in the busines Therefore notwithstanding the fine smoothing of this discourser who would beare the worlde in hand that after this Bul published the peaceable gouernment of our gracious Queene was not by any disturbed you shall finde it most false and vntrue For if I should stand to reckon vp all the stirres that troublesome and trayterous spirits as the vipers brood would haue raised in the bowels of their natiue countrie I should ouerloade you with too many odious and loathsome examples For what mooued Frauncis Throckmorton to enter into a new practise What was the cause of Charles Pagets going out of England of the two vnhappie Earles commitment the one being arraigned and tried by his Peeres and being condemned spared to liue by the wonderfull mercie of her most milde Maiestie the other preuenting his trial by laying violent bloody hands vpon his owne person was not all this and much more than this to depose or some way or other to dispatch our most gracious and lawfull Queene And yet after the publishing of this Bull of Pius Quintus sayth our discourser our Catholikes committing nothing against her Maiestie or her lawes remained quiet and did all acts of homage and honor vnto her But to proue this his owne cleering of them not to be so cleere he sayth presently after that the most part of all sorts of Catholikes both in England and Ireland haue done this onely a very few Nobles of both countries taking armes for their defence so as to an excuse of all he addeth an accusatiō of some and if the matter of this excuse were liked of by himselfe and allowed he must needes condemne these some that were so rash headed to take armes against their Queene and country and if he allowed these same in thus dooing then his great paines taken to excuse all Catholikes to be free from stirring disloyallie was but a Popish florish of dissimulation He proceedeth to excuse all the preests and students beyond the seas and all such as came ouer and faith that al of them since that censure of his holines to vse his owne words did vse all reuerence and respect to her Maiestie vttering in no preaching speech or booke no not at the houre of their death and martyrdome as he calleth it though hee shall neuer proue a traytor to be a martyr nor euer before in any their confessions to the Magistrate any disloyall word against her Maiestie But for many proofes against this take one for all to disproue him and this one proofe being from such a one as the whole packe of them did highly reuerence and regarde being a Cardinall and Cardinall Allen it was This English traytor though he were a Cardinal at Rome hath sent vs from thence many slaunderous and seditious pamphlets Amongst the rest he vndertaketh the defending of that false faithles Gentleman Syr William Stanley in his treasonable parte played against her Maiestie in deliuering vp the towne of Deuenter contrarie to the trust reposed in him and in that booke he blusheth not to set downe these words that since her excommunication and deposition by the Pope she hath no iust title or interest to her crowne and kingdome and that no act done by her authoritie since the publishing of that excommunication and deposition hath been or can be lawfull by the law of God or man And therefore that no man may lawfully serue her in any action be it otherwise neuer so iust From which he rusheth into an earnest perswasion to reuolte to withdraw her subiects from her seruice and to exhort them to the seruice of the Romish catholike party and her enemies Now let Master Discourser tell me whether this be to vtter in no preaching speech or booke any disloyall word against her Maiestie And if he will be silent because he dare not speake the truth to contrary and controule his former lye yet let all true hearted English-men tell me whether this iugling companion the discourser I meane bee not an impudent and shameles dissembling lyar in perswading vs by a printed pamphlet that all Catholikes were sory that Saunders and Bristow did write in allowance and defence of the Bull and wished that such an offensiue matter had neuer been touched they are his owne words and that all Catholikes both Preests students and others did conteyne themselues from all disloyall speeches or actions when as Cardinall Allen their Arch-prelate on whose iudgement all the English Papists liuing did rely as resolutely as the Heathen could possibly vpō the Oracles sent from their Gods durst like an Arch-traytor thus villanously stuffe his booke with blasphemous slanders diuelish perswasions and impudent lyes against her Maiestie There is no ende of this humor in them their practises are pestilent their perswasions perilous and their platformes trayterous and to serue their turne they want not cunning to execute all so violent they are in their villanies and treasons and so shameles they are in their falsehood dissimulation I haue dwelt long in this vnsauery and vnpleasant argument of treacheries and treasons and in the enumeration of our godlesse and vnnaturall traytors wherein I haue touched many matters and poynted out many persons yet could I very easilie adde many more but I holde it needelesse because the purpose of my labour is onely to giue a taste to my deare countrymen in this stirring world wherein Rome and Spaine and Hell it selfe are set on fire against our rightfull Queene and her kingdome that by this taste they might see the brutish villanies of our bastard countreymen and might vnderstand what iust cause there is for them to detest both the traytors and treasons And surely the traytors themselues if God iustly had not blinded them by many stories and examples might knowe that proditio placet non proditor though it light vpon forreyners against a nation We reade of Mahomet who intending to besiege Constantinople a rich but seditious Citizen goeth to him and promiseth to procure the gates to bee set open for him if hee would promise to giue him his daughter in mariage with a rich dowry Mahomet agreeing the other performed his deuised treason And comming after to demaund his wages It is but thy due saith Mahomet and so commaunded a great masse of treasure to bee layed before him But because thou requirest my daughter saith hee thou being a Christian thou must put off thy olde skinne that thou maist be fit to company with a wife of a new and strange religion to thee and withall commaunded him to bee flayed and hot imbers and salte to be cast vpon the raw flesh and so to be layed in a bed till a new skin might growe where he ended his miserable life with a iust and righteous punishment for his treason At home and amongst our selues Earle Edrick to settle this kingdome in the handes of the Danes setteth on his sonne by some trayterous plot or other to dispatch king Edmunde surnamed Iron syde out of
England by right of birth by right of inheritance and by right of succession and therefore by the law of Nature and Nations there was obedience and loyaltie due vnto her from him But he was so bewitched with the Popes primacie and supreme authoritie ouer kings and kingdoms as he thought the Pope might depose when hee would and dispose Crownes and kingdomes vpon whom he would as if he had quite forgotten himselfe to be an English man Whence this priuiledge ouer kings and kingdoms should come vnto this proude Priest of Rome I cannot finde vnlesse he fetcheth it from that spirit that brought our Sauiour Christ vnto the top of an high mountaine shewing him all the kingdomes of the world and the glorie of them and sayd All these will I giue thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship mee hauing as much authoritie to dispose of them as Popes haue to depose Princes But you see what was committed and commaunded to this doting Doctor Morton by the Pope and how faithfully Morton performed his faithles errand to the preiudice of his Prince and danger of his Countrie I wish with all my heart the two Earles had been more wise than to be misled by so wicked a messenger and more loyall than to bee miscarried into rebellion by so treasonable a message Notwithstanding they so embraced the messenger and so farre followed the direction of the message that they fell into flat rebellion and marched vnder the ensigne of trayterous subiects for which the one receiued his condigne punishment and the other escaped by flying remaining a fugitiue from his Queene and countrie and not daring to shew his face in his owne natiue soyle for that hee had disloyally rebelled against the one and vnnaturally sought the destruction of the other I finde some blushing in some of this popish crew For a Romish discourser in a booke published and printed against the execution of Justice in England for maintenance of publike peace seemeth to wish that Saunders and Bristow which both do defend and maintain y e Popes Bull against Queene Elizabeth to bee lawfull and iust had spared to speake so much in defence thereof And yet he doubteth not to affirme that these two learned men of great zeale and excellencie had their speciall reasons to doe so which he will neither defend nor reproue He further laboureth to smooth ouer this fault of theirs by a kinde of retractation in both the one leauing this out of his booke in his second edition and the other by suppressing to his liues end A very learned booke made in defence of Pius Quintus his sentence against her Maiestie Marke the Epitheton he giueth to it For he calleth it a very learned booke so as neither his reproofe nor their retracting doth condemne the matter which is the maine poynt but some other reasons did mooue a moderation in them and all the rest of our nation to vse his owne wordes which was neither their condemning the seditious Bull nor their approuing of her Maiesties right to the royall seate she sate in which the Bull sought to impeach both amongst forrainers and home subiects The ground and cause of the moderation spoken of by this Popish politike discourser appeareth by the suite made by Campion and Parsons vnto Gregory the 13. then Pope wherein they desired that this Bull of excommunication might not reach to touch the Catholikes for performing obediēce to her Maiestie which was graunted to them and the very wordes of the dispensatiō are these Where in the Bull of Pius Quintus all her subiects are commaunded not to obey her and she being excommunicated and deposed all that doe obey her are likewise innodate and accursed which point is perilous to the Catholikes For if they obey her they are thē in the Popes curse and if they disobey they are in the Queenes daunger therefore the present Pope to relieue them hath altered that part of the Bull and dispensed with them to obey and serue her without perill of excommunication which dispensation is to endure but till that it please the Pope otherwise to determine And these good fathers so called by this popish discourser are iustified commended and thought worthie of great thankes both of the Queene and countrie and yet you see that euen in this dispensation as well as in the Bull our Soueraigne is cōtinued by this Pope excommunicated and cursed as farre as the hand of such a cursed creature can reach and so are all her true hearted subiects But by this they doe discouer their grosse cunning This discourser would faine perswade that this was done for the Queenes good both for the safetie of her person and quiet of her countrie Notwithstanding reuerend father Saunders could after this bee the Popes Legate to incite and comfort Irish subiects to rebell against her Maiestie where if the mightie God had not giuen a couragious heart and a strong hand to that most vertuous and valiant gentleman the noble Lord Arthur Gray then her Highnes Deputie in that place Saunders perswasion had made a strong partie and Spaniards had setled too strong a footing for vs to recouer in haste Further to discouer the treacherous hearts of all these confederates the conspiracie of Babington Barnewell Titchborne and the rest iumping together in one minde and combining together to performe one bloodie action which was to lay violent hands vpon Gods annoynted whence came it but from Rome and Rhemes following the impious rules of Pius Quintus in his cursed Bull Besides this who set Parry on worke to come hither with an impudent and shameles face and here to court it to bee one of the high Court of parliament and to intrude himselfe into the houses and to the tables of her Maiesties chiefest Counsellors yea very often to her Maiesties owne presence and too often too neere with allowance and liking hauing with her Highnes large discourses and long conferences but that fisher of Rome who fisheth not for mens soules as Peter did to winne them to God but after kingdomes and segniories that they may be tributarie to him and that hee may haue authoritie to dispose of them at his pleasure For from this Parry came reconciled and forsaking his obedience to his rightfull Soueraigne became subiect to him and frō those parts he came ouer with this bloodie purpose to kill our dread Queene To assure this he gaue his word to sundrie to vndertake it he receiued the Sacrament to doe it and he confirmed his bloodie promise with his hand in a letter sent to Rome desiring therein his holines allowance for the doing of this vnholy act and crauing full remission for all his sinnes which was performed to him by this holie Vicars commandement in a letter sent to him from a Cardinall in Rome wherein his purpose was sayd to be honorable the fact meritorious before God and kinde requitals are promised to him for vndertaking the matter and for his care had
the waye Which hee indeede shortly performed murthering the king as hee for necessities sake was sitting in a secret place The father with good hope but ill speede hasteth to enforme Canutus the Dane of this exploite performed for him But as was his worke such was his wages Trayterous was his acte and a shamefull death was his end euen by Canutus appoyntment abhorring the traytor though he got the kingdome by his treason Much more ought we to be incēsed with a detestation of our traytors the treason being against England the traytors being borne English For in such a case what true harted Englishman can brooke either I will now hasten to those to whom the treason was is pleasant and that is the ambitious Spaniard whose minde is neuer quiet from aspiring nor neuer will be satisfied with lesse than the possessing of an whole worlde of kingdomes whose ambitiō hath touched vpon many dominions territories where they preuaile and can once set a cōquering foote they gouerne not in the mildenes of a rightfull king but rule with the crueltie of a bloodie tyrant Examples hereof there are many sundry printed bookes amongst vs doe publish and discouer particulars of it This proud Spaniard was backed with all the ayde that possiblie Rome and all the Romanists could affoord him and encouraged to go on with great hope of successe and offereth an inuasion vpon this little Island of England and strengtheneth himselfe to this purpose with as great choice of shipping and mē as possibly he could the shippes being huge great and strong the men both souldiers and marriners well chosen the guides both for land and sea of great skill the furniture strong and good the munition for powder and shot plentifull the victuall sufficient and seasonable and all the prouision fit and necessarie for such an exployte vndertaken And in this Nauie such trust was reposed by Rome by Spayne and by our home-borne traytors that it was called The inuincible nauie Yet they found that it had been good counsell that Ahab gaue to Benhadad Let not him that girdeth himselfe with his armour boast as he that putteth it off For when flesh and blood will bragge of his greatnes glory in his strēgth and vaunt of his victories before hand there is a God in heauen that watcheth ouer his chosen and whē the wicked meane most mischiefe against his annoynted can disappoynt their purposes and ouerthrow them in their own turne So fell it out to this ambitious Spaniard who promising to himselfe a victorious conquest ouer England was conquered himself without any blow or not many blowes striken the Lord of hosts setting the boysterous windes and surging seas to fight against him by which many of them were dispersed and drowned not vnlike vnto the victory of Theodosius vpon the Alpes for whom the storie sayth that the great windes were sent from God to sight and he had a great victorie whereupon Claudeanus writeth these verses O nimium dilecte Deo cui militat aether Et coniurati veniunt ad classica venti And so may we say to our Queene in her victory against this boasting proud Spaniard O blest of God for whom the skie it selfe doth fight And boysterous winds against thy foes do band to shew their might He is taught hereby what it is to fight against God though he thinke neuer so basely of Englands strength or respect neuer so little of the abilitie thereof to encounter and resist him For was not this his ouerthrowe almost matchable with that that young Agesilaus gaue to the Arcadians For they made warre against the Spartans when Archidamus was aged and not able to goe into the field and he did send his sonne Agesilaus against them who ouerthrew the Arcadians with smal losse or none at al and it was called The teare-les battaile And with praise to God be it spoken he had cause to his sorrow and shame to thinke that our milde mayden Queene wanted not ships mariners and souldiers to encounter him nor yet noble and valiant conductors to stop his attempt and resist his furie and I trust she shall euer be able to man out shipping to master his malice and to abate his pride and I rest assured of it because his and the Popes malice to her is not because she is daughter to King Henrie the 8. and sister to Queene Mary but because she hath banished the Pope that Antichrist of Rome and hath yeelded her selfe to the obedience of Christ Iesus in the voyce of his Gospell Hence it is that the Pope rageth and bestirreth himselfe with his curses and sendeth his pupills abroade amongst vs to draw christians from Gods truth to his false religion and to withdraw subiects from obedience to their lawful Soueraigne a worke well beseeming Antichrist and all his adherents Against whom the heathen shall rise in iudgement and shall condemne them who thought it vnhonest and vnhonorable not onely to plot and deuise treasons but euen so much as to hearken to any treason offered them though neuer so much for their benefit For in the warre betweene Fabricius the Romaine and Pyrrhus the phisition of Pyrrhus did offer for a summe of mony to poison Pyrrhus that so Fabricius might get the victorie but Fabricius was so farre from accepting the offer as he sent backe the traitour to Pyrrhus and bad him take heede how hee entertayned such traytors so neere him But the king of Spayne deale not so with the Queene our mistres when her poysonfull Portingall phisition Lopus would haue poysoned her For from such hopes hee taketh hearte and hath alreadie offered to inuade vs and hath been and is still busied with vs in Ireland and did carry a full purpose this last spring to trye the vttermost of his strength to get footing heere had not her Maiestie most prouidently foreseene in her princely wisdome how fit it was to speake with him at his own home thereby to diuert his forces from his intended inuasion vpon vs to defend him selfe and to that end shee sent out a royall nauye vnder the conduct and commaunde of two honorable Generalls who diuiding themselues the one to keep the seas and the other to set foot vpon the spaniards sayle He that desired to land left his honorable companion with the greatest parte of the fleet and himselfe hasteth with the companies agreed vpon to the shore and with the extraordinarie forwardnes of a Generall he stayed not the entrance of many before him into the towne but to the encouragement of all both before him and behind him he shewed little to respect the safety of his own person and more regarding the honour of his Soueraigne his countrey and himselfe then his owne life hee entred the towne with a small number at the first and would not be daunted or driuen backe by the fiery furie of Spanish shot setled in euery house to annoy him but continued his course till he possessed the Market