The Popes charge to his Bratts Estote proditores Goe kill your Prince THE FIERIE TRYALL OF GODS SAINTS ¶ These Suffered for the witnes of Iesus and for the word of God vnder Queene Mary who did not worship the Beast nor his Image nor had taken his marke vpon their foreheads or on their hands or on their Garments and these liue and raigne with Christ Reuel 20.4 As a Counter-poyze to I. W. Priest his English Martyrologe AND THE DETESTABLE ENDS OF POPISH TRAYTORS ¶ These are of Sathans Synagogue calling themselues Iewes or Catholiques but lie and are not These worshipped the Beast saying who is like vnto the Beast who is able to warre with him Reuel 13.4 and these shall drinke of the wine of Gods wrath and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone before the holy Angells and before the Saints because they worshipped the Beast and his Image Re. 14.10 11. Set downe in a comparatiue Collection of both their sufferings Herewith also the Concurrance and agreement of the raignes of the Kings of England and Scotland since the first yeare of Q. Mary till this present the like before not extant AT LONDON Printed by T P for Arthur Iohnson 1611. TO THE PRINCE ENglands faire Hope borne Downe to quell the rage of Rome That proud Babell Which in its swelling-madde Desires to Worlds sole Empire still Aspires Deigne Sir to reade this little Booke at least with milde aspect to looke Vpon 't The pledge of Loyaltie and Subiects loue to Royaltie it is Vouchsafe your Princely Grace to me that humbly place my Faith and Dutie First to God then my King Who Vnitie did bring then to my Countrie The faithfull Subiect of my Lord the King and your Highnesse TO THE PATRONAGE AND protection of the high and mightie Prince Henry eldest Sonne of our Soueraigne Lord the King Prince of Wales c. President of his Maiesties most Honorable Priuie Councell AS that in one place was well sayd by Heathen Tullie Non nobis solùm nati sumus sed partē patria partem parentes partem liberi partem amici partem propinqui familiares peculiaritèr sibi vendicant So elsewhere was it spoken no lesse Christian-like Non quid quis fecerit sed quo animo studio fecerit ponderandum est Of these sayings the first seemed vnto me to Challenge at my hands A speciall Dutie to my Prince and Country which I knew not how to performe but in this kind The second I assumed as an Apologie for my weake and slender performāce of that Duty If my desire noble Prince to pay that debt for which by obligation Diuine Naturall and Nationall I stand obliged hath transported me beyond that wherevnto I am able of your Princely clemency I humbly beseech you winke at that amisse and of your Heroicall and Magnanimous Spirit Shield me from the Darts of the mightie and maleuolent Your Kingly Father out of the goodnes of his nature for to iudge the worst is dissonant to a good Disposition hath been obserued to conceiue of things illment or which at least might be doubtfully taken well you certainly being the true Heire as of his Kingdomes so also of his vertues cannot adiudge of that which is well ment ill The cause which I handle is not mine owne but my Prince and Countryes wherein what I haue done I the rather vndertooke to publish at this time and in this Kind by reason of those encouraging Woordes of the reuerend then Bishop of Chichester now of Ely in his Booke Cuititulus est Tortura Torti in Epistola dedicatoria ad Regiam Maiestatem his wordes are these Iam vbi in Discrimen adducta causa communitatis Spectator nemo sit Actor quisque c. My Intentions herein are right wherein I desire prodesse principi patriae non obesse If I faile in my purpose that is not want of will but of power If I haue performed ought herein that good is that same also is Multò plus votis quam factis Therefore for that sometimes noble Q. Elizabeths sake for she deserued to be loued etiam post mortem whose fame shall neuer die nam virtus post funera viuit For the King your Fathers sake who according to his names signification is a Maintainer of our peace for the Common wealths sake which is the Crowne of your Glory For your owne sake who are our Hope yeald me as the reading hereof so also your fauourable and Princely protection then shall I not care for the faces of mine enemies The Faithfull Subiect of my Lord the King and your Highnesse TO THE PATRONAGE and protection next vnto that of Prince Henry of the right noble L and strong Supporter of great Brittaines happinesse Robert Earle of Salisburie Lo high Treasurer of England c. Right Hono THE REASONS ESpecially inducing me to expose my selfe to the wounding darts of malice and enuie by publishing these Collections are in number Fiue 1 The vniust clamours of Papists so frequently crying out both in words and in writings of breach of promise bloud and bloudy persecution for Conscience 2 The preseruation to my poore powre of the Honour of our late Queene of famouse and blessed memory and also of the honour of the Kings Maiestie so vniustly by them taxed and reuiled being set like Rabshakeh to rayle vpon the Hoast of the liuing God 3. In regard of your Honourable selfe who haue been chosen and singled out by wicked men both at home and abroade as a Butt whereat to shoote their venemous arrowes of slaunder threatnings and reproch by laying greuious but false imputations vpon your Honour of plotting Tragicall stratagems against Catholiques so stiling themselues and seeking king the bloud of Recusants 4. A Desire quantum in me est to cleare our late memorable Queene our present Gracious King your honourable selfe and the whole State both then and now as also the Ghospell which we professe from vniust bloud-shedding or any desire thereof rightly retorting it vppon themselues in approuing by particular instances out of their owne I. W. priest his popish Martyrologe published Anno 1608. your Honours Assersion to be true That in the Raygne of those two Sisters to wit Q Mary and Q Elizabeth of different religions there was more bloud shed in the lesse then six yeares of the first then in full forty and fowre of the later as by the Register following appeareth And lastly a Generall ease intended vnto all in vnderstanding the double account of his Maiesties Raigne of England and Scotland and the Concurrance of the one with the other The reasons also wherefore I being vnro your Honour vnknowne and with all populorum cum censu tum doctrina penè infimus presumed to shroud my selfe vnder your Hono winges are Chiefly likewise Fiue 1. The Honorable report of your name for many and excellent things are spoken of thee for thy zeale to Religion loue to the State and more expected from thee most faithfull
Councellor 2. Because none can haue a better sence and feeling of anothers griefe then he that hath felt the like Afflictions Your Honour hath been by Sathans instruments threatned with vnavoydable Death But God who hithervnto hath still defende you and yet are those who were sayd to haue vowed the enterprize tearmed good men by those that in the libell seemed but God forbid that euer the saftie or ouerthrowe of the State should rest in their power to dislike of the powder treason therefore I doubt not but your Honour will defend the poore in a iust cause if neede so require against the rage and furie of the wicked and mightie 3. In regard the cause your person excepted is Secundum quid all one for which your Honour hath been reuiled mis-iudged slaundered and menaced with mine for which happely I also may vndergoe the like Namely The Conscionable seruice of my Soueraigne in my meane but contented place 4. Yours Honours owne Position That that seruant whose faith and zeale in the seruice of his King stands in awe of enemies eyther for power or enuie is not worthy of protection warranteth that these my meane but daring-loyall indeauours in behalfe of my Soueraigne shall finde fauour with your Honour 5. Because true Nobilitie which were it not that I speake vnto your Honor I would say were seated in your breast neuer respecteth the person of any man but the qualities affections endowments and intentions of the mind and therefore myne owne priuitie to my owne thoughts which telleth me and that vppon good grounds that your Honor deserueth well of the State in Generall and doth loue it and are generally in a recyprocall manner of them beloued doth also assure me in particular that nothing which is vertuous can from a good affection be commended vnto so Honorable a Patron and suffer shipwrack by Contempt Your Honor hath elsewhere spoken in your owne person That you would glory more to be alwaies found his Maiesties honest and humble subiect then absolutely to command in any other calling euen so I the weakest of many thousands desire nothing more pardon herein Noble Lord my ambition then that I may be able to performe some seruice vnto God my Prince Country and the furtherance of the Gospell and in them vnto your Honourable selfe And herein Right Honorable Lord namely in Desire to do good the poorest subiect his Maiestie hath absit inuidia Dicto may equallize his greatest Peere for the Loue Faith zeale of the one may be as great firme deuout as the other the difference consisting onely in outward meanes to approoue them in both The God of all power and might who exalted the Father of so honorable a sonne to be Lord high Treasurer vnto so worthy a Queene and the sonne of so honorable a father to beare the same office vnder so Gracious a King on earth the same God for his sonnes sake through the Grace of his holy spirit bind vp the sonne as I hope already he hath done the Father in the bundle of his Saints that after your long and faithfull Seruice to your earthly Prince with the father Sonne and Holy Spirit you may enioy the true Treasure of eternall happines in the Kingdome of Heauen Amen Amen Your Honors in all humble seruice TO THE WELL affected and loyall hearted Reader AS to the spirit and soule of man nothing internally then a good conscience can bee more comfortable so externally then a good report from others nothing can be more precious And as for the first euery one that will enjoye it must himselfe alone by the vprightnesse of his owne actions assure it vnto himselfe in the sincerity of his own heart so for the secōd as it depends not vpō ones selfe alone but vpon the tongues and reports of others euery Christian by the rules of his profession is chargeable to his power to seeke the preseruation thereof towards others whome hee knoweth to be wronged This being graunted as it cannot be denyed if euery priuate mans good name so neerely touch him as that for the preseruation thereof wee are all of vs to others reciprocally bound and by law diuine obliged How much more strictly then are all faithful subiects tyed as much as in them lyeth to maintaine the good name honour and reputation of their lawfull Soueraignes by traytors rebels And antichristians so vniustly jmpiously and jmpudently taxed both in words and writings For as his Majestie is our King by God appoynted to rule ouer his Brittish and Irish Israell both in Church and common wealth and as in dignity he is nulli secundus nay more for that may seeme to admit an equall Primus inter omnes without a mate highest euen so the blemish of good name honour and reputation in his Majestie is of all others most dishonourable most scandalous as his Majesty is of all others most eminent most conspicuous and therefore by euery good subiect as occasion offereth it selfe pro viribus to be maintained If a naturall father haue a bad name though vndeseruedly yet is that in the worlds eye that cannot iudge thereof but by report a scandall vnto the children Our King is more for he is not onely Pater familiae a father of a priuate family but he is Pater patriae a father of our Country nay more he is Pater multorum gentium regnorum a father of many Kingdomes England Scotland France and Ireland and which is most hee is a good Christian Christianae fidei Defensor the chiefe Champion for defence of Christian faith through whose sides the enemy seeketh to wound the whole Church of Christ and to lay aspersions of bloud and tyrany vpon all such as with him professe the gospell of Christ The consideration whereof as also a feruent desire to doe my Country some publique seruice in helping as much as in me lyeth to stop the mouths of our common aduersaries the Papists whose lauish tongs haue spit out aboundance of venome and their pennes stung like Scorpions not onely our late most gracious and woorthy Queene Elizabeth of euer-blessed memorie for the many vnspeakeable blessings that God with and through her bestowed vpon this and other Kingdomes But also our present Soueraigne Lord and King with both their state Ministers by charging them as falsely so maliciously with cruelty breach of promise bloud and bloudy persecution for conscience hath mooued mee to jmploye the best talent of my small ability to convince them of jmpudent and lying malicious slaunders and reproachfull vntruths First in a few following lynes directed vnto all Romish fauorites clearing my present gracious Soueraigne of breach of promise with Recusants for toleration of Popery wherein also I haue touched the ground of that slaunder with the occasion and Authors thereof with some other matters of speciall moment Secondly in a tabular computation by a comparatiue collection of all such Martyrs as were burned in Queene Maries days with all such Priests Iesuites
necessitie from Ambition Likewise as then by one was obserued his ambition in his jntentions and thoughts so by another of higher rancke and dignitie was noted his dissimulation in his actions for said he there are in all his proceedings Vestigia manifesta vestigia occulta giving withall an jnstāce herein That this great personage had admitted T. P. that Archtraitor to be a Pentioner but yet without hauing any oath administred him either for his allegeance or yet for his particular discharge of that place whereunto he was admitted and yet vnderhand giuing out that he was sworne wherevpon he jnferred thus That wheresoeuer things were palliated which were or fayned to be which are not there alwaies is some deceit At which time he was by a third honourable personage taxed expreslie for his Hippocrisie as being Iacke on both sides whereby hee had made himselfe odious to both Protestants so tearmed and Papists nor yet though these are jnough are these all But to returne to our purpose and matter in hand Before he ascended vnto that height of honor which then by the Kings speciall favour he was advanced vnto I meane in Queene Elizabeths time when his predecessours carriage had givē just occasion of the successours further disgrace then at this very time was the same person imployed vnto his maiestie with letters from Garnet the Iesuites Prouinciall who had about that time receaued the Popes Breues to this purpose Quandocunque contigerit miseram illam faeminam meaning Q. Elizabeth ex hac vita exire c. that whensoeuer that wretched woman should die the papists should not admit of any other to inherite how neere so euer in bloud vnlesse he were a Romish Catholique and not so onely vnlesse he would also sweare to vphold to his power the popish Religion But the Kings happie acceptation with his good Subiects caused those to bee converted into ashes and then come other Breues enioyning their obedience to his Maiestie but Coacta virtus non est virtus Gramercy horse when you cannot choose then obay This is that Obedientia ex necessitate nempe ferreâ jlla coactâ which Bellarmine noteth Recognitionum pag. 16. And how long this vntill they be able to cast him out whō they were forced to receaue And your Watson soone attempted that which hee knew his vnholy Father the Pope hartily wished Hee was a lowe man in person but he aspyred high when he thought to bee Lord Chancellor of England but missing that hee was aduanced to the Gallowes for preferment but I thinke being purblind he missed the waye that hee meant I say did this double-hearted Lord jmploy T. P. the Traytor vnto the Kings Majestie then King only of Scotland with certain letters of advise but much in the behalfe of the English Romish Catholicks aduising him that he should at such time as it should please the Lord to call him to the possession of this his kingdome which as now he doth so long Lord grant he may quietly enjoye giue faire promises and hopes of tolleration vnto the Papists thereby as he therein pretended to prepare a more easie entrance for his Majestie when time should serue The Kings Majestie not as then suspecting the depth of this his Councellors drifts but vnderstanding him simply returned him an answere with thankes for his advise but withall jnferring a clause directly as since it appeareth contrarie to his Councellors expectation His Majesties words in answere to the letter were in effect as followeth Whensoeuer it shall please GOD in his due time to call mee to the possession of my right in England I purpose not to make any jnnovation in the State or to alter the Lawes and Ordinances thereof c. Wherevppon a wise man would as the LL. did haue thus jnferred No alteration in the State no changing of Lawes and Ordinances therein established why then no toleratiō of Poperie no allowance of Recusancy not because it pleased the kings Majestie out of the meeknesse of his Spirit voyd of guile and double dealing to returne him thankes for his aduise although hee did not so much as make shew that he liked thereof therefore to conclude that a toleration should be granted But he in his ambition besotted with his own follie not expounding his Majesties words as he meant but as he himselfe conceited them because he so as it should euidently appeare wished that it might bee did so farre exceed the limits of his commission and was so farre vainely transported as that at T. P. his returne from the Kings Majestie it was amongst the Papists divulged though falsely that the King had also by the sayd T. P. giuen directions to the afore remembred great Personage by word of mouth to wind himselfe into their favours for that was the word and to giue hopes of toleration in his Majesties name vnto Recusants and herehence chiefly arose that scandall of the kings Honour that he had broken promise with Recusants For the better confirmation whereof and that his Majesty neuer intended any such matter of toleration Conferre herewith Watson the Priest his confession vnto the Honourable Lord the Lord of Northampton at Winchester who being by the Earle by his Majestie therevnto appoynted examined vpon the poynt of promise of toleration freely confessed that albeit he were by some falsly accused to be the Author of that report yet it was most true that hee could neuer at any time draw any comfort from his Maiestie in the point of conscience All which notwithstanding besides the just cause that the Powder-treason and other dangerous conspiracies against his Maiesties life and kingdomes hatefull to God and all good men gaue of an hard hand ouer the Papists yet let any of you that I may vse the words of an Honorable Counsellor even the most jmpudent brazen faced amongst you shew any the least prints if you can of bloody steppes in his Majesties Course Nay rather I may much more truely say hee is a man composed all of mercy and not of any earthly element subiect to passions and disturbance but in a farre more diuine manner then ordinary men resembling his Maker for good Kings and mercifull are the most liuely representatiue jmages of the Deitie which causeth as the wicked without warrant vpō Gods mercies so Traitors and miscreants without reason vppon his Majesties Clemency jmpudently to presume to their more just condemnation And here let me tell you yet voyd of any desire of bloud or bloudy courses as God can beare record vnto my foule but onely admiring the mercies of our King That I greatly doubt whether any Prince in the world King Iames excepted if the like treason as was the Powder-treason had been plotted against him by persons of another religion or sect whatsoeuer would haue suffered either man woman or child of so dangerous and damnable a profession to haue breathed within his Dominions especially if the grounds of their religion