of Gardier but he was not vnskilled I saie ì the arte of practices No in dede he was excellent in that feate as it well appeared For whan he had wrought and made sure the great mariage to auoide the hatred of the people he made his scholar to father it and to haue the outwarde thankes And no maruail of his conning For he was his maister and hade studied longer the arte than the proctour and hade a better witte and spent yearly the halfe of his bishopriche in bribing or elles he had lost his head long before for his treasones were not alltogether vnknowem albeit they were couered and hidden But what dothe this maister or proctour of practices Dothe he not dissemble with the erle of warwike serueth his turne ì al that his wittes wold serue But what at leinght becometh of our practiceing P. He is committed to warde his garter with shame pulled from his legge his robe froÌ„ his backe his coate armour pulled downe spurned out of Windsore churche troden vnder fote and he him self at leinght with great fauour obteinâ—…th that he might redeme the rest of his corporal paines with open confession at the barre in the Starre chambre on his knes of his bribery extorcion dissimulacion ambicion robbing of the king and suche like vertues wherby he became noble If we minded in this place to displaye the packing and practiceing of the Nobilitie and counsail of Englande in the sickenesse and at the deathe of king Edwarde the vi for the pretensed placeing of the lady Iane in the regaleseat and their sodain slipping the coler and deceauing of one an other it were mater ynough to teache men how litel confidence and trust ought to be geuen either to the smothe couÌ„tenaunces faire wordes confident promises bloody othes or swearing vpon the holy Euangelies either yet to the lettres aÌ„d haÌ„de writinges of the Princes aÌ„d potentates of the worlde They that were sworne chief of counsail with the lady Iane and caused the Quene to be proclaimed a bastarâ—…e throughout all Englande and Irelande and they that were the sorest forcers of men yea vnder the threatned paines of Treason to sweare and subscribe vnto their doinges bewraied the mater them selues vnder hande by their wiues aÌ„d other secret shiftes and afterwarde became counsaillours I will not saie procurers of the innocent Lady Ianes deathe and at this present are in the highest autoritie in the Quenes house and the chiefest officers and doers in the common wealthe And som of them that wrote most earnestly to a certain auncient lorde of the Realme among many other in the fauour of the Lady Iane bebastarding and railing vpon the Quene were not ashamed within fewe daies after whan the same lorde was locked vp in the towre for his constaunt although constrained obedience to the common ordre of the Counsail to be his most straunge and rough examiners on the contrary part as though they them selues hade neuer halted in the mater But I knowe these practicers answer that if they hade not vsed that practice they should not only haue standen in hasarde them selues but also failed of their priuie purpose Well In the meane tyme it is ynough to knowe that a man maie not trust nor beleue them either by their wordes othes or hande writinges further thaÌ„ he seeth and heareth them and scarcely so farre And I praie you hathe not the realme good cause to thanke and trust the potentates Prelates and Parliament men for banishing the sacred testament and Gospel of God with the sincere administracion of his holy Sacramentes and for bringing the deuillishe power of the Romishe Antichrist in to Englande again with his miserable Masse and all popishe slauery By the which they haue not only brokeÌ„ their othe aÌ„d loy altie to God and to themperial Crowne of Englande pullìg eternal coÌ„deÌ„nacioÌ„ vpoÌ„ theÌ„selues aÌ„d â–ª puokig the heauie haÌ„d of Goddes wrath aÌ„d plage vpoÌ„ their sede aÌ„d vpoÌ„ the hole realme ì coÌ„pellìg the people to sinne by fallìg froÌ„ the true seruice of the liuìg God ìto most wicked supersticion and idolatrie alas therfore but also haue ben and are giltie of the innocent blood of thankes and the Quenes fauour increaced towarde him But his iuste rewarde yet is not come let hâ—… not loke to spede any better than Heracleo if he continue Iudas still I wolde wishe he wolde in time become a Petre I trust he is not so farre past but he maie be praied for He is my good lorde and Mason ones my great frende aÌ„d nere neighbour I wishe them bothe well Thus ye see the final successe and rewarde of traitours Wherfore it is to be wondred that suche practicers which worke so muche mischief for others can not take hede of the euil that is towardes them selues But Goddes worde must be verified of the wicked Beholde the wicked trauaileth with mischief saieth the worthy prophet and king Dauid a man of great experience He hathe coÌ„ceaued unhappines and brought furthe a lie He hathe grauen and digged up a pitte but he shall fall him self in to the pitte that he hathe made For the mischief that he mindeth to others shall come on his owne head and his wickednesse shall fall on his owne pate But forasmuche as all these fetches and practices be only made and laied to disceaue those that be honest faithfull true and natural to their countreie it is requisite to treate how they maie be auoided Deceat wold not be knocked out with deceat if it might so be but honest men should alwaies and at all times deale plainly and honestly And therfore the honestest meane before thinges be done is to be wise and circumspecte and to forsee thende what mischief maie folowe before they sodainly rashely and vnaduisedly consent to ani thing To vse suche honest wisdom and forsight is permitted bothe by Goddes worde and nature Yea Goddes worde and nature commaunde honest men to vse it For those thinges that can but ones be done and wheron so great weigh thangeth ought to be well done Therfore men ought not to geue credite to faire wordes large promises and great othes for these are the instrumentes to deceaue the honest and well meaning but the fairer the wordes be the larger the promises aÌ„d the greater the othes the more to suspecte For godly and honest thinges maie be well ynough done without painted and smothe wordes faire promises and othes Ther ought to be such equalitie in doing of thinges that such deceates nede not Only subtiltie and crafte deuised long writinges great promises and many solempne ceremonies WhaÌ„ the great mariage was treated in the priuie Counsail aÌ„d so great promises made the olde Duke of Nor folke saied they were golden wordes but how shall they be perfourmed saied he Afterwarde whan it was propouned to the lordes in the parliament to be ratified the Lord Windsori like maner asked who should be suertie for the perfourmaunce therof aÌ„d who should sue the forfaite
ha ue autoritie to make lawes for the mayntenaunce of the policie so that they be not contrary to Goddes lawe and the lawes of nature which if ye note well the question before propouned whether kinges and princes haue an absolute power shall appeare not doubtfull or if any wolde affirme it that he shall not be hable to maintene it For first touching Goddes lawes by which name also the lawes of nature be comprehended kinges and princes are not ioyned makers herof with God so that therby of thē selues they might clayme any interest or autoritie to dissolue them or dispense with them by this Maxime or principal that he that maye knyt together maye lose asondre and he that maye make maye marre for before Magistrates were Goddes lawes were Neither can it be proued that by Goddes worde they haue any autoritie to dispense or breake them but that they be still commanded to doo right to ministre iustice and not to swarue neither on the right hande or on the lefte Than must it nedes folowe that this absolute autoritie which they vse must be mayntened by mannes reason or it must nedes be an vsurpaciō But what can reason saye If it be not laufull by no lawes no neither by honestie for any mannes seruaunt to altre his maisters a mortal mannes commaundement can reason saye it is laufull for any persone to altre Goddes cōmaundement or breake it That a mannes seruaunt maye be wiser than his maister that he maye be iuster than his maister that he maye see what is more profitable and necessarie to be done thā his maister cōmonly it happeneth and therfore he maye haue som apparēt cause to altre or breake his maisters cōmaun dement But to saye that any creature is or that any creature wolde seme in worde or dede to be more wise than God more iuste than God more prudent and circumspecte than God or knoweth what is better for the creature than the creatour him self as it must nedes be saied that he dothe that taketh vpon him to breake or dispence with Goddes will and commaundementes what an horrible blasphemie is it What luciferous presumpcion is it If we will not submit our selues to Goddes iudgement herein expressed by his worde as Christianes should let vs yet marke the sequele and therby gather Goddes iudgement as Ethnikes doo For whan we haue wrought our wittes out and deuised and done what we can we can not so exclude God but he will haue a saieng with vs. Goddes worde will and commaundement is that he that wilfully killeth a man shall also be killed by man that is the Magistrate But this lawe hathe not ben obserued and all wayes executed but kinges and princes vpon affection haue dispensed and broken it graunting life and libertie to traitours robbers murtherours c. But what hathe folowed of it Haue they whose offences haue ben so pardoned after ward shewed them selues penitent to God and thankfully profitable to the common wealthe No God and the commonwealthe haue hade no greater enemies They haue added murther to murther mischief to mischief and of priuate malefactours haue become publike and of men killers they haue at leinght growen to be destroiers of their countrey yea and many tymes of them that saued them from hanging and other iust paines of the lawe And no maruail for God dothe not oneli punishe the principalles and autors of suche mischief but also those that be accessaries and mayntenours of it and plageth iniquitie with iniquitie Ye maie likewise see what frutes haue folowed wher popes haue dispensed that mariages might be made contrarie to Goddes lawes We shall not nede to rehearse any thende will declare all But let vs leaue to reason that wherein nothing can be saied for it And let vs come to that wherein somewhat maye be saied that is whether kinges and princes maye doo thinges contrary to the positiue lawes of their countrey As for example It is a lawe positiue that a meane kinde of apparail or a meane kynde of diet should be vsed in a common wealthe to thintent that men leauing thexcesse thereof wherof many occasiones bothe to destroie nature and to offende God folowe they might conuerte that they before euil spent to the relief of the pouertie or defense of their countrey For answer to this question this diuision ought to be made that ther be two kyndes of kinges princes and gouernours The one who alone maye make positiue lawes bicause the hole state and body of their countrey haue geuē and resigned to them their authoritie so to doo which neuertheles is rather to be compted a tiranne than a king as Dionisius Philippus and Alexander were who saued whom they wold ād spilt whom they lusted And thother be suche vnto whom the people haue not geuen suche autoritie but kepe it them selues as we haue before sayed cōcerning the mixte state True it is that in maters indifferent that is that of them selues be neither good nor euil hurtfull or profitable but for a decent ordre Kinges and Princes to whom the people haue geuen their autoritie maie make suche lawes and dispense with them But in maters not indifferent but godly and profitably ordayned for the common wealthe ther can they not for all their autoritie breake thē or dispense with them For Princes are ordained to doo good not to doo euil to take awaie euil not to increace it to geue example of well doing not to be procurers of euil to procure the wealthe and benefite of their subiectes and not to worke their hurt or vndoing And in thempire wher by the ciuile lawes themperours claime that the people gaue them their autoritie to make lawes albeit they haue ben willing and ofte attēpted to execute their autoritie which som Pikethākes to please them saie they haue by the lawes yet haue they ben forced of them selues to leaue of their enterprise But such as be indifferent expounders of the lawes be of that minde that we before haue declared and therfore make this a general conclusion and as it were a rule that thēperour willing any thing to be done ther is no more to be done than the lawes permit to be done For saie they neither pope Emperour nor king may doo any thing to the hurt of his people without their cōsent King Antigonus Chauncelour saieng vnto him that all thinges were honest ād laufull to kinges ye saie true quod the king but to suche kinges as be beastes barbarous ād without humanitie but to true ād good Princes nothing is honest but that is honest in dede and nothing is iuste but that is iuste in dede Anthiochus the thrid king of Asia considering that as he was aboue the people so the lawes were aboue him wrote general lettres to all the cities of his countrey that if they shoulde perceaue that he by any lettres should require any thing contrary to the lawes they should thinke that suche lettres were obteined without his cōsent and therfore they
christianes and bring them to the one and twentie Commissionares or to the bishoppes colehouse or whan he willed and commaunded them to destroye such as wold not denie Christ and folowe his procedinges worshipping idoles did they bring them to the fire ād stande about that they should not speake and to see that none should come nere thē to conforte and streinghten them in their faithe or whan they spake did they cleaue their headdes in pieces with their halbeardes or stoppe their mouthes with their billes No they confessed that in that themperour of heauen thalmi ghtie God and not thēperour of the earthe a wicked mā and a rebelle against God was their emperour ād Captaī ād therin they wolde not obeie Iuliā nor doo that he commaunded in that behalfe And this answer bothe S. Ambrose and S. Augustine yea ād the papistes although they thē selues doo not so propounde and set furthe for a christē doctrine ād a catholike exāple how christē ād good subiectes shoulde behaue thē selues towarde wicked prīces ād their wi cked cōmaundemētes that is in no wise to obeie thē but to leaue thē undone And as mē ought not to obeie their superiours that shall cōmaunde thē to doo any thīg agaīst Goddes worde or the lawes of nature so maie they not doo that they shall cōmaūde thē cōtrary to ciuile iustice or to the hurt of the hole state Nei ther will good prīces attēpt or goo about any suche thing for it is the next waie to bring thē out of their seates and to make thē of kinges no kinges How can that head liue ād cōtinewe wher the body is cōsumed ād dissolued And how cā that body be lustie wher the sinowes the lawes are broken and iustice the marie that should nourishe it vtterly wasted and decaied Antiochus the thrid king of Siria wrote thus to all the cities of his dominion that if he did cō maunde any thing that should be contrary to the lawes they should not passe theron but that rather they should thinke it was stollen or forged without his knowlage considering that the prince or gouernour is nothing elles but the minister of the lawes And this same saieng of this most noble king semed to be so iuste and reasonable that it is taken for a com mon principle how subiectes should knowe whan they should doo that they be commaunded and whan they ought not Likewise a bishop of Rome called Alexander the third wrote to an Archebishop to doo a thing which semed to the Archebishop to be vnreasonable and contrary to the lawes the pope perceauing that tharbishop was offended with his writing and wolde not doo that he required desired him not to be off◅nded but that if ther were cause why he thought he should not do that he required he wolde aduertise him and he therwith wolde be satisfied This is a popes saiēg which who is so hardy dardie to denie to be of lesse autoritie than a lawe yea not felowe but aboue Goddes worde Wher vpon this is a general rule that the pope is not to be obeied but in laufull and honest thinges And so by good Argument from the more to the lesse that princes being but foote stooles and stirrop holders to popes commaunding their subiectes that is not godly not iuste not laufull or hurtefull to their countrey ought not to be obeied but with standen For the subiectes ought not against nature to further their owne destructiō but to seke their owne saluacion not to maintene euil but to suppresse euil for not only the doers but also the consentours to euil shalbe punished saie bothe Goddes and mannes lawes And men ought to haue more respecte to their countrey than to their prince to the common wealthe than to any one persone For the countrey and common wealthe is a degree aboue the king Next vnto God men ought to loue their countrey and the hole common wealthe before any membre of it as kinges and princes be they neuer so great are but membres and common wealthes mai stande well ynough and floris he albeit ther be no kinges but contrary wise without a common wealthe ther can be no king Common wealthes and realmes may liue whan the head is cut of and may put on a newe head that is make them a newe gouernour whan they see their olde head seke to muche his owne will and not the wealthe of the hole body for the which he was only ordained And by that iustice and lawe that lately hathe ben excuted in Englande if it maie be called iustice and lawe it should appeare that the ministers of ciuile power doo somtimes commaunde that that the subiectes ought not to doo Whan the innocent Lady Iane contrary to her will yea by force with teares dropping downe her chekes suffred her self to be called Quene of England◅ yet ye see bicause she consented to that which was not by ciuile iustice laufull she ād her husbande for company suffred the paines of Traitours bothe headles buried in one pitte Whan the blessed mā of God Thomas Cranmer Archebishop of Cantorbury did what he might to resiste to subscribe to King Edwardes will wherby his two sisters the ladies Mary and Elizabeth should haue ben wrongfully disherited yet bicause he afterwarde to contēt the kinges minde and commaundement yea in dede to saue the innocent king from the uiolēce of most wicked traiterous tirannes did subscribe vnto it against his will was it not laied vnto him by the wicked Iudge Morgā whom God not long after plaged with taking awaie his wittes that was a foole before that he ought not to doo any thing unlaufull bi commaundemēt of any power And so he an innocent piked out among a great nombre of very euil doers to satisfie the lawe was condemned as a traitour before he suffred as a martir Were not the ymages ād Roodeloftes in Englande destroied by autoritie of ciuile power And dothe not Boner the Archbocher of londō for all that force them that obeied the authoritie bicause he saieth it was not lauful to make thē vp agaī at their owne charges But Boner thou that allow est nothing to be well done by what so euer autoritie it be done except it be laufull nor nothing to be laufull that is not agreing to thy Canon lawes I haue to saie to thee ▪ Stāde stil a while whilest I rubbe the. Tell me plainly and face not out a lie as thou arte wont speake not one thing and thinke an other as thy nature is ones in thy life tell the truthe and shame thy maister the deuil If thou were the sonne of the earthe by thy fathers side and of an erraunt hoore by the mother and so a bastarde hy what autoritie saiest thou thy masse whan thy lawes suffre no bastardes to be priestes without dispensacion how comest thou to be a bishop whan thy lawes saie thou maiest be no priest How be thy iudgementes laufull whan thou by thy Canones maiest be no