any good authority or proof do precipitate themselves unhappily into far greater Zeal in them is like a Sword in a mad mans hand dangerous to himself and others But to the matter What other probabilities did they produce against her Many She mourned faintly for his death which is a sign she was weary of his life She acquitted Bothwel for his death and did not punish him as he deserved Ergo let her die But what a Nugipoliloquides is this Buchanan are such conjectural presumptions as these matter of evidence sufficient to depose Princes As for her Mourning and the Funerals His Body was Embalmed and laid by James the fifth her Father the Lord Tracquaire Justice Clerk and others attended the Corps indeed most of the Counsel being Protestants the Catholike Ceremonies were not permitted and in Scotland it is not the custom to reserve the Corps Fourty days Nor was it decent that the Queen her self should have been there personally mourning as a Subject therefore she mourned privatly as his Sovereign and Wife which she did so long that her Counsel and Physitians both were forced to disswade her from it and to cease All which Sir Henry Killegrew might witness who was sent from England to condole and comfort her What could be required more of a Wife But as concerning Earl Bothwel and the Marriage following herein the jugling of Murray and his faction was most admirable and worthy to be known For First was not Bothwel acquitted for this crime by his Peers was not Murray himself who best knew the Plot together with the Lord Lindsey Sempil and other adherents principal to procure his purgation The Queen did not acquit him out of her own affection or will onely but by their advice and Counsel who were the chief Pilots of the State at that time Nay did not the same parties Murray Sempil c. procure others of the Nobles to joyn with them and sollicited the Queen to Marry Bothwel pretending it necessary for her to take such a Husband to defend her in troublesome times yea did they not in some maner force her to it and by their Hand-writing to Bothwel did they not binde themselves to obey him in case he would marry her did not they themselves viz. Murray Sempil and the rest in order to this procure the Divorce of Bothwel from his first Wife sister to the Earl of Huntly and are thereby most cleerly convinced of double dealing But what follows The charg of the Murther And of this the Lord Harris accused Murray himself viz. that at Craigmillar he Morton and Bothwel did consult conspire and determine the Kings death for the effecting whereof Indentures were there drawn and subscribed by them And to convince it more evidently Pourry Paris and Hay who were all three Executed for the Murther confessed at their death and called God to witness that those two Murray and Morton were the principal contrivers of it The like did John Hepburn Bothwels servant at his Execution for the same Fact protesting that he had seen the Articles and Writings drawn to that purpose as we said To blinde the world therefore a little Murray and Morton take up Arms upon a pretence to apprehend Bothwel and send out ships to pursue him at Sea whom themselves had sent away yea had sent the Lord Grange on purpose to him to advise and will him for his own safety to be gone promising that no body should pursue him as indeed none did very hastily for he stayed after this no less then two Months in Scotland viz. until Murray was returned out of France Then of necessity he must be gone otherwise by his stay or their taking him they would be all betrayed themselves So he finding himself over-reach't by his Associates in the Conspiracy and being as sure to be overpowered by them if he should abide it was content at last to withdraw and be offered up as a Sacrifice to the censure of the world for their purgation This therefore was the Texture and sum of the Plot concerning the death of the Lord Darley Husband to the Queen and the Queens Marriage of Bothwel These two Catilines Murray who was the Queens base Brother and Morton caused the King to be slain using Bothwels consent and assistance in it which Bothwel they perswade afterward to Marry the Queen and deal as effectually with the Queen that she should be willing to Marry Bothwel and this on purpose that they might have ground hereby to ruin them both and possess themselves of the government as in a short time they did upon a colourable though feigned accusation brought against them viz. against the Queen and Bothwel as conspiratours and contrivers of the Kings death T is well known the Earl Murray never truly loved the Lord Darley He was once in Arms and in the field to have kild him and thereupon flâ—d into England After this he perswaded the Lord Darley to give his consent to the Murthering of David Riza the Queens Secretary in which action a Pistol was also set to the Queens Belly being then great with Childe to terrifie her and if it could have been to procure her Micsarrying but the Lord Darley having obtained the Queens pardon for this yet fearing lest Murray should inform Her Majestie concerning him further then he liked he resolves with himself to kill Murray but first out of I know not what reason discovers his intention to the Queen whom he supposed to be very much incensed against Murray but she utterly disliked the business and would not endure him to speak of it which coming afterwards to Murrays knowledge as he had before practisd to estrang the Queen from her Husband and offered to procure her a Divorce from him which she also utterly condemned so now he resolves to make away him viz. the Lord Darlâ—y and to that end Plots with the Earls Morton and Bothwel as hath been said yet himself cunningly to divert suspicion and that he might be thought absolutely innocent in the business when as now all things were agreed upon withdraws himself from the Court first and then goes into France a little before the Murther was committed All which passages being indeed the most intricate maze of Treachery one of them that ever was devised by wicked men were made to appear plain enough unto Queen Elizabeths Commissioners at York as is manifest by Sir Ralph Sadlers Notes concerning that business which I have seen but afterward more cleer then the Sun at the Tryal and Execution of the Earl Morton Surius Chron. For Murray had met with vengeance before having been Pistolled by a man of his own profession as he rode in the Street at Edinburgh about the year 1570. Yet upon such false and treacherous Foundations as these do they ground all their disloyal proceedings and hard usage of the Queens Majestie their natural Sovereign afterward viz. That which they used towards her at Carbery hill their slanderous Libels their imprisoning her
such as she thought would oppose themselves viz. the Lord Chancellor Heath Arch-Bishop of York the Lord Paget Lord Privy Seal the Secretary Boxhal Sir Francis Inglefeild and others in whose rooms were placed Sir Nicholas Baecon The new Marquis of Northampton The Earl of Bedford Sir Anthony Cave Sir Francis Knolls Rogers Parry and Secretary Cecil She depoâ—ed many of the old Judges made new Justices of the Peace and lastly concerning the Election of Knights and Burgesses for the Parliament ensuing she took such order by the great diligence and cunning of her Instruments in all the Counties that she wanted not a competent party ready to close with her design in that House Besides this to remove all scruples as much as might be out of the peoples heads and to make them think that the same Religion and Service continued still which was so lately before reestablished by Parliament and that all the alteration made was but onely the turning of the Leiturgy out of Latine into English for their better understanding she provided that in the Common-prayer-book there should be some part of the old frame still upheld some Collects Prayers and Anthemes of the old Missal some of the ancient Ecclesiastical Habits for Divine Service as Copes Surplices c. some Ceremonies as the Sign of the Cross Adoration and Bowing at the name of Jesus The Organs also and ancient manner of Singing their Matins and Even song was retained especially in her own Chappels and in most of the Cathedral and Collegiate Churches of the Kingdom The Title Authority and Jurisdiction of Bishops was also preserved with some considerable Grace and Dignity in the State together with most part of the Revenues of which at that present the Cathedral Churches were seized By which dexterous management of affairs the Common people were instantly luld asleep and complyed to every thing and it became not so hard a matter for the Queen to excuse her self even to those forreign Princes who expected otherwise at her hands As she did particularly to the Secretary D' Assonville who was sent by King Philip out of Flanders to Congratulate her advancement to the Crown By this time the Common-Prayer-Book was framed according to the Queens appointment by certain Commiâ—â—â—oners authorised for that purpose The principal whereof were Doctor Matthew Parker after advanced to the Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury having been formerly as some say Chaplain to Her Highness Edmund Grindal afterwards Bishop of London Horn of Winchester Whitehead May Bill and Sir Thomas Smith Dr. of the Civil Law The Liturgy was framed according to the Model of that which the English strangers had used at Franckford in the year 1554. and varied not much from that which Northumberland had caused to be published towards the latter end of King Edward the Sixth By the Nobility that were meerly English Protestants as the Marquis of Northampton Earl of Bedford Lord Gray of Pytgo Secretary Cecil and others it was well approved and the estabishing thereof by Parliament very much urged But those who had tasted of Genevah and were more affected with Calvins Model both disliked and opposed it either not knowing or not regarding the Queens reasons of State in the business Sir William Cecil as we said was now Secretary of State a Politick man and one that knew well enough how much this alteration would advance him his industry carried all before him Howbeit his fortunes were yet but low having onely the Parsonage of Wimbledon and some few Lands about Stamford to subsist upon Therefore in his Letter to the Lord Marquis of Northampton who was his Mecaenâ—s in the year 1560. upon the birht of his son Sir Robert Cecil he desires the Marquis being the Lord Treasurer to move the Queen in his behalf for some means and maintenance for his G. C. as he calld them who were so likely to be famous in England afterward Sir Nicholas Bacon was his Brother in Law and another chief Engin of State a man of somewhat a deeper judgement in the knowledge of the Laws and a more plausible Orator I must not forget in this Catalogue of State-Engins the Lord Robori afterwards famously known by the name of Leicester who to possess the Queens favor solely had already discarded Sir William Pickening though formerly viz. in meaner fortune a favorite and no uncourtly Gentleman Nor yet Sir Nicholas Throgmorton nor Sir Francis Walsingham nor Sir Thomas Smith who were all with the rest prime instruments of this Action intimate Counsellors in the business and posseâ— ng wholly the ears and grace of the Queen sate as chief Pilots at the Storâ— guiding the the course both of Church and Common-wealth at their pleasure All of them at this instant big with hopes of Prefermâ—nt Honor and great Offices which they were sure to loose who held them under Queen Mary Though many men wondered how Master Sâ—cretary Cecil could so easily forget his Beads and his Breviary wherewith with he so exquisitely counterfeited a Catholik in Queen Maries time that Cardinal Poole himself was deceived by him so far as to do him many friendly Offices towards her Majestie which as by the event appeared he did not much deserve Their great and indeed onely pretence or reason for the Change was Reason of State The Queens safety Scilicet This they had all of them but especially Secretary Cecil wrought strongly into her Majesties apprehension Camd. in Elizab. Actum esse de eâ si Pontificiam Authoritatem in quâcunque re agnosceret she was but a lost Princess say they if she acknowledged the Popes authority in any thing For Duo Pontifices Two several Popes already had pronounced her Mothers marriage with the King to be unlawfull and Null It may be thought her Mothers Conscience did likewise pronounce the same sentence in her own Brest otherwise why did she being ready to go to the place of Execution so solemnly entreat and charge the Lady Kingst n Speed Chron. to go to the Princess Mary and upon her knees in her name to ask pardon of her for all the wrongs she had done her protesting that until this were done she could not dye in peace But upon this ground the Statesmen of those times conclude it necessary that the Queen should alter Religion Invest her self with the Sovereignty of all Power and banish that Authority out of the Realm which had presumed to declare her Majestie Illegitimate This Counsel how prosperous soever it proved in the event through Gods permission and how speciously politick soever it might be made to seem by the Arguments and Rhetorick of those men who for their own ends and interests desired a change yet Really it could not but be full oâ— dâ—nger both to thâ— Queen and thâ— Realm but espâ—cially to the Queen who if she had pleasâ—d might have secured her self of her own particular fears by some better way For hereby the Sentence of Excomunication in some sort necessarily issuing upon her
should be abolished and that whosoever defended the Popes Authority in Scotland should be banished and that all former Acts to the contrary should be repealed This was pretended to be done by the three Estates but the Queens Commission could not be shewn nor any consent of hers to confirm such Acts beside the opposition which the Clergy or State Ecclesiastical generally made against such proceedings See Jo. Leslaeus hist of Scotland not onely in the Parliament or Convention of States where they happened to be overborn but all the Kingdom over Therefore to make that seem good by a colour of Law which was at first begun by meer Faction and Violence some years after viz. Anno 1567. and after the deposition or rather unjust and forced Resignation of their lawful Sovereign the Queen they procure an other Parliament to be called the Earl Murray being then Regent and the King scarce out of his Cradle which confirms the Acts of the Parliament 1560. Cap. 9. and prescribes an oath to be taken by all succeeding Kings to maintain the Religion then received to which as yet no King had ever consented and establisheth the Confession of that Church The Queen provoked with their many and insufferable indignities had before this time sent for some French Forces into Scotland to oppose them But this they take so ill and the Preachers of new Doctrine in all parts of the Kingdom improve the occasion so much to her disadvantage and to the further incensing of the people that at last they not onely make shift to exclude her from all Government putting her in condition of a private person but dishonor her beside with most capital and criminous Accusations yea and cast her into prison not without great danger of her life Beza that Tibullus of Genevah instigating and encouraging them much thereunto who is pleased in his Reformed Zeal and Eloquence to call her Medea Athaliah and what not Nullum ejus sceleribus nomen c. The Good Man it seems could not finde words bad enough to express her guiltiness and yet how well is it known he had store of them always at command and how maliciously he pleaded against her while she was prisoner in England onely out of hatred to the House of Lorrain appears abundantly in his Book called Reveille-Matin I confess generally t is better to bury old quarrels then to renew their memory yet to justifie the Innocent and to detect perfectly the evil practises of these men I cannot forbear to insist a while on this Subject and to declare more particularly what inducements they pretended for such exorbitant courses They accused the Queen of procuring the death of her Husband the Lord Henry Darley out of a desire and intention to marry Bothwel who was principal in the murther Therefore say they for zeal to Justice for the Honor of the Realm and satisfaction to Forreign Nations it is necessary that she be under restraint til she cleer her self from the imputation of such heinous crimes These were their Accusations and pretenses But touching the Murther it was very unlike to be true and certainly required manifest proofs if ever any cause did Her Sex was not fit for such a Butchery and her nature known to be too Royal to harbor such dishonorable Treachery though she had some just cause of offence against him If she had desired to put him to death he was her Subject and she might have done it openly legally and by course of Justice He had been of the Confederacy for the killing of David Riza her Secretary his own Dagger was found in his Body The Earl Morton beeing fled into England upon that offence he presumed to revoke him and call him home without thâ— Queens knowledge or allowance Neither was he Loyal to the Queen in respect of Conjugal affection and duty his offâ—nsiveness in that kinde was very notorious and scandalous to all the Court and occasion of much disquiet and difference betwixt the Queen and him and from whence their common Adversaries took advantage in a short time to ruin them both What then is the proof of such a crime what evidence bring they to convince her guilty of the Fact First they object that Douglas Earl Bothwels man was executed for it True And that it was he that brought a Box of Letters of the Queens to Bothwel which he had received of Sir James Balfoor at Edenburgh to carry to his Master by which Letters intercepted their juglings and practises viz. of the Queen and Bothwel were discovered It is answered Lyes have commonly one Leg short and so 't is here For is it probable that either the Queen or the Earl should repose such confidence and so great secrets in a man that was known to be at the devotion of a contrary Faction as Sir James Balfoor was Is it likely she would at all send such a Packet which she knew contained matter of great Peril but of no consequence at all to her self For she directs them to be burnt and might have done that her self well enough without the labor of sending them to him Beside the Queen ever denied those Letters to be hers though her hand had been counterfeited to them neither was there Superscription Indorsement Seal Date or any thing else that might possibly discover more cleerly whose they were or from whom coming Her hand was onely Subscribed the Letters themselves of another Character and truly it is not probable that in a business of so great privacy she should require the State of a Secretary and that of some Stranger too for had it been the hand of any of her ordinary Amanuenses the case had been cleer and a discovery would have been easily made Neither could he who delivered them ever be found out to discover the Pack and Douglass who was the man accused to carry them protested at his death that he never knew of any such Letters Lastly supposing that she had indeed sent them yet was there no express proof of any unlawful act attempt or practise to charge her with Suppose she had desired to have her husband murthered doubtless it had been a great offence against God and odious to all men but was it a sufficient cause for her own Subjects to take Arms against her and to depose her Was not David in a like case in the business of Vriah and Bathshebah Yet he forfeited not his Crown Saint John Baptist reproved Herod for his Adultery yet did neither exhort nor counsel the people to deprive him of his Dignity though he were both a stranger of Idumaea and an usurper Edward the fourth of England was not deposed for keeping another mans Wife though he committed a great sin Nor Henry eighth for cutting off the Heads of so many of his own Wives and committing as great sins Spectante populo in the view of his Kingdom and of all the world Surely these Bouâ—efeux while they presume to punish their Kings for sin without
Cujus contrarium verum est But let that pass The Clergy of England they count Atheists call them soldiers of Antichrist and a Bastardly Ministery And from the Fountain of this frenzy sprang in late times all those infamous and scandalous Libels of Vdal Penry Brown Greenwood Martin Marprelate Martin junior Hay any work for a Cooper The supplication to the President of Wales and many other to the late Queen and troublesome to the State But the spring-head of all was Calvin himself who Epist 105. declares magis sibi placere c. that he forsooth did rather approve the Scottish Reformation then that of England Gramercy good Sir John You like it better why because it was the issue of your own happy Brain 't is well known Knox fetcht his Coales from your Fire and cast his Engin of Reformation in your Mould and so upon the matter in commending it like a wise man you commend your self So Epist 26. he tells Cranmer relictam esse congeriem That there was a great heap of Popish superstitions yet remaining in the Church of England which did not onely dim but even much darken and corrupt the purity of Gods worship Hence it was that during all Queen Maries Reign The English Church at Genevah as they calld themselves was Antagonist and at defiance with the English Church at Franckfort for they at Franckfort defended the Authority of Bishops and used the Leiturgy and Ceremonies which were commanded by King Edward the sixth notwithstanding Mr. Calvin writing to the Protector by whose Authority they had been established was so modest as to call them scoffingly and by way of contempt Tolerabiles Ineptias certain fooleries but yet such as might be born withal for a time It is therefore we see no Hyperbolical charge or Calumny to say that this Presbyterian Discipline is the Palladium of Calvinists for which they do not onely contend but fight tanquam pro aris focis against all Kings and Princes that oppose it more eagerly and bitterly then for any other thing which no man will deny that knowes what their proceedings have been are in France Scotland Low-countries Bohemia and elsewhere or that hath read Bsialicon Doron written by a Pen that had cause enough to be sensible of their disorders or that Book of Philippus Nicolai De regno Xti which is ful of predictions of what lawless attempts and practises they would serve themselves to advance their consistory above the court which have not all prov'd untrue or lastly that of Joannes Schutz a learned Lutheran Lib. 50. caus who tells them plainly that they trust onely upon their Soecular power That they are seditious people and defend their opinions best with a Sword in their hand But that which King James himself saith of them is most remarkable Ego a Puritanis Prefat monitor c. I saith he have been vexed with these Puritans from my very Birth yea they persecuted me while I was yet in my Mothers Belly and it mist but little that they had not murdered me before I was born Among which Pranks that of the Ministers at Sterling must not be forgotten who appeared themselves in the field under the Command of some of the Nobility of that faction and forced the King to yeeld his person to them and to suffer a new guard to be put upon him and his old removed For which insolent attempt the chief of them viz. Mr. Patrick Galloway Pollard Carmichel and Andrew Melvin were glad afterwards to take covert in England yet James Gibson stood to it and called the King Jeroboam and persecutor Lawson opposed and affronted him to his face Pont and Balcanqual by open Proclamation and in the presence of a publike Notary censur'd him very formally and did what they could to withdraw the peoples Loyalty and affection from him When Philautia and Phantasia that is self-love and self-conceit do meet in Conjunction in the Brain there must needs be a great Eclipse of the understanding and a Heart swollen and blown up with singularity doth so far contemn yea hate whatsoever opposition is made against her that being not able to govern the strong passion and those fervors of a proud spirit which boyl incessantly within her Men run like so many furies upon rash and inconsiderate attempts both against the reverence due to Majestie Justice and all good government A thing manifestly observable in these Zelots And therefore the Zuinglians who are otherwise more then their half Brethren can scarcely approve them in the point of the Consistory For saith Gualter Minister of Zurich Comment in 1 Cor. c. 5. Galli habent sua seniorum Concilia c. The Reformed French saith he have their Consistories of Elders in whose hands all power and authority Ecclesiastical is as it were deposited and in These all counsels and resolutions are taken all Taxes and impositions layd for the maintaining of War against the King Proper work doubtless for the Ministers of Gods word as they will be called and for a Spiritual Court as it pretends to be and to as good a purpose De Offic. Ministror lib. 15. cap. 19.20 22. Musculus also sheweth as little esteem of them in his Loci Commun cap. 10. But above all Schultingius in his Hierarchica Anachresis doth most graphically and to the life discover their exorbitant and absurd practises shewing how all Kings Princes and Governors are made subject to their Excommunications that truly Brutum Fulmen of their elderships How Nobility and Commons both must assemble at the Summons of the Pastor who is more then half Pope in his Parish being attended by Assisting Elders rather to countenance what he will have done then to do any thing contrary to his minde Lastly Calvin at Genevah is the Supream Oracle beyond whom there is no appeal really Papa though out of a dissembled humility he seems not willing to be called Doctor So he And what confusion in the Civil State this Constitution of pretended Discipline may further cause in time Hooker in the Preface to his Books of Ecclesiastical Policy sheweth at large Titulus Quartus GEVXISM OR The Troubles in HOLLAND AND THE United Provinces BY Course we arrive now at the States of Holland Zealand and those other united Provinces that is at an Aceldama a Field of blood where the Principles mentioned so oft already in this Narrative and the Tragical effects of them have been acted with most lamentable fury and rage for many years together I will not be large in the declaration of them to shew you how the Lutheran faction first began and how violently the Calvinists succeeding did prosecute their work for then I should weary you I shall labor to be as breif as I may and rather to Epitomize things then dilate them Of all their Actions That Union of Vtrecht was the most notorious a devise cleerly according to the rules of Junius Brutus and in imitation of the Switz
which tasted of the severity of those Laws were not a little insolent and prone to attempt Yet that she was withal a Princess very merciful is manifest by her compassion shewn to such as deserved not well of her that is To the Dutchess of Somerset to Sir John Cheek who had been the principal corrupter of King Edward her Brothers Infancy to Sir Edward Montague Lord Cheif Justice who had both counselled and subscribed to her disinheriting to Sir Roger Ch lmley to the Marquis of Northampton to the Lord Robert Dudly to Sir Henry Dudly to Sir Henry Gates c. who stood all of them attainted and the Duke of Suffolk All which persons were very obnoxious to Her Justice she knew very well they neither affected Her Religion nor Title They were already her prisoners in the Tower yet she released them all But for all this the Zealots of her time would not be quieted nor suffer her to enjoy any quiet They Libel against the Government of Women they pick quarrels and murmur at her marriage they publish invectives and scurrilous Pamphlets against Religion yea they forbear not to conspire and plot Her Deprivation out of a desire to advance Her Successor to the Crown under whom every Calvinist expected a Golden Age. The austerities and abstinences which Catholike Religion prescribed and which the Queen by Authority of Parliament had but lately reduced and was her self very exemplary in the observation of them were not much pleasing to some Gallants about the Court nor to many others both in City and Country whose affections were better satisfied with the Liberties of the former Age and therefore desired some change of this But among other Instruments of mischeif that Book written by Goodman intituled Of Obedience was a most pernicious Incentive among the commons teaching expresly Ad Nobil Scot. P. 94. That Queen Mary deserved to be put to death as a Tyrant and a Monster And that other of Knox with whom the Zealots of England did correspond too much where he hath among many other of like nature this passage Illud aud actèr affirmaverim c. This I dare boldly say saith he the Nobility Magistrates Judges and whole people of England were bound in Conscience not onely to oppose and withstand the proceedings of that Jesabel Mary whom they call their Queen but even to have put her to death and all her Priests with her After this Sir Thomas Wyat takes up Arms for which Master Fox worthily Chronicles him marches his Army like another Cyrus as some called him over Shâ—oters-Hill threatning both the Court and the City Prince and People And for this Goodman in his Book Of Obedience commends him saith He did but his duty and that it was the duty of all who professed the Gospel to have risen with him This was their doctrin then And though it be said That Goodman recanted his opinion in Queen Elizabeths days it was perhaps onely that part of it which opposed the Government of Women And if he did it absolutely what doth it prove but the inconstancy of such men and how easily they can conform themselves to times that favor them and of what spirit they are under the cross and affliction Wyats pretence was particoloured looking as he would seem both at Religion and bonum Publicum in his opposing the Queens marriage with Spain as both Holinshead and Stow agree They that suppose it to have been meerly upon a civil account are confuted by the Queen her self in her Speech at Guildhal where she tells the City That she had sent divers of her Counsel to Wyat to demand the Reasons of his Insurrections and that they found The business of the marriage was onely a cloak to cover Religion which was the thing principally aimed at For he urged also to have the Tower delivered to him to have power to nominate and chuse new Counsellors declaring plainly That he would not trust but be trusted But Master Fox is plain in the case for he confesseth of all that Rabble which followed Wyat That they conspired among themselves for Religion and made Wyat their cheif The marriage was looked upon by them onely as an accessory thing and a means to strengthen that which they meant to overthrow and eo nomine for that respect onely it was to be hindred Upon this account William Thomas a Gospeller of those times conspireth to kill the Queen and at his death is so far from repenting of such a foul intention That he glorieth to die for the good of his Countrey Yea the Faction grew so tumultuous and bold That Doctor Pendleton was shot at in the very Pulpit Preaching at Pauls and Master Bourn had a Dagger thrown at him in the same place the multitude being so disorderly That the Lord Major himself had much ado to quiet them and the Lords of the Counsel were forced to come thither the next Sunday with a guard to keep things in order and to prevent further combustions which were feared At Westminster upon Easter-day a desperate fellow wounded the Priest as he was at Mass in Saint Margarets Church there After this they found out a Perkin Warbeck and brought him upon the Stage one Wilâ—iam Fetherston counterfeiting King Edward whom the world and some of themselves especially knew well enough to be dead on purpose to amuze the Queen and disturb the State There was one Cleber sometimes a Pedant living at Yakesly in Norfolke put to death for a conspiracy against the Queen Vdal Staunton Peckham and Daniel were committed for the same crime for which and for attempting to rob the Exchequer and her Treasury and also for Heresie they had their desert Not to speak of the Treasons of Dudley and Ashton set on by the French In Devonshire Sir Peter and Sir Gawin Cary great Protestants together with Sir Thomas Denny took arms to impede King Philips arrival in England possessed themselves for some time of Excester Castle but afterward seeing things go contrary to their expectation they made an escape by getting over into France Thomas Stafford coming well instructed from Genevah made Proclamations publickly in several places of the Kingdom that Queen Mary was not lawful Qeen was unworthy to reign and to abuse the people further gave out no less boldly then falsly that already Twelve of the best fortified places in England were committed to the Spaniards Upon which pretense Bradford Proctor Streachly and he surprize the Castle of Scarborough in Yorkshire a Fort of singular strength which they would hold against the Spaniards they should have said against their Queen and Sovereign but they lost it and their heads beside Henry Duke of Suffolk one to whom the Queen had given life before being Father to the Lady Jane and a privy Counsellor in those Treasons of Northumberland fled into Leicestershire with the Lord Gray making Proclamation against the Queens marriage but not being able to raise a Commanding Army as he hoped was compelled
the Moveables and Ornaments belonging to them the Augmentation Court was erected For the King seeing this extraordinary passiveness and submission of the Clergy could never think he had power sufficient till he had more then enough and therefore having already discharged his conscience from all Bonds but such onely as himself should think good to tie he took liberty to commit such outrages and violence upon Sacred things as no age before him nor since can parallel For first viz. Anno 27. of His Reign he appoints the Secretary Cromwel and Doctor Leigh as his Commissioners to visit the Abbyes and they by vertue of their said Commission first take out all the Plate cheifest Jewels and Reliques belonging to those houses and seize them to the Kings use Then they dismiss all such persons Religious as were under the age of Four and twenty years and had a desire to be at liberty in the world Anno 28. All the smaller Religious houses of the value of Two hundred pounds per annum and under were given to the King by Parliament with all their Lands and Hereditaments and of these the number was not less then Three hundred seventy and six who were able to dispend per annum to the benefit of the poor and service of the Publike not less then Three thousand two hundred pounds of old Rents of Assize bâ—side their Moveables Which bâ—ing undervalued and sold at mean rates yet amounted to above One hundred thousand pounds The Religious themselves and all people depending on them which were not a few were on a sudden outed and left unprovided even of Habitation above Ten thousand persons for no particular crimes charged or proved against them turned out of their own doors and driven to seek their fortune where they could A thing which compassionated the very common people themselves though not a little alienated in their affections at that time towards Monasticks more then they were wont to be to see so many persons compelled to Beg and live by Almes who by their bountiful and constant Hospitality had formerly releived many Anno 30. of His Reign some of the greater Abbies viz. Battle-Abby and the Abby of Lewis in Sussex Martin Abby in Surry Stratford in Essex were suppressed and all things belonging to them converted to the Kings use For indeed they were forced in some sort to proceed thus politickly in their work of desolation and to carry it on by degrees by reason of the Commonalty who though they stirred not yet they stood amazed as it were murmuring as lowd as they durst and were not a little unsatisfied at such doings But in the years 32. and 33. generally all the Monasteries of England of what value soever went to wrack and were destroyed The Lands belonging to Saint John's of Jerusalem were likewise given to the King and the Corporation of those Knights quite dissolved Though to turn out these with some kinde of contentment there was as some say certain Pensions during life distributed among them to the value of Two thousand eight hundred and seventy pounds In Anno 37. was the last sweep which King Harry made For then all the Chauntries in any part of the Kingdom which were many and numerous All Churches and places Collegiate yea the very Hospitals which were built and endowed by their several Founders onely and expresly for the relief of the poor were yet given to the King and permitted wholly to his order and disposing The value of Church Lands in England at this time amounted to above Three hundred and twenty thousand one hundred and eighty pounds per annum and of it the King took into his own possession and apropriated to the Crown to the value of One hundred sixty one thousand one hundred pounds yearly rent The rest it seems was sold or exchanged or distributed among Favourites Lastly to abuse the poor Commons perfectly and more easily to wipe them of those great and constant advantages as well Temporal as Spiritual which they received from these Religious places while they stood a proposition is made in Parliament by the Projectors and Sharers in this worke and 't is given out also to the people abroad That out of the Revenues of these Lands thus given to the King a standing Army for defence of the Kingdom and all other Military occasions of State should be maintained of no less then Forty thousand men besides Forty Earls Sixty Barons and Three thousand Knights for the Command and Conduct of this Army where need should be So that the Commons of England by this means should never heare of Tax or Subsidy any more This indeed was as pleasing a bait for the people as could be devised and it took accordingly They bit willingly at it But the Hook sticks in their jaws to this day Such a motion as this to note in a word by the way was made in that Parliament of Henry the fourth which they called the Lay-mens Parliament by those which countenanced Wicleff and loved the Lands far better then they did the Religion of the Church But their designs at that time were defeated by the Stout and Religious opposition of Thomas Arundel Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and other Prelates joyning with him Though now there were an unfortunate and unworthy Thomas found yet siting in that Seat of Canterbury ready to side with them for his own carnal ends and to countenance the Wicleffists of these times that is those Lutheran and malicious Spirits who by their Libels The supplication of Beggars well answered by Sir Thomas Moores Supplication of Souls and other wicked practises went about to destroy the Church and extripate true Religion Adde here unto the Kings natural Inclination to vain glory which was very great and begat those prodigal expences which he used towards his Favorites and Flatterers And these could not be long maintained but by extraordinary support which being not to be had in any way of Legality and Justice Avarice at last and many other vices which he was fallen to prompted him to fall upon the Church The Lords and Courtiers could not dislike the motion knowing what a rich Prey would fall to be divided among them Especially this pleased the principal Secretary of State afterward Lord Privy Seal Lord High Chamberlain of England and Earl of Essex who being a man of great experience and of a deep reach in worldly policies knew full well that such a confused Innovation as this and so full of Spoyle would be infinitely advantagious to him and a Ladder to clime at ease unto what Wealth or Honor he could wish He therefore instigates the King with all might and main to go through with the Action and to stand stoutly to his Prerogative and profit knowing his conscience was already buried in Anne Bolens Tombe To this end and the better to pave the way to his evil designs Sacriledge and Blood not seldom going along together Three of the principal Abbots of the Kingdom and Barons
Honor and Strength of the Nation Titulus Secundus HItherto Schisme and Sacriledge annexed to it chiefly reigned but the second plague was the utter ruin and extinction of Religion For by abuse of the name and authority of King Edward the very Church it self was entirely subverted Religion absolutely changed Heresie introduced and established in the full open and publike profession thereof And we might say the craft and malice of the Devil whose work it is to corrupt true Religion confound States herein most perfectly appeared For though indeed the way to Heresie and all publike disorder were sufficiently levelled and made plain by King Henry the Eighth who onely by reason of his greatness and imperious cruelty was fit to begin such a work yet Religion it self was suffered to stand a while longer at least in the general and more visible parts of it he knowing well that all could not be effected at once and that it was necessary for him to seduce States as he doth souls gradatìm by degrees opportunity and succession of time And being also confident that if those forts of Piety and true Christian-Catholike Devoâ—â—on that is the Religious Houses were once-razed the Church in England brought under a Lay head and by consequence the sheep made Governors of their Shepherds he should easily upon a second attempt there and by some other hand overthrow Religion it self King Henry at his death had appointed by will sixteen Executors who during the minority of his Son King Edward should be as it were his Guardians and Counsellors for the better governing of the Realm Among these one who made himself afterward Principal was the Lord Edward Seymour Earl of Hartford who being the Kings Uncle by the Mother-side procured himself in a short time to be made Protector and by that means gat as he thought a dispensation from his Joynt Executorship with the others and demeaned himself now in all things concerning the Affaires of the Realm as their Superior A thing which King Henry least of all intended rather he had provided with as much caution as was possible against the encroaching of any one upon the rest under any title or pretence soever But this was the way to bring about some furthâ—â— designes intended by that Party which advanced the Protector to that dignity and which the other and more honest part of the Councel did not either so providently foresee or so faithfully resist as they ought to have done One of the first things which the Protector set on foot after the Protectorship was secured to him was Innovation of Religion abolishing the Old Catholike and introducing a New under the title of Reformation Not so much out of any great preciseness that was ever observed in him or devotion that he was thought to have more one way then another but because he was thirsty and desired to drink to the bottom of the Cup which in King Harries time it seems he had but onely tasted There was yet some Game in his eye which he intend-to bring into Toyls viz. some few remains of Church-Lands Collegiate-Lands and Hospitals which he could not compass or draw into possession by any Engine better then that pretence of reforming Religion Cranmer that unworthy Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was his Right Hand and chief Assistant in the work although but a few months before he was of King Harries Religion yea a Patron and Prosecutor of the Six Articles To this end viz. the more to amuze the people and as they thought to give some strength and countenance to what they meant to set up a couple of strangers Religious men indeed by profession but such as were long since run from their Orders that is Peter Martyr and Bucer must be sent for as far as Germany and placed in the Divinity Chairs at Cambridge and Oxford That the world might see how contrary not onely the Pastors of the Church and Clergy but even all the learned men in both the Universities and of the whole Kingdom generally were to his proceedings By these two Apostate Friers together with Cranmer Ridley Latimer and some others was a new Liturgie framed and the old abolished together with that Religion which had been so many hundreds of years observed in this Nation with great happiness and honour The Protector though powerful of himself by abuse and pretence of the Kings name in all things which he did although the King were but a Child of nine years old was yet well seconded by the Duke of Northumberland and by the Admiral his onely Brother by the Marquis of Northampton c. all of them persons seemingly at least much inclined to Reformation and by them he overbore all the rest that opposed him or were any thing contrary to his designs As there were many both eminent and wise men and equally intrusted in the publike affairs with himself could things have been carried rightly In particular the Lord Privy Seal the Lord St. John of Basing Bishop Tonstall Sir Anthony Brown and that wise Secretary Sir William Paget but most especially the Noble Chancellor the Lord Wriothsley a man of singular experience knowledge prudence and who deserveth to be a Pattern to his Posterity far to be preferred before any new Guides But being made Earl of Southampton though it neither won him to the Faction nor contented nor secured him yet he stood thâ— more quiet and made no great opposition to their doings All things now grew to confusion there remained no face nor scarce the name of Catholike Church in England and though there were great multitudes of men well affected to the old Religion and discontented that the Church should be thus driven into the Wilderness and forced to lurk in Corners Yet did they shew loyalty obedience and love to the publike Peace notwithstanding They took up no Arms they raised no Rebellion not so much as against the shadow of a King or the usurper of his Royal name The Protector in the mean time goeth on with his work which is principally to enrich himself with the Remains of the Church having long before as 't is said tasted the sweetness of such Morsels in the Priory of Aumesbury He now seizeth two Bishops houses in the Strand and of them buildeth Sommerset house which as the world saw quickly reverted and slipt out of his hands After this he procureth an Act to be made whereby all Colledges remaining all Chantries Free Chappels and Fraternities were suppressed and given to the King And how greedily he entered into the Bishop of Bath and Wells his Houses and Manors that Church will never be able to forget Notwithstanding that Bishop Bourn afterward by his industry recovered something but nothing to the spoiles and wast which was made Nor was he satisfied with this For shortly after contrary to all Law to King Henries will and against his own Covenants those I mean which he entred to his Advancers when they made him Protector He committed the Lord Chancellor
we see well enough it had been in other cases of this Nature Neither in King Edward the Sixths time nor against the Kings of Scotland Denmark Sweden Duke of Saxony Marquis of Brandenburgh or any other Protestant Prince was there ever any such sentence issued to this day Whereupon Father Pâ—rsons and Father Campian procured some kinde of mitigation concerning it presently after the publishing and Pope Gregory following declared That the Subjects of England ought to perform all duties to Queen Elizabeth notwithstanding the censures So little reason is there in truth that Protestants should clamour so loud as they do and cry out nothing but Treason Treason against religious and good men who as they have no other business so come they hither for no other end but to do them good and so far as lieth in their power and office to save their souls They tell the world that no less then two hundred Priests have been executed in England for Treason since the times of Reformation which is certainly a very heavy report and sufficient to make them odious to all the world if it were true or that there were any thing in it but fallacie and aequivocation of words whiles they call that Treason in England which in all parts of Christendome besides is both called and counted Religion and the highest Vertue For we beseech them to tell us of what Treason do they convict us at any time but the Treason of being a Priest the Treason to say Mass the Treason to refuse the Oath the Treason to absolve Penitents confessing their sins the Treason to restore men to the Communion of the Church the Treason to Preach and Administer Christs Sacraments the Treason to be bred up in the Seminaries that is in such places where onely as things now stand in England thâ—y can be Catholikely bred and fitted for such Christian imployment What actual and real Treason is in England according to the true sâ—nse and notion of that crime â—dious both to God and man the Statute of 25 Edw. 3. will inform us better then any other being enacted when the whole Kingdom was of one mind and of one judgement as all Christian Kingdoms and Societies ought to be not rent nor overborn by factions and parties undermining and supplanting one another by indirect and undue meanes as it was when these new Statutes of Treason were made By that Statute and by the opinions of the most learned Judges in England Ploydon Stamford c. Treason must alwayes be some Action or Intention actually discovered not an opinion onely or a profession of Religion And this is the reason why Sir John Oldcastle Stow. one of Mr. Fox his Martyrs in the Reign of Henry the Fifth mentioned before though he were both Traytor and Heretike yet for his Treason he was condemned in one Court and for his Heresie in another as also were Cranmer and Ridley in Queen Maries time Secondly it must be some Act or Intention discovered of a subject prejudicial to his Sovereign or to the State where he lives But what hurt had ever I say not Queen Mary Henry the Eighth while he stood right Henry the Seventh or any other Catholike Prince but even Queen Elizabeth her self King James or any other Protestant Prince by a Priests saying Mass absolving of Penitents preaching of sound Doctrine to them and particularly of all due and just obedience to Civil Magistrates as they have ever constantly done Therefore by the common Laws of England and in it self it is not it cannot be Treason or criminous to be a Priest to say Mass Absolve c. But onely by Statute Laws it is made so upon temporary and present occasions and for certain politick ends which men have projected of themselves and which they are resolved to follow And therefore also it is by the very Statutes themselves provided 22. and 27. Elizab. That if a Priest conforms be content to go to Church to renounce the Pope or his Orders c. he becomes ipso facto without more ado Rectus in Curia and is actually discharged of all imputation of Treason no further proceedings lie against him Yea even at the very place of Execution and when the instruments of death are upon him yet still 't is in his own power if he please in three words to pardon himself and frustrate the expectation of so many eyes as are commonly waiting to see his last Exit Let him but say I will conform or I will swear c. Ther 's no man living dares meddle with him further Which is far otherwise where the offence is judged to be Treâ—son indeed and really prejudicial to the Prince or State But the fatal resolution being taken to change Religâ—on upon a principle or pretended reason of State as false as the Counsel it self was evil viâ— That otherwise the Queen could not be secure either of her Kingdom or Life it was necessary to take a severe course with those men whose Function obliged them to maintain True Religion and to endeavour to reduce things again into the old State From this root also sprang their extream jealousie and hatred of the Queen of Scots For she being Heir Apparent to the Crown after Queen Elizabeth and a Princess zealously affected unto Catholike Religion and so strongly Allied in France Those Statesmen who had contrived and wrought all the alterations here could never think themselves secure so long as her head stood upon her shoulders Therefore was she first invited into England upon pretence of Friendship and for Safety But when she was here used with so much unkindness and kept under restraint for little less then twenty years together that at last in order to procure her Liberty she was indeed provoked to doe something which it was easie for them who loved her not to interpret to be Treason and so they cut off her head From hence also sprung those continual injuries and practises of much ingratitude against the King of Spain The intercepting of his Treasure The holding of his Towns The ayding of Orange and the States as hath been said Lastly from this onely Source and Fountain of unjust Policie sprung all those laws of severity and bloud against Recusants as we are commonly called viz. of Twenty pound a moneth of Two third parts of Estate against Hearing Mass against Harbouring a Priest against Being reconciled c. It is well known the Recusants of England against whom those Laws were made were generally persons in all degrees of the Noblest quality in this Nation Vertuous Grave Wise Charitable Just and Good men of fair and friendly Conversation towards all I shall not say Loyal to their Prince because the contrary is so commonly beleeved Stow. yet our own Chronicles will not altogether deny them right in that regard while they testifiâ— how diligent and forward they were to offer their service to the Queen and State even in that great Action of Eighty eight Neither were
they altogether refused by her Majesty They were also generally men of plentiful Fortunes and good Estates and are so still except such as the Lawes and hard times have impoverished Yet because for Conscience sake they refuse to hear Common-prayer and Sermons to receive the Communion according to the new order of the Church of England they stand by Law as it were marked out for destruction and branded with all the Characters of ignominy suspition and prejudice which the people of any State even for the greatest crimes actually commited Sir Edw. Cook can justly suffer It is reported by a great Lawyer of this Nation that from primo Elizab. till the Bull of Pius Quintus was published which was about half a score or a dozen years after No person in England refused to come to Church as if perchance that Bull had beâ—â— the sole occasion which Catholikes took to disobey the Queens Injunctions But it is a great error For not to speak any thing of Puritans many of whom before that time refused the Church-Service how many Bishops and Priests were there in England known and professed Recusants from the first beginning How many Noblemen and Gentlemen of account did openly and absolutely refuse to joyn with their New Church It is true and to be lamented The revolt of the English under Queen Elizabeth from the true Catholike Religion so lately restored was too general and too many there were who suffered themselves to be carried away with the stream of Authority and with the evill example of their Neighbors and especially of Great Ones But what is this but a general infirmity and weakness commonly observed in the people What Form soever of Religious Profession a State sets up it proves an Idol to them and they are apt to fall down before it yea though the Figure which they worship as it happens sometimes hath much more of the Calf then of the Man in it And for this respect it cannot but be matter of much consideration to all wise States-men and States to be well advised how far they proceed in this kinde viz. of establishing or setting up any outward form or profession of Religion whatsoever especially by any compulsory Acts or Penalties lest the bloud of Souls lye upon their account another day As most certainly it shall whensoever people are misled into any corrupt way of Religion meerly upon the Authority and Resolution of the State And yet notwithstanding there were in many places of the Kingdom not a few of worthy and constant Catholikes who never bowed theer knees unto Baal that is never consented nor made profession of Heresie one way or other as Lanhearne Ashby de la Zouch Grafton Dingley Cowdrey and many other places can witness by whose integrity the Catholike Church in England viz. that Remnant according to the election of Grace which God was pleased to preserve here from the general contagion to glorifie his name by suffering and to give Testimony unto Truth have subsisted and stood by the great mercy of God unto this day though indeed suffering grievously for their Conscience as God was pleased from time to time to exercise them by confiscation of their Estates vexations by Pursivants and Promoters restraint and imprisonment of their persons at Wisbich Ely Banbury York Ludlow Bury the Fleet Gatehouse c. Not to speak any thing of the spoil of their Woods leasing their Lands exaction of Fines nor yet of their disarming by Law because this last though it were as unjust and undeserved as the rest yet it had more of disgrace and ignominy in it then of real damage arguing onely suspition or jealousie which the State would seem to have of them and nothing more But the Twenty pounds a moneth was a burden insupportable especially to the meaner sort Although it must be confessed the rigour and extremity thereof was many times moderated by the Lord Treasurer Burleigh Now to compare these men with the Recusant Puritans in England for such we must know there are more then a good many in all Countries All Recusants are not Popish if it were not too odious it might be very necessary and the world could not but see much better and acknowledge the patience humility and obsequious deportment of Catholikes compared with the others insolency and stoutness For t is very well seen already that this growing Sect of Protestant Recusants are not men likely to bear such burdens should the State finde it necessary to impose them They discover a far different Spirit even now while they are but in their shell as we may say and without any visible power or interest within the Nation save that of their number Compare them with the Recusant Fâ—ugonots of France who are Brethren and of the same principles with â—urs in England you would think our Catholike Gentlemen here to be all Priests in respect of their sober humble and Christian carriage of themselves whensoever they fall under question for Religion Their very Ministers there you would take to be all Sword-men Captains Sons of Mars so much fury rage breaths out in every word or action of theirs which relates to the publike Catholikes here are persons of all other most unwilling to offend Recusants there most unwilling to obey These defend their Religion with their Swords and by resistance of the Civil Magistrate ours onely with their Pen and with their prayers Ours endure and à Scio cui credidi with St. Paul is all their comfort These endure nothing wil trust no body with their cause but themselves and their Cautionary towns They have their Bezas Their Marlorates Chamiers and other Boutefeux swarming thick in all parts of the Kingdom ready to incense and set on fire the distempered multitude against their lawful governors they have their Montaubans their Rochels Saumurs Montpelliers places of refuge and retreat strong and well fortified to shelter themselves when they cannot make good their designs in the field Catholikes here have none of all these They have no Preachers but Preachers of Pennance and Mortification They hear no Sermons at any time but such as teach them Obedience Patience Resignation to the will of God and to be willing to suffer whatsoever the will of God is They have no places of security but their own unarmed houses which if they change it is always for the Fleet Gatehouse Newgate or som other prison and place of restraint Much talk there is among Protestants of the Inquisition its severity cruelty partiality and what not to make it odious and terrible to the people but verily if a man do well consider it in comparison of the troubles vexation and manifold danger both for life liberty and estate whereto the Catholikes of England Priests and Religious persons especially are subject it may seem rather a Scare-crow then any thing else Charls the Fifth Emperor in the year 1521. at Worms decreed onely Exile against Luther notwithstanding his obstinacy and all the