and protection against the wicked by our obedience ad laudem recte agentium v. 14. to the praise of them that do well So the Apostle Paul in that excellent Lecture of obedience foreseeing that Citie would be the mother of rebellion and that her Gouernour like the Prince of the Ayre should beare rule in the children of disobedience layes downe a generall and substantiall foundation for obedience Let euery soule c. No exception or exemption of Pope or Priest omnis anima c. etiamsi Apostolus Euangelista Propheta saith Saint Chrysostome vpon that place though an Apostle an Euangelist or a Prophet yet let him be subiect to the higher powers which Augustine Chrysostome and the best Ancients confesse and affirme to be potestates saeculares the secular powers and so acknowledged by the Iesuite Pererius to be temporall powers and the Apostle enforceth all to this obedience by three reasons 1. Drawne à causa procreante the efficient or procreant cause of gouernment For there is no power but of God and the powers that bee are ordained of God vers 1. 2. Drawne ab effectu pernicioso from the pernicious effect of disobedience Whosoeuer resisteth power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receiue to themselues condemnation or iudgement v. 2. 3. Taken A beneficio or ab effectu vtili from the benefit or profitable effect of obedience For hee is the Minister of God for thy wealth v. 4. Concluding that obedience is necessary Non solum propter timorem sed propter conscientiam v. 5. Not onely for feare but for Conscience sake So againe the Apostle Paul layes downe his Apostolicall lesson to his sonne Titus Put them in remembrance or admonish them that they be subiect to Princes or Principalities and powers and that they be obedient c. Nay indeed it is naturae thesis natures theame to obey Princes and of this theame Grace is the Hypothesis Looke vpon the silly Bees the best emblemes of obedient Creatures painefull in their labour dutifull in their life their king being safe they are all at vnity Rege incolumi mens omnibus vna Amisso rupere fidem constructaque mella destruere So long as their King is well they follow their worke but being lost they leaue and loath their Hony-combes and when their king waxes olde and cannot flie fert ipsum turba apum they carry him on their wings Et si moritur moriuntur ipsae And if hee die they die with him as some write Behold how nature hath stamped obedience by instinct to Bees to bee subiect to a superiour in their kinde how much more should nature reason and grace stampe obedience in the hearts of Christians knowing that without a kingly gouernment Kingdomes are thraldomes remota iustitia quid sunt regna nisi magna latrocinia saith Austen Take away Iustice and what are kingdomes but dens of theeues Take away obedience to gouernment and that were miscere terris Tartara make earth and hell all one but only in name There is not wanting diuine precepts or diuine patternes to allure loyall obedience take two in stead of many the first and best of all our Sauiour Christ in whom God is well pleased and the second Dauid a man after Gods owne heart Our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ yet God and man in the daies of his flesh disdained not to obey such as were in authority commanding to giue vnto Caesar that which is Caesars and paying tribute to Caesar for himselfe and Peter by the hands of Peter though Peters supposed successors will pay none And though our Sauiour Christ receiued manifold iniuries and indignities from vniust and faithlesse Gouernours yet he neuer moued rebellion or resistance but digested all with patience and obedience knowing that the powers that be are ordained of God telling Pilate that vniust Iudge that his power was Datadesuper giuen him from aboue for the rule is giuen of the Lord and power of the most high Deo obediendum est propter se tanquam summo domino magistratui propter deum tanquam illius ministro saith one God is to bee obeyed for himselfe being chiefe Lord the Magistrate is to bee obeyed for God as being Gods Minister or deputie So that the patterne of Christs obedience to temporall powers must be our platforme of instruction in the duty of obedience 2. Dauids obedience to King Saul is very commendable and remarkeable Saul was a Tyrant sought without cause or colour to kill Dauid yet Dauid often hazarded his life and limmes against Sauls enemies the Philistines euermore testifying his prompt obedience and seruice to his Soueraigne and when this King Saul like that other Saul breathing out threatnings and slaughter against Dauid following him to the wildernesse of Engedi where Dauid vsed pia fallacia hid himselfe in a Caue and had opportunity to cut off Sauls head as well as the lappe of his garment or if hee were timorous to dip his hand in bloud as once a Gregory willed Sabinian to tell the Emperor exciting him against the Lombards Timeo Deum metuo habere manum in sanguine alicuius I feare God and am afraid to haue any hand in bloud oh that Popes had now hearts like Gregory fearefull to shedde bloud if I say Dauid had such a qualme of feare come ouer his heart lo the hands of his seruants ready to haue done it and scarce could be kept from it onely Dauid doth terrifie them from doing it The Lord keepe mee from doing that thing vnto my Master the Lords Anointed to lay my hands vpon him for he is the Lords Annointed Dum timuit oleum seruauit inimicum as excellently Optatus in fearing the annointing he preserued his enemie But after this obedient fidelity performed by Dauid to King Saul behold the sicknesse of that Tyrant suspition moues Saul still to persecute Dauid the Ziphims tell Saul Dauid hides himselfe in the hill of Hachilah In a worde Dauid might haue killed Saul sleeping or if hee would not himselfe do it Abishai offred his seruice I pray thee let me smite him once with a speare to the earth and I will smite him no more but stil see how obedience holds his hands and moues his tongue Destroy him not for who can lay his hand on the Lords Annointed and be guilt lesse And afterward Saul being slaine and a certaine Amalckite hoping to haue beene a happy Post in telling Dauid Saul is dead and shewing Dauid that hee hasted Sauls death though Saul himselfe had acted the Prologue of his owne death this made the Epilogue of his life and brought the Crowne in his hand a tempting bait to gette praise or pardon yet all in vaine how wast thou not afraid to put forth thy hand to destroy the anointed of the Lord
the olde law who as they say by vertue of their Priesthood haue deposed and depriued Kings from their seates which power they labour to deriue and appropriate to the Popes office I will name but two of them in two examples 1 Cardinall Allen alleadgeth Azarias the high Priest who with â—o other Priests put downe Ozias smitten with leprosie by force out of the Temple and depriued him of his regall authority Ergo say they it is lawfull for the high Priest that is the Pope to driue hereticall Kings that is spirituall Leapers out of the Temple of Gods Church and Territories of their kingdome by excommunication which is a separation and then by deposition which is a finall depriuation of them and deputation of some other Regent as Azarias committed the kingdome to be then gouerned by Iotham his sonne Wee answere as some of our Church haue answered That Azarias did not depriue Ozias of his regall power for he held it to his dying day onely his sonne Iotham as a kinde of Viceroye was surrogated because the immediate hand of God had smitten him with leprosie for his leprosie he was punished to liue apart a priuate life not to be depriued of his inheritance Ambition couetousnesse yea all sinne is a leprosie hath not the Pope such a contagion why then he may as well be depriued of his Miter being a grand sinner and so a great leaper as any other Indeed Ozias or Vzziah greatly sinned in presuming to vsurpe the Priests office transgressing against the Lord in going into the Temple to burne incense vpon the Altar of incense and Azariah with the other Priests withstood Vzziah the King telling him it pertained not to him to burne incense but to the Priests the sonnes of Aaron consecrated to offer it and was smitten of the Lord for it with leprosie and so liued apart according to the Law yet still was King in esse though not in execution 2 Cardinall Bellarmine alleadgeth Iehoiada the High Priest who commanded Athalia the Queene to bee slaine and Ioash to succeed implying an inference that so it is lawfull for Popes to doe the like We answer that Athalia an vsurper and murderer killing all the royall seed excepting only the secretly preserued Ioash the vndoubted heyre of the Crowne beeing proclaimed and annointed King with a generall consent of all Iehoiada by the authority of the King and not as High Priest but rather tanquam regis patruus Protector as his Kinsman and Protector the King being in his minority seauen yeares olde and Iehoiada being his Allye hauing married the Kings Anâ— and so bound by the Law of Nature and Nations to defend the Kings right and to reuenge the tyranny of a bloudy Queen against the Kings killed progeny and Iehoiadaes commandement was confirmed by the Kings authority and with the common consent and Counsell of the land not as being High Priest but as chiefe of his Tribe to reuenge the crying bloud of the royall offspring murthered by vsurping Athalia to depriue her of her vsurped regiment and life what is this to depose a lawfull King by the authority of the Pope Kings shall anguste sedere as Tully said to Caesar haue quaking Scepters vnquiet seates and narrow limits if the Pope haue power to depriue them of their power state But to passe ouer other the like examples alleadged by Romanists in this kinde I will touch those foure things which they obiect and say doe dissolue regall right and make Kings who are culpable of such faults to forfeit their Crownes 1. Tyranny 2. Infidelity 3. Heresie 4. Apostacy The Popish assertions heerein runne in the affirmatiue that all or any one is sufficient to depriue a King of his Crown The opinions of Protestants run in the negatiue that none of these are sufficient to make a King forfeit his dignity and Diademe To begin with the first Tyranny doth not cut off a King from his soueraignty Who a greater Tyrant then King Saul who hunted after Dauids soule to take it yet who was so faithfull among all his seruants as Dauid confessed by Sauls owne mouth To be more righteous then he for thou hast rendred mee good and I haue rendred thee euill yea this Saul such a tyrant that he commanded Doeg to fall vpon the Lords Priests and Doeg at his commandement flew sounescore and fiue persons that did weare a linnen Ephod and did smite Nob the Priests City with the edge of the sword both man and woman childe and suckling oxe and asse and sheepe with the sword Yet Dauid no priuate or plebeâ—an subiect but a man by Gods commandement designed for the Kingdome cheefe Captaine and Coronel of Sauls Army and heire apparent to the Crowne and hauing opportunity to depriue Saul of his life and importunity of his followers to doe the deed yet heare his voice The Lord keepe me from doing that thing vnto my Master the Lords Annointed to lay my hand vpon him for he is the Lords Annointed and the same Dauid to Abishai Destroy him not for who can lay his hand vpon the Lords Annointed and be guiltlesse O heauenly voice of holy Dauid how different are Popelings from Dauids resolution Occasionem victoria Dauid habebat in manibus incantum securum aduersarium sine labore poterat iugulare advictoriam opportunitas hortabatur sed obstabat Diuinorum memoria mandatorum non mittam manum in vnctum Domini repressit cum gladio manum dum timuit oleum seruauit inimicum As most elegantly and excellently writes Optatus Dauid had a present occasion of security of victory and might without any difficulty or danger haue killed his vnkind and vnconsiderate enemy opportunity might haue pressed him to it but the remembrance of Gods commandements stay his hand Touch not my Annointed This keepes backe the hand and sword and fearing the regall oyle fauours a dismall enemy Now Tyranny may be of two kinds either of vsurped regiment and dominion without any ciuill title and interest hauing no titular foundation but violent vsurpation and herein subiection is not necessary Quoad obedientiam if Quoad Sustâ—…ntiam Herein patience more requisite then obedience 2 Kind is when ordinary and lawfull power degenerates into tyranny and cruelty by abuse and herein Papists giue liberty Tyrannum occidere licet It is lawfull to kill a Tyrant contrary to Dauid God forbid that I should lay mine hand vpon the Lords Annointed 1 Sam. 26. 11. Meaning Saul a Tyrant by abuse but not by vsurpation but we haue handled this before and therefore leaue it 2. Infidelity doth not depriue a King of his regiment Oh but replies the Papist All title to Dominion hath foundation in the grace of Iustice Charity and Piety so that by impiety or infldelity they make forfeiture of their authority Answer It is prouidence not grace that disposeth ciuill titles grace not prouidence that makes them
AND if euer Praiers needfull in this kinde now is the time Nolite tangere abhorred of Heathens is now applauded and defended of false Christians Religion and superstition now comes forth with her knife ready to cut Kings throats it beeing the generall rule of them Occide haereticum Kill an hereticke make away with him giue him an Italian posset poyson him though it be in the Sacrament as Henry the seuenth Emperour poysoned in Sacramentall bread Victor the third Pope in the Sacramentall cup and yet they say that Christs bloud is really in the wine how then comes that poyson of death mixed with that sacred substance of life The Patrons and Proctors to plead for King-killers I meane the Iesuites with their adherents make this for a conclusion That any priuate man may be an executioner of a King excommunicated and deposed by the Pope and Caesar Baronius alledges commends out of Iuo a breue of Pope Vrban the second wherein it is pronounced that they are no homicides who kill such as are excommunicate for wee doe not iudge them to bee murtherers who burning with the zeale of their Catholike mother against such as are excommunicate happen to haue killed any of them And so Suarez the Iesuite in his last booke against our King writes After sentence condemnatory is giuen of the King c. then hee that hath pronounced the sentence or he to whom it is committed may depriue the King of his kingdome euen by killing him if hee cannot doe it otherwise and the very Cannibals are not more thirsty of bloud then these false Catholickes commending commanding murther the murther of Gods Anointed Kings which any heart not stupified with Atheisme or reprobate sence would tremble at it and appropriate the doing of that deed onely to Papists for so Suarez saith If his lawfull successor be a Catholike and so that hee be a Catholike that succeedes in the right challenging the right of committing so execrable villany to appertaine to none but onely to Romish Catholikes disdaining that any should haue an hand in so horrible and hellish mischiefes against the King but onely a friend and follower of the Popes religion true-borne children of their bloudy Mother the whore of Babilon the mother of murder drunken with the bloud of Saints and with the bloud of the Martyrs of Christ Iesus If the Pope cries against any King with the Citizens in that parable Nolumus hunc regnare Wee will not haue this man to reigne presently pollicie villany mischiefe and murder fraud and deceit all shall conspire to accomplish the Popes desire If poyson and policie faile power shall â—reuaile like to him when intreaty could not moue laid his hand on his sword saying At hic faciet but this shall doe it if Mercurie be too weake Mars shall second him then leaue Apolloes harpe and take Hercules club both pens and pikes heads hearts and hands are too nimble to hurt Kings Sanguiuolenta est mens Sanguinolenta manus A bloudy heart must haue a bloudy hand How many Princes of Christendome hath that Sea of Rome swallowed and deuoured A Sea indeede nay a red Sea of bloud or Mare mortuum wherein that Leuiathan makes his Sea as the Lord tells Iob like a potte of oyntment Sed mors in illa ella Death is in the pot Out of this Sea creepe those Crocodiles I meane Iesuites Seminaries and men vsually troubled with the Kings euill Treason These Romish rats creepe into regall Pallaces at last take and taske their owne bane like the spirits of Deuils of whom S. Iohn worke myracles to goe vnto the Kings of the earth and those whom they cannot draw by their collusion they would deuoure by effusion I may say of them as Polymnestor speakes in the Tragedie of Hecuba Hastifera armata equestris Marti obnoxiagens They are well weaponed people dagges and daggers charmes poysons powder all tragicall and traiterous engines and instruments they haue to touch Gods Anointed the Kings of the earth corporally In olde time scarce any treason without a Priest in our time scarce any without a Iesuite As Iudas was the antesignanus of traytors chiefe Captain of the cursed crue so since him the false stiled Iesuits but the true Iudaites are the cheefe Shibas to blow aloud the trumpet of rebellion And there was a wicked man named Sheba the sonne of Bicri a man of Iemini and hee blew the Trumpet and said We haue no part in Dauid nor inheritance in the sonne of Ishai Euery man to his tents O Israel 2 Sam. 20. 1. And there are many of Israel that follow these Shebas but the men of Iudah claue fast vnto their King from Iordan euen to Ierusalem All good subiects will cleaue with the men of Iudah faithfully to their King and will goe with Ioab to pursue these Shebas vntill their heads be cut off and throwne to them ouer the wall These Shebas make Kings the markes of their murther saying with treacherous Achitophel I will smite the King onely or with the King of Aram Fight neyther against small or great saue onely against the King of Israel Feriunt summos fulmina montes The highest mountaines most exposed to Thunders And to perpetrate such crying and capitall murders they will hazard the perill of their liues and losse of their soules and but that the Lord hath giuen his Angels a charge ouer his Anointed to keepe them in all his waies the attempts of such desperate miscreants were deadly dangerous for as Seneca Vitae tuae dominus est quisquis suam contempsit He is Master of thy life who contemnes his owne Cato when hee had got a sword though therewith to kill himselfe cried out Now am I my owne man So these desperate villaines who runne with desire to their owne deaths are their owne men to act murder but God doth bring to nought their desires and deuices and raiseth vp for his seruants in extraordinary dangers extraordinary deliuerances The imminent danger of King Croesus yet a Heathen King opened the mouth of his dumbe sonne to tell it Bessus his parricide discouered by the chattering of Swallowes verifying Salomons wordes The fowles of the ayre carrie that voice God can cause euery fowle of heauen and euery creature on earth to finde a tongue to tell treason to deliuer his Anointed Our gracious King is a speaking mappe of many wonderfull deliuerances in extraordinary dangers still we cry and craue with Dauid Domine saluum fae Regem Lord saue the King cloath all his enemies with shame and breake them in peeces like a Potters vessell Let thy hands O Lord finde out all that hate him make them like a fiery ouen in the time of thine anger and destroy them in thy wrath Deliuer his soule from the sword and saue him from the Lions mouthes confound all Shebas that would stirre
â—lla Like the noise of thornes burning vnder the Pot as Salomon Eccle. 7. 8. And therefore these fulminations were againe confirmed by Pius Quintus his successour Gregory the 13. Yet all these plots instar vaporis euanuerunt vanished away like smoake proceeding out of that smoaky Kingdome of Antichrist and her Crowne and person by the fauour of the Almighty vnder whose shadow shee was protected safely defended and reigned forty and foure yeeres foure moneths and eight dayes a Virgin Queene and died in peace in a full and glorious age so beloued so honoured and so esteemed of her subiects at home and Princes abroad as neuer any Queene more so that it was verified of her truly which the Psalmist of Christ typically Why did the Heathen rage together and the People imagine a vaine thing The Kings of the Earth stand vp and the Princes assembled together against the Lord and against his Annointed but he that dwelled in the Heauens did laugh them to scorne the Lord had them in derision for there is no wisdome neither vnderstanding nor counsell against the Lord. And this our deare and dread Soueraigne whom the Lord of mercy still preserue hath beene subiect to sundry dangers by wicked Traitors as his Maiesty doth witnesse it himselfe not onely since his birth but before his birth euen in his Mothers belly but especially to two most horrible Treasons this in Scotland attempted by the bloudy Gowries the fift of August and the other in England the fift of Nouember the Gun-powder Treason from both which barbarous and monstrous proiects the latter no age can parallel the like the great King of all Kings in his great mercy graciously protected him that both King subiects may say with Zachary Being deliuered out of the hands of our enemies we may serue him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the daies of our liues So that our King may vse the Psalmists words When the wicked euen mine enemies and my foes came vpon me to eat my flesh they stumbled and fell The Lord did reward them according to their deeds and according to the wickednesse of their inuentions Therefore giue vnto the Lord O ye sonnes of the mighty giue vnto the Lord all the glory for your deliuerance CHAP. III. TREASON hath beene alwaies accounted an heynous sinne and by Iustinian ranked next to Sacriledge Crimen laesae Maiestatis proximuÌ„ Sacrilegio c. Treason is next to Sacriledge the one a robbery of God this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fighting with God so odious that the sole intention without action or execution is death for Voluntas reputatur pro facto in causa proditionis The will is accounted for the deede in Treason Principis in rehus voluisse sat est And therefore there was a statute made in the reigne of Edward the third That whosoeuer shal imagine the Kings death are guilty of rebellion and high treason This statute toucheth all Iesuites who are perduellionum signiferi the ring-leaders of Rebels to animate them to rebellion vnder a colour of religion If the meere intention of Treason be so capitall what then is the Action Clamitat im coelum vox sanguinis The voyce of blood cryes to heauen for reuenge VVhat doth the voyce of royall bloud spilt by the hands of execrable Parricides destroying Gods owne image the Lords Annointed May I not call such as Polycarpe called Marcion Daemonis filiolos the Deuils children and say as our Sauiour did to the Iewes Ye are of your Father the Deuill he hath beene a murtherer from the beginning Nay the very Heathens void of Gods word did greatly abhorre Traitors and seuerely punish them Traitors among the Greekes were brought to Delphos and they did offer them a quicke sacrifice to Apollo The Persians did bury such quicke and the Romanes brought such to the publicke Theaters where they were hewed in peeces per gladiatores by the sword-players Cn Pompeius the Great made a Law as Pomponius relates it to punish Parricides destroyers of Fathers or Mothers in this kinde To put them into a great vessell or tun or such like instrument inclosing with them in it a Dogge a Viper a Cocke and an Ape and to cast them into the Sea VVhat then shall be done to the publicke Parricides destroyers of Kings and Countries Our Lawes of England hath prouided for them a fit punishment which is this A Traytor conuicted hath his punishment to be drawne from his prison to the place of execution as being vnworthy any more to tread vpon the Mother earth and that backward his head downe-ward as hauing beene retrograde to the naturall course of obedience after hanged vp by the necke twixt heauen and earth as deemed vnworthy of both his priuy parts cut off as vnfit to leaue any generation behinde him his bowels and entrailes burned which in wardly conceiued and concealed Treason his head cut off which imagined such mischiefe and last of all his body quartered as a prey for the birds of the aire and as it was said of a traiterous Iesuite Sic bene pascit aues qui malè pauit oues In life he had no care the sheepe to feede And now his carkasse serues the fowles in neede The Apostle Paul saith That they that resist shall receiue to themselues iudgement The greeuousnesse of iudgement should be proportionable to the heynousnesse of the crime for if the law requireth an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth life for life what death sufficient for a Traytor that kills a King a murderer of many who is worth ten thousand of vs so that hee cannot be sufficiently punished of man but God also will punish him who is a reuenger of such sins Neuer did I reade of any Traytor that did euer escape both the hand of man hand of God Looke vpon Absalom a double Traytor to his Father and his King his end sutable First his chiefe Counseller and plotter Achitophel hanged himselfe twenty thousand of his adherents were slaine in battell Last of all Absalom by the hand of Heauen was hanged vp by the hayre of his head in stead of an halter vpon an Oake tree in stead of a gallowes or gybbet Sheba that traiterous Rebell lost his head for his treason against Dauid King Ammon the sonne of King Manasses an euill King was slaine by his seruants who conspired against him slew him in his owne house but this bloudy fact of King-killing was so odious to the people of the land that they slew them al that had conspired against King Ammon Treacherous Zimri slue his King but the people hearing of it made Omri King to take Zimri who fired the Kings house and died in the fire Bigthan and Teresh who sought to lay hand on King Assuerus were both hanged on a tree The Scripture is plentifull
vpon the regall Throne so long as the Sunne and Moone endureth Haec regnd tenere Et natos natorum qui nascentur ab illis That all his Subiects may euer pray for him obey him and honor him aswel in deeds as words heaâ—ts as tongues saying and praying God saue the King CHAP. VII THE fourth duty of Subiects to be duly rendred and tendered to their annointed Soueraignes is loyall and faithfull seruice thinking themselues as Tiberius said of his People Homines ad seruitutem nati Men borne to doe them seruice And therefore it was a commendable order as Melancthon records it that euery Citizen did sweare taking a corporall Oath Pugnabo pro sacris pro legibus pro aris focis solus simul cum alijs ne patriam meam deteriorem qua accepi posteris tradam omnibus viribus enitar I will fight for Religion for our lawes c alone with others and I will with all my might rather endeauour to better then to make worse my Countrey to posterity acknowledging themselues seruants to their Countrey and vowing their best endeauours to doe her faithfull seruice So all true subiects are bound by the Lawes of God and men to be faithfull seruants to their Soueraignes and if they neglect or reiect this duty I may say to them as Dauid did to Abner Ye be worthy to die because ye haue not kept your Master the Lords Annointed because you haue not been faithfull seruants to your anointed Soueraignes If any Bighthan or Teresh seek to lay hands on our gracious Soueraigne with faithfull Mordecai and Ester speedily preuent it by reuealing it If any King of Aram takes counsell with his seruants against the King of Israel with faithfull Elisha reueale it to your Caesar euen the words he speakes in his Priuy Chamber nay not onely reueale it but reuenge it In reos Maiestatis publicos Hostes omnis homo miles est saith Tertullian against Traytors and publike enemies euery man is a Souldier yea in this kind and sence we may and must in fortitudine nostra sumere cornua with Zedekiah make hornes of iron to push these treachercus Aramites vntill wee haue consumed them giue couragious resistance to treacherous violence vntill they may receiue deserued doome by Iustice And for the performance of this loyall seruice to their appointed Soueraignes no condition of men vnder the Sunne can pleade immunity neither Popes Priests nor People the Pope cannot pleade priuiledge if he will stand to his owne and old title Seruus seruorum A seruant of Seruants but he carries himselfe now adayes as if his Prentiship were out and would change his stile to be Dominus Dominorum A Lord ouer his Lord as the old Poet tels vs Roma tibi quondam fuerant Domini Dominorum Seruorum serui nunc tibisunt Domini For he disclaimes in action his old appellation the seruant of seruants neuer vses it but by way of equiuocation But to let him goe for Senex psittacus non capit ferulam He is too old to learne and happy are those Kings that haue least part of his seruice but if it please the Pope to be like the High Priests and I thinke that title is high enough for him they were content to call themselues seruants vnto Kings as Abimilech accounted himselfe Sauls seruant Let not the King impute any thing vnto his seruant c. And Zadocke the High Priest called by Dauid his seruant So Aaron to Moses Ne indignetur Dominus meus Let not the wrath of my Lord waxe fierce In a word Summi sacerdotes regibus subdebantur saith their Iesuite Their chiefe Priests were subiects and seruants to Kings in the Law and the chiefe Apostle euen Saint Peter from whom they would fetch their Pedegree of Primacy enioynes all in the Gospell to submit themselues for the Lords sake whether it be vnto the King as vnto the superior So that their freedome from seruice to the Princes of the Earth hath no warrant except from the Prince of the Ayre to whom Rome dedicates her scepter and seruice And this loyall seruice of the members vnto the royall and Princely Head ought to be dutifull faithfull and perpetuall that is the happy seruice which comes from an hearty obedience many things may seeme so in apparance which are not so in eslence It is the practise and very prayers of the wicked to cry thus Hor. 1. Epist 16. Da mihi fallere da iustum sanctumque videri Noctem peccatis fraudibus obijce nubem If they seeme trusty in shew though treasonable in heart they care not like bad seruants not in singlenesse of heart but with seruice to the eye as men-pleasers obey they their regall Masters This Age is full of such treacherous hearts as deceiptfull as Ioab to Amasa who tooke him aside to speake with him peaceably and smote him vnder the fift rib that he died or like Dalilah to Sampson with faire words and weeping to betray him to the Philistines No treason but in trust Decipimur specie recti The fained voice of Fowlers catcheth the Partridges Plouers The Mother of Error puts on her maske to bee taken for the Daughter of Time truth The Wolfe in sheeps cloathing scarce knowne from the sheapheards dogge Ptolomie the sonne of Abusus vnder a faire vizard of loue and kindnes feasting Simeon and his two sonnes killes them in his banquetting house Herod when he would play the wolfe he counterfetted a Foxe Goe and search diligently for the Babe and when ye haue found him bring me word that I may worship him his meaning was to worrie him So Iudas comes with his Aue Rabbi Haile Master betraying him with a kisse Do'i non sunt doli nisi astu celas Plautus So many a perfidious Traytor will cry Aue Caesar God saue the King but it is with such an affectioÌ„ as Antoninus Caracalla said of his brother Geta Sit diuus modo non viuus Let him be a Saint or a King in Heauen so he be not a King on Earth Beware of dissemblers parasites and equiuocators His nomina mille mille nocendi artes Such are full of fraud full of villany beleeue them as the people of Rome belieued Carbon swearing neuer to credit him They are like to Polypus haue various shapes changing themselues into Angels of light but Malus vbi se bonum simulat tunc est pessimus A bad man when he counterfetteth to be good is worst Simulata sanctitas est duplex iniquitas A counterset holinesse is a two fold wickednesse Let vs performe according to our place faithfull hearty and trusty seruice to our dread Soueraigne and though the wicked labour to darken with a cloud of slaunder our faire and faithfull seruice yet at last that eclips of enuy will vanish of it selfe and our owne innocency
non vult cogitur sed cum intrauerit iam volons pascitur He that is compelled is compelled against his will to enter but when he is entred he is fed willingly The Lord for his mercy sake by the power of his word draw all Christs flocke to vnity in Religion and giue to all Kings faithfull hearts to fauour and follow the same and specially O Lord blesse from Heauen thy deare seruant our dread Soueraigne giue him all graces and gifts sutable for his Princely calling knit his heart vnto thee that he may euer feare thy name and let all them that loue the Gospell of Iesus Christ night and day pray God saue the King Spiritually CHAP. XI Thirdly God saue the King Politically AND to induce all loyall subiects to this acceptable and dutifull seruice many causes concurre both diuine and ciuill whersoeuer we turne our thoughts which may englad our hearts and moue them to burne in affectionate flames in the oblation of this deuotion For vnder him we leade a peaceable and a quiet life free from forraine feares or domesticall troubles that we may say by his gracious gouernement in our Lard Mercy and Truth haue met together Righteousnesse and Peace haue kissed each other And againe with the Psalmist The Scepter of thy Kingdome is a Scepter of righteousnesse thou louest righteousnesse and hatest iniquitie wherefore God euen thy God hath annointed thee with the oyle of gladnesse aboue thy fellowes We haue and heare peaceably and plentifully the welcome tidings of the Gospell the voyce of the Turtle is heard in our Land enioying a setled peace among our selues and with other Nations hauing trafficke and commerce with them a soueraigne benefit to inrich these Realms The admirable peace plenty and prosperity by a Christian and politicall gouernement his Highnesse People doe enioy hath made other Nations enuie our felicity The French haue sworn that this Land in respect of peace and plenty long continued was the Land of Promise and their Kings hitherto haue had Moses punishment to stand vpon their Towers as he vpon Mount Nebo to see the clifts of this Canaan but not permitted to enter that we see that verified which Salomon long agoe deliuered A King by iudgement maintaines the Country or with wisdome her selfe A wise King is the stay of the People or to speake of our Soueraigne in the words of the Princely Prophet The Lord chose Dauid his seruant c to feed his People in Iacob and his inheritance in Israel so hee fed them according to the simplicity of his heart and guided them by the discretion of his hands So that wee find the saying of Cominaeus true Foelix resp in qua qui imperat timet Deum That is an happy Common-wealth in the which the King feares God or with Salomon Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the sonne of Nobles and much more of noble vertues How happy was the Throne of Gouernement how successefully Religion propagated when vertue honouring Constantine was inthroned The like in other Christian Emperours then Iustice was exalted vertue rewarded piety inlarged vice punished superstition discouraged Of all temporall blessings none more incomparable then to be blest with a good and godly King Woe to thee O Land when thy King is a Child saith Salomon vnable and vnapt for that high function the Art of Arts and Office of God farre more intricate and difficult then any other kind of ministration on Earth But thankes be giuen vnto God who hath giuen vnto vs a pious prudent and peaceable King experienced in the regall Art yea learned in all good Arts indowed with iudgement prowesse wisdome bounty iustice temperance clemency and compassion who may truly say with the Orator Natura me clementem fecit resp seuerum postulat sed nec natura nec resp crudelem efficiet Nature frames him merciful the Common-wealth requires seuere yet neither nature or Common-wealth can make him cruell that I may apply that to his praise which the Poet appropriated to Caesar Ouid de pont Eleg. 3. Est piger ad poenas Princeps ad praemia velox Quique dolet quoties cogitur esse ferox A Prince to punish slow yet swift to giue And when he must be cruell much doth grieue Yet he keepes a golden meane in the mixture of Mercy and Iustice that his Tribunall is not like to Cassius Tribunall Reorum Scopulus Neither a Rocke or refuge to the guilty Malefactors but spares some in mercy and for example cuts off others in Iustice Truncatur artus vt liceat reliquis securé viuere membris And which is great praise in a Prince and powerfull to doe much good in the politicke body is the edification of his Maiesties examplar life acknowledged by his owne enemies the Papists and forcible to moue his subiects to imitation for the people like Labans sheepe conceiue by the eye and are obseruant of Princes vertues or vices and as Claudian to the Emperour Honorius Vt te totius medio telluris in orbe Viuere cognoscas cunctis tua gentibus esse fact a palam They act their Princely part vpon the open Theater of the world and oftentimes taxed by the secret censures of malapert and malignant spirits when they are free from any faulty reprehension as Cymon at Athens taxed that he dranke wine Romans find fault with Scipio for his sleepe with Pompey for scratching of his head And indeed deminitiue faults in Princes are counted superlatiue because of the publike example for sinne is made worse three wayes 1. Ratione loci 2. Ratione Temporis 3. Ratione personae In respect of place time and person which commits it In sayling saith Agapetus the error of an old ordinary shipman causeth little detriment but the error of the Steers-man or Pylot hazards the whole voyage So the euill examples of great persons draw multitudes and their errours cause terrours and troubles to the Common-wealth Quic quid delirant reges plectuntur Achiui Yet euer was there such a flattery of the Regall Scepter that sometimes vices passed for vertues and few there be that dare with that bold Pirate tell Alexander because I doe it in a Fly-boate I am called a Pirate thou doest the like in a great Nauy and called an Emperour But herein let our enemies be iudges that our Soueraigne may truly say with Leonidas Nisi te fuissem melior non essem Rex As farre aboue all in vertue as he is aboue them in place for though Popes vsually are praised for their goodnes when they surpasse not the wickednesse of other men as the Historian tels vs yet our gracious King may in the integrity of his vpright life boldly and truly say with good and iust Samuel Behold here I am beare record of me before the Lord and before his Annointed whose Oxe haue I taken or whose Asse haue I taken or whom haue I
great peeces whereupon he brought the fellow backe and priuately without the knowledge of any man bound him in a priuy house and locked many doores vpon him and his pot with him and so hasted by foure of the clocke in the morning to aduertise his Maiesty according to his duty and desirous that the King in his person priuately would bee pleased to behold this spectacle To this perfidious Sinon the King giues a Princely audience Ignarus scelerum tantorum artisque Pelasga Virg. Returning to him at first this answere That hee would send backe with the said Alexander a seruant of his owne with a warrant to the Prouost and Bayliffes of Saint Iohnstoun to receiue the alledged fellow a man in the Moone and the money supposed till his further pleasure was knowne To be briefe his Highnesse importuned by the in sinuations of this faire-spoken yet false Iudas resolues the chace being ended and not dreaming that his Princely person should haue beene hunted by such a fawning yet bloody hound to goe to Saint Iohnstoun to see with his Princely eyes the newes which this meale-mouthed Traytor had related to his Graces eares and so rides thither with a very little Trayne and they followed after among which was the Duke of Lennox and the Earle of Marre The King comming to Saint Iohnstoun he was met by the late Earle of Gowry a Iudas with an Aue Rex and some three or fourescore men accompanying him the Kings Trayne not aboue fifteene persons and all vnarmed yet his Maiesty by the way vpon occurrences of discourse and stupide behauiour of Alexander requesting the King to stay the Duke and Earle from following him beganne to suspect some treasonable deuice Well the King hauing beene there partaker of a bad dinner and the said Earle standing pensiue and with a deiected countenance Oh quam difficile est crimen non prodere vultu And not welcomming his Maiesty or shewing any harty forme of entertainement and the Noblemen and Gentlemen of the Court being now set at dinner Alexander rounding in his Maiesties eares and said Now is the time to goe This is your very houre and the power of darkenesse The King accompanied onely with the said Alexander goes vp a Turne-pecke through three or foure chambers Alexander locked behind him euery doore he passed a brother to Alexander the Coppersmith which had done Paul much euill vntill at last his Maiesty passing through three or foure sundry houses and all doores locked behind him by this Cerberus his Maiesty entred into a little study where hee saw standing with a very abased countenance not a bond man but a free man with a dagger at his girdle Now mee thinkes I here that desperate voice Virg Heu quae nunc tellus inquit quae me aequora possunt Accipere aut quid iam misero mihi denique restat Or as Dauid said to God I am in a wonderfull straite fallen into the hands of bloody men O God hast thee to deliuer me make hast to helpe me O Lord O my God deliuer me from mine enemies defend mee from them that rise vp against me deliuer mee from the wicked doers and saue mee from the bloody men for loe they haue laid waite for my soule c. Thus this vile Alexander hauing brought the King into this close Closet of his intended death Rectè collâ—cat aretia expectant praedam Now this Traytor changes his countenance puts his hat on his head and drawes the dagger from the girdle of the other fellow holds the point to the Kings breast Horresco referens Whither bendest thou thy sword thou monster of mankind as Clytemuestra said to her wicked sonne Orestes A Monster and no Man to desire to murder a Monarke of Men. Viscera sunt vobis crudelia pectora ferro Durantur silicesque rigent praecordia circum Qui tantum sceleris potuistis velle patrare Nam patrasse supergreditur genus omne loquendi Behold this cursed and Copper-Alexander facing the King with a brazen impudence saith Now it did behoue the King to be in his will and vses him as he list swearing bloody oathes That if the King cried out or did open a window to looke out that dagger should presently goe to his heart Surely some Nero with heeles forward borne Sire to this slaue so bloody and forlorne The Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord and he will preserue it against the hands of such diuellish Traytors This bloody villaine opens his blacke mouth and tels the King That now he knew his conscience was troubled for murthering his Father Loe this Caine talkes of conscience yet makes no conscience to attempt to kill a most innocent King His Highnesse wondring at so sudden an alteration and standing naked as an innocent Lambe before a rauenous wolfe like the woman standing before the red Dragon beginnes pathetically and powerfully to dilate to Alexander telling him how horrible a thing it was to meddle with his Maiesties innocent blood a drop whereof could not bee shed without reuenge from Heauen and Earth for the voice of blood cries for vengeance to Heapen and God had on Earth giuen his Highnesse children and good Subiects which would reuenge it yea God would raise vp stockes and stones to punish so vile a deed protesting before God that his conscience was not troubled for the execution of his Father he being then a Minor of age and then guided by a Faction which ouerruled his Maiesty the rest of the Country and what was done to his Father was done by the common course of Law Iustice Appealing to the said Alexanders owne conscience a sinfull and seared conscience how well his Grace had at all times since deserued at the hands of all his race restoring them to their lands and dignities freely and voluntarily of his regall clemency bringing vp two or three ofhis sisters as it were in his owne bosome by a continuall attendance vpon his dearest bedfellow in her priuy Chamber and if all these had beene too little he would haue giuen him as it was said to Dauid such and such things but here in them verified which Seneca deliuered Quidam quô plus debent magis oderunt c. Certaine men being bound to loue for some benefits rather the more beginne to hate Quid autem miserius saith the same wise man cui beneficia dantur gratias agere iniurijs What more wretched thing then hauing receiued benefits to reward the giuer with iniuries These are Esops Snakes His Maiesty promised him on the word of a Prince that if he would spare his life a Soueraigne a suppliant to a subiect an abiect begges mercy of this miscreant to spare his life hee would neuer reucale it to any flesh liuing what was betwixt them at that time nor neuer suffer him to incurre any harme or punishment for the same A speech able to make a Cannibals heart to relent being vttered
kind A fearefull example worthy to make vs more thankefull to God more dutifull in our liues more carefull of Gods Lawes who out of his infinite loue and mercy preserued vs from this generall and diabolicall massacre And as I haue read how the Romanes in detestation of the name of proud Tarquinius who tyrannized ouer them banished a good Citizen onely because he had that name so let the name of the Powder Treason worke such detestation in the hearts of all Papists that they may neuer hereafter thinke of any treasonable plots against King or Country but banish for euer all such intentions or inuentions out of their hearts which I pray God giue them grace to doe And let all from high to low fall downe vpon the knees of humble and thankfull hearts and cry with Dauid Praise the Lord of Lords for his mercy endureth for euer let Israel now say that his mercy endureth for euer who deliuered his people when like Izaacke almost the knife at their throats and when they had prepared their fire wood powder to offer vp Prince Peeres and People like Isaacke as a burnt offering when they purposed to persecute their soules and take them to tread our liues downe vpon the earth and to lay our honour in the dust then did the Lord arise in his wrath and lift vp himselfe against the rage of our enemies so that they who made a pit and digged it fell into it themselues their mischiefe returned vpon their owne heads and their cruelty fell vpon their owne pates The wicked are snared in the worke of their owne hands and may moue all to cry aloud Come and behold the workes of the Lord he ruleth the World with his power his eyes behold the Nations the rebellious shall not exalt themselues Praise our God ye people and make the voice of his praise to be heard Praise him in his mighty Acts praise him according to his excellent greatnesse let euery one that hath breath praise the Lord for this great and gracious mercy in the meanes of our maruellous and mercifull deliuery CHAP. III. The discouery of the Plot IN the discouery of this Archtrayterous plot I may truly repeate Liuies words who in a great case of ioy saith Maius gaudium suit quà m quod vniuersum homines caperent It was a greater ioy then men are able to comprehend by an vnusual discouery to haue a generall deliuery from so dismall Tragedy For when they had thought and writ that God and Man had concurred to punish the wickednesse of the time God and Man consented to reueale the wickednesse of their treason and makes vs hope well of that Prophecy we do reade in Telesphorus Antichristus non poterit subiugare Venetias nec Parisios nec Ciuitatem regalem Anglia Antichrist shall not be able to sub due Venice nor Paris nor the Kingly City of England London The principall instrument and humane meanes of the discouery of this diuellish treachery was a letter like Dauids letter to Ioab which Vriah carried for his owne death sent some ten dayes before the Parliament should haue begunne priuily and cunningly conueyed by an vnknowne man to one of the Footemen of that Right Honourable Lord worthy of perpetuall honour for his fidelity the Lord Mount-Eagle charging him to put that Letter into his Lord and Masters hands which Letter that thrice-honoured Lord receiuing wondring at the strange contents thereof and perplexed what construction to make of it like a most dutifull Subiect and diuine Eagle concluded not to conceale it but for all the latenesse and darkenesse of the night repaires presently to his Maiesties Pallace at White-Hall and there deliuered the same to the late deceased Earle of Salisbury Sir Robert Cecil a very vigilant Counsellour and wise Statesman then his Maiesties principall Secretary which said Letter being afterward vpon the Kings returne to White-Hall presented to his Maiesty euer fortunate in his Princely iudgement in clearing obscurities and doubtfull mysteries did vpon the instant interprete and apprehend by the darke phrases yet contrary to Drammaticall construction that it must be done by blowing vp the House of Parliament by Gunpowder commanding a search to be made by which the matter discouered and Agents were apprehended Whereas if his Maiesty had not accommodated his interpretation to this kind of danger no worldly prouision or preuention could haue put backe this lamentable destruction So that is here verified which Salomon deliuered Diuination in labijs Regis A diuine sentence shall be in the lippes of the King The glory of God is to conceale a thing secret but the Kings honour is to search it out In this Gunpowder Treason our King was Regi◠〈◊〉 Kingly Prophet inspired by God in deciphering and declaring the darke meaning of their ambiguous and mysticall Letters It was the Lords mercy to put into the Kings mind the darke meaning of this dangerous mischiefe for Ibi incipit diuinum auxilium vbi deficit humanum When humane helpes are ready to faile God will come in the very point and article of time to deliuer his seruants and will raise vp some meanes either ordinary or extraordinary to discouer and defeate the deuices of the wicked As indeed did diuinely appeare in this deliuerie first that a Letter should be writ secondly a glosse or commentary made vpon it by the King contrary to common construction yet that was the second meanes vnder God whose might and mercy was aboue all of our preseruation Telenus prophecied to Cyclops his eye should be put out but he was incredulous to beleeue it contemned this aduertisement Risit o vatum stolidissime falleris inquit So some might haue thought this letter to haue beene the euaporation of an idle braine but our Teltroth Cassandra sacred Soueraigne presently presaged the truth knowing Traytors to be like Sampsons Foxes to haue fired tayles and to be firebrands of fury presupposed it to be a plot of fire for Traytors are Flagellarci◠Flabella seditionis scourges of Common-wealths Bellowes of sedition to inkindle fireworkes of destruction they are like cruell Surgeons that alwayes launce and seare and vse the cutting knife and fire no gentle Remedies as their heads like the head of Nilus vnsearchable so their hearts in cruelty insatiable and hands in execution infatigable as their bloody heads hearts and hands appeare in this bloody businesse These gunpowder Traitors plotting so abhorred a Particide though God frustrated their inhumane attempts and brought the wheele vpon themselues yet were they most accursed murtherers in the sight of God Saul a murtherer in mentall affection in hunting after Dauids life though he failed in manuall action and execution So Hamax in plotting the death of innocent Mordecai was a murderer in heart and had a murderers reward Neuer drop of innocent blood-shed but it cries for vengeance therefore
Ioh O earth couer not thou my blood A murtherer is the very Image and picture of the Deuill who was a murtherer from the beginning as our Sauiour saith and they that practise or doe purpose to murder men poyson Princes destroy Countries blow vp Cities fire vp Parliaments are of their Father the Deuill and led by his Spirit And truly this practise as it was of extraordinary ascendencie so it had a rare discouery by a letter of their owne darke doubtfull and Sphinxian deliuered strangely and when accepted it might haue beene thought to haue beene an idle gull or pasquill and neuer further haue come to light or being further examined they might haue missed the marke in the interpretation of the mischiefe but God so ordered that this foolish letter as it might haue bin iudged was the meanes to discouer their treachery and confound their villanie And further though a Treason suspected yet nothing detected till the very night before the day of their intended slaughter they had almost brought it to this passe Paulominus in inferno habitasset anima nostra Our soule had almost dwelt in silence yea they had almost consumed vs vpon the earth we were in articulo mortis not onely as men appointed to dye but at the point to dye but God who is adiutor in opportunitatibus a refuge in due time of trouble did breake the snare and we were deliuered It pleased God to permit the Deuill to feede these his true seruants with false hopes let them go on freely without rub till they had fully wouen their Spiders web and come to the very point of execution and deliuery of that deuillish monster whereof they had so long trauailed and might say with those mourning messengers of King Ezechiah sent to Esay the children are come to the birth and there is no strength to bring forth when we were albicantes ad messem white for the haruest and ready to be cut downe and wanted nothing but thrusting in of Falx their sickle to cut vs downe or Fax the fire to burne vs vp or Faux euen Guido Faux or Faux Erebi hellish Faux to swallow vs vp when we might say with Dauid there is but a step betwixt vs and death being at the mouth of the pit then the Lord takes vs as brands out of the fire or as Amos like firebrands pluckt out of the burning When our enemies thought they had the prey in their hands and all had beene sure when the danger was most deadly and deliuery desperate then the Lord did fight against them in our cause Now will I arise saith the Lord now will I be exalted now will I lift vp my selfe Yee shall conceiue chaffe and bring forth stubble the fire of your breath shall deuoure you as you haue sowen iniquity so shall you reape affliction ye haue sowen the winde yee shall reape the whirle-winde Then did the Lord dash their deuices in peeces and made their Sun set at noone as Amos 8. 9. or rather caused their sinne to be discouered at midnight All the former part of the night their hellish factor Faux was about his worke of darkenesse in preparing all his Engines and snares of death ready for the morning and yet before the morning watch I say before the morning watch they were disappointed and discouered and their chiefe Agent Faux apprehended Sorrow might endure a night but ioy comes in the morning Redeunt spectaculâ— manâ— VVhen these Romish Idumeans enemies to our Israelites had said like them in their hearts Who shall bring vs downe to the ground then did the watchman of Israel who neyther stumbers noâ— sleeps bring the deuices of the wicked to light manifesting their mischiefe detecting their conspiracy saying to these sinners as to the seas Thus farre shall ye goâ— and no further Eâ—… Deus 〈…〉 When God arose his enemies were soone scattered they also that hate him shall flye before him to make all to say with Esay Heare ye that are a far off what I haue done and ye that are neâ—e know my power when the wicked had said in their hearts Let vs destroy them alltogether 〈…〉 Lord awake as one out of sleepe and as a Giant refreshed with wine and smote his enemies in the hinder parts and put them to a perpetuall shame praised be his blessed name for euer And that no heart of man should presume to detract or defalke any part of the glory from Gods entire and plenary praise in the work of this deliuerance or sing like them Saul hath slaine his thousand and Dauid his ten thousand Consider the gracious and wonderfull prouidence of God that the malefactor and Powder-Monster Faux was taken when hee was new come out of the vault from working his fire-worke hauing three matches and all other instruments ready in his pocket whereas if this Sinon had beene taken while hee was enclosed in his Troian Horse hee confessed hee would not haue failed to haue blowen vp the house himselfe and his takers all together for as the Poet well writes of such Nihil est audacius illis Depraensis iram ac animos à crimine sumunt Such wretches taken and their deeds once seene Harden theis hearts and doe increase their spleene Yet such was the ouer-ruling power and prouidence of God herein without any secondary causes that the party assigned for the deed should be then without who if hee had beene within had done the deed in part and in stead of touching the parties had ouerturned the place To moue all King and Subiects not to sacrifice to their owne nets as if any worldly policy could haue preuented this wretched impiety but that alone the sacred goodnes and prouidence of our most deare and blessed God might triumph in this deliuerance Not vnto vs O Lord not vnto vs but vnto thy name giue the glory Thou art worthy O Lord to receiue all the glory honor and power and let all the Creatures in Heauen and Christians on earth fay Praise and honor and glory and power be vnto him that sitteth vpon the Throne and to the Lambe for euermore who hath deliuered vs from this ocean of misery this odious Massacre And should mooue all Head and members to cry with Ezra Seeing that thou our God hast stayed vs from being beneath and hast giuen vs such a deliuerance should we return to breake thy commandements and ioyne in affinity with the people of such abhominations Seeing the Lord in this extraordinary worke hath declared such liuely markes and expresse Characters of his diuine maiesty might and mercy towards vs shall we not magnifie the Lords mercy with Miriams melody Sing ye vnto the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously the horse and his rider hath he ouerthrown in the Sea He hath confounded the barbarous immanity and inhumanity
much ground as all Spaine containeth But woe to them that build vp Sion with bloud and Ierusalem with iniquity saith Micah Whose hands are defiled with bloud the Lord will prepare them vnto bloud and bloud shall pursue them except thou hate bloud euen bloud shall pursue thee saith the Lord by the mouth of Ezekiel But these imitate Iulius Caesar the first Emperour of Rome who held a sword in one hand and a booke in the other with this Motto Ex vtreque Caesar So these Romanists will hold a sword in one hand and a Bible in the other changing the word the sword of the spirit into a materiall sword to murder mens bodies but Caesar who shed much blood abroad had his owne blood shed at home Yet Caesar was farre of a more mercifull mind for as Austen speakes of him Hee gloried in nothing so much as in pardoning his enemies and gratifying his friends Or they follow blood-thirsty Cyrus who at last was slaine by Queene Tomyris and his head cut off and put into a vessell of blood with these words Sanguinem sitijstit nunc sanguine saturatus esta Thou hast thirsted for blood now drinke thy fill so these thirst for blood Quem babit hic auide quà m bibit ante merum As greedily he drinkes mens blood As men doe wine and thinkes as good But Dauid because he was a man of blood might not build God a materiall Temple and will you build Gods spirituall Temple with bloody hands God abhorres blood-thirsty and deceitfull men Deus non est autor eius cuius est vltor God is a reuenger of such villanies and what he affects he will effect by good meanes And therefore though Papists colour this treason vnder the cloke of Religion and for the good of the Catholicke cause the Lord will say to them I know ye not Depart from me ye workers of iniquity Then shall they couer themselues with confusion as with a cloake And truly these fiery and furious Iesuited Roman Catholickes maske and shroud their faction and treason vnder the cloake of Religion as the Dominicans lurke vnder our Ladies frock crying out The Catholicke Cause and for the good of the Church so that we may say as once wittily Erasmus demanded VVhat is Charity answered It is a Monkes cloake for it couers a multitude of sinnes So what is Popery It is a cloake to couer a multitude of sinnes and as they say Puritan sohismes are sowen together with Sisters-threed so Popish schismes are patched together out of the cloake of Rebellion yet vnder the mantle of Religion yet so farre are these people from being ashamed of these things or reclaimed from such practises much lesse to repent for them as that being apprehended for them or hauing accomplished their deuices they are still insensible of sorrow contrary to all other Malefactors for as the Poet quid fas Atque nefas tandem incipiunt sentire peractis Criminibus How good or bad their deeds were they then see When once their mischiefes accomplisht be But these would with Nero laugh and leape to see our Cities on fire and as Guido Faux the foreman of this fiery stratageme being demanded what hee would haue done when as he had put fire to the powder said Goe see the sport in the field A voice fit for a villaine or a cruell Vitellius who said as Tacitus records it Sepauisse oculos spectata in imici morte nempe Blaesi◠He did feed his eyes with the dead spectacle of his aduersary Blesus But Caesar wept when the head of Pompey his enemy was presented to him saying Ego Pompeij casum deploro meam fortunā metuo I lament Pompeys fall and feare mine owne fortune but the enemies of Sion as they haue Crocodile eyes to weepe and laugh at murthered obiects so they haue deuouring mouthes and teeth to water after such preyes I will not iudge all of them to be of so bloody a disposition for I presume some Iesuites and Priests and Monkes are like Aristippus looke for nothing but meat for their belly and a maide for their bed little busie their braines with other matterrs or some may follow their study which yet is not vsuall especially among the secular Priests whom the Iesuites call Ebrios stultos illiteratos Ecclesia excrementa Drunkards Dolts Dunces the excrements of the Church and the same secular Priests brand the Iesuites with infamous markes Statistas Atheistas Machiauelistas quot Iesuitae totidem Iudae Statists Atheists Machiauclists So many Iesuites so many Iudasses But indeed the least medlers in these matters are the Monkes and therein to be commended who if they were as carefull to feede their braines as their bellies I should thinke them the best of the bunch but herein they are faulty being onely as the Poet Epicuri de grege porcos Horat. Most of them sordide and stupide fellowes without any industry in labour or generosity in life And as long ago it was written of them Liber Pater praeponitur libro patrum Calicibus epotandis non codicibus emendandis Indulget bodie studium Monachorum Cantus ludentis non planctus lugentis Officium efficitur Monachale Greges vellera fruges Horrea Porri olera potus patera Lectiones sunt hodie studia Monachorum In a word thus One Bacchus more they loue then Muses nine They fat their bellies while their braines do pine But to leaue these whom the Pope least loues for the Iesuites are his Pulli puppi His Minions and Darlings he knowes them by their hands as the Eagle knowes his young ones by the eyes a pen in one hand and a ponyard in the other to write for him and to fight for him We will accuse no more but the parties in view whereof Faux should haue beene the Executioner and as they say An hangman must haue a cruell heart so this appointed wretch had a cruell heart to count such a sight as this should haue beene a sport and when he was apprehended he discouered no fignes of sorrow or repentance except onely that he repented for not being able to performe it Nil Christus Domini nil illi proxima Coniux Nil Princeps Carolus charus spes altera Regni Vtraque nobilitas pietate insignis armis Maiestasque loci veterum tot Curia regum Nil haec crudeli potuere obstare furori Our royall King with his illustrious Spouse That Phoenix gone vnto a better place And next succeeding hope Prince Charles his Grace The noble Peeres the Prelates of Gods House And other Monuments which might well rouse More feare then fury yet this vile Consort To blow vp all with powder counts it sport The vertues indeed vices which were in Tigellinus Neros Secretary were as Tacitus names them Cruelty and Luxury so these abounded with the first if not with the second And yet they had no cause to
Confirmation granted by Pope Leo the tenth Anno 1513. sept id Martij pontificis anno primo the which Bull was granted Hospitali sancti spiritus in Saxia almae vrbis in which is an approbation of all former pardons obtained to the saide Hospitall and the members thereof as Innocent the third grants to all that visit the saide Hospitall two thousand and eight hundred yeares of pardon Pope Alexander the fourth grants foure thousand yeares eight hundred Lents of pardon Pope Celestine the fifth grants also to the saide Hospitall and the members an hundred thousand yeares of pardon Pope Clement the fift grants also two thousand and eight hundred yeares of pardon Pope Boniface the eight 2500. yeares of pardons Pope Clement the sixt 8000 yeares and 8000 Lents full remission of al their sins Pope Innocent the sixt 2000 years and 2000 Lents of pardons Pope Benedict the 12 3000 years as many Lents of pardons All which grants of pardons by the Popes confirmed to the said Hospitall and the members if this were as good ware as they make some beleiue who would not goe visit this Hospitall yea be a member of it Can any Papist goe to the Deuill who may haue a pardon for a little money and saying ouer a prayer or two which prayers haue such power that when S. Bernard said one before a Rood it so pleased the said Rood that it bowed it selfe and embraced him in the armes Like the Rood of Naples which spake so kindely to Thomas Aquinas Or like the Crucifixe which nodded the head to the Monke Gualbertus Indeed if Popes prayers be like Amphions harpe to mooue stones Saxa moueresono testudinis prece bland◠Ducerè quò vellet The famous Amphion with his harpe could play To moue the stones so popish harpers pray If Popes can giue so large pardons for sinnes and haue so good prayers I muse they cannot cure the Papists of bodily sicknesse for sicknesse is the punishment of sinne rather Popes doe encrease their sicknesse by procuring Gods plagues and punishments to be inflicted vpon them for affecting such practises to haue their sinnes pardoned of Popes when as it appertaineth onely to God They who are Gods dearest Ministers I feare the Pope is none haue no other power heerein then to declare in Gods name forgiuenesse of sinne not to make them a pardon for money if they truely beleeue in Christ and repent and so release the band of discipline in open offenders where the fruites of repentance appeare and so the meanest minister of Christ by vertue of his spirituall office may declare absolution of sinnes to the truely penitent but to forgiue sinnes none can or may doe it but God alone I euen I am hee that putteth away thy iniquities for mine owne sake and will not remember thy sinnes Come vnto me all ye that are weary and laden and I will ease you with a thousand places of Scripture exhorting all to come vnto Christ and apply his bloud vnto their soules for the remission of their sinnes There is no other way by which wee can be saued or our sinnes pardoned ad impetrandam nostris sceleribus veniam non pecunias impendere sed hoc facere c. saith Chrysostome To get a pardon for sinne money will not doe it but to beleeue in Christ And indeed the Pardon-Procters are so dazeled in the defence of them like the sodomites smitten with blindenesse at Lots doore that they cannot tell how to finde any ground for them but are compelled abruptly to say with Bellarmine Sufficit ad Indulgentias Bullas defendendas Ecelesia authorit as The authority of the Church alleadged not proued is sufficient to defend Bulles and Indulgences a weake argument to defend wicked pardons But their Glosse vpon that great Bull of Boniface the 8 saith Foure things concurre as principall to make a pardon effectuall 1 Authority in the granter 2 Capacity in the receiuer 3 Piety in the end 4 vtility in the worke But authority heerein the Pope hath none idoneity or capacity in the receiuer namely that he be a true member of Christ and purged from his fault the Pope cannot tell Piety in the end is none for it opens a wide way to all impiety vtility to the party none for hee is robbed of his money and deluded in his soule the onely vtility comes to the Pope to enrich his coffers for by this deuice a world of wealth is raised for men who doe beleeue these pardon-mongers to be released out of the paines of Purgatory telling them what a grieuous punishment it is to lye in Purgatory fire which is indeed ignis fatuus or the fire of the Popes kitchin to warme his backe and belly they will willingly giue their money to goe to Heauen by a pardon Thus it is written of Boniface the ninth who sent into diuers kingdomes his Treasurers with pardons who extorted great summes of money from simple people that in some one Prouince they would get together aboue an hundred thousand florens omnia peccata relaxantes releasing all offences whatsoeuer Christ said to his Apostles freely you haue receiued freely giue But heere no penny no pardon no pater noster so that wee may say of these Popes as one doth of Gregory the ninth O auarum cor vbi Petri paupert as quamiactatis O couetous hart where is Peters pouerty whom yee boast of that to play impostors to the world will sell such ware as you fetch from the Deuils shop to cozen the simple of their money bring them into a fooles Paradise to hope of pardon of their sinne by buying your mercenary indulgences and Buls the basest trash that can be inuented to sell for siluer remission of sinnes and euen saluation of soules as Iudas did for thirty peeces his Sauiour But heerein let Gods children say to the Pope as Daniel did to Balshazzer keepe thy rewards to thy selfe and giue thy gifts to another keepe your paltry pardons to your selues saying as Dauid did to the Prophet Gad Let vs fall into the hands of the Lord for his mercies are great and not into the hands of men the Pope or his Priests for the very mercies of the wicked are cruell The inuention of Popes pardons was to maintaine their pride the power vnlawfull the causes vngodly the vse abhominable and the end deceiueable neyther by the Scriptures or practise of the Primitiue Church warrantable I hasten to put this Piunace into harbour weary with being on the Sea of Rome therefore to bee briefe let all that desire to be faithfull seruants to their Lord and Sauiour who as yet halt betwixt God and Baal being as one cals them Lunae vituli Moone-Calfes once a moneth come to the Temple hoping to walke to heauen with statute-legges or others who are more setled vpon their lees whose mindes as yet the God of this