cruelly but rather fatherly then lordly For by suche a one coulde come no great harme but verye muche good As for example if your Quene shoulde haue founde oute some Germaine or some suche other whose Gouernmente is not rygorous as in deede theirs is not theyr hartes not ambytious the same Religion good bryngynge vppe a manne of actiuitie whose auncetoures haue bene religious lyncked wyth manye Prynces eyther by Consanguinitie Affinitie or sure Societie and league of whome there coulde be no doubte of conueying the treasure to any other nacion or bringing in of hys owne countrye men to oppresse the Subiectes as vndoubtedly the Spanyardes and Frenche woulde Suche a one I saye if God appoynted I see not why the name of a straunger shuld be odiouse it is religion and likenes of maners that ioigne men together Such as be of the same faithe be no straūgers or at the least shoulde so couple them that agreing therin we shuld not much stick in the rest In the kingdom of heauen is nother Iew nor gentile man nor woman A stranger if he be a goodman is as deare in the fight of God as he that is born in the middest of Edenbrough This I speake not because I shute at any one for that were not onlye malapartnes but madnesse But to answer mi obiection whiche is that tealmes be vndone by the matchinge of Quenes with straungers Mūsterus in Tab. Scicilia as the histories report was quietly and happely gouerned so longe as the Duke of Sueuia marrying the heir had it in quiet possession But after a Pope of Rome as the duke passed thorowe Italie to set order in Scicilie had bi conspiracy murdred him it fel euery daye more and more to decay So that it stādeth not so much in the chusing of a straunger as what he is that you chuse He is one of our brethren if he be a faithfull Christian it is maners faith and behauior and not nacyons that make men strangers one to an other A mā in his own country at home if he be not of the houshold of faith is a straunger And contrary wise wher there is one faith one baptisine and one Christ ther is narrower fraternite then if they came out of one wombe But to conclude we must commit all this to God Subiectes mai vvish but not vvringe Quenes to mariage who hath the hartes of rulers in his handes as the flouds of waters and wil so dispose them as shal be most to their peax to the realmes good and hys honor let vs not meddle with bridelinge of Quenes in mariage this way or that wai we are none of those to whome it shal be saide who shal geue this womā Now thus thou seest good reader that al this wynde shaketh no corne that this bolde blustering blaste though it puffeth and bloweth neuer so muche Yet can it not moue or ones stirre the suer grouded rock of verite And though it be the propertie of Northrē blastes to coole and freese yet in the hartes of good christians faithfull subiectes and true Engly shmen well warmed with natuall loue and defended with the walles of wysdome obedience and dutie it can do nothing It may peraduenture make a sewe weake redes to wagge whiche wil styrre at euery litle puffe of wynde But the stronge and harde Ookes sure roted in loialtie and growen to a iust perfection in the discipline of dutie will neuer stirre a leafe for it considering that this blaste is sent out of Aeolus at the request of dame disobediēce to hindre good Aeneas say ling to the porte and hauen of quietnes and loyaltie Though thou warte not disposed of thy selfe either for opinion of thauthor or for the noueltie of the matter to stande to thy tackle against this storm yet I doubt not but now by me rather put in mynde of that thou knowest then taught that thou wart ignorant in thou wilt sone contēpne this gale of wynd A recapitulacion and take it to be nothinge but as it is named verye wynde indede Thou seest it euy dently proued that it standeth well inoughe with nature and all good order with iustice and equitie with lawe and reason with Gods and mans ordinaunce with custome and antiquitie that a woman leafte by hir progenitors true heire of a realme hauing the consent of hir people the stablishment of lawe auncient custome and Gods callyng to confyrme the same may vndoubttedly succede her auncettors lawfullye reignyng in lawful succession both to enheritance and regiment Thou seest no scripture is agaynste it truelye vnderst ande but rather both in example and practise and also in expresse word and meaninge altogether with it Thou seest no lawe wherto we be bounde to debarre this sexe of this right but in euerye wyse to graunte it them as it shal come to their course And that the rule beyng ioyned to thinheritaunce can no more be plucked from it sauynge iustice inviolated then thy soule from thy body and thou yet alyue Thou seest last of all that thinconueniences that be feared be rather bugges to feare babes then matter to moue men and specially christen mē which loke not so much to tharme of mā as to the helpe of God for their safetie which trust not in horsse and harnes glayues and gunnes and such other worldly meanes but in inuocation and faith and in the mightie arme of God Psal 147. VVho delighteth no more in the legges of a goodly made man then in the lamenes of a creeple Nor in the rugged lookes of a desperate warry our then in the mylde countenaunce of a wyse VVomā VVherfore the matter standyng so that whosoeuer rule man or chyld male or female God must be our shilde fortresse and bulwarke Let vs do our dutie bi trusting him Vve must cast our care vpon God and he wyl do his by helpyng vs and so much the rather because that now it is more like the glory shal be his if the victorie be ours Then if we had some great Goliah some lustie champion to take the matter in hād For the next way is to make him shrink from vs to put ether our whole trust in any other or so to parte the prayse with him that his maiestie shal haue one pece our pollicie another Vve may not part vvith god How oft crieth he to the Israelites Nay go to now cal vpon your gods to helpe you let me se what thei can do for you Runne to your leaguefellowe the Egiptian and kynge of Assiria in whom you haue put your trust Let them shyld you agaynst those euyls that shal come vpon you VVherfore let vs say with Dauid Hii in curribus Hii in equis nos autem in nomine domini inuocabimus Trust who wyl in their stout kinges Psal 19. we call vpon our God to help our good Quene Now thou art perswaded thou true Engly she heart that thou maist and oughtest to take esteme
Thaunciēt men Senators gaue him coūsel aduise to kepe the people in order by loue gentlenes and clemēcy thother aduised hym not to spare but to lay about him to chop of their heades to towre thē hāge thē burne thē awai with them dead mē do no harme and to make his litle finger heauier vpon his people thē was his fathers body These ware lusty laddes these were suche as would wyne all our lose all But they founde at the last as other that haue folowed them very Hieroboamites as wrissles VVyn chesters and some other their scholers yet aliue that as Horatius saieth vis consilij expers Horat. in od s. mole ruit sua fearsnes without wisdome and counsel cummeth to a so lishe ende I doubt not but hir maiestie if she could woulde chuse hir counsell of the nobilyte she being her selfe the head of that order and patronesse but if she shal espie out meaner men of greater experience farther reache and more scyence then they be it is not to be feared but thē nobles both for their owne safetie and the Quenes would gladly lotte to them selfes though she woulde not require it suche as myght put them in mynde of thynges they remember not either because they haue not exercised and beaten their heads about it or by lookyng to their lordships haue not had leisure to studdy for pollicies But wise men by study and noble men by birth wyll make suche an harmony in the commō wealth as neyther Frenche nor Scotte shal be hable to interrupte the concorde and it to be hoped that neyther the one parte in respect of their nobilitie wyll contempne the other for their basenes nor enuie thē for their wisdom nor thother part through thadmiracion of their own giftes set light by the honour aūciētnes of the peres 1. Cor. 12. Learne a similitude saith Paul of the body of mā how eche mēber is not the head yet hath his necessary vse in the bodye wherefore if some be wiser and some nobler som richer and som porer I doubt not but like good marmers they will all consider that they must all trauaile to bringe the ship of the common welth the Church of Christe and the Quenes realm to a quiet port which wil not be if they striue who shall tend the sail and who the helm who shall sounde and who clense the Pumpe who shal do this and who shal do that Iosephe with King Pharao kept by his counsel al the kings people from staruinge a meane man and a straunger pulled out of Prison wher he lay for a great crime Gen. 41. And Daniell gouerned Chaldea better then all the Princes ther and his seruice was more acceptable to the king then all the rest Mardocheus by the help of Hester Hester 8. kept Assuerus from the foulest murdre that euer was deuised And yet he was but a meane man to be of a kinges counsell being not onlye a straunger but also suche an abiecte as satte at the kinges gate without office dignitie countenaunce or anye estimacion yea and of suche a stomacke as he woulde not stoupe to the proudest of all the reaste M. Haman who was domine fac totum Vvhiche had like to haue cost him the best ioynte he caried aboute VVherefore if meane men be called to that honoure lette no manne repine at it For sometime vnder a homelye coate lieth hidden muche treasure and pure golde is founde among muche drosse Pro. 21. A wise man saithe Salomon climeth vp into the cities of the stronge and mightye and destroieth all the strengthe that he trusteth to if I had but. 10. Nestors said Agamenon Troy could not stand longe Consideringe then that aswell in the choise of counselloures as in all other thynges oure mooste deare soueraigne taketh that waye as all godlye wise men muste needes accompte the best and geueth vs by these buddes and floures so greate hoope of singulare frute we maye if we bee nor stoones in sence and monsters in malice cheare and feede our selues with the good successe we hope to haue by her One thinge there is that maketh my harte to blede in my belly for her That when al her progenitoures commonly haue founde their realm in quiet She good Lady receiueth it at the hande of her sister intangled I will not saye oppressed wyth forren warres the french on th one side and the scots on thother which sucking oute of their auncettors poisoned breasts immortal and dedly hatred against this realme lie in waite like theues to inuade and to spoil it In token wherof the french freke as it is said after truce was taken VVhē he hard of Q. M. death kept stil his Germains about him vpon hope that if there had ben any stir in England he might haue set in a fote And for that purpose had willed the cardinal of lotharing to confer with our churchmen to se what mighte be done whether he did so or no God knoweth but it is certain that the cardnall had suche commission but God hath dispatched their deuises And besides that she is thus lefte who seeth not the realme not Philipped but flesed for Philips sake by mainteining all the last sommer such a nauy on the seas and an army on the land besides som tokens of loue that passed I am sure from the Quene to her spouse to shew that she was a louing wife Alas what remeadye it is a miserable case Psal 10. but this will be the help first to flee to God and say on euery side In do mino confido quomodo dicitis animae mae transmigra in montem sicut passer Our trust is in God thoughe the French and scots and the deuil him selfe had conspired against our souerein whiche is anima nostra oure life and cōfort Shal not we with God and pollicy be hable to do asmuch for the preseruation of our coūtry as Philip of Macedonie did with pollicy alone Gemistus Princes of il beginninges oft mak good endinges who comming to his kingdom in as il case ād worse then this vertuous Lady doth to hers hauing the Illyrians the Paenyans the Thessalonyans the Boetians and the Atheniens in his neck so vsed the matter by making peax with some by leaguinge with other and by war with the rest one after another that within .iii. yeres space he gatte again that his ancettors had lost and made al his enemies to stoupe and not long after became themperor of al Grece 2. Samu. 3. In like maner Dauid entred into his kingdō when the Philistins had made a meruelus slaughter in Israel and killed king Saul ād his sōnes in the field ād yet with in a while he recouered the losses ād had the better of al his enemies round about him So I doubt not but God shal send this Iudith grace and power to cut of Holophernes hed and this Deborah to saue her people ād knock out Siceras brains com he either out
Carthagiens but discord among them selues and diobediēce to their rulers Scic lia what made the romains so sone to ouerthrow Grece but that manye cities refused to be gouerned by the Atheniens and some other by the Macedonians and others by other Thucyd. so that it was an easy matter to win those countries that by ciuill warre and disobedience had lost and vndon them selues what made either Dane or Normand to sette his fote in this noble realm Englande cōquered by discord but werines in the subiectes of their own naturall rulers and malicious desire to haue innouacions This hath ben the vndoing of all countries to be loth to obey and readye to rebell Contrariwise where good concorde and brotherlye vnitie where loyaltie and obedience is there muste neades bee a sure state vvhat preserueth cōmonvvelthes as Solon being asked what preserued a cōmon wealthe answered when the subiectes obey the magistrates and the magistrates the lawes This hathe kept the Venetians common welth so longe and so many hundreth yeres in tranquilitie and honor in that they haue sought to reuerence good lawes ād obey their maiestrats not because their Aristocratie is the best kynd of Gouernment as by no meanes it is nether by reason experiēce nor iudgement of Philosophers Let vs therfore contende wyth them in that preserueth them whiche is humble obedience faythfulnes The calof the sedicicus and true seruice to our countrie and the head therof And thinke that it is the call of Sathan that moueth vs to the contrary to entangle vs lyke a cunnyng fouler vsinge such a voyce as we lyke in the net of destruction both of body and soule If we obey and do our dutie all the blessinges of God shal be poured vpon vs. VVe shall lyue in peace bothe of bodie and mynde with leysure and libertie to serue God freely without feare of thennemie to encombre vs in our possessions All good things folovve obedience ordrede of Antechriste to vexe our conscience Our land shall haue Raine and sunne shine in dewe season our cornes and frutes shall prosper our cattell and goodes shall encreace oure bodies shal be without diseases our myndes quiet with out crosses our wiues shall not be barrē our childrē no vnthriftes our seruauntes no loyterours nor pickers our neighbours not enuious but louinge oure counsellours wyse and prudēt our men of warre couragious our preachers faithful and not lordlyke our lawyers not couetous our iustices no bribares oure lordes and noble men no fooles our officers no hādmakers and our gouernors no tyrauntes For where as God saieth elles Dabo vobis regem in ira inea Ose 13. I will geue them a kyng when I am angry to anger them He shall then saye to the contrary Constituam super illos vnctum meum qui regnabit inter illos in aeternum I wyll apoint them a prince that they shall neuer bee wery of nor that shal deale with them vncurteously Do you not heare how lamētably your natural mother your countrey of Englād Englādes voyce to hir cluldrē calleth vpon you for obediēces saying Oh remēber remēber my dear children in what case you stāde your enemies be roūd about you lyke vnsaciable rauenours to pluck me frō you to cast you out of my lap where I haue this 110 yeres lyke a faithful mother nourished you a tyme sufficiēt for me I trow to know you you me I haue bene and am glad of you I delight and reioyce in you aboue all other peoples In declaraciō wherof I haue always spued out cast frō me Danes Frēche Norwegiās and Scottes I could brooke none of thē for the tender loue that I bare vnto you of whome I haue my name I neuer denyed to minister to you my singular cōmodities which God hath lent me for you as corne and cattell lande and pasture wull and cloth Englandes liberalitie toward hir children lead and tynne fleshe fishe gold and siluer and all my other treasures I haue poured them out among you and enriched you aboue all your neighbours about you which make them to enuie you couet me Besides this God hathe brought forthe in me the greatest and excellētest treasure that he hath for your comfort and al the worldes He would that out of my wombe should come that seruaunt of his your brother Ihō VVyclefe who begate Husse who begat Luther who begat truth VVhat greter honor could you or I haue Christes second birth in Englād then that it pleased Christ as it were in a second birth to be borne again of me amōg you And will you now suffer me or rather by your disobedience purchase me to be a mother withoute my childrē and to be made the nurse of a sorte of infideles Idolaters and Turkes Can I abide to be with out you or can you be cōtent to be without me Oh God graunt that I neuer se the day that the basterdly brode of ambytious frenche men eate and enioy the frutes whiche I prepare for you my deare chyldren Lette me rather satisfie my thirste with their effeminate bloud then they should pluck from you my motherly breastes Sticke to youre mother as she sticketh to you Let me keepe in quiet and feede as I haue done your wyues your children and your kinsfolkes Obey your mistres and mine which God hath made lady ouer vs bothe by nature and lawe You can not be my children if you be not her subiectes I wyll none of you if you will none of hir If you loue me you can not hate hir as my hope is you doo not if you obey her honour hir and loue hir be you assured that I wyll not fayle you at your neede with any of my good frutes that you can requyre I wyll fill your bosomes and your mouthes your wyues and your children with plentie And if your enemies come against you I will sound so terrible against them that their hartes shall fayle them to come of the Seas and treade vpon me I wyll not suffer so vyle a nacion to remayne quietly or to haue any fotinge in me wherfore as a friende I exhorte you and as a mother require you my dere Englysh chyldren to knyt your selues together with brotherly loue and with vnfained obedience to defende me and my gouernesse agaynst those your auncient enemies whiche euer were in feare of you and yet be If they attempte any thinge againste me playe the men and honour me with the sacrifice of their heads and carcases Then shall I thynke that you bee no mungrelles but the trewe posteritie of my auncient childrē the olde English mē which by their valiaūtnesse made me lady of Fraunce and gouernesse of al their chefe cyties follow your fathers steps delēd your mothers honour Be no slaues wher you haue bene lordes nor subiectes where you haue bene rulers ¶ Thus good trew harted Englishe men speaketh your countrey vnto you not in worde but in deede VVherfore geue no dulle eare to hir nor harken not to any vayne blastes or voyces whiche maye drawe you from the loue of your coūtrey from the sauing of your selues and the defēce of your souereigne You shall finde loue for your obedience faithe for your truthe care and study to kepe you for your redy good will to obey hir Let no enchauntment bewitche you Let no spiririte deceaue you Let no straunger make you straungers to your selues You see their reasōs be trisles their wordes but wynde whiche goo aboute by their blusterynge blastes to blowe you fyrst from youre dutie to God whiche commaundeth you to obeye youre Rulars next from your faith whiche you owe to your prince for that care and loue whiche she beareth toward you And last of all from your quiet and countrey which you can not enioye but by doing your dutie in obeying Let vs therfore good brethren I bescche you in the tēder mercies of God in the bowelles of Christe stoppe our eares from hearing staye our myndes frō conceauing and shut vp our mouthes from vttering any suche venyme or poyson whiche these mount-bankes brynge out of our enemies lande to insecte poyson and corrupt vs vnder the pretence of playsters to salue vs. ¶ Let vs heare God rather then man which crieth and commaundeth vpon payne of dampnacion to obey his lieutenaūt and supreme officer Against whō we can not kicke but we must be Gods enemies false subiectes and Satans seruantes ¶ Let vs seke to requite her with thankfulnes which studieth to kepe vs in quietnes Let vs daylye call to God with lifted vp heartes and handes for her preseruation and long lyfe that she may many yeares cary the sworde of our defence and there with cutt of the head of that Hidra the Antichrist of Rome in suche sort as it neuer growe againe in this realme of England that Gods glory maye flory she good mens conscience may beat rest this noble Realme in honor the Quenes Maiestie in long selicitie which God grauut Amen ₠Who so knoweth the Lordes Will and doth it not shal be beaten w̄ many stripes Luke XII