them sauing that they desire the vvorst to befall vs And if there be any perswader of this straunge mariage in whom remaynes yet a simple mind but missed or miscaried I desyre hym or her and I charge thē as they vvill answer to God of theyr truth to their Mistres of England English brethren that they close theyr hand and put theyr fingar to theyr mouth and vvaigh better hereof as vvell by the lavve of God as of humane policie vvhich must no doubt agree vvyth Gods law I cousell them to consider these daungers common to them selues vvith all other and if they looke vvell about them they shall find thys mariage a right vnhappy one and on no side happy vvheresoeuer they turne them For let it be that he haue issue by her and that none but feamal only vve haue hazarded our kingdom for putting it in the hands of the father vvho vnder colour of some tutorship to hys daughter vvill haue her into Fraunce and so eyther adioyne this land to Fraunce or mary her to some French or other stranger at hys lyking and all this vvhyle vve neuer the neere possession of our old right in Fraunce whych vve so much desired for the Salique lavve barres hyr quite And though she should come and dwel in England yet her bringing vp being in Fraunce her father will nousell her in hys own religion and so she comming home shall striue to staplish popery as the late Queene of Scotts did when shee came out of Fraunce vvherupon ensued those bloodshedds and redde vvarres besides the ilfauoured examples of the French Court and kings vvhich vve vvould be loath our English princes shall learne and bring home hether If thys issue by Monsieur should be a son and but one sonne then vvill he translate his Court into Fraunce and leaue thys poore prouence to the mannaging of a viceroy the greuances whereof are ynough set foorth by referring you to the proconsulates of Rome vnder that Empire to the vndergouernours in the former monarchies to the viceroyes and Luogotenenti of Spayn in Naples-Cicil and here nerer in the lovv countryes VVho like boares in a fat nevv broken vp ground by sovving first some seedes of dissentions to breed partialities in the countrye doe roote out the auncient homegrovving nobilitie and turne vnder perpetuall slauery as cloddes the country people yea and perhaps in the end caught with the liquerishnes of gouernment seize thēselfe of the absolute kingdome and deceiue their mayster so did the auncient Monarchies melt so did this pre sent Empire lose her prouinces and is novve become lesse then a kingdom and so may this auncient kingdom be transferred to a rebellious seede Such rough plovvers doe our sins deserue to plovv deepe furrovves on our backs if the Lord in mercy looke not on vs I am not ignorant that some passe easily this incommoditie of viceroy affirming it to bring honor not perill for say they thys son being born here shall be king of both kingdomes with great honor as hath bene heretofore But they be svveete Englishmen if you marke theyr english vve reason of the dishonor and seruitude vvhich comes to the nation and they ansvvere of the honor that comes to the prince more lyke Basciaes to the great Turke then Christian commonvvealthmen as though our Christian and naturall Queen could thinke any thing profitable to her vvhich might any way though a farr off tend to the perpetuall bondage of hyr people here though they subtilly let slippe the assured hurt vvhich hereby falles to the common weale I wyl not forget to shew hovv incertain yea and hovv certainly perillous to the prince thys honor is wherewith they flatter hyr Holy king Henry as they call hym vvhom I suppose they wyll bring in for example vvas crovvned in Paris and yet lost all on that side before he was a man as I remember or soone after and before hys vnhappy death he lost thys land also vvhich losse of both came by striuing for both So that he may with more reason be recorded emong those fallen princes at the lowest of Boccaces vvhele or in our English booke of fallen Maiestrates then to be reconed vp by any faythfull English man for a patern of imitation to our present Queen Elizabeth VVho so vvyl auoyd those feareful effects must auoyd the cause from vvhence they procede and not bring such examples to be followed This example of Henry the sixt vvould proue like to our present case if it vvere pursued For the complection and constitution of Monsieur is not to liue long but to leaue his child in the cradle for the reasons hereafter remébred And if the byrth of thys child should any vvay endanger our Queen the poore infant if he ouerliued shold haue tvvo ouer great scepters to play withall euen as Henry the sixth had and so much the worse as there are euen novve one or tvvo houses in Fraunce vvhich vvould easely be saluted as kings and of whom both Monsieur and the king that novve is may vvell stand in feare perhappes these men wold prouide that this chyld should be borne in Monmouth and not at vvinsor and then they would think all sure Me thinks they should runn headlong on this remedy that are blinded in thys euill Thus it comes oftentimes to passe that flattery vvoundeth princes euen vvyth the very self thinges it so fairely beareth in hand And if he should haue a son and a daughter so as both of them ouer liuing theyr parents the son should be actually king as vvell of hys fathers as of his mothers kingdome and then dye wythout issue hys sister yet liuing is it not more then probable in this case that the next prince of the blood in Fraunce vnder pretence that England vvas once vested in the blood of the French king and vnder theyr gouernment vvyl drawe it also by thys vnity of possession vvith the crown of Fraunce vnder the law Salique and so quite vnqueen the desolate sister for the least color in the worlde ioyned vvith the sword in a stronge highminded kings hande makes a good tytle to a kingdome euen agaynst father mother wyfe brother and sister as storyes witnes and according to that vvhich is sayd No fayth in matter of a kingdome Much more agaynst that poore daughter vvhich then should be a straunger in the house of Fraunce The actuall possession of her brother vvyll make no tytle neyther wyll it be any plea to say that by our lavves lands descended from the mother are guyded to the heyrs of the part of the mother but our issue must be battel vvhich is a tryall most incertain most perilous to the daughter vvho being out of possession shal haue much adoe to find equiualiant champions And if thys Monsieur should haue by our Queen two sons or moe it must needes breed forrain vvars and ciuill partaking thorough disagreement of the brethren vvhyle the younger looking back to the
high linage should seeke or consent in mariage vvith any lovv borne or contemptible person Haue the lavves of common vveales prouided thus vvel for men the vvorld standes it thus vppon her slippers of reputation in obseruing what is comely in mariage and honourable for ech personage and shall the lavves of God trovv you be of none effect or shall it not be much more ougly before God and hys angels vvhen an Hebrew shal mary a Cananite ' there is no such inequalitie as that of religion no such disparagement as not to be faythfull no such dignity of Principality as to be a good christian and no such slauery as to be a Barbarian from Christ Iesu. Perhappes some man vvill defende these vneuen Irreligious mariages by abusing that place of 1. Cor. 7. But vvithout any other helpe that text it selfe is selfe sufficient to deliuer it self from that violence and the lavv of God from the beginning to the end all one vvith the obedient practise of Gods children and the plages vpon the transgressors do euidently shevv that Paul there speaketh onely for the continuance of such mariages as were first not vneuen being made in time of infidelitie on both partes and by the aftercalling of one party are become vneuen for thè cōtinuance I say of such mariages and not vneuenly to yoke any Christian which is free to one not faithfull Novv as by reasons it appeares vnlavvfull so by examples it may appeare hurtfull Those good men of whom vve loue to be esteemed the children and follovvers Abraham and Isaac had euen a religious care not to haue their sonnes matche vvith the Cananeans dwelling at theyr next doores but sent further of for the daughters of god VVhat a diameter of religion vvere it for vs dvvelling emong Christians to admit from ouer sea the sons of men in mariage The children of Iacob vvere so vvell taughte bytheir father in the religion of their grandfather great granfather that they could ansvver vve may not giue our sister to the vncircumcised that is to say vve can not or vve may not lawfully for that vve onely may vvhich by the lawe of God vve may Those ill men to vvhome vve vvoulde be ashamed to be resembled made this maner of mariage The old vvorlde vvhich thus defiling it selfe was therefore vvashed in the vniuersall flood And Esau whose fault yet was in this poynt lesse then ours for they wythout care of Religion tooke the fayrest and such as perhaps vvere next hand vve should in this match send further of for our mariage and haue not so much respect as to the fayrest being so far giuen ouer of God as to forget euen that part whyche we would gladliest please And emong those good men whome we set for holy examples this maner of mariage vvas euer noted by the scripture emong theyr faults As the Israelites which thus fel away from the seruice of God and withal out of his protection As Samson and Salomon whose vertues we must imitate and not these their sinnes VVhere Salomon might serue for all examples and hym will I chiefely name and namely vrge speaking novv of kingly mariages and courtly mariage makers because he vvas a king and also because that godly Courtier Nehemiah doth notably apply it in a stronger case vsing Salomons sin în this maner of vnholy mariages as a reason to separate the Israelits frō their wiues vvhich they had already maried yea and by vvhome they had had children born to thē thinking it an ilfauoured noise to heare theyr children gibber in the streetes halfe Hebrewe halfe Ashdod I pray you marke then how much more force Salomons example hath to disswade a mariage that is yet but in parle not concluded to make no such fayre reckoning of a babe yet vnborne whose shape we see not and how much more ilfauoured it vvere for vs that in our churches speake the language of Canaan to ioyne vvith thē that in their masse mumble the straunge tongue of Rome And if woman that vveaker vessel be strong enough to dravve man through thaduantage vvhiche the deuill hath vvithin our bosome I meane our naturall corruption and proonesse to Idolatry hovv much more forcibly shall the stronger vessell pull vveake vvoman considering that vvith the inequalitie of strength there is ioyned as great or more readinesse to Idolatrye and superstition And if the husband vvhich is the heade be dravven aside by his vvyfe ouer vvhome neuerthelesse he hath authoritye and rule hovve muche more easely shall the vvife be peruerted by her husband to vvhome she is subīecte by the lavve of God and ovveth both avve and obedience hovve soeuer the lavves by prerogatif or her place by preeminēce may priuiledge her And here note this that euery vvhere it is set dovvne hovve the vvicked peruerted the good but no vvhere that the better part conuerted the wicked for euen the ill ralke or other conuersation of ill men corruptes good maners And sith Salomon a peereles king beloued of God as Nehemiah saith so furnished in vvisedome and of vvhome there vvere such certaine demonstrations that he was the child of God dyd yet thys foulye fal by ioyning himselfe in mariage vvith Idolatrons vvemē in so much as diuers now thinke they find almost as many reasons to call in some doubt his saluation I pray God it may seeme fearefull in the eyes of all other Princes and princesses vvormes to him in wisedom to do the like fault for dread of the like sequele VVherby it appeares how vaine that promise is of theirs who say that Monsieure shall be instructed in our religion and drawen frō his by going with our Queene to hers besides that we woulde be loath with so certaine great peril to our Queene who is emong men and vvomen the chiese to vs to attempt the vncertain winning of him who is emong all men the least to vs And if there were in him any hope of tollerable inclination to religion it wold rather shevve now in the time of his sute to our Queene by that meanes perhaps thinking to be lesse lothsome to her and les abominable to her people but we haue no cause to hope it for he vseth no protestant in the matter of mariage although for some other colour he hath seemed to make some reckoning of some in some respect And if there were hope yet in so vnaduised rashnes to venture against the word of God we may well looke for Gods iudgement to come betwene and punish our folehardines that he which loueth peril may abide and perish therein But these discoursers that vse the word of God with as little conscience as they doe Machiauel pycking out of both indifferently what may serue theyr turnes perhaps they will thinke to escape all hetherto sayd by calling in question for their mouthes are their owne to dispute of any thing without care of resolutiō whether to mary with the Papist that worshippeth the
father must goe and take Marguerit the daughter of Lewis the eyght for a vvyfe to hys son Henry and for his son Richard tooke Aelix an other daughter of Fraunce vvhich alliances proued such assurances to Henry the second as his last fiue or sixe yeeres vvere nothing but an vnkinde stryfe with his ovvne sons and especially hys sonne Rychard made open vvarre against him and vvan from him a part of Normandie by the helpe of his trustie friend Lewes the French king After thys vvhen Rychard him selfe was king not vvithstanding all the French friendships and alliances at vvhat tyme he vvas taken prisoner in hys returne from Ierusalem the French king vvas not ashamed to excite Iohn the brother of England to seize himselfe of the crovvne The sayd Iohn vvhen he vvas king marieng the daughter of the Earle of Engolesme in Fraunce and his son Henry the third hauing maried first a daughter of the Earle of prouence and secondly french Marguerit sister to Phillip the fayer found in the seueral dayes of theyr raignes the French king to be no better then a pricke in theyr sides taking part against them and prouoking theyr people to be as it vvere thornes in theyr feete Edvvard the second succeding his auncesters aswell in theyr vnhappy folly as in they re kingdome vvill needes marry vvith Isabel daughter to the same Phillip vvhich proued such an assurance to hymselfe as that hys French vvife vvas able to bereaue hym first of hys son carying him into Fraunce and hauing there made a strong part could returne and bereaue her husband of hys liberty and kingdome and in the ende of hys lyfe to after a vvretched captiuitie vnder hys owne son So that of old the alliances of Fraunce dyd set husbande and vvife together by the eares as in Henry the second and Edvvarde the second the father and son together as they did Henry the second and hys three sons Henry Rycharde and Iohn brother against brother as Rychard and Iohn the king and hys people togither as they did king Iohn and Henry the thyrd against the people and as they did aftervvard in Rychard the second Henry the sixt vvhich the duke Thomas of Glocester in his tyme vvell foresavv and therefore vpon treaty of the like mariage for Rychard the second vvho hauing novv raigned xix yeeres and being thyrtye yeeres olde fell amourous most vnkindlye and vnkingly vvith a french girle but eyght yeeres of age daughter to Charles the sixt French king he the same Thomas of Glocester vncle to the king stept vp and vvithstode that match hauing belike in these former experiences obserued the truth of that general rule set dovvne vpon the French by that Greeke Emperor And because I find the vvords of thys Duke set dovvne more expresly in a French chronicle then any vvhere els I vvill vse theyr ovvne vvords as the fittest testimony in thys case The alliance of Fraunce sayth that Duke in that french story hath bene the ruine of England and this nevve frendship betvveene these kings sayth the Duke shall neuer make me loke for any assured peace attvvene thē for sayth he ther vvas neuer yet any trust or religiō or truth in the vvord or promises of the french VVhat an auncient hereditary disease of disloyalty is this in the royall seate of Fraunce especially since the Maiors of the housholde became kinges And though thys Dukes voice in thys counsell vvere ouerruled by the multitude or rather by the lust of the king yet did the king and his people and their children feele hovve true it was in sequele For first thys externe amitie with Fraunce bred home enemitye in England It cost vs for an earnest penny the tovvne of Brest in Britanie by meanes of the kings outlandish Queen And poore king Richard vsing in priuate connsaise altogether the French companions such as his vvyfe brought began to disdeyne his ovvne naturall kinsmen and subiects and finallye follovving ouermuch the cruell and riotous counsel of such minions namely the Constable of Fraunce and Erle of S. Pol vvhō the French king sent of purpose to king Rycharde his son in lavve polling the people and putting to death such nobles as his french counsail put in hys head in the end he vvas quite vnkinged by Henry of Lancaster afterwardes Henry the fourth vvho during the tyme that he platted thys enterprise founde hospitalitye in Fraunce for all king Rychards alliance vnder his father in lavves nose The French match it vvas vvhich vvithin one yere brought the king to dishonorable captiuitie death and deposing vvhich appeares for that in story it is rekoned emong other thinges that alienated from him the loue of hys subiects so farre as when he vvas taken hys enemy vvas fayne to saue hys lyfe by garde from hys ovvn people and also it is obiected agaynst hym that he had made thys alliance vvith Fraunce not calling to counsail the thre estates of England Euen the last mariages vve made vvith France vvere lyke vnhappy to the end Henry the fift that noble king had the alliance of Katherin daughter to Charles the seauenth of Fraunce and after had the possession of Fraunce first by right of descent and mariage then by conquest of sword and lastly by couenant agreed with king Charles and his peeres yet coulde he none othervvise hold theyr loue but hauing theyr necks vnder hys yoke VVhych vnion of possession and right to that realme vvas aftervvard fortified by crouning hys sonne Henry the sixt in Paris and by a nevv match betweene hym and Marguerit daughter of a French Charles as most men saien vvhich cost hym first for a princely brybe the dukedome of Angeow and Ereldome of Main and after many miserable destructions of our English cheualry people lost both the new cōquired title ancient heriditarye dominions on that side and finally vvrought an ignominious depriuation of Henry the sixt from this realme I think I might set dovvue all such matches as vnhappy ones and contrarivvise those matches nothing so vnhappy but for the most parte prosperous vvhich were made eyther at home or in other places as vveren al those mariages made since Henry the sixt as by Edvvarde the fourth her Maiesties greatgraundfather and by her maiesties graundfather and by her father And if a sister or daughter vvho had no or dinarye counsail allowed her out of France could yet continually preuaile so much to the trobling of the state and deposing of the king here vvhat peril is it to dravv hether a brother vvho is to haue his ordinarye counsail and some gard of force and continuall-intelligence with the French king and is also to be a leader and executer of any deuise himselfe vvhich a French woman could not doe so vvell the daunger therefore in thys match is encreased beyond that in the former matches for there the party for or by vvhom the danger came vvas a vvoman and therefore
the morrovv after our mariage and Monsieur repare home as we may be svre he would into hys natiue country a larger and better kingdom then by all likelihode eyther must our Elizabeth goe vvith him out of her ovvne natiue country and svvete soyle of England vvhere she is Queene as possessor and inheritor of thys imperial crovvne vvithall regall rights dignities perogatiues pre heminences priuileges autorities and iuredictions of thys kingly office and hauing the kingrike in her owne person into a forrain kingdome vvhere her vvritt doth not runn shal be but in a borovved Maiestie as the moone to the sonn shining by night as other kings vvyues and so she that hath ruled all this vvhile heere shal be there ouer ruled in a straung land by some belledame not vvithout avve perhapps of a sister in lavv and vve hyr poore subiects that haue bene gouerned hetherto by a naturall mother shal be ouerlooked at home by some cruel and proud gouernour or els must she tary here vvithout comfort of her husband seing her selfe despised or not vvifelike esteemed and as an eclipsed son diminished in souereinty hauing such perhappes appoynted to serue hyr and be at her commaundement after the french phrase vvhich in playn English vvill gouerne her and her state In thys great matter vvhat an illuding ansvver is it agayn by the particular example of the king of Spayne to put avvay thys reason grounded vpon these tvvo generall rules The first is that a straunger mighty king brought into a realme to ayde them as vvas the Turke and his sarasins or vpon any lighter occasion vvill hardly be gotten out againe The second a straunger king dravven in by our sins and sent by Gods iustice for our punishment is not ridd vvithout Gods extraordinary help Novv syr because vve vvere once happily dispatched of Spayne therefore vve shall once againe commit thys gross follye and contemne that generall rule of policie And because the Lord in mercy dyd once deliuer vs from Spayn therfore vve vvill tempt him agayn by deliuering our selues into the hands of Fraunce Alas for these men if king Phillip had neuer maryed Queene Mary and if thys matter had ben to dispute xxvij yeeres agoe then had they had no one reason for theyr side nor no ansvver to escape any of our arguments and thys absurd manner of reasoning is very Macciauelian logick by particular examples thus to gouern kingdoms and to set dovvn general rules for his prince vvhereas particulars should be vvarranted by generals But there mayster vvrested hys vngratious vvit euer to the mayntenance of a present state and these foolish schoolers put forth theyr gross conceipts to the ouerthrovv of thys present in hope of I vvot not vvhat futur common vvealth of their ovvn head Some subtilty ther is also in this aunsvver that vvhen vve are to deliberate of Fraunce vvhych is the more nere and more auncient therfore more daungerous enemy to anoy vs vvith his forces and to hold vs if he once haue vs they bryng vs in example Spayn a more remote potentate an auncient friend one that vvas at that tyme of one religion vvith thys kingdom and therfore not so pricked to hasten some chaung in our state as thys man vvho being ledd by Antichrist must not endure vvith any patience that state vvher Christ is Moreouer our dispofitiō more ready to vvarr with Fraunce then vvith Spayn is holpē by more continual occasions giuē of both sides by more cōueniencie of means to perform sodenly vvhich vvill make them let no opportunity slyp that may bring so com bersome a neighbour vnder thē as vve are And better may they do it novv then might the king of Spayn then for thē was Spain at vvars with Fraunce neyther vvas it lyke that Fraunce would haue bene holden by any frendship while he should haue suffered a more pnissant neighbour set hys foote heere vvhom he might so easely let by helping vs But now is there no enemity betvvene Fraunce and Spayne to let thys practise they are of kin by the flesh and by theyr religion and the holy leage ties them togither in that respect as it vvere faggotstiks And in truth Spayn being so far and Fraunce so nere Fraunce hath great aduantage in thys cōparison and cannot be so letted of Spayne as Spayn may be by him These daungers vvherein this daungerous pactise of mariage vvrappeth Queen Elisabeth in hyrlyfe time and hyr England together alike vvill I doubt not moue those in authority to auoyd them and others that are priuate to pray against them most seruently But these calamities alas end not vvith thys age For wher as these persvvaders lay for a chiefe ground theyr certain expecting issue of hyr Maiesties body vpon thys match and the commodities therof ensuing therby perswading thys strange conceipt I vvill at once dispatch that reason that might be obiected agaynst me make it a chiefe argument for I esteeme it my second politique reason to diswade the French mariage especially If it may please her Maiestie to cal her faythfullest vvyse phisitians and to adiure them by their conscience tovvards God theyr loyalty to hyr and fayth to the whole land to say theyr knovvledg simply without respect of pleasing or displeasing any and that they consider it also as the cause of a realm and of a Prince how excedingly dangerous they find it by theyr learning for her maiestie at these yeeres to haue hyr first chyld yea hovv fearfull the expectation of death is to mother and chyld I feare to say vvhat wyll be theyr aunswer and I humbly besech hyr Maiesty to enforme hyrselfe throughly euen in hyr loue to the vvhole land whych holds deere hyr life and peace and vvhich as it hath hetherto deutifully sought hyr mariage whyle hope of issue vvas desiring it as the chiefest common wealth good and vvithall that feare God English or straunger vvould haue reioyced to see that the reigne of Queen Elizabeth might haue ben dravven foorth as I may say in hyr faythfull ligne yet dare we not novv otherwyse craue it but so as it might be by such afather as had a sound body and holy soule and yet not thē neither onles she may first find it to stand with her lyfe and safety And vvhen I think more earnestly of thys matter me thinkes it must needes come first of a verye French loue to our Queene and land to seeke thys mariage euen now so eagerly at the vttermost tyme of hope to haue issue and at the very poynt of most daunger to her Maiestie for childbearing whereby they think if her Maiestie haue issue to see eyther the mother die in childbedd vvhich the Lord forbid and the land left again as theyrs hath bene to an infant or els to see both mother and childe put in a graue and so the land left a spoyle to forrein inuasion and as a stack of vvood to ciuill vvars All is one to
dishonour to her spouse vvith the separating her from her Lord God and vvith the treading vnder foot of that precious lavve vvhich îs her holy rule for order and souereigne preseruatife againste all headlong confusion if they say yea vve say nay and proue it nay Namely that this procuration of mariage is a breach of Gods lawe and not onely for the sinne thereof is against the church because it hasteneth vengeaunce but vve shevve by demonstratiue reasons that it goeth to the very gorge of the Church I trust I shall not neede to proue to these mens consciences this Maior proposition or Maxime that is to say Syn prouoketh the wrath of God and that greate sinnes call down great plages and mighty sinners are mightily punished This argument The vvorld sinneth such a citie sinneth such a land sinneth such a try be such a kindred such a family such a soule sinneth Ergo the vvorld such a city land trybe kindred family soule shall feele the vengeance of that high lavvgeuer against vvhom they sinne is a most necessary consequence This next though it be but the Minor in order and vvill not perhappes vvithout farther proofe be yelden vnto by thys kynde of protestātes yet is it as true as the former that is that it is a sin a greate and a mightye sinne for England to geue one of Israels daughters to any of Hemors sonnes to match a daughter of God vvith one of the sonnes of men to couple a Christian Ladye a member of Christ to a Prince good sonne of Rome that Antichristian mother citie For the inuincible manifestastion therfore of this truth let vs first consider England as a region purged from Idolatry a kingdome of light confessing Christ and seruing the liuing God Contrariwise Fraunce a den of Idolatrye a kingdome of darkenes confessing Belial and seruing Baal Then let vs remember vvhat was the first institution of mariage which is set before vs as a directory rule for vs in our mariages for euer and vvhereunto Christ teacheth vs playnly in al cases and other incidentes of mariage to looke back vvhen vpon a case put of mariage he aunsweres IN THE BEGINNING IT VVAS NOT SO. The first mariages were betvvene payres in Religion and in the feare of god And the first vvritten commaundements that are giuen by Moses touching mariage haue their regard to that first institution as it were to the oldest lavve The vvhich Moses rightly vnderstanding and according to the interpretation of al lawes vvhen they bid or forbid any thing do therevvith forbid or bid the contrarye He also in Denteronomie forbad those matches vvherein the sonnes of God vvere giuen to the daughters of mē adding thys reason for saith he such mariages wil make thy children to fal from me And this place at once may expound those other many places vvhere it is sayd least they make thy children to commit Idolatry to be added as a certaine punishment by the iudgement of God and not for a doubtfull reason as some vvould fayn haue it that seke to dravv the lavves of God to their lustes who should rather rule theyr lustes by the lawes VVhich pure institution of mariage S. Paul also continues when enlarging the holy vse thereof to all sortes of men he yet hath this restraint that it be in the Lord that is to saye in his feare as it was from the beginning and according to his former commaundements in his vvorde It is more then enough to breake the holy ordinaunce instituted of God vvhich ought to gouerne vs without further enqui rye of reason or commodity But as the holinesse of his lavves is holesome to vs euen in this life by obedience so doth theyr trāsgression breede vs infinite incommodities For the ende of this holy kind of mariage is our mutuall helpe and vpholdiug one an other in the feare of god vvhich appeareth by the reason of forbidding those vnholy mariages vvhich is least sayth the spirit of God their sonnes drawe your daughters or their daughters your sonnes from the lord Nowe as the one comes to passe vvhere thorder of God is kept so the contrary effect must iustly followe vpon neglect especially if such a mariage be made in a gospellike land vvhere the lavv of God is preached and contrarye to warning giuen out of Gods booke Then vvithout peraduenture all blessing is taken awaye and the plague follovveth And to teach our politiques by reasonable argumentes what other reasons haue the lavves of all lands to ioyne like to like in mariage but for the norishing of peace and loue betvvene man and vvife and for the vvell bringing vp of the children in euery familye vvherby to make them profitable members in some seruiceable vocation considering that families are the seedes of Realmes and petie partes of common vveales where if there be good order the vvhole land is vvell ordered and contrary as in anye instrument if euery string or many strings be out of tune the whole musick is marred and who so vvill preserue any entier must conserue euery part so if the families be distempered and out of tune the vvhole land is disturbed Thinke you that the common vveal can haue this care for her lesse partes and thus prouide for the vvell trayning vp of her chil dren that the church of England vvherin this holy lavv of religious matching marying the faithful vvith the faythful is giue by Christ to this end that their children might be sanctified and holily brought vp in christian religion thinke you I say that the church wil easely depart vvith her deere daughter her daughter of hiest honor Elizabeth the Queene of England vvho is the tēple of the holy ghost and vvill not hold her fast in her louing armes as being loath to giue her to a straunger one that hath shevved no signes of regeneration and her selfe vvant thassistaunce of a faythfull husband and her children of her body if any she haue vvhich receiue outvvard sanctification and entry into the bosom of the church thorough the promise of their faythfull parentes be in danger to be profaned before they be borne and to be corrupted after they are borne and thorovvout al their education S. Paul speaking of contrary couplings together compareth them to the vneuen yoking of the cleane Oxe to the vncleane Asse a thing forbidden in the lawe And here againe the lawes of men vvhieh medle but vvith the distribution of the things of this life haue learned this equitie of the lavves of God that it is a greate disparagement for health to be ioyned in mariage vvith any foule disease for beuty vvith deformity youth vvith decrepite age or to tender a townes man daughter to a gentilman of birth A citizen of Rome vvoulde hold foule scorne to mary a Barbariane And the common vvealthes of England Fraunce I dare say vvould meruail if eyther our Queene or Monsieur being both great princes borne and of
because our sins ioyned with hers in that we ioyned one of our Oxen to one of her shee asses In thys tragedy she played her part naturally and shewed howe she gouernes all Fraunce Her daughter Margerit vvas the stale to lure and allure them that othervvise flewe hyghe houering a far of and could not be gotten her son then king was in all the haste become a father to the Admirall and those of the religion Monsieur that then was and now king he played false semblant as though he had bene merueylons angry at the mariage at the grace which the Admiral and the rest of the religion found with the king Monsieur that now is he played the childes part or weeping part reseruing hys credit as is a foresayd til a riper age all thys whyle the mother as setter forth of thys earnest game stoode holding the booke as it were vppon the stage and told her children and euery other player what he should say the last acte was very lamentable A king falsifyed hys sworne word The mariage of a kings sister embrued with blood A king murdered hys subiectes many noble honourable gentilmē shamefully vsed valiant men surprysed by cowards in theyr beddes Innocents put to death vvemen and children without pitye tossed vpon halberds and throvvne downe wyndowes and into Riuers learned men killed by barbarous souldiers the seyntes of God ledde to the shambles all the day long and all that weeke long by vyle crochetors or porters the church of Christ rased the very nest egge broken as farr as mens mischeeuous reasonable wit cold reach and that which was worst those that liued were compelled to forsweare theyr God and little ones Christened before to Christ were novv dipped agayne to Antichrist He therefore that loueth the church can not think this mariage to promise any happynes to Gods church in Fraunce Noe certenly as touching the church it hath that mischeuous ende set vnto it by them which the former mariages had God graunt we harken not in thys match to the present French king and his brother least by abusing vs also inmariage thorough our sinnes vve thorough vnaduised policie fall in the same snare vvith our good brethren and the king with hys brother for so abusing vs be gathered to theyr fathers and buried vvith them in the same graue or hel of infamie by Gods manifest iudgements vpon them And which is all the good can come to the churches of Fraunce by thys mariage the Queene mother seeing novv all her foure sons after a sort to be kinges fynd that delphick ansvver of her familiar spirites subtilly fulfilled so as she may chalenge no longer life of the deuill but that he to vvhom she hath giuen her selfe muste rid that Realme and those poore churches of her A man vvould thynke that thys matter needed not to be anye vvhit set forth but that the very name of the Parifien mariage should a fray any protestant of Eugland or Fraunce from euer loking for any good to come by committing this il yea the scourging rod vvhich followed so hard at the heeles of that sinne and vvhere iudgement began at Gods house should as a thonderclap of Gods vvrath astonish all politiques And if Thadmerall the hundred thousand men vvemen and children vvhose innocente blood solemnized that mariage myght be sent to vs againe frō the dead they would out of theyr heauenly loue to Gods church heare on earth lyuely and hottly diswade thys kind of mariage they vvould lay forth the harmes of that mariage with such reuiued afections as their wounds would bleede afresh and they re headlesse bodies speake as it were before you But vve haue Moses and the Prophets vve haue Christ and his Apostels if we beleeue not them we shall be taught by late experience and go the way of our Parisien brethern Yea though thys mariage being made should not haue towards vs that malicious bloody effect vvhych is meant and that it should but vveaken vs as that of Spayn did alas neuertheles for the poore protestantes in france there ruin were present for we saw when before the great murder there vvas a new coloured freendship made with our Queen such as vvith other Princes in respecte whereof both she they vvere notably abused and vvronged by the massacer following that friendship serued first to bleare the eyes of the French protestants and after to put them quite out which single friendship vvith the Queene if it made the french king the bolder to enterprise the murder how far will he presume hauing a brother in the hart of our Court to refresh the remembrance of his alliaunce to stay any contrary aydes from hence vvhyle he seise vpon hys protestants and vvorry them lyke sheepe And if Monsieur had any sinceare meaning to relieue the protestants he would employ all that credit and familiarity vvhych he now hath whyle he is present vvith the king to the protestāts good euen now when as they seeme to haue some neede of him He meanes nothing les and that he means the contrary may easely be gathered by the manye blasphemous speeches and cruell threatnings agaynst reformed religion proceeding from suche as bene in the trayn of hys present legate a latere in England hys ill vvyll also to helpe the protestants may appeare that wher as there haue bene since the last peace many violences murders outrages and iustice for those facts denyed and establishment of churches vvithstood all against the edict yet Monsieur shevved neuer to haue any common compassion such as some man wold haue vpon beastes when he saw them ouerburdened In fraunce he hantes the mas and is hanted onely of papistes In Flaunders he ioyned himselfe onely with the Papistes and strengthned that tumultuous parte of the VVallons from whence all the present disorder there comes and thaduantage to the Spaniard by mutuall discention hys messenger here though he be in continuall conuersation with the kings Ambassador and at one table yet can not one mas serue them but they must haue three or four Priestes that doe nothing but goe from the tauarn to mas and from mas to the tauarn A miserable hope therefore of the maisters change to good And to conclude thys part vulesse he had some extraordinary purpose and some Italian Quintessence of mischiefe meante to be compassed against the church of Christ in vvhich seruice the Pope will employ hys catholike and hys christien sonne and all his sonnes and they like obedient fooles doe hys will. it could not be possible that hee woulde speake of comming hether with any meaning For pope mother and brother and all papistes vvould resist it and he himselfe for his owne part would cast with hymselfe that being next king of Fraunce if he should be here at the death of hys brother he might beholden for a noble hostage till they had restored vs our manyfold wronges and againe on the otherside it might put hym in danger of
to thyrd and fourth generation as I vvould my poore lyfe might redeeme the ioyning of Queene ELIZABETH to such one in that neer knot vvhich must needes make hir halfe in the punishments of those his sinnes Hir Maiesties father had a law passed by parliament in his tyme that whoso had vnlawfully knovven that vvoman with vvhom the king was to mary and did not before mariage come in and bevvray it shold vpon the matter aftervvard detected be holden litle better then a traytor Hys care to haue a good woman vvas Christian and royall he vvyst vvell as the preambles of those statutes purport beside the pryuate contentation to him selfe that as vvel the sinnes of father mother as the plague of theyr sins descends to the children and considering hys chyldren were to be left gouernours of the land which mightso also haue part in these punishments his care vvas so much more to be approued because it vvas also for the common vveale The same reason is to moue in vs all a harty desire thas hir Maiesty should mary vvith such a house and such a person as had not prouoked the great vengeance of the lord And surely considering the haynousnes of the sin in euery person with the concurrant circuÌ„stances in this case of a prince the law was a iust law vve can haue no such law against strangers therfore in hir Maiesties name I require at the hands of al English Ambassadors other trauayling EnglishmeÌ„ abrod of all vvise men at home that they vvilbe hir diligent espialls herein geuing faithful aduertisement not of such seldome or small fautes as men corruptly call tryckes and pranks of a young gentilman but vvhither hys lyfe hath ben so monstrously wicked as is reported for it is no small matter for a Queene the head of the lande to ioyne in any maner with that person ouer vvhom the ineuitable plages of the most true Lord do hang. This is to approch to the plague when it commeth and not as Salomons wise man doth to withdrawe hymselfe when he seeth it His youth of yeeres is an apparant inequalitie of this match a secret discouery of his mynd not singlie affected vvith true and simple loue to that he should chiefely seeke for emong vs of the meaner sort not one in a thousand of those younger men that seke ther elder matches but doth it in side respects and hovv can vve thinke other wise in a young prince heire apparant of france It is quite contrary to his young appeties which vvyll otherwise haue theyr desire It is therefore eyther for want of liuing and mayntenance to hys mynd and then is he not fit for this realme or els is it certenly for some other notable practise vvhich muste needes be dangerous because so great a man must be the instrument and because it is not disclosed He is differing from hir Maiestie in religion thagreement wher in as it worketh by Gods blessing a most neer knot of good vvill and perfect liking in all things euen emong straungers so by the vvords of Christ a disagrement in this kind brings the svvord betvvene father and children brethern and sisters betvvene a man and hys vvife Yea vve haue seene in our dayes parentes and husbands being papistes thorough the vnnaturall cruelty of that Italian heresie vpon the least occasion and vvithall gredinesse to haue deliuered vp to death their children vvife And if al bands be little enough to hold loue and to worke a comfortable lyfe here in earth against the many miseryes of this noysome pilgrimage let vs not dispise that vvhich is the chiefest and strongest And which I may not forget who so marieth with any popevvorshipper can not tell vvhen to be sure of him for they haue one knife to vnloose all alliances vvith kingdoms and fayth giueÌ„ to princes that is the popes dispensation vvhich is so iust in it self as vvhither it bynd or loose it may not be examined if therefore after our mariage vvhich God first let the changeable decree of a pope vvill pronounce the mariage no mariage eyther vpon some nevv aduantage to the church of Rome either els because Monsieur could haue no children by our Queen for that there must of necessity sit vpon that throne some of the blessed seed of Medices vvhich vvas sent into Fraunce from a pope no doubt this son of the pope in Fraunce is as much bound by popish obedience to leaue against Gods lavv his vvife as his son of Spayne vvas to take against Gods forbodd his own sisters dauâ—â—ter And as much conscience vvill the holy father make to breake a lavvfull mariage for his aduauntage as to licence a lavvles vvhat a feare of dishonor vvorse then the dishonor vvere this to depend vpon the incertain pope vvhither vve shall at any time hereafter be decreed to haue liued in vnlavvfull mariage yea or no. If any man anusvver hereto that this doubte is too farre fetched and hath no reason to be conceiued let him at once take this replye for maintenance of thys and diuers other like reasons that are may be made That vvhosoeuer is carefull of the life and honour of a prince casts more doubts then for a common person In theyr palaces they must haue more gards for night and day more porters more hus shirs and more doers to come to them euen in time of peace then common persons haue But vvhen the enemy of a prince comes to be considered of then princes will vse theyr longest hands of strength theyr tendred nosed couÌ„sailors most percing sight of theyr vvise and faythfull seruants and who wold not suspecte any trechery from that Roman ennemy of enemyes vvhich like a iugling Aegiptian playes fast and loose with all the vvorld and is singularly a deuowed enemy to our Queene as he vvas lately to hir Maiesties father because he refused and reiected one of his like godlesse dispensations for a lyke lawles mariage An other reason might be made a gainst thys mariage that if thorough his ambitious mind not so blamevvorthy in such a prince as hurtfull to such as should chuse him during the life of his brother he should be chosen king elsvvhere it might cause his absence litle to hir maiesties comfort But this reason I bring not for the force of it or for vvant of other for I suppose the late honorable leauing of Poleland vvilbe a lesson to any kingdome or state of free election how they shall chuse this brother If therefore as Qu. Maries counsailors had that respect to hir high honor that they did not mary hir to K. Phillip till he â–ª was a king in the lyfe of his father so likewise these men vvould not talke of Monsieur til he were hir maiesties peere by being chosen king by the franke election of any â–ª state I vvould not feare thys matter The onely cause therefore vvhy I thought this reason worth any meÌ„tion is by that