teacheth they loose ther royall power dothe he not mean they forfeit it and yf they doe forfeit it who is tho challeng and taik the forfeiture of a crown but by such lectures doth not Caluin stirr vp and arme against the king his trayterous subiects yf they reuolt from ther obedienc for religion Is not that the grownd of all the combustion and ciuill warrs in France Yea but in other things lavvful yow say kings retaine ther power First these ar maister Bilsons words not Caluins for they contradict Caluin whose proposition is indefinite abdicant se potestate they loose and forfeit all ther authoritie and power absolutelie not after a sort and in all things not in some particuler and for altogether not for a tyme for when kings ar dispossessed they seldome recouer ther hold againe Besides what court or what magistrates ar fitt to heare and determin whear in kings may loose ther power and whearin not and to decide and iudg the difference betwean these vnlawful matters yow speak of and the lawfull tho Caluins words import no restriction at all The vvhich doth playnlie appear by his harsh phrase as yow tearm it of spitting in ther faces that is as yovv interpret to defye them to ther faces to contemn them and ther acts But this yow say is farr from rebellion trew and yet nothing to the purpose For rebellion is but one species of Treason and therfor tho he teach not rebellion he may teach treason And so yovv help hym litl Labor to extenuate the vvords as much as yovv can and yet vvill they be reallie heynous and seditious For he that houldâ—th a king is not vvorthie to be or liue in hominuâ— numero dothe he not as it vvear eiect and excommunicate hym from all goverment and confyne and censure hym to liue vvith beasts as Nabugodonosor ded Yf yovv teach that insurgunt contra Deum doe yovv not maik hym hatefull for his impietie But to conclude this yovv grand in effect to be his meaning That yf the king threaten Daniel except he vvorship the Idolle or yf the king of France seake to compell his subiects to obey his lavve and communicate at the alter of the church then abdicat se potestate the king ought to loose obedienc subiects ar not bovvnd to obey hym but rather to spit in his face vvhich is a conteÌ„pt in the highest degree and that vvas the cavvse vvhy Doctor Allen ded obiect that against Caluin as seditious doctrine Besides he mayd his ovvn quarrel Gods quarrel the defenc of Caluinism as the defenc of religion and so embroyled the king and the kingdome in perpetual quarrell for his doctrine But D. Bilson ded knowe or might haue knovven that seditious doctrines wear not so daintie at Geneua For in hatred of the thre Q. Maries of England and Scotland he set abroach and defended that poyson and factious doctrin of Gunocratia and by his inspiration knox and Goodman ded publish ther books against ther lawfull princes Besides look vpon the storie of Scotland printed by Wautroller p. 213. and yow shall fynd that knox for an Apologie of his practises alledged Caluins authoritie That it is lavvful for subiects to reform religion vvhen princes vvil not But Caluins opinion of that poynt may be more manifestlie prooued by the practise of his darling maister Beza who sowndlie ded vnderstand his doctrin and ded brauelie second hym in all his platts In the preface to the nevv testament dedicated to Quene Elizabeth 1564. he vsed these vvords Quo die scilicet 19 december ante biennium Galiica nobilitas illustrimo Principe Condaeo Duce tuis illustrissimorum quorundam Germantae principum subsidijs freta non procul vrbe Druidum fortissime praeliata prima restunendae in Gallijs
Christianae religionis fundamenta sanguine suo faeliciter consecrarunt So then hear is bothe resisting with armes and defijng ther king in the face of his armie and this I hope maister Bilson vvill confess to be rebellion And this act vvhich others vvould shadow Beza iustifieth so boldlie that in the same place commending the good seruices at Meaux and Orleans and that famous battel of Dreux vvhearin he vvas a principal not an accessorie he addeth Id quod eo liberius testor quod istis tum Concilijs tum etiam plerisque rebus quando it a Deo visum est interfui To that place obiected to the Caluinists as an argument to convinc them of seditious both doctrine and practises maister Bilson shovveth much care and studie to ansvver 1. That batle saith he vvhich Beza speaketh of ar Dreux vvas neither against the lavves nor the king 2. They took not armes to depriue the king or annoye the realme but to saue them selfe from the oppression of one that abused the kings yowth 3. The Duke of Guise hating the nobles of France hymself being a strainger and to tread down the professors of religion that he might strenthen hym self to taik the crovvn yf ought should fall to the king being vnder yeares or to his lyne armed hym self to the feald c. 4. The nobles of France perceauing his mallice and his iniustice with priuate violenc to murder so manie innocents gathered forces together to keape ther own liues from the furie of the blood sucker And in that case yf they repell force what haue yow to saye against that 6. For the kings consent he was yong and in the Guises hands therfor his consent vvas nothing vvorth that a subiect should doe execution by the sword vpon his peopl withowt order of Iustice The king had neither age to discern it nor fredome to denie it nor lavve to decree it 5. We know not the lawes of that land nor the circumstanc of these warts 7. Lastlie Beza saith he alloweth and exhorteth obedienc to magistrates Libro confess fidei cap. 5. § 45. in these vvords Quod autem attinet ad priuatos homines tenere illos oportet plurimum mter se differre iniuriam inferre pati iniuriam Iniuriam pati nostrum est sic precipiente Deo cum nobis illam viarcere non licet ex nostrae vocationis prascripto c. neque aliud vllum remedium proponitur priuatis hominibus tyranno subicclis prater vitae emendationem preces lachrimas At larg I seth down his Apologie for Beza and the reasons bothe by canse D. Bilson was at that tyme a man selected and chosen to be the champion of that great cawse and his book was published with so great applause as yf he had batred down the seminaries of Room and Douay Touching the first poynt he is confident that the battell of Dreux was neither against the law nor the king and yet in the 5. he corrects and contradicts hym self confessing that he knowes not the lawes of the land nor the circumstanc of the warr So yovv see this great Doctor had a conscienc to affirm the certantie of a matter whareof he had not scienc And so I might leaue hym bett with his own weapon But was that battel neither against law nor prince assuredlie against bothe as yow shall fynd by the lawes of Charles the VIII 1487. and of Frances the first 1532. and of Frances the 2. at Fountainbleau 1560. the wich lawes I shall haue occasion more fitlie to pleade in the case of Rochel and Montauban in this discours But how doth D. Bilson prooue that the battel of Dreux vvas not against the king Bycause the 1. Duke of Guise ded cawse that battel and 2. armed hym self into the feald in hate of the nobles 3. hym self being a strainger and 4. the king being in his hands It seames this man was not well instructed or that his wise patron had not leasure to peruse and examin it he tells so manie vntruthes together First it is certan that battel was not in king Frances his tyme but in the raign of Charles the ninthe and after the death of king Frances all men knovv that vvear acquainted vvith the proceadings of that tyme that the howse of Guise ded beare no swaye in the court the Duke vvas mayd a strainger to the state his vvings vvear clipt the Quene moother the king of Nauar and the constable sat at the stearne and guided all And so the king vvas not in Guines hands as he surmised And in that batle the constable vvas the cheafe commander he and the Marshall of S. Andrevvs vvear the king liuetennants and had the kings authoritie and sufficient commission to warrant ther actions The Duke of Guise led the Areargard and tho it was his fortune to stand maister of the feald and winn the glorie of the daye yet had he not anie charge at that batl but of his own companies And so he fayleth in Not. See M. Maâ—uisser in his commentaries and M. Lanovv in his discourses the verrie growndwork of his ansvver And whear he saith that the protestant Princes took armes onelie to saue them selfs from ther oppression by Mr. de Guise it is a blind reason for a cleare cavvse For yf that onelie had bean ther reason vvhen they see the CoÌ„stable marching in the vauntgard vvhome none of them could accuse to haue abused the kings yovvth or sought ther oppression vvhy ded they not then laye dovvn ther armes and depart the feald and yf it had bean onelie to defend them selfs vvhy ded they not staye at Orleans or somme other nests of rebellion till they had bean assulted rather then to affront and assayle the kings armie Why ded they sett vpon the Constable the kings Vicegerent and the the honor of the Admirals howse and the Admirals kinsman and great frend when he was prisoner at Melun for his religion by commandement of Henry II. Yf ther end had bean only to saue them selfs from the Duke of Guise vvhy ded they fight vvith the Constable No this is bus a mask for Beza hym selfs playnlie confesseth that the feald vvas fought for this end vvith ther blood to restore religion And wher as he inveigheth so hotelie against the Duke of Guise that he was a strainger in France it seames he knew not that the Duke was discended of the line and brainch of Charlemaigne who vvas no strainger in France or that he hym self was a peare of France that he was coosen German to the Prince of CoÌ„die or that his moother was Anthonette de Bourbon and that his predecessors had long enioyed office and honor in the court of France Neither peraduenture had he hard of the great seruices doone by hym at Rome at Mets at Verdun at Theonuille and Callice when all France vvas in Mourning and distress after the Admiral had lost S. Quintins But that dreame that the Duke of Guise
aspyred to the Crowne yf the king and his issew fayle is to be pittied rather then answered a fable taken owt of the legend of Lorrain and the other libells of that tyme. Weigh and examin it and see the leuitie of follie The king was young his brothers yonger ther moother liuing the king of Nauar ther trustie and noble freÌ„d and a brasen gate betweaÌ„ Guise and the crowne and the nobilitie of France as he saithe mayd an association against the howse of Guise Then was it not likelie Now it being apparentlie fals that the kings was in the hands and power of the Guises I com to the proposition that the king had neither age to discern it nor fredome to denie it nor lawes to decree it it resteth to examin that proposition that the kings consent authorising that armie at Dreux was nothing worth bycause he was not of age nor at libertie What yf the king had not age to discern it was it therfor withowt warrant or law A king haith two bodies his bodie Politick as it never dyeth so is it never defectiue of authoritie and direction The acts of the bodie politick be not abated by the naturall bodies accesse the bodie politick is not disabled to rule and govern by the nonage of the naturall see 26. lib. assis placit 24. whear by iustice Thorps iudgment the gift of a king is not defeated by his nonage nor shall not embleamish the bodie In the book of ass see the case tit droyt plac 24. anno 6. E. 3. f. 91. for a writt of right brought by E. III. of a mannor as heyre to R. I. The exception of nonage against the king was not admitted For yf the bodie natural die yet the bodie politick which magnisieth the natural bodie is not sayd to die So 4. Eliz. for leases of the Duchy mayd by E. 6. all the Iudges resolued they vvear good tho the king vvas in his minoritie For the bodie politick extolleth the naturall and altereth the qualitie of it And so though the kings bodie natural in his minoritie can not discern and iudg yet that disableth not a king that the acts of his minoritie ordered by his counsell and by the Regent should be of no validitie Nay your own Hottoman in his Francogallia will teach yow an other lesson tho he was Bezaes trustie Achates Resolume would anie counsellor like it well yf a Catholick in England should affirme as he might more trewlie that the chainge and alteration of religion by king Edward VI. was not warrantable hauing not age to discern it nor freedome to denie it being in the haÌ„ds of the protector and Northumberland nor lavves to decree it till by his vncls authoritie and greatnes new lawes wear enacted for it Yf yow approoue not this why doe yow disprooue the same in k. Charles IX of France was the age of the one a barr in law and not the others or was the one an absolute king and not the other or vvas k. Edvvards coÌ„sent sufficient to authorise his vncls doeings in spiritual matters and was k. Charles his consent nothing worth to authorise the Constable and his armie to pursew his rebells Now concerning the last poynt touching Beza his opinion I must turn that Canon against hym self for yf Beza sayd trewlie iniuriam pati nostrum est nobis vim viarcere non licet yf it be certan nullum remedium proponitur priuatis hominibus tyranno subiectes praeter vitae â—mendationem c. then surelie maister Bilson is betrayed by hym he seaks to defend and Beza betrayed the Admiral and Prince of Condie to draw them into the playnes of Dreux against the king to fight for ther religion when vim viarcere non licet I will not stand to refell that opinion and error of D. Bilson that the Prince of Condie ded not ovve simple subiection to the king of France but respectiue homage and so was not mearly a subiect bycause it shovveth a palpabl ignoranc of the lavves and customes of France and besides that could not excuse the Admiral vvho at all could not plead anie such protection or alledg anie such prerogatiue For yf H. 2. might committ hym to prison lavvfully Charles the 9. as lawfully might cut of his head But forasmuch as Bezaes sentenc is coninglie vsed and cast as a mist to blyâ—d the eyes of the reader I will disperse the mist and let yow see what kind a man he vvas in his proper humor and in puris naturalibus Read his positions and Catechism of sedition the practise of his pietie the book called Vindicie contra tyrannos whear he acts the part of Iunius Brutus a noble Roman but the suppressor and enemie of kings First pag. 15. he propownds this question yf subiects be bownd to obey ther kings when they command against Gods lavve and then pag. 22. he resolueth vve must obey kings for Gods cawse when they obey God And pag. 24. as the wassel looseth his fief his lordship yf he committ fellonie so the king looseth his right and his realm also And aboue all other this is notable pag. 65. a conspiracie is good or ill as the end is at which it aymeth which is a most wicked Maxime fitt to mantain Rauillac or Poltrot or to be a buckler for the conspirators of Amboys Yet this pag. 66. goeth a degree further The Magistrates and one part of the realm maye resist the king being an Idolater as Lobna reuolted from Ioram for forsaking God Doth not this stronglie patronise the battel of Dreux doth it not teach subiects to rebell and to plead sic dicit Dominus for ther defence but note well how fynelie he fortifieth this axiome pag. 132. The government of the kingdome is not giuen to the king alone but also to the officers of the Realme And again pag. 103. France Spayn and England ar customarily consecrated and as it wear put in possession of ther charge by the states peares and Lords which present the people And p. 199. ther is a stipulation in kingdomes haereditarie As in France vvhen the king is Crovvned The Bushops of Beauuois and Laon ask the people yf they desyre and command this man shall be king And vvhat then surely it is no argument that the people choose hym It is an acceptation no election and a declaration onely of ther submission obedienc and fidelitie as yow may euidentlie perceaue by Frances Rosselet anno 1610. the ceremonies at the coronation When was ther euer an assemblie of the states to elect or consecrate a king of France the kings never count the tyme of ther raign from the day of ther consecration but of ther entrance and Charles the. 7. Gaguin and Giles can witnes was nether crowned nor sacred in eight yeares after he begonn his raigne And for the Peares what think yow that they ar as Ephori No they ar pares inter se not coÌ„panions to the king They ar not states as in Holland to rule and
direct all affayres for in France and England all authoritie depeÌ„ds vpon the kings and yf they wear his consorts they wear not his inferiors What is the state but the authoritie of the Prince who onelie by his letters patents createth the pears disposeth all Offices giveth all honors receaueth all homages as the sole fountain from whenc springeth nobilitie and authoritie and he that either would restraine that sooveraintie or communicate it with others maketh no differenc of the Crovvn of a kinst and the la Beretta of the Duke of Venice Manie such like rules and positions haith he published fitt introduction for Anarchie and mutinies most of them false and all wicked vayles onelie to cover the face and name of treason that it might not appear in his proper and vglie shape I might heare trauel and wearye yow with as Good stuff owt of the book de iure Magistratus a bird of the same nest for if it wear not Bezas as manie think It vvas Ottomans his Camerado But I will leaue them bothe for they touch the string of sooveraintie with too rough a hand nay rather they straine to breack it when they teach so grosse treasons that the states ar aboue the king that the bodie is aboue the head a monstrous doctrine as yf anie man could with iudgment maik a quaestion whether the people should be directed and commanded by the maister or the man by the subiect or the soouerain by the Princ of Condie and the Admiral or by king Charles and king Philip had reason to cut of the head of the iustice of AragoÌ„ and to teach the people what was the trew meaning of nos qui podemos tanto come vos c. All which paradoxes it wear easie to refell but that I haue vndertaken onelie to discouer not to combate and encounter them and bycause they ar learnedlie and religiouslie confuted all readie by Barklaâ—e Bauricau and Blackwood Onelie by the waye I must informe yow that they deal politicklie and conninglie and professe not openlie and bluntlie to haue anie liking to chainge the state and depose or ouerrule kings But artificiallie they manage all First to bread a dislike of Monarchs then to show the inconvenienc to depend vpon the edicts of one man then may they much the better magnifie the authoritie of magistrates by whome they might reforme idolatrie and why the Creatures of a king suppresse the creator of ther power And yet be sure the Consistories and elders muh rule all and be iudges bothe of the cleargie lavves counsell and king They be the Rabbins that owt of ther Sanhedrim must govern both church and kingdome by the Oracles of Geneua I may not forget how vureuerentlie Eusebius Philadelphus Sc. Mr. T. Beza vsed king Charles in his book of Reueille matmattin whear vsuallie he calls the king Tyrant and maiks his Anagramme Chasscur desâ—oyal Read his rymes and scandalous reproches against the Q. moother-Peruse the 40. Articles recorded in that book for the better aduancing of seditious gouernment As art 25. that all cheafs and Generalls must obserue ther ecclesiastical discipline ordayned by the Synodes And art 40. they ar bownd neuer to disarme so long as religion is pursewed persecuted by the king he meaneth So much patienc haue these Saints that seaking to reforme all others can not reforme ther own affections But yf yow peruse the 14. and 15. art yow shall discern the brauerie of ther irregular passions intending therby onelie to ouerthrow the king and the familie of Valoys These wear the holie articles of Bearn 1574. coyned with his stampe and communicated at Millun to all ther Moschees that they might he more stroÌ„glie maik warr as they Sayd against ther enemies till it pleased God to turn the hart of the French tyrant Thus ad gustum populi principatus exigitur At the same tyme was framed and dispersed abroad the lyfe of Katharine de Medicis Francogallia the Toxsan of Massacreurs and the Legent of Lorraine For that honor the howse of Guise haith long had that no man professed hym self an enemie to the church but he was likewise at deadly seud with them Heare I might taik vp and stay yow no longer with the description of ther vertues and loyaltie but that I desyre to present vnto yovv vvhat opinion the graue and learned men of the church of England and others also of gread iudgment haue dad had of these Euangelists of Geneua 1. Doctor Sutclif in his ansvver to a libel supplicatorie p. 194. confesseth that the protestants of the french church taught for 30. yeares violent reformation of religion by the nobilitie people and priuate persoÌ„s 2. And in an other place Beza saith he in his book de iure Magistratus dothe arme the subiects against the Prince and he saith that book overthroweth in effect all the authoritie of Christian kings and Magistrates and for the book of Vindinciae contra tyrannos vvhich manie affirm to be Bezas or Ottomans It geues povver saith he to subiects not onelie to resist but to kill the Prince yf he impugn gods religion 3. The same is also averred by the late Archbush D. Bancroft in his book of the Suruay of discipline a man vvho exactlie had learned examined and obserued ther courses and positions and the great dainger grovving to the state by the ministers either Scotising or Geneuating for so he tearms them And the book of daingerous positions pag. 192. dothe demonstrate also the same To these I may add the iudgment of that famous Lawyer Frances Baldwin vvho had familiarlie conuersed vvith Caluin at Geneua in his book called Responsio altera ad Iohannem Calumum Paris 1562. pag. 74. Mirabar quorsum euaderet inflammatus tuus quidam apostolus Sc. m. Theodore qui cum hic concionaretur suis auditoribus commendabat vehementer extraordinarium illud exemplum Leuitarum sirictis gladijs per casira discurrentium obuios quosque idololatras trucidantium Sed nunc audio te vix contentum esse â—alibus Leuâ—is And pag. 128. I euiora saith he sunt illa cum statuis sepulchris ossibus principum ac martyrum barbarum bellum indictum videmus cum ciuitates occupari fana spoliari audimus c. But what nead I labour to prooue that Beza and his followers haue caused all these vproars and commotions in France when he hym serf Epistola 40. Christophero Thretio confesseth that they must fight it owt Ego quidem pacem nullam nisi debellatis hostibus ausim sperare Yf yow ask who wear these enemies he answers Cacolycorum castra traÌ„s Ligerim sunt Therby he means the Catholiks and the kings armie And a litl before ab eo tempore nostri copiss foelicisâ—ime instauratis Toloâ—anum agrum infestarum Inde ad Rhodanum vsque progresâ—i occupatis aliquot passim oppidis arcibus in quibus praesidium reliquerunt So they spoyled the contrie disturbed the peace surprised the kings townes fortified and oppugned
the kings forces and yet these men Beza alloweth and encoorageth Therby yow see how apt this holie man was to ruffle in the world But this seames to be morbus in natus in the Sacramentaries and that malus coruus malum ouum for Swinglius the grand father of them all tom 1. art 42. Reges saith he quando perfidè extra regulam Christi egerint possunt cum Deo deponi In defenc of this Principle D. Bilson auswereth first more wiselie and with discreation I vndertaiknot saith he to defend each seuerall mans opinion though Svvinglius was not euerie man being the fovvnder and principall author of that sect Secondlie saith he they may be deposed vvhen they aduanc vngodlienes as Saul was Tirdlie Swinglius showeth the cawse why magistrates may be displaced but he geues no priuate man leaue to draw the sword or offer violenc to anie princ though a tyrant And fourthlie saith he Swinglius speaketh of princes elected not successiue and absolute and yet he speaks of them also in that article but allovves no force to be vsed against them Is not hear two contradictories in one sentenc Transeat cum reliquis erroribus But answer this yf they may be deposed as Savvl vvas who is to depose them hear is no Samuell nor anie prophet May the people no saith he blushing as asha med of the grossnes no priuate man is it then a secret reserued to the Eldors no neither Svvinglius hymself deales plainlier and art 42. and 43. he expresseth his own meaning Cum suffragijs consensu totius aut maiori partis multitudinis tyrannus tollitur fit Deo auspice Hear is no exception electiue and successiue ar both concluded and the people haue the sword put into there hands And to maik it more olaynne see his epistl Conrado Sonnio l. 4. pag. 868. Permittendum est Caesari officium debitum but conditionallie si modo fidem nobis permittat illibatam Si nos illud negligentes patimur negatae religionis rei erimus So this factious minister taiks vpon hym to determin whether and vpon what tearmes Caesar shall hold his place or be deposed Gentlie they will obey Caesar yf Caesar will be aduised and directed by them other wise what is ther course they will taik with hym l. 4. Epist fol. 196. ad Vlmenses Monet eos vt coram auditoribus suis sensim incipiant detrahere personam imperio Romano Quomodo stultum sit agnoscere hoc imperium in Germania quod non agnoscitur Romae vnde nomen habet Was not this Caluins course for Monarchies the verrie same But hear hym further Nimis amantes estis rei Romanae quid Germaniae cum Roma sed prudenter paulatim agenda sunt huiusmodi atque cum paucis quibus credere possis quod ardua sunt Note how this Swiz labours to vndermyne the empyre and blow it vp with his breath and what trayterous and seditious counsell he geues for ther libertie Sensim paulatim not openlie and grosslie nor all at once coram adiutoribus it is doctrine for a pulpit a sermon to the people who ar likest to applawd it And how incipiant detrahere personam imperio Romano what haue they to doe with Roome or Roome with them This man speaks naturallie in his own language and by hym the princes of Europe may see vvhat they ar to expect of these reformers vvhen they ar armed vvith povver Now as I haue declared the principles and Aphorismes of the great Triumuirat of the french Church Svvinglius Caluin and Beza the tribunes of the people and the boute-feux and ringleaders of rebellion whome our learned Doctor of Oxf. would gladlie haue defended So it shall appeare ex effectis that Geneua is the school of rebellion and the seminarie of all the ciuil vvarrs in France Neither vvil I blott ther names with anie false aspersions for as ther practise is the best Commentarie of ther positions and vvritings so it is the best tryal of ther loyaltie and can geue in best euidenc vvhether they be as they vvold seame to be good Patriots and trew subiects First therfor call to mynd both ther beginning ther proceading and ther continuanc to this tyme. And in all these thre things ar speciallie to be obserued 1. ther manie conspiracies 2. ther manie and great batles against the king and his officers 3. and the horrible owtrages and attempts both incomperable for crueltie and incredibl for disloyaltie I will begin with Amboys whear they The Conspiracie of Amboys begann to act the first Scene of ther Tragedies And therof I will deliuer a trevv and breafe Narration At the assemblie of Nantes 1560. Certan of the Caluinists conspired to Seaze the kings person and surprise the court and to apprehend and endite the two principal of the Guises for seaking to invade and posses the crown to ruine the princes of the blood and to suppresse and banish religion Which was whith great deliberation concluded in Ianuarie to be executed at Bloys the 10. of March after The cheafe of this conspiracie was Godfrey de Barry called de Renaudie who mayd the Prince of Condy partaker of his counsell and acquainted with ther platt which he disliked not yf it might be performed by form of lawe This was straingelie discouered first by the Cardinal of Lorrains secretarie and after by the aduertisement of Cardinal Grauuellan And therupon by good aduise the king soodainlie remooued to Amboyse and so disapointed the conspirators both of the tyme and place And by that meanes the forces leuied and appointed for that seruice vvandred vp and down withowt head and direction and so the Duke of Nemours with the trowpes he had apprehended manie of them and emong the rest the Baron of Castelnau and Monsieur de Pardillan slevv Renaudie the general and diuers others wear executed And the Duke of Guise prouidentlie took order for the safetie of the king and the court and so assured hym self of the person of the Prince of Conde that he had See the cōmentaries of M Mic. Castelnau not power to attempt anie thing to ther preiudice and yet afterward he was committed and condemned to loose his head but enlarged by Charles the ninth and for politick reasons acquited and declared Innocent And this was the first act pretended by the Caluinists to be doone for religion bonum publicum The like was after put in practise against 1. The conspiracie of Meaux Charles the IX at Meaulx 1567. the which the king happilie escaped by the ayd and noble seruice of the Duke of Nemours and the Swissers Ther purpose was to haue possessed them selfs of the kings person and of the Duke of Aniou and to haue slayne the Quene moother but by recouering Paris they wear all saued and the Cardinal of Lorrain vvhome they principallie desired to entrap was forced to flie speadilie and secretlie to Reames for his safegard whear not long after he Dyed I omitt
there in person and though Monsieur de Soubize vvas sommoned to render the tovvne or stand to the perill and attaint of treason yet they ded hold owt and defend it so long as there remained anie hope How was his Maiestie defyed and despised at Montauban wheare he continued at the seage a long tyme vvith noble and most expert soldiers not with owt the deathe and losse of manie gallants and men of good desert and seruice specially the tvvo brothers the Duke de Mayn and Marquis Villars who wear generallie lamented Yet the Consuls wold not yeald the commons vvear obstinate and so the king by good aduise raised the seage And after his departure the Insolent Burgers led as in a triumphe all the Cleargie of the towne with skorn full indignities And the Huguenots in Montpellier and Languedock depriued Monsieur Chastillon from all gouernemens by sentenc of the consistorie and razed 36 churches Now as these reformers vsurp vpon the Royalties of the king so ar they as bold with the inheritanc of priuate Lords vvhen it may serue ther turns They vvold not suffer the Vicount Lestrainge to enioye his lordship of Priuas bycause he was a Catholik and they put hym owt of his ovvn castel of Lake vvhereof the Marshall Memorancie put hym in possession and gaue it to Buson one of ther fraternitie as belonging to hym tho it vvas none of the townes of Assuranc comprised in the list at Brewet 1598. Neither would these good men permitt the kings Iustices being delegated thether to compound the controuersies either to heare masse or haue anie vse of ther religion What societie what common welth can stand and continew yf this Anarchie stand and beare such swaye Yf by pretenc of religion they may disseise the right owner and hold what they can compass for the vse and assuranc of ther confaederates But why doe they ryot and rage thus what cawse haue they to run such desperate and disobedient courses the king is graciouslie content they should quietlie and safelie vse and exercise ther own religion yet this contents them not they will not demean them selfs quietlie nor conuerse peaceable with the Catholiks nor obey the kings lawes in temporall affayres yovv can neither dowbt nor be ignorant of this For ded not the king assure them at S. Iohn d'Angely that he would protect all of the reformed religion that wold obey hym and obserue his edicts ded he not both promise and perform the like to St Malloret deputie of the assemblie of base Guien ded he not the like to the Duke of Tremouille sonn in law to Monsieur de Bouillon who cam to that seage tendred his seruice and protested his obedienc to his maiestie ded not the king committ the government of that famous Saumur to the Count de Sault granchild of the Duc Desdiguieres tho he knevv hym to be of the reformed religion Ded he not long before 1615. ansvver the petitions of the Huguenots that he meant not by his oath at consecration vvhich vvas for repressing haeresies to coÌ„prehend therin his subiects of the reformed religion who would liue vnder his lawes obedienc and order And how graciouslie the king haith delt vvith Rochel and hovv vvilling rather to regaine and reduce then to destroye it appeared vvel by his employing of Monsieur Desdiguieres to persvvade them to obedienc and conformitie who accordinglie ded sollicit them by letters and proposed diuers artiâ—les vvhich he thought reasonable but the deputies Châ—las and Fauas refused them What could a king doe more then seak to vvinn his subiects vvho not vvith standing published a long and friuolous declaration taxim hym for vniust persecution by the counsel and enducement of the enemies of the state and ther religion To disprooue and discouer the vanitie thereof I vvill deliuer the cawses of the kings proceadings against these mal contents and vvhat reason he had by armes to mantain his royal authoritie which they vniustlie by armes sought to vsurpe Ther for he was constrayned at Nyort to proclayme Rochel and ther adhaerents rebels against hym and guiltie of treason 1. For first it appeared by the Edict of Nants art 77. that king Henry the fouâ—ht discharged the protestants from holding anie assemblies generall or prouincial and likewise from all vnions and leagues and from houlding anie councells or by them decreing and establishing anie acts Also art 82. he ordered that they should forbeare from all practises and intelligenc with in or withowt the realme And art 32. that they should not hold anie Synods prouinciall withowt a licenc obtayned by the king All vvhich they promised the king to obserue and let France iudg whether they hane broken ther promise or no. 2. Besides they intrude vpon the state and both taik and fortifie places of assurance vvithovvt the kings warrant and against the order set down August 1612. whearas it is euident it depends vpon the kings fauor and goodnes to grant and assign the places of suretie and not for them selfs to choose and vsurp them 3. Add to that ther presumption and disobedienc to introduce the reformed churches of Bearn and adioyn them to France by an act of vnion both spiritual and temporall in the assemblie at Rochel 1617. and they mayd an apologie therof promising to assist Bearn in case of oppression and bownd them selfs by oath 1. to obserue and execut all that should be determined in that assemblie 2. and to employe there liues and goods in maintenanc thereof 3. and not to reueal the propositions aduises and resolution of the assiftants to anie person what soever not excepting the king And all this was doon contemptuouslie knowing that the king had sent to all the prouinces and ded expresslie for bed that vnion and knovving that the king had set dovvn order in his councel to the contrarie Besides how ded they vse â—egnard whon the king sent commissioner for the church goods in Bearn vvhat disorder they committed at Pau against hym it is skarse credible 4. I vvil passe over the assemblie they mayd at Loudun vvith obstinate disobedienc I will only note and show yow how they presume to encroach vpon the kings graces and fauors to them withowt order or dispensation The king permitted them to assemble at Grenoble and by ther own authoritie they assembled at Nismes The king suffered theÌ„ to assemble at Chastelleraut or Saumur onelie to choose ther two deputies who wear to remain at court and there to receaue and exhibit all ther complaints and greuances But they coÌ„trarilie mayd an act of â—nion and for ther assemblies and took the same oath which the leaguers before had mayd but vvith this differenc that they protested ther seruice to the king so long as he remained Catholik but the Huguenots contrarily le souuerain empire de Dieu demeurant tousiours â—n son entier So ther seruice vvas reserued to God but none to the king was expressed And they shovved ther mynds most
Princes may be Deposed by the people yf they be tyrants against God and his truthe and ther subiects ar free from ther Oathes and obedienc And that yow may not think that onelie knox ded hold this opinion his fellovv Good man also in his book of obedienc sings the same note owt of Exod. 17. Toti populo saith he hoc onus incumbit vt animauertat in idolatram quemcunquè nemo excipitur siue Rex siue Regina siue Imperator This is his Homelie wherby he warranteth the people to punish anie Idolater be he king or Quene And how and by what order is that to be doone This is Gods commandement to the people vt in simili defectione rectores suos quia Deo ipsos abducunt aâ—fuâ—cas abripiant suspendan Yf the gouernors fall from God or with draw the people from the trevv vvorship of God they may worthilie draw ther kings and rulers to Tiburn and hang them vp Buchanan in his book de iure regni Scotiae is not behind them in such graue and wholesom counsels For he saith pag. 61. The people is aboue the king and of greater authoritie they haue right to bestovv the crovvn at ther pleasur they may arraign ther princes and depose them to them it appertaines to maik lavves and tho princes to execute them These be the Prouerbs of that Salomon of Scotland as provvd vvith the concept of his ovvn iudgment in these misteries as vvith his poetrie and ballets This was a man vvelchosen to instruct a prince but better to infect his auditors Yet is ther one aduise of knox vvhich is to be recorded with admiration fol 372. It vvear good that revvards vvear publicklie appointed by the peopl for such as kill tyrants as vvell as for those that kill vvolfs Novv they all accoumpt those kings tyrants who ar professors of the Catholick religion and so they know what to trust to yf the Knoxians can preuayle But yf yow will yet haue a litl patienc yow shal heare a most prophan dialogue of Buchanans whearin he neither shovveth diuinitie nor humanitie They hold saith he kings must be obeyed good or bad It is blasphemie so to say But God placeth oft euel kings to punish the people yea and so dâ—th he oft priuate men to kill them But 1. Timoth. vve ar commanded to pray for princes yea so vve ar also to pray for theauâ—s But Paul commands obedienc to kings yea Paul ded vvrite so in the infancie of the church but yf he liued novv he vvold say othervvise As yf this tyme ded affoord a more ripe and solide iudgment then S. Paul could apprehend It is most trew that great high-Soaring poeticall witts haue ordinarilie some taint and touch of frensie for other vvise he vvould never haue vvritten thus madlie vsteron proteron setting the Cart before the horse the people before the king confusion to overrule Order and Anarchie before a Monarchie Thus the people is armed to kill tyrants by ther doctrine but by what lavve for yf they doe it not by iustice and order it is an act of confusion and impietie Yea but the zeal of Gods truth and the light of the gospell be the sword of Gedeon and the armes of Iudith but who must draw and direct that svvord the people and euen against the king hym self what is Anarchie disloyaltie and sedition yf this be order and government To procead what nead I trovvble yow further see the book of daingerous positions who giueth this sentenc of them this nevv diuinitie saith he is not holden by knox and Buchanan alone but generallie for ought I can perceaue by most of the Cheaf Consistorians beyond the seas That is by Caluin and Beza and all ther brood who haue bean heartofore abowt 1570. so much reuerenced and esteamed in England that both the schooles and the pulpits ded magnifie them as Oracles of the Church for vvhose releaf and perseruation publick collections and prayers vvear mayd in the kindome And bycause yovv shall not err and coniecture that these books and opinions wear never approoued at Geneua remember the precedent discourse of the reformed churches in France and call to mynd that maister Whitingham in his preface to the book of obedienc testifieth that the same was allowed and commended by the cheafe deuines of that cittie 1. Geneua And Caluin hym self epist 305. to knox Doth applawd and encourage hym to procead And Bucchanans works ded passe as current in Scotland and cum priuilegio till long after the impression of them the king ded prohibit them to be printed or published So as yow may see it was not one Goodman nor one knox that taught and defended these impious paradoxes but the whole congregation of Puritans and not in one contrie but vniuersallie and not latelie or newlie but originallie and as ther peculiar and proper discipline Nay ther holie Geneua bibles prooue it to be so whear in ther notes vpon the 2. Chron. c. 15. § 16. they allow the Deposing of Quene Macha by her sonn king Asa for idolatrie and yet reprehend hym for want of zeal that he put her not to Death by fyre The like axiomes ar not allowed at Doway nor the like notes arr fownd in the Reames testament But all this though it be baed enough yet ther practise and the execution of ther decrees is vvorse The Bushop of Ross Leslaeus in the. 10. book of his storie Eo in quit knoxij prorupit audacia vt publicè pro concione nobiles perstrinxerit quod Iesabelem ex medio non sustulerunt Yet these weare but words now blowes follow He and thirtie of his compaine begon ther reformation of religion by surprising the castl of S. Andrews withowt warrant or commission and murdering the Cardinal Betun 1546. The Quene regent summoned hym to appeare and answer for these owtrages he refused it she proclaymed hym traytor he contemned it then she sought to apprehend and restrain hym but he sollicited the burgesses of S. Iohnston and Dundee to suppresse the frieries to pull down images and to overthrovv the Abbeis of Skone and S. Andrevvs vvhich they effected And yet they left not so for they keapt the feald two monthes they took the coyning irons into ther custodie and as commanders ded what they thought fitt for ther purpose withowt resistance And this ther furious disorder ded break the hart of that noble and religious Quene Regent But stay a litle I will relate vnto yow a 2. A parliemeÌ„t 1560. storie of the greatest and most disloyall Barbarism that euer vvas committed by Christians in anie nation In the yeare 1560. the Quene being in France by the instigation of knox they enacted this as a perpetual and fundamentall law of the state to abolish the Catholick religion and they decreed that whosoever defended the popes authoritie in Scotland should be banished and further they repealed all former acts of the ancient kings mayd to the contrarie But by
whome was this law mayd the words of the act show The thre estates vnder standing that the iurisdiction of the pope hes bean contumelious to God c. Quo vvaranto was this parliement summoned and ratified for hear is showed no commission from the Quene expressing anie authoritie giuen to them for that end nor her consent is produced to confirm such an act So hear is a parliement of the thre estates withowt a king and disanulling the precedent acts of all former kings a thing incredible in a kingdome ther soouerain liuing and obeyed as king and to maik that seame good by order of lavv which of it self vvas most disorderlie and defectiue they procured an other parliemeÌ„t 1567. Earl Murrie being regeÌ„t and the king skarse owt of his cradle to confirme the validitie of that parliement 1560. and therin cap. 9. was an oath drawen to be giuen to all succeading kings to mantain that religion then receaued and to establish the confession of that church and for the defects of this second parliement I forbear to vrg them they ar euident Had not the Quene then reason to send the french forces into Scotland to bridle such vsurpers and so seditious practises of her subiects But yet a greater mischeaf followes By the Instigation of these Caluinists and by the ambition of some noble men 3. The Quenes depriuation They depriued the Quene from her government and dishonored her vvith the most capitall and criminal accusations that slander and mallice could deuise and cast her into prison not vvhithovvt dainger of her lyfe All vvhich vvas furthered by Beza the Tibullus of Geneua vvho Epistola 78. ad Bucchanan prouoked them to it calling her Medea and Athalia and nullum illius sceleribus idoneum nomen inuenio And hovv vn merciefullie he pleaded against her after she was prisoner in England for the hate he hed beare to the hovvse of Lorraine it appearith by his book of Reueille-matin And tho I am apter to burie old quarrels them to renew ther memorie yet to Iustifie Innocencie and to discouer perfectlie the practises of Puritanisme and to detect the iugling and craftie conveyanc of these conspirators I hold it necessarie to declare exactlie vvhat inducements vvear pretended for so heynous an offence They alledged that it was doon for the zeal to iustice for the honor of the realme for the satisfaction of forrein nations who much detested so crijng sinns as Murder and adulterie and ther for they wear forced to keap her in prison till she could cleare her self for procuring the death of her husband and purg her self of that intention to marrie Bothwel Touching the Murder It was vnlike to 4. For the murde of her â—usband be trew for her sex was not fitt for such a butcherie and a royal nature could not harbour such a dishonorable treacherie though she had iust cawse of offeÌ„ce against hym And yf she would haue vsed means to put hym to deathe he was her subiect and she might haue doone it openlie and legallie by course of iustice Bycause he vvas of the Confederacie to kill Dauid her secretarie in whose bodie his dagger was fownd And further the E. Murton being fled into England for that offenc vvithowt the Quenes konwledg and allowanc her sayd husband reuoked hym But they obiect that Dowgleish E. Botwels main was executed for it trew But what then It was he that brought a box of letters of the Quenes to Bothwell which he receaued to carrie to his maister of St Iames Balfour at Edinborow and by the intercepting of these all ther packing was reuealed Lyes haue ever one leg short to maik them halt 1. First was it like that either the Quene or the Earl wold repose such confidenc in Sr Iames and so great secrets knowing hym to be at the deuotion of the contrarie faction 2. Or was it like that she would send them at all hauing giuen commandement in the letters to burn them which she might haue doone at home withowt sending them to hym 3. Besides the Quene denied the letters to be hers tho her hand was counterfeited as some tymes before it had bean 4. Further more ther was neither superscription endorsement seal nor date of them so as they wear liker to be copies or proiects or fictions of her ennemies 5. Add also that he vvho deliuered them could never be fovvnd ovvt to discouer the pack and Dovvgleish who vvas accused to carrie them protested at his deathe that he never knew of anie such letters and ther for to stopp his mouth he was executed by the Lords of that faction owt of the waye 6. Lastlie yf the Quene had sent them yet was ther contained in these fictions no expresse proofe of anie vnlawfull act or attempt or practise to charge her vvith And yf ther had bean pregnant proofs that she had endeauored to haue her husband murdered and to marrie Bothwel which is the worst of the case doe yovv taik that to be a sufficient and lavvfull cavvse for subiects to taik armes against her and depose her Holie king Dauid was in the like case and yet for his trespasses against Vrias and Bersaba he ded not forfeit his crown nor endure so hard a censure as Quene Marie ded S. Iohn Baptist reprooued Herod for his adulterie but ded neither counsell nor exhort the peopl to depriue hym tho he vvas an I dumean and an vsurper neither was Edward the IV. threatned deposing for keaping an other mans wyfe nor Henrie the eight for cutting of the heads of so manie his own wiues and committing as great sinns spectante populo for mihi vindicia is Gods prerogatiue subiects ar not competent iudges of ther soouerains And surehe these boute-feux while they presume to punish ther kings for sinn precipitate them selfs into haeresie euen that which Wiclef and Muncer haue bean by general counsells condemned for Such is the furie of vndiscreat zeale like a sword in a madd mans hand But to return to the matter what probabilities what vehement presumptions ded they produce against her 1. she mourned fayntlie for his death which was a sign she was wearie of his lyfe and 2. again she acquited Bothwel for his death and ded not punish hym What a Nugipoliloquides vvas Bucchanan must princes be deposed vpon probabilities or vvear these signes anie evidenc matterial for her mourning and the funerals the bodie was embalmed he had the honor to be enterred besides king Iames her father the Lord Traquare Iustice Clark and others attended the corps to the graue most of the Counsel being protestants would not admitt the Catholique ceremonies neither is it the custome in Scotland to reseru the corps 40. dayes and lastlie it vvas not decent for her to be there and mourn personallie as a subiect but as a soouerain and yet his vvyfe and that she performed so long till both her counsell and phisicions dislwaded her as Syr Henrie kiligrew might witnes
purpose to prepare for a future inuasion And the same Admiral shortlie after sollicited vvith great earnestnes Charles the 9. to diuert all his warres into Flanders and taik vpon hym the protection of that contrie And Aldegond in Germanie as carefullie ded sollicit a partie to combyne with them so then they laboured vpon all sydes to offend the king and yf he seak to defend hym self must he be taxed for tyrannie and creweltie surelie that state must neads be owt of order that presumeth to censure a king for seaking by his ministers to punish disorders and reduce all into order The Duke of Alua could becawse of none of these disorders precedent the lenitie and mildnes of the merciefull Regent mayd them insolent and yet the verrie name of the Duke before he gaue anie offenc mayd them seak to forreyners to oppresse hym And after his arriual heare who can blame hym yf he mayd vvarr vvith rigour perceauing the generall impression of mallice in the peopls harts against hym speciallie being aduertised that the protestants had combined in the passion vveak to kill hym at the monasterie of the grean vallie in the forest of Sauue near Brussels whether he vsed to go manie tymes for his deuotion It was well knowen that Monsieur Rifot Carli and Villars vvith 700. horse and 500. foot conspired vvhen the Duke and the nobles and his followers vvear at Mâ—sse in the church to beset the place and with fyre and deuises to burn both men church and Monasterie good and bad frends and enemies the vvhich the two Guidons confessed and the like execution was intended at Brussels against the Spanyards as Pettit Mendoza and Michael of Isselt testifie Neither ded they cease ther mallice and mischeafe when he was recalled for that noble and wise Duke of Arschot aduertised Don Iohn that Oreng endeauored to seaze his person to disposses the king of the sooueraintie and to establish libertie in the low contries I ask not who set Ratclif and Gray on work to kill hym at Namur for latet anguis in herba And ded not the Caluinists as fynelie contriue at Antwarp to haue blowen vp with gunpovvder the famous Duke of Parma as he was to pass in the high streat vvith the state of the whole contrie attending hym So as it appeareth as coye as they maik it they ar not so free and cleare but that protestants may be charged with treasons assassinats and povvder plats nay more to be the first inuentors of it as long ago in Scotland appeared and the king haith good cawse to remember Now for the authors and actors of this The authors of thi vnion vnion the States and the Prince vveare the Contriuers of it And touching the Prince he vvas a man politick popular ane a greate hovvskeaper both vvhich qualities stood hym in good stead The hovvse of Nassau in Germanie vvas â—ncient and honorable but vvas aduanced in this contrie most by marriages this vvilliam bycause his father turned Lutheran Charles the fifth ovvt of his princâ—lie affection took hym from his father and commended hym to the care and education of the Quene of Hongarie his sister And afterward admitted hym into his own chamber for manie yeares Then mayd hym general of his horse and after raised hym to the honor of his Liuetennant generall And to maik his obligation the greater to hym he mayd choyce to send by hym as a man of most trust the Imperiall crowne to his brother king Ferdinando and ded like Vise commend hym highlie to king Philip tho diuers forewarned hym to taik head that he ded not noorish a snake in his bosome Add to these fauors the Emperors furtheranc of his match with the Count of Burens daughter and heyre whearby he was highlie aduanced and speciallie aboue all other things he procured Renatus of Challon Prince of Oreng to maik this william his heyre when the President Schorus was wholie against hym And forget not the honor king Philip ded hym to committ so manie and so great gouernements to his charge and sidelitie was it possible that anie thing could corrupt this man and diuert hym from thank fullnes and allegiance Ded they after geue hym cawse of alienation and hatred or he took a cawse When the king was to depart into Spayne The Prince after the Death of his first wyfe aspired to marrie the Daughter of Christierna Duches of Lorrain coosen germain to the King And therfor he laboured to haue her mayd gouernor of these prouinces and so he should in effect by that allianc swaye the whole gouernment for which he had gaped long and vvas a competitor for it with the Count of Egmond But the king preferring the Dutches of Parma the Prince lost bothe his hope and his vvyfe and therrupon grevv his hatred both to Alua and Granuellan by whose meanes he imagined that Parma was preferred and the other reiected So ambition was the trew internal motiue of all this rancour but religion was mayd the owtward cawse and the mantel to hyde it Ambition is a passion that can not rest and sleap withovvt dreaming of a reueng and therfor he first married in the hovvse of Saxonie the sanctuarie of Lutheranisme he incited Brederode he set a pike and quarrel betwean Egmond and Granuellan who had stood his best frend before in manie matters of importance he studied and practised to hinder the comming in of Alua purposing a certan reueng for a supposal of that he ded not certanlie knovv He neuer after shovved hym self vvell affected to the kings affaires nor content vvith anie fauors aftervvard he inuaded Frize directed Lumay to posses Bril and what he could in Holland he gaue order to his brother Seherenbergh to maik hym self maister of Zuthphen and placed Saras gouernour of Flushing that the world might see the error of Alua in neglesting so long a place of that importance So as I may vvell seye he vvas the great vvheale vvhearupon all the state vvas mooued and turned I will conclude that after he sought to be reconciled with the king by intercession of the emperor and the Duke of Bauier and could not compass it modo forma as he desired he grevv desperate in all his attempts hauing ill succes and fovvnd no harbor so safe for hym as Holland the best nurce to mantaine his decayed estate a receptacle of all religions and a fortification stroÌ„g enough by nature and art wheare he might safelier write Apologies then fight encoorage faction and plant a nevv religioÌ„ wheareof it seameth he was not at first fullie resolued for tho when he was at court he went to Mass yet from his childhood he was thought to haue had some seads of Lutheranism which was euer after his being in France transplanted into Caluinisme yf to anie certan sect And these and all his courses being wel discerned at last by the states of Artois and Heynauld anno 1579. when they wear recoÌ„ciled to the
aboue Ela a strain farr higher then the Duke Aluaes and yet tho the people denied it and murmured much yet still vvas he in Holland paeter patriae so smoothlie he could manage his busienes Barneuelt in his Apologie confessed that he fovvnd 1586. the order of the gouernment ovvt of all Frame manie preachers protestants vvould not acknovvledg the states for after the french fashion they had no command nor discipline the commons quite opposite the towns and magistrates wished for peace the expenses of the state exceaded all incoms and reuennues by tvventie six millions and that which I maik this note for west frizeland in the beginning ded contribute skarse Decies octies centena millia florenorum and now they ar charged to paye quadragies centena milua librarum duos milliones I vse his own words bycause I will not be challenged for mistaking hym Who is therfor now the tyrant and the exactor tho the peopl haue chainged ther Lord they ar not eased of ther oppression and wheare before they complayned they had one now ar they subiect to the command of manie tyrants who fleace them nay vnskin them Alua bett them with whips but the states with scorpions Examin ther excises and impositions how they ar increased vpon meat drink fewel men servants wages besides lones and beneuolences Henry Cuickius chargeth them to exact the fourth part of ther reuennues that ar Hollanders and liue owt of the contrie Si in prouincijs nostris venia eorum degunt semissem iubent soluere si secus bonis exuunt And to answer that inuectiue against the Duke of Alua his Creweltie which was so much obiected at Coolen and since haith bean aggrauated by D. Baudius in his orations call to mynd what occasions wear giuen hym by the opposition of the Nassouians by the warr at Mounts by the practise to empeach his entranc to Brabant and by contriuing his death Yet these wear venial sinnes But vvhen he fownd the nobilitie so farr ingaged in the conspiracie with the Geuses that the kings authoritie was despised the religion established was prophaned and derided that the towns in Holland and Zelland reuolted Hâ—â—leâ— Alcmar and the rest excluding the kings authoritie and power what stranger and man vnpartiall vvould not think when the blood of the bodie was so corrupted that it is not fitt both to vse cauterism and violent purgations to clense it for violenc is never necessarie but when lenitiues wil not remedie and work a cure And when Alua vvas reuoked remember how litl the peacapl nature of the Commendador preuayled vvith so rough and harsh natures who was forced to crie owt Dios libera nos de estos estados And hear I pray yow read the opinion of Syr Roger Williams a soldier of good note who had serued an both sydes and knew the natures of the peopl in his storie of these warres he condemned the reuocation of Alua as an error bycause nothing but rigor could reduce these violent spirits into order neither can anie man maik them obedient but he that can pull them vpon ther knees and carrieth the sword drawen in his hand allwaies readie vpon such inflammations to open a vayne and let them blood though I conffess a gentle hart will much ever relent vvith compassion when it seeth blood shed Concerning the breach of the kings For the kings oath oath which they obiect hauing svvorn to obserue ther priuiledges yf they will decide the matter by course of iustice it must first be mayd playne and appeare that the king haith broken his promise and not performed his oath and in what case and in ther own causes it is not agreable to common reason that the Playntifs should be bothe accusers and iudges Again yf he had broken his promise manie things may happen after his oath to excuse hym from periurie or tyrannie for by law euerie absolute pact and promise doth implie tacitam conditionem to procead rebus sic stantibus as they wear at the oath taken But what yf such difficulties followe that he can not keap his promise What yf that which was then promised for the good of that prouince can not be obserued withowt the great domage of that prouince and of all Europe As the cawse so the case must be altered But procead further yf the king had broken his oath yet wear not the states inabled and authorised therby to choose a new prince in his stead much less to inuest them selfs for in the articles of the Ioy full entrie this is a clawse vt si in omnibus aut in vno quoâ—iam articulo pacta ista Dux Brabantiae violassct denegare ei tantisper subdus possunt consueta seruitia dum id reuocetur vel corrigatur in quo controuersum For otherwise withowt that dum ill disposed subiects should continuallie haue the aduantage to pick quarrels against a good Prince And the world can witnes how oft the king haith offred to the Emperor to forrein princes and to the states generall either to reuoke or amend what could be prooued to be amisse Besides the states and courts of Brabant ar more properlie to decide that quaestion then Holland who can clayme those priuiledges but by participation Add also that the states of Brabant Flanders Artois Heynault and the rest haue conformed them selfs like dewtiefull vertuous and noble persons to obedienc of the king and to all Lawes and gouernment And yf Holland could learn by ther examples so to doe the quaestion wear then ended Furthermore the like oath all kings taik at ther coronation and it is the greatest honor to them religiouslie to performe it but yf they break it what then shall he be deposed that is a doctrine onelie sitt for the schools of Conspiracie Besides ther is a great differenc betvvean a couenant and a condition in the common lawe and yet neither of them tye a Prince so as the breach implyeth a forfeiture as hear after appeareth But to conclud who ded first create and grant these priuiledges ded not the Prince ex gratia spectali mero motu to gratifie good subiects how vnthankful subiects then ar they who will seak to depriue ther soouerain Lord yf he be forced to break a clawse or an article or a couenant vpon vrgent cawse What would they haue obiected to Philip Duke of Burgondie and of the Netherlands who resumed into his H. Berland own hands and by his own authoritie all the Priuiledges and immunities of Gandt and detayned them all his lyfe tyme teaching them to acknowledg by whose grace they held them And what remedie when his sonn Charles cam to Gand the people in a rage compelled hym to restore them But to ther cost for they weare forced to seak his pardon and to cast them selfs and ther charters at his feate and stand to his mercie And the like he ded at Machlen which he determined to haue razed and destroyed yet he restored them
at first they mayd that a cavvse of ther rebellion that the king vvould force ther consciences and yet they will not novv permitt the same freedome to those that liue vnder their command But novv to come to the Mayne poynt they Challeng by the vnion to be absolute Lords of these prouinces and haue renounced all title and obedienc to the king of Sayn as Earl of Holland and Zelland I ask quo titulo ingressi sunt they alledg in ther letters to the Emperor 1608. this grovvnd vvork Post tractatum pacis Coloniae qua Hispani potius ad opprimendam quam subleuandam Belgium vsi sunt Hispani Mercurius Gallob libro 32. tanta tyrannide in prouincias vrbes ac ciues omnes Belgij proculâ—atis omnibus priuilegijs grassabantur vt ad conseruandam quod ei imminebat ab extremo exitio patriam pleraeque Belgicae prouinciae quae in vnione perstiterant regem eiurarunt certam quandam ac liberam reipublicae formam constituerunt It a pro liberis à multis regibus accepti per 32. annos Hear is the fowndation of ther free state and the reason is tyrannie and the tyme is sayd to be after the treatie of Coolen tho in dead this vnion was mayd before Besides in the same place they vse an other argument that the king of Spayn and the Archduke acknowledg them as free prouinces in quas ipsi nihil iuris praetendant cum omnibus generalibus particularibus renunciationibus At the making of that vnion they alledged that the king had forfeited his estate by oppressing them vvith tyrannie by infringing ther liberties and his ovvn oath and for suppressing religion And at Coolen the states deputies added that they took armes not onelie for religion but to 1. auoyd exactions intollerable 2. and to cast of the yoke of too seuere gouernors So then 1. religion 2. tyrannie 3. exaction 4. abrogation of ther priuiledges and the kings own renunciation of his title arr the pillers of this vnion It remaineth therfor after hauing mayd a breach with this long battrie to geue the assault vpon ther title and discouer how seditious the positions and principles of that religion ar which imprinted in them such disloyaltie to vsurp that title If it could be prooued by them which is necessarie first to be that the king ded oppress the contrie by tyrannie and abrorating ther priuiledges then is it yet a question of importance whether therby he haith lost his authoritie ouer his subiects and yf he had lost it by what law haue they fownd it by what ciuil order or president ded they abiure ther obedience Surelie it vvas certam quandam ac liberam reipublicae formam constituere That vvas ther end and ther presumption but it vvas neither order nor cawse Neither is the kings tyrannie a sufficient vvarrant for ther tyrannie and vsurpation for a soouerain can not loose his soouerainetie it doth all waies carrie vvith it a nonobstante to difpenc with errors and irregularities And for ther priuiledges vvhich the king never intended to maik voyd and so they build vpon a false grovvnd vvhich vvill fayle them yf it had bean so great an offenc for the king to abrogate theirs is it not a greater offenc for subiects to vsurp his and so to maik them self parties and iudges and by ther own authoritie to punish ther prince Which is an insolencie and indignitie incredible to all posteritie and such as neither the Svvizzes nor the Amphictiones the confederate cantons of Grecia ded ever match nor come neare for so they maik regna occupantium ius qui potest capere capiat A pretenc opposite to all lavves a portall to let in confusion but yf the king ded loose and forfeit all his authoritie and iurisdiction yet I see not vvhy or hovv they could also challeng his lands and priuate inheritance for that must neads discend by law Besides yf the king could for feit his sooueraintie how can he forfeit it to his subiects but say they wear now no subiects we haue waued and renounced the same and is that inough It is trew a subiect may maik hym self ciuis alienae reipulicae but yf he stay in his own contrie he can not of a subiect maik hym self no subiect for tho he doe rebell as the Hollanders ded yet he is a subiect but it is admirable how of a subiect he should become a sooueraine that is scientia scientiarum a supernatural skill aboue my capacitie Yet yf the kings should for feit his earldome of Holland it is not to them but to the cheaf Lord of the fee that is to the Emperor for it can escheat to no other either by the Imperial or municipal lawes Yf yow ask me the reason I saye it is manifest that Holland vvas erected into an Earldome by the Emperour Carlous Caluus qui cum audiuit Hollandiam terram Imperatoriam a Danis spoliari rogatu Iohannis Papae principatum eius contulit Theodorico Berland Meyer Anno 863. So yf it be not in the king of Spayn to whome it is lineallie discended from Theodoric then may the Emperor geue a nevv inuestitur thereof as a fief Imperial to whome he pleaseth as he ded to Theodoric for it is a phantastical imagination that it is fallen by lapse to them of Holland the Emperor taketh no notice of ther Stateships being a priuate order for ther better government But yf it be fallen in laps it is rather fallen to Oreng and the nobilitie who can Better govern then to tradesmen and mariners And yet vndowbtedlie to none of them except they plead that as conquerors they wonn yt by the sword and so they will hold it which is a Tenure neither knowen to Litlton nor summe Rurall not Ius feudale a tenure fitter for forosciuti or the Hoords of Tartarians then a commonwelth of ChristiaÌ„s A certan Hollander in his third defenc of the vnited prouinces calleth the king of Spayn Raptorem haereticum notorium rudelie and vnciuillie and therupon inferreth An non potius regem Hispaniae quia haereticus notorius est ex suo regno omnibus omnium Euangelicorum viribus expellere oporteret either this man was much distempered or his religion infected hym and mayd hym a Catelin and so seditions These Ar fearefull paradoxes and such as all princes haue interest in and had nead to haue ther swords drawen to confute yf for pretenc of religion for errors in gouernment for restraining ther priuiledges for punishing sedition and ryots subiects may thus sit in iudgment vpon ther princes and taike armes and expell them owt of ther territories Thus ded ket and Iack Straw in England rise for bonum publicum the Bowres in Germanie and Ziska in Bohemia mayd ther insurrections for religion and so euerie Gracchus may taik vpon hym the reformation of the church and the state Now yf they obiect ther case is ill fitted with a comparison bycause
the church of England and who was chosen to write of this argument by the greatest Statesman of that tyme and he vvrit cum priuilegie and the generall allowanc of the church of England Saith he shall a king be deposed yf he break In his book of ChristiaÌ„ subiection his promise and oath at his coronation in anie of the couenants and poynts he promiseth He answers in the margent the breach of couenants is no depriuation And he geues this reason The people may not break vvith ther Princes tho ther Princes break vvith God And aftervvard Subiects can not depose ther Princes to vvhome they must be subiect for conscienc sake This is a sermon quite contarie to the Aphorisms of Holland and the diuinitie of Rochel and yet it standeth vpon inuincible reason for as yovv may not by Gods lavve depose your prince so yovv ar for bidden to taik armes against hym And vvhy D. Bilson vvil satisfie yovv For saith he he that may fight may bill and vvar against the Prince and murdering the Prince ar of consequenc incuitabl Aftervvard he addeth this to stopp the mouth of such a Polipragmus as called the king raptorem haereticum à suo repellendum The Apostles obeyed the tyrants that commanded all things against religion And in those things vvhich vvear cammanded against God they ded submit them selfs vvith meakenes to endure the Magistrates pleasure but not to Not. obey his vvill Lastlie and most to the purpose he concludeth yf the lavves of the land appoynt the nobles as next to the king to assist hym in doeing right and vvith hold hym from doeing vvrong then ar they licensed by mans lavves to interpose them selfs but in no case to depriue the Prince vvhear the scepter is inherited Novv it is certan that the lavves of the Netherlands geue no such authoritie to the nobles and yf they ded yet in no case to to depriue ther Prince or to abiure ther obedienc and maik that as a bridg to pass ouer to the sooueraintie And bycause some of good accounpt and iudgment haue bean led into that error that the Dukes of Burgondie hold not full power and sooraintie in the Netherlands I will send them to schoole to all lawyers records stories and that which is most infallible to the practise and common lawes of that contrie to Bodin and to that ancient and honorable Counsellor the Lord Chancelor Egerton in his oration for the post nati pag. 71. The Dukes of Burgondie saith he vvear absolute Princes and had soouerain povver in ther contries and king Henry the S. â—ad as absolute sooueraintie vvhen his style vvas Lord of Ireland as vvhen he vas king for the difference of styles marks not the differenc of soouerantie So then to conclude yf this warr begonn for religion vvas against all the rules of religion I may dewlie inferr that as ther vsurpation is withowt warrant either of law or the gospell they continew to hould it withowt conscienc and haue no other title but force and the canon And all forrein soldiers that doe assist them knowing the iniustice of the case and that the warr is so vnlawfull incurr the penaltie of mortal sinn and dainger of damnation and may as iustlie be reprooued as king Iosaphat for helping and assisting Achab. Look to the end for it is certanly fearefull to all those who know that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I write not thus much as an enemie to the contrie I hould a peareles countie for the goodlie townes welth traffick strenth and fertilitie in so small a circuite nor for anie personall quarrels nor for anie corruption or assentation in regard of the match with Spayne but onelie the truth of the storie the dainger of ther president and the cawse of religion haue induced me for tho I remembred the dislike had of ther manner of gouernment ther dealing with the Quenes officers and of ould how vnkyndlie my lo. Willoughbie had bean hearto fore vsed by them as his Apologie can witnes and of late what complaynts our merchant adventurors in ther books had mayd for ther ill vsage at Mosko and the east Indies by them what contempt they showed when the devvtie of Size Herrings was demanded in his Maiesties right for fishing on the coast of Scotland in presuming to imprison the demander and manie such like matters yet why should these mooue me when the state vvas not mooued And vvhen I saye the state I mean not the people but the king to whome Holland is and was most bovvnd for 2. high and bynding fauores wihch require a reciprocall obligation and thankfullnes on ther part and such as ought to bread in them good blood and ambites and respectfull toungs first in restoring vnto them the keyes that ded open and lock ther provinc not for anie remuneration but restitution of a part of his devv As also for the free permission of ther fishings vpon the Englih coast whearin they haue yearlie employed aboue 30. thowsand persons set to work by it and aboue 4000. Busses Doggerbotes galliots and pinks to ther admirable benefit which is onelie a permission of grace and no priuiledg by law for Grotius may withowt contradiction prooue mare liberum as the kings high waye is for euerie mans walk But he can not prooue that fishings vpon an other Princes coast be permitted to theÌ„ this is a digression to a good end And therfor I will return to the matter THE V. TITLE OF THE TROWBLES IN BOHEMIA AND THE PALATINATE BOhemia Onelie now resteth as a stage The trovvbles and sedition in to present the last Scene of all forren tragedies and tumults for religion and I Bohemia for religion will taik the Palatinate in my vvaye An vnfortunate prouince of late vvhich in a hundred yeares haith chainged religion fiue tymes and never leatned in all that tyme the rules of obedienc Wheareof I nead not maruel when I think of Parreus Cracerus and the schools of the new discipline Parreus in his Comment vpon the 13. Romans teacheth that subditi possunt suos Reges deponere quando degenerant in tyrannos aut suos subditos cogunt ad Idololatriam Scil. Subiects may depriue ther Princes when they degenerate from a royal gouernemeÌ„t and become tyrants of yf they compel ther subiects to Idolatrize And his meaning is yf they establish the Mass and the sacrifice of the Church or anie other religion then Caluinism then eiect excommunicate and cast them owt of all authoritie so terrible a sentenc he giueth both against the Emperor France Italie and Spayn But stay this is but his first peale vvhich he ded ring as the Toxsan the Alarum bell to Bohemia but he addeth an other article as a iust cawse of depriuation Quando pretextu religionis quaerunt propria commoda when vnder pretenc of religion they seak to maik ther own profit Which had bean a lectur not verrie plausible to king Henrie
vse and exercise of ther religion and 2º that they might enioye ther priuiledges and not be mayd hereditarie or fall into the hands of Spayne to the preiudice of the Electors and 3º that hearafter the election of king of the Romans might be in the povver and Choyce of the Protestant Princes by the pluralitie of voyces So he thought they should not be forced to hould the stirrop while the Popes wear mounted and Papists ded gouern all in the Empyre And peraduenture for that end purposed yf they could to hinder that FerdinaÌ„d might not be chosen king of the Romans For so Anhalt ded vvrite to Donau in May 1619. that it wear better the Turk or the Deuel should be chosen and preferred to vvear that crown then Ferdinand and B. Gabor by his letters certified the Turk that the Pal. and Brandenburgh vvear resolued no longer to endure Ferdinand and that all these Prouinces vvho vveare in the league Sultano totâ—ationi Mahumeticae corde animaomnia officia fâ—delissime prastabunt and that Ferdinand shortlie should be expelled Germanie to seak his succor in Spayne Is not this a holie league Be not the ends charitable and the media most Christian But the truthe is Ambition vvas Hongrie they consulted who should haue the beares skinn before the beare vvas taken they conspired to share emong them the spoyle of the Cleargie of Germanie and to maik a praye of the hovvse of Austria For by the rolls of ther Chancerie it appeareth that they intended to aduance the Palatine to Bahemia Alsatia and a part of Austria and to enlarg his dominion by the Bushoprick of Spyrts and a part of Mentz Bethlem Gabor should be assisted to keap Hongrie the vvhich he hauing no issew might also happilie fall to the lott of the Palatine Too manic crownes so purchased to expect anie in heauen Onoltzbach gaped for two fatt benefices the Bushopricks of Wirtzburgh and Bambergh his next neighbers and therfor it vvas agreed that there should be the Rendeuous of the armie The Marques of Baden thirsted after Brissack and to be inabled to continue his vniust possession of the vpper Marchionate and to owt face the Count Eberstein who had endured much wroug at his hands Wirtzburg was a mote in the eye of Brandenburgh it laye near and fitt for hym and therfor his dessein vvas to haue a share in it Anhalt hoped to supplie his wants by a part of the spoyle both of Ments and Bambergh and by some lands and lord ships which wear like to escheat in Bohemia And yf the Venetians would ioyn in this Association they might with so good assistaÌ„ce easilie maik them selfs Lords of Istria and friuli and by this meanes Oceanum cum Adriatico sayd they posse coniungi A great conquest surelie and it showed a deuowring stomach that could swallow so great morsells and sowell digest and dispose them before they had them It resteth novv to demurr vpon these poynts and to examin what Apologie and what arguments can they alledg strong enough to defend a proiect and a conspiracie so pernicious to the whole state of Christendome and so directlie against the law of natioÌ„s and the peace of the Empyre All the pulpits in England and the churches â— Reason called reformed ded generallie and lowdelie sownd an Alarum against treason and rebellion of the league and leaguers of France and yet that ded not extend it self beyoÌ„d the Alpes or the Maze as this dothe And yt was at first vndertaken quietlie withowt anie sedition or insurrections in the state And vvas for defenc onelie of ther ancient religion withowt anie temporall respects and confirmed with the kings oath and allowance and afterward it was continned in reueng of Murder and actions of tyrannie Now consider what was ther scope Monsieur de Villeroy in the relation of his seruices maiks it euident they ded not seak the extirpation of the king of Nauarr but his reformation and yf they might be assured of his religion he should be assured of ther obedienc But this vnion runneth a wilder race It is not onelie a new religion but the lands of the old religion they gape after and the affection they haue to the latter maiks them more greadie to suppresse the former And yet all must be sayd to be doore for religion though it be doone most irreligiouslie hauing neither the order nor the media nor the end religious hovv could it then succead add prosper well that begonn so ill and hovv could it beginn worse them to march vnder too such standards as ambition and auarice And therfor most wise he ded that excellent 2. Ratio Duke of Saxonie as a frend of peace aduiâ—e the Count Palatin to renounce Bohemia and seak for pardon bycause this warr ded open the gates of the Empyre to let in the Turk which of it self was a sufficient cawse to condemn ther vnion for yf ther quarrel had bean good yet the effects yt ded work wear bad Moreouer plessen confesseth in his letters 3. Ratio to Anhalt that which is most trew the actions of Holland and Bohemia eodem fundamento niti so Holland is the pattern Bohemia the imitation suits of one cut lessons of one schoole And seing that of Hollond is sufficientlie disprooued all readie I nead not vse anie new argument to refell this but referr yow to the precedent discourse for they took armes against a king lawfullie elected solemnelie crowned and by consent of the states established in possession vvhat could be more orderlie and so hortlie after to depose hym and vpon so weak surmises to show so much leuitie neads better arguments then yet y could ever heare And it was mayd the more odious by nominating the Duke of Saxonie as a competitor and a stale to maik hym suspected to the Emperor as reum affectati imperij knowing that he had refused ther offer when they employed Count Slick to perswade that he would imbark hym selfs in the busienes and accept the crown of Bohemia which in dead they never intended to a Lutheran prince An other reason doth much exaggerate 4. Reason the offenc By ther president Austria vvas corrupted see hovv stronglie examples vvork vvith a multitud The people saithe the Register of the Chancerie by the correspondenc of the Turk and Gabor took coorage and told Ferdinand that yf he would not grant them toleration of religion and freedome of conscienc they vvould ioyne vvith the Bohemians and Hungarians and renounc ther obedienc to hym And they vvear maisters of ther words for in August 1620. the lower Austria abandoned ther Lord the ancient inheritor of that noble patrimonie quitted ther obedienc and accepted a new protector in his stead I am sure the subiects of England would condemn the Catholicks and so they might iustlie yf they should staÌ„d vpon the like tearmes and ther ancieÌ„t tisle and in defenc of that seak to expell ther soouerain and invest a strainger in
the government to serue ther turn And surelie ther cases ar matches yf the one might by law the other maye and yf yow condemn the one yow must vnpartiallie condemn the other But nothing maiks this action more offensiue 5. Reason more scandalous and more infamous then that Anhalt and Onoltzback in scâ—s electoribus ded confederate them selfs vvith straingers and dispose of the succession of the Empyre vvithovvt the warrant of the Empyre and this fawlt is dovvbled by combining vvith Bethlem Gabor Christians vvith the Turks vassal a reprobate a monster This is that B. Gabor vvho to hold hym self in the Turks grace deliuered vnto hym the town and fort of Lipp and the townes of Solimos Tornadg Margat and Arad vvel fortified in Hungaria This is he vvho treated vvith the Hungars 1607. to deliuer vp Vaccia a town Episcopall into the Turks hands to the great preiudice of religion and oppression of Christians This is he that svvore alleagianc to Gabriel Batthori his soouerain Lord and Princ of Transilâ—ania and afterward trayterouslie murdered hym and vsurped his state This is he who mayd a league vvith the Emperor Matthias 1615. not to attempt anie thing against the liberties and peace of Hongrie and afterward practised with the rebells of that state invaded the kingdome took vpon hym the crown 1620. led Andrew Dockzy the kings Liuetennant catched in his nett by frawd prisonner into Transiluania and banished all the state Ecclesiasticall that he might fead his soldiers vvith the spoyles of the church And this is he who hauing entered Poson prophaned the Cathedral church of S. Martin placed there his nevv Chaplains and aftervvard vvith his own hand certified the Turk that at last he had vndertaken that worthie exployt to the vvhich the Turk had oft incooraged hym and that most of the nobles of Hongarie wear his and had submitted them selfs to hym and that now he was determined for the cleargie seing they gloried to shaue ther crownes he would glorie to cutt of ther heads whearupon in Iun afther the Turk mayd peace vvith Tartaria and promised to assist Gabor at his nead vvith 40. thovvsand Tartars What tare vertues can be expected from such a man whose anatomie yf it vvear to be mayd vvould shovv such a leaprousie such a corruption of blood and so loath some a bodie as Europe haith not oft knowen I nead no other reason against this league but to subscribe his name as a principall in the coÌ„tract whome the world must neads iudg vnlike to be a fitt instrument to aduanc the Crosse of Christ and to reforme religion Yet this vvas the man vpon vvhose head the vnion ded agree to set the crovvn of Hongarie and to carrie the practise vvith more secrecie they intertaind his nearest kinsman at Heydelbergh vnder the govvn of a scholler to hyde all ther intelligences and conduct ther busienes Novv doe I vvish that a partiall reader 6. Reason would look vpon Germanie and see the picture of Troye on fyre see the image and horror of vvarr and hovv vvell it vvould please them to see the face of London and Midlsex so disfigured with wounds and desolation And that puritan vvho novv is most forvvard to blovv the coals of discord and sedition and inflame a state vvith furie and quicksiluer may quake and trembl vvhen he shall consider in vvhat devastation all that contrie of the Empyrelyeth mourning and groning The Prouinces abovvt the Rhine ar waisted disturbed and empouerished by the soldiers on both sydes specially vvorms tillageâ—s suspended traffick is decayed trades ar ceased taxes ar imposed new fortifications charge the contrie men ar not maisters of ther own goods and aboue 100. thowsand men ar accoÌ„ppted to be slayne thes ar the fruits of ciuil warres which ar bitter and lovre to them that taist them as I pray gâ—d England may neuer And there ar the fruit of Caluinisme which though it was directlie prohibited by the lavv and tolerated onelie by the mercie of the state seaketh novv to suppresse both the Emperor and the states withowt anie toleration of there religions an vncharitable requital ans vvithovvt the feal of anie religion for your iustifiâ—ng sole faith can never iustlie vvithovvt yt bring charitie in her bosome and the trew marks of Charitie being patienc humilitie and zeal conioyned stronglie in a link your litl patienc and humilitie convinc your zeal to be counterfeit and your faith to be fruitles for charitie would not direct yow to inuade the Duke of Bauier his territories yf he refused to stand Neuther charitie ded not counsel Anhalt in his letters to Donau 1619. to haue an auaricious eye to surprise a cittie which would be vvorth vnto them 32. millions Charitie doth not vse to direct Christians to sollicit the Turks assistance as pag. 80. Cancellariae nor to set down such plots as they intended p. 42. and 32. and 66. Now touching the lawes of the Empyre 7 Reasons I referr yow to that I haue deliuered before against the commotions of the Lutherans which ther is iustlie condemned Onely I will add this touching Bohemia Carolus 4. in act de confirmatione regis Bohemoâ—um setteth dovvn this clause as an essential part of that kings authoritie and approbation Volentes vt quicunquè in regem Bohemorum electus fuerit ad nos successores nostros Romanorum reges Imperatores accedat sua à nobis debito modo solito regalia accepturus non obstantibus iuribus legibus municipalibus quibuscunque c. And in the Aurea bulla cap. 4. Curia Nurenberg act 7. Iubemus volumus vt omnes Principes Electores c. art 8. Si quis autem Princeps Elector aliusue feudum à sacro tenens impeno supra infra scriptas Imperiales constitutiones adimplerenoluerit aut eis contrare presumpserit ex tunc caeteri Coelectores à suo ipsum deinceps excludaÌ„t consortio ipseque voce Electoris dignitate careat iure Wherby it is mayd manifest what the law requireth to be doone and what order and manner it prescribeth for the doeing thereof and what paenaltie and forfeitur is sett doone against offendors and transgressors of that lawe And good reason for take away or neglect Iustice pretend what yow will your great glorious attempts your inuasions your intrusions be but magna latrocinia and violent oppressions as appeared vvell by the supplication of Leopold king of the Romans to his father Otho I. who bycause he had broken the peace of the Empyre and called forreiners and yet not Turks to his assistanc saith he membrum Imperij appellari non debeo quigentes extâ—rnas barbaras in mediam Germaniam immisi sorrowing for his fault and acknowledging his error But these Minyeons of Geneua bring 8. Reason Religion to plead for the defenc of ther vnion and that they endeauored onelie to punish Ochosias for consulting vvith the Idol of Accharon and to root ovvt superstition
Streatchlie took Skarborow castle a fort then of some strenth in yorkskyre to hould against the Spanyards and in recompenc of so great a seruice they worthilie lost ther heads Henrie Duke of Suffolk to vvhome Quene Marie had once before giuen his lyfe being father to Ladie Iane a priuie counsellor to the treasons of Northumberland and her prisoner in the towre he flijng into Leicestershyre vvith the Lord Gray in his iournie he likewise mayd proclamations against the Quenes marriage vvith Spayn for that vvas then the greatest obiect of the Protestants mallice and finding his disabilitie to leuie a commanding armie he fled and lurked in corners till the Earl of Huntingron discouered his hole apprehended and brought hym vp to the towre his old lodging whear he mayd an vnfortunate end I might vrge the practises of Syr Nicholas Throgmorton a man of great witt and pollicie who was endited of high treason and arraigned at Westminster vvith Arnold Warner and Others And though the case vvas playne the Iurie acquited hym but to ther constand trowble Albeyt he had cawse to thank God that it vvas not in a tyme vvhen the Aduocates vvear so skilfull to triumph at the barr vpon calamities and vvilling rather that the prisonner should loose his head then they vvould loose ther Oration and the glorie of the daye Thus vvas Quene Marie tossed in a sea of trovvbles tantae molis erat Romanam Condere gentem But some haue obiected that no Ministers had a hand in these tumults nor vvear the trompettors of sedition at that tyme. yes surelie both ther heads and ther hands ded cooperate Doe yovv taik Goodman and Gilbie to haue bean no ministers Ievvel preached at Gloucester against the Quens proceadings D. Sands vvalked vvith the ragged staff and being vicechanlor of Cambredg assisted the proclaymers of ladie Iane. Hooper Rogers and Crowlie vvear enrolled as frends of these actions and diuers others vvho in Quene Maries tyme after vvyats fall ded forsake the realme And what think yow of the tvvo Apostles of that tyme Cranmor and Ridlie wear not they instruments of the Quenes trovvbles A great Doctor vvith great subtilitie laboureth to excuse Cranmor and Ridlie that they committed no trespass against Q. Marie nor in her tyme. Syr though the tyme doth not excuse ther offence yf it had bean fullie committed in kings Edwards dayes being actions of iniustice and against the rules of common reason and conscienc Yet y may say uon bene diuisa sunt haec temporibus D. for it is euident that Ridlies sermon was after king Edwards death and so could haue no shelter vnder his authoritie bycause all men of vnder-standing know that the raign of a Prince commenceth not at the tyme of his coronation but actuallie vpon the death of his predecessor Now it is certan that the Sondaye after king Edward dyed D. Ridlie being Bushop of London sayling vvith the vvynd in his sermon at Powles crosse like an Other infamous Shavve magnifiet and defended the title of the ladie lane to the crowne of this realme perswaded the people to accept and obeye her as Quene and so impugned the inuincible right of both king Henries Daughters against his ovvn conscienc and knovvledg and directlie against king Henties will and ther for he vvas iustlie convicted and attainted of treason As for Cranmor he was a counsellor and oracle in the busienes and therfor was arraigned and condemned with the Ladie Iane and Guildeford Dudlie as a contriuer and principall assistant of that treasonnable practise to disherit bothe the Quenes and to graft the princelie roses vpon a crabtree stock as appeareth by the records in the kings bench and I may trevvlie affirm of that Proteus that in all his actions he showed hym self ever seruilie plyable to anie humor of the kings First a principall instrument of the diuorce whearby the court gates vvear set open to welcome Ann Boodein then afterward to serue the kings appetite he and Cromwel wear the cheafactors employed for her condemnation and deathe as appeareth by the statut 28. H. 8. c. 7. whear Cranmors sentenc is recorded iudiciallie as of his own knowledg convincing her of that fowle fact So as Quene Elizabeths frends had no cawse to fauour hym either for dew respect of her or of her father or for kyndnes to her moother and all vnpartiall men vvill condemn hym of inexcusable iniquitie that being a counsellor of strate primate and Metropolitan and pretending to be a reformer of religion he would betray his maister whose creature he was vvould frustrate and voyd his will wheareof he was cheaf executor would subscribe to extinguish and root owt his issevv his tvvo daughters two Quenes to set vp Ladie Iane in there places And all this baselie and against his ovvn conscienc and all to pleas a subiect all for feare of affliction against which he was never vvell armed as appeared by his so manie chainges relapses and periuries offences which I leaue to God as faults of frayltie and batges of humain vveakenes But to come to the matter All these aforesayd being overt acts and treasons in se and simpliciter and by the common lawes of the realme and by the statut of 25. Edw. 3. I think I may vvell conclude that Caluinism and the nevv religion ar most daingerous to princes and haue bean the greatest cavvse of all the vvarrs seditions and depopulation in Europeever since Luther a man of vnhappie me morie And yet I can not but commend that religion Mâ—tonimia bycause it is semper eadem yovv may allwaies know it by the coonisance by the operation and fruits of it It is the same that induced them of Geneua to expell ther Bushop and Lord the same that mooued them of Sweueland to depriue ther lawfull king the same that procured Holland to depose ther soouerain the same that sollicited subiects to deposeth ' Emperor king of Bohemie the same that emprisoned the vertuous martyr and Quene of Scotland and cast her into that calamitie vvhich haunted her euen tho deathe the same that authorized Rochel and Montauban to stand at defianc against ther king the same that begot so manie monstruous conspiracies against Quene Marie of England as yow haue hard So as in 60. yeares mo Princes haue bean deposed by the Protestants for ther religion then had bean by the Popes excommunication or the attempt and meanes of Catholicks in 600. And yet foall this I perceaue all these action haue some Champions at least some men of note seak to excuse them as vvhen vve obiect Svvedia maister T. M. defends it and geues reason that it vvas the demand of the vvhole state for defenc of ther priuiledges and liberties and fruition of religion A writ is brought de eiectione firmae against Sigismond king of Svvecia by hys ovvn subiects the king is eiected therupon and T. M. allovves it bycause it vvas the demand of the vvhole state c. Consider better
first doe yovv talk of a vvhole state and maik the king no part of it the head no part of the bodie can ther be a monarchie vvithovvt a king yovv harp to near knoxes tune and a Scots gig The vvhol state id est the people either sollicited or disposed to aduanc Duke Charles vvithovvt the kings consent to vvear his crovvne ded elect Charles ther king and depriued Sigismond This was yow say for defenc of ther priuiledges and religion So then yow think for the se two cawses they might iustlie depose ther king and so the kings maistlie knovveth vvhat assurance he may haue of you and vvhat a sure stake yow ar for kings to leane on can yow defend this fact it is the same that Holland and Bohemia committed then against whome is rebellion against the people or the king The law is playne no warr can be mayd withowt the authoritie of the prince sine qua est laesa maiestas and that is a fundamental law in euerie monarchie which yovv turn to a Democratie by leauing the bridle in the Peopls hand Yf yovv will vouch safe to hear S. Augustin he saith l. 22. cap. 75. contra Faustum ordo naturalis mortalium paci accommodatus hoc poscit vt suscipiendi belli authoritas atque consilium penes Principem sit and he geues a reason for non est potestas nisi à Deo vel iubente vel sinente and bycause yow think they ought by force of armes to resist ther king for religion c. 76. he answereth your obiectioÌ„ by exaÌ„pl of the Apostles Isti sunt resistendo interfecti sunt vt potiorem esse docerent victoriam pro fide veritatis occidi Martyrdoome Iam sure yow like not this Occidi for few perfect Caluinists prooue perfect martyrs Valentius degreed to banish Eusebius from Samosata the people resisted but Eusebius appeaseth the sedition disswaded the people and obeyed the decree Theodoret l. 4. cap. 14. Valentinian sent Calligonus his chamberlain to threaten S. Ambrose and terrifie hym from his opinions by the name of deathe and torments he ded answer in an other tune Deus permittat tibi vt impleas quod minaris Ego patiar quod est Episcopi tu facies quod Spadonis Christ hym self resisted not but commanded Peter tu put vp his sword it vvas no proper vveapon to defend his quarrel Daniel and the Children of Israel Captiues in Babilon when the king commanded them to Idololatrize they resisted not they reuiled not they ded not offer to spit in his face as Caluin brauelie defended they might but refusing his command they layd them selfs at his feate to endure his pleasure But to touch yow a litl nearer I nead alledg no other authors then your ovvn either to condemn wyat or the subiects of Swetheland Doctor Bilson holdeth it as an articl of offaith that Princes ar not to be deposed and that the Apostles endured the magistrates pleasure but performed not his command and how much he condemned warr against Princes his opinion haith taught me that he who may fight may kill and to fight with the Princ and murder hym be of ineuitable consequenc Besides maister Beza some tymes when he was not transported vvith passion affirmed Nullum remedium proponitur hominibus tyranno subiectis preter preces lachrimas Parson whytes own argument against the fathers of the Catholick religion that they teach nothing but treason to murder Princes and to disturb states I must reflect vpon them that either defend wyats rebellion or the fact of the Svvecians What nead I alledg L. Baylie Ormerode or suke like men dij maiorum gentium all your greatest Doctors haue wiselie and neadfullie defended that position for 50. yeares And yf it wear trew iust and lawfull in the raign of Quen Elizabeth I see no reason why it should not be so taken in Quene Maries case for the differenc of Religion doth not alter the authoritie and power of Iudisdiction And yf Princes should for feit ther authoritie when they err in faith Then vvho should taik the forfeiture thereof and who should be iudg whether he haith forfeited yt I know yow ar not so gross as to think the people maye that is an opinion generallie reiected nor that officers share authoritie vvith the king that is also cast owt of the schools Xiphilin in the lyfe of M. Antonius saith Solus Deus iudex Principum Belloy in his Apologie Cathol part 2. Orationibus pugnandum armes against Princes haue no warrant Quis est iudex siâ—â— ex transgreditur conditiones regni Solus Deus § 21. and how farr we ought to obey princes and Quatenus see sainct Augustin serm de verbis Domini in Matth. And common reason will and may teach euerie man the misterie of this thesis For the king is anima corporis spiritus vitalis caput membrorum vinculum per quod cohaeret respublica sine quo nihil respublica ipsa futura nisi onus praeda si mens illa Imperij detrahatur This was Senecas opinion and a sownd proposition for yf the sowle offend the bodie the bodie can not punish it vvithovvt participating of the punishment neither is it a proper facultie of the bodie to iudg but of the sowle and vnderstanding Examin what the law meaneth by bodie politick and yow shall better discern all my growndwork It is a dignitie Royal annexed to the naturall bodie whearby he is mayd Lord Paramount and is not surnamed as others ar but stiled by the name of the bodie politick declaring his function as Iacobus Rex and to show the nature qualitie maiestie and prerogatiue of that bodie 1. It can not hold lands in ioyntennancie nor endure a partner 2. it can not be seazed to vses and so limited 3. it is not bovvnd to geue liuerie and season of lands nor tyed to the circumstances of a naturall bodie 4. it can not doe homage hauing no superior 5. and that bodie is so precious as the imagination onelie to compasse his death is treason tho ther be no attempt 6. and that bodie vested in a blood ought to discend and tho the natural bodie be attainted of fellonie or treason before yet by access of this body politick he may taik his inheritanc for that dignitie purgeth the blood as it ded H. 7. and H. 4. for this bodie was founded vvithovvt letters pattents by the Common lawes and for the defenc of the people And yf criminal cawses can not disable the discent it can less when it is discended for the crown of England is independant for his iura regalia holden of no Lord but the lord of heauen so it can not escheat to anie being holden of none What then from this fowntain is all authoritie and honor deriued Iudges at created and haue ther commission to iudg from the king for criminal and ciuil cawses the Constable and marshals court for armes and honor the Chancerie for equitie the Checkor for
reuennues of the crown So to conclude the king giuing and appointing all iudges who in his realme is to iudg hym or to censure his counsells of state and politike temporall actions and yf be he iudg they ar vvithowt iudgment that attribute it to the states but they err most that arme the people vvithe that authoritie For tho I know what a parliement means and what power it vvoorthilie carrieth yet as it is euer summoned by the king so ther acts must be iudged allowed and confirmed by the king before they be lawes In the senate rests consilium but in the king is the powre and Maiestie of the realme and he is iudg to allow or disallow what he liketh and by the coniunction of these Foskevv sayd trewlie no state is berter tempered nor more temperatelie gouerned nor by more excellent municipall lawes then England is So to conclude what reason can be pretended for wyats insurrection against his soouerain the bodie politick was it for matching with Spayne that was no straâ—g motion for her father had once before deâ—seigned to match her in that familie besides the conditions vvear honorable and profitable to the crovvne yf God should bless them vvith issevv the person most noble and the reasons allowed by all the counsel But the Quene ded not obserue the lawes of the realme she abrogated the statuts of 1. E. 6. which all the kingdome approoued and the vvord of God by Moyses commandeth that Princes should obserue the lavves and those Princes dishonor them selfs vvho doe not acknowledg that of Theodosius tantùm tibi licet quantum per leges licet Well aliud ex alio malum As Moyses prescribed vvhat a Prince should doe so Samuel what he may doe Moyses tould hym his dewtie Samuel his power and it is trew and a Christian profession of kings legibus se subiectos esse profiteri But yow must consider the lavv haith two properties the one to show what a man should doe the other to punish them that doe it not To the first the king is subiect but tovching the second for criminal cavvses I know no court aboue the kings bench nor no iudg aboue the king Moreouer yf Quene Marie shold be tyed to her brothers lavves vvhy vvas not Quene Elizabeth to hers vvhy vvas not king Edvvard to his fathers lavves but that religion of Quene Marie was corrupt vnpure and superstitious So still hear is philautia and presumption yow will censure your iudg and yow a lay man wil iudg of his religion that is the Quaestion yet and not decided by anie orderlie Councels or Synodes on yovvr part and S. Austen libro vbi supra Si vir nistus sub rege sacrilego militet iuste posset illo iubente bellare 1. ciuicae pacis ordinem seruans 2. cui quod iubetur vel non esse contra Dei praeceptum certum est vel vtrum sit certum non est Tho the king be sacrilegious yet he is to be obeyed and hovv 1. ciuicae pacis ordmem seruans that is the course and that is the end for indiuidua bona sunt pax libertas vvhich is to be noted for them that plead so stronglie for ther liberties secundo yf the kings commandements be not directlie against Gods vvords yf vel non esse certum est vel vtrum sit certum non est Novv tho all Catholicks knevv the certum est in ther conscienc yet the protestants for the vtrum sit vvear vncertan bycause both the lavv of the realme the general counsels the vvhole state of the Churche Militant was against them and they had onelie the testimonie of priuate spirits to oppose against publick authoritie But vvhat yf Quene Marie had erred in some superstitions what yf the present king ded err in his gouernement in his courses in his iudgment or in matching his sonn withowt the consent of the realme should either of them be censured or excommunicated by the ministers or depriued or committed and emprisoned by a vvyat Salomon ded fall into greauous sinnes ad profundum Idololatriae lapsus atque demersus saith S. Austen and ded directlie against Goods commandement to keap and marrie straing voemen of the gentiles non ingrediemini ad illas besides he worshipped Moloch and Astarthes the goddes of the Sydomans yet neither Preasts nor people ded rise against hym or depose hym they left it to the proper iudg of hings who in his wrathe ded appoynt and raise vp Hieroboam to ruine his sonn and yf wyat could haue showd such an immediat warrant he had bean excusable Iulian prooued in Apostata yet tho the Doctors of the primatiue Church as G. Nazianzen and others sharply reprooued and detested his impietie yet they never perswaded nor taught the people to depriue hym He that proclaymed the prerogatiue of kings vos estis dâ— he taught the world that as Gods haue summum imperium so the people ar to obey and therfor called subditi for ther subiection and yow neuer hard of anie but Gyants that wear fayned to fight with the Gods and they perished for all ther greatnes for that hand must neads vvither vvhich toucheth Gods anoynted for he that taiks armes against hym doth prouoke the king to the feald and when the flame rageth who can tell whear the sparks will light Some limitations ther ar and those neadfull For I ascribe not an infinite vnlimited diuinitie to kings nor a powr to tyrannize and liue as atheists he that gaue the that glorie vos estis dij ded likewise geue them this caueat that for iniquitie and impietie transferam regna de gente in gentem He is the Iudg of Princes and his audit is dreadfull and to that we must leaue them FINIS THE SECOND PART HIERVSALEM THAT OBEDIENCE AND ORDER BE THE EIRENARCHAE OF CATHOLIQVES HAVING allreadie trewlie King Henrie tho eight and liuelie Drawen and presented vnto yow the Image of the Churches called Reformed vvith a face so full of frownes and stearnnes that by the Phisiognomie yow may iudg it vnquiet and turbulent It remaineth in like sort to paynt owt vnto yow the portraicture of a Roman Catholick by the infallible characters of deuotion order obedienc and the humilitie of the professors thereof What they weare in this land in the tyme of king Lucius and the Britons I shall not nead to expresle but refer yow to the ecclesiasticall stories of that tyme which euen Fox and the Centuries doe honor labouring rather to commend them as members of ther ovvn Churche then to acknowledg them ours For the tyme of the Saxons I vvill maik no relation of ther vertues and how amiablie the Church and common welthe ded sping vp together And though the prelates wear highlie reuereÌ„ced and ded beare great swaye in the state yet how dewtiefullie they obeyed ther princes Venerable Beda and the stories of that tyme. M. Lamberts Archaionomia the old Saxon Lawes and the monuments yet vpon record can witnes
and testifie From king Edvvard the Confessor Down to king Henry the VIII ther is no man so blind that will affirme ther was anie other religion professed and priuiledged in England but that which was planted heare by Gregorius Magnus who as D. whitacher noteth l. 5. contrae Duraeum pag. 394. ded vs a great benefit and vvhich vve ar euer most grate fullie to remember In all which tyme though the Cleargie mayd Canons by ther own authoritie for ther ovn particuler gouernment yet the kings of this realme ded euer fynt them obedient and readie hymblie and dewtifullie to obey them and to affoord ther best assistance to support the estate Royal euen oft vvhen they weare much troden vpon and heauilie burdened and albeyt sometymes they weare forced to whote contentions for external matters of iurisdiction and ther immunities as the commons and Barons weare yet they neuer passed the rules of order and obedienc nor stirred vp sedition or commotions And who soeuer shall obiect and call in quaestion the opposition of some prelates vnder Henrie the II. King Iohn and Henrie the III. shall neither doe great honor to the kings nor dishonor to the Church-men for ther zealous defenc of ther immunities and perhaps he may reuiue such matters as wear more conuenient to be buried in the records But the first king thar euer gaue effectuallie cawse in this kingdome to trie in the face of the vvorld the admirable patienc Order and loyaltie of the Catholiques was King Henrie the VIII flagelium Dei to the Church of England and yet of ther own religion First by aceusing the Cleargie to be fallen into the danger of a premunire for mantaining Caridnal VVolsies legantine power Secondlie by the statut of Supremacie Thirdlie by the Suppression of Abbeis Which vvear the thre first breaches wherby he threw Dovvn the foundation strenth and glorie of the Church of England The first leuelled the waye for the second and the second enabled hym with power and authoritie to compasse the third The first was a burden the second a bridle and the third a terror By the first he fownd ther weakenes by the second they perceaued his greatnes and by the third he mayd them dispayre of anie recouerie or reparation of ther estate by the first onelie the Cleargie smarted the second laye heauie both vpon the spirituall and temporall by the third the whole realme was again in a sort conquered And all this was doon to be reuenged against the Pope touching his marriage to abandon his iurisdiction and to aduance his ovvn greatenes and royall power that so no man might afterward controll his action or restrain his appetites vvhich lawleslie rainged in hym and prooued verrie inordinate And ther for he bard owt of the realme all forrein power and at home he subdewed them and mayd them of no power Such is the imperious nature of domination in irregular mynds which hauing once broken owt of his circle can not indure limitation and bownds but must and will rainge at libertie in the wide and wild feald of his humors and not being able to geue law to his appetites vvill maik lawes as champions to authorise them and reason as a parasite to glorifie them Now to examin all these thre The first 1. The premunite was a quarrell he ded pick onlie against Cardinal VVoltie and yet afterwards sett vpon the tentors and extended against the vvhole cleargie Which being summoned into the kings bench the kings learned counsell vrged and exaggerated the matter so vehamentlie that in the Conuocation howse they concluded to submit them selfs to his pleasure and to obtain ther pardon and recouer his fauor they wear content to offer and present vnto hym a hundret thowsand pownds wherevpon ther Pardon was signed by the king and confirmed by parliement and by a deuise there they wear also Drawen to acknowledg hym supreme head This vvas a course at that tyme thought neither agreable to Iustice nor honor for Cardinal Wolsie had the kings licens vnder his hand and the great seale of England sor his warrant to vse the legantine power and aftervvard by reason thereof the king hym self employed hym to exercise the same and sit vvith Campegius and examin the matter And yf the diuorce had bean allowed ther should neuer haue bean quaestion mayd of the legantine povvre Touching the Supremacie All the hings 2. The supremacie subiects euer acknovvledged that the crovvn of England quoad temporalia is independant of anie other povver but that great and Transcendent Maiestie vvho proclamed to the vvorld Per me reges regnant that kings knovving vvho vvill taik ther audit may be more carefull to rule vvith Iustice and keape ther accoumpts streight and subiects knovving there tye and vvho layd vpon ther necks this suaue iugum and withowt encroachment may obeye vvith more loyaltie and affection The Question vvhich king Harrie mayd first of all kings in his parliement concerneth his povver and iurisdiction quoad spiritualia And whether that new and highe praerogatiue vvear euer properlie and essentiallie inuested in the crovvn of his realme heartofore or whether it wear the creation of a nevv right by parliement iure Coronae or the establishment of an old And hearupon grovveth an other quaestion novv both in England and other kingdomes so much debated vvhether the Controuersie for Supremacie in spiritualibus be a quaestion onelie proper to Religion and so subiect to the sentenc and censure of the Church onelie as emong the Romans it vvas to the Collegium Augurum and Pontifex Max. or proper to Pollicie and the state onelie and so subiect to the iudgment of lawe or Mixt and a participle vvhear of either of them may hold plea. Of both these I shall haue fitter both Occasion for the matter and Opportunitie for the tyme to declare my poore opinion in my discourses vpon the Ecclesiastical Historie And for the suppression of the Abbies 3. The Supression of Abbies the Cleargie by that fact and the supremacie stood as in captiuitie and at the kings pleasure and mercie ther possessions wear seazed ther goods forfeited ther Churches prophaned and sacked And the augmentation court was erected vpon the spoyles of the Churche and the sale of ther mooueables vestiments challices bells and all for when the king fownd that the Cleargie thorough the humilitie of ther zeale yealded so much vnto hym he never thought he had power sufficient till he had more then enoughe and vpon that aduantage his conscienc being inlarged broke owt of those ancient bownds which the lawes of the Church had prescribed to hym Therfor anno 27. he appointed Cromwel and Doctor Leigh to visite the Abbies and by vertue of the kings commission which had then a chymical powre to maik sacriledge vertue they took owt of the Monasteries ther cheafest Iewels plate and Reliques to the kings vse and dismissed all such religious persons vnder the age of 24. yeares as
the price of all things raised and the Yeomanrie decayed infinitelie vvhich heartofore vvas the honor and strenth of the kingdome and so consequentlie it vvas the trevv reason vvhy all things haue continued so dear in this land vvhearin maister Stubs ded err nota litl TITVLVS SECVNDVS HItherto Schisme raigned but the second plague was the ruine and wrach K. Evv. 6. of the Church for the authoritie and name of king Edward was vsed to break down and forciblie subuert the vvhole Church of England but see how craftie a statesman the Deuel is though the way to Anarchie and confusion was layd leuel by king Henrie who was onelie fitt for such a work in regard of his greatenes and crewell imperiousnes yet he lett religion stand a while longer knowing well that all could not be effected at once but as he seduceth Sowles so states by degrees and being also confident that the forts of pietie and religion being razed and the Church being brought vnder a laye supreme head he might by a second hand easilie ouerthrow religion it self King Henrie at his Deathe appointed by his will sixtean Executors who during the minoritie of his sonne should be his aydors and counsellors for the better gouerning the realme Emong whome One and who mayd hym self the Principal was the lord Edvvard Seamor Earl of Hartford who took vpon hym being the kings vncle to be protector and that was as good as a dispensation as he took it for his executor ship and lifted hym too manie degrees higher then his fellowes which king Henrie neuer intended that he might ouer-rule the rest by his title and supereminencie One of the first things of importance he contriued and compassed vvas innouation and the establishing of a new religion not so much for deuotion as bycaus he knew that nothing could quench his thirst so vvel as a chainge and bring the game he hunted after into the toyles and hearof Cranmor was a principal worker tho he was but a few moneths before of king Henries religion and a patrone of the six articles The better both to perswade the people and geue harting and strenth to ther sect Peter Martyr and Bucer vvear sent for ovvt of Germanie vpon whose fame and learning as vpon tvvo great Arches they might build and raise ther Churche tho bothe wear Apostates By Cranmor Ridlie Lattimor and these two Rabbins was the new Liturgie framed and the old banished these wear the authors of the first Alteration of religion which so manie hundred yeares had bean heare professed and continued vvith all dew reuerence So povvrefull was the Protector by vsing the king name a child then but of 9. years old but he was well seconded by the Duke of Northumberland the Admirall and the Marques of Nortampton all affected or seaming affected to the chaing of religion who over-ruled all that mayd anie show of opposition or dislike of ther proceadings Which was verrie strainge considering there wear so manie vvise and eminent men who had aequal authoritie with them both as Counsellors and executors and vvear most different in religion from them as the lord Priuie seale the lord Saint Iohn of Basing Bushop Tonstal Syr Antonie Brovvn and thewise sectetarie Syr W. Paget and speciallie that noble Chancelour the lord Writheoslie a man of experienc knowledg and prudenc and a director and pattern to his posteritie to be preferred before anie new guides but to content and please hym he vvas created Earl of Sowth-Hampton yet neither wonn so nor contented nor safe All things afterward grew to confusion ther remained no face and skarse the name of Catholick Church in England and tho ther wear great multitudes of men well affected to the ould religion and discontented that the Church was driuen into the wildernes and forced to lurk in corners yet ded they show loyaltie humilitie and peace and ded not taik armes and disobey that shadow of the king But what mooued the realme how wear men inchanted to embrace this religion and applawd the authors of it Noueltie euer pleaseth daintie stomachs and auarice is no small temptation at Syracusa Dyonisius the tyrant comming into the temple of Apollo full of sumptuous and goodlie ornaments and seing Aesculapius appareled with clothe of hould and full of Iewels hauing a long whyte siluer beard and Apollo the father carued with a floorishing yowthful gould beard and a playne cote of siluer he gaue order to shaue both Apollo and Aesculapius for it was indecorum that the sonn should haue a graye and his father a read beard and also vndecent that a Phisicion should wear so rich a cote so he ded not like that Apollo should be drawen so gawdilie and like a Barbarossa and a grauer gown he sayd would become a God better for gould and Iewels wear fitter for Princes then gods fitter for pomp then perfection The Duke of Sommerset ded rightlie imitate Dionisius for seing the Church rich remembring the exampl of his old maister and hauinng taisted at Aumesburie hovv svveat a Morsell a Priorie is he thought it not decorum to see the Cleargie so rich there wealth was not suitable to ther calling ther lands vvear giuen to noorish deuotion not to choke it to stirr men vp to prayer not to ease and luxurie and therfor he would shaue and share with them Tvvo Bushops hovvses he took in the Strand which serued hym vvel to build Sommerset hovvse for Quene Ann. He procured an act whearby all Colledges Chantries free Chappels Hospitals and fraternities wear suppressed and giuen to the king and how greadilie he intruded into the Bushop of bathe and wells his hovvses and mannors that Churche can never forget and yet Bushop Bourn by his industrie recouered some again but nothing to the Spoyles a poor releaf rather to fead then to fatt a Bushop Yet was he not satisfied for shortlie af ther contrarie to all law against king Henries vvill and against his own couenants when he was mayd protector he committed to the tovvr the Lord Chancelor he deposed Busbop Tonstal both from the Counsel and his bushoprick as too statelie a Seigniorie for a man of religion and too daintie a bitt to be swallowed by the Churche therfor he dissolued yt and brought it within the survey of the excheckor and he never prospered after It was directlie against the law 1. Edvv. 3. cap. 2. that the lands of Bushops should be seazed into the kings hands and that his father by the aduise of euel counsellors commanded them to be seazed withowt cawse but hearafter it should not be so Yet hear he set not downe his staff he committed Gardiner the Bushop of Winchester and after depriued hym He dissolued Stoke Colledg fleaced all Cathedrall Churches and committed infinite sacriledge vvherto the Nonage of the king gaue opportunitie Neither ded he hunt after his praye onelie emong the Churche liuing for yf yovv look in the Parliamant rolls of that tyme yovv shall fynd that with a
wolfs stomach he ded seak to deuowre that most ancient and honorable Earldome of Oxford In all this glorie he was cut of for his sinnes and arraigned and executed for acting so grosslie the part of a Protector And though he was badd enoug an other succeaded much worse For novv begon the tree of Dudlie to spread owt his brainches vvith glorie vvho could not be except he vvear great novv vvas the tyme for his common vvelth to floorish and bycause he vvould not seam to doe anie thing but by Iustice he begonn 1549. to vvrastl with Sommerset till he gaue hym a fall First he proclamed hym to be a man that subuerted all lavves and that he broke the orders of H. 8. appointed for his sonns good that he keapt a Cabbienet counsell and litl esteamed the aduise of his fellowes that he took vpon hym to be protector expresslie vpon conditions to doe nothing in the kings affayres withovvt consent of the executors And vpon these and such like accusations God stirred one of these reformers to vvrack an other Novv as that shovved his iustice so to seame religious he cavvsed the book of common prayer 1552. to be first published for that religion he knew vvould best serue his turn vvho vvas all readie novv farr engaged in the plat to aduanc his ovvn hovvse by the ruine of his maisters and by that coolor he discerned that he might best vvinn the Duke of suff to hym And bycaus he supposed the Lord Threasorer vvas not vnlike to cross hym he took order at the counsel table vvhear he vsed to leaue his spectacles yf he vvear soodainlie cald for vp to the king to maik the same before his return be so svveatlie anoynted and perfumed that therby he lost his nose and skaped nearlie vvith his lyfe and yet he liued to requite hym and for his better strenth vvhile king Edvvard vvas sick as yf all had bean fixed in a sphear to mooue vvith hym he cavvsed at Durham hovvse his sonn to be married to ladie Iane the Earle of Pembrocks sonn to the ladie Katharin and the Earl of Huntingtons sonn to his ovvn daughter and all vpon one daye all to serue for one end and to maik it impossible for anie to bayt the beare hearafter Then vvas king Edward mayd away by his means and that potticarie who poysond hym for the horror of the offenc and disquietnes of his conscienc drowned hym self and the landres that washed his shirt lost the skinn of her fingers ther be some yet liuing in the court that haue sean weaping eyes for it Yet was all so ouer shadowed with the name of religion that not manie could discern the impietie yf yow would see the oration he mayd to the Lords when he was to depart from the towr to go towards Cambredg and proplayme his daugther in law Quene yow shall see how Raignard had gotten on a minister cloke and mayd that is cawse which he was furthest from Now consider thre things 1. for the men vvear not they both fitt instruments to encrease pietie and vertue and to reforme a Church vvear not rhey like men to haue bean chosen by the spirit of God for so godlie ends and like to be labourers in the haruest of Christ wear ther pietie zeale and charitie such as became them vvell and vvear suitable to reformers to Iosias and Ezechias No nisi hominus edificauerit ciuitatem they labor in vayne he will geue them a fall whear they purposed to taike ther rising 2. For ther ends both of them concurred in chainging religion both of them lost ther heads one of them vvas a butcher to an other and both vnded ther ovvn famililies and hazarded ther frends but for Dudlie as he ded ruine the king so he endaingered the whole realme and yet his end was a demonstration to the world that all his ayme vvas ambition and not religion for either he dyed a Catholick or certanly an Atheist And as his ambition so Sommersets auarice was not withowt his plagues for his weakenes was ouer maistered by a wyfe his eldest sonn was disinherited he executed his own brother he liued to see the loss of bullen the crown and the realm ingaged in debts and vvants confusion and commotions vvithin the realme by ther ill government and contempt withovvt 3. Novv consider te patienc of the Preasts and Prelates vnder these Cormorants they suffred all withowt resisting or rebelling and neuer prouoked the nobilitie to taik armes hauing bean bredd in the school of vertue to bear ther crosses with patienc and to affect rather the glorie of a Martyr then the svvord and fortune of a conqueror And so I leaue them till hearafter TITVLVS TERTIVS THe last and greatest tempest vvhich shaked the verrie fovvndations of the The Q. Elizabeth Church of England and threatned the vtter ruine and subuersion thereof vvas raysed by Quene Elizabeth vvho reuiued the Protectors new religion and reestablished it The vvhich was effected quicklie and quietlie sine sanguine sudore and as M. Camden noteth well Christiano orbe mir ante And surelie it vvas a strainge alteration bycause the Quene during her sisters lyfe daylie hard Masse ad Romanae religionis Camden annales normam saepius confiteretur Which is consonant to the report of Syr Frances Englefeald that the ladie Elizabeth being examined at Hatfeald by Q. Maries commissioners sayd to one of them it is not possible that the Quene vvill be persvvaded Iam a Catholick and therupon she ded sweare and protest that she was a Catholick And it aggreeth well with the Duke of Feria his letter to king Philip yet extant to be seane vvhearin he certified the king that Q. Elizabeth ded profess and assure hym that she beleaued the real presenc and that she vvas not like to maik anie great alteration for the principall poynts of religion I nead not relate the like speaches vsed by her to Monsieur Lansack seing manie honorable persons haue affirmed the same and seing her external profession in publick and her priuate chappell ded testifie that either she was then sincearlie in dead or would be taken then to be a Catholick And that was the cawse which mayd the world maruell more at her great and soodain chainge of religion And the rather bycause at her coronation she vvas orderlie consecrated and anointed at a Masse by the Bushop of Carlisle and she took the oath then to mantain the Church and vphold the liberties thereof as her predecessors had doone Which vvithovvt aequiuocation must neads be intended of that Church then being in esse and whearin she was consecrated and took that oathe and not of the Idea of a new Church a castle in the Ayre to be hearafter erected and fownded by lier authoritie and the Parliement But how euer she was before perswaded she was now altered and became too soodainlie Retrograde and so as in the opinion of manie prudent and great
persons it a bated much the glorie of her wisedome and heroicall spirit and gaue the world occasion to suspect that all her former actions wear counterfeit and camposed for her securitie to temporize and to misdowbt that she was not innocent and cleare of these great not capitall crymes layd to her charge for vvhich she had stood in no smal dainger Ant to speak frelie and trewlie my opinion she was a Prince of great Maiestie and magnificens but fitter for governement then deuotion and of more pollicie then religion and not as her sister vvas the same in a storme and a calme a Quene and a subiect nor semper eadem But how and by what means ded she Hovv religion vvas chainged contriue and work this admirable mutation of state I vvill breaflie declare for tho it be not proper to my quaestion it is not impertinent and may be of some vse 1. First the long sicknes of Q. Marie gaue her great aduantage and tyme both to deliberate and draw her plattformes prepare her instruments in readienes maik choyce of her means and resolue of the fittest counsellors to aduance her ends 2. Secondlie she layd her honor to pawne and mayd protestation in open parliament that she would never trovvble the Roman Catholiques for anie differenc in religion vvhich ded geue the Cleargie great hope of some more indifferencie and tolerable fauors the which is related by How 's in prefat of Q. Elizabeth for knowing well that a king can not create a new religion as D. Bilson sayd trewlie meaning that it must be the act and work of a parliement therfor to winn the Bushops either to silenc or patienc she wiselie vsed that peace of art The which thing vvas vvell noted by Monsieur de Mauuissier vvho was long french Embassador in England and a curious searcher and obseruer of matters of that nature saith he lib. 2. pag. 61. in Les memoires de Monsieur Mich Castelnau Quene Elizabeth purposing to chainge religion that she might the better vvinn the Bushops she promised to follow ther aduises in all things and therby preuayled not a litle And though manie fyne sleights wear vsed frownes and fauors promises and threats yet notwithstanding by that parliement both the statuts for the supremacie and the abrogation of the old religion wear enacted 3. Add also that when the act vvas mayd for supremacie vvhich must ever be as the first great vvheale of motion bycause by king Henries lavv Bushops and Barons stood in dainger for Syr Thomas Moor and Bushop Fisher had giuen them vvarning to look to ther heads therfor novv in this nevv edition of the supremacie first the vvords of supreme head vvear chainged into supreme gouernor vvhich qualification of the vvords being aequiualent vvas vsed but as a mask and shadovve to bleare the eyes of the people and secondlie the Barons and Lords vvear exempted from the rigour of the Oath to vvinn them the rather to consent to the act and so to leaue the Bushops in the briars to beare the brunt of the storme ensewing 4. I knovv yow will admire and yow maye how this chainge could be vvrought in the vpper howse by most voyces considering so manie Bushops and so manie Lords vvell affected to religion had ther suffrages there Remember first that king Henrie pulling dovvne the Abbies vveakened the strenth of the Cleargie taking avvay by that meanes twentie fiue voyces of Abbots who satt there as Barons of Parliement and besides Sinon who managed that busienes showed all his conning therin and as a maister of his art For the noble Earl of Arōdel abused and fed with a vayne hope by the ayd of the Duke Northfolk engrossed into his hands the proxies and voyces of so manie Lords to be disposed at his pleasure and to serue and further the Quenes desyre and ends that the Catholicks wear overswayed and born downe by the pluralitie of six voyces onelie And how God rewarded these tvvo great Princes the instruments of that seruice the world may iudg by ther afflictions as spirits that haunted them tho to expiat that fault the religious and noble Earl Philip suffred the martyrdome of a languishing sowl A strainge and memorable mattet it was to haue a new religion introduced and no Bushop nor religion man to consecrate and aduance it with one voyce for the vehement oration of Abbot Fecknam aginst it is fresh yet in memorie and how all the Bushops obstinate refragati sunt Camden doth witnes and that noble Lord Montagew sensible of the scandall thereof opposed it vvithall his force vvho together vvith D. Thurlebie Bushop of Elie had so latelie bean employed at Roome abowt it and vrged that the vvorld would disgrace fullie censure such a soodain chainge and innouation proposing also the daingers which weare like to ensew and so ded by excommunication But for ther better assurance to preuayle in the vpperhowse and more stronglie to ouer-rule the Bushops and the Abbots the Quene created diuers nevv lords VVilliam lord Parr Marquis of Northampton a good speaker and a wise man the Earle of Hartford the Vicount Bindon the lord Saint Iohn of Bletso and the lord Hunsdon all Protestants and men fitt to build a new Churche And to be better armed the Catholick partie was weakened by discharging from the counsell table manie of the old counsellors the lord Chancelor the lord Priuie seale Secretarie Boxall and Syr Frances Englefeald and in ther roomes wear placed Syr Nicholas Bacon the Marques of Northampton the Earl of Bedford Sr A. Caue Syr Frances Knolls Rogers Parrie and secretarie Cicil all fitt men to beare parts in that Pageant And further she deposed manie of the old Iudges and mayd also new Iustices of peace and gaue order to vse all vvarienes in the election of knights and burgesses that they might likewise maik ther partie good in the lovver hovvse which yow would wnder to heare how politicklie it was performed Furthermore to taik all scrupule owt of the heads and harts of the people and that they might conceaue that the seruice and religion still continued the same the ould was but transtated into Englishe onelie for ther better edification and vnder standing they directed that the alteration should be framed as near to the old as they might well doe And so it was in dead verrie politiclie handled For they bothe admitted and continued the title and iurisdiction of Bushops vvith some litl grace and authoritie and they permitted the vse of surplises caeremonies anthems Organs and manie prayers in the forme of the old Whearby the Quene vvas the better able to excuse her fact to forrein princes for this great chainge as she ded vse the same for her reason to Secretarie d' Assonuile who was sent by king Philip to congratulate her aduancement 7. And touching the communion book it vvas composed by certan commissioners appointed for that purpose Parker Grindal Horn VVhytehead May Bill and Syr Thomas
to defend the principles of ther religion by disputation vvhich the protestants would not accept * Camden nisi Baconus in theologicis parum versatus tanquam iudex praesideret and he being a professor of the common lawes vvhy he should be chosen moderator of such a Diuinitie disputation Cambredg can neither geue reason nor president nay rather yf yow ask ther opinion they will answer Spectatum admisi c. for it is a tidiculous Solaecism Since Father Parsons and diuers others haue mayd the same challeng desirous to bring I ruthe to the Tryal and touchstone in solemn and publick manner And let no man obiect the colloquies at Poissy Ratisbon Wormes Altenburg Murbrun c. which wear fruitles bycause formeles they ded not produce the effects expected bycause they erred in ther course of proceading and I confess I vnder stand not the misterie vvhy the protestants in England now draw bach seing Ievvel in the beginning was so forward and mayd so liberal offerts which yf anie would now defend it would quicklie appear which religion weare counterfeit and which currant whether doctrine wear solide and vvhether not speciallie hauing a moderator who could discouer evasions guid the disputers and iudiciouslie determin to whome the prize should be giuen And yf perhaps some would except and alledg the conferenc betwean M. Hart and D. Reignolds betwean Gode and Campion which wear honored and diuulged as triumphes and that these ought to stand as sufficient proofes co convinc the Catholicks yf the truthe so well sifted by disputation may satisfie them and preuayle I answer it is iniquissima conditio for a man armed to sett vpon a prisoner to insult vpon a man weakned with fetters and destitute of books withowt preparation and vvarning and which is worst in the face of a rack and torments whear Campion had bean posed with crewel quaestions before and in a place of no indifferencie whear they may sett down what they list and frame a combate at ther pleasure as Roynolds ded And whear as perhaps for politick cavvses the king and the Lords may dislike anie publick disputation vpon the grownds of religion yet this may well be granted and the french kings president may induce it The preasts and fathers offer to prooue that Iewel the mainster Carpenter of that Apologie of the Churche of England that Luther Caluin Melancthon and the later Doctors Colonells of the new plantation haue overcrowed and born down the Catholicks for opinion of truthe sinceritie and learning onely by false quotations corruptions falsifications misrecitalls and that both of scriptures and fathers both of the text and the gloss And this they humblie pray and hope that his Maiestie in his own tyme vvould be pleased to grant bycause these be heynous offences and the temple of veritie can not be builded vpon error and false grownds and bycause illusions and forgeries be stratagemata satanae that at least he would permitt the triall of that iust accusation and so afthervvard esteam of ther integritie as they shall acquite them selfs Concerning the third poynt that the 3. Preasts ar no practisers Seminaries bread such preasts as ar ministers of practises and stirr the people to rebellion as they ar charged both by the book of execution of iustice and by the proclamation 1580. whearin particularly they ar accused to haue bean priuie and accessarie to the counsells and proiects of the king of Spayne the Pope and others who intended and combined at that tyme to invade England to depose the Quene and subdevv the realme I must freelie answer that iealousie is trewlie described to be full of eyes and yet all pur-blind fearefull of her own shadowe euer in motu trepidationis and contrarie to the motions of other starres And tho they vvear great statesmen ye with all ther Opticks they could not foresee the great daingers like to fall vpon them till they wear at ther doors And hauing by error drawen and prouoked them yet took they the course rather to continew the flame then quench the fyre to encreas the mallice then preuent the mischeaf For first yf anie such confaederation had bean which never yet could be discouered nor was recorded in anie historie was it probable that so great and so wise Princes would acquaint the poor speculatiue preasts at Reams or Douay or the fathers of the societie with ther plats and intentions is it credible that they would manage matters of state so vveakelie yea but these Princes purposed by the meanes of the preasts and religious to prepare a partie assistant in England how by reconciling the people to the Pope that they might ioyne vvith hym and the king of Spaynes armie One error begets an other for preast doe not reconcile men to the Pope but to God and his Churche 1. And yet surelie it was a miracle that emong so manie preasts and in so long tyme and when Spies and intelligencers wear employed and rewarded neither anie such preast could be nominated who was then or after so corrupted or induced by these great Princes nor anie was afterward apprehended or discouered for anie such trespasse and which is most to be marked not anie subiect was called in quaestion or accused for entertaining anie preasts to that end then how phantastical was this feare what an imagination of Chimeraes and terrors most iniurious to touch the reputation of all the English preasts in generall and by statuts and proclamations to call ther names and ther liues in quaestion and to haue no su sufficient vvitnesses to accuse them no euidenc against them nothing but presumptions and probabilities to attaint them of treason the lyfe and honor of subiects wear wont to be esteamed more pretious and the function of preasts more reuerenced 2. I may also add this that when the king of Spaynes armado was vnder sayle towards England not a preast nor Seminarie man was fownd in it And though in the proclamation they wear traduced to be men suborned for preparation and making the way leuel for ther better landing yet hovv vvell they prepared it appeareth by this that neither preast nor Catholick vvear apprehended and attainted for anie such offenc as is afore sayd 3. Besides hovv litl affianc the king of Spayn had in the English preasts and Catholicks of that tyme was demonstrated by this that all the religious English at Valladolid and Burgos 1589. wear fettered and committed close prisoners when the armie of England assaulted Lisbone and invaded Portingal Furthermore in all the actuall treasons and conspiracies supposed to be mayd against Q. Elizabeth ther was never preast or monk or friar touched or taynted for anie of them For certanlie the holie altars of God will not suffer nor indure so vngodlie machinations and cloysters bread better humors eleuate ther sowles from the world they think not of Princes but in ther prayers and venite ad iudiciū sownding ever in ther eares requires a continual preparate in
the Catholick religion is banished and onelie the truth is professed which is in effect all one as tho say when Caluinism is established for they concluded all men enemies that ar not of that profession as Poplonnier restifieth l. 34. This is the doctrine of ther Synodes and in ther publick Apologies the same lesson is read in Comâ—â—ent de statu relig part 2. l. 12 c. 1 the warr which subiects maike against there Prince is defended and fol. 349. yf the kaing mantain his ovvn religion against them what then Rex à populo potest exauthorari per ordinum in regem authoritatem and again nec omnes regni partes in solidum committuntur regi sed tantum superior regni dignitas cuius tamen suo modo certis conditionibus inferiores magistratus sunt participes maximè officiarij coronae all states and members of the realm ar not committed to the king but the cheaf and prime dignitie of state wheareof in some measure and condition inferior magistrates doe participate speciallie the officer of the crown but this is a gross paradox not worth the skanning yet that vvhich followeth is not better In populi iuramento tacita aut expressa est conditio semper se obtemperaturum regibus quamdiu iusto imperio rem gererent They haue one evasion or an other shifts to cussen the law obiect that subiects ar bownd dy ther oath to obey ther Prince he answers it with a quamdiu So long as the king serues God we will serue hym then that must be a clawse in the oath of allegianc yf a Caluinist taik it and I will satisfie yow why I say so The Prince of Condie 1577. gaue this as a rule Promissum In his protestation contra conuent â—lesensem illud Euangelicorum de armis contra regem non ferendis de abiurata religione factum est contra Deum bonos more 's c. tale promisium seruare non tenentur the Gospellers of France ar not tyed to performe ther oath and promise scilicet not to beare armes against ther king or to abiure religion for it was both against God and good manners Poplonnier l. 41. And this he learned of Caluin l. 4. c. 13. § 21. Institut Quibuscunque huius Euangelij lux affuâ—get c. ab omnibus laqueis iuramentis absoluitur That man who is so happie as to see the sonn shyne of the Geneus gospel huius Euangelij he is absolued and discharged from the dainger of all oaths and snares to enthrall the conscience A maruellous priuiledg and such a priuiledg the Prince of Oreng had as appeareth by his aduises to Monsieur in his letters intercepted and published as Surius declareth anno 1581. And doe yow imagin that these beams of the sonn ded never shine in England maister Dudlie Fenner who iumpeth right with the Apostles of Geneua lib. 5. cap. 13. of an euel Prince he giueth this fearfull sentence Hunc tollant vel pacificè vel cum bello vel regnt Ephort vel omnium ordinum connentus So tollant is decreed the king must be pull dovvn but by whome by Regni Ephort who ar they bycause it concerneth the crowne ask the kings atturnie or the Clark of the Crowne whether they acknowledg anie such officer and I am perswaded they will read hym a lecture against scientia inflat which will teach hym discreation but go on When maister William Raynolds obiected the tumults and sedition of the gospellars in France D. Whitacre in his preface answereth hym thus As though it vvear sufficient for ther condemnation that they resisted so then he thinketh that not sufficient or bycause he speaks not categoricè taik it onelie as the doubt of a Doctor And ded not admitt vvhat violenc vvas offred to Gods truthe or them selfs contrarie to oath promise edicts or lavv vvhearby they vvear vvarranted to doe vvhat they ded Then the Huguenots of France in D. Whitacres opinion vvear warranted to resist the king to assault his tovvnes to fight with his officers and to doe all acts of rebellion examin the vvarrant the law was against them the edicts of the king wear against them for the admiral was proclaimed traytor and the court parliement ded verifie the edicts But he addeth they wear cleared from the crime of rebellion by iust defenc of ther doeing and by edict of Princes hear be tvvo bucklers ther Apologies ar the first the kings proclamation the second Doe not yovv imagin that he is much driuen to his shifts that fights with so weak vveapons yf an apologie vvear sufficient to clear a man who would be condemned Scotland had a Bucchanan France an Hottoman Holland Oreng who generallie sought to excuse hym self and the contrie and lay all the burden on the kings back yet an apologie serued not And for edicts they wear proclamations of the kings mercie edicts of pacification not to vvarrant that which the Huguenots ded but to pardon them and so that Doctor so esteamed for his diuinitie erreth much in matters of humanitie and defenc of his brethren and speciallie yf he lead them to Melancthons gapp to resist to oppugne princes or to defend ther opinions with the sword which S. Peter ded not teach 1. Epist c. 2. v. 19. c. 4. v. 15. 16. c. 5. v. 9. But hear I must maik a stand for seing An obiection that preasts and Iesuits teach murdering of Princes I haue so much touched and so personalie the opinions of the Lutheran french and puritan Churches I see a tempest of toungs rising against me to pay home and requite my obiections for it will not be easie to answer them And first I will encounter the Picture-maker Ormer Who accuseth D. Allen for teaching 1. D. Allen. men to murder princes and that in his Apologie of the Seminaries he citeth 25. of Numeri that subiects may taik ther soouerains and hang them vp a thing so impious that it never cam into a religious hart For they ar much deceaued that think it a propertie of Catholicks as this man and P. white doe but that it is not proprium quarto modo omni soli semper it is all readie plainelie and demonstratiuelie prooued but I will show maister Orm. the picture of a minister of Geneua of the first edition that whotelie defends the same yow accuse D. Allen for Goodman l. de obedientia saith he factum illud quod memoratur Num. 25. perpetuum est exemplum in omnem aeternitatem certa denunciatio populi vt in simili defectione à cultu Dei rectores suos qui a Deo ipso abducunt ad furcas abripient suspendant Et quanquam posset videri haec magna confusio vt populus sibi tantum assumat tamen cum magistratus officio suo fungi desinit populus it a considerandus est ac si careret omni magistratu tum Deus ipse glâ—dium in populi manus tradit
most Yf yow look back to former ages yow shall fynd that from the Saxons to king E. 6. To be a Catholick vvas never taken as a barr to loyaltie neither vvas ther euer anie opposition fovvnd in the essenc and nature of loyaltie and the grownds of the Catholick faithe And good reason for that religion which most aymeth at mortification of the bodie and best armeth hym to combate vvith sinn and disposeth best the consciences of men to peace and devv obedienc and is aprooued by experienc of all ages least to embroyle and endainger a state vvith practises and treasons must neads of all indifferent men be esteamed more consonant and agreable to allegianc and fidelitie then that vvild and popular doctrine of the consistorians vvhich owt of presumption and licensiousnes vvill be confined into no circle of order but euer contemning lavve will dominer and rule as transcendents and taik vpon them the iurisdiction both of preasts and kings in a kingdome 2. Secondlie no man can denie but that Spayne Italie France he Empyre and Poland accoÌ„pt hym the best affected subiect and least daingerous to the state who is most deuoted to Catholick religion And then yf to be a Catholick ded bread and ingender anie ill blood in the bodie or secret infection of disloyaltie and so vvear in regard of the state malum in se and naturallie then vpon the generall tryall of nations in so manie ages it vvould haue bean discouered and detected for that imperfection vvhich it never haith bean charged withall neither in all these forren contries nor heartofore at anie tyme in England Therfor seing it is not malum in se and simpliciter as T. M. and parson Whyte haue in ther books scandalouslie slandered that religion and the Preasts and professors thereof seing it can not be verified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither genarallie of the profession as Calyinism may iustlie yf the Lutherans say trewlie nor particularlie of the persons professing it nor originallie and ordinarilie in precedent ages neither for doctrin or exampl they can be taxed I may iustlie infer they ar acquited And surelie it was an error both vnciuil and vndiscreat to maik ther proposition so general and therby to maik the whole Churche so odious to the people and so much suspected to the king for we acknowledg that there ar of ther sect verrie manie calm and moral men boni viri boni ciues of sociable nature and not apt to blow the coles of sedition of persecution And so also the autho of the execution of Iustice ded geue a good testimonie of the loue and loyaltie of diuers worthie and noble Catholicks to Q Elizab. euen when they had greatest cawse to the contrarie when oppressions and contempt might haue prouoked flesh and blood to mutinies and though each man wisheth the propagation and aduancement of his own religion yet in the means to procure it and in the course to seak and in the manner and order of proceading to fynd it this treatise heith prooued that ther is great oddes and differenc betwean them as the confession and supplication of the preasts the patienc and obedienc of recusants the pietie and doctrine of the Seminaries haue sufficientlie prooued 3. Now let vs compare and parallel them to maik it more playne The Catholicks generallie both in France Germanie and England ar the patients the Protestants ar the agents 1. The one stand as defendors the other as inuadors 2. Preasts songht to keap that de iure they had Ministers to get that they had not for haeresie being a separation from the bodie could not enioye the liberties or benefit of the Church til it vvas mayd no heresie 3. The Preasts vvear possessors the ministers disseisors and iniurious 4. The Catholicks obey ex conscientia and absolute the protestants conditionaliter and with a quatenus and onelie for pollicie and gouernement 5. Preasts ar punished not for anie iniustice inhaerent but by imputation onelie and not for trespasses but for opinions not for that which is defacto but to preuent fiendum yf Priscian vvill pardon me But Caluinists ar guiltie both of action vsurpation and treasons reallie as this last year Lescun president of the assemblies at Rochel Haute-Fontain Chaumier preacher of Saumur suffred in France and P. Gombault all for real treasons And Bischarcy in Polland for attempting to kill the king whome he wounted greauouslie as he went to the Church 6. And there practises and ther spirites differ as much foras 7. They obiect the positions of some priuate and disauowed persons and words onelie the Catholicks obiect ther rebellions in dead ther battels ther real conspiracies at Amboys and in the wayle of Charmentras near Meaux to surprize the king 8 They reforme per populum and tumults the Catholicks by order law and superiors 9. They charg the Catholiks with treasons newlie enacted strayned and vpon suspicion contrarilie they ar condemned by ancient lawes currant in all Ghristendom by consent and by all ciuil and municipal lawes 10. The Catholicks seak not to hinder succession of kings that ar protestants as knox holdeth null is Paâ—ista in regno utherano aut Calumiano in regis principis aut aliam quam cunque dignitatem euehi potest 11. The Catholicks prefer a Monarchie Caluin Wolfius Swinglius an Aristocracie 12. Yet the Catholicks and our English protestants agree in this as in manie other weightie matters that princes ar not to be deposed but the Caluinists hold the contrarie and therfor maister T. M. by â— sovvnd propositions condemneth both the practise of the Hollanders Bohemians Sweuelanders Parraeus c. and that iudiciously 1. in his 6. reason they vvho suggest a doctrine of forcible deposing Princes ar manifestly rebellious 2. in cap. 4. they that vpon anie pretenc denie the right of election or succession of Princes ar seditious for tho he saith is of protestant princes I taik it he meaneth aâ—l and generallie or els hâ—s gap it to vvyde and partiall 3. when the king is established in his throne who seduceth the harts of subiects and withdrawes ther obedienc ar traytors applie these well and commend maister T. M. for his playne dealing with Holland and ther fellowes But I perceaue they will obiect that the state of England euer since 13. Eliz. vpon iealousie and distrust had of Catholicks armed ther magistrates with seuear lavves against them as the most capitall enemies of the crown and therfor haue branded the Preasts with the bleamish of treason as a character inseparable and a stayn never to be taken owt From whenc proceadeth it that to be a preast should be reputed as a poyson to corrupt obedienc surelie vpon certan new lawes mayd in the tyme of Q. Elizabeth whearby that is made malum prohibitum which before was neuer iudged in England to be malum in sâ— and that vocation vvas mayd Treason which was wont to sit in the chayre of gouernement and by whose oracles and
decrees the people was directed bothe in Chancerie Rolls and all Ecclesiasticall courts I haue before reuealed ther reasons and puld of all visards which hyde the face of truth After the supremacie was enacted and the Oath commanded the next care was to compell men to the exercise of the religion then established but the seminaries being erected the societie of Iesus encreasing and preasts being often sent ouer into England then begonn fyre and sword to rage the acts of 13. of 25. of 27. the proclamations of 1580. and 1591. wear published against the preasts and fathers and no man is so blynd but may discern the occasion of this rigour was for religion being for hearing mass and confessions which ar the foundation and pillers of religion and yet I confess the iealousies fears and suspicious of the tyme set for ward these seuear courses for thes prouident Counsellors ded think it necessarie by the horror of lawes to maik the seminaries of no vse by barring owt of the realme the Seadsmen for tho they ded obserue hovv far the zeal of the Church had transported the preasts that they preferred the Triumph of Truth before ther liues yet by all wordlie coniectures they probablie conceaued that the name of Treason as a Medusaes head would haue amazed and terrified them 1. bycause it stayned them all with a most reproachfull blott 2. and speciallie bycause they tought it depriued and robbed them of the crown and glorie of martyrdome the trophees of religion 3. besides they supposed that the loss of ther liues in so infamous manner the bleamish and hazard of ther frends and the punishment of ther partakers and abettors would haue vtterlie discooraged them from resorting anie more to England But this deuise ded not prosper it prooued quite contrarie ex cineribus Phoenix religion encreased by persecution owt of the ashes of martyrs so these politick lawes wrought not the effect they wear enacted for and yet wear verrie offensiue to all forrein princes as leges Draconis and phalarismus for these ar euer held to be most godlie lawes that ar least sanguinarie and yet mantain Now forasmuch as vpon worldlie respects A petition and reasons for mitigation manie acts haue of passedin parliement to trie what operation and cure they would works in the state and yf they prooued fruitles medecins or as empirical purgations too violent fitter to kill then to cure then to be repealed and bycause these prouisions and lawes against religious persons ar prooued to be such so they likewise ex gratia speciali and ovvt of his maiesties gracious compassion may be wel abrogated for as they wear mayd for the fears and suspicions of that tyme so by the grace and mercie of this tyme when they ar both neadles and causeles they may with honor be cancelled yf his maiestie shall please and the execution therof suspended to vvhose royall consideration I most humblie offer these few lines as petitions rather then reasons not for iustice but mercie 1. It was euer held against the wisedome and pollicie of this realme to fetter them selfs with too manie shacles of treason and dainger and therfor as 25. Edw. 3. at the petitions of the subiects the king ded declare and determin what should be taken and iudged for a case of treason by the common lawes of the realme so 1. Henry the 4. c. 10. it was confirmed and established that nothing hearafter should be deamed treason otherwise then was expressed by E. 3. And albeyt diuers actions wear strayned vp to be treason for a tyme vvhich vvear not within the list of 25. E. 3. as H. 6. the taking and surprising of persons and goods in Wales so to stand for the space of 7. yeares onelie and 8. H. 6. burning of howses and 22. H. 8. poysoning c. which of ther own nature and simplie wear not treason and therfor had a limitation of tyme annexed to them yet prudently all such former acts vvear repealed and mayd voyd 1. E. 6. for a more indifferent and merciefull proceading vvith subiects that the remedie might not be more daingerous then the disease and that the Lillies and roses of the crown might not be dyed with innocent blood For both in the tyme of Ciuil vvarrs and now while this great controuersie of religion dependeth in England vndecided such statutes open the gate to let in ruine desolation and confiscation bothe into the prisons of preasts and into the castles of the nobilitie and gentrie as appeared by the exampls and daingers of Arondel Northumberland Arden Sommerfeld and diuers others ane what ded happen to them maye endainger all 2. It vvill be a thing incredible to posteritie that so vvise a nation vvould maik that to be treason by parliement vvhich so generallie so perpetuallie ane so ancientlie haith bean honoured end approoued by all lavves vvas not preasthood vsed and exercised by the patriachs vnder the lavv of nature established by Moyses and the lavv of God continued yet in Christ and his Churches and never repealed by anie nevv decree vnder grace and the gospel and yf vvhich is impossible the Church erreth in that poynt of preasthood all ages all fathers all counsels all nations haue liued as blindmen in darknes and a chaos till Luther dispersed the mist is it not likelie Religion and preasthood wear like Hippocrates twins born and bred laughing and weaping beginning and ending together for in Moyses law the preast wear the inquisitors inspectores omnium iudices controuersiarum punitores damnatorum as Iosephus l. 2. contra Appion sets Down yf anie difficultie arise venies ad Socerdotes 17. Deuter and in c. 44. Ezech. Sacerdotes populum meum docebunt quid intersit inter Sanctum prophanum and so Philo. l. 3. de vita Moysis Iosaphat 2. paral and the Sanhedrim it self doth witnes it the reason of these remaineth yet in the tyme of the gospel and ther for by the lawes of England such reuerenc vvas euer showed to religious men that yf a bond man ded enter into a cloyster the law held it more reasonable that the king should loose his interest in the bodie then to be taken ovvt of his order the like vvas iudged yf the kings wards should enter into religion besides an alien can hold no lands in E. yet yf he be a preast he may be a bushop hear and enioy his temporalties as Lanfranc and Anselm wear vvho wear never dennisons Besides the state reposed so great trust in them that they wear maisters of the Rolls Six Clarks nay oft Chancellors and Threasorers of the realm And therfor it was a course of Summum ius by new lawes to punish men for an ancient vocation and so generallie receaued speciallie vvhen the storme is overblowen 3. Besides in Germanie Charles V. punished Luther by Exile and in Scotland by Baratre banishment they punish haeresie so they ded vviselie distinguish Haeresie and Treason as seuerall offences by seuerall
medicinam illud sed cladem appellans And doe yow think that pittie dyed with Germanicus or that there wear not manie and great persons mooued with the butcherie in England of some preasts it is the propertie of commiseration to be touched rather vvith the calamitie it seeth then to examin the cavvse it seeth not 4. I must plead this as an argument by exampl of a pagan Prince for compassion Marcus Aurelius tho the law was strict at Room Deos perigrinos ne colunto yet he permitted toleration to Christians as Tertullian in Apol. c. 5. Theodosius and Gratian the most Christian Emperors wear content to tolerate the Arrians enemies reallie of Christ and Iosephus noteth of Onias Megalita the same permission to continew brother hood for the peace of the state l. 14. c. 13. Antiq. The Venetians suffer the Iewes to liue emong them as the king of Spayn ded the Moores till necessitie forced hym to expell them Hovv much more reasonable is it to tollerate Catholick religion the moother of the nevv religion and the law maker and iudg heartofore of all religions 5. It is a fals proposition and proceaded from gall and Splean that Catholicks ar vnsociable that they can not liue vvith protestants in one common welth withowt iarrs and tumults and lasthe vvhich is giuen owt onelie to bread an exulceration in the harts of the people it is not tolerable in a Christian and wel gouerned common welth to grant toleration to papists Touching the first poynt the better and more charitable sort of protestants vvill not endure to hear so gross a paradox which day lie is before ther eyes prooued false for the Recusants in E. liue emong yow both peaceablie and neighborlie and withowt scandall yow buy and sell with them they performe all the offices of neighborhood they denie no temporall dewties neither tithes to ministers tho for sacraments nor devvtie to magistrates nor societie euen with puritans and it is a fals Surmise that Catholicks hold Protestants as haeretiques and excommunicate a skarcrowe to keap them a sonder and noorish diuision as yf ther vvear a natural antipathia betwean them But these Doctors who playe therin the Boutefeus remember not that the Catholicks deseru more respect and fauor by the law of Senioritie as the right heyrs of the Church disinherited of ther patrimonie The old Church ded leaue them ther priuiledges and honor she erected ther Cathedral Churches for our preasts she endowed ther colledges for our professors she builded ther alters for our sacrifices Most of ther ancients haue ther baptism from her the Bibles Cread and ceremonies and surelie it requireth some better respect for yf they had not left them yovv could not haue fovvnd them and they hope they shall not fynd charitie buried in England the contention is not general and personal but for opinions so yf yow force them not to be insociabl by scandals and prouocations yow can not fynd them vnsociable tho they meat not at Church they may meat at market Hitherto they haue liued emong yow and withowt iust complaint and should they be vvorse respected yf the king be pleased to show them mercie remember that chacun à son tour forget not that sinc k. H. 8. religion haith had his chainges and what God pleaseth to determin man must obey they that ar now in Gloria Patri may be hearafter Sicut erat in principio The Pure Caluinists will not endure Bushops therfor further not oppression least yow fynd suppression when yow look not for it Continew amitie and forget not that the bonds of religious vnitie ar so to be strenthned as the bonds of humain societie be not dissolued I dowbt to mutiners yf the king please for reasoÌ„ of state is a kings priuiledg which may dispenc with ciuil ordinarie courses for his own safetie and preseruation of the realm and he deserues not to be respected as a subiect that vvill seak to bynd the hands of his Princ and bar his beneuolenc 6. And touching the last poynt that religion will not permittanie such toleration I know and acknowledg ther ar manie reuerend learned and good men protestaÌ„ts in E. who ar verrie charitable nor enemies to ther persons tho to ther profession with whome frendlie and safelie they may conuerse withowt offenc for how can ther be offenc where ther is discreation But heartofore most of the ancient protestants ded defend and desyre this toleration whearat now mallice doth so snarle Vrbanus Regius locis Theol. Deus non docet comburere errantes ouiculas sed sanare infirmas pascere macilentas The same is Luthers opinion and assertion art 33. de non comburendis haereticis The same Musculus teaceth loc com de haeres and Osiander Epitom Centur 7. the same Acontius mantaineth lib. Stratagem Satanae Dominus non permittit haereticorum supplicia definite declarauit magistratus non esse idoneos iudices dogmatum interdixit illis talis iurisdiction is vsum And to omitt Castalio Chytraeus in his Chron. Anno 1593. showeth how much the Protestants of Swecia desyred toleration And D. Fulk l. de successione Ecclesiae reprooues the king of Spayn for too much austeritie and seueritie in that poynt Hispaniarum Rex vnicus est tam alienus à nobis vt nec foueat nec palam coire Ecclesias permittat in ditionibus suis Caluin ded once hold the same opinion and yow your selfs generallie and continuallie obiect the Creweltie of Quene Maries bonefyres and yf yow so dislike it then why doe yow like it novv but it is now against the law and vvas it not so then prohibited by law but yet we clayme nothing by law but appeal to grace It is trew that rigour to Catholicks is the way to bread Atheists when they ar barred from all exercise of ther own religion they ar not easilie drawen to an other and so they cast away all religion and that vvas the reason why these wise protestants M. Lanoue in his discourses perswaded princes to grant toleration vvhy Cassander Sturmius held that opinion why Belloy in his Apol. and Melancthon consented to the like why at first the Geuses in the lovv contries ded so vrgentlie sollicit the Religions Vried and by so manie books and vvhy Erasmus libro de sarcienda amabili concordia Ecclâ—siae donec Synodus laboured to prooue the necessitie of it 7. I will geue yow examples for matters of fact mooue more and ar subiect to less dispute At Hieusalem in the tyme of our Sauior Christ ther wear two sects much differing in religion and yet ded liue sociablie together and withowt offenc either to the Church or the state The Pharisei and Sadducei and they vvear not men of one religion and differing onelie in rites and orders but they vvear of opposite religions No man will dowbt but that the Sadduces vvear haereticks for they denied the resurrection and the immortalitie of the sowle an articl of our beleafe and the