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
the politicke body of the Kingdome all cut off at one blow the kingdome left headlesse heartlesse hopelesse depriued of her directing Iethroes Dij quibus imperium hoc steterat Virg. The pillars and supporters of this Christian Monarchy and changed it to a confused Anarchy then preuailing as Garnet the Arch-Priest and Archtraytor praied Auferte gentem istam perfidam de finibus credentium Take away this perfidious nation meaning vs Protestants from the borders of true belieuers vnderstanding Romanists vt laudes Deo debitas alacriter persoluamus that we may praise God for the same ioyfully But such prayers of the wicked is an abhomination vnto the Lord and though they make many prayers the Lord will not heare them because their hands are full of blood the enemies to our King and Kingdome opened their mouthes against vs saying Let vs deuoure them Certainely this is the day that we looked for yea which they longed for wherein they hoped to haue swallowed vs vp quicke when their wrath was kindled against vs to haue ouerthrowne the temporall and politicke estate of our Kingdome by the ruine of the royall Head and the most noble members of the same but the Lords eyes were vpon the faithfull of the Land to shield them vnder the shadow of his wings when as the proud had laid a snare for them and spread a net with cords in their way and set grins for them then did the Lord deliuer them from those euill men and preserued them from those cruell men and recompenced them their wickednes and destroied them in their owne malice to moue all Gods people in great Britanny to say with Zachary That being deliuered out of the hands of our enemies we should serue him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of our liues Yea this pernicious proiect had not onely procured a fatall disturbance and destruction of the temporall and politicall welfare of the Kingdome but also aimed to alter the State of our Religion and to set vp the abhomination of desolation in the holy place to establish the corrupt profession of popish superstition this was the Helena for which these Greekes contended Then all of vs might with the children of Israel led captiue to Babilon cry like them By the riuers of Babilon we sate downe and wept when wee remembred thee O Sion for then wee should haue liued in captiuity to the Romish Babilon and haue sung the songs of Sion in a strange land and strange tongue Then England should haue beene againe as once one called it the Popes Asse to beare his burthens in a miserable bondage Those debosht and banished Popelings Iesuites Seminaries and Masse-Priests who can cry to their Images like Baals Priests O Baal heare vs lo then Hagar and Ismael not long since cast out with bagge and baggage reen tring againe insolently insulting ouer honourable Dame Sara and would driue her and Isaak out of the familie VVhat heart zealous of the glory of God and religious to the pure Gospell of Christ that would not with Dauid euery night water his couch with his teares to behold the Candlestickes of our Church who hold the light of the word broken in peeces I meane the spirituall labourers in the worde to be thrust out of the vineyard of the Church and the loyterers of Rome haruest-men for Antichrist to take the howses of God in possession So that with Dauid we might cry * O God thine enemies are come into thine inheritance thy holy Temple they haue defiled c. Romes wolues in sheepes cloathing worrying the Lambes of Christ Sathans Foxes running vpon the mountaines of Sion and stealing away the soules of the simple making them drunke with the dregs of the Romish grape enchanted with their Circes cup in which is the wine of infection spirituall fornication and abhomination The people then should haue beene depriued of the pure riuer of the water of life and for lacke of the bread of life compelled to complaine in the famine of their soules like the distressed Iewes in the famine of their bodies Where is bread and drinke where is the Manna which once was tasted the worde of grace wherewith wee once were feasted where are the painefull Pastors of our soules who once refreshed vs fedde our hearts with bread from heauen and filled our cares with comfortable tidings of peace who prayed for our soules with zealous spirits and spent themselues like vnwearied messengers in the worke of the Gospell Oh the Priests lippes which preserued knowledge they are silenced and sent to their graues expelled the Church or put in prison or turned to ashes in Popish flames their persecutors are swifter then the Eagles of heauen who pursue them vpon the mountaines and lay wait for them in the wildernesse they hunt their steppes that they cannot goe in the streetes their end is neere for their daies are fulfilled their end is come Oh this is come vpon vs for our cold loue and churlish entertainement of the Gospell when we had free liberty to call one another Come let vs goe vp to the mountaine of the Lord to the God of Iacob and hee will teach vs his waies and we will walke in his paths but then wee stopped our eares like deafe Adders against the voice of those charmes most expert in charming they piped vnto vs but we would not dance we then regarded not those songs of Sion and now both harpes and harpers are hung vpon the willow trees our soules are starued with Latine Masses wee haue no English Bibles wodden blockes are called the Lay-mens bookes we cannot see the way we should walke in but must like blinde men be guided by the spectacles of purblinde guides we must beleeue as they beleeue and yet doe not know what they beleeue all ready to repeat that wishing voice of Iob Oh that wee were as in times past when God preserued vs when his light shined vpon our heads and when by his light we walked through darkenesse all saying with Valerius though not in the same case who when Caligula that monster was killed and it could not be found out who had done it Noble Valerius rose vp and said vtinam ego would to God I had killed that monster So will they cry vtinam ego would to God wee had killed that monster which whisome wee indulgently cherished in our bosomes Ingratitude and Contempt of the Gospell then while we had the same in plenty and purity without commixtion of drosse and darnell trash and tares we began with the Israelites to loath this Manna We can see nothing but this Manna our soule loatheth this light bread and now Verbum amissum quaerimus inuidi Wee wander from Sea to Sea and from the North to the East to seeke the worde of the Lord and cannot finde it Now the Lords
that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye beseeching God to be Protector Saluationum Vncti the defender and deliuerer of his Anointed to giue him prosperity peace and plenty of all things yea plenty of it which Lewes the eleuenth the French King complained hee onely wanted in his Court and being demanded what it was hee said â—ruth a Diamond faire and fit to adorne a Diadem commendable to God acceptable to Kings profitable to Common wealths Hee is the Kings and Countries best seruant that brings in his mouth a message of Trueth I haue read how a certaine poore man comming to see Constantine an Emperor renowned through the world by Fame and Fortune and that poore man fixing his eies vpon him said thus Putabam Constantinum aliquid praeclarius mirabilius fuisse sed iam video eum nihil aliudesse praeter hominem I had thought Constantine had beene some rarer and more admirable Creature but I see he is but a man to whom Constantine gaue many thanks being both plaine and true saying Tu solus es qui in me oculos apertos habuisti Thou art onely the man that hast looked vpon mee with open eies others did flatter him making him beleeue that hee was not but this man honestly and truelie told him what hee was Like Macedonius the Eremite who said to the officers of Theodosius Dicite Imperatori non es Imperator solummodo sedetiam homo Tell the Emperor he is not onely an Emperour but also a man For though in Scripture they be called Gods it is in sensu modificato a qualified sence Gods by deputation earthly Gods not by nature but by regiment they shall dwell in the Lords Tabernacle and are worthy to be in Kings Courts who walke vprightly worke righteously and speake the trueth from their hearts Qui verit atem occultat qui prodit mendacium vterque reus est ille quia prodesse non vult iste quia nocere desiderat saith Austen He that hides the truth he that tels a lye both be guilty He because he would not profit this because hee would haue hurt The Lord and louer of Trueth euermore blesse his Maiesty with trusty Nathaniels in whom is no guile Such are the best seruants and secretaries to King and Country who like one of those three seruants to King Darius the keepers of his body come with this sentence laying it vnder the Kings pillow Trueth ouer commeth all things But keepe from him O King of Kings all flattering Doegs crafty conspiring Achitophels rebellious Shebas treacherous Zimries vnfaithfull Zibas false Ioabs and Romish Iudasses who honour him with their lips but their hearts be far from him And let all true subiects to his gracious Highnesse faithfully performe all loyall seruice to this our Iosias who restores the booke of the Law and holy Scripture who like Dauid fetcheth home the Arke of God and his sacred Gospell who like Asa puts downe Idolls and commands all to seeke the Lord God who like Iehu not kills but banishes Baals Priests the Romish rout of Seminaries and Iesuites waiters and worshippers of the Papall Moloch an Idol hauing hands alwaies to receiue gifts Our Soueraigne loathes these locusts and labours has terris templis auertere pestes To free the Church and Country of these plagues so that it makes our hearts leape for ioy and cry aloud O Lord how fauourable hast thou beene vnto our land in placing religion learning vertue and honour in one seate Quam bene conueniunt cùm vna sede locantur Maiestas virtus An admirable spectacle to behold vertue and honour in the royall Throne What fires of zeale loue and seruice should it kindle in the hearts of subiects in thankefulnes to God to serue the Lord in feare and come before his presence with a song of thankesgiuing falling downe before the Lord our Maker in soule in body all within and all without He giues all must be praysed of all prayed to of all for he is all in all He hath not dealt so with euery Nation and therefore let vs with the Psalmist say and sing O my God and King I will extoll thee and praise thy name for euer and euer Let Israel reioyce in their King and to conclude with the words of Musculus Acceptus foelix gratiosus sit iste quem Dominus nobis regem dedit Welcome wished and most worthy is he whom God hath set vp to raigne ouer vs who happily succeeded a Virgin Queene proclaimed a day before the Festiual of the Queene of Virgins a faire Prologue of much ioy who now with great felicity and tranquility hath raigned 15 yeeres in this great and flourishing Kingdome many more yeeres we continually pray to be multiplied Addat é nostris annos in annos Deus Make him full of dayes and full of Trophees of honour and grant him loyall Subiects faithfull in obedience and dutifull in all seruice saying in tongue ioyfully in heart truly God saue the King CHAP. VIII THE fifth duty of Subiects to be duly and truly payed and performed to their sacred and dread Soueraignes is Tribute which is as Vipian saith Neruus reip The strong sâ—ew of the Common-wealth without which King nor Kingdome cannot stand And therefore our Sauiour first by president paid Tribute and also by precept resoluing the Disciples of the Pharises demanding whether it was lawfull to giue Tribute vnto Caesar or no told them peremptorily That they must giue vnto Caesar that which was Caesars Reddendum est tributum honor obedientia in omnibus quae non pugnant cum verbo Dei saith Piscator vpon that place Tribute Honour and Obedience is to be giuen vnto the Magistrate in all things not repugnant to the word of God for this cause saith Saint Paul ye pay Tribute because the King is the Minister of God for thy wealth applying themselues for the same thing Custodit te Princeps saith Theophylact ab Hostibus debes itaquè ei tributum The Prince keeps thee safe from enemies thou doest owe him therefore Tribute and as he speakes still in that place Nummum ipsum quem habes ab ipso habes The money which thou hast thou hast from him and therfore Non date sed reddite Not giue but pay not a gift but a debt which all Subiects owe to him Non damus sed reddimus quiequid ex officio cuiquam damus saith Beucer We doe not giue but pay that which of duty we owe Tributes Subsidies and Taskes c are not gifts but debts which of necessity they must and ought to pay Hoc Scripturae approbant hoc leges ciuiles communi gentium omnium consensu recipiunt saith Hiperius This doe the Scriptures allow of writing there of the payment of Tributes this doe the Ciuill Lawes with the common consent of all
mighty Caesar take Of which I may thy tombe begin to make Your Highnes needs not these aduertisements the memorie whereof presage our lamentations though it shall bring you in present possession of perpetual glorification who liue and labour to passe off this worlds Kingly Theater with that approbation bene fidelis serue Well done faithfull seruant enter into thy Masters ioy Our hearty and humble prayers shall euer be powred foorth to the King of Kings from the bottome of our soules that your Highnesse may still reigne many happie yeares on earth in prosperous health Kingly honour and all happinesse and may oft renew and reuiue our hearts with these annuall ioyes and when the last period comes that God may make you as glorious a Saint in Heauen as you are a great gracious high and happy King on earth and leaue behinde you the succession of your loynes to sit vpon the Throne to the worlds end and all your faithfull seruants and subiects will ioyne with mee in this prayer and say Amen Amen Next to your Honors most graue and wise Senators the politicke Statists of the land who represent Romanos rerum dominos gentemque Togatam The most honourable Counsell to the royall head whom for fidelity I may compare to the heart of England to you by right of office place and charge this faithfull seruice principally appertaines to procure and pray for the Kings safety who is as it was said of Iudith the exaltation of Ierusalem the great glory of Israel the great reioycing of our Nation That hee may enioy many Alcion daies and reigne many golden yeares in safety and securitie Virg Aurea securi quis nescit saecula regis It is your noble taske carefully to consult in the preuention of publicke mischiefes and though wee may now say with Agamemnon Victor timere quid potest What need the Conqueror feare yet Cassandra will tell vs Quod non timet feare that you doe not feare feare procures precaution precaution preuention feare the plots and proiects of the sonnes of Anak the Popes Giants traiterous Iesuites of whom I may say as Ammianus Marcellinus writes of the Saracens Nec amici nobis vnquam nec hostes optandi si amici perfidi si hostes foedifragi VVee need not to wish them to be our friends or foes if friends they will proue treacherous if foes perfidious Circumspect precaution is the life of pollicy for stultum est cum sit is fauces tenet puteū fodere for that is like the Phrygians sero sapere to be wise too late But why doe I like an vnexpert Phormio dispute of warres in Hannibals presence you are the Nestors of this kingdome wise as Serpents but innocent as Doues be careful to take the Foxes which would destroy our Vine Faber cadit cum ferias fullonem neyther state nor statute free till the Realme be freed of them being like Nouatus whom S. Cyprian describes in these colours Saepe blandus vt fallat aliquādo saevus vt terreat semper curiosus vt prodat nunquam fidelis vt diligat Alwaies flattering to deceiue sometimes cruell to terrifie alwaies curious and cunning to betray neuer faithfull to loue But your Honours know best how to preuent the mischiefes of such miscreants who desire the ruine of King and Country for you can best tell how to doe it Propert lib. 2. Nauita de ventis de tauris narret arator enumeret miles vulnera pastor oues I will not meddle with your high affaires rather follow mine owne duety fall to prayers for you that God may euer be present and president at your Counsels giuing you the spirit of counsell and of courage wisely to foresee and happily to preuent all misfortunes and miseries intended against our King and Country and that our Iudah and Israel may dwell without feare euery man vnder his vine and figtree from Dan euen to Beersheba al the daies of our Salomon That God would still multiply these happy yeares and grant that our high and princely Cedar with all the faire goodly branches may long flourish in this land and that all his subiects high and low may safelie shelter vnder the shadow of his gracious gouernment blessing your Honors the very supporters of the state the pillars of the land with grace and wisedome from aboue to prosper your Counsels and euer direct you to consult for the glory of God the good of the King the comfort and welfare of Church and Common-weale To you also the bright stars of Court blest with the dailie beames and influences of the Regall Sunne who like orient Pearles serue to adorue the golden Diadem to you I may fitly tender these present meditations who no doubt dailie doe meditate vpon this Theame to say and pray God saue the King You faire flowers of honor who flourish in the courtly Canaan a place which flowes with plenty and pleasure the very garden of delight where the Bee gathers hony and the spider poyson where you may reape all earthly pleasures which are like Ionas Gourd content a while but not continue your eies behold the subiect of our prayers the ornament of our land Nay I may say with the Poet Hor. lib. 4. od 14. od 2. O quâ Sol habitabiles Illustrat oras maxime Principum Quo nil maius meliusue terris Fata denavere bonique diui Nec dabunt quamuis redeant in aurum Tempora priscum Vpon no shoares the Sunne doth shine Blest with a King more diuine The fire of your feruent prayers for the welfare of the King should perpetually flame at the high Altar of deepe deuotion being graced with all kingly fauours and aduanced with honour and rewards if you should proue disloyall or vndutifull to the King hee might rightly vse the Prouerbe Mercedes locat in pertusum sacculum Put his rewards in a broken bagge and might iustly frowne on you and his wrath like the roaring of a Lion and euen strike you dead with a Quos ego If you desire the Kings fauour which is the way to honor be faithfull and loyall This raised Mordecai to ride on the Kings horse in royall apparell a Crowne of gold on his head c. and to be eternized with the eternall Crowne of truth It raised Ioseph to ride in the second Chariot of Egypt Daniel to be clothed in purple and a chaine of gold about his necke Look vpon King Dauids gratuitie for Barzillays loyalty who commanded Salomon on his death bed to let the sons of Barzillai to eate at his table This is the onely way to winne the Kings fauour which if you lose you are but falling starres your Fame obscured your Names contemned Macro salutes Seianus no longer then he is in Tiberius fauour Actum est ilicet peristi But your faithfull seruice to your Soueraigne will be commendable to God and men seruing in soule the King of
of the Land who are the eyes and eares of this politicke Body who well know Scita patrum leges iura fidemque deosque To you I may dedicate and appropriate these our labours whose places and paines serue to this purpose to serue the King and Countrey and to helpe to preserue the welfare of the King and Kingdome Your publike paines and priuate prayers speake to the World these words God saue the King You are sworne to this seruice and sweat in it neuer more Malefactors in this kind and as Paul tels Timothy In the last dayes shall come perillous times for men shall be Traytors heady high-minded c. You know the Nilus where these Crocodils are bred and fed vse all good diligence to catch them spread your nets not Vulpina retia Foxes nets but Regni retia The Lawes of the Land if you can take them you shall doe God and the King good seruices Spare none of this kind who dare lift vp their hand against the Lords Annointed for they are worthy to die Bonis nocet qui malis parcit He hurts the good which spares the bad yea in all your loyall and legall seruice let neither feare or fauour flattery or bribery blind your eyes or deafe your eares remembring that you exercise not the iudgement of man but of God and thinke vpon this verse in your Iudgement seate Hic locus odit amat punit conseruat honorat Nequitiam pacem crimina iura bonos Farre bee that leprosie from the Iudges of our Land which so corrupted them in Ciceros dayes that he could say His iudicijs quae nunc sunt pecuniosum hominem non posse damnari In these iudgements which are now a monied man cannot be condemned But bribery foules not your hands who to corrupting Simons say with Symon Peter Thy money perish with thee Neither let any of Agesilaus letters moue you who writ to a Iudge for his fauourite in this stile Si causa bona pro iustitia sin mala pro amicitia absolue If his cause be good dismisse him for Iustice sake if bad for friendship sake Let Iustice be vnpartially executed yet tempered with lawfull pitty thinke vpon that Christian caueat Duo sunt nomina peccator homo quod peccator corripe quod homo miserere These are two names an offender a man as an offender punish him as a man pitty him be not too seuere with Draco Ne superet medicina modum Least the medicine exceed the malady nor too remisse with lenity for that is a kind of cruelty Tam omnibus ignoscere crudelitas quam nulli saith Seneca To pardon all is cruelty as well as to pardon none But Sus mineruam You know best to keepe the meane and Medium tenuere beati So shall you performe laudable seruice to God King and Countrey if you execute Iustice punish disobedience which is the falling sicknesse of a corrupt Common-wealth Command all to giue * Caesar his due represse all his enemies by force of lawes and cut them off with the sword of Iustice that their exemplary punishments may terrifie all others from such attempts and bee like monitors and remembrancers to all people crying Discite iustitiam moniti non temnere diuos Virg. Let others harmes admonish thee and learn not to despise these supreame powers for which offence so many Traytors dies Seauenthly to the Common-wealth Last of all to you the inferior yet sound members of the supreame Head the natiue and nationall children of our common Mother whom I may fitly compare to the hands and legges of this politicke body to fight and stand strongly for the defence and welfare of our King and Kingdome To you I hope this little Booke will be welcome and therefore say to you as the Angell said to Iohn Take this little Booke and eate it and if you be good Subiects it will be sweet in your mouthes and not bitter in your bellies for you cannot be true Christians vnlesse you be true Caesarians there is no true Religion in that heart which entertaines a motion to rebellion it is a rotten member that will not be obedient to the regall Maiestie And consider with your selues the happy blessings you enioy by the mercifull prouidence of God in giuing to this Realme so godly and gracious a Soueraigne to reigne ouer you and it will make you cry forth with the Psalmist Saluation belongeth vnto the Lord and his blessing is vpon the people O Lord how fauourable hast thou beene vnto our Land in placing ouer vs so religious and renowned a King so absolute and compleate a Prince in wisdome learning and religion and it will stirre vp all thankefull hearts to say with the Psalmist Let the people praise thee O God yea let all the people praise thee Sing prayses to God sing prayses sing prayses vnto our King for hee hath chosen our inheritance for vs euen the glory of Iacob whom he loued If we be not truly thankefull for so great benefits it may be truly verified of vs which was said of Canaan Bona terra sed gens mala A good Land but in it there be bad people O vnthankefull and vngratefull Britaines if euer you forget so great blessings Vae vobis propter ingratitudinem Woe be vnto you for your ingratitude Ingrata patria Vngratefull Countrey it is an infamous name odious to nature and Nations Gratiarum actio est ad plus dandum inuitatio Giuing of God thankes for fauours receiued is a kind of supplication and inuitation to obtaine more The Anatomists tell vs that euery creature hath foure muscles about the eyes but a man fiue foure serue to turne about the eyes the fifth serues to lift vp the eye and looke vpward to Heauen Man should not with other brutish creatures looke altogether vpon the earth but lift vp his eyes hands and heart to Heauen to giue God due and true thankes for his daily and fatherly fauours and mercies bestowed vpon him The Oxe knowes his Owner and the Asse his Masters Crib yea the Riuers are tributary to the Sea from whence some say they first come and againe returne All Creatures seeme in their kind to be gratefull debtors to their curteous Benefactors except the Swine whose mast makes him forget the tree from whence the Acornes fall or the Moon which being at the full by interposition of the earth darkens the Sunne from whence yet shee borrowes all her light It was Israels sinne vnthankefulnesse I pray God it be not Englands sicknesse vngratefulnesse to God Woe vnto vs if we scant God of our fruits who hath not scanted vs of his fauours Bring presents to the King of glory giue vnto the Lord glory due vnto his Name worship the Lord in his glorious sanctuary Not vnto vs O Lord not vnto vs but vnto thy Name giue the glory for thy louing mercy and for
with your Graces and Honors defence as with precious stones built vpon the chiefe corner-stone Rocke Christ Iesus though flouds from the Sea of Rome should come or the windes of wicked Iesuites blow vpon this booke with their infecting breath and would beate it downe with a storme of words yet Non cadet quia fundatur super petram I feare to be tedious and therefore in all dutifull and submissiue reuerence I cease my hand yet my heart till death shall neuer cease to pray for all your prosperous happinesse and heauenly successe in your holy and high affaires for the Church King and Country for which Diuine blessing shall be duely and daily powred forth the poore deuotions of your Graces and Honours most humble seruant Samuel Garey Ad Gloriam Dei Sionis gaudium malorum luctum MAgnae Britanniae immortales Gratiae Pro salute Britanniae quinto Nouembris Ab horrenda proditione Anglo-Papistarum Qui pul vere bombardico Parliamenti domum Euertere sunt machinati Hoc Aniuersario commemorantur In libre diligenter exara illud erit in die nouissime in testimonium vsque in aeternum Esa 30. 8. Amphitheatrum Scelerum OR The Transcendent OF TREASON For the 5. day of Nouember Sonne of Man write thee the name of the day euen of this same day for the King of Babel set himselfe against Ierusalem this same day Ezech. 24. 2. CHAP. I. AS Moses did speake in another kinde to the people of Israel Enquire now of the dayes that are past which were before thee since the day that God created man vpon the earth and aske from the one end of Heauen vnto the other if there came to passe such a great thing as this or whether any such like thing hath beene heard So I may say Enquire of the Times past and search the Records of all Antiquities and you cannot finde such a damnable and diuellish proiect the very modell of all mischiefes and Miscellan of all massacres the intended Powder-plot the Quintessence of all impiety and confection of all villany the like neuer de ficto much lesse de facto in which these prodigious and barbarous monsters not men but loathsome lumpes of mire and bloud in whose proditorious brests the spirits of all expired traytors by a kinde of Pythagoricall transmigration were inclosed intended to haue destroyed the obiects of Englands earthly glory the glory of succession yea succession it selfe to extinguish the whole light and life of the land vno actu tactu ictu by one blow and blast of powder Tollere Rem Regem Regimen Regionem Religionem Furious Phaetons in one day yea howre with a dismall fire-worke to burne all to ashes of a glorious Monarchy to make an Anarchy to offer our most gracious King royall Queene vertuous Prince and hopefull Progeny with right Noble personages of honourable place and birth the reuerend Cleargy with all the rest of that wise and flourishing assembly to offer them all as a quicke and liuing sacrifice not powdered with salt or salted with fire as our Sauiour but salted with powder to make such an Holocaust or burnt offering as should be the general martyrdome of the Kingdome to bereaue vs of our Eliat and Horsemen of Israel and take them away in a whirle-winde and chariot of fire Quot mortes in vna morte How many deaths in such a death to cut off caput caudam head and tayle branch and rush Prince Priest and people from our Israel in one day Quomodo inaudito potuit manus impianisu Tam dirum fabric are nef as Respublica in vno Funere tollenda est vno tumulanda sepulchro With such an hellish deed for to desire To bury King and Kingdome in a fire How ought the heauenly and happy deliuery from such an horrible and hidcous Tragedy excite all continually to thanke and magnifie our most mercifull God for such a miraculous preseruation And though the crying sinnes of the Land had deserued such a Doomesday of fire yet the Lord in mercy hath deliuered it from that desolation and secured by his outstretched arme of power and pitty the Royall Head and loyall members of great Britanny from his and our enemies who tooke crafty counsell against thy people and consulted against thy secret ones They said Come let vs cut them off from being a Nation and let the name of Israel be no more in remembrance but they perished at Endor and were dung for the Earth Shall such wondrous workes as these be knowne in the darke and thy righteousnesse in the Land where all things are forgotten Can such a deliuerance from such a dismall danger so villainous in the Agents so dolorous for the patients so craftily contriued so eagerly pursued so neerely effected the watch of a night and turning of an hand betweene vs and so deadly desolations can such a gracious worke be euer buried in obliuion Indeed it was Israels error whose prayers and praises ended so soone as they had passed the Red Sea and shall we that haue escaped not that Red Sea of water but a Red Sea of fire shall wee end our prayers and praises to God because that danger is past Oh how vnworthy shall we be of future fauours if so vnthankefull for past blessings And truly herein the Land is faulty in forgetting these benefits in a cold and not continuall acknowledgement of their humble thankefulnesse to God for these and other vnspeakable benefits And at the first all peoples hearts did burne within them like those two Disciples when they did but talke of the Powder Treason admiring and acknowledging the infinite mercies of God in the preuenting this most abhorred massacre and with heart and voice magnified the Lord with Dauids Psalme If the Lord had not beene on our side may Israel now say If the Lord had not beene on our side when men rose vp against vs they had then swallowed vs vp quicke when their wrath was kindled against vs. Praised be the Lord which hath not giuen vs as a prey vnto their teeths but a few yeeres being past they beginne to slacken this duty and are cold in praysing God for so blessed a deliuerance Perchance pondering Parsans words Will you neuer giue ouer saith he your clamors and exaggerations The Powder Treason the Powder Treason No we should neuer giue it ouer to poure foorth our perpetuall praises to God for protecting vs from so prodigious a plot and practise Our Eucharisticall deuotion to God for the preuention of the downefall of the Land should not be so momentary and like a morning dew as if the renued remembrance of so great deliuerance should become wearisomenesse vnto our spirits or the wonderment of the Lords mighty worke being past our gratulation to God should be out of dare vnseasonable and more then halfe forgotten No the deliuery from this flagitious and most bloody designement as it
horrible desolation had not Gods power and pitty preuented this their intention and inuention we will part it into three Heads all directly tending to ouerthrow 1. The Temporall estate 2. The Politicall estate 3. The Spirituall estate of our flourishing Church famous King and fortunate Kingdome O 〈◊〉 in terris anima caelestium inanes Oh crooked mindes voyd of celestiall grace Who with such ruine would our land deface I will beginne with the two first It would haue subuerted the Temporall and Politicall estate of the Kingdome The effects of this Powder treason would haue exceeded those mischiefes which Caesar reckons to be the fruits of Catilins conspiracie Rapiuntur virgines c. Virgins deflowred Matrons made the obiects of the victors lust children killed in their parents bosome houses burned men murthered all places full of weapons carcases blood and lamentation So who can tell what mischiefe what murther what rebellion what inuasion what rapine destruction and desolation would haue beene the fruits and effects of this barbarous Treason it would haue prooued carnificinaregni the very death and downfall of the Kingdome and therefore may be called officina scelerum the shop of all mischiefe the vault of all villanie Quid Rex quid Regina comes quid regia proles Quid proceres Sanctique patres populusque fidelis Quid tantum meruere mali committere tantum In vos quod potuere Scelus potuistis in vnam Funera tot cumulare struem tot corporalaetho Congerere tantum moliri caedis aceruum What hath our King his Queene and Princely sonne Our Peeres and Prelats and the people done To merite such a mischiefe what offence Against them iustly can you now commence Which might prouoke your malice to deuise To murther them as you did enterprize No age can produce a proiect proportionable to this immanity Tyrannorum carbones eculei rotae funes fustes cruces gladij c. nihil si ad haec comparentur The exquisite torments of Tyrants not comparable with the fury of this truculent Tragedy The destruction of Troy was lamentable by fire and sword in the night Virg. Inâ—adunt vrbem somno vinoque sepultam They inuade the Citty buried in sleepe and wine and at vnawares set vpon them by a perfidious Treachery yet there they might fight for their liues and make resistance to reuenge themselues Idem Aut versare dolos aut certae occumbere morti But heerein these Trayterous Architects had so contriued their worke and world of woes that with one blast or blow all to be consumed and yet not to see who hurts them with a floude of fire to deuoure the choisest flowres of the world the Rose of the field and Lillies of the vallies the royall Rose with the rest of the regall stemme the noble Lillies of the land Flos delibatus populi Suadaeque medulla The flourishing Nobilitie most reuerend Cleargie prudent and politicke Gentry all to passe the fiery region of corporall combustion when as this fire should come out of the bramble to consume the Cedars of Lebanon So terrible a blow or blast it would haue beene to the Temporall welfare of the state of this Kingdome in generall to be depriued of the father chariots and horsemen of Israel rapt vp in a whirlewind of fire that it could leaue nothing but lamentations to posterity wish with weeping Ieremie for an head full of water and eyes fountaine of teares to weepe day and night for the slaine of them and none but monsters of men habituated in villany and radicated in cruelty would haue an hand in so heauy a calamity Then we all might alwayes meditate of mournefull Elegies and make large Commentaries vpon Ieremies Lamentations and cry with him How doth the Citty remaine solitary that was full of people she is a widowe she that was great among the nations Princesse among the Prouinces is made tributary she weepeth continually she dwelleth among the heathen and finds no rest her persecutors tooke her in the Straits The waies of Sion lament because no man commeth to the solemne feasts all her gates are desolate the Priests sigh her Virgines are discomfited and she is in heauinesse and might ingeminate a dolefull ecce Behold and see if there be any sorrow like vnto my sorrow which is done vnto me I cannot apprehend the hundred part of the miseries of this intended mischiefe for it would haue made our land in face though not in fashion like the land Iob speakes of Terram tenâ—brosam opertam mortis caligine terram miseria tenebranum vbi vâ—bra mortis nullus ordo A land of darkenesse and shadow of death a land of miscry where is no order but horror That day intended had beene to our land a day of darkenesse and of blacknesse a day of clouds and obscurity none like it from our beginning neither shall be any more as we hope vnto the yeares of any generations Our land had then beene like a ship forlorne her Pilot Maister and Mariners gone Her Top-gallant taken away and they who sate at the Sterne to guide drowned in the Ocean and then a tempest beating vpon the ship the wind and weather driuen her to the Rockes in what perill and perplexity are all her mournefull passengers and might particularly cry In medijs lacera puppe relinquor aquis We are left in a torne and tottering ship couered with waues of woe no earthly comfort comes only we pray to Christ Maister saue vs we perish This day intended would haue prooued a blacke and bloody day to the Common-wealth of England when as her principall pillars had beene perished The strong man and the man of warre the Iudge and the Prophet the Prudent and the aged they had layed their Axe to the roote of the Trees to hew downe and cast into their fire the chiefe Cedars to stretch ouer vs the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab wiping England as the Lord doth threaten Ierusalem there as a man wipeth a dish which he wipeth and turneth vpside downe and so they would haue wiped or washed with blood our Ierusalem turning it vpside downe that there should haue beene a generall ruine of our flourishing Kingdome Neque rex nequelex neque religio resp Salua King Nobility Church Gouernement Commonwealth all perishing in this prodigious powder confusion First our King the breath of our nostrils the annointed of the Lord should haue beene taken in their nets of whom we sayd vnder his shadow we shall be preserued aliue among the heathen and then his most Princely Queene posterity-male the hopefull blessing of perpetuall peace the famous Peeres and Counsellors of state with all other most noble Lords Spirituall and Temporall the wife and worthy Iudges Knights Burgesses and whole body of the Parliament house the head heart eyes braines and vitall spirits of