The Popes charge to his Bratts Estote proditores Goe kill your Prince THE FIERIE TRYALL OF GODS SAINTS ¶ These Suffered for the witnes of Iesus and for the word of God vnder Queene Mary who did not worship the Beast nor his Image nor had taken his marke vpon their foreheads or on their hands or on their Garments and these liue and raigne with Christ Reuel 20.4 As a Counter-poyze to I. W. Priest his English Martyrologe AND THE DETESTABLE ENDS OF POPISH TRAYTORS ¶ These are of Sathans Synagogue calling themselues Iewes or Catholiques but lie and are not These worshipped the Beast saying who is like vnto the Beast who is able to warre with him Reuel 13.4 and these shall drinke of the wine of Gods wrath and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone before the holy Angells and before the Saints because they worshipped the Beast and his Image Re. 14.10 11. Set downe in a comparatiue Collection of both their sufferings Herewith also the Concurrance and agreement of the raignes of the Kings of England and Scotland since the first yeare of Q. Mary till this present the like before not extant AT LONDON Printed by T P for Arthur Iohnson 1611. TO THE PRINCE ENglands faire Hope borne Downe to quell the rage of Rome That proud Babell Which in its swelling-madde Desires to Worlds sole Empire still Aspires Deigne Sir to reade this little Booke at least with milde aspect to looke Vpon 't The pledge of Loyaltie and Subiects loue to Royaltie it is Vouchsafe your Princely Grace to me that humbly place my Faith and Dutie First to God then my King Who Vnitie did bring then to my Countrie The faithfull Subiect of my Lord the King and your Highnesse TO THE PATRONAGE AND protection of the high and mightie Prince Henry eldest Sonne of our Soueraigne Lord the King Prince of Wales c. President of his Maiesties most Honorable Priuie Councell AS that in one place was well sayd by Heathen Tullie Non nobis solùm nati sumus sed partē patria partem parentes partem liberi partem amici partem propinqui familiares peculiaritèr sibi vendicant So elsewhere was it spoken no lesse Christian-like Non quid quis fecerit sed quo animo studio fecerit ponderandum est Of these sayings the first seemed vnto me to Challenge at my hands A speciall Dutie to my Prince and Country which I knew not how to performe but in this kind The second I assumed as an Apologie for my weake and slender performāce of that Duty If my desire noble Prince to pay that debt for which by obligation Diuine Naturall and Nationall I stand obliged hath transported me beyond that wherevnto I am able of your Princely clemency I humbly beseech you winke at that amisse and of your Heroicall and Magnanimous Spirit Shield me from the Darts of the mightie and maleuolent Your Kingly Father out of the goodnes of his nature for to iudge the worst is dissonant to a good Disposition hath been obserued to conceiue of things illment or which at least might be doubtfully taken well you certainly being the true Heire as of his Kingdomes so also of his vertues cannot adiudge of that which is well ment ill The cause which I handle is not mine owne but my Prince and Countryes wherein what I haue done I the rather vndertooke to publish at this time and in this Kind by reason of those encouraging Woordes of the reuerend then Bishop of Chichester now of Ely in his Booke Cuititulus est Tortura Torti in Epistola dedicatoria ad Regiam Maiestatem his wordes are these Iam vbi in Discrimen adducta causa communitatis Spectator nemo sit Actor quisque c. My Intentions herein are right wherein I desire prodesse principi patriae non obesse If I faile in my purpose that is not want of will but of power If I haue performed ought herein that good is that same also is Multò plus votis quam factis Therefore for that sometimes noble Q. Elizabeths sake for she deserued to be loued etiam post mortem whose fame shall neuer die nam virtus post funera viuit For the King your Fathers sake who according to his names signification is a Maintainer of our peace for the Common wealths sake which is the Crowne of your Glory For your owne sake who are our Hope yeald me as the reading hereof so also your fauourable and Princely protection then shall I not care for the faces of mine enemies The Faithfull Subiect of my Lord the King and your Highnesse TO THE PATRONAGE and protection next vnto that of Prince Henry of the right noble L and strong Supporter of great Brittaines happinesse Robert Earle of Salisburie Lo high Treasurer of England c. Right Hono THE REASONS ESpecially inducing me to expose my selfe to the wounding darts of malice and enuie by publishing these Collections are in number Fiue 1 The vniust clamours of Papists so frequently crying out both in words and in writings of breach of promise bloud and bloudy persecution for Conscience 2 The preseruation to my poore powre of the Honour of our late Queene of famouse and blessed memory and also of the honour of the Kings Maiestie so vniustly by them taxed and reuiled being set like Rabshakeh to rayle vpon the Hoast of the liuing God 3. In regard of your Honourable selfe who haue been chosen and singled out by wicked men both at home and abroade as a Butt whereat to shoote their venemous arrowes of slaunder threatnings and reproch by laying greuious but false imputations vpon your Honour of plotting Tragicall stratagems against Catholiques so stiling themselues and seeking king the bloud of Recusants 4. A Desire quantum in me est to cleare our late memorable Queene our present Gracious King your honourable selfe and the whole State both then and now as also the Ghospell which we professe from vniust bloud-shedding or any desire thereof rightly retorting it vppon themselues in approuing by particular instances out of their owne I. W. priest his popish Martyrologe published Anno 1608. your Honours Assersion to be true That in the Raygne of those two Sisters to wit Q Mary and Q Elizabeth of different religions there was more bloud shed in the lesse then six yeares of the first then in full forty and fowre of the later as by the Register following appeareth And lastly a Generall ease intended vnto all in vnderstanding the double account of his Maiesties Raigne of England and Scotland and the Concurrance of the one with the other The reasons also wherefore I being vnro your Honour vnknowne and with all populorum cum censu tum doctrina penè infimus presumed to shroud my selfe vnder your Hono winges are Chiefly likewise Fiue 1. The Honorable report of your name for many and excellent things are spoken of thee for thy zeale to Religion loue to the State and more expected from thee most faithfull
Councellor 2. Because none can haue a better sence and feeling of anothers griefe then he that hath felt the like Afflictions Your Honour hath been by Sathans instruments threatned with vnavoydable Death But God who hithervnto hath still defende you and yet are those who were sayd to haue vowed the enterprize tearmed good men by those that in the libell seemed but God forbid that euer the saftie or ouerthrowe of the State should rest in their power to dislike of the powder treason therefore I doubt not but your Honour will defend the poore in a iust cause if neede so require against the rage and furie of the wicked and mightie 3. In regard the cause your person excepted is Secundum quid all one for which your Honour hath been reuiled mis-iudged slaundered and menaced with mine for which happely I also may vndergoe the like Namely The Conscionable seruice of my Soueraigne in my meane but contented place 4. Yours Honours owne Position That that seruant whose faith and zeale in the seruice of his King stands in awe of enemies eyther for power or enuie is not worthy of protection warranteth that these my meane but daring-loyall indeauours in behalfe of my Soueraigne shall finde fauour with your Honour 5. Because true Nobilitie which were it not that I speake vnto your Honor I would say were seated in your breast neuer respecteth the person of any man but the qualities affections endowments and intentions of the mind and therefore myne owne priuitie to my owne thoughts which telleth me and that vppon good grounds that your Honor deserueth well of the State in Generall and doth loue it and are generally in a recyprocall manner of them beloued doth also assure me in particular that nothing which is vertuous can from a good affection be commended vnto so Honorable a Patron and suffer shipwrack by Contempt Your Honor hath elsewhere spoken in your owne person That you would glory more to be alwaies found his Maiesties honest and humble subiect then absolutely to command in any other calling euen so I the weakest of many thousands desire nothing more pardon herein Noble Lord my ambition then that I may be able to performe some seruice vnto God my Prince Country and the furtherance of the Gospell and in them vnto your Honourable selfe And herein Right Honorable Lord namely in Desire to do good the poorest subiect his Maiestie hath absit inuidia Dicto may equallize his greatest Peere for the Loue Faith zeale of the one may be as great firme deuout as the other the difference consisting onely in outward meanes to approoue them in both The God of all power and might who exalted the Father of so honorable a sonne to be Lord high Treasurer vnto so worthy a Queene and the sonne of so honorable a father to beare the same office vnder so Gracious a King on earth the same God for his sonnes sake through the Grace of his holy spirit bind vp the sonne as I hope already he hath done the Father in the bundle of his Saints that after your long and faithfull Seruice to your earthly Prince with the father Sonne and Holy Spirit you may enioy the true Treasure of eternall happines in the Kingdome of Heauen Amen Amen Your Honors in all humble seruice TO THE WELL affected and loyall hearted Reader AS to the spirit and soule of man nothing internally then a good conscience can bee more comfortable so externally then a good report from others nothing can be more precious And as for the first euery one that will enjoye it must himselfe alone by the vprightnesse of his owne actions assure it vnto himselfe in the sincerity of his own heart so for the secōd as it depends not vpō ones selfe alone but vpon the tongues and reports of others euery Christian by the rules of his profession is chargeable to his power to seeke the preseruation thereof towards others whome hee knoweth to be wronged This being graunted as it cannot be denyed if euery priuate mans good name so neerely touch him as that for the preseruation thereof wee are all of vs to others reciprocally bound and by law diuine obliged How much more strictly then are all faithful subiects tyed as much as in them lyeth to maintaine the good name honour and reputation of their lawfull Soueraignes by traytors rebels And antichristians so vniustly jmpiously and jmpudently taxed both in words and writings For as his Majestie is our King by God appoynted to rule ouer his Brittish and Irish Israell both in Church and common wealth and as in dignity he is nulli secundus nay more for that may seeme to admit an equall Primus inter omnes without a mate highest euen so the blemish of good name honour and reputation in his Majestie is of all others most dishonourable most scandalous as his Majesty is of all others most eminent most conspicuous and therefore by euery good subiect as occasion offereth it selfe pro viribus to be maintained If a naturall father haue a bad name though vndeseruedly yet is that in the worlds eye that cannot iudge thereof but by report a scandall vnto the children Our King is more for he is not onely Pater familiae a father of a priuate family but he is Pater patriae a father of our Country nay more he is Pater multorum gentium regnorum a father of many Kingdomes England Scotland France and Ireland and which is most hee is a good Christian Christianae fidei Defensor the chiefe Champion for defence of Christian faith through whose sides the enemy seeketh to wound the whole Church of Christ and to lay aspersions of bloud and tyrany vpon all such as with him professe the gospell of Christ The consideration whereof as also a feruent desire to doe my Country some publique seruice in helping as much as in me lyeth to stop the mouths of our common aduersaries the Papists whose lauish tongs haue spit out aboundance of venome and their pennes stung like Scorpions not onely our late most gracious and woorthy Queene Elizabeth of euer-blessed memorie for the many vnspeakeable blessings that God with and through her bestowed vpon this and other Kingdomes But also our present Soueraigne Lord and King with both their state Ministers by charging them as falsely so maliciously with cruelty breach of promise bloud and bloudy persecution for conscience hath mooued mee to jmploye the best talent of my small ability to convince them of jmpudent and lying malicious slaunders and reproachfull vntruths First in a few following lynes directed vnto all Romish fauorites clearing my present gracious Soueraigne of breach of promise with Recusants for toleration of Popery wherein also I haue touched the ground of that slaunder with the occasion and Authors thereof with some other matters of speciall moment Secondly in a tabular computation by a comparatiue collection of all such Martyrs as were burned in Queene Maries days with all such Priests Iesuites
deserue the like grace for the like jnfidelity Lastly if Iudas their fellow-traitor can any whit at all grace them because he is noted in the booke of God but with this foule addition Traitour let them likewise take him and make him a brother of their Company or rather jncorporate themselues into his Society but let all that beare ill will to the Church of England and the Kings Majestie as a principall member thereof let I say their ends oh God be like vnto their master Iudas and let their bowels breake in sunder that would eat out the bowels of thy Church of England and let this blacke word of Traitour bee the jndelible spot neuer to bee washed away wherewith I brand all English Italionated Priests and Iesuites and their Abbettors Adde to these also the Iacobine Fryer and Rauilack the two murtherers of two French kings Henry 3. Henry 4. for these are also Sons of one Father the Pope the Deuill their Grandfather and those before their brethren in iniquity neuer to be spoken of but to their shame with posterity the felicity of whose Raigne namely Henrie the 4. and peaceable gouernment free from danger of any desperate attempt of stabbing or poysoning or other attempt of perill to his person by any of Romes fauourites our english Popish Recusants scienter loquor before that inhumane and hellish fact committed pleaded and strongly argued to proceed from that lenitie of his in permitting a freedome of conscience to his subiects in matter of Religion whereby they would inferre that if our Kings Maiestie would desire to liue securely from any such attempts not needing to feare perill either by stabbing poysoning powder or otherwise then let a toleration be graunted but how sound their conclusion is France hath felt England may feare and all the world is amazed thereat For if the King of France being a Papist and at most but suspected to affect the Protestant Religion could not yet be secure in his person how much lesse can our King expect any assurance of saftie by a toleration his Majesty being himselfe a professed Protestant and directly opposite in Faith and Religion Nay it might rather bee much feared that it would bee a meanes to pull Gods just judgements vpon him and vs for permission of such false worshippe of the true God for so wee may read in diuers places of the Old Testament that when the Rulers of the people fell away from God God sent vpon them many plagues miseries and oppressions by their enemies And thus much in answere to the second poynt which my friend may obiect Thine in all Christian loue TO THE WHOLE rabble of English-borne Romish male-contents and disturbers of this State NOT HOPING hereby to reclaime you that are already by Sathans witchcrafts seduced from your many dangerous and pernitious errors which cleaue more fast vnto you then the skinne vnto the flesh or the flesh vnto the bones for that were Extra spem sperare a hope without any ground Nor yet in bitternesse of spirit onely purposing to rayle vpon you as many of you most jmpudently haue done against your owne Mother for that were want of charity nor any waies intending to giue satisfaction vnto your vnsatisfiable obstinacy and wilfull-willing blindnesse by reasoning scholastically or propounding and framing logicall or as you vse sophisticall arguments to conuince your follies for that would be in me presumption For what am I that after so many rare wits and vnrefutable iudgemēts in matters Diuine as haue already laboured your conversion I should hope of better successe therein then they before haue had I rather conclude with Abraham who told the rich man that desired a messenger to be sent from the dead to the liuing to warne them that they might auoyd the like daunger of comming there That if they will not belieue the Prophets neither would they belieue though one came frō the dead so if you will not be perswaded by the scriptures and the strong and vn-answerable arguments of such excellent Diuines as haue already laboured your convesion neither will you be perswaded though Christ himselfe should descend from heauen in person to confute you But my scope and drift herein is pro viribus First to preuent the fall of those who yet stand but are ready to fall Secondly to free my late Soueraigne Queene Elizabeth that sometimes peerelesse Prince and my now dread Soueraigne the Kings Majestie and their State-ministers from many false and Serpentine jmputations layd vppon them by men of your rancke of bad spirits whose throats are open Sepulchres wherein to burie true Honour Faith-keeping Grace Mercie Pittie Piety Protection Truth and Religion in eternall obliuion breathing out from thence as from the fournace of Hell insteed thereof nothing but Dishonour Breach of promise Disgrace Crueltie Bloud Want of deuotion Oppression Heresie and Irreligion These are the motiues that enforced my pen these the reasons of my non-silence who otherwise could haue been contented quietly and securely to haue reposed my selfe in the joyfull contemplation of Gods manifold blessings and mercies of an extraordinary nature towards this Nation by continuance of the Gospell amongst vs Which that it is the Truth and that he himselfe with his owne right hand hath planted it and defended it by the power of his owne arme the many strange Miracles for such say you must needs approoue the Truth which himselfe from time to time since before the beginning of Q. Elizabeths raigne vntill this present hath wrought doe euidently confirme and prooue For is it possible that our late famous Queene of euer-blessed memorie and our now Soueraigne the Kings Maiestie should haue escaped the many pitts that haue beene digged for them and not haue fallen therein Is it possible that Queene Elizabeth full of yeares but fuller of Renowne should haue liued vnto a gray-headed age and quitely dying in her bed to be maugre all her enemies brought in peace vnto her graue Is it possible that this present State wherein wee liue should now haue a Being seeing that Hell the Pope Recusants Vt obiter notē The word Recusant now so cōmon vntill the 11. yere of Queene Elizabeths Ragine was altogether vnknowne as may appeare by all Statutes and Acts of Parliament before that time made wherin there is not a word thereof at all vntill which time all Papists some very few excepted notwithstanding that the Religion then professed in the Church of England was the very same that it was in the former yeares of her Raigne came ordinarily to our Churches nor was disparitie of religiō any cause of Recusancy vntil such times that the roaring Bull of Pope Pius 5. for then the land began to swarme with Recusants was published and Queene Elizabeth by him Anathematized Then the case was suddenly altered those who before frequented our Churches now withdraw themselues from our Society Those who before yeilded obedience to hir Maiestie now would not acknowledge her for their