mindes that the many wishes prayers yea and iust complaints of good men may finde in you no sense of humanitie no protection for their innocency I beseech you most noble Princes and Peeres that you thus fully perswade your selues if there be any of all men liuing who ought to haue care of such and so great a cause that you especially are they and that to you aboue the rest this cause belongs whom the most mighty good God hath in this rotten and festered age placed here the Champions of his restored Religion and saluation that each of you to the vttermost of his power so farre with your wisedome temperance faith labour vigilance and in one word with that ancient and inborne English valour whose glory with all Nations is immortall doe so much study to prouide and aduise for your Countrey-men as that our God according to his mercy will no doubt aide your endeauours and as good men not onely desire but will also celebrate to the memory of Posteritie But that in this one onely thing of all the most honourable there needes agreement both of mindes and counsels I thinke no man is ignorant vnlesse of what belongs vnto man he be ignorant for this alone is it which affordes vs good counsell in dangers Constancy and valour in mischances moderation in Prosperity and in euery fortune that gift of Discretion without which nothing can be well thought nothing well done This one and alone Concord is it I say which safe-guards that straight knot of Charity that yeelding neither priuately to Enuie nor publikely to Ambition vpholds the Tower of your happinesse which if it remaine strengthned and confirmed amongst vs. There shall not be as I hope nay confidently trust any cause why wee should any longer doubt either of the safety of the Common-wealth or of our reformed and restored truely-Catholike and Apostolike Religion ALmighty and most high God which gouernest the Heauens Seas Earth Warres and Peace which puttest Lawes and Statutes on Kings Princes and the vniuersall people of the World which orderest and decreest victories Triumphs and Trophies which with-holdest and puttest backe afflictions dangers iniuries make firme to vs and confirme this Concord this Religion in this blessed Realme of England that is at this time the largest Theater and very eye of the whole earths compasse Arise great God and raise thy selfe against the enemy of all Iustice and Peace the enemy of thy praises glorie With thy diuine prouidence guide the ways and prolong the dayes of our Soueraigne King IAMES renowned for godlinesse learning iustice wisedome and clemency deliuer him and vs thy people from the out-roades and in-roades of our most cruell foes from those sacrilegious conspiratours and wicked Idolaters which will not endure that wee worship thy most holy name with godlinesse and true religion and who as in that lamentable and miserable Massacre of France took life from good thousands of thy deare seruants and still endeauour to take from vs both life and libertie to write and speake freely Lastly who hold it not lawfull for any man liuing to discourse out of the Councell either touching the Articles of Faith or any controuersie of Religion Restraine oh Lord the vpbraidings and attempts of such kinde of men who leaue to vs being Men that onely argue for our right and the Truth neither free tongue nor free minde Blesse the Reuerend godly and learned Bishops of the Church of England and the professors of Diuinity in the Vniuersities Let those most bitter times warne them and euery Christian man that setting apart the vnseasonable contentions invectiues and preiudices of many Diuines in the Low-Countries Germanie and elsewhere they would rather apply their mindes to the establishing and confirming of true Peace and Concord as once when Valens the Emperour persecuted the true Christians Basill and Eusebius of Caesarea did then in wrath and spleene to seeke out new matters of strife If wee haue a purpose to striue and contend let it be with mutuall duties and godly emulation in the race of piety If wee haue a desire to fight goe to it in Gods name let vs skirmish against Pride Couetousnesse Ambition and against our naughty and froward affections Let vs with our teares and deuout prayers quench the fire of Gods anger which is kindled for our sinnes Let vs possesse our Soules with Patience Silence and Hope And meane while howsoeuer it be let vs take courage and sustaine our selues on this hope that the end of Homicides and Iesuited Traytors hath alwaies beene most miserable being such whom daily and domesticke furies doe torment an ill conscience doth affright and sodaine destruction doth follow And as Iuuenall saith in his 13. Satyre Diri conscia facti Mens habet attonites surdo verbere caedit Occultum quatiente animo tortore flagellum Paena autem vehemens multo saeuior illis Nocte dieque suum gestare in pectore testem Hi sunt qui trepidant ad omnia fulgura pallent A guilty minde whom cruell bloud be-smeares Still beats it selfe with deafe and vnseene feares The hidden scourge with dread still shakes their soules And with a sharper paine the minde controules To beare a selfe-accusing Conscience day and night These thunder-feares and lightnings doe affright Verily it is so indeed and Iuuenall thou hast as they say hit the nayle on the head And euen Caligula Domitian Nero and in our memorie the Duke of Alba and such like Monsters would approue what thou hast affirmed if they might return from hell againe Of these things and such like let good men meditate and comfort themselues chiefly those French-men which once snatcht out of those French flames and forsaking that vnhappy Kingdome forsaking those fierce and rauenous Wolues haue arriued into this Realme of England that is into the lappe of Peace not as into a banishment or any vulgar or common Inne but as into certaine blessed and fortunate Ilands And for vs Low-Countrymen if we be not vnthankefull there is one most iust and waighty cause why wee should acknowledge the great blessing of God bestowed vpon vs namely the courtesie and hospitality of the English Nation for with griefe I speake it when with wringed hands and wronged hearts we were constrained to behold the funeralls and wofull burialls of out Countrey when the cruell did rend and teare and like a greedy beast did deuoure the body of our Common-wealth and wee our laws priuiledges and all liberty bereft vs did as slaues hold our liues and all our goods by entreaty this kingdom this Realme of England which we may freely write dispute against the Popish Tyranny crafts and superstitions with the good leaue of the most gracious Queene Elizabeth whose name and memory be alwayes blessed euen in that respect was to a great many of vs a safe refuge a sure hauen and a secure Sanctuarie This leaue and singular fauour from thence hath continued and yet hitherto doth most graciously continue towards vs by the most mighty King of Great Britaine To whom likewise and his Royall Progeny for that cause be God propitious and fauourable As for vs we confesse our selues most highly bound and beholding to his Maiesty With a cheerefull heart most worthy Lord pardon my passion which now I stay and cease to say any more of these Theeues and Murtherers whom neuertheles I haue but rather shadowed out then expressed for how farre should I then passe what end would there be of my speech if I had a purpose to rehearse all the misdeeds of Popes Iesuites Priests and Shauelings clad in the religious habite If I should vtter their pestilent and deadly commands which not being able to maintaine by humane Iustice they vse to defend by the painted shew of Christian Religion and Catholike name if I should prooue and set forth which is the greatest argument of all their wickednesse that they canonize theeues cut-throats into their Beadroll of Saints and aduance to titles and Cardinall-honours their Allyes and kinsmen taken from the dust and dung-hill Oh sinnes oh plague oh pestilence O God! if this be not madnesse and frenzie what is I cannot for anger any more onely one thing I adde cry out and so make an end of my speech O excellent Interpreters of Diuinitie increasers of iniquity Correcters and reformers of Religion and Gods word O excellent Bishop a keeper of Sheepe as they say is the Wolfe I beseech the most great most good God worthy Bishop that he will long prosper you sitting at the sterne of the Church of England together with the rest of the Lords Bishops and Reuerend Fathers in Christ and guard you safe from all euill no otherwise then the white of his eye and at the last that he will receiue you most worthy Lord after that godly good and learned combate which you sight and haue sought out of this vncleane world out of this mist or misery and griefe into his heauenly and euerlasting Kingdome flowing with brightnesse and blessednesse and eternall ioy without any sorrow Of the Feast day of Saint BARTHOLOMEVV BArtholmew why doth France each yeare to thee Make Holy that bad day which should not bee The cause of mischiefe much was that one day That onely day did many good men slay The good to good the bad to bad incline Then this day none more good or bad did shine Trust Popelings all and trust you Shaued rout God will at last your wicked deeds bring out FINIS
together how they might suppresse the immeasurable ambition of this Man and of his whole family wherupon did arise many grieuous and deadly ryots and insurrections as well at Amboyse as elsewhere in Fraunce Then did hee hereupon scandalize the Churches and the chiefe Men and Rulers of the true Religion with inspeakeable calumniations Then did hee burthen them with lyes slanders and deceipts nay that this desperate miscreant and out-cast-wretch might not ouerslip any nefarious enterprise he did then charge them with many faigned and deuised offences It is surely a thing worth the telling to shew with what wiles and tricks this Cardinall could leade and misse-leade a number of people For euen as once the Iewes were in scorne called of the Gentiles the Sabbotheans and the Christians of Iulian the Apostata the Galileans Euen so then they which imbraced the true Doctrine that they might be accused as of strange errours before the Solemnity of the Cardinals holy-dayes were begun to be called Hugenets which in-auspitious name first found and inuented by an vnfortunate and accursed Man sticke in the memory of the people of France Fye vpon both the manner and matter of a wicked deed and wicked seed Neuerthelesse let vs see vpon what ground-worke this ridiculous deuise is founded and that the Cardinall and his Associates are busied rather in any other thing than in reading and meditating the holy Scriptures Thus therefore it is that this honest man would haue them named Hugonets of a certaine vision which about that time in the night neere vnto the Towne of Tisrwin the common people that beast of many heads beleeued to wander vp and downe And now my friends can you forbeare laughing It was thought to be the Ghost of a certaine Monke called Hugh lately deceased and because in those times the Christians through persecutions were compelled to keepe their meetings in the night hee caused them to be named Hugonets Whilest these things were in doing and that not one in the whole kingdome was found that durst take in hand the cause godly men of the afflicted Church our Lord God euen beyond all hope expectation endewed that most honourable and valiant Nobleman Caspar Caligni high Admirall of France with the spirit of fortitude and incredible zeale so as with an vndaunted courage in the very middest of the tumults and vproares he presented a Confession of their faith to the King himselfe Francis the second in the name of the reformed Churches in Fraunce and pleaded their cause with wonderfull wisedome and stoutnesse at the Kings Priuie Councell Table in the Tower called Callirrhoe This deed of his how much hatred and enuie it purchased vnto him though otherwise a man in high fauour with the King cannot easily be expressed After this all the rowte and crue of the Popelings made him their onely marke to shoote at He was the man whom they assalted with all their weapons He the Prince on whom those wicked and loathed society cast all their reproaches and contumelies Aboue the rest the family of the Guyses were neuer wearied with rolling this stone and aduancing this abhominable and prodigious designe that it might glut it selfe with the French blood for which it thirsted and might alone gouerne all the affaires of the Kingdome They haue in very deed approoued that Verse of Lucan to be no toye or idle tale Nulla fides regni sociis omnisque potestas Impatiens consortis erit There is no trust in fellow-Kings Rule with a Riuall enuy brings A great power being leuied and gathered at Orleance where they ruled K. Francis as they listed this vngodly family held a Counsel concerning the Prince of Condee whom they had imprisoned and concerning many other honourable Personages either to behead them or to punish them with the amercement of some great fine to be imposed vpon them Or if they dealt more mildly with any to banish and out-lawe them Who may not here cry out Quid non impietas designat Oh what will not sinne and vice attempt Item O furor ô nimium dominandi innata cupido Oh rage oh too much inbred thirst of rule Meane while he that by his prouidence as out of a watch-Tower beholdeth all things did breake asunder these cruell complots and commaunded King Francis breathing out fearefull slaughters to yeeld and surrender his last breath But what of that Doe you thinke that this wicked generation was any thing mooued at the iudgements of God or at this example so fresh and euident No nothing at all But as the Prophet sayes The brutish generation of the wicked is starke blinde in the iudgements of God and hath their brest ouercast and clowded with a thicke mist of ignorance And a factious company deuoted and giuen ouer to sinne reioyce with triumph in their sinne and say in their hearts God doth not looke vpon these things Therefore these blinde men and leaders of the blinde these enemies of Truth were not beaten backe from their wicked hopes and sinnefull practises against Christ no not then when young King Francis being dead whom they had abused to the destruction of good and godly men the Churches began euery where to take breath and sprowt out but euen presently they renewed their consultations and went about to entangle some with pleasure and cunning deuises as Anthony King of Nanarre some to affright with murthers and all sorts of cruelty the foundation of which they lay in the Towne of Vassien and thrust the miserable Realme into three most bitter ciuill warres for the space of tenne whole yeares It were a hard thing or rather impossible for me to reckon vp all their kindes of cruelty by which the Popelings in France haue out-stripped the very Tigers and Lyons themselues Yet can I not winke at or ouer-skip the horrible deedes of the men of Orleance These men in the yeare 69. in one day putting fire vnderneath burnt in diuers prisons aboue two hundred men of all degrees Who so vnderstandeth not that from them that sauage and barbarous hatred against the Admirall and the French Churches tooke beginning and encrease him I iudge to see nothing in a most cleare light Let vs in the meane while consider what we may learne from that selfe-same hatefull peace which once was restored and set on foote in France And first this that the Lord doth graunt certaine truces for a time lest with the continuance of mischiefes the godly should altogether faint and grow feeble next in the vncertainty of that Peace and the great alteration of things which for full ten yeares was in France wee may obserue that no true Peace can be between the World and the true Church which let the Low-Countries and Christian Princes marke that we may wholly relye on that peace which God affordeth vs and alwaies take heed to our selues of the world which hateth the light and the Sons of light and hath this resolution if it can to blot and raze out the very
Villages and Riuers there are which haue not beene filled with the goare of the godly Martyrs This is more that their inhumane cruelty was so great as in so grieuous an affliction it was not lawfull for Widowes to bewaile their Husbands nor Orphanes their Parents but that at Paris little ones and infants were found who when they did see themselues hal'd from their Mothers brests their Mother 's hurried to execution did not forbeare to cry out till themselues likewise had their tender bloudshed Oh more then Scythian barbarousnesse for what Tyrant did euer doe this in any part of Scythia not to suffer them to mourne to whom he gaue cause of mourning Rightly didst thou most graue Orator and Philosopher that didst not well endure nor couldest abide to beholde men so barbarous and mischieuous There remaineth nothing that these combined enemies of the Truth haue wherewith to maintaine themselues either before God or nature it selfe or any Christian but that they may be confounded of the very Ethnicks themselues which neither endued with the knowledge of the true God nor instructed with holy-writ nor puft vp with that great and glistering name of Romane Catholike doe gather these things euen by the very law and light of Nature it selfe by which they are a shame to you Scribes and Pharisees Doe therefore the Law and Prophets in GODS name depend vpon you vpon your counsels and traditions vpon the Cupborde of the Pope father of mischiefe and vpon his Messengers and Assassines Blush you Theeues and Pyrats woe to you Hipocrites which attribute to your selues the Supremacie of the Church vnder a false and forged title You I say conscript and sworne Fathers who haue forsworne Piety and the knowledge of good things and a sound Conscience But lest any man should thinke wee grow teastie without cause and speake preiudicially which vseth to take away right iudgement Let vs heare and go forward with the rest and that by the tops and chiefe points of the matters lest our discourse grow to be infinite The things already spoken of though they were cruell and abhominable yet did they not fully satisfie the desires of these bloudy butchers They goe on therefore and at Paris in the middest of the Market-place they cause to be hanged vp Brickmald a most renowned man and most skilfull in warlike affaires being almost of the age of three-score and ten yeares who by chance had hid himselfe in the house of the English Embassador as also one Cauagne a man of great wisedome and Chancellour to the Princes both of Naturre of Condee then made they a laughing-stocke of the Picture and coat of Armes of the Admirall which through the streets they ignominiously abused and euery day they were altogether busie in this either how they might kill or by fearefull threatnings enforce to their impious and forbidden superstition the professors of the true and reformed Religion By this it appeareth more cleare euen then noone-day that the cruelty of these men was in the highest degree their Nature fierce and sauage themselues nesarious bloud-suckers and that neuer any Pyrate was more barbarous Antiochus was cruell but an open enemy of the Church and an Heathen Nero was cruell but for full fiue yeares most mercifull and afterwards openly euill Domitian was cruell but when hee vnderstood that the Kingdome of Christ was Heauenly not earthly he left off to persecute the Christians In the Raigne of Charles the sixt King of France hee being young foolish and witlesse as the Chronicles report France was grieuously distressed But there can nothing be repeated out of all the records of Antiquity which comes neere vnto the cruelties we haue rehearsed if we well waigh the circumstances And although these things be thus true apparant and approoued yet dare they charge these godly Noblemen with an idle accusation and an imputation of forged conspiracie when amongst them all not one though prouoked did vnsheath his sword when those pittilesse cut-throats did likewise put to death Women and Children when their very cosin Germans and amongst them some Earles Barons and Nobles did not escape from them without great danger when they banished from the Court and kept prisoner Michaell Hospitalis the high Chancellour of France and a most honourable person for this cause onely That he withstood their wicked Counsailes when they enforced no small number by violence and threatnings to their idolatrous Masses lastly when Christopher Thouanus the first President in the Parliament gratulating to the King that forsooth his famous victory did openly amongst other things repeat that saying of Lewis the eleauenth Who knowes not how to dissemble knowes not how to rule But I detaine your Lordship with an Oration ouer-long lest therefore I should abuse your Lordships patience I will make short of what remaines Let vs then but looke into this one thing whether these matters which wee haue already vttered doe not so palpably shew forth the impious combination of the Popelings that it may be viewed euen with our eyes From hence let all Christian Kings and Princes that are wise see and vnderstand this betimes that this French calamitie cannot be disioyned from theirs when the Religion common to either is assailed and the Tyrants invred to so many mischiefes and greedy of good mens bloud cannot so rest and content themselues Oh most renowned Princes do you still remaine in doubt Doe not so but marke and note what after these times which we haue recounted at another time and not fiue yeares since befelt that great and most Christian King Henrie the fourth Consider with how many ambushes fraudes and deceipts they belayed the most famous Queene of England ELIZABETH of happy and blessed memory Call to minde with how many engines they battered the poore wretches of the Low-Countreyes both publiquely and priuately for the space of these fortie yeares and vpwards Remember all you of the English Nobility that horrible Gunne-powder Treason which enterprized at one stroke to destroy and blow vp your most mighty KING your noble QVEENE together with their Royall Progeny and the flower of all the Nobility of England This is worth the labour to know with how plausible and goodly a name these glozing Parazites and Pillers of the Romish Religion doe entitle such like abhominable misdeeds marry A stroke giuen from Heauen Oh vowes oh words and men of Hell Doe you you hell-hounds bring downe from Heauen the forge and fountaine of your sinnefull actions I speake truth oh Christians and your selues know it to be so that had not the Lord of Heauen and Earth hindred this stroke England had not for one yeare onely beene miserable and tormented but stab'd and mangled with infinite wounds iniuries violences murthers and rapines should hardly haue drawne their begged breath amidst her deadly enemies Wherefore I pray and beseech you you Princes and Noblemen that the painted shew of Christian Religion and the name Catholike deceiue you not let this rather be your