worke no creature is able certainely to determine what will be before it be all things in respect of humane indgement being iudged by their euents and not otherwise Secondly and therefore is calculating and the iudgement of Astrologie vncertaine and a very mockery hauing neither lawfulnesse nor Truth to giue it authority And though the Diuiner sometime hit the truth hee doth it not by any certaine direction but by hap and at peraduenture and so the blinde may hit the Butt and the reporter of many lies may fortune to tell a truth Thirdly and this false fore-iudging is of ordinary custome in the vse of all worldly affaires euery man almost aduenturing to Iudge before hand of euery accident and to determine how God shall determine of such and such occasions whereby they would tie God to a necessity and that needs hee must doe that which in their weake iudgement they imagine will bee done But God who is most absolute and able to doe whatsoeuer shall please himselfe deludeth the vaine imaginations of men and out of the greatest vnlikelihoods can hee frame that which is most desired and least hoped neither is hee as man to iudge by apparance or by the consequence of humane reason but out of death can he raise life out of miserie mercie and in the greatest expectation of warre blood and persecution can he giue peace safetie and preseruation Fourthly Wee haue happie instance of this in the fortunes of the Kings Maiestie that last was King Iames our Souereigne whom God most gratiously and beyond all expectation did protect making him fortunate to the honour of his owne name and for the happinesse of these Nations combining by him two euer disagreeing nations in the neerest bonds of Loue and Brotherhood And this did God make prosperous beyond our hopes and beyound the euill desires of them who loued vs not For if we remember the latter time of Queene Elizabeths reigne and the hard condition of those times we shall then finde how much the mercie of God hath exceeded our hopes and how much the generall opinion was deceiued in the construction of that euent men generally expecting the miserie of warre and ciuill strife when God did reach vs his mercie and the large demonstration of his loue Fifthly And in truth in respect of likely hood both Nations England and Scotland had reason to haue feared more and hoped lesse then happened it being not likely to succeed as it did and that a people inueterate in quarrell and warlike contention should in such peaceable manner shake hands and conspire mutually one thing which for many hundreds of yeares before did euer disagree which is more in a matter so important as was the vniting of both kingdomes in the gouernement of one absolute Souereigne Neither was it likely there wanted then the practise of forreigne States especially of such as enuied our prosperity and loued vs not which might trauell to hinder this happie coniunction whereby our strength became double so much as before and therefore our enemies would couet rather to suppresse than to inlarge vs least we hauing the kingdome of Scotland to assist vs which before was commonly either enemie or newter might proue vnresistable in the fortune of warre who before we had it were so often Conquerours Sixthly And this assuredly was a matter very considerable for them to preuent and such as the Pollitique wisedome of States men would carefully apprehend For in the disoretion of State affaires it is better and of lesse difficultie to preuent the augmentation of our enemies power then when it is augmented to scatter it And those things in the opportunity of their times are of easie reach which afterwards in a time vnfit proue vnaccessable not within our compas and this Iudgement could not want in them who most carefully search the secrets of all pollicie and trauell their wits to apprehend and contriue all aduantages yet notwithstanding all these occasions which in common iudgement might haue letted the Kings peaceable entrance into this Kingdome did God bring him vnder the protection of his fauour in security and peace and with generall acclamation binding the enuie of all opposition and making his enemies shew themselues his friendly entertainers the antiēt enemies of this kingdom to congratulate his Kingly inheritance And this did God with such admirable demonstration of his fauour as that his Maiestie and his Subiects of both kingdomes haue good cause to remember it for euer most thankefully whose life God did wonderfully preserue and whose fortunes hee did highly aduance leading him thorow many difficulties and dangers to a faire inheritance to inherit the obedience and faithfull seruice of a people faithfull fortunate and assured whom his predecessors the Kings of Scotland did euer most feare as their most able enemie whom his Maiesty euer found his most trusty and assured Subiects and this was done with such prosperity and forward successe that the report of the Q. death was scarce named in our neighbour kingdomes but this report of the kings peaceable entrance was farre off generally knowne the good newes of the kings entring outstripping the euill newes of the Queenes death to the comfort of all good men and to the admiration of all men Seuenthly neither was there need as it was thought that the King and his Subiects of Scotland should for this cause haue put themselues into the hazard of vncertaine warre whereby the Kings right might haue indured wrong and Truth haue stood at the discretion of warre which had bene very dangerous and that which our enemies most hoped but the happie issue was otherwise for neither was there any to lift vp his daring hand to resist his Maiestie neither had the King any vse for weapons but onely wore them for ornament and to giue names of honour to such men whom hee thought did or might deserue them Eighthly And thus did God giue vs life when we feared death peace when we feared warre a king when we had none a Prince a Patron and a most noble Defendor of the Catholike Faith vnder whose protection we enioyed peace plenty security And therfore happie were we in his gratious gouernment and happie was his Maiesty whom God found worthie to succeed in the royall seate and in the holy cares of that most famous Defendress of the Faith Queen Elizabeth CHAP. XXXIII Of the Kings defending the Catholike Faith in Scotland before he was King of England FIRST there is nothing of our owne wherein wee may iustly glory but in well-doing because when we doe any work of Grace the Spirit of God moueth in vs and prouoketh vs to holy exercise And therein onely we may worthily esteeme of our selues because we are accepted of God and vsed as his holy-instruments And in this had the Kings Maiestie much to glory
for thankes indulgences and pardons which nothing benefited the Receiuers but much inlarged his own priuate ends Such reward had King Henery for writing against Luther in which may be vnderstood the Popes secret practise for in giuing this honour to King Henry to be stiled Defendor of the Faith hee thereby had a farther end then to honour the King which was to binde him to his perpetuall seruice which he thought he could not better doe then by this obligation of honour which indeed is the greatest that can be to a princely minde The Pope knoweth that the King by accepting of this stile Defendor of the Faith was bound in the tearmes of honour to defend that whereof hee had taken the protection and so by consequence was hee bound to all the Popes occasions he being in the cōmon opiniō of the world the vniuersal head of that faith which the Kings Title did binde him to defend And this howsoeuer the successe did not answer to the purpose yet was it great pollicie in the Pope especially considering the danger of the times and that many eyes began with dislike to prie into the deformities of the Church Fifthly But who can contriue against God with successe for the Pope in this case shot his euill arrow against heauen which in a perpendiculer line fell vpon his owne pate God retorting the euil against him that sent it making him fast in his own snare to fall in that pit which he had digged for another This is Gods doing it is wonderfull in our eyes For this K. whom the Pope had thought to haue made the instrumēt of his greatnes did God make the instrument of his fall the Pope gaue him the name of Defendor But God made the King to defend the Faith against the Pope the enemie of Faith For pollicie cannot preuent piety and God confounds the wisedome of men and can make their subtill practises many times hitt that marke they neuer aymed at as in this particular the Pope making particular choice of the King for his Champion whom God the contrary party would imploy for the Popes destruction giuing him inuincible spirit to be the first Christian K that durst put to his Princely hand to Ruine the walls of Babylon Sixthly And if the Kings nature and the circumstance of time were rightly considered it will appeare so admirable as God only could worke that alteration in the Kings minde the King himselfe being so stiffe and resolute as none of his predecessors I think in this did equall him especially in the tearme of honour and reputation and then considering the King had written and published his protestation to defend the Supremacy of the Pope and the Religion then profest it may seeme the greatest obligation that could be to binde his princely Nature to continue his defence of that which before he had defended especially in a matter of that consequence the rather hauing declared himselfe to the witnesse of all men Seuenthly Againe if wee consider that Reply of Luthers to the Kings Booke so full of heate and bitternesse as that euery page almost hath prouocations rather to obdurate the Kings heart and to incense him to a more resolute obstinacie then any waies to quallifie or reforme him Luther scoffingly answering the Kings arguments with words of such disgrace as ill fitted the grauity of Luther to giue or the Maiesty of so great a Prince with any patience to indure And doubtlesse this in Luther was a great ouersight and a misconceiuing to thinke to helpe his cause by traducing the Kings person For the resolutions of great men are not moued by power but by the perswasions of inferiours And Luther in writing this booke against King Henery doth rather expresse his zeale then his discretion For in all Controuerfies the heate of words especially in the grauer is a want of that moderation and Iudgement which onely giueth seemelinesse and good forme to all our actions yet notwithstanding all these backe occasions which in mans Iudgement might seeme to hinder this gracious worke did God effect it and that by his instrument King Henery whom both the Pope and Luther had rather fitted for the contrary Obseruations Diuine Pollitique Morall FIRST God doth often interrupt and destroy the violence of wicked men and their practise by a contemptible and vnthought of meanes for so was Luther thought in respect of the great and generall authority which then Antichrist had the reason is this that where God doth place his omnipotent Spirit that strength is then inuincible but able to conuince all resistance For God onely can contract in the person of one man Valour and victory to order and reforme the world Secondly The Politique practise here is obserued in the Pope who with demonstrations of Loue without charge could binde the seruice of Princes and great States vnto him For as it is most needfull that the bodies of great Authorities should haue strong and able supporters So it is necessary in the wisedome of state to gaine and continue that correspondencie and indifferencie which may support our estimation In which care this politique forme is very necessary that in disposing our gifts of fauour we giue least gifts to greatest men but with most large circumstance because that where there is any neerenesse of equality of state it is not possible to make gifts valuable but with Ceremonies Thirdly In Luther may bee noted a maruellous defect of pollicie to labour a spirituall cause with such vntempered heate For if Luthers spirit had had moderation and that pollitique wisedome which was but necessary in his Religion and high attempts he would haue made a difference betweene a principall and a second the Pope and the King and not haue prosecuted against them both with like seuerity For Luther could not bee ignorant that the onely meanes to finish the reformation he intended was by the fauour and assistance of Christian Princes which care in the cause and person of King Henry Luther did not obserue Fourthly It is a precept worthy of generall practise that in all societies men should be Communicable and translate their offices of loue from one to another For gifts and retributions howsoeuer they are lesse worthy then our affections yet are they our best witnesses and doe the better and more often remember vs because they are more open and euident to sense Fifthly Againe moderation of spirit which is our indifferent esteeming of our selues with others doth comprehend the very excellence of all humanity being the most noble degree in our nature and the very next to the dignity of Grace Neither is there any morall vertue which doth more commend men to generall estimation because it giueth desert to euery man that hath it and doth often giue from it selfe dignities to such as want them CHAP. III. King Henries first Act of Defence for the Catholike Faith THE first Act of the Kings Defence was
of his former strength And considering also the honour the Kings of England had got by the conquest of France the strong emulation of those two Neighbour Nations being both of them enuious of one anothers reputation and greatnesse the English being euer fortunate in those French quarrells and the French most desirous to suppresse the growing reputation of the English And therefore it may seeme at this time was offered an occasion to the French to recouer their reputation in Armes and to repossesse those places which the English then held in France yet for all these occasions so fortunate was the King and his people as no mis-fortune at that time did disaduantage our Nation God protecting it against the euill and beyond the expectation of all men 19. And lastly the King sending his Embassadours to all Christian Princes to giue them satisfaction for that he had done was a care very Princely and Christian for by this he preuented the many slanderous constructions that otherwise would haue censured him he himselfe by his Embassadours declaring the true purpose of his enterprize And this was a demonstration that the king reputed such whom he desired to satisfie as his kingly Brethren and that all of them being powers immediately vnder God in their owne Christian Kingdomes it was reason he should giue them a Christian satisfaction that he proceeded not in these diffrences without the perswasion of Learned and Religious iudgement neither was it euill order in the King to haue first effected what he ment and then to satisfie opinion For if hee had sent for their aduise before hee had attempted it he had then lost the honour of the enterprise and had either tied himselfe to the pleasures of other men or else haue opposed against them all the first had bene dishonorable the other very dangerous CHAP. IX In what State King Henrie left his Kingdomes to the next Defendor of the Faith King Edward the Sixth FIRST it may seeme strange to him that shall reade this Historie to consider the state of Religion in this last time of King Henries Reigne Religion lying then as it were in equall ballance inclinable to be sweighed according as shall please the next succeding Prince to fauour it For as yet Religion was not reformed but onely a preparation made for reformation the King hauing taken from the Pope his Supremacie and his vniuersall authority but not the number of his idle ceremonies insomuch as the Pope may be said to haue his head then broken in loosing his authority but his taile yet vnperisht reteining still the number of his fabulous obseruances And if I were demanded what was the Religion then profest in England I could not giue it name being no better then a Farrago or a Religion compounded of many diuers the State being yet vnsetled and but mouing to a reformation for both that of the Papist and this of the Protestant indured like extremities Secondly And the reason was because the lawes then in force were occasioned by men diuers in opinion yet neere in the greatnesse of place either part persecuting or prosecuting according to their seuerall affections So that men zealous in any profession of Religion were in danger of Law and such onely secure that made their conscience yeeld to generall practise and opinion whereby the best and most conscionable had least fauour in the iudgement of those lawes whereby the Common-Wealth did often lose her most vsefull members to the detriment of State and against all aduice both of pollicie and pietie Thirdly For that the King was of himselfe otherwise inclined may appeare both by the testimonie of them neere his person as also by the witnesse of his owne words as in particuler to Bruno Embassadour from Iohn Fredericke Duke of Saxonie to whom imploring his aide against the Emperour hee answered that if the quarrell betweene him and the Emperor were onely for Religion he should then stand to it stoutly and hee would in that quarrell take his part Fourthly It may appeare also by the kings dislike of such men as had withheld his forwardnesse to reforme as in speciall Stephen Gardiner whom the king now found to contriue against him and to haue haled him on to those ends he most disliked And therfore the King before his death did withdraw his fauour from him And howsoeuer he forgaue him the forfeit of his life yet did hee for euer after discountenance him causing his name to bee rased out of the number of Executors to whose trust hee had commend the execution of his last will Besides the repentance and sorrow the King made for the Lord Cromwells death whom he had found so faithfull and fit for this businesse as neuer any Prince was better furnished the King finding the want of so choice an instrument would often in griefe of words say hee wanted his Cromwell in so needfull a businesse as he had vndertaken Fifthly And therefore assuredly the king had good affection to reforme the enormious abuses of the Church and to haue purged it from all Idolatrous seruice But God reseruing that for the honour of Prince Edward the next Defendor accepted of the Kings good purpose And that God who gaue him will to desire well and his sonne the honour to finish well gaue them both we trust his grace to die well to breath their soules into his hands of mercie And in these tearmes did the king leaue the state to the next Defendor his Princely Sonne a state full of storme and great businesse hauing entred so farre into an honourable passage as that the Prince who was to inherit his Fathers cares could not in the termes of honour but second the most honourable attempt of his Father Sixthly It may bee demanded now whether King Henrie according to his new stile did defend the Catholike Faith or not and in what particulars he best defended it For it may be obiected that the King not hauing reformed Religion but only in some few particulars hath not merited the honour of his stile because the Catholike Faith was not so defended in his time and in his kingdome but it indured much affliction To this I answer that howsoeuer the king did faile in the maine execution of his office yet cōsidering the greatnes of his attempt he hath wel deserued euerlasting memorie to be recorded the first Christian king Defendor of the Faith the first that with honour victory dated to oppose himself against the spiritual power of the Popes if we consider the danger of his attempt we shall finde it an act of great spirit consequence and such as may worthily compare with the deeds of antient Romanes which were of most admiration and wonder Seuenthly And in these two particulars hath he principally defended the Catholike Faith First in taking from the enemie of Faith authority
them being by both their enemies interdict and deposed from their gouernements but yet with vnequall successe For Pope Alexander did curse more effectually and to better purpose then Pope Clement The Emperour being constrained by his interdictions and bannings to surcease his forward Armes and with great humility to reconcile and submit himselfe But King Henries Pope was not so happie in his curses For hee did banne and curse the King as much as any other Pope in the world could doe yet was it fruitlesse and to no purpose the King not thriuing worse but the better for this bitter banning Shemei who like Balam the banning Prophet offer sacrifice to curse with holy pretence and for good prosperity Fourthly Lastly in their ends were they most vnlike for the Emperour was continually followed with euil fortune being forced many times to many great extremities and many dishonourable fallings First was hee disarmed by the power of the Popes Censure his owne people forsaking him in his best hope and in a time of most importance then was hee constrained by ineuitable necessity to submit himselfe to the Pope and to implore his fauour and either to receiue the Crowne and the dignity of his place at the curtesie of his enemie or else to bee depriued of all soueraigne State Againe the indignities wherewith the Pope did vse the Emperor to whom when the Emperour made his humble submission the Pope in scorne of his debased Maiesty set his foot on the Emperours neck with his misapplyed phrase of Scripture Super Aspidem c. the which how grieuous it must needs bee to a person of such Maiesty and spirit let any man that hath spirit iudge it Lastly his end was vnfortunate the naturall course of his life being preuented by violent and sudden death But the Kings fortunes were for the most part prosperous and much vnequall to the Emperor for he did not only shunne these dangerous fortunes but most brauely acquitted himself of all dishonourable retiring finishing whatsoeuer hee attempted with such ease and prosperity as if no resistance had bene made against him In respect then of themselues and of their noble and haughty spirits were these Princes of most equall and fit comparison in respect also of their attempts they did both conspire one But in their fortunes they were much disagreeing The King finishing that with victory and successe wherein the Emperour euer failed And yet this praise may be giuen the Emperour that if the Kings fortunes had bene giuen him it is most certaine hee would haue vsed them to greater aduantage the king being satisfied with that title which could not haue satisfied the great ambition of the Emperour OF THE NEXT DEFENDOR OF THE Faith King EDVVARD the Sixth CHAP. XI FIRST there is nothing good that is not deriued from God the fountaine of all goodnesse for man and all the passage of his life from his birth to his buriall is altogether euill so generally is deprauednesse spread ouer all the sonnes of Nature that there was neuer any Iesus Christ excepted from the first man Adam to him that shall be the last borne free from the infection of sinne so generally is that leprosie spread ouer all mankinde as that no part of the body or any faculty of the soule is altogether free from the euil thereof euery man being by nature inclinable to euery sinne no man hauing power to doe well for grace is the gift of God neither can any man attaine it but he to whom it shall please God to giue it And therefore when God hath a work of grace to be wrought by men he giueth to such whom he shall choose for instruments so much of his good spirit as to inable them for his holy purpose So that God both decreeth the good and deuiseth the meanes to compasse it Man being passiue and moued to goodnesse as shall please the spirit of God to leade him And therefore the glorie of euery good action belongeth to God onely by whose spirit it is onely wrought and not otherwise Secondly And for particular instance of this wee haue King Edward to consider a Prince composed all of goodnesse hauing extraordinarie induments of holinesse so abundant was Gods grace in this Prince as thereby he was well fitted to finish the worke of Reformation yet wee may not giue the honour of the businesse to the King but to God who inspired him with this abundance of grace And thus farre onely wee honor the King as Gods instrument whereby it did please him to worke and that we admire the gifts of Gods spirit in him whereby hee was made to exceede all other Princes then liuing hauing receiued from God the sword of the spirit and the Shield of Faith whereby hee was well able to defend the Catholike Faith and to retorte all the fierie darts of the Diuell And therefore the greatest glory be to God who hath the greatest part in this businesse and let the King haue honour too whom God did please to honour as his choice instrument Thirdly Such was this most noble Prince and princely Defendor King Edward as the King his Father may be said to haue defended the Catholike Faith in nothing more then in leauing the succession of his cares to such a sonne such a Prince and such a Defendor who notwithstanding his youth and the many combrances of State at that time went forward in reforming with such spirit and successe as was admirable his zeale effecting that his Fathers coldnesse had left vndone So that God may seeme to haue loued him as he did Moses giuing so much of his spirit as sufficiently would suffice many others For let him be compared with all other Princes in the world then liuing and he shall bee found in true iudgement to exceed them all hauing dedicate himselfe wholly to the faithfull executing of Gods will manifesting his holy affections by his continuall cares to that end directed And therefore happie was K. Henrie and happie was this Nation in hauing this Sonne of Grace to second him and to perfect his religious cares whom God had found like holy Dauid answerable to his owne heart whose honourable name liueth with those names of most honour whose faithfull seruice to God and Religion doth now flourish in many parts of Christēdome and whose soule liues in the fauour of God and in the happie fellowship of holy Angels and Saints Fourthly This most gratious and excellent Prince as he was deriued the Defendor of the Faith and did by naturall discent inherit his fathers titles so as his neerest and principall care did he entertaine the cause and like as he was Gods Lieftenant hee did maintaine those spirituall warres his Father had vndertaken and did proceed with such spirit and successe as all those quarrells haue that haue Christ Iesus for their generall and Antichrist for an enemie
regarded the dignity of her temporall life more than the honour and dignity of her Christian Name But she that could not be ouercome with euill ouercame this euill temptation and resisted the power thereof by her vertue and godly constancie Eighthly Againe the Q in thus altering the State of Religion did attempt a matter very difficult and of no easie performance and this she might vnderstand by her iudgemēt in Philosophie by obseruing the course of all naturall things For we see that those things which moue themselues in their naturall motiō are carried with lesse vehemēce then those that are moued by violent forced meanes And the body of this kingdome at that time of the Q. entering the state mouing in the fauour of romish religion wherin it had formerly moued for many yeares could not without much violence and great difficultie be moued against that customary motion nor be forced to retire backe in the same steps wherein it had formerly proceeded and therfore this difficulty in finishing was a consideration of state which in respect of state might haue diswaded the Q. holy care from the reforming of religion which would haue preuailed with any prince in the world who had regarded the felicity of their temporal life more than the honour of God or the prosperity of the Catholike Church Ninthly the discontentment of her neighbour nations the displeasure of the greatest part of Christian princes was a speciall consideration and such as that nothing but grace could be able to withstand for it is necessarie natural in the Natures of Princes in the spirits of great persons to desire generall reputation and that their names may liue in the fauour of good estimation hating to be held hatefull or not to haue place in the loue of their neighbour nations For this forreigne regard as it exceedingly cotenteth the noble spirits of such as desire it so also it is most behoofull for the security of their persons states kingdomes and great states being in this respect like particular men not able to liue in prosperity and flourishing wealth without cōmunicating to each other their seueral profits neither is there any part in the world where the regard of cōfederacy forraigne cōbination is so behoofull as in the states of christendome because of the equall partage of christendome to many seuerall princes whereby they liue in iealousie of one another cōmonly confederate with such forreigne power as in the discretion of state is thought to be of most conueniency both to aduance the glory of their nation to aduantage them against their most feared enemies wheras it is otherwise in the spatious gouernement of mighty Empires such as at this day the Turke the Persian and the Russian Emperours be and such as heretofore the Romane Emperours were who by reason of their huge bodies of State moue almost without resistance neither care these mighty Emperours so much to confederate with their Neighbours because they know that of necessity those lesser states must like Riuers discharge their seruice into their Ocean But this Kingdome of England being in the middest of many disagreeing Nations This consideration of state did therfore neerely concerne the Queene to consider of and these importances would doubtlesse haue diswaded her holy cares had her cares bene any other than holy Tenthly But this Noble Defendresse of the Faith howsoeuer shee vnderstood as much in the wisdome of State as anie other Prince than liuing Yet would she not be ruled by that wisdome but like her selfe a most Christian Princesse shee contradicts Pollicie with Pietie And she whose Religious Iudgement might and could teach her that God was able to support her Princely State against all opposition and to supply to al her necessities would not for any State consideration distrust the mighty power of his prouidence or forsake the safetie of his protection for any cause whatsoeuer For shee knew well that God was altogether as able to preuaile with the lesse as with the greater number and that he was not like man to worke onely by the aduantage of meanes for without meanes can he effect whatsoeuer shall please him were the whole power of earth and hel to withstand him And therfore as Sampson strong in God could with his weake weapon destroy a Thousand of his enemies so this most resolute Defendresse of the Faith refusing the power of earth hath with the truth of Religion onely vanquished not a thousand onely but many thousands of Gods enemies whereby she hath most nobly garded the safe passage of the Catholike Faith Eleuenthly And this I report in honour of this most excellent Queene whom no respect of danger or State consideration could remoue from her holy constancie whom all the power of the earth was not able to bereaue of her noble spirit whereby shee was most excellent fit for the defence of Faith and wherewith she hath defended it with as much honourable merit as euer any Christian Prince in the world did Obseruations Diuine Pollitique Morall FIRST God doth then trie the faith and loue of his seruants when they are presented with strong and able temptations for these tryalls though they cannot confirme in God any opinion of Truth in whom there is all knowledge yet they serue for the imitation of other and for their iudgement that will not imitate Secondly He that shall fall from the seruice of God for any respect whatsoeuer doth iudge himselfe an Apostate and vnworthy of Gods fauour because euen those that loue God if they loue him for respect they loue the respect and not God Thirdly In state reason it may seeme hazardous for the Queene to alter the State of Religion because it might haue occasioned such discords in the State as might much distresse her peaceable beginnings being yet vnsetled yet considering in what termes the State then stood the Faction being almost indifferent in number and strength she might very well thinke that the authority of her opinion would carrie many thousands with it because the grosse multitude doth euer moue in the current of the common opinion Fourthly In the proceedings of State affaires the prosecutions must be ordered by a discreet and setled iudgement and not with desperate vndertakings which some call Man-hood and heroicall spirit For if there be difference betweene a priuate man and an ordinarie officer in the State there must also be difference betweene the particular cause and the generall State Fifthly It is the strength of a Pollitique State to haue assured confederacie combination with neighbour Nations but the wisedome of that state is in nothing more iustified than in the profitable vse of such confederacie for therein doth appeare the excellence of wit when with the onely charge of wit we can imploy another mans power to our owne purposes Sixthly To resist and vanquish the
common knowne enemies of a vertuous life is a victorie which morall men haue obtained and doth assuredly iustifie for good the happie composition of such a Nature Seuenthly To maintaine correspondence and indifferent fauour in mutuall societie is most necessarie to a mans happie condition because he that hath the fauour of generall opinion hath interest in euerie mans estate CHAP. XXVI Of the care the Queene and State had to depresse the enemies of the Catholike Faith FIRST the best witnesse of a Christian life is Mercie and the best demonstration of mercie is that fauour that men shew to their enemies for such kindnesse is against the perswasion of flesh and onely caused by the mouing of Grace And therefore mercie euen in an euill man doth merit admiration at the least and to be reputed as a beautious ornament in a base subiect But mercy in the good is a most worthie commendation and a worthinesse for which God will exchange his best benefits For there is nothing wherein God is more delighted then the workes of Mercie in the heauenly exercise whereof hee himselfe is wonderfully contented gladding his most sacred diuinity that in Mercie hee doth triumph and that his mercie hath the greatest part in all his workings Secondly And as this respect of mercie hath preheminence in the Nature of God so hath it also in the reformed natures of good men who desire principally to square themselues to this most holy proportion And in this gratious respect of mercie hath Queene Elizabeth equalled the best Princes that euer were so rarely was this Queene composed of Mercie and Maiestie as that in Maiestie she may iustly be reputed most excellent yet in Mercie more excellent than in Maiestie the which she would often declare euen to the enemies of her life and soule For often would she reach her hands of fauour to them whose hands were euer readie to her destruction This truth is most euident in the view of her gratious gouernement who abhorred their death who most traiterously sought hers and suffered such peacefully to enioy their euill consciences who practised to destroy her for her zeale and constancie in the Catholike Faith Thirdly For if the Papists in the time of Queene Marie or if now in such places where that Religion is profest were or had bene so mercifull in the iudgement of their Lawes as Queene Elizabeth was the time of her gouernement then had not those times bene stayned with the crying sinnes of Blood and Persecution neither had the bodies of Saints perished in that abundance at the holy fires of Martyrdome May it therefore be for euer recorded for the honour of Queene Elizabeths name that her mercie was more to the bad then theirs to the better sort of people and that in this most gratious indument she is most worthie to bee compared with the most mercifull Prince that euer was Fourthly The first yeares of her gouernment may sufficiently proue this her mercifull disposition in which time the fauour of her hardest Lawes were such as that her greatest enemies the enemies of her life and Religion could not but acknowledge them very mercifull seeking onely to reforme not to destroy the estate or life of any one Fifthly Vpon this aduantage the euill spirits of men practise against her life and dignitie For it is not possible that the inueterate enuie of men can be satisfied by any manner of faire perswasion or suppressed by any violent meanes vnlesse seuerity reach to the verie life of one so enuious for mercie to an euill man maketh him presumptuous and seuerity maketh him desperate So that this disease of enuie is not curable vnlesse God please to doe it For in this peacefull time of the Q when mercy was so generally conferd did the Pope the enemie of Faith the great Polititian of the world deuise dangerous proiects against the Q. and the state of Religion in England the which he prosecuted with much instance and withall the forcible meanes he could deuise The course he tooke was answerable to the practise of former Popes anathemating banning the Queene from the hope of saluatiō interdicting her Kingdomes and absoluing her subiects from the dutie of their naturall obedience commanding vpon paine of damnation to doe that which in the Iudgement of Gods Law is damnation to doe This instrument Pius Quintus the Pope sent ouer into England and according to his vngodly command was it diuulged and spread before the generall face of this Kingdome whereby many of the Queenes people in the North and in places of least knowledge and ciuility reconcile themselues to the Popes fauour and like Calues ran wilde after the lowing of this curst and cursing Bull sent forth by the impious Pope Pius Sixthly The Queene and State apprehending the danger of these proceedings and knowing how hazzardous it might be to her life and state to suffer this violence to passe without resistance Call a Parliament and there agree vpon such Statutes as in their wisedomes were thought most conuenient to preuent the mischiefe intended against the Queenes life her State and the Catholike Faith Seuenthly The cause then mouing the Queene and State to enact those lawes which they call seuerity was themselues by reason of their turbulent and euill spirits desiring innouation yea and inuasion who if they could haue bene content with the benefit of peace which they thē enioyed wherewith the holy men of all ages haue bene most gladly contented they had then preuented those lawes which they so much condemne neither had they runne their names nor their cause of Religion into that suspition of the State as by these their treasonable designes they haue most iustly merited But it is antient and true that from euill manners are deriued good and wholsome lawes and they by desire to harme the state they did arme it with wholsome and prouident lawes whereby it was made the better able to preuent and resist their harmefull intentions And from their euill is this Good occasioned that by attempting euill and by fayling in that attempt they haue curbed their owne power and shortned their owne hornes wherewith they and their Bulls had thought to haue pusht the glory of this Nation And therefore was their Iudgement an effect of their owne cause and most iustly inflicted on them For God doth retort the euill purposes of men against the contriuers of them and they that make snares and traps to catch men are oftentimes snared in their owne deuises Eighthly But yet those lawes which they call seuerity were milde and mercifull and not proportionable to the greatnesse of their offence neither like in crueltie to the bloodie lawes in the time of Queene Maries gouernement against the constant professors of the Protestāt Religion the purpose of these Statutes being to secure the Queene and to continue her subiects in their
who so soone as euer he could moue was moued by the Spirit of grace to holy and good purposes The best proofe of this was his Princely care for Religion wherin at all times he approued himselfe both industrious and resolute and wherein he fortunately trauelled with much prosperity and honour The demonstration whereof is now visible in the face of Scotland that kingdome being by his Maiesties happy gouernment reduced to the first Christian Faith and to a better forme of Common-wealth than formerly it had The Church there being reformed and purged from popish Idolatrie which had profaned both that and all other Christian Kingdomes Secondly and in this the King deserued euerlasting memory and praise that he was the first Christian King in that Kingdome whose care gaue end to that miserie and by whom that Church had the truth of the Catholike Faith practised publikely and with the warrant of lawfull authority professed In which holy businesse the King was verie fortunate and for which God did make him fortunate in the passage of his Princely life assisting him in his lawfull attempts and confounding the wicked practises of bad men who banded against his Maiestie to destroy him And therefore before his Maiestie had the title of Defendor of the Catholike Faith did he faithfully defend it and aduised and enioyned his Princely Sonne Prince Henrie to defend it And thus did God prepare the Kings Maiestie and the Prince for the purpose of this holy businesse and by exercising them for the defence of Faith in the kingdome of Scotland to fit them for the like care in England wherein the King most gratiously begunne his gouernment and ended it and wherein we trust that his Sonne our gratious Souereigne that now is and his royall seed for euer shall in these kingdomes defend the most true most antient and most Catholike Faith Obseruations Diuine Pollitique Morall FIRST it is in vaine to indeauour things wherein God is opposite for no power can alter the purpose of his prouidence This hath instance in the Fortunes of these two kingdomes England and Scotland who haue euer laboured their seueral extremities to be vnited the which when Pollitie and the wisedome of State could not doe God without these meanes gaue it successe and in an instant bound these disagreeing nations in the bonds of vnseparable concord Secondly the King by publishing in print his opinion of Religion and his directions for Christian gouernement did thereby much confirme the hopes and hearts of the better part of our English people For it must needs be that if the contrarie faction the Papist did not withstanding this declaration of his Maiesties presume much vpon fauour at his entrance this presumption would in all likely-hood haue proued a practise and therefore was this Publike satisfaction a Religious pollicie that did both arme his friends and disarme his enemies Thirdly It is necessary many times to a mans Morrall reputation to maintaine his integrity by Apollogies and publike protestations For if the person be eminent and of publike Note his good or euill name will be likewise generall CHAP. XXXIIII In what particulers King IAMES our Souereigne that was principally defended the Faith FIRST It is often true that the alteration of the Prince is a cause that the State is likewise altered and that those things which formerly in the gouernement had great authority become not only neglected but also punishable and in great contempt And this though it bee not true in generall instance yet in euery change of a Prince it is either hoped of the bad or feared of the better sort of people Wee had particuler witnesse of that in our happie alteration happie because nothing but the very person of the Prince was altered the gouernement remained in like degrees of happines wherein Queene Elizabeth to her honourable renowne nowne left it yet then were there many euill and discontented persons who could hopefully perswade themselues that the opportunity was then offered which they expected and that the time serued to reintegrate them into fauour and to bring their cause vnder the safetie of the kings protection And though in respect of the Kings particuler there was little or no ground for any such hope his Maiestie hauing before hand declared himselfe in print how in the case of Religion he was resolued yet was there a generall hope in that contrarie faction whereby they imagined somewhat would be done if not to their absolute content yet to their great ease and to the lightning the burthen of their afflictions which in the Queenes time they worthily indured Secondly But that which is more strange and worthie of note that not onely the Papists had this hopefull imagination but their opposites also whom men commonly call Puritans had the like conceiuing they hoping their cause should finde such large allowance of fauour with the King that they and their opinion onely should haue the countenance and warrant of the Kings protection And that both the Papist and the regular Protestant should be iudged vnusefull and of necessity to bee excluded from the Catholike Church Thirdly And howsoeuer the successe of this came short of common expectation yet was this of much more likelihood then the other both because their controuersie was not for the matter of Religion but for order and for the manner of Ceremonie and circumstance onely and also because the gouernment of the Church of Scotland had neere resemblance with that which they desired whereby the King might the better or rather be induced to giue them and their request friendly intertainment Yet notwithstanding al these likelihoods and the hopes of either partie did the King incline to neither his Maiestie finding the Church of England as it was established to be the meane and vertue betweene these two extremities and that their desires were not for the peace and aduancement of the Catholike Faith according as both of them pretended and that these oppositions were either to be reconciled and so made friends or else opposed as enemies Fourthly And this may worthily seeme strange that these two irreconcileable opinions that of the Papist and this of the Puritane should both of them at one time expect supportation from one and the same Prince and from such a Prince as had before declared himselfe not to fauour them that these who neuer consent in any little resemblance should thus conspire and hope in one particular person And the reason was the seuerall perswations they had of the truth of their cause wherein the maintainers of both opinions could receiue speciall satisfaction in themselues and hopefully belieue to worke the King to that acknowledgement of truth wherein they themselues were resolued and wherein they thought was sufficient reason to satisfie or perswade any man Besides they might peraduenture frame speciall arguments of hope to giue them incouragement in hopefull