Dauid doth morally teach vs that wee must not smite our Princes with the sword of our Lips though they wrong vs nor that we teare the hemme of their superfluous deeds If wee approoue not the holinesst of their liues let vs applaud the holinesse of their Vnctions In the English Chronicles euen when the Pope was at the highest staire of worldly triumph it is registred that Anselmus Archbishop of Canterbury in some difference betwixt him and King William Rufus would haue appealed to the Pope And that the King and the Bishops withstood it In the Raigne of King Henry the Second a Law was made on paine of Treason not to appeale out of the Kingdome of England Thus from time to time it is manifest that the Popes power hath beene inferiour and subiect to Earthly Princes And therefore to broach out such damnable Paradoxes for the iustification of murther and the warranting of priuate men to conspire against their Soueraignes is a Doctrine which God hates Somtimes men are plagued by the immediate hand of God sometimes by mediate and secondary means for their sins Sometimes men are forced to endure extraordinary stormes tempests famine warres and also crosses at their very friends hands Sometimes their women are deliuered of abortiues or mishapen Creatures All which they must patiently brooke Much more must they beare with the spots of Princes who haue long Eares and long hands It is not safe or vertuous to meddle with litigious wares nor to trouble the braine with these kind of Problemes For if men liue in a Monarchy which is hereditary the Fault is the greater If in other Kingdomes the fundamentall Lawes must be regarded by the publike States and not by priuate persons If the Kingdome be Electiue as Poland let the Chancelor looke to it If in Germanie it belongs to the Electors to decide the quarrell betwixt the Emperour and the Subiects Wee doe therefore vtterly detest these Iesuites for maintayning of these bloudy Tragedies and from henceforth wee banish that pestilent Race of Sectaries out of our Iurisdiction of Parnassus Mariana heere we doe order to bee perpetually tortured in Phalaris his Brazen Bull and his Bookes also to be burnt and the ashes to be scattered in the Riuer of Lethe CHAP. III. Now Doctor Wicliffe of Oxford espying in a Church at Athens a Franciscan Frier a kissing of a Maide of Honour belonging to the Princesse Thalia brought Saint Frances to surprize them who of meere Idiotisme applaudes the Fact IN May last when all liuing Creatures followed their naturall motions and kinds Doctor Wicliffe of Oxford who in King Richard the Seconds time by the countenance of Iohn of Gaunt and the Londoners opposed himselfe against the Romish Clergie as hee was entring into the Temple of the vnknowne God at Athens espied a Franciscan Frier very heartily kissing a Gentlewoman which in that jouiall and merrie time had made choise of that lustie Frier to confesse her whereupon Doctor Wicliffe being euer held to be of an vnblemisht behauiour and as chaste as Origen but that he had not gelt himselfe as Origen did burned with Zeale and like another Phinehes thought once to haue runne vpon them both to haue scratcht their eyes out for weapons he had none to offend with such was the Law of Apolloes Court But remembring himselfe of a place in Homer how Achilles as he intended to draw out his Sword against Agamemnon was preuented by the Ladie Pallas who inuisibly restrained his hand from that reprochfull Act he reculed backe vnseene by the youthfull Couple whose lips were so fastned together that as if they had beene in a trance the Church might haue falne by piece-meales about their eares before they would been parted from their sugred kisses and like an Arrow out of a Bow hee rushed into Saint Frances cloyster where meeting with the Old man a mumbling on his Orisons and Rosaries he desired him in all haste to come and visit the Corpse of one of his Friers which was strooke dead by the Planet Venus together with a Maide of Honour belonging to the Princesse Thalia At these words Saint Frances flung away his deuout Offices and went a long with Doctor Wicliffe to the place where he found the Frier and the gentlewoman a kissing After that Saint Frances had considerately noted how loâ—ingly the Frier lay as it were in an extasie with his lips as close as Iuy to an Elme vnto the Maides lips the good man fell downe vpon his knees and thanked God that he had seene so much Loue and Charitie in the World which before hee doubted had forsaken all humane race CHAP. IIII. Doctor Wicliffe connents Saint Frances and the kissing Frier before Apollo Saint Frances defendeth the cause and discouereth seuen sorts of kisses Apollo refuteth his Defence condemnes the Frier and abolisheth all Monasticall Orders DWicliffe the next day after this aduenture loth to be accessary to such baudy deeds made the matter knowne vnto Apolloes Maiestie who immediately sent Mercury for both the Friers And vpon the Friday after appointed a speciall Conuocation for the ordering of this lasciuious Cause About nine a clocke in the morning vpon the prefixed day both the Friers being brought before the Lords of the Connocations Apollo spake in this wise to Saint Frances The first time that you were initiated in morall Precepts and sithence matriculated in our Court you vndertooke aswell for your Monasticall Order as your selfe to liue chast and not to minister occasion of scandall to the married Societie to suspect the least token of incontinencie in your carriages But we find that you are flesh and bloud subiect to concupiscence as well as others Saint Paul therefore aduiseth you rather to marrie then to burne But you on the contrary doe forbid your Clergy to marry at all although in your consciences you know it a most grieuous yoke the which our Sauiour Christ said that no man can beare vnlesse as a speciall Gift some few receiue it from Heauen And therefore Saint Paul tels you It is the doctrine of deuils to forbid Marriage Why then haue you imposed such a burthen such a vow on these silly Nouices of your Fraternitie which they can neuer keep without hinneying and lusting after the Female Sexe Haue not you heard that a certaine Hermite cockolded the chiefest Nobles of a Princes Court whose Wiues vsed to repaire to his Cell for Spirituall Physicke as if he had beene another Baptist Endeauour yee neuer so violently to expell the affections of nature they will breake into your thoughts and bodies doe what yee can as on a time another Hermit but more holy of life experimented in a Nephew of his who notwithstanding that hee had brought him vp euen from his cradle in his hermitage shut vp from the sight of all Women-kinde and afterwards by chance following his Ghostly Father to a Towne when he had looked on the Sexe of women and askt his Father what creatures those prettie
Phisicians to take care ouer all the English Sailers which from thenceforth should hazard their liues to the Indies He likewise commanded the East Indies Company to be more bountifull to the poore Widowes whose Husbands chanced to miscarry in their seruice Lastly his Maiestie caused the London Merchants to ioyne together for the prosecuting further of the Northwest passage and for the honour of those braue spirits which had already aduentured their persons in the discouery to ingraue on a brazen Table these verses following and the same to place as a Frontispice on the Delphicke Palace Orbis in Occiduâ latitat via parte sub Arcto Ducit ad Eoum quâ— magis apta mare Dux Frobisherus Dauis Hudson et inclitus ausis Buttonus validis hanc petiere viam Cambria non tantum sed et Anglia laudibus effert Te Buttone suis aequiparátque Dâ—ako De quot te memorem saluum euasisse periclis Sint testes Indus Maurus IeÌ„rnus Iber. Non glomerata tibi Glacies imperuia ferro Non Hyemis longae nix numerosa nocet Quin tunc vlterius transisses altera naui Obuia succedens sireleuasset onus Albioné mque nouam nobis incognita Meta Tum benc vulgasset per fretanostramaris Neere to the Pole there lurkes within the West A shorter way to saile into the East Braue Furbisher Danis and bold Hudson Sought out this way with the valiant Button Not onely Wales but England rings his name And with great Drake compares our Buttons fame Though Ireland Spaine India and Affrick rage To beare the brunts of his stout Pilgrimage Yet they will prize him more when more they know How he endur'd a winter deep with ' Snow For eight moneths space besides the Icy hills Which Natures eares with strange amazemeÌ„t fils And if supplies had come in his distresse New Pillars he like those of Hercules Had raisd but with Plus vltra in the place Where Drakes new Albion waites for Britaines race CHAP. 8. The Merchants of Lisbone doe complaine on the English and Hollanders for trading into the East Indies for Spices Drugs and other Commodities Apollo reiecteth their complaints and aduiseth how they may saile thither with lesser inconueniences then heretosore APollo hauing giuen order to the Inhabitants of Great Britaine to set forwards some Shippes for the discouery of the North west passage word was presently brought to the Portingals that his Maiestie had interessed the Protestants in the Trade of Spiceries Whereupon the City of Lisbone sent to Parnassus foure of their most substantiall Citizens where being arriued they made meanes by Osorius one of their learned Bishops to haue a full Audience of their matter the next Court day which fell out on the fift of Iune last 1626. as Menante the grand Post-master deliuered the last weeke at Paris But Mercurius Gallobelgicus affirmeth otherwise that this weighty cause was discussed on the ninth of Iune Such is the disparity of iudgements and inequality of reports that wee cannot rightly be informed by any of these Currents concerning those passages which happen in our neerest times How much lesse then shall we credit Historiographers of elder ages which haue left vs the occurrences of many memorable affaires which ought to serue as mirrours to posterity Howsoeuer most true it is that the East Indy Cause was decided before the sunne entred into the Tropick of Cancer in this Moneth of Iune last The ground of the Plaintiffes suit was fixed most vpon the Diuision which Pope Alexander the sixt made betwixt the House of Castile and the House of Portingall about 120. yeares past that all the whole world then newly discouered or to bee discouered should equally be shared betwixt them both the East Indies to belong vnto the Portingals and the West Indies to the Castilians the same to haue and to hold to either of the said Nations their Factors and Agents for euer warranted contra omnes gentes Vnder colour of which authenticke Patent they freely inioyed the same vntill the bold English and Hollanders lately intrâ—ded into their Liberties and haue vsurped many of the Coasts in those rich Countries Apollo not wont suddenly without mature deliberation to order causes of such high consequences sent for Peter Martyr the Author of the Decades and asked him how that Partition became ratified Peter Martyr now a member of the Corporation of Parnassâ—â—s and not daring to conceale the verity of that businesse from the sincere Head of the vertuous Society answered that indeed such a Capitulation was treated of betwixt those Princes and that iust as the said Commissioners intended to diuide the whole world by certaine Lines and imaginary points in the Globe they were quite put out of their agreements by a Knauish Boy who at that time accidentally bathed himselfe in a riuer neere vnto them as they debated of these Lines and hearing the Commissioners varying and wrangling about the drawing of these new Lines he turned his backe side vnto them and wished them to forme the same equally as if they should delineat from the Center of his Ano and so taking the same for a patterne the one halfe should appertaine to the one and the other halfe to the other Vpon which ridiculous interruption the Commissioners being abashed and ashamed that a Childe should touch so seriously vpon their Masters ambition they departed leauing the partition vnperfect Apollo perceiuing that the Portingals drift was to ingrosse the whole Trade of Spiceties as a Monopoly preiudiciall to others of the Christian Profession vtterly misliked their a spiring and greedy purposes and after some bitter exprobration of their Couetousnesse hee framed this speech vnto them In going about to appropriate the whole world to your selues yee seeke to ecclipse the power of the Omnipotent to forestall the wonderfull Art of Nauigation and by keeping backe the Protestants to let the Mahumetans still to ioyne with you in this beneficiall Trade I confesse your Nation deserues to be commended for your discoueries of the Cape of Good Hope vnder Vasco de Gama But afterwards for you to ingrosse into your hands more Coasts and Trades then yee are able to mannage is meere auarice and a wrong to your Creator who happily by these your Neighbours aduentures may in time to come discouer as yet more vnknowne Countries and settle in those remote places the word of God euen beyond New Guiny where more Noble Nations doe yet reside then yee haue found out What greater glory can arriue to this part of the world then to search into the vttermost parts of those Southerne Regions In all ciuill Countries the Inhabitants must as well looke into the Artificiall waies of acquiring wealth as into the naturall meanes abounding in the places of their abode This consists in Corne Cattell Wooll Lead Tinne or in the like Commodities which are ordinarily and without much Art deriued from their natiue Seates The other depends on their industry and more curious skill to work vpon those materialls as
of some superfluous humour ingendred in the braine where the Intellectuall Faculties ought to reside and to direct the inferiour Functions How soeuer the Cure is not impossible yet perhaps a thanklesse Office for a man vncalled to take in hand This last is the cause and none but this which makes mee the more sparing of my remedies In this confusion of thoughts fearing to play with Iupiters beard or to dally with Saints and higher Powers who might misconster my Good-will I thought once to be silent left in lending my hand to saue others of tender charitie and compassion I might fal my selfe into the Whirle-poole and there sinke or swimme I should rather be laughed at then pitied Sic aliquis nanti dextram dum porrigit ipse Incidit in liquidas non bene cautus aquat For this cause I minded to lay afide my Melodie one of my chiefest Receits to restore mad men to their wits in respect of these thanklesse times and thus to lament my doubtfull disaster as Sir Walter Raleigh did to our late Queene Anne of happy memory My broken pipes shall on the willow hang Like those which on the Babylonian bankes These ioyes foredone their present sorrow sang These times to worth yeelding but frozen thankes At last the Cloudie sable vaile of iealous doubts being remoued which for a while had interposed themselues betwixt the Light of my vnderstanding and the other attributes of my Soule I valiantly resolued on this Treatise of the Golden Fleece and in regard of the fraikies which the greatest part of my fellow-subiects doe as it were by some vnluekie influence of the Starres participate I haue prepared sundry kinds of artiâ—…ce so that if some proue distastfull and nauâ—eatiâ—e yet others may sort out well according to my expectation I will therefore diuide this Worke into three Parts In the first I will refute the Errours of Religion preparing the way to Vâ—ilie In the second I will endeuour to remoue the Diseases of our Kingdome that Contraries may be cured by Contraries And lastly I will lay downe those Helps which may repaire the ruines of our State as the surest Elixir and Restoratiue which my poore Experience hath attained vnto THE FIRST PART OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE Discouering the Errours of Religion with the remedies CHAP. 1. The greatest care which Apollo takes for the Monarchy of Great Britaine The singular and respectiue loue which hee beares towards the hopefull magnanimous King Charles And how by his Proclamation he caused Mariana the Iesuite to be apprehended for animating Subiects against their naturall Prince ABoue all the magnificent courts which the sun beholds from East to West and from the one Pole to the other It is noted that Apollo as it were by Sympathy of some Heauenly Influence beares particular affection to the Regall Court of Great Brittaine and tenders the welfare thereof as of his owne Parnassus Insomuch that his Imperiall Maiestie foreseeing that Gâ—y Faux and his damned Confederates would haue blowne vp the Parliament house with the King and Estates there assembled vpon the fift day of Nouember in the yeere 1605. and that they afterwards intended to set vp their Romish Religion hee first caused one of the Aeriall Spirits to insinuate into Tressams braine and by often nibling on his imagination to procure from him that Aenigmaticall Letter vnto his brother in Law the Lord Mounteagle Then out of his diuine loue towards this Monarchy he assisted the Genius of the learned and most noble King Iames to discouer the whole plot by vnlocking with the key of Prophesie the Mysterie of that intricate Letter more intricate and darke then Sphinx his Riddle So odious appeared this Butcherly and Diabolicall Treason vnto his Sacred Spirit That no Scrutinies of Triall nor legall Consultations were by him omitted to know the hidden motiues and quintessence of this bloudie and vnnaturall practice so much degenerating from mans nature as with the Giants of old time to scale the Heauens and to assault the Authour of nature by whom they liued moued and had their being But for all his Examinations and vigilant cares Apollo could by no meanes ferret out the Fox for the Deuill had transformed the beast into an Angell of light vntill Raâ—illiac that monster of Mankind had massacred the great Hercules of France King Henry the fourth Vpon which Accident one Peter Ramus a learned Parisian whom the Papists sometimes nicknamed the Hugenotes Champion informed Apollo that the said Rauilliac the very morning of the same day when he committed this lamentable murther was heard to maintaine that Paradoxe how iustifiable and glorious an Act it were for a Subiect to kill a Tyrannicall or Hereticall Prince For the verifying and approuing of which position he quoted down certaine leaues of Mariana the Iesuites Booke de Rege Reg. Instit. cap. 6. whereby hee subiects all Powers and Dominions to the becke and dispose of his earthly God my Lord the Pope and frees them from their alleageance to their natiue Prince if his Holinesse storme or themselues doe imagine him to become an Apostata or to fauour Apostasie or Heresie Apolloes griefe conceiued by this Assassinate and Tragicall euent became somewhat asswaged when he knew the cause of this inhumane butchery proceeded through the Kings owne credulitie and tendernesse of heart in admitting the Iesuits into France against the will of his judicious Sorbonists and afterwards sostering them like Aesopes Snake in the Louvre his Regall Palace whose common Maxime he knew to bee One God in Heauen one God on Earth and one Catholike King Yet notwithstanding to let his vertuous followers vnderstand how heynous crying sinnes and the treacherous shedding of humane bloud seemed in his vnspotted presence Apollo commanded Robert Earle of Essex Lord High Marshall of his Empire and Sir I hilip Sidney the Prouost Marshall of his Court to make diligent search and inquirie within the Precincts of his Territories for the bodie of Mariana and him to apprehend and in sure and safe manner to bring before his Imperiall Highnes These Noble Gentlemen endeuoured to performe the contents of his command but in no wise could they light on Mariana's person For while the warrant was a writing by the Clarke of the Counsell it chanced that Pererius Tolet Posseuinus Bellarmine Cotton of Paris ouer-heard the charge and tenour thereof And it is to bee suspected that they gaue him notice for the repute and credit of their Societie to hide himselfe for indeed the Varlet fled before the Warrant was signed Apollo perceiuing that his Marshals had taken exceeding great paines and yet in vaine for his attaching hee caused a publike Proclamation to be fixed on the Gate of his Palace at Parnassus that what persons soeuer could bring this fugitiue Iesuite before him his Maiestie would preferre him to some Office or place about his Court. For all this no man could finde out his haunt or tracke So wary and carefull were these subtill
Policie of the Church to force obedience vnto the Clergie and to worke regeneration in the milde spirited But because it was not soundly grounded on the Word of God it growes contemptible and worthy to bee suppressed for the monstrous abuses which we find in these times to flow by the indirect vse thereof In the Apostles time it was no other then an humble acknowledging of one Neighbours Infirmitie to the other and an asking of forgiuenesse reciprocally at their hands whom they had offended in remembrance of that clause in the Lords Prayer as wee forgiue them which trespasse against vs that thereby they might the more confidently receiue the Communion This the Apostle aduiseth in these words Confesse your sinnes one to another and pray yee one for another Which Confession they vsed publikely and priuately Publikely before all the Congregation if the Sinne were great as that of the Incestuous person in Saint Paul that Shame might worke the fruits of repentance in the Offendors heart Priuately as Saint Iames aduised by way of Charitie to succor one anothers conscience Afterwards Confession became farre more priuat and their mindes being puft vp with Pride or ashamed to let many know their dissimulations they repayred to some one of the Elders of the Church as Patients to a Physician to bee cured or to receiue Counsell for their Soules health At last the Clergie noting the simplicitie of the vnlettered people in those dayes they got them in lieu of Penance to disburse pence pounds sometimes to the Poore sometimes to build Churches Chappels Monasteries and to offer presents to the honour of their Parish Saints as the Heathen in those dayes did to their Idols All this while there was no great fault sauing that they began to make it somewhat meritorious But when the Popes had forbidden Marriages in time had barred the Clergie of their Concubines which was for a long time dispensed with then this laudable Order of Confession began to be grossely abused and womens Chastities suffered shipwâ—ackâ— For themselues being to continue for euer vnmarried they burned in lust and left no trick vnattempted to beguile wiues and maides But among all their sleights they preuayled aboue all when they drew men to build Nuâ—â—eries that they might allure prettie wenches thither with whom they might ioyne the more freely to coole their raging lusts Insomuch that the wariest of them seeing some of their sweet hearts too fruitfull they studied Physicke and gaue them drenches to destroy their Fruit or if that wrought not the effect for the credit of their Vâ—taries they held it no great sinne to murther it assoone as euer it came to light which Diuelish Acts of theirs since the preaching of the Gospell are daily discouered in Ponds and other hidden places where the skuls of many Infants haue beene lately found What mad men are they which will commit their daughters to a Confessors charge as lambes to wolues knowing that flaxe will flame if it bee too neere the fire Lust by degrees corrupts The wisest man liues not without some touch of folly Shall wee then thinke that Flesh and Bloud can waxe cold finding sweet opportunitie and solitarinesse to warme sensible nature At first they look babies in their eyes they wring or kisse their lillyed hands and induce them to read their Loue-sonnets Madrigalls and other Poems of Cupids baites Then they fall to a neerer forme the preambles and fore-runners of beastly pleasure they obtaine the gracelesse grace to play with their iuory breasts and to endure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 writes that vnmannerly Grobiâ—â—â— Tange etiâ—â— partes quâ—â— gâ—â—â—â—t Fâ—mina tâ—â—gi Arriued to this happinesse they must needs sanctifiâ— their lips with Nectarean kisses vowing that they would not for all the King of Spaines Iâ—dies proceed to a further Act. So meane perhaps but Time brings alteration And a faire woman is a shrewd Temptation As George Withers notes Hauing thus seduced these weaker vessels to condiscend to the elements of Loue they teach them the baudie A. B. C. instead of Aue Maria. Were I disdainfull or vnkind Or coy to learne or dull of mind But no such thing remaines in me To let mee learne my A. B. C. At last they winne the precious Fort which once they doubted to bee inexpâ—gnable The whole building is razed and these poore Soules pend in this pound of boâ—dage forsaken of their friends find no other ease for this disease but to sang this dolefull Diâ—tie to the tâ—â—e of too late Repeatance Which shall I doe or weepe or sing Neither of them will helpe mourning The Treasure 's stolne the Thiefe is fled And I lye bleeding in my bed If it were not for these 〈◊〉 Confussion in the Eare would much benefit a diseased Conscience and the whole Common-wealth of the Christian Corporation And we could wish it still in vse yet with this limitation that no Papist presume to confesse any woman vnder 50. yeares of age except he be first soundly gelded And for your part Frier Foster who claime the prerogatiue to haue a seare top with a green root to mingle a dead coarse with a liuing body after the example of Maxentius the Tyrant without regard had to your old age and decayed nature wee Order you to bee tortured on Ixions wheele because you haue profaned the vestall house Ixion henceforth to bee set at libertie for his petulant attempt against Iuno and all Nunneries to bee dissolued which after the imitation of the Gentiles you procured to be built more for your lecherous interest then for the honour of your Sauiour Whereby I let you all good Catholickes to vnderstand that we suppresse them for the same reason as Hezechias supplanted the Brazen Serpent good of it selfe and of the first erecting being a figure of Christs sauing Office and healing vertue but since a cause of Idolatrie as the Crosse also which the Reformed Churches by reason of the fottish misvsage haue lately put downe to take away the occasions of Idolatrie CHAP. VII Thomas Becket of Canterburie accuseth before Apollo Walter de Mapes Arch-deacon of Oxford in King Henry the Seconds time for defending the Marriage of Priests against the Pope of Romes Decree THomas Becket of Canterburie that opposed himselfe so obstinatly against his anointed King heere in England about some liuings which he pretended to belong to the Sea of his Archbishoprick appealing to the Pope from his Countryes Censure exhibited an Information before Apollo against his antient Friend Walter de Mapes Arch-deacon of Oxford for withstanding the Popes Legat that came to London with a strict Decree to command all the Clergie men in England to put away their wiues Walter de Mapes was sent for at whose comming Th. Becket hauing license to make good his Information spake as followeth Most Puissant Emperour Our Holy Father the Pope the visible Head of the Roman Church Saint Peters famous Successor whether by Reuelation from Heauen or by the Spirit of
admonition Saint Paul giues vs that in the Church vnder Antichrist there should bee working of Satâ—â—n with all Power Signes and lying wonders The like doth Saint Iohn prophesie of Spirits of Deuils working wonders In the Primitiue Church when the Gospell was setled Miracles ceased Which made Saint Chrysostome to answer their curiositie which looked for such rare signes in this wise There be some saith he that aske why men now adaâ—es doe not worke Miracles as the Apostles did If thou beleeuest Christ as thou oughtest thou hast no neede of Miracles for these were giuen to vnbeleeuers and not to beleeuers Sometimes God permits men with iugling trickes and legerdemaine or by the Deuils deuises to deceiue them either to â—rie the soundnesse of their Faith or to confirme them in their Errors As heretofore he suffered the Israelites to bee deluded with Baals Priests and the Golden Calfe who assuredly produced the like Miracles as the Iesuites boast of The tenth marke of Antichrist whom Saint Iohn calls the Whâ—re of Babilon the mother of Harlots and abhominations of the Earth is that shee shall be drunken with the bloud of the Saints and the Martyrs of Christ Iesus Of whom may this bee more significantly spoken then of the Pope How many thousands haue beene murthered in France in the Low Countryes and other places of Christendome by his procurement euen those which acknowledge Christ Iesâ—â— for their onely Mediatour with the Father which confesse the euer-liuing God in Vnitie and Trinitie hath hee caused to bee burnt for Hereticks or made to row as slaues in Spaines Gallies O bloudy Tyrannie O poisonous Imposture which vnder the colour of the Catholicke Faith doth shed the bloud of Innocents like mercilesse Hâ—râ—d not sticking to wound Christ anew through his seruants sides CHAP. XVI Apolloes iudgement of Chauâ—ers Apologie concluding that the Pope is the great Aâ—tichrist AFter that Sir Geffrey Chaucer had ended his speech Apollo gaue his definitiue sentence in this wise Euen as all the lesser sicknesses in mans bodie doth grow and descend into the Plague when contagion raignes And as by reason of oppilations the shutting vp of the spirits passages and their want of transpiration through the veynes all other inferiour diseases fall into the miserable Seâ—râ—y and principally for want of the Sunnes presence in the winter So for want of the Holy Spirits illumination caused through the corruptions of mens depraued wills by little and little the Antichrist increased and grew as it were with an inundation into one great Sea the Romish Sea Euen as Mahomet composed his Alcoran of many Sects so the Romish Religion by the policie of the Pope is stuffed and stored with many Heresies which all meeting together in his ambitious spirit and transferred to his successours doe make him that great Antichrist From Elixay the Heretick hee borrowed his Doctrine of celebrating Diuine seruice in an vnknown language For such was his Heresie From Montanâ—s the Heretick he learned to prescribe his rules of Fasts For hee first limited times of Fasting From the Collyridians he was inspired to worship the Virgin Marie From the Caianes to inuocate on Angels From the Carpocratians to adore the Image of lesus and Saint Paul From the Manichees and the Aebionites he got that damnable precept to prohibit Marriage vnto the Clergie Euen as all true Christians haue a relation vnto Christ their Head being through Faith his ingraffed members like as also the Patriarkes and Prophets vntill Christ had a dependance vpon that great Prophet whom God promised to raise vp like vnto Aloses so on the other side all the lesser Heretickes depend vpon Antichrist through whose lying mouth they oppose the Truth and the Apostles Humilitie And as Machiauellian members they ioyne with one consent to aduance his Maiesticall power though many of them in their consciences are fully perswaded that such state and pomp in a Clergie man cannot but displease the Author of Humilitie who pronounced them blessed which are poore in spirit CHAP. XVII Apolloes sentence promulgated for the Impurity of the Church Militant D. Whitgift Arch bishop of Canterbury complaines against Cartwright Browne and other Puritane Separists for inuaighing against their Superiours Apollo condemnes thâ— Sect exhorting them to vnitie to return to the bosom of their Mother Church AFter Apollo had condemned the Arch-hereticks of the Christian Church he caused that saying of that Ancient Father to bee retorted against the like erroneous seducers Ecclesia non diâ— post Apostolorum tempora mansit virgo That the Church after the Apostles time continued not long a Virgin And this his Maiestie did to the end all mouthes should bee stopt which arrogate to themselues extraordinarie Holinesse as the Popes doe who as his Courtly Cardinalls affirme cannot erre or which ascribe to themselues a degree of greater puritie in calling and conuersation then others of their Brethren in Christ forgetting his neuer fayling prophesie All men are liers Another cause why his Maiestie aduised his Religious Christians to remember that saying was to the end that they should not become amazed nor troubled when any hot-spurs and busie braind people doe maintaine new opinions differing from the old but rather to call into their memories that many false Christs many fraudulent Sects must from time to time spring vp in the Church like taxes among the good seede to shewe likewise that no Creatures can bee long pure without some spots or taint and that God alone who created them is only pure No sooner had Apollo ended these reasons for the Churches Impuritie but the graue and learned Whitgift Archbishop of Canterburie informed his Maiestie that one Cartwright Browne and others stiling themselues Puritans Precisians and holy ly Separists inueighed against him and his fellow Bishops with Libels and defamations worse then Oâ—id against Ibis or any woman scold put in a Cuckinstoole because hee gaue order in his visitations to present refractaries and stubborne minded persons disobedient to Authoritie and kicking against things indifferent triuiall and indeed very bables in respect of Faith Humilitie Charitie and Diuine Gifts which they had now more cause to pray for then to spend their precious times in railing and withstanding those outward things tending only to distinguish the Leuits from the Temporall Tribes to the view of the outward man whose fancie must bee stirred by outward obiects aswell as inward Apollo at the report of these selfe-opinions like to breake into a schismatick combustion became mightily perplext Yet like himselfe recollecting his spirituall tempers and resuming his wonted Maiestie hee said to Cartwright Browne and the rest of the Pâ—ritâ—â—icall Sect How long will you persist by your peenish positions to minister scandall vnto your Christian Corporation I haue long since heard of your rash and turbulent oppositions against your Churches Canons But I hoped that the calme dew which awaites on the â—iluer and staid age of Maturitie had by this time cooled
might walke on simply and sincerely towards the Feast of the Lamb. But this is not the first Easter which you haue disturbed For the common voice goes that your Sect vnder your name haue alienated one Neighbours loue from the other and done more harme in the Low Countryes then all their warres with Spaine Which inconuenience Affricke sometimes felt as an ancient Writer testified plus incommodi capiebat Africa ex Secta Arriana qua insecti erant Vandali quam ab auaritiâ corundem vel crudelitate ijs innata Africke receiued greater hurt from the Arrian Sect wherewith the Vandals were infected then by their griping couetousnesse or crueltie though the same were naturall vnto them In alledging that mans free will must aide and cooperate with the Grace of God you cannot but ascribe glorie vnto flesh and bloud which is fraile and honour vnto Nature which the Serpent wounded with a mortall sting For what is Free will but an Electiue power to deliberate and determine what it pleaseth In naturall things as to eate and drinke to sit or walke to sing or play I allow of such a Free will in humane affections But in heauenly matters it is sacriledge worse then Prometheus his flealth whom the Poets fabled feloniously to conuey away some of Iupiters fire It is indeed traitorous impietie to rob God of his Prerogatiue Grace is only his to conferre on his vessell of honor â—nto men shame only belongeth as the Prophet protested And as another confirmeth of more ancient writ The way of man is not in himselfe neither is it man to walke and to direct his steps meaning any power to make vse of in Godly Actions Man planteth Apollo watereth but when all comes to the vpshot it is God which giues the increase as Saint Paul confesseth How dare yee O bewitched Arminians attribute the least glorie to a putrifide carcasse How dare yee auouch that a man being called and iustified according to Gods purpose which neuer changeth may fall away from Grace wholy and finally To bring in a Decree respectiuely argues you are better seene in Tautologie then in Theologie in Sophistrie then in the Doctrine of Predestination This is to ecclipse Gods Sunne-shine of Grace and to set vp Phacton to pull downe his power and to set a beggar a horsebacke For in affording such excellencie to a man you must needes ascribe somewhat to his worth and merit which can bee no other then Damnation Though man hath Faith Loue and Charitie hee cannot say that God made choice of him for one of his Elect number because hee foresaw that man was able to take hold of these Diuine Gifts for these are not the causes but the effects of his calling but onely because of his owne absolute pleasure it seemed good vnto his wisdom to choose him without any such cause of merit foreseene in man though afterwards when he had called him hee bestowed vpon him these Heauenly gifts at the intercession of his Sonne who was to bee incarnate for mans saluation By this meanes and for this cause were sinfull men elected called iustified and glorified before the world began euen for his owne honour and for our Redeemers sake by whom and in whom we were to bee incorporated and ingraffed as bastard-slips quite salne from the state of innocencie by Adams succeeding fall which his all-seeing Maiestie saw as in a liuely Map alreadie come to passe as afterwards Adam and his whole Progenie sensibly perceiued And there by the way I signifie vnto you O heedlesse Armâ—nians that your too much regard of naturall causes and effects your humane calculating and intentiue computation of Time according to the errors of the outward man hath beene the prime cause of this absurditie For God seeth not as man seeth His foresight is eternall that is alwaies present There is no Time past nor future tense declined by his euerlasting Grammar though mortall race in respect of their limited capacities vse this manner of calculation A thousand yeares in his fight are but as yesterday Hee is Alpha Omega the beginning and last vncircumscribed infinite and without end So that hee which searcheth and diueth ouercuriously into this depth of Predestination hee may fall into the Gulfe of Scilla by seeking to auoide the danger of Charybdis Therefore the safest way for man is with Saint Paul to reioyce in his infirmities that the power of Christ may dwell in him His Grace is sufficient for him for his power is made perfect through mans weaknesse Let not your eyes gaze too long vpon the Sunnes beames lest they become dazeled or blinded with the glorious Maiestie thereof Content your selues with such nourishment as serues fittest for your tender constitutions and for the reach of your humane capacities I say as the Apostle said through the grace that is giuen vnto me I say to euery one that is among you that no man presume to vnderstand aboue that which is meet to bee vnderstood but that hee vnderstand according to Sobriâ—tie Leaue off your curious inquisitions and doe your best endeauours to let the world know that you are of Gods elected number by your Faith Loue Charitie and Humilitie And for you Arminius wee take it in ill part that you without acquainting vs with your theoricall Proiect would diuulge abroad your Theses and Problemes to confound the Intelligence of your yonger brethren How much better and safer had it beene for you to smother your profound doubts then to work confusion by the publishing of them vnlesse you thought by this improuident dispersing of the notions of your braine to goe beyond Erostratus who fired Dianaes Temple at Ephesus for no other intent then to be spoken of in after ages to haue done some Act worthy to bee recorded in the Chronicles as likewise Guy Faukes attempted in England to blow vp the Parliament house Wee doe now order that you for these presumptions do openly before our Congregation to bee held at Libethrum vpon the Mâ—nday following after Trinity Sunday next make a full recantation of your scrupulous Paradoxe and there penitently confesse that God called and elected sinfull man out of his owne free secret and vnquestionable pléasure without hauing any respect at all to maâ—s ensuing merit or free will but onely to his owne attribute of Mercie to the absolute power which his Deity hath ouer the workmanship of his hands as the Potter ouer his vessels and to the righteousnesse of his Sonne the vndefiled Lamb which redeemed Sinners out of the Deuils iawes And also you shall here protest that all men whatsoeuer though they were as iust as Henoch as faithfull as Abraham as meck as Moses as zealous as Phinehes as patient as lob as penitent as Dauid as constant as Elias as wise as Daniel as godly as Saint Iohn Baptist who wasmore then a Prophet yet all these notwithstanding were predestinated to bee saued not for any deseruing vertues which God foresaw in
vnder-ballance of Trade with other Nations that it is high time now or neuer to looke about before wee bee driuen to a narrower pinch The causes in two words of this ouer-ballancing is Prodigality and Pouerty The one brings in by Excesse of Forraigne goods into the Kingdome an ouerballancing The other by the Defect and hauing too little from their partiall Mother keeps our Trading backe in vnder ballance Apollo sighed at the relation and all his Court which fauoured the Protestant Religion both outwardly and inwardly demonstrated great heauines for this Decay of Trade in Great Brittaine that in the dayes of peace vnder a Religious King this vnder-ballance should happen and openly protested that Peace consumed more men and goods in that Kingdom then all their Warres with Spaine and Tyrone Likewise his Maiesty said that if the Noble King Iames had not betimes raised the Iacobus piece to twenty two shillings and his other Gold to the like proportion other Nations had by this time attracted all the treasure of this land vnto themselues and that the riotous flaunting in Apparell with their prodigall Feasts did helpe to vnder-ballance their Trading which together with many other abuses crept into that State hee wished some of the Inhabitants if they had any feeling of their Countreyes smart should present without delay or partiality CHAP. 2. Apollo causeth a Iury to be impanelled out of the Vniuersities of Oxford Cambridge S â— Aâ—drews Aberdine and the Colledge at Dubin to find out those persons which sold Ecclesiasticall Liuings The Presâ—ntours discouering some bring them before Apollo His Maiesties censure with his discourse of the Right of Tithes APollo perceiuing that one of the chiefest causes of the miseries which perplexed Great Brittain proceeded from Siâ—â—ny and the enforced Periury of some Ministers who being driuen by meete necessity were faine to accommodate themselues to the iniquity of the times caused about Whitsontide last 1626. a Iury to be impanelled of the precisest Preachers in that Monarchy viz. sixe out of the Vniuersitâ— of Oxford sixe out of Cambridge sixe out of St. Andrewes sixe out of Aberdine and the like number out of the Colledge at Dublin in Ireland 30. in all integros vitae scelerisque puros men of vnattainted liues and pure from notorious vices These his Imperiall Maiesty appointed to enquire of such Patrons as presumed directly or indirectly to play the Marchants and sell those worldly meanes which God himselfe had allotted to his earthly Angels towards their maintenance and wages in labouring to reduce his astrayed flocke to their true Shepheard Ouâ—r this impanelled ranke he placed D. Raynolds a man of very austere Conuersation so temperate in his affections that hee made choise rather to bee Head â—â— Corpus Christs Colledge in Oxford then to become a Bishop which the famous Queene Elizabeth offereâ— vnto him About ten dayes after the Inquisitors returned and presented the names of 40. Patrons and so many Ministers which had truckt and bargained for Benefices Likewise they presented that 6. Widdowes whose Husbands had coped and giuen 4. yeers purchase for Benefices were ready to starue some of them hauing seuen or eight children lying on their hands And that before the first fruits were satisfied without receiuing one penny for their purchase their poore Husbands died Apollo moued to Commiseration to see the wretched estate of the Church brought to this wofull plight said that it was no maruell all things went to wrack and ruine in that Noble Iland when the Patrimony of the Church became a prey and pillage to Marchandizing Greedy-guts For how quoth he can vertue harbour in their hearts when the Rewards of vertue are rauished embezeled and turned topsy turuy This inequality compelled many braue Spirits desperately to runne into the gulfe of discontentment This made Campian Parsons Harding Stapleton Creswell Dallison Garnet and infinite others to forgo their natiue Countrey and betake themselues to the Seminary Colledges in Doway in Valladolide Ciuill Rome and other Popish places After these speeches his Maiesty ask't the delinquent Patrons what infernall fury possessed them to wrong the Ministers the selected seruants of their Heauenly Father Why they forced them to buy their owne Right and due The Patrons answered that they held a hand ouer the Aduowsons and Ecclesiasticall liuings in their gifts aswell as ouer the impropriate Tithes Both which being wrested and extorted by the Clergy-men themselues heretofore in time of Popery towards the Religious houses belonged as a lawfull spoile vnto them for ridding the Land of such Lazy Lordanes Abbey-lubbers Likewise they alleged that they could not support their magnifique Port and pompe without making sale of such Benefices as were in their donations To this Apollo replied Though yee haue beene tolerated to detaine the impropriate Tiâ—hes dare ye aduenture to take money for those Spirituall Liuings which appertaine not vnto you ◠〈◊〉 yee againe deuoure the forbidden Fruit Could not the many examples of them which felt the Stroke of Diuine vengeance for purloyning of forbidden Wares terrify your mercenary minds Achâ—n for the wedge of Gold and the Babyâ—oâ—ishâ—ayment â—ayment was stoned to death Gehezi for receiuing the two Talents and the change of garments from Naaman was strucken with Leprosie No ill gotten goods can long thriue with any man Male parta male dilabuntur which yee might obserue by the Crane in the Embleme which hauing a wrongfull prey could not digest it As in like manner it befell to an Eagle which snatching a Coale from the Altar fired her nest therewith Famous are the destructions of sacrilegious persons in all ages Of Heliodorus who was scourged by an Angell for seeking to rob the treasure of the Templeat Ierusalem of Pompey which tooke away the Golden Table out of that sanctified place of the Galles which spoyled the Delphicke Church of Câ—piâ— who robbed the Church of Toloza that gaue an occasion to the Prouerb Aurum Tolozanum which proued fatall to the takers Although these two last serue not so fit for our turne because they were Heathenish yet in as much as they portend fatal success Malâ—omeÌ„ to the rakers of Church goods let men feare to share in Sacred things or in any Commodity annexed to the Spiritualty But now-a-dayes yee are not content onely to exact of the poore Ministers such vnreasonable prizes but yee must get some by humane reasons and vnwarrantable authority to iustifie your Acts training their ouerfluent wits to proue the Word of God to become mutable in matters of Tithe for the â—onfounding of which leprous opinion I will now onuert my speech vnto you my learned Courtiers Be it knowne vnto you that Tithes are due to the Clergy Iure Diuino before the Law by the Law of Moses and vnder the Gospell Before the Law Abraham payed Tithes to Melchisedâ—ch euen the tenth part of all which he had as the Authour to the Hebrewes explayned Hee payd Tithes as a temporall Prince to a
content in some degree or other To this end I inuented this new Letany knowing that my gracious Mistresse liked pleasant raptures better then the graue and austere rules of the Stoicks As for the proâ—aâ—ing of the name of Letany while vnder the shadow thereof I couch matters of some moment I hope it redounds not so preiudicially infamous to your vertuous Court as for a Papist to be called a Catholicke or for a smatterer in Logick to be termed a Sophister or for a peeuish Diuine to be stiled a Puritane If my Letany be throughly scanned vnder that title Mâ— Broughton shall meet with as much substance to edifie the common sort of people as with his Hebrew Genealogies to enrich the learned It is not a Cowle or hood which makes a Monke Cucullus non facit Monachum nor is it a shauen or bald Crown which makes a Priest for a man may lose his haire with the Poxe or for want of radicall moisture in that part of the head as chanced to the Poet Aeschylus on whose bald pate an high soaring Eagle did let fall a shel-fish with intent to breake it as on a stone Nor doth along beard make a man aiudicious Socrates bar batum hoc crede Magistrum Dicere sorbitio quem tollit dira Cicutae whom a forc't draught of Hemblocks iuyce did kill We see the Goat stalking with a long beard Yet who will take him for a religious beast that climbes vp to the Altar and feedes on the sacred flowers Barbatus li 〈◊〉 Caper tamen esse negamus Hunc recta et purâ Relligione pecus It is not the baâ—e outside the vsurping of a naked name which can disgrace an honest Action If vnder the name of Letany I haue alluded to any lewd passage whereby youth may be corrupted or the state of Parnassus defamed I appeale to Caesar to your Maiesties iudgement Apollo after that Florio had thus defended his cause yeelded his censure in these few words Whosoeuer goes about to depriue men of all kinde of pleasure seekes to depriue them of freedome and of a cheerefull nature which God preferres before a sullen crabbed mind as was that of Cains Beeing tempred it consorts well in an ingenuous Scholler For thereby hee shall auoid the name of a laughing Democritus with his tickling spleene and also of a weeping Heraclitus with his melancholy passion The title of Letany derogates not froÌ„ grauity while it tends not to base scurrility but rather to a vertuous morality There is a time to teach to exhort and there is a time to fling stones against the wind There is a time of earnest things to write A time to talke of matters small light A time to walk to run to ride or praunce A time to sit and laugh or lead a Daunce There is a time for men to fast and pray And so a time to sing like Birds in May. CHAP. 6. Apollo asketh the Author of the Golden Fleece wherefore his Countreymen of Wales hauing the commodiousnesse of the Sea with a large scope of land are notwithstanding very much impouerished of late The Author imputes the cause vnto the multitude of Law Suites Vpon Thursday in the Easter weeke 1626 while the rest of his Maiesties Subiects of Great Brittaine consulted how they might repaire the decay of Trade lately hapned by Prodigality Excesse of Aparrell Tobacco and other enormities in this Iland fostred and cherished besides our losses a broad by the Mâ—â—rish Pirates and now of late by the Dunkirkes it was my good fortune to be present at Apolloes Court in Parnassus Where likewise his Imperiall Maiesty sate in Councell about the same affaires because there might bee a perpetuall correspondency betwixt his diuine Court our humane actions As soone as Apollo saw Orpheus Iunior it pleased him to demaund of him the resolution of 〈◊〉 Questions which he presently proposed Whereof the former was wherefore his natiue Couâ—◠〈◊〉 Wales being a Peninsula almost an Iland compassed about with the Sea in forme of an horse-shoo like little Brittaine in France from the riuer Dee and Chester round about to Glocester hauing aboue 100. Riuers running out into the Sea beside Seuerne and d ee yet for all this large Tract commodiousnesse they had not ten Ships whereas Deuoâ—shire alone our neighbour vpon Seuerne not contayning the tenth part of land flourished with 150. ships The other Question was wherefore their enclosed lands as also their mountaines and Commons lay desolate not halfe stockt and their Corne fields in most places so bare of Corne that a stranger would thinke eyther that the earth produced such graine naturally wild or else that the Locusts of Aethiopia had wasted and harried the same Vnto these demands hee craued an houres respit to answer At the end whereof he returned his resolutions in this wise I could haue wisht that these Questions had been askt of some iudicious Gentlemen of these parts whom pâ—â—tly by familiar acquaintance and partly by fame I know to be far better experienced and consequently more sufficient to yeeld your Highnesse satisfaction in these demands of import But seeing most vertuous Emperour the Fates that is your incuitable pleasure allotted this charge vnto my weake capacity I will not spare to display the causes according to that measure and taleÌ„t which God hath giueÌ„ me In the entrance whereof a Story comes into my mind out of an old Spanish Booke printed at Salamanca aboue one hundred thirty yeeres past entituled The causes of the pouerty of Spain dedicated to Fâ—rdinandâ— and Isabella before the conquest of Granata and the discouery of the West Indies by Columbus Among other reasons the Author imputes the breeding of Asses and the vse of barren Mules in stead of Bâ—ls and Oxen to be the prime and waightiest cause of their necessities For whereas in Hercules time the goodliest Kine of the world were found with Gerion and Cacus in that Countrey since the rearing of those vnprofitable Beasts and the Golden Mines of Bebellio in the Pâ—renean Mountaines and the graines of Gold in Tagus Sands were exhaustâ—d dry Spaine became the most miserable Region of Europe Now my Countrey of Wales appeares in my iudgement to haue some resemblance with Spaine as it stood in those dayes being like vnto it for situatâ—â—n and the vneuen â—esse of ground vp hill and downe hill yet enriched with faire vallies and a boue all with the benefit of the Sea as your Maiesty hath well obserued But our grieuance is that in stead of plentifull droues of Cattell which heretofore serued vs aswell for our sustentation as to supply our necessities abroad wee haue studied that fabulous Booke of Ouids Metamorphosis so much that our stocke is decayed and now-a dayes we reare vp two-legged Asses which doe nothing but wrangle in Law the one with the other By this meanes wee consume our precious time not to bee redeemed By this vngracious brood wee become so impouerished that our
Neighbours of Deuoâ—shire notwithstanding our large Circuit of the Sea and our infinite extent of land goe farre beyond vs in shipping and necessary Trading Apollo informed of this heynous abuse replied No man proues vnfortunate but by his owne procurement In whom lies this fault but in your selues Who can redresse this grosse absurdity better then your owne selues Pardon mee most Noble Prince said Orpheus Iunior It consists not in our powers to withstand what Heauen hath decreed as a punishment for our Ancest ours sinnes and ours The meanes for our Education are farre short in espect of the wise English Nation In times of Superstition most of our Church-liuings by our too much simplicity became a prâ—y to Religious houses Which being dissolued in King Henry the Eights dayes and by Act of Parliament confiscate to the Crowne as Impropriations our Curates stand as before but reasonably prouided for not able scarce to haue Whay to themselues much lesse to feed their weanelings with milke as Saint Paul aduiseth I know many Parishes whereof the Tithes of euery one amount to two hundred pound a yere and yet the poore Ministers receiue not ten pounds a piece yea and some of them but twenty nobles out of which they pay Tenths Subsidies and other impositions So that for want of maintenance both Shepheards and Flockes doe oftentimes miscarrie and wee two-legged Asses can hardly recouer true humane shapes Nor is this the onely cause of our Pouertie We are subiect to more inconueniences then the English Nation for we stand in feare and our feares are not in vaine continually without intermission to be sued at the Courts of Westminster at the Counsell of the Marches at the Spirituall Courts at home and in London notwithstanding that wee haue the Courts of Assize of double the terme then they haue in England besides our Quarterly Sessions of the Peace our Countie and Stewards Courts Nor yet haue I ended all the afflictions of poore Wales Within these two and twentie yeeres the number of Clerkes and Sollicitours at the Counsell of the Marches haue encreased so exorbitantly if not prodigiously that whereas I knew not aboue one or two of these Clerkes in a Shire now I can point at a doozen and more in most Shires whereof many of them haue three or foure Foot-posts which they call Cursitors belonging vnto euery of them whose Office is continually to runne for Processes insomuch that one of these Clerkes sent for a hundred and fortie Processes against one of their times called the Appearance for they sit ofner then Westminster the most part of them for matter not appertaining to the Iurisdiction of that Court I haue knowne men sued for a shilling and vnder to that remote place I will speake all I know for the reuerence I beare to Authoritie and to the Seate of Iustice which ought to be sacred But I could wish all Courts to liue within their Precincts and not to goe one inch from their Instructions to take away the occasions of debate and not as our late King Iames of blessed memory noted to seeke more moulture to their Mill then of right belongs In former times they neuer vsed to direct binding Processes but against Fugitiues They neuer sent Pursuiuants nor Serieants at Armes in matters of Debt betwixt Partie and Party but onely in Criminall and high natured Causes where the King was immediately interessed They seldome vsed to fine the Plaintiffe for charitable yeelding to an attonement at home or if they did it was but small in the nature of a mild amercement They endeuoured by all meanes to establish Loue and Charity among Neighbours and were glad to heare those good newes of their Conuersions though their Gaine came in the lesse They often vsed to repeate that Prouerbe of Salomon euen at their meales Better it is to sup a messe of Pottage with quietnesse of minde then to haue a whole Oxe with strife They trembled and made a conscience to take money of any fellow Christian though due vnto them for sentence or verdict if the same came like so many drops of life-bloud from his heart They cared more for the Defendant then for the Plaintiffe vnlesse the Cause were too abhominable Why then I see said Apollo if some of your Courts were abolished you might quickly grow wealthy both by Sea and Land For if the Occasions of Suites were taken away men would follow their Husbandry diligently at home fall to enclosures plant Orchards marle their Lands and not scratch the Earth with weake Heyfers or Steeres They might then keepe strong Oxen to plough withall which now they are enforced to sell for their Lawiers vse The Sea might be aswell frequented by you as by the Deuonshire men Surely if the Noble King of great Britaine would release you from the Courts of London or else discharge the Court in the Marches I see no reason but you might fall to industrious courses aswell as others Dcuonshire and Cornwall are a great deale further from London then the remotest Part of Wales and their Termes of Assizes shorter by halfe then yours And yet they liue in good securitie one Neighbour with the other and doe all ioyne in honest Trading both at home and in the Newfoundland augmenting their fortunes and breeding store of Mariners and shipping Your Court at the Marches was first instituted to suppresse rebellious Attempts and Traitours specially Owen Glyndowrdie who was so called for taking part with King Richard the Second But now me thinkes it might very well be spared seeing that those stormes bee long sithence by King Henry the Seuenth comming to the English Crowne quite vanished and that now-adayes a man may trauell in Wales as safely as in any other Part of the Kingdome The consideration of the Premisses we doe neuerthelesse referre to your Prudent and generous King And I belieue there is neuer a poore man worth fortie shillings but will contribute somwhat with all his heart towards the Wars or for a gratefull Beneuolence to his Prince to be acquited of some of these Courts For indeed I heard that a Knight of Staffordshire who dwelt but three miles distant from the Iurisdiction of the Marches should say that he would not for a 1000. Markes his house had stood those three miles further towards Wales by reason of those troubles which they were subiect vnto more then his Countrey CHAP. VII Orpheus Iunior exhibits a Petition vnto Apollo to diminish the number of Lawyers and to punish their offences Apolloes Answere shewing how they may be restrained and punished ORpheus Iunior vnderstanding that Apollo burned with Zeale and Charitie to reforme the superfluiries of Law-suits which were not the least causes of the Decay of Trades in great Brittaine and fearing that in time to come their sufferance and continuance might yet worke a greater impediment to his Proiect of the Golden Fleece which with infinite care paines and some charge he hath for many yeeres managed and almost now
of Spaine And for this cause with his commendatory Letters from a Iesuite in England to his brother Iesuite Robert Parsons at Madrid he posted thither in hope of high preferment In the meane time his men which hee left a ship-boord finding themselues betrayed by Captaine Eliot and destitute of necessaries to relieue their wants they complotted to steale the Pinnasse away But the matter casually discouered some of them were hanged and the rest made Gally-slaues which comming to the eares of Captaine Eliot at Madrid and hearing that his Brother whom he had left to ouer-see the Pinnasse had likewise tasted of this Spanish Courtesie hee repayred in this male-content to Father Parsons pittifully complayning of his cruell fortune and this bloudie course extended toward his people which hee brought of purpose to serue the King of Spaine hoping of reward rather then to bee so inhumanely dealtwith Father Parsons at that time being more in a moode of deuotion then willing to shew himselfe a Statesman began to reade a Lecture to Captaine Eliot of Patience Humilitie and of Mortification The which hee for a while gaue eare vnto but at last perceiuing that his speeches tended to defeate him of his Ship and to get him into a Cloyster he brake into these impatient termes What doe you preach vnto mee of Patience and Mortification Can flesh and bloud rest satisfied with this vsage Can I be patient when I see my brother and my friends executed and the rest of my men condemned to the Gallies Had it not beene for the aduise which your friend and brother Iesuit gaue me to betray the Q Pinnasse I might haue liued in my own Countrie a happy man far from this barbarous end Surely it were fitting that those which vndertake for money to direct their Clients should requite them for their charges if by following their sinister Counsell the matter goes against them If a Smith hauing but a penny for his paines vnwitting ly chance to prick a horse to the quick whereby the horse is the worse for it there lyes an Action of the Case against the Smith How much more then ought a poore Country fellow altogether without the rudiments of Law haue remedie against a learned Master of the Lawes which takes vpon him to know the whole proceedings of Iustice aswell as the wisest Iudge of the Kingdome O I would that men would become more charitable the one to the other that I might heare from time to time the like complaints as Lawyers made at the end of Michaelmus Terme last 1625. They bewailed their misfortune that whereas some one of them vsed to haue sixtie Clients hee had scarce eight at that Redding Terme which complaints moued mee no more to pittie then to see a Goose goe bare foot I rather reioyced to heare the tidings that Suites of Law were not become eternall And presently I ministred this Pill vnto them My Masters said I you seeme for all the world to bee like the Sextons and Diggers of Graues now of late in London who when any askt them how they did they answered with you Neuer worse It is a hard time For whereas one of vs haue receiued fees for ringing and opening of foure hundred graues a weeke now the Plague being abated wee receiue not money for eight graues A pitifull Case To end this my Apologie against Doctor Bartolus and Master Plowden for my vsurping of Orpheus Iuniors Title I doe it permissu Superiorum by your Maiesties command emboldned by the examples of those which in the like matters borrowed the like Titles as Terentius Christianus and Democritus Iunior lately haue done to their great honour and the Readers satisfaction euen as Ausonius before them had imposed the name of Cato to his little Booke of Manners Nor can any man much blame me if hee compare the Aduentures of our Newfoundland with the Argonaâ—ticks Golden Fleece though more sweetly sounded by the elder Orpheus Apollo after this Apologie seemed highly to extoll it And further to let the world know his fuller resolution hee vttered these words God forbid that Vice should raigne without controulement If my Attendants shall bee tongue tied when such vncharitablenesse possesseth mortall men it is to be feared that men wil sooner glory in euill then turne to good nay more it is to be suspected the whole world but for our peales of Charitie and sounding retraits from Hatred will fall vnder a generall Excommunication from the presence of God Take away the abuse which is meerely accidentall and let the substance of Law remaine still Long may Iustice flourish without ecclipse or stormie oppositions Florescat viuat vigeat celebretur ametur CHAP. XII The learned Vniuersities of Great Brittaine doe finde themselues agrieued that Popish Physicians are permitted to practice Physick in this Kingdome Apollo remedies their grieuances and decreeth that the Popish presume not to minister Physick to any Protestant but to them of their owne Sect. VPpon the Wednesday after Low Easter Sunday there arriued at Parnassus certaine Deputies sent from the Learned Vniuersities of Great Brittaine pitifully complaining that whereas sundrie honest Persons of wonderfull rare Spirits and singular dexteritie had spent the most part of their time in ruminating reuoluing the workes of Hippocrates Cornelius Celsus Galen and also had read the volumes of other Physicians aswell Arabian as Paracelsian Antient as moderne there crept notwithstanding some false Brethren seruants to the Mysticall Whore as Drones which vnder a counterfeit maske of more pregnant knowledge had ingrossed the Gaine and Rewards due vnto them as the laborious Bees of their Country and wrought so effectually with some of the Greater sort that by their example others repaired to them for helps in their Bodily Infirmities forsaking them being of the same Religion and no way inferiour vnto these Romish Physicians The danger both eminent and imminent which by this conniuence might happen they submitted to his Maiesties good will and pleasure Apollo nettled at this complaint called for the Romish Physicians and caused some Patients which had lately taken Physick at their hands to be brought before him to whom he said O yee of little Faith what a lunacie and distemper of the Braine hath peruerted your vnderstanding as to moue you to abandon the medicinable waters of Silo and Bethesdae and to haue recourse vnto muddie Pooles not deriued from the Rocke of liuing waters Is it because there is not a God in Israel that yee goe to the God of Ekron to enquire and looke counsell Did the example of Lopez the Portugall who by warrant from the great Dispencer of Murthers poysoned some Noble Personages of your Countrie nothing terrifie your mutable phantasies but ye must resort for cure vnto your knowne Foes the Foes of Christ Is it possible that my Remedies shall worke their proper effect which are ministred by profane hands but rather the contrary being accursed like the Fig-tree in the Gospell It was a sinne in
Asa King of Iuda for putting his trust in Physicians of his owne Religion How much more had it beene if he had relied on succour from the vncircumcised If God blesse not the Physicke it proues ominously vnluckie and perhaps to the ruine of the Patient though for a time it may seeme to ease Doe we not often see that many men rise vp miraculously as it were from death to life like Hezechias when all earthly helpes proue vaine and fruitlesse euen by Kitchen Physicke So all blessings with Faith must concurre together with the Medecine or commonly it ill succeeds In tender consideration of these ensuing perils and in commiseration to the states of your Soules and Bodies which may suffer for want of mature Discretion to discerne Friends from Foes We Order that no Papisticall Physician minister Counsell nor Receit in Physicke to any Protestant from this day forward but that euery Patient do repaire to some of their owne Religion to whom Rewards belong and whom God hath ordained for a vertuous purpose We do also order that these Verses of Orphcus Iuniors be annexed to this Decree Misso pecunifices volo te Medicosque cauere Caedere Magnates quos Mariana docet c. Beware of Physicke mixt by Romish brood Whom Mariane taught to let great Princes bloud By Lopez learne by poyson hir'd to kill What mind those haue a Christians bloud to spill Tobacco late which men haue brought froÌ„ Spain Is thought to taint the bloud heart lungs brain The Iesuits this teach as a point of merit To murther some and Heauen to inherit Lust creepes and Theft by opportunitie Then cheere not Aesops Snake with iollitie CHAP. XI The Nobilitie of Parnassus doe complaine that their Inferiours with their Wiues doe weare richer Apparell then themselues shewing likewise that they haue encroached on other Priuiledges of theirs to be hurried in Coaches by which presumptions many other Corruptions are lately crept into Apolloes Court. VPon Thursday in the Easter-weeke last 1626. the Noble Families of the Fabricy and Lenâ—ulâ— and others aswell of the Romanes as of the ancient Bloud of the Argines complayned vnto his Maiestie shewing that one of the chiefest Causes of the decay of Trading and of the want of Money in these Times proceeded through the proud affectation of men of Inferiour Rankes who contrary to the Prescriptions of Ciuill Gouernment following the Example of Lucifer the Prince of Pride had perked vp so high that they wore gorgeous Garments more glorious then Princes And not so content they pestered the streets of Parnassus with needlesse Coaches so that Carters and Wainmen could hardly passe to and fro with necessary prouision and commodities for the Courtiers and Citizens vse Apollo informed of these indignities sent for the Lords Reformers before him and askt how this Excesse got into his Imperiall Citie which ought to bee the mirrour and sountaine of moralitie They answered that the World as it grew in Age so it multiplied in Infirmities That the Prince of this World perceiuing the state of Religion to become better purified then in former times whereby he lost many Soules had infected a great number of his Maiesties Subiects with the poyson of Toades to make them swell with Ambition to the end they might burst and that he by that meanes might repaire his great losses which the Protestant Religion had caused to his Infernall Kingdome And that for the further setling of his poysonous power hee had employed Asmodeus the Spirit of Lust and other petty Agents of his to sow Tares in the night season after the Dinine Preachers had in the day time plowed and sowed pure seed in mens hearts That likewise he had seduced their embosomed second selues whom they terme the Night-crowes to insinâ—ate on his behalfe the Pompes and vaine glory of humane loftinesse into their Husbands Heads and neuer to cease pecking vntill they preuailed of their purpose to expell his mortall Enemie the Spirit of Humilitic which the Holy Ghost had placed for his Deputie Guardian in their minds The Reformers also declared that the Deuill had so strongly possessed some of them both men and women that to continue their brauery of Apparell and charge of Coaches they mutually agreed sometimes to horne the other but yet so slily and politickly that they might take off their Hornes at set times and lay them in their pockets to keepe for feare of too grieuous a head-ach To this end they vsed this Song the one to the other It matters not so much to weare the Horne If that it might be free from others scorne Hornes haue no cure but when thy selfe art sped To graffe those Hornes vpon anothers head If the Wife want embroydered Peticoates and Wastcoates if her Husbands meanes and credit extend not to furnish her with Iewels equiualent to the greatest Countesse or if shee cannot honestly deuise how to maintaine her Caroach the debauched Gallant will in this distresse and exigent lay that which shee can spare euen Honestie it selfe to pawne In the meane time my Cuckoldly Gentleman winkes for his profit Non omnibus dormio sed Mecenati solum He will not dissemble sleeping for any mans pleasure but onely for hope of treasure And if any of vs your Maiesties Officers should chance to cry out vpon it or to say with that innocent King Henry the Sixt Forsooth you are to blame when he beheld certaine Ladies with their breasts nakedly discouered with their haire cut like a Tomboy one of these horned ranke will retort no other counterplea then Tarletons Woe to thee Tarleton that euer thou wert borne Thy Wife hath made thee a Cuckold and thou must weare the Horne What and if she hath Am I a whit the worse She keeps me like a Gentleman with mony in my Purse Hope of Gaine to supply immoderate expenses extorteth a thousand complements ceremonious seruices so that it is not Lust alone for indeed Tobacco hath almost mortified that motion which causeth many to Court their Mistresses or these to entertaine Seruants but the in finite charge of New Fashions of Apparell one while with the Spanish another while Frenchified doth make Clownes to weare Gownes to polish their dul wits and of Carterly dispositions to become Courtly Musicians and Poeticall Courtiers As that English Satyrist obserued O those faire starlike eyes of thine one sayes When to my seeming she hath lookâ— nine wayes And that sweet breath when I thinke out vpon it It would blast a flowre if she breathed on it But bee she neuer so well qualified in affections neuer so full of vertuous qualities Maide Widow or Wife vnlesse shee haue sufficient to defray this endlesse cost of prodigalitie she may stand long enough without courting euen vntill mosse grow to the soles of her feet Apollo hauing bewayled with teares the miserable Condition of his vertuous Followers seduced now of late to regard the out-side more then the precious in-side which of old was reputed
buying Lands Old and cruell From losing Heauen gayning Hell From Diues fare and hardned mind While Lazarus with hunger's pin'd From tumbling in a downy bed While Godlier men for cold lie dead From Misers and those greedy Elues Which loue no Creatures but themselues From wishing Neighbours lazie bones When Hiues are full to play the Drones From sneaking like a Snaile at home When Forraigne Climes yeeld elbow rome From them which hate Plantations From Sathans combinations Our Christ's bright Genius Blesse and reforme vs S. Patrick FRom a faire House which seldome smoakes While the Owner in Riot soakes From slauish prodigalitie From miserable frug alitie From a Cloake that 's full of patches From a Hen which neuer hatches From seeing Elues or strange Monsters Or those men my mind misconsters From those which causlesse doe arrest vs. When we would gladly sit and rest vs. From such sights make vs amazed From a Chamber not well glazed From rude people in a furie From a false and partiall Iurie From Almanacks false predictions From th' Exchange and Currents fictions From White Spaniards or Red headed From all Women which are bearded From Black-haird Women stubborne proud From Little Deuils scolding loud From the Faire-snouted held for Fooles From all long slow-backs idle tooles From Red-hair'd Foxes closely bad From pale and leane too peeuish sad The Worlds great Genius Blesse and defend vs. After these deuout Patriarchs and famous Fraternitie of the Rosie Crosse had made an end of their Hymnes with an applauding Alleluiah to the Diuine Maiestie for the discouery of themselues now at a pinch when Sathan thought to sist vs all as Wheate and vtterly to eclipse the glory of this Monarchie they interceded vnto Apolloes Maiestie that hee would proclaime some fauourable Edict on the behalfe of their humble and penitent Clients Whereupon the Noble Emperour rose vp from his Sunny Throne and pronounced his Oracle If Brittaines King like valiant Hercules His Stables cleanse and those Foxes footlesse Which Christian Vines destroy do firret out His Prouinces shall rise without all doubt And brauely flourish by our Golden Fleece As Rome was sau'd once by the noyse of Geese So he restraine some of these vagaries For Contraries are cur'd by Contraries CHAP. XVIII Orpheus Iunior sheweth that one of the chiefest causes of the Decay of Trading in Great Brittaine proceeded by the rash Aduentures of the Westerne Merchants in passing the Straites of Gibraltar and in fishing on the Coast of Newfoundland without wafting ships to defend them from Pirats THe next day after this memorable Procession of the famous Fraternity Apollo caused a publick Proclamation to bee set vp on the great Porch of Neptunes Royall Exchange willing and requiring all such as wished well to Great Britaine to repaire with their grieuances before him into the Hall of the said Exchange where hee had appointed a particular meeting for the affaires of that Common-wealth in the afternoone of the said day Orpheus Iunior finding by experience that one of the late causes of the Decay of Trade arose by the misgouerned and stragling courses of the Westerne Merchants which either of foole-hardinesse carelessenesse or of a griping humour to saue a little charge aduentured in their returne from Newfoundland without Fleets or Wafters to guard them or any politicke Order to passe through the Straits of Gibraltar to the Dominions of the King of Spaine to Marseilles or Italy where yeerly they met with the Moorish Pirats who by the conniuance of the Great Turk were suffered to prey vpon al Christiās which they encountred With these inconueniences Orpheus Iunior being grieued to see his Countrie suffer through these Merchants sides he exhibited a Petition to his Imperiall Maiestie Shewing these irregular courses as also how that the Golden Fleece which now became rife in all mens mouthes might bee quickly surprized and anihilated if his Prouidence did not becimes take some safe course to secure the labours of those new Argonautickes which spared no shipping to saile into those Coasts where this precious Fleece flourished on the backes of Neptunes Sheepe Apollo vpon this Information examined the proceedings of the English and comparing them with the Hollanders as also with those of other Companies established with Priuiledges and Ciuill Order found more confusion among the Fishermen of New foundland then in any other For where soeuer the Hollanders either fished or traded they went strongly guarded with wasting Ships to preuent all casualties The Spaniards likewise being taught in Queene Elizabeths time by the English sithence by the Moorish Pirats to go wel prouided with some ships of Defence Yea and all those Companies in London which the King of Great Britaine had graced with Charters and Freedomes prospered and neuer went abroad without sufficient strength Onely those petty Merchants which were led with desire of Gaine not willing to enranke themselues into an orderly Societie but as it were in despite of Gouernment singled and seuered from Fleets these became continually a spoyle to the Pirats His Maiesty viewed the East India Company and found them Rich with many braue seruiceable Ships He searched into the strength of the Turkie Merchants and saw them stored with warlike Munition and abounding in wealth yea and by their painfull Trading getting the start of the Italians which heretofore in Argosies gained and exported great treasure out of this Kingdome He pryed into the state of the Moscouie Company and found them very able subsisting of themselues and readie to supply their Countrey with many rich Commodities He entred into the Mystery of the French Societie and also into the Easterne Merchants and beheld them winning the Trade from the Balticke Sea and the Hans Towne in Germany Onely the Westerne Trading he saw out of square and all for want of setled Fleets At last it came into his Maiesties minde that the Noble King Iames of happy memory did about three yeeres past see into these discommodities and thereupon directed out a Commission at the suite of the Corporation for the Plantation of the Newfoundland to prouide a couple of good Ships on the charge of the Fishermen which yeerely frequented that Coast continually to assist them against the inuasions of Pirats who had in a few yeeres before pillaged them to the damage of fortie thousand pounds besides a hundred Peeces of Ordnance and had taken away aboue fifteene hundred Mariners to the great hinderance of Nauigation and terrour of the Planters Vpon mature consideration of this Royall Commission Apollo pronounced that it was necessary to keepe this Commission still a foot aswell in time of peace as of Warre both for the rearing of expert Commanders at Sea as for the securing of that most hopefull Country And to this purpose he commanded Orpheus Iunior to attend at his Maiesties Court of Great Britaine and to sollicit his Soueraigne to conclude that Noble Designe which his Royall Father vpon most weightie deliberation had formerly granted The
end of the Second Part. THE THIRD PART OF The Golden Fleece CHAP. I. Orpheus Iunior is required by Apollo to discouer where the Golden Fleece lies Orpheus performes his Maiesties commandement shewes that there be sundry kindes of the Golden Fleece all which after an allusion to the English natures hee reduceth into one maine Trade to the Plantation and Fishing in the Newfoundland The generall cause which moued Orpheus to regard this Golden Fleece APollo secretly informed by the Fraternity of the Rosie Crosse that Orpheus Iunior could well tell where the King of great Britaine might perpetually finde Trading both in time of Warres as Peace to inrich himselfe and his subiects which Trading they stiled the Golden Fleece more certaine then Iasons Fleece transported from Colchos or the Philosophers Stone so much dreamed on by the Chymists because the sheepe which yeelds this pretious Gaine were to be shorne for eight moneths space without intermission and of bodies farre bigger then the Peru sheepe which the Spaniards brâ—gge to equalize Asses for proportionable greatnesse In May last 1626. he commanded Orpheus Iunior as hee tendred his seruice and the good of his languishing Countrey to discouer where these Golden-coated sheepe pastured and the manner how the noble Britaines might attaine vnto them Orpheus Iunior answered that the Golden Fleece which the fraternity of the rosie Crosse insinuated to his Maiestie was parti-coloured like the Rainebow so produced by the Patriarch Iacobs Art according to the seuerall obiects represented and likewise diuided into the Naturall the Artificiall and the Mysticall sometimes singled out the one from the other sometimes mixt as politike Merchants and Diers know best yet all of them comprehended vnder one generall name viz. Trading That it was necessary for the Common-wealth of Great Britaine to pursue all the kindes of these obiects lest the English Nation who neuer likes any thing how profitable soeuer vnlesse it be diuersified Pragmata non Angli invariata probant might take surfet of one sort of Trading and at length fall to a loathing thereof Whereto he adioyned that by many yeares experience hee had learnt the skill of discerning spirits And that hee found out this quality of the English to delight in varieties of Newes though for the most part false of Apparell though they sold their lands for it of multiplicities of Law suits though oftentimes they knew themselues bought and sold by them which they most trusted of meate and drinke though they felt the euent in grieuous torments And as in their natures they respected choise and change so in their outward senses hee obserued first that their sight receiued more contentment in many colours then in one alone specially those colours of Gold and Siluer they preferred before the pure and simple which they held in contempt as fitter for Hob-lurkins then for generous spirits As for their smelling they approued of sundry sorts as Ciuet Amber-Greece Muske Storax and aboue all of Tobacco though some of them lost their wits and the vse of their senses in the taking of it and though most of them were ready to choake for good fellowship The like he said he could discourse of the rest of their senses outward and inward But these instances would suffice as he conceiued to open the way to many kindes of Trading as well to furnish that Nation with those seuerall Commodities though superfluous as to replenish the Kingdome with more supplies lest in prouiding themselues barely on their Countries charge with all those wares which their newfangled imagination prouoketh them to long for their Countrie might in a small while deuour her selfe or else eate vp her owne tayle like a Munkey Now to explaine what hee had spoken of the mysticall Golden Fleece hee onely at that time offered to declare the nature vse and place where it flourisheth as how he came to the knowledge of it if it pleased his Maiestie to affoord him audience Apollo bad him proceed signifying vnto him that the principall scope of the Meeting at that season was to haue that beneficiall Trade communicated to all his vertuous Attendants in Great Britaine Orpheus Iunior then went forward in this discourse About ten yeares past most mighty Prince musing with my selfe what might be the Psalmists meaning of those words Their sound is gone out into all Nations I happily coniectured at the last that the Word of God should not onely be spread abroad and planted by those which ought of zeale and charity to teach it but by those which like the frogs out of the Dragons mouth might publish it for temporall ends And when I had throughly lookt into these ends the one neglected by the Professors of the Gospell the other begun and continued with prosperous successe by the Spaniards in the West-Indies where within these 120. yeares many thousand Heathen people haue receiued the Christian Religion though not so purely as wee could wish I collected this memorable obseruation that our Sauiour makes vse of our worlaly desires to serue his diuine intentions In this fashion deales an Earthly Father with an vntoward Daughter for whose aduancement in mariage he giues a large portion to counteruaile her imperfections By which meditations of mine I perceiued that nothing but gaine could moue the carelesse minds of our Ilanders to seeke abroad for new habitations I lookt into the Plantations at the Summer Iles Virginia yea into Affrick as farre as the Cape of good hope where for the ease of our East-Indian Fleetes I conceiued at Sancta Helena or Soldana a fit Plantation might be erected But after that I had considered the many difficulties by reason of the tediousnesse of the voyage the charge and aboue all the malice of the Spaniards who being like to the Dogge in the Manger doe want people to plant and yet they will not permit others to plant I saw that God had reserued the Newfoundland for vs Britaines as the next land beyond Ireland and not aboue nine or tenne dayes saile from thence I saw that he had bestowed a large portion for this Countries mariage with our Kingdomes euen this great Fishing that by this meanes it might be frequented and inhabited the sooner by vs. And I verily thinke that his Heauenly prouidence ordained this Iland not without a Mystery for vs of Great Britaine that Ilanders should dwel in Ilands and that wee should ponder on this ensuing Morall Euen as our Sauiour Christ making Fishermen Fishers of men preferred Peter Andrew others his Apostles being plaine persons and simple before the great Lords of the earth as also the Lillies of the field before the Royalties of Salomon so in these latter daies his vnsearchable wisedome preferring necessary maintenance before needlesse superfluity hath allotted Newfoundland the grand Port of Fishing to the Professors of the Gospell And because the depraued nature of mankinde delighteth in appetite and some appearance of profit therefore his sacred Maiestie discouered that plentifull Fishing vnto
golden Touch As Whales doe play vpon the lesser Fish Till Harping-irons spoyle their latest wish So These wound Christ againe through Neighbours sides Till Earth denoures her due their hideous hides O curuae in terras Animae Coelestium inanes O stooping Soules to Earthly trumperies And quite deuoid of Heauenly Mysteries Shall I sleepe on both eares as the Prouerbe saith while these indignities range abroad vnpunished or conniued at among the learned Societie of Parnassus No mighty Monarch I feele an inward motion in my Soule pricking me like a spurre to run as at a deified Deuill against the defied foes of Charitie And now the rather being heere enforced in your Maiesties Court of Parliament the transcendent Light of all worldly Actions Take away the chaine of Charitie take away the Communion of Saints established on the eternall vnion of the Sonne of God who left vs at his departure this last Commandent Loue one another And doe we loue one another if we liue in hatred and watch opportunitie to hurt the members of Christ Decretum profer Apollo I appeale to this high Tribunall How can we say that God is in vs if our Soules and Bodies bee not his Temple The Ground-worke of this Temple is Faith as Saint Paul writes Faith is the ground of things hoped for The walles are the Gifts of Hope without which wee of all men were most miserable And what is the perfection of the Roofe which couers this Temple but Charitie This is the fruit of all our Actions both immanent and transient This brightsome vertue extends to God and man to Heauen and Earth It lifts it selfe vp to God as the prime Mouer of our wils to the Angels as our Guardians and to the triumphant Saints for their participation and spirituall fellowship with our Soules in the harmonious concent and agreement of Holy Workes expecting our humane minds to ioyne with them in their vniuersall Alleluiahs without iarres discord or disproportioned tunes O Angelicall Concord which requirest this Contemplation and Practice of all such which are predestinated to be saued O the depth of Gods scope which exacteth this obedience of the true Catholike Church to loue our Neigbours as wee would haue him to loue vs to doe euill to no man to wish well to all the World like vnto the Sunne which not onely casts his beames vpon all but refresheth the very earth which beareth weeds In what a miserable case then stand those Lawyers which polish their wits and with hired tongues goe about to defeat Oâ—phans Widowes and other innocents by desending wrong-doers Cursed be yee which speake good of euill and euill of good saith the Prophet Which likewise the Wiseman testified He that iustifieth the wicked and he that condemneth the Iust they both are abhominable vnto God What auailes it a man to gather wealth for a small time when hee knowes hee must leaue them behind him and answere for euery idle word and sentence which he produced to disgrace or hinder his Neighbour whom he was bound to tender and loue as himselfe What profit shal he get by his golden fees when Death dogges him at the heeles When his pulses shall faintly beat his senses faile and his eye-lids shut neuer more to open vntill they see the gates of New Ierusalem shut fast against their wretched Master No doubt but some of our Lawyers doe happily thinke vpon this fatall stroke but alas that weake thought for want of Zeale quickly perisheth like those seedes which were sowne by the Husbandman and afterwards for want of care suffered to be ouergrowne with weeds and choaked with auarice The want of employments in some other Professions or Trades which might benefit them in their worldly thoughts and dreaming conceits of priuate lucre doe constraine many great Spirits to fall to this wrangling course of life who otherwise would proue more notable members for their Countries Good But seeing no other way then this to arriue without danger of a bloudie nose to a great estate they forgoe those braue flames which Nature had kindled in them and in their steed doe harbour earthy and slimy cogitations like the Serpent whom God cursed and destinated to creepe vpon his belly and to licke the dust of the earth All their mind runnes on Gaine Gaine is their God the God which deliuers them out of the Land of bondage out of the iawes of Pouertie Gaine is the golden Angell which leades them out of the Wildernesse into the Land of Canaan Gaine is their Iosuah that gouernes their battels and giues them superioritie and victory not ouer the vncircumcised Philistines but ouer their owne Brethren the heires of Saluation in the world to come What faire protestations and goodly hopes will they not faile to promise at the first opening of their Clients Cause yet when the matter by their vnluckie Counsell succeeds not as they promised they will shamelesly stand vnto it that their Clients had not throughly informed them or else with admiration and eyes lift vp towards Heauen they will ioyne to lay an aspersion on the Iudge whereas themselues were the chiefe Procurers of the Suite About twenty yeeres past it was my fortune to bee present in a Counsellers Chamber at the Counsell of the Marches where a Gentleman of Worcestershire bitterly complained that the Counsell had ordred him to pay seuenscore pounds which hee might haue compounded for fiftie pounds And that this rigorous sentence proceeded by his relying altogether vpon his Opinion that the Counsell would not deale in matters aboue fiftie pounds being limited by their Instructions from the King To which the Lawyer answered that he had hard measure offered him that the Counsell reduced his Cause from a Common Law businesse to bee a matter of Conscience wherein the King had left vnto them the determining at large without tying their powers to a certaine Summe That hee was sory to see such extreme seueritie Yet notwithstanding somewhat glad that the matter hauing beene so chargeable and trouble some for a long time he might now enioy the continuall company of his wife and children at home which before he could not doe That Peace was a blessed thing and Patience an excellent vertue Which the Gentleman hearing and hauing no comfort else for his great expence paines and troubles he brake forth into Passion saying what doe you tell me of Peace and Patience and going home to haue the company of my wife and children All this I had before I met with your vnfortunate Counsell and but for you I might haue had more meanes to doe for them then now I haue Which Answere of his cals backe into my memory Captaine Eliots Tragedie which about fiue and twentie yeeres agoe he related vnto me at Paris In Queene Elizabeths dayes being enticed by a Iesuite heere in England this Captaine Eliot went to Lisbone with a Pinnasse of the Queenes which hee purposed thence forwards to employ for his New Masters seruice the King