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A09169 The image of bothe churches. Hierusalem and Babel vnitie and confusion. Obedienc [sic] and sedition. By, P. D. M. Pattenson, Matthew. 1623 (1623) STC 19480; ESTC S105879 195,377 472

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left open the port of aduantage hauing not repealed in England the act of her illigitimation as Quene Maries counsell wiselie had doone before But now at lenth to returne to the matters proper and pertinent to the quaestion Iam to handle The Quene before her coronation put all the bushops to silence and commanded they should not preache and after the parliement all those that refused the oath being called before the Quenes commissioners wear depriued from all honors liuings or employmēt either in the church or common welth and wear also committed to prison and so both lost ther liberties and liuing together Dignities they could not loose as appeared by B. Bonners case whome they could not degrade from the Dignitie of a Bushop though he ded loose London There vvear in all 14. Bushops most vertuous and learned prelates of England and 10. of Ireland deposed 12. Deanes 15. maisters of Colledges 6. Abbots 12. Archdeacons 160. preasts together with maister Shellie Prior of S. Iohns of Hierusalem Now touching ther Demeanor and the course of ther proceading before ther Depriuation These B●shops sitting in Parliement at Quene Maries Deathe acknowledged by diuers proclamations Quene Elizabeths title and right to the Crowne And the Archbushop of york D. Heath then Chancellor of England calling together the nobilitie and commons assembled in both howses by a graue oration exhorted them to accept and obey Quene Elizabeth and by the best course he could endeauoured to dispose and setl the harts of subiects to loue and serue her And all the Bushops ioyntlie ded ther homage and fealtie to her Maiestie in dewtifull manner And although they vvear not ignoranc of her determination to alter the course of religion yet ded they neuer practise neither Scotising nor Geneuating nor neuer incensed the people and Catholiks against her nor attempted anie violent resistance nor sought the support of forrein Princes whome they knew at that tyme readie vpon so fayre pretence to haue ayded them but they ded so respect fullie tender both the Quenes safetie and the peace of the realme more then ther own liues liberties or liuings that though diuers emong them mayd a quaestion yf it wear not most conuenient for the good of the Churche to procead to excommunication against her to vvhich her case laye verrie open and subiect yet the most voyces disswaded that course least yf they should vse the sentenc and censures of the church against her the people might be induced to taik armes for the protection of religion and therfor they ded aduise rather to referr it to the popes determination and pleasure then to talk vpon them to doe yt them selfs though they thought they might lavvfullie doe yt as the case then ded stand Ther was also an other secret frend that ded much fortifie the state of the Quene King Philip knowing all the platts of France and ther secret intentions and vvat motions they mayd at Roome and vpon what tearmes they ded stand to offend England albeyt he had buried all offences at the treatie of Cambray yet loath to see France growe so great as to haue footing in England and as loath that Religion should loose her howld and honor there though he ded wish the end he ded not like the meanes and therfor he employed his ministers in England to doe good offices betwean the Quene and the Cleargie But Alas what became of all these graue prelates Trewlie nothwithstanding all ther publick disgraces and priuate sufferings they ded rather choose a Durate then an Armate and euer professed and well performed Preces Lachrimae arm a nostra Obserue how long and how heauilie ther burden lay vpon them D. Scott Bushop of Chester dyed at Loouain in exile Goldvvel of Asaph at Roome Pate of vvorcester subscribed at the counsell of Trent for the Cleargie of England and never returned D. Oglethorp of Carlile dyed soodainlie and shortlie after his depriuation and so ded learned and famous Tonstal die a personner at Lambeth Bourn of wells was prisonner to Carie deane of the Chappel Thirlebie of Elie first vvas committed to the towre and afterward he and secretarie Boxal vvear sent to Lambeth vvhear they ended there dayes Abbot Fecnam Bushop Watson Bushop Bonner dyed prisoners and Prior she l lie in exile This was the Catastrophe of the worthie Prelates of England a tragedie of the Downefall of the whole Cleargie a thing incredible to posteritie and never hard of in former ages that the third and most reuerend state of the realm the Cedars of Libanus who ever sinc king Etheldred floorished as the Oaches of a realme should be all at once cut downe cast into disgrace and prisons or exile and liue withowt releaf or comfort as men forlorne and abiects yet neither taynted for vice nor convinced for trespas nor accused for anie treason but that which they would never subscribe to aknowledg treason the refusing the oath of supremacie a poynd of religion to them and vvhich touched ther sovvles to the quick And wear they depriued for that then surelie had the ministers of Geneua great luck to escape the high Commission for yow shall hear ther opinions and see the differenc of ther spirits 1. Gilbee in admonitione ad Anglos calls king Henry the 8. libidinosum monstrum monstrosum aprum qui Christi locum inuasit Ecclesiae Anglicanae caput dicivoluit cum tamen omnis religionis expers esset This monstruons bore must neads be called Head of the Church vnder payn of Treason displacing Christ our onelie head who alone onght to haue the title why ded he call hym bore Partlie for his qualities partlie for Ann Boolens sake who was that Helena cuius causa peribat Ilium as both Melancthon in his Chron. and G. Bellay in his Comment declare 2. And that yovv may knovv vvhat an haeresie and flatterie of kings the school of Geneua censureth the Oath of supremacie to be I pray yovv heare the Oracle in cap. 1. Osee in cap. 9. Amos Et hodie in quit quam multi sunt in papatu qui regibus accumulant quicquid possunt iuris potestatis of this poynt I dare avowe Geneua is not guiltie ita vt ne qua fiat disputatio sed potestas haec sit penes regem vnum vt statuat pro suo arbitrio quicquid voluerit sine controuersia hoc firmum maneat Qui initio tantopere extulerunt Henricum regem Angliae certe fuerunt inconsiderati homines dederunt illi summam rerum omnium potestatem hoc me semper grauiter vulner auit erant enim blasphemi cum vocarūt illum summum caput Ecclesiae sub Christo Ded Syr Thomas Moor or Bushop Fisher say more nay not so much against the matter nor in so rude and violent manner such vvas the violenc of king Hērie that he pressed them to speact and yf they ded speak they wear in dainger of law yf they ded not speak
for his own honor and interest to preuent the propagation of the Martinists and other nevv sectaries latelie sprong vp in these contries And he could deuise no better remedie then to establish the Inquisition there vvhich he ded anno 1550. Wheareof Marie Quene of Hongrie then regent to her great honor procured both a mitigation and an explanation But he resigning all the gouernement to his sonne retyred hym self from the world whearin he had bean long tyred and in a most memorable manner consecrated the last act of his lyfe to God and deuotion Afterward king Philip likewise finding The Inquisition 1. how largelie the brainches of Anabaptism Libertines the familie of Loue and others ded spread abroad and grovv vp vvith Lutheranisme in Flanders and vvhat dainger might ensevv vpon it to the state yf no good order vvear taken to preuent a further ancrease of mischeafe he follovved his fathers counsell and at large renevved the commission instruction and articles for the sayd Inquisition anno 1555. vvhich vvas a thing most fearfull and discontenting to the inhabitants of the Netherlands vvho alledged that in regard thereof all straingers vvould depart the contrie and by consequence all traffick vvould decaye vvhich is the gold myne and maintenanc of these prouinces But in dead they knew best ther own disease and what affliction and scourge they should be subiect to being for the most part inclined to innouation and this they apprehended as the first cavvse of ther commotions 2. Besides an other prudent and politique act added more fevvel to the fyre and an encrease of discontentment vvhich was the erection of the nevv bushopricks 3. Thirdlie the authoritie and povver of the Bushop of Arras vvas much disdained and his Cardinals hat mayd hym more odious as a man too supereminent in a state so popular and the greater his obligation was to the Pope for his honor the more vvas the mallice of the nobilitie and the hate of the peopl encreased against hym 4. Furthermore the better to cloke and couer ther intentions vvith the vayle of bonum publicum they vrged to enioye ther ancient liberties and freedome and that no strainger might beare office and rule emōg them and that the Spanyards might be discharged from all residenc in these lands 5. Lastlie and speciallie they desyred toleration and libertie of conscienc So as in effect the names of religion and the Commonvvelth vvear mayd the standard bearers of all these commotions Novv concerning these greauances the first is a name of more terror then in dead it is Not so fearfull to good men but a rack to offendors deuised vpon necessitie against the Moors in Spayne and continued vpon experienc of the vse and benefit of it and tho I can commend no sign of crevveltie yet can I not condemn this bycaus it addeth nothing to the punishment of heresie more then the law before inflicted but exacted onelie a more strict and seuear execution and course of examination by the inquisitors it shovveth a more care of the gouernor when he fyndeth abuses and dainger in an offendor And also bycawse it was the sole Antidot whearby onelie Spayne is and haith bean so wel and so long preserued from the infection of sects and the contagion and tumults which innouation vsuallie ingendreth whearwith all the kingdomes in Europe haue bean embroyled And the Spanyards them selfs neuer complayned of it not felt it ever as a yoke or burden vpon them who ar not verrie apt to beare burdens Neither is it in se a more bloodie lavv or a more fearfull execution of iustice then the consistorie of Geneua and the seuear commissions and proceading of some other contries as shall hear after appeare by the comparison Besides as is vvas a curse zealouslie at first propunded the execution was likewise as wiselie afterward suspended So as the iealousie and fear of an act more then the action drew all this blood And for the second it was a politick and prudent inuention a suaffle to bridl sectaries and a sicle to cut dovvn the vveads growing vp in the church For setting in each prouinc graue and learned men to stand as watchment and sentinells to foresee ne quid in commodi respublica Ecclesia patiantur they might better and more prouidentlie with ther authoritie either preuent or cut of the heads of that Hydra vvhich ded then spring vp vvith much terror Neither vvas the matter and motion new for Philip the wise Duke of Burgondie had long before desyred byt could never effect it knovving it to be a thing neadfull bycause at that tyme almost all the 17. lands except Arras wear vnder the diocese of Bushops who wera straingers and the subiect of forrein princes which was a thing not conuenient for the state And vvhat good this chaing haith wrought experienc perfectlie and daylie showeth for novv euerie diocese is more carefullie visited and the Bushops being of the same nation and language as they haue a more naturall compasion so likevvise haue they more knovvledg and care to instruct ther contriement and to vvead owt the disorders and abuses grovving vp emong them then anie strainger vvould or could haue And that vvas the cavvse why it vvas alovved and ratified by the bull of PIVS IV. anno 1559. Novv touching Monsieur d'Arras albeyt his vvisedome and experienc in affayres both of the church and the state vvas sufficientlie knovven to the kings yet bycause the Prince of Oreng and the Counts of Horn and Egmont ded ioyntlie write to the king against hym his Maiestie tho to the great hinderance of his seruice was content to remooue hym for ther satisfaction and contentment and vvhen he vvas called avvaye neither vvas the contrie quieter nor they ceased from practising As for ther liberties and franchises ded not the king at the Ioyfull entrie confirm them all then hovv and when ded he after violate them vvas it for preferring the Spanyards there wear few of them left in ahe Netherlands and fevver cum imperio Was it for the offices of state the king distributed all the gouernements emong them selfs natiues of that contrie so great trust and confidence he reposed in them He mayd the Count Egmond Gouernor of Flanders and Artois the Prince of Oreng Gouernor of Holland Zelland Vtreght and Burgondie to the Count Arenbergh he gaue the gouernement of westfrizeland and over Isel to Count Barlaymont Namur to Count Mansfeld Luxemburg and Chinay to the Marques of Berghen Lile and Douay So as the nobilitie could not iustlie taik offenc nor haue expected more honor and command then was fauorablie giuen them And for the further assuranc of his good affection to them he left his sister the Dutches of Parma Gouernor general a woeman of a peacable spirit and who was like to bear the bridle with a mild and gentle hand and to be aduised by ther counsells So then what was the original of these commotions All was actuallie quiet the
purpose to prepare for a future inuasion And the same Admiral shortlie after sollicited vvith great earnestnes Charles the 9. to diuert all his warres into Flanders and taik vpon hym the protection of that contrie And Aldegond in Germanie as carefullie ded sollicit a partie to combyne with them so then they laboured vpon all sydes to offend the king and yf he seak to defend hym self must he be taxed for tyrannie and creweltie surelie that state must neads be owt of order that presumeth to censure a king for seaking by his ministers to punish disorders and reduce all into order The Duke of Alua could becawse of none of these disorders precedent the lenitie and mildnes of the merciefull Regent mayd them insolent and yet the verrie name of the Duke before he gaue anie offenc mayd them seak to forreyners to oppresse hym And after his arriual heare who can blame hym yf he mayd vvarr vvith rigour perceauing the generall impression of mallice in the peopls harts against hym speciallie being aduertised that the protestants had combined in the passion vveak to kill hym at the monasterie of the grean vallie in the forest of Sauue near Brussels whether he vsed to go manie tymes for his deuotion It was well knowen that Monsieur Rifot Carli and Villars vvith 700. horse and 500. foot conspired vvhen the Duke and the nobles and his followers vvear at M●sse in the church to beset the place and with fyre and deuises to burn both men church and Monasterie good and bad frends and enemies the vvhich the two Guidons confessed and the like execution was intended at Brussels against the Spanyards as Pettit Mendoza and Michael of Isselt testifie Neither ded they cease ther mallice and mischeafe when he was recalled for that noble and wise Duke of Arschot aduertised Don Iohn that Oreng endeauored to seaze his person to disposses the king of the sooueraintie and to establish libertie in the low contries I ask not who set Ratclif and Gray on work to kill hym at Namur for latet anguis in herba And ded not the Caluinists as fynelie contriue at Antwarp to haue blowen vp with gunpovvder the famous Duke of Parma as he was to pass in the high streat vvith the state of the whole contrie attending hym So as it appeareth as coye as they maik it they ar not so free and cleare but that protestants may be charged with treasons assassinats and povvder plats nay more to be the first inuentors of it as long ago in Scotland appeared and the king haith good cawse to remember Now for the authors and actors of this The authors of thi vnion vnion the States and the Prince vveare the Contriuers of it And touching the Prince he vvas a man politick popular ane a greate hovvskeaper both vvhich qualities stood hym in good stead The hovvse of Nassau in Germanie vvas ●ncient and honorable but vvas aduanced in this contrie most by marriages this vvilliam bycause his father turned Lutheran Charles the fifth ovvt of his princ●lie affection took hym from his father and commended hym to the care and education of the Quene of Hongarie his sister And afterward admitted hym into his own chamber for manie yeares Then mayd hym general of his horse and after raised hym to the honor of his Liuetennant generall And to maik his obligation the greater to hym he mayd choyce to send by hym as a man of most trust the Imperiall crowne to his brother king Ferdinando and ded like Vise commend hym highlie to king Philip tho diuers forewarned hym to taik head that he ded not noorish a snake in his bosome Add to these fauors the Emperors furtheranc of his match with the Count of Burens daughter and heyre whearby he was highlie aduanced and speciallie aboue all other things he procured Renatus of Challon Prince of Oreng to maik this william his heyre when the President Schorus was wholie against hym And forget not the honor king Philip ded hym to committ so manie and so great gouernements to his charge and sidelitie was it possible that anie thing could corrupt this man and diuert hym from thank fullnes and allegiance Ded they after geue hym cawse of alienation and hatred or he took a cawse When the king was to depart into Spayne The Prince after the Death of his first wyfe aspired to marrie the Daughter of Christierna Duches of Lorrain coosen germain to the King And therfor he laboured to haue her mayd gouernor of these prouinces and so he should in effect by that allianc swaye the whole gouernment for which he had gaped long and vvas a competitor for it with the Count of Egmond But the king preferring the Dutches of Parma the Prince lost bothe his hope and his vvyfe and therrupon grevv his hatred both to Alua and Granuellan by whose meanes he imagined that Parma was preferred and the other reiected So ambition was the trew internal motiue of all this rancour but religion was mayd the owtward cawse and the mantel to hyde it Ambition is a passion that can not rest and sleap withovvt dreaming of a reueng and therfor he first married in the hovvse of Saxonie the sanctuarie of Lutheranisme he incited Brederode he set a pike and quarrel betwean Egmond and Granuellan who had stood his best frend before in manie matters of importance he studied and practised to hinder the comming in of Alua purposing a certan reueng for a supposal of that he ded not certanlie knovv He neuer after shovved hym self vvell affected to the kings affaires nor content vvith anie fauors aftervvard he inuaded Frize directed Lumay to posses Bril and what he could in Holland he gaue order to his brother Seherenbergh to maik hym self maister of Zuthphen and placed Saras gouernour of Flushing that the world might see the error of Alua in neglesting so long a place of that importance So as I may vvell seye he vvas the great vvheale vvhearupon all the state vvas mooued and turned I will conclude that after he sought to be reconciled with the king by intercession of the emperor and the Duke of Bauier and could not compass it modo forma as he desired he grevv desperate in all his attempts hauing ill succes and fovvnd no harbor so safe for hym as Holland the best nurce to mantaine his decayed estate a receptacle of all religions and a fortification strōg enough by nature and art wheare he might safelier write Apologies then fight encoorage faction and plant a nevv religiō wheareof it seameth he was not at first fullie resolued for tho when he was at court he went to Mass yet from his childhood he was thought to haue had some seads of Lutheranism which was euer after his being in France transplanted into Caluinisme yf to anie certan sect And these and all his courses being wel discerned at last by the states of Artois and Heynauld anno 1579. when they wear recōciled to the
king with the assent of the most honorabls Duke of Arschot who neuer much affected the Prince articulo 5. they ded bynd them selfs to prosequute warr against Oreng as a general enemie of peace and to fynd at ther own charge eightene thowsand men for that purpose and will anie man imagin that so noble so religious so valiant men peares to the Prince for nobilitie and wisedome either could err in ther iudgments of hym they knew so well and who had acted his part so long vpon the stage in the face of them all or would haue mayd such an offer yf they had esteamed hym a Good patriot or his cause and proceading iust and warrantable Now touching the people of Holland I acknowledg they ar a people verrie industrious and skilfu●l to maik vse of ther labors and as a learned censor of them well noted nec totam libertatem nec totam seruitutem patiuntur Frends to chainge seldome content with the present state in prosperitie a litl insolent most addicted to traffick and ther profite and iealious of anie that would empeach ther gayn or libertie And the Prince being well acquainted with ther nature to bread and fead ther iealousie more discouered to them the secret counsell and combination of king Henry the 2. of France and the Duke of Alba to suppresse the protestants and to erect the 17. Prouinces into a kingdome the vvhich he sayd that king discouered vnto hym But surelie non placet commentum it is not like the Duke of Alua vvould discouer his maisters greatest secrets to an enemie so latelie reconciled and his fiction of other fables maiks it more probable that to haue bean a fable also For he gaue owt that the Emperor and the king affected a monarchie ouer all Europe which yf it wear but a coniecture was deuised by hym self and not vpon certan intelligenc vnderstood and vpon knouledg from them selfs it could not be for the Emperors overtoyled age his end his cours and the harbor of a religious how 's he be took hym self into convinc the contrarie Yet these inventions and forgeries serued hym to good purpose bothe to terrifie the Hollanders that they might still relie vpon hym and to procure the distrust and mallice of forrein nations to the hovvse of Austria And vvith such baites ded he long both entrap and feald that contrie people Now yow haue hard the whole charge and all the trespasses obiected to the king both generall and particuler now and ab Origine and the actors that followed the busienes and what exceptions may be taken iustlie against ther estimation integritie and testimonie speciallie in ther own cawse It remaineth therfor now to examin first whether the king stood guiltie of these crimes of Iniustice and Tirannie For yf he be innocent then is ther vsurpation The king of Spayn his desyre of peace His court not tirannous vnlawful and yf he weare guiltie an other quaestion is whether his error geues them title and his offences free them from subiection I will maik it manifest to the world that the king euer desired peace and with great care sought to avoyd the desolation of his people and contries 1. And to maik this euident It may please yow to call to mynd the course taken by that excellent and most loyall Prince the Duke of Arschot and by the states generall at the Pacification of Gand 1574. whearin it was thought requisite to decree an Amnestia and obliuion of all things past on both sydes and to taik order for discharging the Spanyards and sending them home And notwithstanding that in this pacification all things wear referred ad arbitrium ordinum vsing nor mentioning anie reseruation to the king yet Don Iohn ded ratifie it and procured the kings consent and confirmation of all as appeareth by the perpetual edict And altough this pacification was agreed vpon by all the rest of the states general owt of a zealous affection to general vnitie yet would not the Prince of Oreng nor Holland and Zelland subscribe and accept it And they disswaded the states general to accept Don Iohn for gouernor till the Spanyards should be dismissed at a tyme limited and yet would not they dismisse the forren forces they had in Holland but being at libertie them selfs would tye Don Iohn to perform his promises but vvhy ded the Prince and Holland refuse to subscribe was it for religion no for in these articles Holland and Zelland wear as well prouided for as they could desyre for therin vvas this article vt sola in ijs prouincijs Romana religio toleretur exerceatur excepta Hollandia Zellandia tho these prouinces never esteamed nor respected that peace nor that prouision for ther indemnitie and for the Princes person and safetie his ovvn guiltienes and his precedent offences wear buried in this Amnestia the states preuayled more for hym then the Emperor could What then caused the differenc mallice and Ambition blinded and transported hym for all men may see the king desyred peace and the Prince altogether was inclined to warr tho thearin he vvas no excellent Hannibal 2. And that appeared more playnlie 1575. by the colloquie of Breda whear the king offred reasonnable conditions and the Emperor sent the Count Swartzenburgh to induce them to concord and vnitie And yet would the Prince listen to nothing and the treatie was fruitles the cawse is worthie to be knowen At that tyme they of 10. Pettit Holland deliberatelie determined to submit them selfs to some other Prince and offred them selfs secretlie to obey the Quene of England hy Aldegond and Douza The proiect vvhearof and the reasons I haue sean 3. Yet ded the king show still how great his patienc and mercie was and how farr from the basenes of tyrānie that knowing all this and much more yet would he not proclayme Oreng a traytor till 1580. when his mallice appeared to be irreconciliable and his courses desperate and after they had finished the fabrick of that vnion of Vtreght abowt fiftean yeares after the beginning of these trovvbles 4. The fouth argument to prooue the kings inclination to peace and his detestation of tyrannie taiks away all quaestion from men indifferent When the Emperor sollicited the treatie 1. The persons of Coolen 1579. and mayd choyce of most honorable persons for that purpose the tvvo Princes electors the Bushop of Wirtzburgh the Count Svvartzenburgh and Doctor Lawenman the king of Spayne was as forvvard and sent thither the Duke de Terra noua and the Duke of Arschot euer readie to aduanc peace and the commun welth with diuers others wear commissioners from the states with commission signed by the Archduke Matthias So as the persons on all sydes vvear like to deale with integritie and iugment Note also vpon what motiues was the The moiues Emperor content to employe these cōmissioners The states by ther letters to the emperor dated S. Iun. 1578. ded promise
aboue Ela a strain farr higher then the Duke Aluaes and yet tho the people denied it and murmured much yet still vvas he in Holland paeter patriae so smoothlie he could manage his busienes Barneuelt in his Apologie confessed that he fovvnd 1586. the order of the gouernment ovvt of all Frame manie preachers protestants vvould not acknovvledg the states for after the french fashion they had no command nor discipline the commons quite opposite the towns and magistrates wished for peace the expenses of the state exceaded all incoms and reuennues by tvventie six millions and that which I maik this note for west frizeland in the beginning ded contribute skarse Decies octies centena millia florenorum and now they ar charged to paye quadragies centena milua librarum duos milliones I vse his own words bycause I will not be challenged for mistaking hym Who is therfor now the tyrant and the exactor tho the peopl haue chainged ther Lord they ar not eased of ther oppression and wheare before they complayned they had one now ar they subiect to the command of manie tyrants who fleace them nay vnskin them Alua bett them with whips but the states with scorpions Examin ther excises and impositions how they ar increased vpon meat drink fewel men servants wages besides lones and beneuolences Henry Cuickius chargeth them to exact the fourth part of ther reuennues that ar Hollanders and liue owt of the contrie Si in prouincijs nostris venia eorum degunt semissem iubent soluere si secus bonis exuunt And to answer that inuectiue against the Duke of Alua his Creweltie which was so much obiected at Coolen and since haith bean aggrauated by D. Baudius in his orations call to mynd what occasions wear giuen hym by the opposition of the Nassouians by the warr at Mounts by the practise to empeach his entranc to Brabant and by contriuing his death Yet these wear venial sinnes But vvhen he fownd the nobilitie so farr ingaged in the conspiracie with the Geuses that the kings authoritie was despised the religion established was prophaned and derided that the towns in Holland and Zelland reuolted H●●le● Alcmar and the rest excluding the kings authoritie and power what stranger and man vnpartiall vvould not think when the blood of the bodie was so corrupted that it is not fitt both to vse cauterism and violent purgations to clense it for violenc is never necessarie but when lenitiues wil not remedie and work a cure And when Alua vvas reuoked remember how litl the peacapl nature of the Commendador preuayled vvith so rough and harsh natures who was forced to crie owt Dios libera nos de estos estados And hear I pray yow read the opinion of Syr Roger Williams a soldier of good note who had serued an both sydes and knew the natures of the peopl in his storie of these warres he condemned the reuocation of Alua as an error bycause nothing but rigor could reduce these violent spirits into order neither can anie man maik them obedient but he that can pull them vpon ther knees and carrieth the sword drawen in his hand allwaies readie vpon such inflammations to open a vayne and let them blood though I conffess a gentle hart will much ever relent vvith compassion when it seeth blood shed Concerning the breach of the kings For the kings oath oath which they obiect hauing svvorn to obserue ther priuiledges yf they will decide the matter by course of iustice it must first be mayd playne and appeare that the king haith broken his promise and not performed his oath and in what case and in ther own causes it is not agreable to common reason that the Playntifs should be bothe accusers and iudges Again yf he had broken his promise manie things may happen after his oath to excuse hym from periurie or tyrannie for by law euerie absolute pact and promise doth implie tacitam conditionem to procead rebus sic stantibus as they wear at the oath taken But what yf such difficulties followe that he can not keap his promise What yf that which was then promised for the good of that prouince can not be obserued withowt the great domage of that prouince and of all Europe As the cawse so the case must be altered But procead further yf the king had broken his oath yet wear not the states inabled and authorised therby to choose a new prince in his stead much less to inuest them selfs for in the articles of the Ioy full entrie this is a clawse vt si in omnibus aut in vno quo●iam articulo pacta ista Dux Brabantiae violassct denegare ei tantisper subdus possunt consueta seruitia dum id reuocetur vel corrigatur in quo controuersum For otherwise withowt that dum ill disposed subiects should continuallie haue the aduantage to pick quarrels against a good Prince And the world can witnes how oft the king haith offred to the Emperor to forrein princes and to the states generall either to reuoke or amend what could be prooued to be amisse Besides the states and courts of Brabant ar more properlie to decide that quaestion then Holland who can clayme those priuiledges but by participation Add also that the states of Brabant Flanders Artois Heynault and the rest haue conformed them selfs like dewtiefull vertuous and noble persons to obedienc of the king and to all Lawes and gouernment And yf Holland could learn by ther examples so to doe the quaestion wear then ended Furthermore the like oath all kings taik at ther coronation and it is the greatest honor to them religiouslie to performe it but yf they break it what then shall he be deposed that is a doctrine onelie sitt for the schools of Conspiracie Besides ther is a great differenc betvvean a couenant and a condition in the common lawe and yet neither of them tye a Prince so as the breach implyeth a forfeiture as hear after appeareth But to conclud who ded first create and grant these priuiledges ded not the Prince ex gratia spectali mero motu to gratifie good subiects how vnthankful subiects then ar they who will seak to depriue ther soouerain Lord yf he be forced to break a clawse or an article or a couenant vpon vrgent cawse What would they haue obiected to Philip Duke of Burgondie and of the Netherlands who resumed into his H. Berland own hands and by his own authoritie all the Priuiledges and immunities of Gandt and detayned them all his lyfe tyme teaching them to acknowledg by whose grace they held them And what remedie when his sonn Charles cam to Gand the people in a rage compelled hym to restore them But to ther cost for they weare forced to seak his pardon and to cast them selfs and ther charters at his feate and stand to his mercie And the like he ded at Machlen which he determined to haue razed and destroyed yet he restored them
at first they mayd that a cavvse of ther rebellion that the king vvould force ther consciences and yet they will not novv permitt the same freedome to those that liue vnder their command But novv to come to the Mayne poynt they Challeng by the vnion to be absolute Lords of these prouinces and haue renounced all title and obedienc to the king of Sayn as Earl of Holland and Zelland I ask quo titulo ingressi sunt they alledg in ther letters to the Emperor 1608. this grovvnd vvork Post tractatum pacis Coloniae qua Hispani potius ad opprimendam quam subleuandam Belgium vsi sunt Hispani Mercurius Gallob libro 32. tanta tyrannide in prouincias vrbes ac ciues omnes Belgij procul●atis omnibus priuilegijs grassabantur vt ad conseruandam quod ei imminebat ab extremo exitio patriam pleraeque Belgicae prouinciae quae in vnione perstiterant regem eiurarunt certam quandam ac liberam reipublicae formam constituerunt It a pro liberis à multis regibus accepti per 32. annos Hear is the fowndation of ther free state and the reason is tyrannie and the tyme is sayd to be after the treatie of Coolen tho in dead this vnion was mayd before Besides in the same place they vse an other argument that the king of Spayn and the Archduke acknowledg them as free prouinces in quas ipsi nihil iuris praetendant cum omnibus generalibus particularibus renunciationibus At the making of that vnion they alledged that the king had forfeited his estate by oppressing them vvith tyrannie by infringing ther liberties and his ovvn oath and for suppressing religion And at Coolen the states deputies added that they took armes not onelie for religion but to 1. auoyd exactions intollerable 2. and to cast of the yoke of too seuere gouernors So then 1. religion 2. tyrannie 3. exaction 4. abrogation of ther priuiledges and the kings own renunciation of his title arr the pillers of this vnion It remaineth therfor after hauing mayd a breach with this long battrie to geue the assault vpon ther title and discouer how seditious the positions and principles of that religion ar which imprinted in them such disloyaltie to vsurp that title If it could be prooued by them which is necessarie first to be that the king ded oppress the contrie by tyrannie and abrorating ther priuiledges then is it yet a question of importance whether therby he haith lost his authoritie ouer his subiects and yf he had lost it by what law haue they fownd it by what ciuil order or president ded they abiure ther obedience Surelie it vvas certam quandam ac liberam reipublicae formam constituere That vvas ther end and ther presumption but it vvas neither order nor cawse Neither is the kings tyrannie a sufficient vvarrant for ther tyrannie and vsurpation for a soouerain can not loose his soouerainetie it doth all waies carrie vvith it a nonobstante to difpenc with errors and irregularities And for ther priuiledges vvhich the king never intended to maik voyd and so they build vpon a false grovvnd vvhich vvill fayle them yf it had bean so great an offenc for the king to abrogate theirs is it not a greater offenc for subiects to vsurp his and so to maik them self parties and iudges and by ther own authoritie to punish ther prince Which is an insolencie and indignitie incredible to all posteritie and such as neither the Svvizzes nor the Amphictiones the confederate cantons of Grecia ded ever match nor come neare for so they maik regna occupantium ius qui potest capere capiat A pretenc opposite to all lavves a portall to let in confusion but yf the king ded loose and forfeit all his authoritie and iurisdiction yet I see not vvhy or hovv they could also challeng his lands and priuate inheritance for that must neads discend by law Besides yf the king could for feit his sooueraintie how can he forfeit it to his subiects but say they wear now no subiects we haue waued and renounced the same and is that inough It is trew a subiect may maik hym self ciuis alienae reipulicae but yf he stay in his own contrie he can not of a subiect maik hym self no subiect for tho he doe rebell as the Hollanders ded yet he is a subiect but it is admirable how of a subiect he should become a sooueraine that is scientia scientiarum a supernatural skill aboue my capacitie Yet yf the kings should for feit his earldome of Holland it is not to them but to the cheaf Lord of the fee that is to the Emperor for it can escheat to no other either by the Imperial or municipal lawes Yf yow ask me the reason I saye it is manifest that Holland vvas erected into an Earldome by the Emperour Carlous Caluus qui cum audiuit Hollandiam terram Imperatoriam a Danis spoliari rogatu Iohannis Papae principatum eius contulit Theodorico Berland Meyer Anno 863. So yf it be not in the king of Spayn to whome it is lineallie discended from Theodoric then may the Emperor geue a nevv inuestitur thereof as a fief Imperial to whome he pleaseth as he ded to Theodoric for it is a phantastical imagination that it is fallen by lapse to them of Holland the Emperor taketh no notice of ther Stateships being a priuate order for ther better government But yf it be fallen in laps it is rather fallen to Oreng and the nobilitie who can Better govern then to tradesmen and mariners And yet vndowbtedlie to none of them except they plead that as conquerors they wonn yt by the sword and so they will hold it which is a Tenure neither knowen to Litlton nor summe Rurall not Ius feudale a tenure fitter for forosciuti or the Hoords of Tartarians then a commonwelth of Christiās A certan Hollander in his third defenc of the vnited prouinces calleth the king of Spayn Raptorem haereticum notorium rudelie and vnciuillie and therupon inferreth An non potius regem Hispaniae quia haereticus notorius est ex suo regno omnibus omnium Euangelicorum viribus expellere oporteret either this man was much distempered or his religion infected hym and mayd hym a Catelin and so seditions These Ar fearefull paradoxes and such as all princes haue interest in and had nead to haue ther swords drawen to confute yf for pretenc of religion for errors in gouernment for restraining ther priuiledges for punishing sedition and ryots subiects may thus sit in iudgment vpon ther princes and taike armes and expell them owt of ther territories Thus ded ket and Iack Straw in England rise for bonum publicum the Bowres in Germanie and Ziska in Bohemia mayd ther insurrections for religion and so euerie Gracchus may taik vpon hym the reformation of the church and the state Now yf they obiect ther case is ill fitted with a comparison bycause
Smith and it vvas mayd according to the liturgie of the straingers of Frankfort 1544. all of them of Bucers stamp and not much varijng from that in king Edvvards tyme. The which Parr Russel Grey of Pytgo and Cicil approoued but all those of Geneua vtterlie disliked not knowing the Quenes reasons nor regarding them 8. Lastlie the instrumentall cawses and cheafe artificers for building this new work wear choyce men all bothe for experience and pollicie Syr William Cicill mayd second Secretarie in king Eduuards dayes in an age whearin a man might learne more conning them vertue a wise man for practise and one that knevv well how much this alteration would serue his turn and raise his fortune and at that tyme he vvas hongrie hauing onelie the personage of VVimblton and certan lands abowt Stamford as appeared by his letter to the lord Marques 1560. vvhen Syr Robert Cicil vvas borne desiring the lord Threasorers furtherano that the Quene would grant hym some means and maintenanc for these two C. C. solike to be famous in England herafter Syr Nicholas Bacon was an others his brother in lawe a man of Deap iudgment of more knowledg in the lawes and a more plausible Orator I may not forget the Lord Robert who solelie to posses the Quenes fauor by a trick discarded Syr Williā Pickering then a fauorite and a courtlie gentlman neither can I omitt Seigneur Nicholas Throgmorton S. Tho. Smith and manie others who wear now in hope to fynd that which they had long gaped for such offices and preferments as they wear like to loose who held them in Quene Maries tyme. Better Enginers and fitter men could neither haue bean wished nor fuwnd then all these wear to vndermine and cast downe the Cleargie and the old Church governement vvho possessing vvholie the eare and grace of the Quene satt vvith command at the stearne and as pylots of great estimation guided the course both of the Church and commonwelth at ther pleasure thoughe manie men vvondered how maister secretarie could so soone forget his beads and his breuiarie whearwith he counterfeited a Catholick and vvonn Cardinal Pool to stand firmelie his frend Notwithstanding all this choyce of men and preparation of meanes ther courses and cownsells gaue occasion of more trowbles continual feares and greater hazards and daingers to the Quene the realme in all her tyme then ever anie architects of innouation committed And no maruel for ludit in humanis diuina potentia God doth skorn and frustrate the pollicies and shifts of men that haue nothing els to trust to but shifts and he vvill euer teach the wisest to see ther follies and a litl to humble them those that ar most prouident shall by ther errors learn that plus est in arte quam in artifice For now the Quene by this act of Innouation left destitute of all her allies and confaederates vvas driuen to stand vpon her own gard and lie open to all stormes hauing France an enemie and Spayne a frend skarse contented and so was driuen euen at first to ronne vpon a rock forced to assist the rebells in Scotland against ther Soouerain and to send them ayd to expell the french employed ther for ther Quenes seruice It may de yow think this a trifle mark the rest To succor the Admirall and rebells in France she Inuaded Normandie and took possession of Nevvhauen and Deape deliuered to her by the Vidame of Chartres was this a glorie the disgrace in loosing and ill defending Newhauen was a greater bleamish to them then it was honor to haue them yealded and offred to the Quenes disposing and speciallie seing they might therby either haue brought Callice home againe or haue locked vp the gates of Roan and Paris And they ded neither but bring home the great plague as a scourge to the realme for that offence furthermore for the securitie of the realme and to diuert all warres from home they wear driuen not withowt touch of the Quenes honor to kindl the fyre in all other adiacent nations and then to publish a declaration and reason of ther actions as yf the world could not read the trew cavvses of actions vvithovvt the spectacles of those ancient Senators Whearupon they ded ayd the Princes of Orenge against king Philip vnder pretenc of amitie and league vvith the howse of Burgondie and the kings of England which was a litl to grosse for so excellent vvitts considering that the amitie vvas contracted with no subiects nor states but betwean the kings of E. and the Dukes of Burgondie wheareof the states had the benefit and wear partakers but not authors comprehended in the treaties but not treators fayre coolors for fovvle errors And why for so she gaue a president against her self that forrein Princes might be vvarranted by her example to inuade her ovvn kingdomes to releaue her subiects yf they should rise for religion and to learn the waye to Ireland and requite her And the showe of Religion serued them fitlie for there purpose But surelie I haue hard verrie wise men much condemn the course Bor though England ded assist there neighbors on all sides vpon the reason of state which Polibius prescribed Vicininimium crescentis potentia maturè quacunque ex causa deprimenda which is an axiome that is oft inconuenient and ofter iniurious and sometymes pernicious Yet the counsell of Thucidides vvas more proper and safer Nullus princeps à suis subditis iuste puniendis arcendus est qui id facit parem in se legem statuit ne suos ipse puniat delinquentes And heare I must commend hym to haue said this vviselie who saith all things wittielie The vvisidome of the latter tymes in princes fayres is rather in fine deliueries and shifting of damgers vvhen they ar near then solid and grovvnded courses to keap them aloaf The grownd of all these trowbles vvas the pretenc of Sinon Viz. Actum esse de ea si pontificiam authoritatem in quacumque re agnosceret as Camden saith the Quene vvear vndoone yf she acknowledged the Popes authoritie Mark his reason duos namque pontifices matrem illegitimè nuptam pronunciasse and by that argument he suggested that it was best to alter religion inuest her self in the sooueraintie and banish the Popes bulls from grasing in this kingdome and all obedienc to that sea This was a course neither at home nor abroad to keap daingers aloofe and vndowbtedlie yf Henrie the 2. or Frances the 2. of France had liued that error was like to haue wrapped the realme into ineuitable perills and might by all probabilitie haue serued as a bridg to haue let the Quene of Scots passe over into England vnder her own title and the banner of the Church solliciting for her better warrant the renewing of the bulls of Clement the 7. and Paulus 4. against her moothers marriage and her own illegitimation and the rather this might haue bean doon by the error of them that
performed yf the Admiral for his own particular had not layd a block in his vvays But aboue all others it is memorable and worthie to be remembred vvhat a bloodie quarrel it vvas mayd that king Edvvard the sixt the first protestant king in England might not marrie Quene marie of Scotland vvho was euer honored and esteamed a Catholik and yet the protector vvould haue mayd no scruple of Conscienc in that Caluinisme and Lutheranisme ar as opposite as Antipodes and yet they haue matched oft together and ther Issews ar the records thereof And was it then tollerable in the reformed churches and is it intollerable vvith Spayne what then is the cawse of this great scrupulositie and feare Is it for the state of the kingdome or feare of alterations The husband is head of the vvyfe and tho the Infanta vvear born in familia Imperatrice yet ther is no soverainetie invested in her she can maik no mutation of State without the censent of the state And yovv haue the les cavvse to distrust that hauing a president before of king Philip vvho being king of England yet neither could nor vvould attempt anie alteration And yf the protestants ar sure to hould ther religion it is inhumanitie to repyne that she shall be suffred to enioye hers No man of honor vvil offend a ladie of such honor for a quarrel to her sovvle to her faithe and her vvorship of god What then is the reason vvhy this match is so distaist full Is it for the hate and odiousnes of the name and qualities of a Spanyard surelie ab initio non fuit sic that is neither an anciēt quarrel nor a naturall impression in the English For in the tyme of king Edvvard the 3. Ther vvas a firm and fixed amitie betvvean England and Portingal and of Lancaster ther king ar discended And for Castil they matched Constance the Daughter and heyr of king Peter to Iohn of Gaunt by vvhose right the crovvn appertained to hym And his daughter Catharin married vvith Henry the third king of Castil and therby the vvhich remaineth in the Sauoye records resignation of that crovvn vvas mayd by Iohn of Gannt and so all the controuersie vvas ended betwean them and the kings of Spaȳne as floorishing brainches of the tree and stock of Lancaster haue peacablie possessed that kidgdome So as Prince Charles shal by this match vvarme his bedd with his own blood I may add further that king Henry the seuenth married his sonn̄ to king Ferdinando his daughter to continew the succession of amitie I might remember the treaties of 1505. betvvean k. Henry the 7. and king Philip for the preseruation and noorishment of that league and frend ship And hovv much and hovv tenderly Charles the 5. embraced and esteamed yt vvell appeareth by the Treatie arctioris amicitiae 1543. And by the renoumed treatie of Callice the greatest honor that was evver doon to the crovvn of England and by the treatie 1507. bevvean Maximilian the Emperor Charles king of Spayne and king Henry the 8. by the treaties for entercourse 1515. and 1520. by the treatie of Cambray 1529. and by that famous treatie 1542. Thus the tvvo kings and kingdomes still renewed and noorished mutuallie and vvarmelie a perfect frendship and kind correspondencie till the schisme of Henry the 8. the diuorce disgrace and dishonor of Quene Katharin and the cōfederation therupon with France cooled the zealle of this seruent affection So as ther vvas at that tyme no such cavvse of hatred disfauor or vnkindnes bevvean these tvvo kingdomes nor anie national dislike or contention vvhich first brake out end appeared in England in Quene Maries tyme principallie for the quarrel of a new religion then fiuee yarres old For ther vvas no pretenc but onelie that to maik the breach which Wyat desired Yet this is not the trevv and sole motiue of the grudg ther is and impostume vvhich can not be cured till it be lanched The hatred and remembranc of 1588. Manet alta mente repostum It is trew Hinc illae lachrimae But let vs be indifferent look vpon the wrongs doone to them aswel as ther attemps for reueng And vnpartially consider who gaue the cawse and forced them to taik armes The Moonie intercepted which the king had sent to the Duke of Alua the Assistanc of the princ of Oreng by Gilbert Morgan and others ther seconds the first voiage of Syr Frances Drake the inuasion and sacking of S. Domingo the protection of Holland by the Earl of Leicester the infinite depredations and letters of mart to the wnspeakable dammage of Speyne the Philippicae and inuectiues in euerie pulpit ballets and libels in euerie press against king Philip wear such prouocations as flesh and blood nay crovvnes and scepters could hardlie disgest I speak nothing of the Portingal vorage of the surprize of Cales nor of the Iland viage and can anie vvise man imagin that the king of Spayn vvas not sensible of such indignities vvas it not probable that he vvould send a futie to Kinsale to reuenge that Yet for all this hostilitie vvhen his maiestie cam to the crovvne how frendly and quicklie ded the king of Spayne alter his course and send the high Constable of Castil as the doue owt of the Ark to see yf the flood of mallice vvear fallen and vvith an Oliue brainch in his hand to seak for peace to maik an Amnestia and perpetual obliuion of all vnkyndnes past to couer all offences to burie all quarrels and to reconcile the two crovvnes and the subiects thereofs And surelie Cursed vvil he be vvho shal seak to violate that peace and vnder the coolor of religion to banish peace and Charitie the badges of religiō a malicions Cayn he is that maiks all contentions perpetuall and searsehe can he be holden loyal that remēbreth onelie the sudes and quarrels vvith Scotland and not what and how dear wnto vs it is now and so should be euer embraced and esteamed Furthermore the Crovvn of England shal hearby be thus more beautified and magnified But staye My pen shall intrude no further into the secret Cabbienet of counsel wthowrt warrant Bycause I kow not whether it be agreable to the kings pleasure or whether it be sit to be discoursed and speciallie bycause I hold it impossible forme to satisfie so profovvnd a Iudg vvithovvthis ovvn instructions and directions For I consider vvel hovv vnsearchable the secrets of princes art vvhich lie oft in abisso and ar too deape to be sovvnded by euerie shallow discourser And I remember also both what praying and preaching vvas vsed against the match of Quene Elizabeth vvith Monsieur in the like case and for feare of alteration and afterclaps and yet some vvho ded then most impugn it vnder pretenc of religion ded in dead least of all other counsellors regard religion Syr Philip Sydnie like a noble and vvourthie courtier laboured by a short treatise to present to her Maiesties iudgment the
vntfitnes disproportion and inconuenience of that match bothe to her self and the realme but he ded it priuatelie and with discreat circum spection Stubs like a professor of an vnseasoned zeal took the question in hand and as a punishment of his presumption for feited his hand for that being rather published to incense and corrupt the people then to aduise and inform the Quene And tho some of the greatest and vvisest consellors ded earnestlie sollicit and seake to further the match bycause it vvas like both to vnithe the kingdome of france to England and was sure that the possession of the Netherlands wold also be offred vnto thē by the prince of Oreng and the states whearby England was like to be a most potent Monarchie yet was the whole bodie of the kingdom cast into much distemper onelie which bare conceapts and iealosies Some vpon partialitie and faction some for distrust of the practises of France some for ther own or ther frends sinister ends and ambition as Iam perswaded euen in this case ther ar men posseded with the same diseases and humors And yf I ded not wel know the nature of the multitude a beast of manie heads and mad braynes I should wonder how they durst oppose the desseins of a king of that experienc and iudgment who haith managed this busienes with so great warienes caution and prudence that this great Coniunction can portend no other effect then honor confort and prosperitie He is the sittest to iudg of his own cawse and his own cavvse being the Commonwelths cawse yf anie priuate Man should arrogate to hym self either more vvisedome to controll his proceding or an opinion of more affection to the state or more prouidenc to foresee and preuent daingers therby I see not which waye he can avoyde not to fall into the custodia of the court of wards till he come to hym self again But to leaue this matter as a deliberatiue which requireth a Crassus or Antonius I will come to that which gaue the occasion of this treatise Ther met at a merchants howse in London The occasion of this ●●ea I se wheare merchants for ther table and hospitalitie beare worthilie the bell aboue all merchants in Europe diuers persons of excellent qualitie met there in a garden before dinner T. Aldreds letter the pamphlet aforesayd and some strainge rumors and seditious practises from Amsterdam being perused examined and discussed A fyne Chaplain to a great person and one of the merchants acquanitance cam into the companie and hearing but a litl of this discourse which at that tyme vvas the subiect of all tabletalk with much The ministers or ation vehemencie he ded affirm this match to be like to bread great incombrance and mischeafe to the kindome bothe ni regard of the encrease 1. Of Catholiques in the Realme and in respect of Spayne which he ignorantlie called an ancient enemie 2. Whearupon he took occasion to rage and raile bitterlie against the church of Roome as the Seminarie of all commotions in Europe and the Contriuer and plotter of all treason in England 3. And bycause he vvould shovv his Rhetorick in the ruff and omit nothing which might exasperate the companie against the Catholicks he alledged in thunder and vehemencie the death of king Edvvard and that sillielie the manie conspiracies against Quene Elizabeth and speciallie that horrible proiect of the Gunpovvder treason by a fevv priuate hotespurres vvhich in iustice is rather to be buried vvith the offendors then obiected and imputed to innocent men vvho generallie vvith great sorrow abhorr the memorie of it 4. Besides he vrged that princes be bothe disquieted and endaingered by the excommunicats ans and bulls of popes by the Catechismes and doctrine of the Iesuits And that the subiects of England ar withdrawen by them from ther obedienc to ther prince and ar so full of treacheries and disloyalte as no nation can be paralleled with them 5. Yow may think also that he forget not to arm hym self vvith the authoritie of D. Murtons censure for vvhich I think he ded not studie much VVe may novv asvvel expect a vvhyte Aethiopian as a loyal subiect of that religion He produced a book entituled A discouerie of Romish doctrine in the case of conspiracie and Treason Whearin the Author playeth his maister prize against the professors of the Catholick religion vvith an Hyperbole of criminal accusations and scandalous imputations able to driue men into dispayre of the kings grace vnto them and to bread in his maiesties Royal hart a diffidenc of them 6. He vrged parson vvhytes vndiscreat vntruth and vncharitabl sentenc that all ther religion is full of doctrine whence procead monsters of Conspiracies against the state and that they teach men to murther the king and blovv vp the parliement And that since Bells tyme ther was never such a raue nous Idol as the preasts and seminaries 7. He ded not omit the like allegation owt of Ormerode the picturemaker who vpon erroneous misconceauing condemned that singuler and renoumed Doctor Allen for affirming that princes might be slayne by ther subiects by the 25. Numeri 8. And so he concluded all with that Rhetoritall sentenc of monsieur Lewes baylie in his book of the practise of Pietie pag. 783. vvhich he produced with such ostentation as if it wear able to cast all the learned societie of the fathers into a fitt of a quartane Iesuits and preasts saith he ar sent to vvithdravv subiects from ther allegiance to mooue inuasion and to kill king● yf they be Saints vvho be Scithians VVho ar Canibals yf they be Catholicks Which conclusion for the art and the witt worthilie deserueth both a praemium and a Plaudue s●c pueri crepundia gestant After this delicate oration they went to dinner and presentlie after dinner the minister departed in great haist Therupon all the companie vehementlie desyred one gentlman of ther companie who ded well vnderstand the world and was a freeman not obliged to anie religious orders but as films Ecclesiae to deliuer his opinion of the ministers Inuectiue Which he was at last contented at ther importunitie and for the satisfaction of ther Conscienc to vndertaike and which with his license and information I taik vpon me as his Amanu●n●●s and secretarie to set downe and deliuer the same to yow After a long pavvse quoth he lodius The trevv state of the Qu●stion accusat Machos Catalma Cethegum Is not this ridiculus who can endure to heare a Grace hus complain against sedicion I perceaue by the premisses that the protestants set this down as a Decree against Catholiks and labor to imprint that in the harts of the people as a perpetual scandal and stayne That the Catholik religion and doctrine is daingerous and preiudicial to the safetie of kingdomes and an enemie to Sooueraintie and so they censure it as neither allovvable not tollerable in a vvel gouerned monarchie Now this being a matter of
so great importanc as it is in dead to be esteamed for Querelam Eccles●ae quilibet Catholicus facit suam I will endeauor therfor to fift owt the truthe and vvhat is therin to be holden for an infallible conclusion aswel to instifie them as to resolue my self in that poynte which haith mayd manie good and vertuous men in Englād to stagger much And that I may not wander in my discourse nor leaue yovv in a laborinthe I wil set dovvne the trevv state of the quaestion to be argued as they propownd it 1. First vvhether to be a Catholick vvho professeth devv reuerence to the church of Roome and to be a trevv subiect to his Prince and Contrie be incompatible or no 2. Secondlie yf they be incompatible vvhether that incompatibilitie be generallie in all states or but in some particular states and kingdomes vvhether originallie and euer or but at some tymes onely and Whether simpliciter as malum in se or acciden tally onelie as malum prohibitum vpon consideratio of particuler circumstances and enacted by particular statutes and lawes vpon occasion 3. And Lastlie VVhether I uteranism and Caluinism be not more incompatible with loyaltie more opposite and almost contradictorie and that ab origine ffor the better deciding and manifestation of these high poynts I wil maik my first discourse vpon the last Quaestion and wil examin whether the factions and tumults vvhich haue filled all the kingdomes of Europe with blood and Calamitie these hundred yearres haue sprung from the opinions practises and procurement of the Catholiks as an inseperable propertie alwaies to them or ells rather was this mischeafe and the egg of this Cockatrice layd first at wittenbergh for the which they worthilie of late celebrated ther Iubilee hatched at Smalcald and fostered and Nourished at Geneua And this poynt I will argue not as a deuine for I vvill not arrogate so much to my self but historicallie sincearlie and legallie as one that desyres to defend the loyaltie of religious and innocent men rather then ther opinions and assertions vvhich they can best mantaine them selfs and vvhich so manie ages haue embraced with dew reuerence and that plainlie and vvith integritie and truthe vvhich is euer best graced vvith her ovvn beautie and neads no paynting and coolers In the yeare of our lard 1514. The whole estate of the church enioyed peace and The peace of the Church 1514 ther ancient priuiledges all princes vvith great deuotion vvear nurcing fathers and protectors thereof No storm ded shake it no schisme ded break the vnitie ther vvas harmonie and good correspondenc for matters of religion and faithe betwan the church of Roome and the princes and common welths of all Christendome and till that tyme thorough ovvt all Europe speciallie in England from S. Augustines comming hither this quaestion was never mayd nor proposed either in the schooles or courts of common lavve Anno 1515 Martin Luther an Augustin Luther Friar a man of a turbulent spirit learned and yet no famous Clark vvas the first that broke this long and setled peace vvho hauing interposed hym self in that fatall busienes of the Indulgences sent by Pope Leo the tenth into Germanie not properlie appertainning to hym but as a proctor for the order he begonn first to inuaigh against the iniurie do one to his fraternitie His reuolt against the abuses and couetousnes of the collectors and against ther authoritie which ded nominate them and required such a leuie of mooine in that nature This was a popular and plausible introduction to vvin the vulgar sort vvho can not endure the pressure of extraordinarie contributions and alwaies hate the rapine of such collectors And therfor he quiklie fownd manie fauores but much more when he began to exclaym against the ambition of prelats the riot and disorders of religious men taxing some for tytannie some for auarice some for idlenes and ignoranc and all for corruption and abuses Thus he stood in armes and as a challenger for a fow yearres onelie against the defects of the cleargie and with owt much dainger for diuers good men conceaued at first that he had onelie intended and sought reformation of disorders renouation of discipline punishment of irregularitie and amendement of lyfe And that not with owt somme cawse tho withowt good arder For S. Hildegardis had foretould a storme to the church for ther sinnes Sauonarola a Dominican had wakened Italie vvith prediction of terror friar Thomas of Guien prophecied a vae vae a scourge a desolation to Bourdeaux an inundation of miserie to France and the vvorld So then after that Luther ded fynd populo placere quas fecisset fabulas as noueltie is euer at first wel entertained in the world and that the people applauded his actions and desseins and that manie of the best wits speciallie those that wear bred and framed in Erasmus his school wear inclined to second hym and perceauing also that some of the greatest Princ●s in Germaine ded geue hym both hearing and harting in his proceadings The vayne glorie thereof raised the ambitious conceipt of hym self manie straynes hygher then he vvas in dead all men encooraging hym who whear ticled with new fancies and conceipts which syde alwaies carrieth most voyces for natures most affected to leuitie and chainge ar best pleased with innouations Therupon as a man sick in his spirits and of a fierie disease he begonn to raue and defame all church gouernement He abondaned his cloyster cast of his habit and renounced all obedienc to his superiors For now he preacheth against the His seditions doctrine vvhole cleargie against the tyrannie and superioritie of the Bushop of Roome whose authoritie in matters ecclesiastical vvas then generallie holden for sacred perswading the people not to render anie obedienc to them The Pope he tearmed Sathanissimum papam messer Asino the Prelates he called blind guides the religious Porcos and candles set vndet a bushel thus seaking non purgare abusus sed tollere ordinem Triticum cum Zizanio euellere studebat And vvhy ded he preach such homelies to the people Bycause so should they sayd he stil liue in darknes and in the shadow of death with owt the light of the gospel and be fed and missed by ignorant guides and drie nurces and stil remain in Aegipt the hovvse of bondage and in the captiuitie of Babilon This Prologue mayd attentiue auditors by a fayre shovve and promise of great matters then he begon the Tragedie acted with incredible sedition and insolencie His whole studie was now to demolish the walls of the church and abolish all ecclesiastical orders and so by participation to shake the verrie foundations of the state In this humor he fed hym self with great hopes to conquer the world with the sword of the spirit and to subdew the Pope whome he was the first that affirmed to be absolutelie Antichrist the man of perdition and insignis praestigiator And the
then he would read a lecture more Nay to conclude his fidus Achates Philip Melancton in his book called Didimus saith Equidem sapient em virum iudico fuisse vviclesum Anglum qui omnium primus quod ego sciam vidit vnmersitates fuisse Sathanae Synagegas And this I wonder maister Philip Wold so generallie affirme and aprooue vviclefs error that vniuersities arr the Synagogue of satan being so skilfull an artist hym self But at the beginning they wear all vncertan what to mantain for sownd and trew doctrine and aboue all Melancthon was euer an Academick and never long cōstante and that yow may see by this that libro ad waldenses he recanted that opinion and reuoked his error vvhich Carolostade never ded So as yow may perceaue that at therfirst rising and preaching reformation the spirit had not in manie yeares fullie illuminated ther vnder standing nor directed ther iudgment with full perfection as he ded the prophets and the apostles and S. Paul Hearby it appeareth that at threblowes Luther laboured to cut down the thre great Cedars of the empyre The Cleargic The Canon ●avves and the vniuersities For vvith ovvt vniuersities the cleargie covvld not be in structed nor with owt Lawes be gouerned and so being necessarilie chayned together he could not break the link with owt subuerting all for he ded not seak a reformation of them but a totall extirpation and destruction as appeared by the Bushopricks And this I dare affirme that all the Hundred His behaviour to Caesar and the Princes Grauamina Germanie presented to the Emperor Charles at Norembergh ded not containes articles of that dainger greauances of that loss and such an oppression of the state as the se thre had beane And yet a greater mischeafe follovves For novv I vvill lay dovvn his positions of state and declare to the vvorld a prodigious inciuilitie and his arrogancie disobedienc and presumption tovvards the Emperor and the Princes of Germanie Desiryng your patienc that I may but a litl digress to maik his spirit more plainlie appeare in his likenes and hovv immodestlie and vnreuerentlie he ded esteame Regiam Maiestatem by the exampl of his vsage of king Of k. H. 8. Henry the VIII of England libro cont●a Regem Angliae He calls king Henry in his preface An enuious madd fool ful of Dastardie and with owt one vaine of princelie blood in his bodie After that he saith He is a Basilisk to vvhome I den●unc damnation And pag. 335. This glorious king lyeth stowtlie like a king Note his moralitie for which he is famous And again he is a lijng Scurra couered vvith the title of a king and a chosen vessel of the Deuel And pag. 338. Thou art no more a king but a sacrilegious theaf And most sloouenlie and like hymself pag. 333. Ius mihi erit Maiestatem tuam stercore conspergere c. I am ashamed to procead I wil omitt infinite and these ar too manie vvhich it wear incredible to haue bean vttered by the Elias of Almaing but that both his own books ar extant and S. Thomas Moor the most famous Chancelor of England recapitulates them with a nomber more in his lattin vvork against Luther printed at Loouain 1566. And these places I haue selected and cited not onelie bycause they touched Henry the eight as he vvas a king and at that tyme one of the most mightie and Renoumed Princes in Europe but bycause also therby yow might discouer the modestie and Holie disposition of Doctor Martin and how like a man he was to preach and persuade obediēc to magistrates Novv note how he ded behaue hym self to the princes of the Empyre and whether he ded geue to Caesar his soueraine lord that which is Dew to Caesar It is worthie the obseruation to see his religious and ciuil respect of an emperor Libro contra duo mandata Casaris he vvrites Turpe quidem est Casarem ac Principes manifestis agere mendacijs It is a shame for Caesar and the Princes to lye so palpablie and in the same book and with the same spirit saith he Deus mihi dedu negotium non cum hominibus ratione praeditis sed Germanicae bestiae debent me occidere Meaning that the Princes the Sauages and beasts of Germanie should murder hym But he showes therin yet more gall and bitternes Oro cunctos pios Chrisitanos dignentur simul rogare Deum pro eiusmods ex●aecatis Principibus quibus nos ma no trae su● furore corripuit ne vl●o pacto eos s●quamur vel in militiam ire vel dare aliquid contra Turcas quod●quid●n Turca decies prudentior probiorque quam sunt Principes nostri quid ●alibus fa●●●s contra Turcam prospere euen●at qui Deum tam al●etentant blasphemant Was this but a Peccadilio Caesar and the Princes to be censured with such scandalous comparisons and reproches but this is not all in libro artic 500. in articulo 367. Quid ergo boni in rebus diumis vel decernant vel constituant tyranni tam impij prophant Before they wear fooles novv he ma●ks them tyrants and then he goeth a degree higher still For libro de seculari potestate he deliuers his opinion of all princes and kings in general and how they ar to be esteamed Sc●re debes quod ab initio mundi raris●ma auis est prudens princeps ac multo rarior probus sunt communiter maximè faiui nequis●imi nebulones in t●rra And there also bycause his good meaning might more perspicuouslie appear he interprets hym self planilie Quis nes●●t Principes esse carnem Ferinam in Caelo As yf it wear as great a dayntie as vennieson to Head of y church see that a prince should be saued And in his book de belio contra Turcas Casarem negat esse Caput reipublicae Christiana defensorem fidei ac Eu●ngelij oportere sanè Ecclesam habere al●um defer sorem quam sunt Imperatores Reges And mark his reason Eos namque esse pe●imes hos es Christianismi fidei the which concludes my assertion for he mantains doctrine opposite to all king and contemneth government And as yf he would Vnking and depose them he dothe encoorage the people to dravv ther swords against all crowns and scepters Therfor lo. 1. contra Rus●icos he sendeth this greating to the princes Sciatis boni ●omini Deum s●c procurare quod subditi nec po●su●t nec debent nec volunt ty●anniden● vestram ferre diutius Mark that debent as a good encooragement to the Bowers Who can mantaine such Paradoxes or that they proceaded from the spirit of a prophet of God can anie Lutheran iustifie these wild propositiōs or coolor them with tolerabl glosses Ded euer anie prophets Apostles or Martyes vse such a barbarous libertie of speach against Nero Dioclesian Iulian tho the greatest persequutors Ded Elias rage so madlie against Achab and Iesabel S. Paul gaue hym a
least the Emperor should either preuent or circumvent them they prepared to come into the feald with a mightie armie whearof the yong Duke of Saxonie Iohn Frederick his father being dead and the Lansgraue wear ganeralls vvho resolued by armes to fynd right or to maik right The Duke of Wirtemberg assisted them The Imperiall towns Auspurgh Vlm Strasburgh and Frankfort sent them ayd The Count Palatine leuied two hundred horse for them but wiselier reuoked them being on the vvaye the Duke of Brunsvvig and his sonnes the Duke of Lunenburgh the yong Marques of Baden the Princ D'Anhald the Counts of Furstenbergh and Mansfeald ioyned vvith them in person and povver So as the armie contayned abovvt threskore and ten thovvsant men vvheareof ther vvas 7700. horse and 112. Cannons and feald peaces vvith infinite prouision and almost the hope of an assured victorie The eyes of all princes vvear fixed vpon this action and all Germanie trembled expecting the event and success of this great armie prepared to svvallovv vp the Emperor vvho had onelie king Ferdinand the Duke of Bauier and the Duke of Cleaue assured to hym for tho Duke Maurice ded follow the Emperor yet was he sonn in law to the Landsgraue and might be suspected also for his religion I will not tell yow a tedious tale and impertinent the event was this The emperor for all this huge preparation became maister of the feald and Conqueror the tvvo generalls a rare accident vvear bothe taken prisoners and ther armie defeated The Duk of Saxonie an honorable man and much pittied had his lyfe giuen and conniuenc for his religion but his impregnable fort of Gotha vvas Demolished Ne● and the electorate and the lands therto belonging wear bestowed by the Emperor vpon Duke Morrice The like mercie for his leyfe was showed to the Landsgraue The Duke of Wittenbergh for two hundred thovvsand Duckets and the Imperial townes vpon ther petition and submission by the mediation of Angels and Duckets sollicited and mayd ther peace with the Emperor And so by the prouidenc of God and prosperitie of Cesar the Empyre was preserued and keapt in statu quo prius and the Electores Ecclesiasticall and Prelates wear still continued and ther dignities mantained Tho by all probabilities it may well be coniectured that as these great princes had in ther own prouincies extinguished and buried the title state and Iurisdiction of Bushops so yf they had wonn the glorie of the daye and had bean conquerors they vvold haue vsed the same deformation in all the empyre Yf yovv ask hovv this vvarr of the That this vvar vvas vulavv full Princes ded concern Luther of Lutheranisme Or hovv he or his religion vvear to be condemned as the motiues of that Or whether the Actors them selfs could be iustlie accused for that rebellion I must ansvver that Greathes and Innouation never vvanted patrons to defend them not vvitt to coolor ther falts D. Bilson in his book of the difference 1. D Bilsons opinion betwean Christian subiectiō an vnchristian rebellion to palliat the falt and excuse both Luther and the Confaederats affirmeth that the lawyers of Germanie but he nameth none in particular ded permit Resistance coninglie insinwating that the Lawes ded permitt and tollerate the protestants to resist And secondlie that the States of Germanie wear not absolutelie subiect to the Emperor but Conditionallie And therfor he concludes with a quare why should not the states of Germanie enioye the same liberties and securitie ther forefathers ded and so he concludes that wheareof no man mayd quaestion and is nothing to the matter in question The Deuines of Magdeburg held 2. Osi●●der Centur 16. this opinion That yf the magistrate passe the bownds of his authoritie and commād things wicked and vnlaw full he may well be resisted and not obeyed And Sleydan l. 19. fol. 263. saith vve 3. may resist Caesar vvith good conscience intending a destruction bothe of religion and libertie But Philip Melancthon lib. Consil 4. Euangelic parte 1. pag. 314. confidentlie enableth the inferior magistrate to alter religion and ouerthrow Idolatrie And so they conclude this warr was lawfull and allowable both by gods lavv and mans se defendendo Hear is a harmonie of fovvre parts and yet all to mantain Discords and impugn the magistrates authoritie and they containe the substāc of the reasons alledged by the Duke and the Landsgraue both vvhen the league vvas first mayd at Smalcald and aftervvard vvhen they proclaimed vvar against the Emperor Novv yf yovv examin vvel these seuerall Doctors opinions yow shall fynd therby that it must first be prooued 1. That Caesar passed the bownds of his authoritie or els it is playne they passed theirs 2. Secondlie that he commanded things wicked and vngodlie and against gods commandement Thirdlie that he went abowt to Destroye trew religion and ther libertie and all these must be doon before it be lawfull to taik armes and resisthym for to resist onelie is ther pretence I wil first demand of them this quaestion When Caesar or the supreme magistrate commandeth anie thing to be doone which is not apparentlie against the lawes of the Empyre then in force who is to be Censor whether Caesar passeth the bownds of his authoritie and whether the things he commandeth be impious ar no They answer he ded absolutelie seak to ouerthrow ther liberties and trew religion scilicet Lutheranism which is fownded vpon the trew preaching of the word and administration of the sacraments This surelie is not a sufficient answer ad idem and to my question and yet I may replie that it is and haith bean an old and vsual stratagem of Satan to oppose religion against religion that so he might bring in Atheisme and leaue vs no religion Besides they maik that ther principal argument the presumption of the● trew religion whearof Caesar at wormes mayd the greatest quaestion and so they infer ignotum per ignotius Add therfor to this that they when they ded presume to establish a nevv religion ded passe them selfs the bownds of ther authoritie The world might iudge Caesar a verrie simpl Prince yf he wowld either haue changed his religion or tollerated theirs vpon the bare credit of Luthers priuate spirit and opinion or vpon the protestation of the Confaederates For think yow them cōpetent Iudges of the Cleargie or to decyde what should be receaued in the Empyre for trew religion Can religion lavvfullie and orderlie be changed by temporal magistrates onelie and vvhen neither a general counsel nor a national councel hath decreed it nor anie Imperial Dyet haith established it May euer●ie elector or prince frame for his prouinc by law a religion of a nevv Cutt withowt the consent of the Emperor and the states Geue me an instanc show a president when anie such innouation was mayd in the Empyre withovvt an Imperial Dyet or els as ther taking armes was withowt Iustice so ther
quarrelis withovvt lavvfull grovvnd Further more vvas it lavvfull for the Confaederates to coyne a nevv religiō and taik armes for the defenc of that and vvas it not more lavvfull for the Emperor to fedenc the old receaued religion and to reform them The Rustiks took armes vpon the same pretenc for religion and libertie and yet the Confaederates vvith ther ovvn forces and vvith great iustice and honor ded subdevv the Bovvers Why then might not Caesar compell the leaguers to exercise the religion established vvith a Quousquè and to obey the lavves not a brogated and keap the peac of the common vvelth vvithovvt disturbance For the degree and dignitie of the persons doth not maik the same case different But they obiect that Caesar intended and plotted to Destroye them and ther liberties for religion and ther for they vvear forced to taik armes Weigh this vvell and yovv shal see it vvanteth vveight It vvas surelie inexcusable for Defendants to leuie and lead an armie into the feald against Caesar vvho vvas not in the feald against them nor had anie forces readie a long tyme after They marched to beseag the Emperor and ded Driue hym to fortifie hym self and come into the feald vvith a handfull of men and then vvith great furie set vpon his camp vvho had much a doe to Defend hym self far from offending them But the Emperor saith D. Bilson is not to be obeyed by the states which absolute obedienc for they ar his subiects but ex conditione So then he maketh Caesar Emperor but ex conditione And yf maister Bilson meaneth therby to charge Caesar as the Hollanders ded the king of Spayne with the oath taken at his coronation to obserue ther lawes and defend ther liberties and so taik that for a condition the like oath is taken by all kings and princes Successiue as wel as Electiue And yf yovv haue deuised a trick to vnking them when yow think they performe not punctuallie each article of ther oaths surelie yow then may be iustlie tearmed a most learned doctor to maik nullities And yet I think yf anie man preach this doctrine at Powles Crosle he haith great luck yf he answer not for it at Towre hill But I wil leaue skirmishes and come to the maine poynt It may iustlie be affirmed that Caesar ded obserue the lavve and that the leaguers ded violate both the lavves and liberties of Germanie For what prince so euer stands rectus in Curia and haithe the ancient lawes to back and warrant hym must neads be iudged to hold a better and lawfull plea then subiects armed against ther prince with priuat opinions onelie nouelties and an Alchoran of ther own making But at that tyme by lawe Caesar was bownd rather to banish and extirpate Lutheranisme then to tollerate the same for yt is manifest that he was obliged by the oath at his Coronation expresslie and particularlie to defend the Pope the Catholick Church and the religion thereof This is a matter of fact and can not be contradicted as yowr own Coldastus knovveth and acknowledgeth Neither was yt a new oath for the same in effect was taken by Carolus 4. Otho 3 Otho 1. and Carolus Magnus which is a praescription for tyme good enough and for reason vndisputable And the like profession yow shall fynd to be mayd by the ancient reuerend Emperors Iustinian Theodosius Gratian and others bothe in the Code and Nouel constitutions So then how could the Emperor either mantain or suffer anie other religion as authentical then that vvhich he fovvnd established in the Empyre allovved by all his predecessors warranted by so manie councels continued so manie generations racified by the diets and confirmed by his own oath Yet bycause D. Bilson averreth that it was cōsonant to the opinion of the lawyers of Germanie examin whether the Duke of Saxonie and the Landsgraue when they wear taken prisoners vsed anie such argument for ther excuse No Syrabsolutelie they submitted them selfs and craued his pardon at whose pleasure they wear to stand or fall to die or liue There ill case could not maik a good cawse ill but ther ill cawse mayd ther case ill and stand in nead of commiseration And what a ridiculous reason had it bean for them to haue pleaded that it was lawfull for subiects by the svvord to defend ther religion For yf it wear lawfull for the elector of Saxonie to taik armes of defenc of Luthe ranisme bycause he was persuaded ther was no other veritie no other religion infallible but Luthers why might not the Count Palatine with the same pretext taike armes for Caluinism and a Halbeistat for Epicurisme and a Muncer for Anabaptisme And so by an Anarchie vnder coolor of ther liberties and the prerogatine of conscience rend in peaces the Empyre and open the ports of Germanie to let in the Turck But to stopp the mouthes of school learned ignorance I will discouer and laye Down the fowndation of this great quarrel and the legall order and reason of Caesars procreading Anno 1521. The Emperor hauing conferred personallie with Luther at wormes and owt of his speciall grace and benignitie hauing required the Archbushop of Trier and the Elector of Brandenburgh to treat with hym and perswade Luther to conformitie and peace and perceauing his obstinacie and insolencie refusing to submitt hym self and finding that all his course his books and his sermons ded tend to sedition he mayd a Decree with the generall consent of the states not to put hym to death such was his mercie but to banish hym owt of the empyre wheatin he showed More lenitie then prouidenc In which So God●astus and Cocleus decree after that at large he had set Down the cawses and reasons of the act he concludes thus Mandates de corumdem statuum consensu sub crimmelesae Majestatis ac omissionis feudorum dommiorum bonorum priuilegiorum a nobis ac sacro Imperio dependentium ac proscriptionis Banni c. Ne quis vestrum prefatum M. Lutherum recipere sustentare praesumat vt libros suos seditioso● ac haereticos comburatis c. And this edict vvas directed to the Electors Princes townes and states Now can yow imagin that the Duke of Saxonie or the Landsgraue wear exempted from this edict or that the Emperor by vertue thereof had not as full power to call them to ansvver for ther contempts as anie inferior persons Doe yovv taik the Princes electors to be such Ephori or transcendents that they may bridle and curb the Emperor in the execution of Iustice as yf the Emperor wear but a shadow in Germanie titulus sine re and as yf imperium in imperio quaerendum esset which by Bodines leaue I will maik appear to be an error But after this Decree the Duke of Saxonie ded harbor Luther at Alstat a town of his ovvn in Turingia which Luther called his Pathmos whear he composed manie reuelations and misteries
an extent of Dominion 4. And to maik this bad proposition seame good cap 5. v. 25. Kings saith he forget they ar men that is of the same mould that others arr They ar called kings and Dukes Dei gratia To vvhat end serue these vvords to shovv by ther title that they acknovvledg no superior And yet vvill they tread vpon God vvith ther feate vnder that cloke So it is but an abuse and disguisement vvhen they vaunt that they raign Dei gratia Is not this excellent doctrine to be preached in a Monarchie and a fyne Deskant vpon Deigratia Yet he goeth an further c. 5. v. 21. Kings maik ther boast that they raign Deigratia yet they dispise the Maiestie of God Voila quelle est la rage forcenerie de tous Rois. Hear is no exception but a generall accusation and to maik that good he addeth this strenth to it It is common and ordinaire to all kings to exclude God from the government of the vvorld Consider wel that Caluin writt this not as a Politician but as a Deuine and in his prime and maister peace his institutions he deliuers these daingerous positions in his sermon to the people and in his readings vpon Daniel not in priuat discourses and as matters of discipline and doct●ine to be generallie beleaued and so making a course against Nabugad nezzar he run the wild goose chace against all kings and that rather owt of pleā then owt of his text For to what end and pupose tend these speaches so scandalous and derogatoire to princes certanlie to disgrace scepters and sooueraines both for follie and impietie And bycause yovv shall see hovv vvell Caluin and Luther doe symbolise in this poynt that they speak one language and both weare like coolors and the same fashion I will deliuer vnto yow how Luthers opinion of thes poynts agreeth with Caluins These knaues of the nobilitie tyrants tom 7. fol. 441. Nebulones isti ex nobilitate tyranni c. qui inducunt animum ideo Deum nobis euangelium dedisse eosque ex carcere ponti●icio expediuisse vt possent ipsi auaritiae suae litare And in epistolis fol. 350. Principem esse non ex aliqua parte latronem esse aut non aut vix possibile est a Prince can not be but a robber and oppressor tom 3. fol. 325. Non est Principis esse Christianum paucos esse Christianos oportet And tom 6. fol. 143. in psalm 101. Mirum non est seculares Reges Dei hostes esse eiusque verbum hostiliter persequi Hoc ●psis à natura est insitum haec eorum proprietas whear it is vvorthie to be obserued Nota. vvhat an Antipathia ther is betvvean Royaltie and religion by Luthers rules and so betwean Lutheranisme and loyaltie by as good consequenc vvhich is the mayn quaestion But procead tom 3. latin fol 459 in psal 45. Aulae principum verè possunt dici sedes thronus diaboli vbi tot sunt diaboli quot ferè aulici For such as the king is such is the court like to be and yf the courts be the thrones kings must be the Deuels Tom. 2. fol 81. De seculari magistratu Principes flagitiosissiminebulones The reason he giueth is this Sunt enim Dei lictore● carnifices quibus ira diuina ad puniendos improbos ad conseruandam externam pacem vtisolet fol. 190. Nullum nequè tus nequè fidem nequè veritatem apud principes seculares reperiri licet And then yf kings and princes haue neither honestie truthe nor Iustice Quid ego principes doceam huiusmodi porcis scribam vvhy should I vvrite and instruct such porck tom 3 fol. 149. Who can not discern hovv these tvvo holie men iumped in vnitie as led vvith the same spirit ay ming bot-at one end which is to noorish a deadlie feud in all mens mynds against kings and crownes that will not subscribe to ther superintendencie and Caluins Institutions And that yovv might more euidentlie discern that read c. 6. v. 25. vpon Daniel Saith he Darias by his exampl vvill condemn all those vvho at this day profess them selfs either Catholik kings or Christian kings or defendors of the faith and yet not onely they doe deface and burie altrevv pietie and religion but they corrup and depraue the vvhole vvorship of God Hear is in dead vvork for the Covvper not by a Marprelat but by a Mar prince The most Christian king must be again nevv Catechised and learn a new Christian Credo Hear is a new portraicture of a reformed Catholik dravven for the instruction of the most Catholik king and a nevv priuate spirit to direct the Catholik The defendor of the faith bycaus he erreth in his faith not hauing a sauing and iustifi●ng faith must haue a nevv faith created and inspiret into hym by this great Prophet And so by this nevv model all the old religion in the church and all the lavves in the state concerning it must be abolished Thus presumed Caluin to reform kings and government and to build a nevv ark to saue and preserue the vvorld from an inundation of impietie ignoranc and irreligion of vvhome I may trevvlie say plus quam regnare videtur cui ita liceat censuram agere regnantium But of this I shall more pertinentlie speak in the appendix In the interim Can a man sovv more seditious seads yf he vvould seak to Cantonize a kingdome into seuerall circles as they haue doon ther french church Yet shall yovv heare hym preach more like a Svvisser and Lutheranize vvith the proper spirit of Luther cap. 6. v. 3. 4 he toucheth kings to the quick and describes what kynd of beasts they ar at this tyme. Les Rois sont presque tous hebetez brutaux aussi semblablement sont-ils comme les cheuaux les asnes de bestes brutes And he giueth this reason bycause they honor and preferr most ther Bavvdes and ther vices What a seditious declamation is this against the title and maiestie of Gods anointed Mark the age and tyme when Caluin writ this book and note in that age what renoumed kings France had Lewes 12. Frances the 1. and Henry the 2. what maiestie wisedom and magnificenc wear in the emperor Maximilian and Charles vvhat state in Henry 8. of England what hope in Edward what vertue in Marie for Scotland Iames the 5. raigned and two such Maries as at worthie to be Canonized And for Castill and Portugal there kings never floorished more for government greatnes encreas of state discoueries of a new world peac and plentie Then what was his meaning to affirm that almost all kings wear so stupid and brutish Surelie to bread and noorish a contempt of hings and to induce the people that liue in free states to despise and hate them and conninglie to seduce them that liue in kingdomes to be sorie for ther yoke and seruitude to shake of ther fetters and purchase
direct all affayres for in France and England all authoritie depēds vpon the kings and yf they wear his consorts they wear not his inferiors What is the state but the authoritie of the Prince who onelie by his letters patents createth the pears disposeth all Offices giveth all honors receaueth all homages as the sole fountain from whenc springeth nobilitie and authoritie and he that either would restraine that sooveraintie or communicate it with others maketh no differenc of the Crovvn of a kinst and the la Beretta of the Duke of Venice Manie such like rules and positions haith he published fitt introduction for Anarchie and mutinies most of them false and all wicked vayles onelie to cover the face and name of treason that it might not appear in his proper and vglie shape I might heare trauel and wearye yow with as Good stuff owt of the book de iure Magistratus a bird of the same nest for if it wear not Bezas as manie think It vvas Ottomans his Camerado But I will leaue them bothe for they touch the string of sooveraintie with too rough a hand nay rather they straine to breack it when they teach so grosse treasons that the states ar aboue the king that the bodie is aboue the head a monstrous doctrine as yf anie man could with iudgment maik a quaestion whether the people should be directed and commanded by the maister or the man by the subiect or the soouerain by the Princ of Condie and the Admiral or by king Charles and king Philip had reason to cut of the head of the iustice of Aragō and to teach the people what was the trew meaning of nos qui podemos tanto come vos c. All which paradoxes it wear easie to refell but that I haue vndertaken onelie to discouer not to combate and encounter them and bycause they ar learnedlie and religiouslie confuted all readie by Barkla●e Bauricau and Blackwood Onelie by the waye I must informe yow that they deal politicklie and conninglie and professe not openlie and bluntlie to haue anie liking to chainge the state and depose or ouerrule kings But artificiallie they manage all First to bread a dislike of Monarchs then to show the inconvenienc to depend vpon the edicts of one man then may they much the better magnifie the authoritie of magistrates by whome they might reforme idolatrie and why the Creatures of a king suppresse the creator of ther power And yet be sure the Consistories and elders muh rule all and be iudges bothe of the cleargie lavves counsell and king They be the Rabbins that owt of ther Sanhedrim must govern both church and kingdome by the Oracles of Geneua I may not forget how vureuerentlie Eusebius Philadelphus Sc. Mr. T. Beza vsed king Charles in his book of Reueille matmattin whear vsuallie he calls the king Tyrant and maiks his Anagramme Chasscur des●oyal Read his rymes and scandalous reproches against the Q. moother-Peruse the 40. Articles recorded in that book for the better aduancing of seditious gouernment As art 25. that all cheafs and Generalls must obserue ther ecclesiastical discipline ordayned by the Synodes And art 40. they ar bownd neuer to disarme so long as religion is pursewed persecuted by the king he meaneth So much patienc haue these Saints that seaking to reforme all others can not reforme ther own affections But yf yow peruse the 14. and 15. art yow shall discern the brauerie of ther irregular passions intending therby onelie to ouerthrow the king and the familie of Valoys These wear the holie articles of Bearn 1574. coyned with his stampe and communicated at Millun to all ther Moschees that they might he more strōglie maik warr as they Sayd against ther enemies till it pleased God to turn the hart of the French tyrant Thus ad gustum populi principatus exigitur At the same tyme was framed and dispersed abroad the lyfe of Katharine de Medicis Francogallia the Toxsan of Massacreurs and the Legent of Lorraine For that honor the howse of Guise haith long had that no man professed hym self an enemie to the church but he was likewise at deadly seud with them Heare I might taik vp and stay yow no longer with the description of ther vertues and loyaltie but that I desyre to present vnto yovv vvhat opinion the graue and learned men of the church of England and others also of gread iudgment haue dad had of these Euangelists of Geneua 1. Doctor Sutclif in his ansvver to a libel supplicatorie p. 194. confesseth that the protestants of the french church taught for 30. yeares violent reformation of religion by the nobilitie people and priuate persōs 2. And in an other place Beza saith he in his book de iure Magistratus dothe arme the subiects against the Prince and he saith that book overthroweth in effect all the authoritie of Christian kings and Magistrates and for the book of Vindinciae contra tyrannos vvhich manie affirm to be Bezas or Ottomans It geues povver saith he to subiects not onelie to resist but to kill the Prince yf he impugn gods religion 3. The same is also averred by the late Archbush D. Bancroft in his book of the Suruay of discipline a man vvho exactlie had learned examined and obserued ther courses and positions and the great dainger grovving to the state by the ministers either Scotising or Geneuating for so he tearms them And the book of daingerous positions pag. 192. dothe demonstrate also the same To these I may add the iudgment of that famous Lawyer Frances Baldwin vvho had familiarlie conuersed vvith Caluin at Geneua in his book called Responsio altera ad Iohannem Calumum Paris 1562. pag. 74. Mirabar quorsum euaderet inflammatus tuus quidam apostolus Sc. m. Theodore qui cum hic concionaretur suis auditoribus commendabat vehementer extraordinarium illud exemplum Leuitarum sirictis gladijs per casira discurrentium obuios quosque idololatras trucidantium Sed nunc audio te vix contentum esse ●alibus Leu●is And pag. 128. I euiora saith he sunt illa cum statuis sepulchris ossibus principum ac martyrum barbarum bellum indictum videmus cum ciuitates occupari fana spoliari audimus c. But what nead I labour to prooue that Beza and his followers haue caused all these vproars and commotions in France when he hym serf Epistola 40. Christophero Thretio confesseth that they must fight it owt Ego quidem pacem nullam nisi debellatis hostibus ausim sperare Yf yow ask who wear these enemies he answers Cacolycorum castra trās Ligerim sunt Therby he means the Catholiks and the kings armie And a litl before ab eo tempore nostri copiss foelicis●ime instauratis Tolo●anum agrum infestarum Inde ad Rhodanum vsque progres●i occupatis aliquot passim oppidis arcibus in quibus praesidium reliquerunt So they spoyled the contrie disturbed the peace surprised the kings townes fortified and oppugned
Princes may be Deposed by the people yf they be tyrants against God and his truthe and ther subiects ar free from ther Oathes and obedienc And that yow may not think that onelie knox ded hold this opinion his fellovv Good man also in his book of obedienc sings the same note owt of Exod. 17. Toti populo saith he hoc onus incumbit vt animauertat in idolatram quemcunquè nemo excipitur siue Rex siue Regina siue Imperator This is his Homelie wherby he warranteth the people to punish anie Idolater be he king or Quene And how and by what order is that to be doone This is Gods commandement to the people vt in simili defectione rectores suos quia Deo ipsos abducunt a●fu●cas abripiant suspendan Yf the gouernors fall from God or with draw the people from the trevv vvorship of God they may worthilie draw ther kings and rulers to Tiburn and hang them vp Buchanan in his book de iure regni Scotiae is not behind them in such graue and wholesom counsels For he saith pag. 61. The people is aboue the king and of greater authoritie they haue right to bestovv the crovvn at ther pleasur they may arraign ther princes and depose them to them it appertaines to maik lavves and tho princes to execute them These be the Prouerbs of that Salomon of Scotland as provvd vvith the concept of his ovvn iudgment in these misteries as vvith his poetrie and ballets This was a man vvelchosen to instruct a prince but better to infect his auditors Yet is ther one aduise of knox vvhich is to be recorded with admiration fol 372. It vvear good that revvards vvear publicklie appointed by the peopl for such as kill tyrants as vvell as for those that kill vvolfs Novv they all accoumpt those kings tyrants who ar professors of the Catholick religion and so they know what to trust to yf the Knoxians can preuayle But yf yow will yet haue a litl patienc yow shal heare a most prophan dialogue of Buchanans whearin he neither shovveth diuinitie nor humanitie They hold saith he kings must be obeyed good or bad It is blasphemie so to say But God placeth oft euel kings to punish the people yea and so d●th he oft priuate men to kill them But 1. Timoth. vve ar commanded to pray for princes yea so vve ar also to pray for theau●s But Paul commands obedienc to kings yea Paul ded vvrite so in the infancie of the church but yf he liued novv he vvold say othervvise As yf this tyme ded affoord a more ripe and solide iudgment then S. Paul could apprehend It is most trew that great high-Soaring poeticall witts haue ordinarilie some taint and touch of frensie for other vvise he vvould never haue vvritten thus madlie vsteron proteron setting the Cart before the horse the people before the king confusion to overrule Order and Anarchie before a Monarchie Thus the people is armed to kill tyrants by ther doctrine but by what lavve for yf they doe it not by iustice and order it is an act of confusion and impietie Yea but the zeal of Gods truth and the light of the gospell be the sword of Gedeon and the armes of Iudith but who must draw and direct that svvord the people and euen against the king hym self what is Anarchie disloyaltie and sedition yf this be order and government To procead what nead I trovvble yow further see the book of daingerous positions who giueth this sentenc of them this nevv diuinitie saith he is not holden by knox and Buchanan alone but generallie for ought I can perceaue by most of the Cheaf Consistorians beyond the seas That is by Caluin and Beza and all ther brood who haue bean heartofore abowt 1570. so much reuerenced and esteamed in England that both the schooles and the pulpits ded magnifie them as Oracles of the Church for vvhose releaf and perseruation publick collections and prayers vvear mayd in the kindome And bycause yovv shall not err and coniecture that these books and opinions wear never approoued at Geneua remember the precedent discourse of the reformed churches in France and call to mynd that maister Whitingham in his preface to the book of obedienc testifieth that the same was allowed and commended by the cheafe deuines of that cittie 1. Geneua And Caluin hym self epist 305. to knox Doth applawd and encourage hym to procead And Bucchanans works ded passe as current in Scotland and cum priuilegio till long after the impression of them the king ded prohibit them to be printed or published So as yow may see it was not one Goodman nor one knox that taught and defended these impious paradoxes but the whole congregation of Puritans and not in one contrie but vniuersallie and not latelie or newlie but originallie and as ther peculiar and proper discipline Nay ther holie Geneua bibles prooue it to be so whear in ther notes vpon the 2. Chron. c. 15. § 16. they allow the Deposing of Quene Macha by her sonn king Asa for idolatrie and yet reprehend hym for want of zeal that he put her not to Death by fyre The like axiomes ar not allowed at Doway nor the like notes arr fownd in the Reames testament But all this though it be baed enough yet ther practise and the execution of ther decrees is vvorse The Bushop of Ross Leslaeus in the. 10. book of his storie Eo in quit knoxij prorupit audacia vt publicè pro concione nobiles perstrinxerit quod Iesabelem ex medio non sustulerunt Yet these weare but words now blowes follow He and thirtie of his compaine begon ther reformation of religion by surprising the castl of S. Andrews withowt warrant or commission and murdering the Cardinal Betun 1546. The Quene regent summoned hym to appeare and answer for these owtrages he refused it she proclaymed hym traytor he contemned it then she sought to apprehend and restrain hym but he sollicited the burgesses of S. Iohnston and Dundee to suppresse the frieries to pull down images and to overthrovv the Abbeis of Skone and S. Andrevvs vvhich they effected And yet they left not so for they keapt the feald two monthes they took the coyning irons into ther custodie and as commanders ded what they thought fitt for ther purpose withowt resistance And this ther furious disorder ded break the hart of that noble and religious Quene Regent But stay a litle I will relate vnto yow a 2. A parliemēt 1560. storie of the greatest and most disloyall Barbarism that euer vvas committed by Christians in anie nation In the yeare 1560. the Quene being in France by the instigation of knox they enacted this as a perpetual and fundamentall law of the state to abolish the Catholick religion and they decreed that whosoever defended the popes authoritie in Scotland should be banished and further they repealed all former acts of the ancient kings mayd to the contrarie But by
fyre laye couered and as dead vnder the Ashes till the tyme that the Baron of Brederode deliuered in his supplication to the Dutches with demands neither reasonable for them to ask nor safe for her to grant The furtherers of chaing of religion 1. In the mean tyme the Martinis encreased ane grevv strong in the contrie first by ther matches with Germās and Lutherans The Earl of Culenbergh married one Horn matched vvith the sister of Count Harman the Prince of Oreng by his moother vvas allied to Count Solmes and his vvyfe vvas sister to Morrice Duke of Saxonie and the Graue of Scherenberg maried his sister 2. Then Count Ludowick the Princes brother a soldier a man of a great spirit and a Lutheran vvas a powrfull instrument both to maik a partie and to back it 3. Besides Flaccius Illiricus whome they sent for from Germanie and other ministers dispersed in all corners ded incense the people much But after the quick siluer of Caluinisme was brought in the fyre ever after was vnquenchable Then ded the flame burst ovvt The people as in spight of all lawes begonn to mutine broke down the kings arms and grevv so vvild as in a rage they pulled dovvn image sacked the churches spoyled the monasteries and contemned all magistrates that soughr to appease the trovvbles So as the Duches of Parma fearing ther furie and distrusting ther violence determined to retyre yf she had not bean disvvaded and stayed by some of the nobles 4. And yet had she dailie more and greater cavvse of dislike and distrust by the priuate conuenticles preachings and insolencie of the people openlie now Lutheranising and speciallie by the manie secret meatings and assemblies of the nobilitie vvhearof she complayned much For she ded vvell consider that as the people could vvork no noble effects vvithovvt a head so the nobles vvanted forces and powre to compass ther desseins withowt the assistanc of the people who by ther inducements appeared now in ther own likenes and attempted that alteration they most desyred Heareof the Prince was the cheafe capten tho he playd least in sight and would never shovv ovvt-vvardlie to fauor anie chainge of religion for all that he ded practise he pretended to doe for the commonwelth and the general good He was assisted by the Marques of Barghen Montignie and Florenc Montmorancie Count Horn who was now grown a perfect malcontent not so much for religion as for his own perticular respects and occasions his debt the reiecting of his suit for the gournment of Zutphen and aboue all the execution of his brother Montigny in Spayn By meanes of these noble and populer persons diuers assemblies wear procured as the nurces that fostered the conspiracies First at Breda whether emong others Egmond was inuited who had the greatest power and swaye with all militarie men in that cont●ie and shortlie after as the fruict and effect of that Assemblie Brederode deliuered his petition to the Duches for the religions Vried Afterward they had meatings at S. Trudon at Hoocstrat and at Osterweal Whearby that noble Count Egmond was vndoon For at his arrainment he was charged with this article that he was priuie to the confaederation and agreement at these assemblies And furthermore that fatallie vpon the same daye that the petition was deliuered by Brederod to the Duches he Oreng and Horn cam to the great banquet at the Count Culenberghs hovvse in Brussels whear 300 of the confaederates wear and that they dined all together with them at which tyme the name of the Geuses was first giuen and mayd knowen and that afterward he sent his secretarie Backersele to offer his ayd to those of that crew and in dead he confessed hym self at Barr that he offred his assistanc to hinder the Duke of Alua his comming and empeach his passage and that he ded neither dislike nor dissvvade the proceading of the confaederates And of the same articles vvas Count Horn endited adding this further as a particuler charg to hym that he threatned to leuie 50. thowsand Men by violenc to reskew his brother and reduce hym home And vpon the proof of these accusations they weare both condemned as by all law by reason of state for exampls sake for the Regents safetie and the honor See Syr Roger VVilliams storie of iustice it was necessarie Albeyt it is certan that Count Egmond was conninglie circumvented by the Prince and drawen to his own confusion by plats and pollicie for which at his death he was repentant being a man of a playne magnanimous and noble disposition What Prince could endure such indignities The cause of reaucing the Spanyards and not seak both to preuent the like offences and to taik reueng of the offendors was it not high tyme to arme when the people contemned religion and gouernement and the nobler wear ther patterns when the citties wear in vproare and the whole frame of the Commonwelth was shaken had not the king reason to send Alua with his forces aswel to represse these present conspiracies as by the sword to subdew such rebellious spirits which could not be reduced by lenitie to obedienc Yow may see it vvas high tyme to encounter Oreng who had almost vndermined the gouernment as he had discooraged the gouernor And touching the companies conducted hither owt of Spayn against which the Prince had taught the contrie to repyne was it lawfull for the Prince to bring in the Reistres and for his brother Count Lodowick to bring in the frenchmen to inuade Heynault and was it not tollerable for the king to send his armie to defend his own inheritance vvas it lavvfull to surprise Mounts by force and vvas it not more lawfull to expel them by force and seing it could not be doon withowt force surelie yf the Duke of Alua had not bean so neare to encounter and bear dowen ther mallice the king by all probabilitie had lost his footing in the Netherlands And let no man dreame that yf the Duke had not comed at all the fyre had bean more easilie quenched and the people less prouoked to furie For these confaederations of so great persons ded portend the generation of some great monster and the manner of the birth and first appearanc of the Geuses by the encooragement of the gouernors of the state ded prognosticate a crewel storme to all men of vnderstanding neither wear they like men by anie bitt in a woemans hand to be brideled so as of necessitie the king was to send Alua. And the rather bycaus he could not hut know that M. Chastillon the Admiral Iohn Pettit of France ded send to baron Brederode perswading and incensing hym not to accord with the Dutches of Parma for so they would be deceaued and offring hym in case of necessitie to assist hym with 4000. gentlmen And Count Ludowick after his defeat at Mounts ded lye at Rochel emong the Caluinists and the Prince went to France of
and assure hym that they wear ar and so would continew constant vt in Belgio colatur religio Catholica regi sua constet authoritas And before that at vvorms in the general diet holden 1577. the agents of the states submitted and referred ther cavvse to the Emperor as likevvise the king of Spayn ded And therfor both parts being so conformable and concurring in eodem tertio a general peace might well be expected with good probabilitie Now obserue hovv this vvas performed according to agreement the Emperors commissioners cam to Coolen in the beginning of April but Dauus pertur●at omnia the states sent not thers till the 4. Maij and then with a commission insufficient and restrained the tyme of ther treatie to six vveaks and no longer So it seamed the states could not agree a long tyme of ther instructions to ther agents and ther for the Imperials took it as an error that when they them selfs could not in manie months agree of that they would notvvith standing limit ther deputies to so short a tyme for the handling of a busienes so weightie and intricate as this was and whearim so manie seueral men had seueral ends Besides in the articles which the deputies exhibited they propounded extrema non media contrarie to promise furthermore by the articles and media of peace proposed by the Duke de Terra noua all seueritie was lenified and mitigated for the case of religion as the Emperors commissioners ded testifie by these words Vt nemo iuste conqueri posset regem pretextu religionis vel seuire in corporae subditorum vel bona eorum confiscare vel conscient t is vim inferre So as the Imperials finding the dallijng and de layes of the states such as in 16. weaks they could get no answer and that by ther letters they renewed all old greafs and quarrels they broke vp the treatie and departed Hearupon Bolduc and Valencen receaued and incertained the articles Ouer Isel and Turnay refused them not Artois and Heynault guided with the bonus genius of the Church and Em. Lalain that valiant and religious Marques of Renty together with Monsieur de Capre Heze Baize and the rest condemning the course of the Prince of Oreng offrerd ther obedienc to the king and mayd peace with the Duke of Parma In this interim what ded they of Holland they wear now further of the case was altered They published discourses against the treatie they studied how to defend ther vsurpation and how to perfect the Frame of ther vnion and how to increase discord and diuision emong the rest vvhear there ministers and agents fayled not to serue ther tvrn But they vveare principallie busied abovvt a nevv proiect For by the mediation of the Prince of Oreng and the counsel and assistanc of England and for ther better abilitie and more strenth they capitulated vvith Monsieur the Duke of Alleneon 1578. whome they created Duke of Brabant and Prince absolut of the Nether lands 2. Secondlie touching the kings tyrannie Touching the kings oppression of them first exaction and impositions then disanulling ther priuiledges also the too seuere gouernmēt of his ministers whearby he broke his oath solemnlie svvorn at the ioyefull entrie wear the cawses of making this vnion The end vvas to preserue them selfs and ther contries from vtter ruine and destruction Hear is ther Clayme and the foundation of ther Vnion and of ther Dominion and sooueraintie And first touching the exactions and tyrannie and seueritie of Gouernous which the deputies of the states ded aggrauate so much at Colen Surelie so long after the Duke of Alua his tyme and vnder the temperate gouernement of the Duke of Parma and after so oft and manie offers and signification of the kings gracious disposition to ease ther burdens it was rather to be iudged as a Cauil to shift of peace then a desire to beridd of warr For first touching these greauous exactions they complaine so of v●delicet of the Tenth pennie imposed by the Duke of Alua. It is necessaries to Draw the Curtens whearwith they shadovv and obscure the truthe Necessitie and not his own will forced Alua to exact that which neither he would haue Doon nor the king haue suffred it but being driuen to extremitie for setisfijng the soldiers vvho allvvaies grow wild withowt paye and so to avoyd a greater mischeafe he was driuen to incurr an inconuenienc Some of the counsell in Englant in the Quenes name seazed in Hampshyre 600000. Duckets sent from Spayne to paye the Armie vvithovvt anie charg at all to the contrie tho she had giuen a passeport for the safe conduct of it as is reported Vpon what pretences or how iustlie I wil not argue hauing beane before debated at larg in a treatie But these politique men who conselled her to extend her authoritie for staying the moonie as they well knew it was none of hers so wear they also sure it would driue the Duke of Alua into such strayts that he would be compelled to commit error and increase the hatred of his gouernment and arme the peopls furie to sedition which vvas the thing they most aymed at Besides the king of Spayn hauing sent the Duke de Medina a man of a milder nature to succead Alua who partlie by misfortun partlie by his stearnnes partlie by some errors and by forren princes disfauor was grown odious he brought vvith hym 200000. Duckets which the Zellāders intercepted vpon the seas and as his stewards took it as pure Almes into ther charge to disburse it withowt accoumpt So hauing lost his moonie and ships lost also his hart to staye near them and therfor returned back to Spayne fullie resolued neuer to haue further dealing with such sharking Cormomorants of that Nest and crevv And so was Alua further both plunged and perplexed But hearby it appeareth that it vvas neither the kings pleasure nor purpose vvho furnished hym so largelie and liberallie as vvas intended but the necessitie of his present vvants vvhich compelled Alua to that demand and exaction And so it vvas rather an occasion of scandal and offenc reflected vpon the king then deserued by either and a quarrel rather mayd and contriued then giuen And these popular orators that plead so earnestlie for the ease of the commons and seam so carefull to procure the exoneration of the impositions and taxes layd vpon the people vvhy doe they not now inueigh asmuch against these nevv magnificos of Holland who ar so fart from laying dovvn and diminishing these subsidies and excis●s that they haue raised and augmented them in duch so●t as at this daye no common vvelth in Christendome groneth vnder the like burden And it can not yet be forgotten that the gend to ther of the people as they called hym the Prince of Oreng ded propovvnd and labor to vvrest and vvring from them of Holland the Sixth pennie tovvards his M. Issolt change and maintenanc anno 1584. this vvas a note
manie princes in 32. yeares haue acknovvledged and vsed them as a free State Yf they hold onelie by prescription I may iustlie saye that tyme will not serue ther turne except they can therwith plead a title and bona fides for tyme may cōfirm a title but creates none and the opinion of forrein princes maiks not ther bad clayme better but geueth onelie a reputation to the vsurper and in so bad a quarrel brauelie defended not the cawse but the success not ther right but ther prosperitie haith doon them honor Besides it is nor trew that they haue bean so reputed of Princes to negotiate with princes vnder that title and that so princes confirm ther title be different things I grand that they offred to Quene Elizabeth the sooueraintie of these prouinces and laboured that she vvould entertain them but the counsel speciallie the L. Treasorer ded not vvelcome the offer both in regard of ther title for nemo potest plus euris transferre in alium quam ipse habet they could not geuer her that which vvas not ther owne and in respect of the safetie and honor of the Quene who could not hold and mantain such a tile withowt the censure of the world and withowt geuing forrein princes and her own people a president against her self Although for her own priuate ends afterward she was content to protect them and he who furthered most that protection was as glad so clenlie to be rid of the sonn as the Marques of Winchester was to be deliuered of the father And therfor the Quenes commissioners at Burborough as I haue hard affirmed trewlie Auersata est Regina delatam sibi saepius illarum regionum summam potestatem Neither was Syr Noel Caron in Quene Elizabeths tyme esteamed as an Embassador but as an agent But to ioyn issew with them yf they can maik good ther hold and Clayme it By lavv must be either by the Gospel and patronage of religion or it must be by lawe for yf by neither of these they leane vpon a rotten stake first the lavv is directlie against them For at the Ioyfull entrie they wear subiects absolutelie and the king was soouerain and to Oreng he committed the liuetennancie of these contries Ouem lupo Oreng and the people withdraw ther obedienc vpon surmises defended ther townes against the king depriued hym of his inheritanc and mayd them selfs sooueraines Whether wear these men guiltie by lavv of Treason or no this is the case trevvlie Dambouderius your contrieman in prax criminal cap. 132. haith drawen your proces saith he Seditiosi sunt 1. qui moluintur conspirationem 2. aduersus rectores admmistratores regionum 3. il●●citas congregationes populi cogunt ●iues commotionibus turbant c. This compared with ther dealing against Alua Don Iohn and the Duke of Parma with ther manie meatings at Breda and Osterweal with ther incensing and encooraging the Geuses with ther defenc of Harland and Alcmar is as good as a comment to explayne the law But cap. 82. Vi b●●●a sint insta requiritur 1. iusta causa 2. recta intentio 3. personarum idoneitas 4. authoritas principum sine qua est laesa Maiestas Now yf the states mark that sine qua they may hold down ther heads and blush for in all ther warres they neither had good coolor nor iust cawse they wear secured for ther religion by the pacification of Gandt by the perpetual edict by the articles of the treatie at Coolen and by enioying all withovvt disturbanc and yet would they not ioyn vvith the states generall and accept the same Also ther vvas not recta intentio for it was to noorish discord they pretended euer religion and the peoples safetie but the Prince perswaded them to armes and the vnion not for the loue of them but for his own preseruation Ambition and dispayre wear his motiues and counsellors and reueng and dispossessing the king wear his ends And he was the more disloyall seing he being a person of honor betrayed the trust of so great a charg reposed in hym And touching that sine qua it was a warr on ther parts mayd against the king and not by his authoritie and not onelie his sword was shaken against the king but his penn and Apologie which was a great error bycause they wear not aequallie matched and of one degree He had in the low contries neither office nor command but vnder the wings of the Aegle or authoritie of the Lyon And he held all his Belgick lands in fee of the Duke of Burgondie as of his Leage Lord and ded homage and fealtie for the same and he knew also that a soouerain geues law to his subiects aswel as offices and haith power of lyfe and death and as a learned man noted Eo●in the law signifieth the power and command of hym that haith the sooueraintie Besides Claudius le Brun in his book of proces ciuil and criminal addeth this Whosoeuer surpriseth tovvnes Castles and forts vvithovvt order of his soouerain as the Prince ded cawse Count Lumay doe in Hollād and Vorst and Barland ded Flushyng VVhearby the peace of the contrie is broken or vvho attempteth against the lyfe of the soouerains liuetennant it is treason And these all Europe doe hold as iudgments decrees of reason and principles of state which ar not to be called in quaestion and yf the states in Holland doe not obserue hold and practise the same they can never expect either peace order or obedienc in ther contrie So as it is manifest that the Hollanders in the beginning ar to be charged with sedition and in the progress with rebellion and treason And then being traytors by law they haue admirable luck and art to maik them selfs also Lords by lawe and it will be a good encooragement to ther soldiers yf men may winn dignities by offences to share the novvnes of Holland emong them or to induce them to a bellum pyraticum or sociale and cantonize that prouinc by ther own example They haue yet one euasion which is rather of consequenc then of substanc to prooue ther title a playster they think to salue all sores that the Archduke haith renounced his right and the king ar knowledgeth them to be now liberas prouincias in quas ipse nihiliuris pretendat though it is no aenigma no ridl nor such an argument as will pose a lawyer to answer it yet bycause I vvill not doe hurt whear I would doe good I leaue it to the consideration of that honorable and learned Chancelor Peckins who can best in a fitt tyme satisfie the world that it is but a sharcrow and thunder withowt a bolt So then by law yow haue hard in what state they stand for procuring the effusion of so much blood and breaking the peace By diuinitie of Christendome so now I desire all both Gomarists and Armenians to heare the opinion of Doctor Bilson a great Piller of
vse and exercise of ther religion and 2º that they might enioye ther priuiledges and not be mayd hereditarie or fall into the hands of Spayne to the preiudice of the Electors and 3º that hearafter the election of king of the Romans might be in the povver and Choyce of the Protestant Princes by the pluralitie of voyces So he thought they should not be forced to hould the stirrop while the Popes wear mounted and Papists ded gouern all in the Empyre And peraduenture for that end purposed yf they could to hinder that Ferdinād might not be chosen king of the Romans For so Anhalt ded vvrite to Donau in May 1619. that it wear better the Turk or the Deuel should be chosen and preferred to vvear that crown then Ferdinand and B. Gabor by his letters certified the Turk that the Pal. and Brandenburgh vvear resolued no longer to endure Ferdinand and that all these Prouinces vvho vveare in the league Sultano tot●ationi Mahumeticae corde animaomnia officia f●delissime prastabunt and that Ferdinand shortlie should be expelled Germanie to seak his succor in Spayne Is not this a holie league Be not the ends charitable and the media most Christian But the truthe is Ambition vvas Hongrie they consulted who should haue the beares skinn before the beare vvas taken they conspired to share emong them the spoyle of the Cleargie of Germanie and to maik a praye of the hovvse of Austria For by the rolls of ther Chancerie it appeareth that they intended to aduance the Palatine to Bahemia Alsatia and a part of Austria and to enlarg his dominion by the Bushoprick of Spyrts and a part of Mentz Bethlem Gabor should be assisted to keap Hongrie the vvhich he hauing no issew might also happilie fall to the lott of the Palatine Too manic crownes so purchased to expect anie in heauen Onoltzbach gaped for two fatt benefices the Bushopricks of Wirtzburgh and Bambergh his next neighbers and therfor it vvas agreed that there should be the Rendeuous of the armie The Marques of Baden thirsted after Brissack and to be inabled to continue his vniust possession of the vpper Marchionate and to owt face the Count Eberstein who had endured much wroug at his hands Wirtzburg was a mote in the eye of Brandenburgh it laye near and fitt for hym and therfor his dessein vvas to haue a share in it Anhalt hoped to supplie his wants by a part of the spoyle both of Ments and Bambergh and by some lands and lord ships which wear like to escheat in Bohemia And yf the Venetians would ioyn in this Association they might with so good assistāce easilie maik them selfs Lords of Istria and friuli and by this meanes Oceanum cum Adriatico sayd they posse coniungi A great conquest surelie and it showed a deuowring stomach that could swallow so great morsells and sowell digest and dispose them before they had them It resteth novv to demurr vpon these poynts and to examin what Apologie and what arguments can they alledg strong enough to defend a proiect and a conspiracie so pernicious to the whole state of Christendome and so directlie against the law of natiōs and the peace of the Empyre All the pulpits in England and the churches ● Reason called reformed ded generallie and lowdelie sownd an Alarum against treason and rebellion of the league and leaguers of France and yet that ded not extend it self beyōd the Alpes or the Maze as this dothe And yt was at first vndertaken quietlie withowt anie sedition or insurrections in the state And vvas for defenc onelie of ther ancient religion withowt anie temporall respects and confirmed with the kings oath and allowance and afterward it was continned in reueng of Murder and actions of tyrannie Now consider what was ther scope Monsieur de Villeroy in the relation of his seruices maiks it euident they ded not seak the extirpation of the king of Nauarr but his reformation and yf they might be assured of his religion he should be assured of ther obedienc But this vnion runneth a wilder race It is not onelie a new religion but the lands of the old religion they gape after and the affection they haue to the latter maiks them more greadie to suppresse the former And yet all must be sayd to be doore for religion though it be doone most irreligiouslie hauing neither the order nor the media nor the end religious hovv could it then succead add prosper well that begonn so ill and hovv could it beginn worse them to march vnder too such standards as ambition and auarice And therfor most wise he ded that excellent 2. Ratio Duke of Saxonie as a frend of peace adui●e the Count Palatin to renounce Bohemia and seak for pardon bycause this warr ded open the gates of the Empyre to let in the Turk which of it self was a sufficient cawse to condemn ther vnion for yf ther quarrel had bean good yet the effects yt ded work wear bad Moreouer plessen confesseth in his letters 3. Ratio to Anhalt that which is most trew the actions of Holland and Bohemia eodem fundamento niti so Holland is the pattern Bohemia the imitation suits of one cut lessons of one schoole And seing that of Hollond is sufficientlie disprooued all readie I nead not vse anie new argument to refell this but referr yow to the precedent discourse for they took armes against a king lawfullie elected solemnelie crowned and by consent of the states established in possession vvhat could be more orderlie and so hortlie after to depose hym and vpon so weak surmises to show so much leuitie neads better arguments then yet y could ever heare And it was mayd the more odious by nominating the Duke of Saxonie as a competitor and a stale to maik hym suspected to the Emperor as reum affectati imperij knowing that he had refused ther offer when they employed Count Slick to perswade that he would imbark hym selfs in the busienes and accept the crown of Bohemia which in dead they never intended to a Lutheran prince An other reason doth much exaggerate 4. Reason the offenc By ther president Austria vvas corrupted see hovv stronglie examples vvork vvith a multitud The people saithe the Register of the Chancerie by the correspondenc of the Turk and Gabor took coorage and told Ferdinand that yf he would not grant them toleration of religion and freedome of conscienc they vvould ioyne vvith the Bohemians and Hungarians and renounc ther obedienc to hym And they vvear maisters of ther words for in August 1620. the lower Austria abandoned ther Lord the ancient inheritor of that noble patrimonie quitted ther obedienc and accepted a new protector in his stead I am sure the subiects of England would condemn the Catholicks and so they might iustlie yf they should stād vpon the like tearmes and ther anciēt tisle and in defenc of that seak to expell ther soouerain and invest a strainger in
the government to serue ther turn And surelie ther cases ar matches yf the one might by law the other maye and yf yow condemn the one yow must vnpartiallie condemn the other But nothing maiks this action more offensiue 5. Reason more scandalous and more infamous then that Anhalt and Onoltzback in sc●s electoribus ded confederate them selfs vvith straingers and dispose of the succession of the Empyre vvithovvt the warrant of the Empyre and this fawlt is dovvbled by combining vvith Bethlem Gabor Christians vvith the Turks vassal a reprobate a monster This is that B. Gabor vvho to hold hym self in the Turks grace deliuered vnto hym the town and fort of Lipp and the townes of Solimos Tornadg Margat and Arad vvel fortified in Hungaria This is he vvho treated vvith the Hungars 1607. to deliuer vp Vaccia a town Episcopall into the Turks hands to the great preiudice of religion and oppression of Christians This is he that svvore alleagianc to Gabriel Batthori his soouerain Lord and Princ of Transil●ania and afterward trayterouslie murdered hym and vsurped his state This is he who mayd a league vvith the Emperor Matthias 1615. not to attempt anie thing against the liberties and peace of Hongrie and afterward practised with the rebells of that state invaded the kingdome took vpon hym the crown 1620. led Andrew Dockzy the kings Liuetennant catched in his nett by frawd prisonner into Transiluania and banished all the state Ecclesiasticall that he might fead his soldiers vvith the spoyles of the church And this is he who hauing entered Poson prophaned the Cathedral church of S. Martin placed there his nevv Chaplains and aftervvard vvith his own hand certified the Turk that at last he had vndertaken that worthie exployt to the vvhich the Turk had oft incooraged hym and that most of the nobles of Hongarie wear his and had submitted them selfs to hym and that now he was determined for the cleargie seing they gloried to shaue ther crownes he would glorie to cutt of ther heads whearupon in Iun afther the Turk mayd peace vvith Tartaria and promised to assist Gabor at his nead vvith 40. thovvsand Tartars What tare vertues can be expected from such a man whose anatomie yf it vvear to be mayd vvould shovv such a leaprousie such a corruption of blood and so loath some a bodie as Europe haith not oft knowen I nead no other reason against this league but to subscribe his name as a principall in the cōtract whome the world must neads iudg vnlike to be a fitt instrument to aduanc the Crosse of Christ and to reforme religion Yet this vvas the man vpon vvhose head the vnion ded agree to set the crovvn of Hongarie and to carrie the practise vvith more secrecie they intertaind his nearest kinsman at Heydelbergh vnder the govvn of a scholler to hyde all ther intelligences and conduct ther busienes Novv doe I vvish that a partiall reader 6. Reason would look vpon Germanie and see the picture of Troye on fyre see the image and horror of vvarr and hovv vvell it vvould please them to see the face of London and Midlsex so disfigured with wounds and desolation And that puritan vvho novv is most forvvard to blovv the coals of discord and sedition and inflame a state vvith furie and quicksiluer may quake and trembl vvhen he shall consider in vvhat devastation all that contrie of the Empyrelyeth mourning and groning The Prouinces abovvt the Rhine ar waisted disturbed and empouerished by the soldiers on both sydes specially vvorms tillage●s suspended traffick is decayed trades ar ceased taxes ar imposed new fortifications charge the contrie men ar not maisters of ther own goods and aboue 100. thowsand men ar accōppted to be slayne thes ar the fruits of ciuil warres which ar bitter and lovre to them that taist them as I pray g●d England may neuer And there ar the fruit of Caluinisme which though it was directlie prohibited by the lavv and tolerated onelie by the mercie of the state seaketh novv to suppresse both the Emperor and the states withowt anie toleration of there religions an vncharitable requital ans vvithovvt the feal of anie religion for your iustifi●ng sole faith can never iustlie vvithovvt yt bring charitie in her bosome and the trew marks of Charitie being patienc humilitie and zeal conioyned stronglie in a link your litl patienc and humilitie convinc your zeal to be counterfeit and your faith to be fruitles for charitie would not direct yow to inuade the Duke of Bauier his territories yf he refused to stand Neuther charitie ded not counsel Anhalt in his letters to Donau 1619. to haue an auaricious eye to surprise a cittie which would be vvorth vnto them 32. millions Charitie doth not vse to direct Christians to sollicit the Turks assistance as pag. 80. Cancellariae nor to set down such plots as they intended p. 42. and 32. and 66. Now touching the lawes of the Empyre 7 Reasons I referr yow to that I haue deliuered before against the commotions of the Lutherans which ther is iustlie condemned Onely I will add this touching Bohemia Carolus 4. in act de confirmatione regis Bohemo●um setteth dovvn this clause as an essential part of that kings authoritie and approbation Volentes vt quicunquè in regem Bohemorum electus fuerit ad nos successores nostros Romanorum reges Imperatores accedat sua à nobis debito modo solito regalia accepturus non obstantibus iuribus legibus municipalibus quibuscunque c. And in the Aurea bulla cap. 4. Curia Nurenberg act 7. Iubemus volumus vt omnes Principes Electores c. art 8. Si quis autem Princeps Elector aliusue feudum à sacro tenens impeno supra infra scriptas Imperiales constitutiones adimplerenoluerit aut eis contrare presumpserit ex tunc caeteri Coelectores à suo ipsum deinceps excludāt consortio ipseque voce Electoris dignitate careat iure Wherby it is mayd manifest what the law requireth to be doone and what order and manner it prescribeth for the doeing thereof and what paenaltie and forfeitur is sett doone against offendors and transgressors of that lawe And good reason for take away or neglect Iustice pretend what yow will your great glorious attempts your inuasions your intrusions be but magna latrocinia and violent oppressions as appeared vvell by the supplication of Leopold king of the Romans to his father Otho I. who bycause he had broken the peace of the Empyre and called forreiners and yet not Turks to his assistanc saith he membrum Imperij appellari non debeo quigentes ext●rnas barbaras in mediam Germaniam immisi sorrowing for his fault and acknowledging his error But these Minyeons of Geneua bring 8. Reason Religion to plead for the defenc of ther vnion and that they endeauored onelie to punish Ochosias for consulting vvith the Idol of Accharon and to root ovvt superstition
reuennues of the crown So to conclude the king giuing and appointing all iudges who in his realme is to iudg hym or to censure his counsells of state and politike temporall actions and yf be he iudg they ar vvithowt iudgment that attribute it to the states but they err most that arme the people vvithe that authoritie For tho I know what a parliement means and what power it vvoorthilie carrieth yet as it is euer summoned by the king so ther acts must be iudged allowed and confirmed by the king before they be lawes In the senate rests consilium but in the king is the powre and Maiestie of the realme and he is iudg to allow or disallow what he liketh and by the coniunction of these Foskevv sayd trewlie no state is berter tempered nor more temperatelie gouerned nor by more excellent municipall lawes then England is So to conclude what reason can be pretended for wyats insurrection against his soouerain the bodie politick was it for matching with Spayne that was no stra●g motion for her father had once before de●seigned to match her in that familie besides the conditions vvear honorable and profitable to the crovvne yf God should bless them vvith issevv the person most noble and the reasons allowed by all the counsel But the Quene ded not obserue the lawes of the realme she abrogated the statuts of 1. E. 6. which all the kingdome approoued and the vvord of God by Moyses commandeth that Princes should obserue the lavves and those Princes dishonor them selfs vvho doe not acknowledg that of Theodosius tantùm tibi licet quantum per leges licet Well aliud ex alio malum As Moyses prescribed vvhat a Prince should doe so Samuel what he may doe Moyses tould hym his dewtie Samuel his power and it is trew and a Christian profession of kings legibus se subiectos esse profiteri But yow must consider the lavv haith two properties the one to show what a man should doe the other to punish them that doe it not To the first the king is subiect but tovching the second for criminal cavvses I know no court aboue the kings bench nor no iudg aboue the king Moreouer yf Quene Marie shold be tyed to her brothers lavves vvhy vvas not Quene Elizabeth to hers vvhy vvas not king Edvvard to his fathers lavves but that religion of Quene Marie was corrupt vnpure and superstitious So still hear is philautia and presumption yow will censure your iudg and yow a lay man wil iudg of his religion that is the Quaestion yet and not decided by anie orderlie Councels or Synodes on yovvr part and S. Austen libro vbi supra Si vir nistus sub rege sacrilego militet iuste posset illo iubente bellare 1. ciuicae pacis ordinem seruans 2. cui quod iubetur vel non esse contra Dei praeceptum certum est vel vtrum sit certum non est Tho the king be sacrilegious yet he is to be obeyed and hovv 1. ciuicae pacis ordmem seruans that is the course and that is the end for indiuidua bona sunt pax libertas vvhich is to be noted for them that plead so stronglie for ther liberties secundo yf the kings commandements be not directlie against Gods vvords yf vel non esse certum est vel vtrum sit certum non est Novv tho all Catholicks knevv the certum est in ther conscienc yet the protestants for the vtrum sit vvear vncertan bycause both the lavv of the realme the general counsels the vvhole state of the Churche Militant was against them and they had onelie the testimonie of priuate spirits to oppose against publick authoritie But vvhat yf Quene Marie had erred in some superstitions what yf the present king ded err in his gouernement in his courses in his iudgment or in matching his sonn withowt the consent of the realme should either of them be censured or excommunicated by the ministers or depriued or committed and emprisoned by a vvyat Salomon ded fall into greauous sinnes ad profundum Idololatriae lapsus atque demersus saith S. Austen and ded directlie against Goods commandement to keap and marrie straing voemen of the gentiles non ingrediemini ad illas besides he worshipped Moloch and Astarthes the goddes of the Sydomans yet neither Preasts nor people ded rise against hym or depose hym they left it to the proper iudg of hings who in his wrathe ded appoynt and raise vp Hieroboam to ruine his sonn and yf wyat could haue showd such an immediat warrant he had bean excusable Iulian prooued in Apostata yet tho the Doctors of the primatiue Church as G. Nazianzen and others sharply reprooued and detested his impietie yet they never perswaded nor taught the people to depriue hym He that proclaymed the prerogatiue of kings vos estis d● he taught the world that as Gods haue summum imperium so the people ar to obey and therfor called subditi for ther subiection and yow neuer hard of anie but Gyants that wear fayned to fight with the Gods and they perished for all ther greatnes for that hand must neads vvither vvhich toucheth Gods anoynted for he that taiks armes against hym doth prouoke the king to the feald and when the flame rageth who can tell whear the sparks will light Some limitations ther ar and those neadfull For I ascribe not an infinite vnlimited diuinitie to kings nor a powr to tyrannize and liue as atheists he that gaue the that glorie vos estis dij ded likewise geue them this caueat that for iniquitie and impietie transferam regna de gente in gentem He is the Iudg of Princes and his audit is dreadfull and to that we must leaue them FINIS THE SECOND PART HIERVSALEM THAT OBEDIENCE AND ORDER BE THE EIRENARCHAE OF CATHOLIQVES HAVING allreadie trewlie King Henrie tho eight and liuelie Drawen and presented vnto yow the Image of the Churches called Reformed vvith a face so full of frownes and stearnnes that by the Phisiognomie yow may iudg it vnquiet and turbulent It remaineth in like sort to paynt owt vnto yow the portraicture of a Roman Catholick by the infallible characters of deuotion order obedienc and the humilitie of the professors thereof What they weare in this land in the tyme of king Lucius and the Britons I shall not nead to expresle but refer yow to the ecclesiasticall stories of that tyme which euen Fox and the Centuries doe honor labouring rather to commend them as members of ther ovvn Churche then to acknowledg them ours For the tyme of the Saxons I vvill maik no relation of ther vertues and how amiablie the Church and common welthe ded sping vp together And though the prelates wear highlie reuerēced and ded beare great swaye in the state yet how dewtiefullie they obeyed ther princes Venerable Beda and the stories of that tyme. M. Lamberts Archaionomia the old Saxon Lawes and the monuments yet vpon record can witnes
in danger of his wrathe o miserable tyme vbi tacere non licet quid cuiquam licet 3. To this opinion Luther subscribeth and which is rare they both C. and L. accord against the supremacie of Princes in cawses Ecclesiastical for tom 2. fol. 259. saith Luther quid ad not mandatum Principis Electoris Saxoniae Princeps secularis est mogistratus quem gladium non munus predicandi curae habere debet as yf a secular magistrate had nothing to doe vvith Cleargie busienes And tom 1. Latin he expownds hym self fol. 540. Non est regnum aut principum etiam veram doctrinam confirmare sed ei subijci seruire Which is quite contrarie to the acts of parliement either of H. 8. of E. 6. or Quene Elizabeth 4. It may be yow will Imagin that though Luther was so singuler yet the Lutherans arr not but yow ar deceaued and that yow shall fynd by ther greatest and most learned Champion M. Chemnicius epist ad elector Brandenburg first he shouweth that it is not conuenient vt punitionis officium contra Caluinistas interea temporis penitus quiescat which is to be noted as a thing he much regarded and shortlie after of the religion and the Quene of England he giueth this sentence that 1. no good thing is further to be expected of her 2. that she vsed the Protestants of Germanie hardly 3. that she noorisheth a new sect risen in her realm of Puritans 4. and lastlie he maiks it a ●east that she being a woeman haith taken vpon her to be maker of Ecclesiasticall Lavves quod femineo à seculis inaudito fastu se Papissam caput Ecclesiae fecit these ar his words and surelie none of our Bushops depriued could saye more tho more manerlie for the statut consisting of two brainches the one they defend stowtlie that the king ought not to haue the supremacie in the other they disagree emong them selfs 5. Cartvvright haith vvritten manie chapters in his last book against this supremacie who yet was neuer conuented in the starchamber nor arraigned for yt neither was forced to recant his writings The Puritans ar as earnest as the Catholicks that it ought not to rest in the king but differenc is in whome the power should rest whether by a monarchie in the Pope or in an oligarchie of the elders The English Puritans of Amsterdam in ther Confessio fidei 1607. pag. 50. art 2. ded resolue that vnicuique Ecclesiae particulari est par as plenum ius ac potestas exercendi fruendi exequendi institutaomnia quaecunque Christus Ecclesiae suae dedit obseruandae in perpetuum So then euerie parish-preast is a Pope in his parish and haith par plenum ius and whether this aduancement of the Consistories be not more preiudicial to princes then the Conclaue more subiect to mutinies more open to confusion and anarchie I referr my self to learned Hooker 6. I will conclude with D. whiracre and that vvith some admiration he Doth so boldlie affirm a matter so notoriousle vntrew pag. 4. against M. W. Raignolds in his preface The title saith he of supreme head of the Church haith bean misliked by diuers godlie learned men and of right it belongeth to the sonne of god and therfor neuer ded our Church geue that title in such vvords vnto the Prince neither ded the prince euer challeng it I vnderstand not vvhat this meaneth for yf he meane plainlie and withowt aequiuocating then certanlie he abuseth his reader with a fable yf I obiect the statut of 26. H. 8. c. 1. or 35. H. 8. c. 3. I knovv he vvill say it vvas not our Church that gaue that title But Syr that will not serue yow for 1. E. 6. cap. 12. yf anie person after the 5. of March next shall affirm that the king his heyrs or successors kings of this realme is not or ought not to be supream head in earth of the Church of England and Ireland immediatlie vnder God it shall be treason for the third affirmation so hear is the act of your own Church for vvhich Gardiner was sent to the towr and these godlie men sc Gilbie Caluin Knox Luther who so much misliked it in king Henrie had not cawse to like it better 1. Eliz. when it was chainged into supream gouernor for the one had as much powre as the other And surelie D. Whit. rather shifteth of the obiection then answereth it for these godlie he meaneth wear Caluin Gilbie the Lutherans and his ancient frend maister Cartwight who all condemned the vse of that title of supreme head and think yow that he ded hym self like it I imagin that he vvould not othervvis haue mayd so she an euasion for his cōmendation of the men that denied it his own reason deriued from ther vvords that it belonged onelie ond properlie to the sonne of God his fable that neuer ded the Prince Challeng that title show fullie the Doctors mynd that he would not subscribe voluntarilie to that opinion and taik the oath and desyred to euade But vvhat euer his opinion vvas of the matter he commended those that most impugned it Novv to return to the Bushops seing the supremacie and the oath vvas the main and the mean obiected to depriue them vvhich vvas as much impugned by ther ovvn half brethren Lutherans and Caluinists as by the Bushops seing Cartvvright pvas tolerated licensed to preache not restrained nor punished for his opinions and seing so manie and so eminent men concurred vvith the Bushops in that opinion as I haue shovved ther vvas and is some reason to haue expected yf not a more merciefull sentenc yet a more fauourable execution of the sentenc and seing they fovvnd so litl fauor and releaf it doth vvitnes to all posteritie ther exceading patienc to taik vp ther cross and follovv ther maister For not vvithstanding all this aduersitie disgrace vvants and loss of libertie the magistrates never had cavvse to complayne of anie inuectiues or libells No Reueilematin no homelies of sedition wear dispersed no VVyat no Oldcastel appeared in the feald the soldiers and knights of the Rhodes vvear not detected of anie conspiracie the Realme was not disquieted nor embroyled A miraculous patienc by a supernatural grace they ded rather choose to suffer them selfs then the realm should which was a great happienes to England and the like not hard of vpon so great a mutation of state and which was neither to be ascribed to the pollicie and prouidenc of the Chancelor or Secretarie nor anie feare of punishment vvhich might be inflicted vpon the Bushops for they could fall no lower being all readie cast down to the grownd and they that could hope for nothing nead not feare anie thing but reallie and trewlie it was to be imputed to the nature patienc humilitie and obedienc innated in religious and vertuous men who ar trewlie Catholique These vertues and this there patience showeth well the nature of the English
to defend the principles of ther religion by disputation vvhich the protestants would not accept * Camden nisi Baconus in theologicis parum versatus tanquam iudex praesideret and he being a professor of the common lawes vvhy he should be chosen moderator of such a Diuinitie disputation Cambredg can neither geue reason nor president nay rather yf yow ask ther opinion they will answer Spectatum admisi c. for it is a tidiculous Solaecism Since Father Parsons and diuers others haue mayd the same challeng desirous to bring I ruthe to the Tryal and touchstone in solemn and publick manner And let no man obiect the colloquies at Poissy Ratisbon Wormes Altenburg Murbrun c. which wear fruitles bycause formeles they ded not produce the effects expected bycause they erred in ther course of proceading and I confess I vnder stand not the misterie vvhy the protestants in England now draw bach seing Ievvel in the beginning was so forward and mayd so liberal offerts which yf anie would now defend it would quicklie appear which religion weare counterfeit and which currant whether doctrine wear solide and vvhether not speciallie hauing a moderator who could discouer evasions guid the disputers and iudiciouslie determin to whome the prize should be giuen And yf perhaps some would except and alledg the conferenc betwean M. Hart and D. Reignolds betwean Gode and Campion which wear honored and diuulged as triumphes and that these ought to stand as sufficient proofes co convinc the Catholicks yf the truthe so well sifted by disputation may satisfie them and preuayle I answer it is iniquissima conditio for a man armed to sett vpon a prisoner to insult vpon a man weakned with fetters and destitute of books withowt preparation and vvarning and which is worst in the face of a rack and torments whear Campion had bean posed with crewel quaestions before and in a place of no indifferencie whear they may sett down what they list and frame a combate at ther pleasure as Roynolds ded And whear as perhaps for politick cavvses the king and the Lords may dislike anie publick disputation vpon the grownds of religion yet this may well be granted and the french kings president may induce it The preasts and fathers offer to prooue that Iewel the mainster Carpenter of that Apologie of the Churche of England that Luther Caluin Melancthon and the later Doctors Colonells of the new plantation haue overcrowed and born down the Catholicks for opinion of truthe sinceritie and learning onely by false quotations corruptions falsifications misrecitalls and that both of scriptures and fathers both of the text and the gloss And this they humblie pray and hope that his Maiestie in his own tyme vvould be pleased to grant bycause these be heynous offences and the temple of veritie can not be builded vpon error and false grownds and bycause illusions and forgeries be stratagemata satanae that at least he would permitt the triall of that iust accusation and so afthervvard esteam of ther integritie as they shall acquite them selfs Concerning the third poynt that the 3. Preasts ar no practisers Seminaries bread such preasts as ar ministers of practises and stirr the people to rebellion as they ar charged both by the book of execution of iustice and by the proclamation 1580. whearin particularly they ar accused to haue bean priuie and accessarie to the counsells and proiects of the king of Spayne the Pope and others who intended and combined at that tyme to invade England to depose the Quene and subdevv the realme I must freelie answer that iealousie is trewlie described to be full of eyes and yet all pur-blind fearefull of her own shadowe euer in motu trepidationis and contrarie to the motions of other starres And tho they vvear great statesmen ye with all ther Opticks they could not foresee the great daingers like to fall vpon them till they wear at ther doors And hauing by error drawen and prouoked them yet took they the course rather to continew the flame then quench the fyre to encreas the mallice then preuent the mischeaf For first yf anie such confaederation had bean which never yet could be discouered nor was recorded in anie historie was it probable that so great and so wise Princes would acquaint the poor speculatiue preasts at Reams or Douay or the fathers of the societie with ther plats and intentions is it credible that they would manage matters of state so vveakelie yea but these Princes purposed by the meanes of the preasts and religious to prepare a partie assistant in England how by reconciling the people to the Pope that they might ioyne vvith hym and the king of Spaynes armie One error begets an other for preast doe not reconcile men to the Pope but to God and his Churche 1. And yet surelie it was a miracle that emong so manie preasts and in so long tyme and when Spies and intelligencers wear employed and rewarded neither anie such preast could be nominated who was then or after so corrupted or induced by these great Princes nor anie was afterward apprehended or discouered for anie such trespasse and which is most to be marked not anie subiect was called in quaestion or accused for entertaining anie preasts to that end then how phantastical was this feare what an imagination of Chimeraes and terrors most iniurious to touch the reputation of all the English preasts in generall and by statuts and proclamations to call ther names and ther liues in quaestion and to haue no su sufficient vvitnesses to accuse them no euidenc against them nothing but presumptions and probabilities to attaint them of treason the lyfe and honor of subiects wear wont to be esteamed more pretious and the function of preasts more reuerenced 2. I may also add this that when the king of Spaynes armado was vnder sayle towards England not a preast nor Seminarie man was fownd in it And though in the proclamation they wear traduced to be men suborned for preparation and making the way leuel for ther better landing yet hovv vvell they prepared it appeareth by this that neither preast nor Catholick vvear apprehended and attainted for anie such offenc as is afore sayd 3. Besides hovv litl affianc the king of Spayn had in the English preasts and Catholicks of that tyme was demonstrated by this that all the religious English at Valladolid and Burgos 1589. wear fettered and committed close prisoners when the armie of England assaulted Lisbone and invaded Portingal Furthermore in all the actuall treasons and conspiracies supposed to be mayd against Q. Elizabeth ther was never preast or monk or friar touched or taynted for anie of them For certanlie the holie altars of God will not suffer nor indure so vngodlie machinations and cloysters bread better humors eleuate ther sowles from the world they think not of Princes but in ther prayers and venite ad iudiciū sownding ever in ther eares requires a continual preparate in
haue encooraged Squire to the like attempt and surelie vpon examination it vvill haue the like success This Squire and one Rolls 1596. wear taken prisoners in a pinnace of Syr Franc. Drakes by Don Pedro Tellio and brought to Siuil whear Fa. Parsons procured for them both libertie and apparrel though they professed them selfs to be protestants and so they wear sent away when they cam to S. Lucars by indiscreation they fell into the inquisition an argument sufficient to vvitnes ther religion and so they wear brought back to Siuil whear Fa. Walpool ded them much fauor set them at libertie engaged his credit for ther foorth comming and placed Rolls in the Iesuits Coll. and Squire in a monasterie 1597. til they both secretlie fled avvay and left father VValpool in the briars to answer for them And afterward they sent letters to excuse there soodain departure to Fa. Walpol which letter he ded showe for his discharg Now then weigh well all circumstances and examin the enditement Squire is accused that Fa. Walpool prouoked and instructed hym to poyson the Quene and preached to hym at his departur to perswade and confirme hym Is not this probable 1. they fled secretlie awaye withowt his knowledg and that was generallie knowen to be trew Squire was a man who ever professed hym self a protestant and so dyed 3. a man that at his arrainment and death denied it And tho being vpon the rack 5. tymes the torture compelled hym to accuse hym self yet an argument from the rack is not a sufficient euidenc being after denied 4. a man that had wyfe and children in England and not like withowt some great and present temptation to be dravven into suca a plat and Fa. VValpool was as vnlike and vnfitt either to promise or perform anie recompenc of valevv 5. then what should be the motiue his religion would not perswade hym for he regarded no merite Rewards hear weare none and vvithovvt some end he vvould not cast avvay hym self 6. Besides Fa. VValpool as he was not like to trust a protestant with a matter of that weight and secrecie so neither was he of that credit nor authoritie that he durst doe it withowt the licenc of his superiors Fa. Parsons and Fa. Creswel being his ancients 6. Besides examin how it was proued by his ovvn confession it was extorted and by the same breath denied by Stallenge his testimonie he had it but by hearsay a vveak proof and how was this to be performed by poison deliuered to hym in Spayne a straing secret which his fellow Rolls never knevv of vvho returned vvith hym and how was it to be doon the sadl vpon the hors back vvas to be poisond Hear was art how could the Quene be poisoned with it so and he scape that is sayd to hauesqueased it vpon the sadl or yf it wear squeazed as they tearmed it how could part be reserued to poison the Earl of Essex and speciallie hovv could it be doone that the groomes of the stable and the querries vvho ordinarily attend the horse for the Quene could not discern it but to conclude was euer anie man hard of that took hurt by that poyson or was sick of it no no then surelie seing he denied it seing ther was no probabilitie and speciallie seing ther was no witnesses to prooue it I can not esteame it as a stayn to be iustly imputed to the Iesuits But all these and such like deuises passed as currant in England vpon a false supposition that Mariana a Iesuite and the fathers ded mantain that vngodlie position of murdering and deposing Princes for religion 1. Touching Mariana it was a personall 5. The Iesuits fault Marianas proper opinion yet was he not resolut in that opinion but handled it problematice he inclineth to the worst part but absolutelie affirms it not his words ar falli possum vt humanus siquis meliora attulerit gratias agam 2. Secondlie his quaestion was not for killing of kings but for killing tyrants which is to be noted as a great differenc 3. Againe his whole order disauows his position and categorice determin the contrarie Card. Tolet in his summa l. 5. cap. 6. decreeth that it is not lavvfull to attempt against the lyfe of a Prince tho he abuse his povver and that it is haeresie to mantain the contrarie So also holdeth Greg. de Valentia part 2. q. 64. and of the same opinion is Card. Bellarmin cap. 13. of his Apologie and Salmeron tom expovvnding the 13. C. Rom. vvheare he referreth the fact of Aod against king Aeglon to Gods expresse commandement I may alledg the authoritie of learned Lessius de iustitia iure l. 2. c. 9. dub 4. Serrarius in c. 13. Iud. Azor in his Institut Becanus in his ansvver to the 9. Aphorism Gretser in his Vespertilio Haeretico politicus vvho confuteth Marianaes grounds and so doth L. Richeome in his Apologie 4. What nead I say more yet to put all ovvt of dowbt this opinion of Martiana was condemned both by a prouincial congregation of the same societie holden at Paris 1606. and the condemnation vvas ratified by Claudius Aquauiua general of the order 5. And bycause no man shall dovvbt vvhether it be a droctrin so generall receaued in the Church anno 1413. by the declaration of the Doctors of Sorbonna the same is averred as also renevved 1606 that it is an vnlawfull and vngodlie position 6. And lastlie the doctrine of Mariana was iustlie condemned by the court Parliament of Paris the seame year And that yow may not stumble at Simancas words yow must know he was a lawyer no deuine and yf yow read Heisius ad Aphorismos yovv shall perceaue that both he and Becanus ar not guiltie of this error see pag. 85. and 91. And all this standeth and concordeth with the agreement of Gods ancient Church for Ireneus l. 5. c. 14. setteth it down emong heresies to think that kings ar giuen to men casuallie and not by prouidenc and appointement of God quia omnis petestas a Deo And S. Ambrose contra Auxentium ait lachrymae meae arma mea aliter nec debeo nec possum resistere Nauar Cunerus and all that I haue sean and I haue curiouslie searched for it agree in one sentenc and the reason I am so curious in this was not onelie to satisfie my own conscience but diuers good and vertuous protestants in England my frends who wear much offended that a Thesis so scandolous should be protected by the learned fathers of the societie as was giuen owt Ther remaineth yet certan staines in the 6. C. Mayne Cote of Preasts and fathers which ar honestlie to be taken owt I haue hard it much vrged that the greatest argument for the rigour against preasts vvas necessitie to free the state from dainger bycause they vvear the likest men to bread it and that vvas speciallie discerned as they sayd by the comming in of C. Mayne who corrupted maister Tregion
Ashbie and manie other places can witnes and the author of the execution of Iustice giueth better testimonie thereof and vseth it as an argument of the Quenes rare clemencie and her confidence of ther loyaltie further more yf yow look curiouslie and iudiciouslie into it that bull ded not concern ther going to the Church and seruing God but touching the Quenes being lawfull Quene and seruing her after the excommunications Now How these noble gentlmen and others succeading wear vsed and oppressed to what reproaches they wear subiect by the basest skoome of men it is a lamentable storie and would mooue a hart of flint It was not affliction enough to authorise purseuants to search ther howses and Promoters to informe against them but they must also haue a Felton surue yor of ther lands and estates What losses ded they sustain by the leases of the third part of ther lands what loss of goods by rapine what spoyle of woods what bribes wear they forced to geue gratiam emendicando I nead not repeat them I haue sean some part of the proceading For ther committing to W●sbich Banhurie Elie the Fleat York or Ludlovv though they ded suffer ther restraint patientlie yet I must neads pittie them bycause ther they lost ther libertie hazarded health wear forced to neglect ther state vvear detained from ther wiues and children and mayd subiect to the contempt of the world And touching ther being Disarmed yt was more disgrace then loss it prooued they wear distrusted which was a course rather to prouoke then reclayme them But for ther twentie povvnds a month payd into the excheckor that ded lie heauie and mayd the meaner sort grone though I know by the lo B. the rigor and extremitie was a litl qualified Compare these with the Puritans recusants who will beare no such burdens yow shall fynd in the Catholicks more vertue and less insolencie more humilitie and less dainger to the state Compare them with the recusants of France and yow will think our gētlmen preasts and ther ministers Capitains our Catholicks vnwilling to offend theyrs vnwilling to obeye they defend ther faith with ther swords and resist the magistrate ours endure and s●io cui credidi is ther comfort and bycause they haue no Bezaes no Knoxes no Synodes no boutefeus they can not shovv yow a Mountauban or a Mountpellier nor anie other place of assuranc and retrayt but the Fleat or the Gatehows And yet neither in these plotts and treasons supposed to haue bean against her person in Quene Elizabeths tyme nor in that inuinc●bl armado 1588. nor in that inuisible armie the skarcrowe of London 1599. nor in the vvarrs of Ireland whearin the Quene required ayd of her subiects no men ded shovv them selfs more forward to doe her maiestie seruice nor performed more readilie and franklie what was imposed vpon them nor behaued them selfs vvith more devvtie and less dainger The reason is playne they that refuse to go to Protestant Churches in respect of ther conscienc vvill far more refuse for conscience sake to committ treason a sinn of so highe degree and surelie they that regard so litl ther own bodies for safetie and saluation of ther sowles will never attempt or consent to anie desperate act against the kings person or the state of ther contrie and by such greauous and crijng sinnes hazard the destruction of both bodie and sowle Now yf yow will compare the greauances The Inquisition of Recusants Preasts and Catholicks in England vvith the Inquisition of Flanders one of the long cawses of that warr yow shall fynd heare moe burdens and theirs not heauier It is a rule taught commonlie but learned of fevv quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris The protestants of E. condemned the name of Inquisition in Flanders bycause ther brethren groned vnder that burden and yet a more greauous load being imposed vpon ther contriemen frends and kinsmen at home they taik no remorse no compassion ther for I will set before yow a glass which shall trewlie represent vnto yow the face form and differenc of ther punishments Charles the 5. at Worms 1521. decreed against Luther onelie Exile and Fyre for his books Anno 1526. at Machlin he set dovvn this penaltie against Hereticks or those that disputed of controuerses of religion or that keapt books prohibited for the first offenc 40. shillings for the second 4. povvnds and for the third 8. povvnds and perpetual banishment as a proper remedie to remooue them from infecting others Anno 1529. yf at a tyme limited they ded not repent ther errors nor disclayme then he adiudged Viris ignem mulieribus fossam as the Canons ancientlie prescribed and as Calum hym self vsed Seruetus Anno 1531. he confirmed the former acts adding that these who keapt such books and defaced and puld downe images male animo should loose ther goods and yet he vsed some limitation and for heresie yf he vvear worth 6. l. and be conuicted of it the delinquent should pay 3. And to avoyd all quaestions 1555. he interpreted and explayned hym self for the penaltie of thes lawes with the aduise of Viglius to taik avvay all occasions that might hinder traffick he limited that the penaltie against those that vvear receauors or abettors of such men should not extende to inkeapers victuallers marchants or mariners and yf the accusors ded slander anie iniuriouslie they should be punished for example sake this though it wear generallie enacted yet it was both intended and accordinglie more seuearly executed against Anabaptists and Libertines the greatest plages of a state After ward king Philip 1555. set down instructions rules and orders direct this court properlie erected for heresie and to preuent secret conuenticles the moothers of sedition and these regia mandata exquisitorum I refer yow to see in the storie of Vander Hare Whearin the king addeth no new amerciements nor deuiseth anie new seueritie for as he answered Montigny he purposed not to bring in the Inquisition of Spayne but to reuiue his fathers lawes nor to create anie new offences but such as wear of old censured for offences both in the Churche and state And yet this proceading ded work ill effects bred in the Catholicks a commiseration of ther contriemen and a greater obstinacie in the protestants Now look vpon E. match and compare The lavves of England against Catholicks them together and yow will fynd the penalties far moe and more seuear To acknowledg the Popes suprematie in spiritualibus is Treason To be reconciled is Treason To refuse the oath of supremacie is for the first offenc premunire for the second Treason For preasts to come over into E. is Treason 1585. or yf they stay in E. 40. dayes after the parliement or yf they wear mayd preasts sinc 1. Elizab. To harbour a preasts is fellonie Yf yong students continue beyond the seas and return not and abiure ther religion and show them selfs conformable it is
Treason To bring in an agnus Dei beads or crosses is premanire To bring a bull from Roome or anie sentenc of excommunication which toucheth the Quene is Treason To absolue or reconcile anie man is Treason He that commeth not to Churche vpon each sonday was to pay 12. d. and be further censured but afterward he that refused to hear ther prayers and communicate 27. Eliz. is to pay for euerie month 20. povvnds and he that can not pay it his bodie shall fyne for it in prison To depart owt of the realm withowt the Quenes licens and not to return within 6. months after the proclamation is an offenc so great that the offendor shall forfeit his goods and his lands during his lyfe To hear mass is an offenc fyned at a 100. marks Yf a man suffer his sonn or his seruants being not a merchant to go beyond seas he shall forfeit 100. l. Ther ar manie mo but these ar too manie now whether of these ar whipped with the greatest scourge vvhether of these lavves ar most seuear and haue most nead of mitigation the name onelie of Treason is terrible and overgoeth far the rigor of the most rigourous and capitall lavves of the Inquisition and when I haue named that I sleightlie pass ouer the loss of goods emprisonment reproaches chaynes and fetters exile aggrauation of offences which vvould haue appeased the vvrathe of Minos or Rhadamanthus But the rigour of the execution of these lavves is most to be noted The tovvre vvas full of such patients and nevv prisons erected to entertain them and hovv they vvear at that tyme vsed yovv may best knovv by the exampl of dealing vvith maister Tregion at Lanson of maister Rigby of maister Christophor watson vvho perished at york vvith the infection of the prison as 18. other prisoners for religion ded 1581. Add to this the strict examination of Iustices the proceading of the high commissioners the inquisitors in E. the Harpies at visitations the promoters in temporall courts informing against them purseuants searching the hovvses of men but suspected and how much they wear noted that affoorded anie charitie or almes to such persons And surelie it is a thing I maruelat that so great and wise counsellors would not remember that note of Tacitus as a stayne of gouernment that ●o● esse delatores in republica vvas a certan sumptome of a diseased state I can not forget tho I would Racks and torments the examino●s of Fa Campion and Fa. Sowthwel and manie others but satius est pertransire calamitat●m publi●am Therfor I may iustlie affirme that the Catholicks in England ded endure greater torture by the lawes of the realm then the Geuses ded by the Inqu●sition and had therfor nead of more commiseration speciallie vvhen pu●itans Anabaptists Arrians nor Atheists wear so curiously searched for nor so terriblie afflicted But the great cross Crosslet is this exceading all punishment that they generallie gaue owt in proclamations 1591. and in the book of execution of iustice that no man was punished for religion no mans conscienc was examined for his faith A politick deuise to blind the world with show of humanitie and to preserue the opinion of the Quenes mercie vnstayned vvith anie aspersion of creweltie so they abuse the credulitie of forrein states to aggrauate the offences of preasts and prisoners But was no man punished for religion in Q Eliz. tyme 1. ther vvas a general pardon 1581. whearin a strict caution and prouiso was that the benefit thereof should not be extended to anie person in prison or recusant for matter of religion and yet all malefactors had ther part in the pardon and was this no punishment nor partialitie 2. the Recusants pay 20. li. povvnds a month in regard of ther religion is this no punishment is not this properly called Sawl moonie The Turk layeth not such a tribut vpon the conscienc of Christians nor Christians vpon the Iewes 3. the old prelates and Cleargie all dyed in prison or in exile for ther religion and yet no man is punished either in goods or bodie or libertie What contradictions ar these and how palpable The Ladie Morlie La. Brown and La. Guildeford 1575. Hollinshead recordeth as a matter to be noted that thresuch ho. persons wear committed to prison onelie for hearing Mass and was this no punishment leases wear mayd of two parts of diuers of ther lands and was that no punishment But to conclude the loyaltie of these Recusants might appeare to the king plainlie by ther petition to his maiestie 1604. and manie tymes after and euer by ther obedienc and in Q. Eliz. tyme by ther protestation 1588. mayd at Ely whear they wear keapt prisoners by the offers they mayd to the Lord North Liuetennant there by the iustification of them by the letters of the Lords of the counsel and by ther submission sent to the Lords not withstanding all excommunications and so the Irish Recusants ioyning ther forces vvith the Quenes 1600. at Kinsal showed them selfs subiects àbsolutè and not ex conditione Now it is tyme to draw to a conclusion An ansvver to the questions proposed in the beginning and deliuer vp an accoumpt and somme of all and decide those quaestions proposed in the beginning of this discourse that Princes may know how farr and how safelie they may repose them selfs ther persons and states vpon the loyaltie of Catholick subiects First therfor touching the last quaestion vvhether to be a protestant and a loyal subiect be not more in compatible and more improbable then to be a Catholick and loyal It is in this discourse largelie demonstrated both by ther first generation in Germanie and Geneua by ther progresse in France by ther proceading in Holland and by ther sedition in Scotland The scope and end of them all was to sett vp the doctrine of Luther and Caluin to ruine the Church and aduanc the desseins of ambition oft intermingled with these fayre showes of Reformation Novv as yow can never plant anie new sect withowt faction conuenticles associations so to faction and schisme sedition is an accident inseparable for therupon all magistrates and lavves ar resisted and that vvith violenc for no vvar is so passionate as the vvars of conscienc Remember the natiuitie of Lutheranisme the Huguenots and Geuses and how vvell they vvear mantained by the svvord euen from ther Cradle so as they grevv to that height of presumption that either they vvould vnking ther soouerains and create them selfs Lords as in Holland or by tyring and terrifijng ther Princes vvith armes and tumults force them to pacification as in France or absolutelie depose ther Princes vvhen they became maisters and commanders of the state as Scotland can vvel remember and haith cavvse So likevvise on the contrarie part consider exactlie vvhether it be so impossible as some by ther books haue misinformed the vvorld for a Preast or a Roman Catholick to be a good subiect vvhich question concerneth vs