cary them into the light hold them against the sunne trie them and iudge of them They haue ouercome true religion say your seducers false teachers Is there any alteration of Religion made so rashly as your rebellion or teacheth it so vngodly doings as you do execute or is it receyued from any other than from the word of God himselfe If you will haue any religion I truste you will haue Christes religion If you will haue the Religion of Christ I hope you will best beleue himselfe to tell you what it is If you will heare him selfe speke you may not destroy his worde Euen they that would deceiue ye most can not deny that the holy Bible is the worde of GOD what soeuer is taught therin is truth what soeuer is against it is heresie falshode How thinke you then doe they meane you wel that take Gods word from you that destroy the bible teare and tread vnder féete the Scripture of the worde of God forbidde you to heare or knowe that wherby only you should heare and knowe truth and learne to sée their falshode can they wish you to see that would take away your light can they wish you to fare well that would depriue you of your foode The blasphemie is haynous the offence dangerous this path is not the way to true religion but to error which they would not haue you see that persuade you to blindfill your selfs against the truth of gods gospel Besides your destroying of Gods boke can ye think that they meane to draw you to true catholike religion that persuade you to destroy the monuments of Christian Communion Read or heare the whole forme of that seruice iudge of euery word and sentence and then shall you sée what comforte your false deceyuers haue taken from you Compare what good you find in that and what edifying in the contrarie what swéetenesse it is to ioyne with Gods congregation in partaking of Christes body bloud by meane of his Sacramentes and what vanitie or rather sorrow it is to gaze vpon a théefe that robbeth you of that treasure pretendeth to take it al himselfe holdeth vp that which he calleth a Sacrament as it were in insultation and triumphe ouer your silly simplicitie Do but heare reade and knowe the thinges that ye yet despise I dout not Gods grace shall crepe into you for your comfort Where thirdly you haue raged against the mariage of Gods Ministers beholde your owne madnesse I hope you be not all popish Priestes Bastardes thus rebelliously to rise for the honor of your false Fathers Do you think al your popish priests to haue liued chast Knowe you not their olde incontinence commonly misnamed lustinesse and good fellowship Remember the examples your selues Is mariage worsse than horedom was it not by themselues taught to be a sacrament Is it not the holy ordinance of god Is the mariage of your selues and youre forefathers become vnclennesse or displeasing to God Thinke not so yll of your selues No no there is another matter You are begyled poore soules loke home to your own beds preserue the cleanenesse honestie of your houses This is a quarell wholly like the old rebelles cōplaint of enclosing of commons Many of your disordered and euill disposed wiues are muche agréeued that Priestes which were wont to be common be nowe made seuerall Hinc illae lacrimae there is the griefe in déede And truth it is and so shall you finde it fewe women storme againste the mariage of Priestes calling it vnlawfull and incensing men against it but suche as haue bene Priestes harlots or fayne would be Content youre wiues your selues and let Priestes haue their owne And for whole religion receiue it as GOD hath taught it reade his worde and for the deliuerie and explication of it it behoueth you being no better clerkes than you are to credite the whole Parliament the learned Clergie of the Realme and those that teache you by the boke of God learne it in such sorte places as it is to be taught Your Camp is no good schole of Diuinitie Your churches as they were reformed the worde of God red in such tong as you vnderstode it the Sacraments ministred to your comforte in suche sorte as you might féele the sense of them and be edicted by them the good examples of youre Ministers liuing in holy matrimonie with their owne wyues and abstayning from yours their teaching you obedience iustice charitie be the means to learne truth And yet if errors had ben taught this is not the way to come to amendement Know of those that complain of the ouerthrowing of that religiō that liketh them if euer they sought good meanes to defend it and were denied if euer they offred conference where it was méete and were refused if euer they maynteined it in place conuenient by the word of God and were not fully truly and charitably answered Think you hir maiestie the wisest of the realme haue no care of their owne soules that haue charge bothe of their owne and youres Thinke you they would haue entred into the troubles of changing religion vnlesse very truth conscience and zele for all our soules had enforced them God wote you are deceyued you are out of the way for true vnderstanding religion you are out of the way for true seking it and ye are very far out of the way in thinking that your captaynes haue any care of it They abuse you in this as in the rest They regarde no religion that goe so irreligiously to work All is but shewes and hipocrisie They haue frequented the seruice established by cōmon authority they haue receyued Goddes Communion with hys Churche they haue commended it which if they had had the contrarie religion to hart they would not nor might haue done vnlesse they woulde confesse them selues such as you ought not to beleue But the truth is they knowe that for want of sufficient preachyng and especially for want of grace to receyue the truth of God preached and partly also for that long settled errours euen in men otherwyse good and honest must haue theyr time of instruction and parsuasion by these meanes I say there be many yet within the realme not well taught the multitude of which simple men they hoped by this colour to draw to the felowship of their rebellion and that way to haue more helpe to shelde them selues from the power of Iustice and so to gyue an aduenture by more ayde to escape the due punishement for these their treasons that otherwise in peasable place of iustice they could not defend or auoyde So still this is but colour euen as is the same y t foloweth that her Maiesties Coūsell haue disordered the Realme Well they knowe it is not so and well they know that they nor their auncesters neuer knewe it so well ordered But if any would beléeue such sclander they hoped thereby to winne the moe
otherwise acknowlege or otherwise fele or both to your terrour I speake it Her grace is the most louing mother and Nourse of all her good subiectes to your shame and reproch of vnkindenesse I say it Her highnesse is the Husbande of the coÌ„mon weale maried to the Realme and the same by ceremonie of ring as solemnely signified as any common mariage is to our great comfort and confidence I reherse it Shall your captains forsake her seruice and tell you they are good seruantes Shall they or you resyst her authoritie refuse her blessing say they or you be her good children Shall they seuer the knot of loue and agréement betwene her and them and yelde their bodies to a notorious adulter and yet saye they breake no bonde of this sacred wedlocke Call their doings to minde peruse them wey them They haue long agoe nourished this treason in their hartes they haue bene long prouidyng for it It was brought to her maiestie and her counsell by aduertisements they haue ben tenderly delt with priuately admonished of the rumours the matter so signified vnto them as if her highnesse where loth to beleue it them selues haue for sworne it with greate othes detestatioÌ„ protesting themselues to be frée from it Wherin note I pray you the great indulgence towarde them euen with the most that any subiect in highest place may vse in cases touching his Soueraignes safetie where of he ought no to be prodigal And yet could none of these too great kindnesses moue them Note withall how lykely they are to professe a true Religion that holde this principle to keepe to faith vse no loyalty regard no othes promises made with attestation of God and auowing themselues to renouncing of heauen to eternall damnation Note also how lykely they are to say true to you in the things they beare you in hand or in keping promise with you for your succor defence or standing by you in extremitie if themselues might haue any hope to escape and leaue you to gods mercie or rather to your own miserie most harde aduenture For surely they do in the while but vse you for a buckler to holde vp betwene them the strokes for a time and at length when they be ouerlayde they will throwe away their buckler that they may run away the lighter if they and their buckler bothe be not aforehande beaten downe to the ground â–ª But these good men well respecting Religion that respecte no faith nor will kéepe any with you more than they haue kept with the Quene her Officers being called at length by order to purge them selnes refuse to appeere being more earnestly called vpon to come declare their innocencie they enter into actuall rebellion raise vp you and other to keepe themselues from the face of iustice yet they haue put on a visour of great vertue and where in déed not being able to cleare themselues answer their traiterous leagues and deuises they vse you for the time to stay their apprehension til they may otherwise prouide their escape they beare you in hande that with all reuerence they remaine her true faithfull subiects Is not this a plain conterfait color There is no white without whitnesse no good without goodnesse none true without truthe none faithefull without faithefulnesse no subiecte without subiection and obedience What do they herein else but as all other traytoures and rebelles haue euer and ordinarily do pretend themselues to be true subiectes knowing otherwise that simple subiects wold not followe them at all These good religious Erles and Captaines that so much inuey ageinst faith whichâ— they vse not and bragge of the value and merits of good workes whereof they haue few now let them if they wil proue their colour true that they be as they pretend shew me their faith by their workes their white by their whitenesse proue themselues true by true dealing with god in their periuries with prince in their rebellion with subiect and neighbours in their spoyles and robberies and well paying their dettes yea with your selues in so fowly abusing you Let them proue themselues faithful subiectes in their refusing to come to answer in their rising without warrant their resistance with out yelding All these enormities they still continue no gentle vsage no good meane restraineth them Alas the case is to playne They say they haue good meaning If it were so it would procede by good doing and tend to good ending But what good meaning are such good men like to haue Or whatsoeuer is good meaning be these likely to lyght first vpoÌ„ it or fitly chosen to further it Somwhat must be saide or nothing can be done Some shew must be made or no maÌ„ wil folow How easie is it for the naughtiest person to say he meaneth well but how plaine is it on the other side for euery reasonable man to sée that he that doth vngraciously meaneth il and he that putteth in execution horrible and vngodly factes continueth and reioyceth in them riscth without his princes warrant armeth her subiects without authoritie employeth their force to her ferror bendeth al his doings to tumult and vprore destroyeth the boke of God the most comfortable iewell in the world published with the princes power and commendation wherein eche man is truely taught howe to do well in déede this man I say that doth thus yll meaneth not wel how good soeuer he say his meaning is Discerne the trée by the frutes the faith by the works the saying by proofe the pretended meaning by apparant déedes These men meane shrewdly or speake â–ª very falsely when they say they meane well and yet do so yll If they meane well to the Quéene when they thus resist her it is possible they will vndoe you too and yet beare you in hand they meane you well They meane to you daungerously euill and they meane to themseluâ—s foolishly wel in thrusting youre bodies betwéene them and their due danger while such shift wil last and till they may spie a better But you shal do wel to discerne their ill meaning let them aunswer their faults repent you your faults Of such a good meaning on your part may ryse a good doing and hap a better spéeding than is yet to be looked for But sée in what forme and particularities this good meaning is expressed Nobilitie say they and other haue giuen their faith to further this lewd meaning If any such confederacie be as it is not so greate as you be borne in hande it shall be good to the parties to purge them of that ielousie in true seruice against your captayns and you Neither can any be frée from the spot therof that shall be founde to aduaunce fauour mainteyne or ioyne him selfe to any estate or title that importes her maiesties daunger or hath impugned her highnesse safety right or dignitie No no this is but a colour to saunder Nobilitie and
complices and so to hide their owne daunger in the multitude Consider the truthe of this colour Wey the times conferre and examine them truly Let not false persuasions deceyue you Be not so wild and wanton with welth to forget whence your wealth commeth or not to sée that the Realme hath it Hadde Englande euer in our memorie so long so blissed peace bothe at home and abroad Had euer true Nobilitie more tender indulgence and honorable cherishing Had euer subiectes more true and frée administration of law and right Was England euer better ordered in all degrées from hye to lowe till your shamefull rebellion hath interrupted the great blessing of God Or hath all Christendome the like at this day your lewde tumult onely excepted Hath not her Maiestie with the aduise and ayde of her most honorable Counsell so ordered vs that we haue as it were standing on shore beholden the shipwrackes of other nations Liue we not dayly so our comfort with the fruites of this good gouernement It is suche that as the case standeth he is lyke to be vnhappy that shall ouerliue it Is this the thankes due to her Maiestie and her Counsell for their care and trauayle for your preseruation Suppose you that such kindnesse is the way to kepe GOD louing and beneficiall vnto vs Repent your error acknowledge with thankes the good order of the realme that you haue felt with profite forsake the disorderers of the coÌ„mon welth and yelde to suche good order as they that haue wel wisely iustly and mercifully ordered it can best dispose of you You sée these be stil but false colours to deceiue moe subiects to drawe moe adherentes to helpe to shroud your seducers in communitie of perill And of like sort falshode and impudencie is that they say of seeking to destroy Nobilitie Though some of them that so proclaime haue bene noble you must remember howe Nobilitie may rise and fal There is no traytor noble how notable soeuer he be or how noble soeuer his auncesters were The aduauncement for vertue to the most honorable order is no more due to good valiant and true Gentlemen than the defacing of the former ensignes of Nobilitie and solemne spurning them into a ditch is a due preiudice to desloyal and vntrue subiects the very stayne of whose companie presence or felloship in the tokens of honoure true Nobilitie can not beare Pitie it is that they haue so far forgotten the common wealth and their owh so to deserue But so deseruing good example and necessarie iustice it is that they beare their extremest infamie Neither yet hath the Quenes maiestie nor her Counsell soughte their destruction but they themselues haue now procured their owne and drawen you in with them Let themselues say of the benefites they haue receyued of her maiestie her good couÌ„tenance and supportation all her Counselles frendly and louing meanes to do them good then iudge ye what cause they haue so to saye As for the rest of the Nobilitie as they be moste déepely bound to her maiestie for her good and gracious tender loue and fauoure to them which they ceasse not to acknowledge and will do euen with the aduenture of their liues honours and possessions in her Maiesties defense against all rebels and traytoures and namely ageinst your Captaines and you so are they full slenderly beholden to your two good Erles for defaming them with the partenership of so fowle and abhominable treasons And for that the slaunder is generall without particular naming of any ye must loke for the more general reuenge of all nobilitie ageinst you no one shrinking or withdrawing but euery one moste forwardely pressing to purge himselfe by his good seruice from so great dishonoure and to shewe hys thankfulnesse the naturall propertie of honour to her maiestie for her great kindnesse and tender loue to that whole degrée Some of them to their great prayse you sée alredy haue shewed their truthe in repressing your attempts refusing your societies in readinesse to ouerthrow you Eche man is so likeliest to desire a newe estate as he hath most cause to be wery of the olde In what Princes dayes did euer Nobilitie liue or can they hope to liue in suche securitie in suche as it were nerenesse and conuenient familiarity with their prince so frée from vniust backbitings from vaine ielosies suspitions from dangers by enimies reports or false accusations from tumulte war and malice one against another yea from all vnsuerties and vnquietnesses as they haue done in her maiesties dayes It is maruellous and vnnaturally miraculous that there are founde such two I meane your two Erles to shew such vnkindnesse Thinke not then that any moe of nobilitie be so ill minded But be not deceyued take the thing as truth is this is but a color howbeit in dede a leud malicious suttle dangerous color partly to the intent to rayse mistrust betwene her Maiestie and her nobles if either were not so wel known to other as they be partly or rather chiefly to deceiue and deteine you with hope of that whiche is not in déede But as in the one they laboure in vayne so in the other learne you to be wiser to trust them the worse hereafter You finde it falleth not out so Hir maiestie hath euer cherished Nobilitie no one of that estate hath by her perished in all her time they know it and acknowledge it and you must féele it You sée that they come not to you for all the promises and faithes supposed in your proclamation It falleth not out as you are borne in hand they are al in readinesse with their power ageinst you to clere theÌ„selues to wreke the dishonor vpon you If this color deceiue you you winke hard or be maruelously blinded If any of nobilitie for any contempts or other causes haue ben stayed whereupon the likelyhode is that you are the more led to thinke this surmise true themselues acknowledge yet with what clemency they are vsed the world knoweth how sory hir maiestie is to haue any such occasion but howsoeuer it be they haue smal cause to thank you for agréeuing their case with greater suspitions and according to that you haue so ill deserued of them you must accompt that themselues so farre as their liberties and her Maiesties trust in them will permitte and all their friends for their benefite will with moste sharpe reuenge vpon you do what they can to persuade their innocence Neither I trust will her maiestie hir selfe so yet giue ouer the care of her owne preseruation as to contemne all aduertisements of attempts and not by good care and hed of hir counsel yea extirpation of the contrarie stand vpon her gard against all aduauncements â—of suche titles as you would preferre being dangerous to hir safetie and which haue alredy to their vttermost attempted her hiest perill or yet to leaue in danger to their malice hir good Subiects that be ielous
come and intending to gayne by spoyle woulde come so much the later for hauing somuch ayde as so many rebelles to helpe them to spoyl Therfore when they come not in déede you must néedes say that you were falsly so borne in hand with a gay hope to make you the bolder to runne to your owne destruction An vnnaturall hope it is and beastly to ioyne with any strangers to the spoyle of their own countrey But such is the nature of that false religion to regard no countrey fayth nature or common honestie Remember I pray you what yelded the realme tributarie and the King Uassal I meane king Iohn but the treason of Popish Religion What gaue the Crowne to Ludouike the Dolphin of France that inuaded and possessed muche of the realme a long time by the ayde of disloyal Barons in England but the treason of popish religion What sente Legates and Messangers yea Englishe traytours about Christendom to forren Emperors and Kyngs to offer them this Realme to pray spoyle and conquest to exhort them to turne their prepared powers from inuading the Turk to make war vpon the king of Englande our Soueraigne Ladies moste noble father whom they termed worse than any Turk but treason of popish Religion What hazarded this Realme with subiection to strangers in our late memorie but treason of popish Religion What then deriued yet daily doth solemn pedigrees to Spaniards other foreins yea wresteth lawe for dangerous strangers to make them acceptable to the deceyued multitude as though they were our naturall princes but only treason of popish religiō But God hath hetherto preserued this land from being subdued by these horrible treasons and I trust hée will still and in your poore case is most likelie to leaue your vain trust disapointed For consider the likelyhod The example so toucheth the common state of al Kings and Princes as you being rebelles may loke for no foren ayde though it were but for presidents sake Such forens as mighte come to you by lande are truer frends to the Quéene than you be subiectes where by the waye looke for no retire nor safe refuge but her maiesties mercy Other strangers that in déede haue vttered more malice to her Maiestie and her realm haue interrupted the good loue and peace and ancient loue amitie and intelligence betwéen her Maiestie and those Princes of whome shée hath moste constantely well deserued alas they be neyther much terrible to her maiestie nor can be much cōfortable to you Wil they in such season as may serue you◠turnes hauing so fewe to spare where they be bring a meane power by Sea so farre so dangerous a viage along the Quenes highnesse coast in such time of yeare being neyther able to resist her nauie by the way lesse able when their men be landed and leaste able to come againe to fetch them when the enterprise is ended Be they so mad trowe you to leaue their Nobilitie Captains and Souldiours in their enimies lande inclosed betwéen enimies of bothe Realmes without more succour than vnlikely Fortune the trust of a fewe Rebelles No no they be not yet so madde though you be madder There muste be greater heades and power than you be or haue at libertie that they wil ioyne wythall They can be contente to giue you vaine hope perhaps For if England may be in tumult by their practize and you come to your deserued ende it contenteth and suffiseth them to haue ventured the state at your perill and to haue gréeued her Maiestie with alienation and destruction of so many poore deceyued Subiectes Looke vnto your selues well the greate bragges are not perfourmed the promises are not kepte you are betrayed by your owne leaders Call to God for mercie bytimes satisfie her Maiestie with returning to dutie and that with al spede least though ye scape slaughter by the true subiectes hand you may not with honor be too gently delt with Deliuer them that betrayed you that they which in proclamations haue published vnto you vayne and false hopes of treasons may vpon scaffolds preach vnto you the right frutes of rebellion and dutie of obedience that their death may do more good in example than euer their liues did in practise This counsell I hope you will followe when the light of true consideration shall shine into your hartes and chase away all darknesse of these erronious shewes and false colors that yet haue blinded you and so much the more when you shall further note all the necessarie circumstances that may reduce you to truthe What be your leaders Your two Erles you know wel are euen of the meanest of all Nobilitie in hauior credite and power to conducte you through so great and dangerous an enterprise The one you see hardly beareth the coūtenance of his estate with his smal portion of that which his ancesters sometime had and lost his dayly sales and shiftes for necessitie euen then when he hadde lesse charge than to mainteine an army both in Sussex and else where are well knowen suche power as he hath had vsed in those partes aboute you is to be ascribed to her Maiesties authoritie vnder whom he serued which now is bent against him otherwise neyther his pollicie great to rule or redresse a Realm nor yet to espie the true faultes much lesse the remedie an vnfitte iudge of Religion and a very euill chosen chastiser of disordered life The other of no credit no wisdome nor gouernance no abilitie no vertue Who knoweth not the enormities of his life the indiscretion of ruling his owne the great lackes dettes wherein he is by his owne fault endangered the estimation of him as of a contemned man none otherwyse regarded than for the name sake of honor and some possibilitie that he might parhaps leaue a better son to amend the state of his house Thoughe his Father were touched with many great faults much noted in y e world some whereof this Gentleman hath as by inheritance receyued yet neuer dyd he so hurtfull a déed eyther to the cōmon weale or to his owne name and familie as when he begatte so vngracious a sonne Euen he that neuer gouerned well him selfe nor any thing that he hath whom no wiseman nor I thinke any of you as mad as ye be would priuately trust with ordering of a mean houshold now must take in publike charge the power of a shire or two yea of all the Realme if the rest wold aduenture as madly as you For the case of Religion doth any man knowe that euer he pretended any religion or conscience at all till now he makes an Apish counterfayting of fayned popish deuotion And now yet by your good iudgement he that knoweth neyther religion faith nor learning must come to comptroll the iudgement lerning faith of the Quenes Maiestie her Counsell and all her Clergie What madabsurdities are you runne into to beleue so apparant