RIghte honorable worshipfull and moste dearelie beloued in our lorde, no man can be ignorante that eyther by reporte, readinge, or remēbrance, list looke backe, not muche further thē fiftie yeares paste, that this great miserie, and mutation of state and Religiō in this our realme of England by which our Churche (Alas) ys already ouer­throwne, our cuntrie in extreame tearmes of perishinge, and our selues with what so euer is deare vuto vs, in daily dreade of destructiō and damnation proceaded not firste of the subiectes disorder or disobedience to theire kinges (as els where Heresie often dothe) and as we see in many of the next nations vnto vs yt presently hapneth, where popular mutenie against theire magistrates, hath caused their like calamity: But be­gonne firste and wholly in effecte, by our Kinge that then was, Henrie the eighte, and afterwar­de till this daie, hathe bene specially pursued, by [Page IIII] our princes pretensed lawes, and vsurped soue­rainty ouer our soules, to the which our Nobi­lité, Priestes and people, by force and feare, haue rather bene drawne then by lawful consente yeilded therunto.

lob. 14. And albeit wicked and hipocriticall kinges, be suffred sumtimes or sent from God, for the subiectes sinnes and for our offences, greate no doubte and greauous in euerie estate (let none excuse themselues, let none accuse others;) and that we hereby, may worthely also be thought to haue deserued bothe our princes fall, and our 1. Reg. 13. owne punishement, accordinge to Gods most holy cōmination, that when his people should cease to serue him in truthe, and comitt wicked­nes, bothe they & theire kinge shoulde perishe together: Neuerthelesse, to see and knowe the place specially affected, and the nexte immediate surge of all our sores▪ where we expecte remedy and not ruine, ys necessary for our recoue­ry. VVherin, though the case haue longe semed vvel neere desperate, yet God himself not forget full of his olde mercies, beholdinge from hea­uen our not voluntary but coacted miseries, and our moste holy and zelous father in Christe Sixtus the fifte, his higheste Minister, and our che­fest magistrate and master in earthe, to whom our Sauiour hath giuen Apostolike power to ta­ke vengeance vpon disobedience, moued by the sorowes and sighes of so manie aflicted soules, and instant praiers of all Christian people that pittie our enforced perishinge in Schisme and Heresie, doth giue vs at this time, both better meanes, more hope, and redyer helpe, then we [Page V] coulde euer possiblie haue either deserued or de sired: yea thei haue (not the pope alone but God himselst suerly, and other the most zelous and mightiest Princes in Christendom by his Indu­ction) takē the whole care of our case into their owne handes, and that with suche sinceare in­tention (whereof my-self can best beare wit­nes and assure you my deare cuntrymen) and in such sweete moderate & mercifull sorte, that in the appliance of the prepared remedie, neither the corps of our commonwealthe, nede to feele or feare any distresse, nor any parte, (other then the principall affected, and sum suche feawe as will not followe this offer of Gods ordinaunce) be wroonge or wrinched thereby. For albeit of ten els, in likecase of reuolte from Gods Chur­che and our fathers faithe, not onlie the kinges, but also their cuntries, after diuers dreadefull Censures and Sentences, haue bene by supreme authority of Christes vicar, giuen vp to Inua­siō, warres, wastes, and final distruction, and we nowe mighte by way of rigor and extreame Iu­stice, be bothe charged & chastised far more depely then the Churche of Theatira for tollerating Apo. 2. the wicked Iesabell, not now as then callinge herself a prophetisse, but the verie cheefe spiri­tuall gouernesse vnder God, to teache and de­ceaue Gods seruantes, and to force them to for­nication, to eate breade of Idolatrie in Schismati call seruice. And also for that, by error of cōscience or wante of couragc, we haue so longe vnna­turally subdued our soules to our bodies, hazar­ded our eternall saluation, to saue our transito­rie substance, obeyed man more then God, pre­ferred [Page VI] the temporall title, not only of lawful ci­uill authority, but of manifold vsurped Tiran­nie, aboue the supreame Bishops spirituall soue Mat. 16. Io. vl [...]. raignty, by Christes expresse worde established on earthe, yeilding to the one moste seruilly as to our household and home God, and as to a ve­rie nationall idol, subiection bothe of bodie and soule, & thearby disobeyinge, disgraceynge dispi singe, and blaspheminge the other, as a forrē po­wer, or rather as a strange deuill or Antechriste Deut. 17 Luc. 10. Num. 16. (a thinge punishable in the olde lawe by dea­the reputed inthe newe for expresse contempt of Christes owne person, reuenged in Core and his confederates by fearefull fier from hea­uen, by horrible gapinge of the grounde they stoode vpon and by sudden sinkinge downe to hell.) Yet all this notwthstandinge, the Popes holines, who accordinge to his Apostolike benignity, wholly inclined to mercy, followinge Gods rule and example rather of sparinge the wicked for the good, then punishinge the innocent for the euil, that the soule which sinneth onely may perishe, doth most mercifully forget and forgiue all the premisses, aswell in the whole body of the cōmō wealthe as in euery particuler person, that ys penitent and wearie of these horrible dis­orders and treasons committed against God, the See Apostolike, holie Churche, and our cuntrie (incorrigible persons, and principall procurers of these mischefs only excepted) and only meaneth in Christes woorde and power giuen vn­to him, and in zeale of Gods house, to pursue the actuall depriuation, of Elizabethe the pretensed Queene, eftsones declared and iuditially senten­sed, [Page VII] by his Holines predecessors, PIVS QVIN­TVS and GREGORIE the XIII. for an heretike and vsurper▪ and the proper present cause of perdition of millions of soules at home, and the ve­rie bane of all Christian kingdomes and states neere aboute her. That in this one womans condigne correction, Gods mighty arme that deposeth the proude and powrable persons frō their Luc. 1. seates may be feared and glorified, and the hor­rible and wicked outrages of Henrie the eighte her supposed fathers house and person, together with Gods vengeance on the same, may in sum measure of his iustice be accomplished, and our whole people put in happy hope of saluatiō and full fredom of conscience againe, that all the Psal. 5 [...] iuste of the earthe may saie. Lo this is she that tooke not God for her strenghte, but trusted to her trea­sures and preuailed in her wickednes. And that all the worlde, and namely our owne nation and people, to whom the matter so nearly appertei­neth, may throughly iudge aswell of this wo­mans and her parentes de [...]ertes, as of his Holi­nes and his mightie and godly confederates moste happie intention; and howe iustelie and nedefullie for our only benefi [...]e and succour, they procede at this present to her chastisement and deposition; Yt may please all my most deere cuntrymen▪ and specialy our peeres and Nobili­tie, on whom the auncyent honor and libertie of our churche and cuntrie cheifely dependethe, and by whose sworde and kinghtehood (specially giuen to them and theire noble progenitors for defence of the Catholike religion) our cun­trie hathe often bene deliuered from the tyran­ny [Page VIII] and vexation of diuers disordered insuppor­table kinges and cruell vsurpers. May it please them (I saie) to consider but alitle with me, the condition of the person pursued, and cen­sured by Gods Churche, together with the weight, qualety, & number of her offences, and horrible crimes, which beinge open almoste to all the worlde before, and now brefely recorded by this writinge, no man (I truste) shall maruell why Christes vicar here in earthe, with other highe ministers of Gods iustice, wolde or could depriue this tirante of her vsurped state and do­minion, when no commonwealthe by lawe of nature nether wolde nor mighte iustelie suf­fer any suche, to rule or raigne ouer any humane societie, thoughe neither Christe, Pope, fayth, nor religion were knowne.

The chee se poin­ctes of this ad­monitiō. To procede therfore brefely and plainely we will sett downe what manner of womā she ys against whom this holie enterprise ys made; of whom and in what māner dissended; Howe intruded into that dignity wherin she standeth; Howe she hath behaued herself both at home and abrode; By what lawes of God and man her punishement ys pursued; Howe iuste, ho­nest, and necessarie causes all true Englishmen haue to embrace & sett forward the same, seing yt procedeth from so lawfull authorite, so iust groundes, so holie intentions, and tendeth to so happie an ende, and is to be executed by so suer and sweete meanes, and chosen persons, as now shall be declared.

And first of all it is notorious to the whole worlde, that Henrie the supposed father to this [Page IX] pretensed Queene, besides the infinite quantety and enormeous qualety, of his most execrable wickednes, for the which by all lawe of religiō, reason, & nature, he deserued often times to be depriued, was in fine, for his horrible sacriled­ges, murtheringe of Saintes, and rebelliō against Gods Churche, lawfully excommunicated and depriued by Paulus tertius in the yeare 1535▪ and there withall by name and in particuler all the issue that should procede of his incestuous copu­lation with Anne Bullen, was moste iustly de­clared illegitimate and vncapable of succession to the croune of England: and that aswell by the sentence of the said Paule, and of his prede­cessor Clement the VII. in the yeare of our lor­de 1533. (bothe which stande in theire full force still) as by sundry actes of parliament made by Henry him self and neuer repealed legitimating her sister and declaringe her to be base, she must nedes be adiudged by lawe & nature vnable to inherite the croune.

Neyther may she here alege, that by consent of the states and Commonwelthe she ys law­fully possessed: for that by force she intruded, and constreyned many men to giue theire con­sentes, deposinge vniustly the Lordes of the Clergy without whome no lawfull Parlament can be holden in that Realme, nor Statute made which hath force to authorise Prince or bin­de Subiectes. Ouer and besides that she neuer had consente nor any approbation of the See Apostolike, without which, she nor any other can be lawfull Kinge or Quene of Englande, by reason of the auncyent Acorde, made betwene [Page X] Alexāder the. III. the yere 1171. and Hēry the II. then kinge when he was absolued for the dea­the of sainte Thomas of Cāterburie that no mā might lawfully take that Crowne nor be accō ­pted as Kinge, till he were confirmed by the so­ueraigne Pastor of our soules which for the time shoulde be: This accorde afterwardes beinge renewed, aboute the yere 1210. by Kinge Iohn, who confirmed the same by othe to Pandul­phus the Pope his legate, at the speciall requeste and procurement of the Lordes and Comons, as a thinge most necessary for preseruatiō of the Realme from vniust vsurpation of Tyrantes, and auoydinge other incōueniences which they had proued, and mighte easely fall againe by the disorder of some wicked Kinge.

But howsoeuer she be dissended or possessed of the croune, her manifolde wickednes hath ben, so heinous and intollerable that for the sa­me she hathe bene in person iustly deposed by the sentences of thre sundrie Popes, wherunto yf we adde the two former censures condem­ninge her incestuous natiuity and generatiō, we shall finde that she hathe ben condēned by fiue declaratorie iuditiall sentēces of Gods Churche.

Persona­ble cri­mes of E­lizabeth, and first of Here­sie. And to beginne with the highest and most heinouse crime of all against God and his Churche, she ys conuicted of many damnable here­sies, and open rebellion against Gods Churche and See Apostolike, for which she ys so noto­riously knowne, termed and taken for an hereti­ke, aswell at home as abrode, that she was glad to prouide by a special acte of parliament, that none should call her heritike, Schismatike, Ty­rante, [Page XI] vsurper, or infidell, vnder paine of highe treason.

She arrogateth spirtiuall dignite. She vsurpeth by Luciferian pride, the title of supreme Ecclesiasticall gouernment, a thinge in a woman, in all mens memory vnheard of, nor tollerable to the mastres of her owne secte, and to Catholikes in the world most ridiculous, absurde, monstrous, detestable, and a verie fable to the posterite.

Bastar­die. She vnlawfully intruded herself, as before I haue said, in to possession of the croune of Eng­land, and the annexed dominions not by any dis­sent of inheritannce or other lawfull title, but only by enforced vniust partly made by her supposed father beinge then an excommunicated person, and partely coacted by herself and her coplices in the beginninge of her pretended raigne, beinge indede taken and knowen for an incestuons bastard, begotten and borne in sinne, of an infamous curtesan Anne Bullen, after war­de executed for aduoutery, treason, heresie and inceste, amōgest others with her owne naturall brother, which Anne, her said supposed father kepte by pretensed mariage▪ in the life of his law full wife, the most renonmed and blessed ladie Queene Katherine, daughter of Castill and Ara gon, as he did before vnnaturally knovve and ke pe bothe the said Annes mother and sister.

Periury and im­piety. She ys guilty of periury and highe impietie for that she did breake, violate, and deride, the sollemne othe and promise made in her corona­tion, for defence of the Ecclesiasticall liber­ties and priuileges graunted by the aunciēt Christian kinges of our realme, and for the contemp­te [Page XII] of the holy ceremony vsed in the annointinge and inuestinge of all faithfull princes: wher in her wickednes was so notorious, that the prin­cipall Prelate that then was in the realme, and to whom by auncyent order (the Cardinall of Can terbury then being deade) that function apper­teined, durst not for feare of God, and respect of his conscience, nor did not annointe her.

Abolis­shinge Catholike Religion. She did immediately vpon her said intrusiō, violentlie against all lavve and order (the whole Clergie, and many of the nobility and cōmons constantlie reclaminge) to the predition of infi­nite soules, abolis he the whole Catholike Reli­gion, and faithe, that all the former faithefull kin ges of our cuntrie honorably liued and died in; repealinge at the same time all the godly actes that Queene Marie the onlie lavvfull daughter of Kinge Henrie the eighte, made for the recon­cilement of the realme, to the vnite of Gods vniuersall Churche againe; and reuyued all the im­pious statutes, made by her forsaid supposed fa­ther and brother againste God, the Churche, the See Apostolike, & all innocencie, by which she seuered herself and subiectes violently from the societie of all Catholike cuntries, and from the felovvship of all faithefull princes and preistes in the worlde.

Propha­ninge Sacramen­tes. She did at the same time abolish or prophane all the holie sacramentes of Christes Churche, and aboue other in particuler, the very blessed and soueraine facrifice of Christes bodie and blud, errectinge for the same, and in disgrace therof, highe idolatrie, and poluted breade of schisme and abhominable desolation.

[Page XIII] Forbid­dinge preachers. She did shutt vp bothe pulpits and Chur­ches from all Catholike preistes, preachers, and people, caused all Gods publike trew auncyent honor, seruice, and sollemnity, throughout the whole realme of England (a moste lamētable case) and not longe after in Ireland, to cease vpon one daie, constrayninge by greate penalties and extreme punishment many thovvsand poore christian soules of euery degree and sexe, to for­sake that faith and religiō, in which they and all theire forfathers were baptised and brought vp, euer since the realme was first conuerted▪ to Christe, to the great torment of theire mindes and cō sciences and shortninge of theire daies.

Propha­ninge of churches and all holies. She impiouslie spoiled all sanctified places of their holye Images, Relikes, memories, and monuments of Christe our Sauior, and of his bles­sed mother and Saintes, her owne detestable cognisaunce and other prophane portratures and paintinges exalted in theire places: and thear­with hathe ouerthrowne, destroied & robbed, all holy alters, chalices, vestiments, Churche bookes, and sacred vesselles, with what so euer was consecrated to Gods true vvorship▪ and the re­uerence of Christian religion, in the aunciente Apostolike ministerye of the holye sacraments.

Violatin­ge sacred persons. She hathe ceazed vpon the sacred persons of Gods annointed, euen of verie Bishops that had charge of her ovvne soule, called them to accompte for their preachinge and doctrine, con­uented them before her prophane counsellers and comissioners, deposed and imprisoned thē with all others that were of lerninge and dignitye amonge the Clergie, till by the misery of [Page XIIII] their captiuité they be in effecte wholly wor­ne and wasted avvaie.

Impious scorneful nes. She hathe caused the Preists of God violent­ly to be plucked from the aulter in the middest of the soueraine action, and to be caried in scor­nefull māner reuested through the streates, and exposed to all the vngodly villanie, irrision, fu­rie, and follie of the simple and barberous peo­ple: a thinge certes that aboue all other kindes of irreligiosity most deservethe and sonest pro­cureth God vengeance.

Suppres­siō of Mo nasteries. She hathe suppressed all the religious houses of bothe sexes, so manie as vvere restored after her fathers former horrible spoile, dispersed the professed of the same, and robbed thē of all their landes and possessions.

Oppressiō of Catholike Gentlemē ▪ and ex [...]orsiō. She hathe by vniust tyrannicall statutes iniu­riously inuaded the landes and goodes of Catho like Nobles and gentlemen, that for conscience sake haue passed the seas: and molested, disgra­ced, imprisoned, and spoiled, many at home of all degrees, because they vvolde not giue othe and agreemēt, to her Antechristian, and vnnatu­rall proude challenge of supremacy, nor honor the Idoll of her prophane communion borde, whereby sum prouinces, be in manner wholly bereaued of theire iust gētlemē in administratiō of the lavves, & the people excedingly anoied by losse of so good lordes, and so great houske­pers, for lacke of vvhō, the poore dailye perishe.

Destru­ction of the Nobilitie. Besides all which sacrileges abhominations and extorsions against God his Churche and her ovvne people, she passingly hath indaunge­red the kingdom and cuntrie by this great alte­racion [Page XV] of religion, vvhich thinge ys neuer vvith out ineuitable perille, or rather sure ruine of the common vvealthe; as also she hathe done by great contempte and abasinge of the auncyent Nobilite, repellinge them from due gouernmēt, offices, and places of honor, thrustinge them to shamefull and odious offices of inquisition vpō Catholike men, to the greate vexation and ter­ror of their ovvne consciences, forcinge them through feare and desier of her fauor, and of her base leaders, to condemne that in others, vvhich in theire hartes and consciences themselues like of, and putting into their houses and chambers, traitors, spials, delators, and promoters, that ta­ke vvatche for her of all theire vvaies, vvordes, & vvritinges; by vvhich the principall be alredy Norfolke Northū berland▪ vves mer land, Da cres &c. ruined moste lamentablie, and the rest stande in continuall thraldom daunger and dishonor: so ielous be all tyrants and vsurpers, of their state, and so lothe they are to be seconded by any other then of theire ovvne creation.

Nevve Nobilitie. She hathe in steade of the forsaid, and to their shame and despite, aduaunsed base and vnpure persons, inflamed vvith infinite auarice and am­bition, men of great partialitie briberie and ini­quity, to the highest honors and most proffita­ble offices of her courte and cuntrie, repelling from all publike actiō, charge and authority, vnder colour of religion, the wisest, Codliest, ler­nedst, and sincearest of all sortes of men, to the speciall annoiance and dishonor of the vvhole state.

Nevve Clerglie. She hathe intruded the very reffuse of the vvorst sorte of mortall men, infamons amorous [Page XVI] Apostats and heretikes, to all the spirituall digni­tes and prefermētes in the realme, vvho by their insatiable couetousnes and concupiscence, haue made lamentable hauoke, vvaste, and destructiō of the anncientest (vvelneare) and honorablest spirituall states in Christendō, herself not alitle helpinge to the spoile of the same.

Harbo­ringe strā gers. She hathe laid the cuntrie vvide open to be a place of refuge and sanctuarie of all Atheystes, Anabaptistes, heretikes, and rebellious of all na­tions, and replenished sundrie the coste tovvnes and other, vvith innumerable strangers of the vvorst sorte of malefactors and sectaries, to the great impouerishinge of the inhabitantes, and no small perill of the vvhole realme: this beinge taken to be certen, that the number and quale­tie of them is suche, that vvhen time may serue and fauour them, they may giue a sturdy batail to the inhabitantes of the realme.

Po [...]nge the peaple. She hathe not spared to oppresse her subiects (neuer hauinge iust vvarres vvith any kinge or cuntrie in the vvorld) vvith manifolde exactiōs not only by ordinatie meanes of more frequent and large subsedies (for vvhich only ende she hathe had more parliaments and more often prorogations therof then euer any lavvful prin­ce had, in so many yeares) but also by sundrie shameful guiles of lotaries, lavves, decrees, & falles of money and suche like deceites: and ha­the imploied the riches of the realme to sett vp and susteine Rebells and Heretikes against their naturall princes, to the great dishonor of our na­tion, damage and daunger asvvell of our mar­chauntes, as of all other trauaylers; a publike pi­racie [Page XVII] and robberie bothe by sea and land, ther­vvith authorisinge by her letters of marte, and othervvise permittinge, diuers vvicked persons to spoile vvhom they liste, vvithout sparinge, sum peece of the gaine retorninge to sum of her ovvne cheif councellers and officers.

Sellinge of lavves She dothe for monye and bribes, to the enri­chinge of herself and seruantes, by licenses, dis­pensations, pardons, and permissions, abolishe or frustrate many proffitable lavves: as she do­the to the same ende multeplie sundry friuolous actes, vvith great sorfets to the transgressors▪ vvittingly forbearing (as yt may be thought) the execution of the same, that after obliuion of the obseruation therof, her courtiers and other loste Cosines and compagnions (vvhom her excessiue auarice vvill not suffer to revvarde of her ovvne) may make pray by promotinge the poore people, & so liue and fede on the carcas of the commonvvealthe: yea euen sucke out the verie bludd of poore aflicted Catholike mens consciences, vvho besides those sacrilegious mas mulctes, and the nevv made spoiles and intol­lerable extorsions, for not cōminge to their dam nable Idolatry of the communion, (vvhich for the loue of Gods lavve they often incurr and susteine, to the vtter lamentable ruine of them & their posterity) be faine by great importable giftes to procure at her officers handes, sum little ease and release of the intollerable feares and miseries that they liue in. By vvhich vvicked trafi­que and other pittifull pillage of the people, sum of her creatures are grovvne so great inso­lēt, that all states & degrees vvithin the Realme [Page XVIII] stand in avve and daunger of them.

D [...]ytester In vvhich sorte, besides others whō vve nede not note, she hath exalted one speciall extor­sioner, vvhom she tooke vp first of a Traitor & vvoorse thē naughte, only to serue her filthy lu­ste, vvherof to haue the more fredō and intrest, he (as may be presumed, by her consent) caused his ovvne vvife cruelly to be murthered, as after vvarde for the accomplishement of his like bru­tis The Erle of Essex. he pleasures vvith an other noble dame it is openly knovvne he made avvaie her husband; who novv of an amorous minion aduaunsed to highe office, degree, & excessiue vvelthe, is becum her cheife leader in all her vvicked and vnvvonted course of regimēt her instrument of the destructiō of the nobilitie, by many indirect meanes, & of the ruining, abacinge, disgracinge▪ disauthorisinge diuers auncyent hovvses na­mes and persons of renoume; besides innumera­ble of the cōmunalty perished most pittifulie in sundry prouinces for the feeding of his infinite auarice and other his vnsatiable companions & reteinors, liuinge only of briberie, spoile, and roberie: wherby, and throughe the fauoure of the pretended he hathe this n any a yeare ouerruled the chamber, courte counsell, parliamēt, portes, fortes, Seas, Shipps, borders, men, munition, and all the cuntrie; hathe had still at commaund­ment all officers iustices, Benches, Barres & Ses­sions, hath had the sale and monopolie of all la­wes, offices, licenses, [...]or [...]ettes, Byshoprickes, benefices and Colleges; hathe made suche traffi­que▪ hoppinge & chaunginge with his mistris, aboute the treasures, prerogatiues, landes, and [Page XIX] commodeties of the croune, that so & by diuer­se vnspeakable trecheries, he hathe enabled and fortefied himselfe farr aboue the measure of any English subjecte, and hathe bene the principall disturber and destroyer of the prouinces rounde about vs, to the impouerishment of the people at home, and decay of all trafique abrode, with extreme perill of the lande.

Her dishonest lyfe. VVith the forsaid person and diuers others she hathe abused her bodie, against Gods lawes, to the disgrace of princely maiestie & the whole nations reproche▪ by vnspeakable and incredi­ble variety of luste, which modesty suffereth not to be remembred▪ neyther were it to chaste ea­res to be vttered how shamefully she hath defiled and infamed her person and cuntry, and made her Courte as a trappe, by this damnable and de­testable arte, to intāgle in sinne and ouerthro we the yonger sorte of the nobilitye and gentlemen of the lande, whereby she is become notorious to the worlde, & in other cuntryes a comō fable for this her turpitude, which in so highe degre namely in a woman and a Queene, deseruethe not onelie deposition, but all vengeaunce bothe of God and man, and cannot be tollerated with out the eternal infamie of our whole cun rie, the whole world deriding our effeminate dastar die, that haue suffred suche a creature almost thir tie yeares together, to raigne bothe ouer our bodies and soules, and to haue the chief regiment of all our affaires aswel spirituall as temporal, to the extinguishinge not onely of religion but of all chaste liuinge and honesty. Refusin­ge [...].

She coulde neuer be restrained from this in­continence [Page XX] thoughe the principall peers of the realme and others of high authority as depu­ties from the whole parliament and estates, ma­de humble sute and supplicacion to her, that for pittie and compassion of their desolate case, and of the daunger that the whole realme, and spe­cially the nobility should be in, yfshe deceased without lawful issue, in suche a number of competitors of the croune, she wold therfore marrie and procure (yf yt were Gods pleasure) lawfull heires of her bodie to inherite her dominions after her: to whom sumtimes she merely and mockingly answered, that she wold die a mai­dē Queene, but afterwards in contēpte and re­buke of all the states of the realme, and to the cō demnation of chaste and lawfull mariage (wher unto as to a bridle of her licentiousnes, she ys enemie) she forced the verie parliament it self to giue consent and to prouide by a pretēded lawe, not tollerable (nor euer I trowe hearde of before in a Christian free people) that none should so muche as be named for her successor duringe her life, sauinge the naturall, that ys to saie bastard borne childe of her owne bodie. A wonderfull thraldōe, a lamētable case, that this highe courte of olde so renoumed for fredome and iustice, should now be at the deuotion of one woman so farr, as to authorise both her shamefull incontinency & pernitious obstinacy against the ho­nor and good of the whole realme: hauinge no cause in the worlde why the next laufull heire may not better beare the naminge, then her vn­lawfull longe concealded or fained yssue, sauing that yt might be preiudiciall to her priuate & pre [Page XXI] sent peace, which she euer prefferreth before the publike; as she presumeth vpon the expe­rience and late remembrance of her owne wic­ked practises against her soueraine, when the ti­me Her treae sons against quee­ne Maria was, measuring all other by her owne impa­tient ambition: but indede yt procedeth spe­cially, vpon the agnisinge of her vnrightfull po s session, vsurpers alwaies standing in more awe of the next heire and successor, then lawfull princes commonly doe.

The pre­tense of mariage. The Earle of Arū dell & others. The Erle of Arrā. the K. of Svvethē. Archeduke Char­les▪ the Duke of Holst. Hē ri novv kinge of France. Monseur Alanson. She, all this notwithstandinge, in the meane season, as often before and afterward, promised mariage to sum of the nobillity at home, ma­kinge many of them in single lyfe to the danger of their soules, and decay of their famelies, to attend her pleasure: & no lesse depelie dallied & abused by dissembly almost all the great personages of Europe, to whom aswel by letters, as by sollemne Embasses, she proffered herself, to the mockery & finall deluliō of thē all, to her owne infamy, and the daunger of her people, and spe­cially of late yeares she hathe most pittifuly and deuilishly abused, the late noble brother of Frā ce, by manifold hope and promise of her maria­ge and croune, by which baite, and her deceite­full suggestion, the poore yonge gentleman was driuen in to those dangerous actions and dishonorable affaires of Heretikes and rebells, to his great dishonor, and likelie shorteninge of his daies.

Her vn­naturall affection to vvar­des the cuntrie. By all which dishonorable & vnworthy dea linge, the whole worlde may see that in Atheis­me & Epicurisme, she would (yf yt were possible and might be suffred as she hathe begun) [Page XXII] turne the lyfe and whole weale of our cuntrye once most florishinge, to the feedinge of her owne desordered delites, being lothe no doubte that any thinge should be lefte after her lyfe, that her rage and riot had not ouerrun, or that her realme should be extant any lōger then she might make pleasure of it; most gladd (as may seeme) that so florishing and auncyent a com­mōwealth which she hathe in manner brought to destructiō in her lyfe, might be buried in her ignominious ashes when she ys dead. VVherin her affectiō is so passinge vn̄atural, that she hath bene heard to wishe, that the day after her death she might stand in sum high place betwene hea uen and earthe, to behold the scamblinge that she conceyued wold be for the croune; sportin­ge herself in the conceyte and foresight of our future miseries, by her onlie vnhappines procu­red: not vnlike to Nero, who intending for his recreation to set Rome on fier, deuised an emi­nent pillar wheron himself might stand to be­hold it, but so God may prouide for her, and vs, that she may see and feele sum parte of this pa­stime in her daies, or rather she only and a fewe ofher Complices feele the paine, who alone or principallie haue deserued it, if we be so wise as to follow Gods ordinances.

Consede ration vvith rebelles. Besides all these outrages in her person and regiment, and besides sundrie wicked attemp­tes, and treasons before she came to the croune, against her prince & cuntrie at home, she hathe shewed such faithles dealinge towardes all neere neighboures most iuste mightie and Ca­tholike kinges abrode, that it is almost incredi­ble: [Page XXIII] Sum she hathe ignominiouslie spoiled of great treasures; One that fledd to her for promi­sed succor and safety yea euen her that was our true lawful and worthie soueraine, she hathe against all lawe of God, nature, and nations, af­ter longe imprisonment at lengthe also murthe­red; of [...]um she hathe surprised tounes and teri­tories; with sum she hathe in great simulation offreindship, in effecte broken most aunciēt lea gues and amitie; against them all, she hathe not only notoriously cōfederated herself with their rebelles, Hugonotes, Geuses, publicanes, & Male contents, giuinge them great succourse bothe of men munition and monye, with muche con­tinuall incoragement and counsell in all their wicked attempts: but was and yet is knowne to be the first & principall fountaine of all these furious rebellions, in Scotland, France, & Flan­ders, to the fall almost ofall their whole states, & the great calamitye of the Churcheof God, wher by it is euident to all the world that herself raigneth vnlawfuly as an vsurper and rebell, who onely standeth and holdeth herself vp all this while, by ioyning with Traitors and rebel­les, and succoringe them against their lawfull princes and soueraines.

Her lea gue vvith the Tur­ks. In this kinde she hathe by the execrable pra­ctises of sum of her cheese ministers, as by their owne handes, letters, and instructions, and by the parties confessions it may be proued, sent abrode excedinge greate numbers of intelligen­sers, spies, and practisers, in to moste princes courtes, citties, and commun wealthes in Chri­stendom, not onely to take and giue secret noti­ce [Page XXIIII] of princes intentions, but to deale with the discontented of euerie state for the attemptinge of sum what against their lordes and superiors, namely againste his holines and the Kinge of In fanes instru­ctions. Spaine his maiestie, whose sacred persons they haue soughte many waies wickedly to destroie, as furthermore it is euident, how she hathe by messingers and letters, dealte with the cruel and dreadfull Tirante and enemie of our faithe the Great Turke himself, (againste whom our noble kinges haue in olde time so valiantly foughtē, and vowed themselues to all perriles and pere­grinations) for the inuasiō of sum partes of Christendom, and interceptiō of sum defensible portes and places of the same, as for the disturbance of Christianity and annoiance of the principall defenders of the Catholike religion, she hathe at this day a ledgar in his courte.

By which Machiuelian, godlesse, and consciencelesse course, iniuste vsurped regimentes be al­waies conducted; aduaunced not by counsell or courage, but by plaine trumperie, treason, & co­sinage, workinge their owne peace, welthe, and felicity, by their neighbours warrs, woe, and miserie, which neuer endeth well, nor dureth lōge, nor is in fine vnreuenged; thoughe the pre­sent prosperity, vpholden by others calamity, hathe auerted the sence the simple & worldlie, from the beholdinge of that extreme plague, which alwaies bothe by Gods iustice, and mans reuenge insueth of the same.

[...]er'ex­treme pri [...] VVhich longe felicitie, not withstādinge, hath so puffed vp this vsurper in presumption & pri­de of harte, that besides all other insolences and [Page XXV] glorious vanetyes and vauntes in her wordes, crakes, countenances, and iestures, in all her lyfe and behauiour (in which kinde she exceadeth all creatures liuinge,) she hathe caused the annuall daie of her coronatiō in all partes of the realme to be sacredly kepte and sollemnised, with rin­ginge, singinge, shewes & cerimonies, & farr more vacation from all seruile labors then any day either of our blessed lorde or ladie, & which ys more abhominable, hauinge abolished the solemne feaste of our blessed ladies natiuity, she hathe caused her owne impure birthe day to be solemnlie celebrated, and put in to the kalender the verie eue of the said holie feaste and put out the name of an other sainte the 17. of Nouem­ber, to place the memory of her Coronation: God graunte she may repente, leaste in steade of her `excessiue praises that her fauorers and flaterers now giue vnto her, she heare yet in her owne daies, the saienge of the prophet against the proud prince Nabuchodrnosor: how didest Esa. 14▪ thow fall Lucifer from heauen, that wast so ori­ent in the moringe? how wast thow brought doune to the grounde that woundedst nations, that subuertedst kingdoms, and saidst in thy hart, I will be like the highest? or feele the pla­gue of one of the Herodes that for to to muche delytinge in the peoples praises & acclamatiōs, and for not giuinge glorie to God▪ was suddenly stricken by Gods angel, eaten of wormes, and died.

Obstinas in mali [...] Now of all these heynous horrible facts, not credible almost to be acheiued by one woman, and her cōplices not so many, she hathe in fine [Page XXVI] shewed herself incorrigible, and altogether im­patiet of admonitiō, wherof she neuer had wā ­te, aswell by the writinges of sundrie her lerned subiectes, as sumtimes by the Imperiall Ma­iestie, and other temporall Princes, and name­ly by diuers holie Popes, whose Nuntioes she wold neuer admitt to tell her (as of deutie they thought themselues bōude) Gods threatninges for all her forsaid and many other intollerable Her excomunica­tion and contēpte therof. disorders of beleife, lyfe, & gouernment. But to accomplishe all other impiety, and to shew herself wholly solde to sinne, she hathe now eigh­tene yeres stoode stubbernly, contemptuously, and obduratly, as in the sight of God by her owne willfull separatiō through schisme and he resie iudged & condemned before, so now by name notoriously excommunicated and depo­sed in the word of Christe and omnipotent power of God by sentence giuen against her by holie Pius the fyfte the highest courte of religiō vnder the heauens. The which state of excomunication (thoughe presently of the faithelesse, where ther is no Sense of religion, it be not felt nor feared) is moste miserable, most horrible, & [...] most neare to damnation of all thinges that may happen to a man in this lyfe: farr more greauous Aug. lib. 1. contra Faust cap. 17. (sayeth a certen glorious Doctor) then to be hewen in peeces with a sword▪ consuned by fier or deuoured of wilde beastes and it is expressed in the scriptures by the state of kinge Pharao his obduration and excecation in wilfull wickednes.

She murthered the executors of the Popes sentence. And she hathe not onely continued in this dā nable contempte of the holie Churches Censu­res so lōge as we haue said, but also cōmaunded [Page XVII] and caused the publishers, defenders, approuers, and all others that attempted most honorably & godly the execution therof aswell of the nobi­lity as the Cleargie and commons, sum beinge apprehended at home, and others traiterously bought and soulde abrode and sent home, & all in cruell manner murthered, yea and for theire partes verie willinglie martyred to their eter­nall estimation, rather then they wold liue, ser­ue, or see any suche hereticke, Atheiste, and vsur­per, from whose pretēsed kingly authority, they wete in consideration of all these her heinous crimes, clearly by Christes owne vicar, & the warrante of all the faithefull world (that neuer tooke it self bounde to obey a condemned heretike or an Apostata) before God and man discharged.

The murther of Bishopes and Preistes. In which her obstinacie and Sathanicall obduration dailie increasing she hathe these late yeares imbrued her handes and cuntrie with the sa­cred blud of a number of most innocent▪ lerned, and famous religious men, yea & holie Bishopes The Ar­chebishop of Casse­les, and the Bis­hop of Mayon. also aswel in England as Ireland, caused thē pittifully to be racked, rent, chained, famished, bea­ten, buffeted, derided, abused, and by false accu­sation of crimes neuer intended, vnder pretēce of treason against her vsurped state and person, to be finally with all crueltie executed to the re­gret and shame of our nation and wonder of all the worlde. And finally to accomplishe the measure of all her inhumaine crueltie, she hathe this last yeare barberouslie, vnnaturally against the lawe of nations by a statute of riot and conspi­racie, murthered the ladie Marie of famous me morie, Queene of Scotland, douager of France, The slau­ghter of the quee­ne of Scotlande. [Page XXVIII] Gods Annointed, her next kinswoman, and by lawe and righte the true owner of the croune of England.

The iustice of the sentence▪ against Eliza­beth. All which her open enormities, and other her secret wickednes hiddē from vs (which must nedes be great, and not numerable, in a Caytif so longe vnder Gods and holie Churches curse, & giuen vp into a reprobate sense and hardnes of harte) may put all faithefull and reasonable men out of doubte, of the iustice of the Apostolike sentence and censure against her: beinge well assured that if any case may fall, in which a Prince may iustly be forsakē or resisted by his subiects, or yf any crime in the worlde eyther in lyfe, regimēt, or religiō, can deserue depositiō of a kinge, that here all causes together do concur in the person of the pretensed, in the highest degre; None euer not amongest the heathen, so vnprofitable, so euill, so faithles, so pernitious, no real­me euer so farr falne from religion, publike ho­nesty, order and sincerity, as ours hathe done in her vnhappie vsurped gouernement.

A necessati consideration. And here we may beholde, the pittifull race of an vnbridled powrable sinner (woe be to our offences that haue deserued the experience of solamentable a case) this vnworthie womans supposed father, frist, as now her self afterward, by reason of theire height of erthly power, free frō ciuil chastisemēt, could not be cōtent therwith▪ till they had also discharged themselues of all remorse of conscience, of all awe of religion, of all spirituall discipline, & put themselues in full fre­dome from Pope, Prelate, Prophet, Priest, and ghostlye father (an example for all cōmon weal [Page XXIX] thes in the world to beware of by vs, for euer) & therfore not onely in their hartes said against God & his annointed, Let vs shake of theire yoke and breake theire bondes a sunder; But opēly and boldly both said, and made thēselues hea­des of the Churche & spirtualtie, aswel now of the soules, as they were before of the bodies: That all lyfe, faithe, religion, Churche, counsell, conscience, scripture, Sacrament, ceremonie, & what soeuer was i heauē or earthe, might wholli hāge at their hādes, lustes, & lykinges. At which licentious irreligiosity, & Antechristian pride, thoughe the highest in heauē doe in the meane time laugh, & by lōge patiēce not onely forbeare the present reuenge therof, but also by secret iudgmēt for the parties increase of damnatiō, or expectatiō of their repentaunce, or the peoples deseruinges, suffer it in them by continuall pros­perité & preuaylinge against the good, to be muche cōfirmed & increased, yet these stubborn Nemroths, that aspire so farr, and wolde ouer­reache the highest, can not, nor shall not escape Gods ire, and furious wrath, neither in this lyfe nor in the next. Feare not my deare cuntrymen, feare not, one generatiō is not yet past since this wickednes began; trust now in God▪ & in this self generation it shall be reuenged, and in the person of this the forsaid kinges supposed daughter (in whose parēts cōcupiscēce, all thiscalamity was cōceaued) shalbe both punished & ended.

Psal. [...]6. & 7 [...]. Haue patience therfore a little, and maruell not to see the vngodly florishe and fede himself with the wealthe of the world: nothinge beinge a more sure signe of wrathe, to cum, nor more [Page XXX] vnlucky to a mortall man, specially to a Prince, then to haue prosperité and good lucke in wickednes, and so to be besett wholy with flatte­rers that rocke him a slepe in the peace of sinne, that he may neither heare his dutie, nor beare checke or chastisement for the same.

Gods prouidēce to vvardes princes. It was Gods great prouidence (who by his prophet warned kinges to take discipline, and to serue him in feare, least in hisire he should suffer thē to fall to vnrightuousnes) that euer lightlie the Princes of his people had sum Prophets or Preists their ouerseers, that might frō time to time admonishe thē of their offences and enormities, but specially of their fallinge from God, & to denounce Gods threatnings, yea and execute his sentence vpon them: whom all rightuous & godlie princes did feare, reuerence▪ honor▪ and obey, euen as Gods angels appointed for theire custodie; as contrariwise suche as were wicked Tirants not contented to be bridled by the al­mightie, did seeke cruelly their deathe and de­struction, that their disorders might passe with all liberty and licensiousnes, and without Gods owne controlment in his lyfe.

Kinges (I saie) beinge not otherwise subiect to superiors, and often impatient of admonition of their inferiors, may easelie fall. Their fall must nedes tende to the danger of whole cuntries. Therfore in respecte of them namely, great po­wer, courage, and fredome of speache were gra­unted by God, aswel ordinarely to Preists, as ex­traordenarely to sum Prophets & religious per­sons in all ages, specially in the time of the newe testament, as shall further be declared herafter.

[Page XXXI] Saule de­posed. Saule the first temporall kinge that the Iewes (then Gods peculiar people) had, though chosen and inspired by God, was led and directed by Samuell, so lōge as he was in order▪ but afterward for aspiringe to spirituall function, & other dis­obedience, was by Gods apointment and sentē ­ce pronounced against him, by the said Samuell deposed of his kingdome, and an other named Dauid anointed by him in the lyfe of the said Saule: who now after his depriuation and as it were after his excomunication, was inuaded by an ill spirite, that prouoked him, to kill not only him that was now made the rightfull owner 1. Reg. 22. of his croune (as Elizabethe hathe by Gods permission accomplished her like diuelishe de­siers agaist the lady Marie Queene of Scotland) but also to seeke for Samuels deathe his spiritu­all gouerner, yea and to cōmaunde all the holie Preists of Nobee (findinge none so wicked as to execute his will sauinge prophane Doeg the Ido mite) to be cruelly slaine as traitors and faue­rours of Dauid the cōpetitor of his kingdō. And so he stoode many yeares against God, & kepte the kingdom by tiranicall force not withstan­dinge he was accursed and depriued as the pre­tensed hathe done. Dauid neuerthelesse (in whō was the right of the croune) was lawfully vp in armes with one of the principall Preists that es­caped the forsaid murthet, thoughe not of suche power as the pretensed kinge was▪ till at length Ang. con tra Ad. the vsuper whom he might lawfully haue killed but for reuerēce of his former holy vnctiō wold not, beinge slaine in battell, he obtained his ri­ghte, first of a parte of his kingdome and after­ward [Page XXXII] of the whole, of which the said Saules sōne If boseth did for two yeares vsurpe a parte by the pretended right of his father. By which exāple thow nedest not now maruell that kinge Henry or his daughter should so lōge raigne af­ter their depriuation and excomunication, & be suffred to their owne damnation, to execute cruelty vpon the Bishops and Preists, yea & to kill them as traitors, whō they honored for ver­tue and lerninge before, euen suche persons as any iuste kinge or cōmonwealthe, would haue bought and ransomed from deathe, by the worthe of half a kingdome; or to cōmitt other outrages, seinge the spirite of Sathā entring into such by their excomunication, inciteth them to all mischeif, and specially to hate Gods Churche & ministers, by whom Christe executeth his sen­tence against them.

Hieroboā 1. Reg. 13. &. 14. So did Hieroboam seeke to apprehend the Prophet that threatned vengeance and destru­ction to him for his Schisme, and seperacion of his people from the old auncient true worship of God in Ierusalē, & for erecting of a new aul­ter in Bethell (In which all Schisme and diuisiō from the Apostolike see is prefigured) and crea­tinge of naught, out of Aarons order, new, hun­grie, base, and vnordred Priestes, the verie pat­terne of all these contemptible ministers, put vp out of the araie, and lawful succession of Apo­stolike preisthood: A crime so highely afterward bothe in himself and his stocke reuenged, that none of his house was left to pisse against a wall.

[...] [...]. Para­ [...]ip. 29▪ Osias also like vnto our disobedient kinges, that can beare no function aboue their owne, [Page XXXIII] pufte vp whith pride would haue executed spiritual function (a thinge infinitely lesse thē our pretenseds chalenge of Ecclesiasticall gouern­ment) but valianty by Azarias and fourescore preistes with him, assailed and thrust out of the temple, whilst he went a boute violētly to resist, was stricken with a filthie leprosie, and so se­uerid by the said preistes authority (a figure al­so of the preistes power to excomunicate in the new lawe) from the cumpainie of men and consequently from gouernment, and the regiment of his realme and people comitted to his sonne, wherby thow perceyuest that preists also may vse force to represse impietie, when the honor of God and his Churches necessitie so require it.

Athalia. 4. Reg. 11. But the zeale and dutie of Gods preistes is no tably recommended vnto vs▪ in the case of Atha lia a wicked cruell Queene also; who to obteine the croune after Ochosias, killed all his Childrē, onely one which by certen good womens pie­tie was secretlie stolne away, saued, and brought vp within the temple for seauen yeares space, all which time the said Queene vsurped the king­dō, til at lengthe Ioiada the highe preist, callinge to him forces bothe of the preistes and people, proclamed the right heire that was in his custo­die, annointed and crouned him kinge, and cau­sed immediately the pretensed Queene to be slaine, with her fautors, at the courte gate, not withstādinge they cried TREASON, TREASON▪ as not onely iuste possessors, but wicked vsur­pers vse to doe. & this loe is the ende of iniuste titles, & this is the zeale & authoritie of preistes for the maintenāce of righteousnes & religion▪

[Page XXXIIII] Achab and [...]esa­bell. 3. Reg 18 & 19. No man can be ignorante with what courage and constancie Elias being sought to death by Achab & Iesabell, that ouerthrewe holie aulters and murthered the true religious of the lande, told them that they and their hous [...] were the subuersion of Israel, and slew in his zeale all the Queenes false prophets foure hundrethe at one time, and so sett vp holie alters againe. He spared 4. Reg. 1. not the Idolatrous kinge Ochosias his capitains and messengers but destroied them by fier from heauen, till the third capitain was forced to humble 4. Reg. 9. himfelf vpō his knees vnto him Elizeus also caused Iehu to be cōsecrated kinge, & the house of Achab to lose their right to the kingdom, and his sonne Iorā to be slaine; by whose cōmaund­ment cursed Iesabell was afterward throwne out of her chāber window in to the courte, and after eaten of dogges, in the very same place where she had comitted crueltie and wickednes before▪ This Iesabell for sacrilege, cōtempte of holie preistes, rebellion against God & crueltie, dothe so muche resemble our Elizabethe, that in moste forrein cuntries and writinges of strāgers she is comonly called by the name of Iesabell. I know not whether God haue appointed her the like, or a better ende.

Maacha▪ 2. Par. 15. Queene Maacha mother to good kinge Asaa was as ours is an apostata from the true faithe, and in fleshly lust not vnlike: for she erected opēlie and worshiped the filthy Venerius statua of Priapus, and replenissed all her courte & cun­trie with effeminate and amorous persons, and therfore was deposed from her regalitie by her owne sonne (which the holie scriptures muche [Page XXXV] commende in him) and the land purged of her whorishe abhomination.

By all which we lerne what crimes deserue in a prince, deposition: And howe preistes and pro­phetes haue bene principall workers and Gods ministers in there depriuatiō. VVhearin the prophet Ely was so notorious, that to his honor it is thus said of him in holie writ. He cast downe kin­ges Eccle. 48▪ and destroied them, and plucked the honorable from theire seates. And of Elizeus in the same place, thus: He neuer feared prince, nor could of no man be ouercum. And thus it was in the olde testamēt.

Nowe in the newe testament where the prei­stes haue muche more soueraigne authoretie, & the prince far strairer charged to obeye, loue, and cherishe the Churche, the cause for vs is muche more cleare: of which Churche it is said, Kinges Isa. 49. [...]2. Isa. 60. Psal. 2. shal be thy fosterfathers, and Queenes thy nurces. And againe: Kinges brests shall nurishe the, and euery kingdome that serueth not the, shall vtterly perishe▪ In this Churche without faile, is the super­eminent power of Christes preistehood, who with his irō rod bruseth like a potsheard the pride Ier. 1. of princes that rebell against his holie spouse; and hathe righte in his Churche ouer all king­doms▪ to plante and to plucke vp, to buyld and destroie; afore whom all kinges shall fall doune & all nations shall do him seruice.

Matt. 16. Now is Christes preistly prerogatiue in moste ample and exacte termes comunicated to the chefe preist and pastor of our soules, in other manner of clause then our pretensed monstrous spirituall gouernesse can shew for her self (fie on that secular pride and wilfull blinde [Page XXXVI] heresy that so repugnethe to Gods expresse or­dinaunce, and yet is wickedly vpholden of her flatterers, though reproued both at home and abrode by the most notorious heretikes & sect­masters of all sorts. Now all Christes sheepe without exceptiō ▪ be they princes, be they poore mē if they be Christiā men, are put to Peters fea­dinge I [...]an 21. Matt. 1 [...]. and gouernment: now the keyes of heaue giuen to Christs vicarr, to let in, to locke out, to bynde, to loose, to pardon, to punishe.

Nowe we be commaunded euery one, be we Hebr. 13. kinges, be we Cesars, to obeie our prelates & pastors, and to be subiecte (what Christian prince can excepte himself) to thē, as to those that must make accompte for our soules. Nowe they haue 1. Cor. [...]. 2 Iohn 2 ad [...]t. 3. authoritie to forbid vs the cumpany of hereti­kes, idolaters, & blasphemers; & not so muche as to salute them, muche more not to obeie thē.

Act. 5. Nowe we finde by the experience of the Apostles practises and exāple of their vsage, that not onely our soules, but our bodies & goodes, be in our pastors subiectiō, so farr as is expediēt to our soules healthe, and the Churches vtilitie, which the very order and course of nature requireth.

Nowe S. Peter, for Sacralege and simulation, strooke starke dead bothe man and wyfe by his worde. Now did S. Paule strike blinde Elimas Act. 13. the sorcerer for resistinge Gods truthe. Now 1. C [...]r. 4. 1. Cor. 5. did he threaten to cum to his cōtemners in rodd of discipline. Now did he excomunicate a nota­ble personage at Corinthe for inceste: Not all onelie by spirituall punishement but by bodely vexation, giuinge him vp to Satans chastismēt.

Now he also by excomunication corporally [Page XXXVII] molested by an euill spirite, for heresie and blas­phemie, 1. ad Ti­mo▪ 1. 2. Cor. 10 Himeneus and Alexāder. Nowe he hathe authoritie to reuenge all disobedience, and to bringe vnder all loftie spirites, to the obedience of Christe.

Aposto­licall povver. Suche loe now is the Apostolicall force, and power of Christes Preistehood in the new testa mēt, so farr aboue the authorety of earthly kin­ges, as the sun is clearer then the moone, heauen aboue the earthe, the Soule of man better then his body, and the comō weale of the Catholike Churche formed by Christe, more excellēt then any secular societie ordeined by man.

VVhere were then these disordred lawes and statutes, that make the Apostles, yea Christe him self, and all his preistes that be borne out of En­glād to be forren powers? it was fiftene hūdred yeares before kinges euer conceiued suche wic­kednes, muche lesse to chalenge this mōstrous spirituall regiment for laie men, children, and verie women. But this was then enacted, this lawe stoode thē firme, and bindeth the highest potentate of the world if he beare the name of a Christian, aswell as the poorest person in ear­the: This I saie, yfhe obeie not, or heare not the Mat▪ 18. Churche, let him be taken for an Ethnike.

Strug­glinge of princes against spirituall povver. Yet such is the miserie and peruersnes of men, that in a cause so plaine as this is, some kinges haue bene founde to struggle against the ordi­naunce of God; and now oflate haue had flate­rers to saie, yea and some so simple as to thinke, that they whom Christe at his departure hence, did endue with most ample commission, and Iohn▪ vlt. sent foorthe with that auctorety which his fa­ther [Page XXXVIII] had geuen vnto him, haue no power to de­nounce or declare▪ when princes be heretikes or violaters of Gods lawes▪ Nor right to excomu­nicate them, nor to discharge the people of their othe and obedience, towardes suche as no Christiā man by lawe of God or nature may lawfully obaie. In which necessarie pointe euery studious and reasonable mā may reforme him self, aswell by the forsaid, as by the histories of the Churche since Christes time.

And heire thow shalt finde, straight vpon the first cōuersion of kinges to the faithe▪ how they coulde not withdrawe them selues from the Churches discipline▪ thoughe bothe heretikes and other of wicked lyfe haue alwaies muche repined, but euer were either driuen to order & obedience, or in fine confounded.

Almoste thirtene hundrethe yeares agoe, Babylas bishop of Antioche, excommunicated the onely Christian Kinge or Emperoure that Chrisost. in vita Babilae. then was (as sum counte, Numerius, as others Phillip) for executinge a prince that was put to him for an ostage: VVhervpon, as ill Kinges vse to doe, he martired his Bishop; whom for that, S. Chrisostom and others recken for the most famous martire of that time. VVherby all true Bishops may lerne, that it is their dutie to chastise and excommunicate disobedient ti­rants, whatsoeuer fall to their persons therfore. Afterwarde holie Fabianus the Pope pursued the same Emperour, by like excomunication and other meanes, till at the lenghte he brought him to repentance.

Ser. li. 7. cap. 24. Afterwarde S. Ambrose Bishop of Milan with [Page XXXIX] notable courage excōmunicated the elder Theo­dosius Theod li. [...]. [...] 17▪ 19. Am [...]l [...]. 5▪ ep [...] 28. Aug. de Ciu [...]at. Dei lib. [...]. cap. 26. the Emperour, put him to eight monthes penance, and in the ende forced him to make a lawe or prouisiō against the like crime for which he was excomunicated.

This was an other world (most deare cun­trymen) maruelous courage and zeale for Gods cause, was then in preists; great humilitie and obedience in princes. Then was there no flatte­rers so shamefull, nor no heretike on the earthe so impudent, to make temporall Kinges aboue all correctiō of Gods Churche & their owne pastors, they hauing most nede therof yea aboue all others, when they passe the limites of Iustice & the lawes of God.

Nice. lib. [...]3. c. 14. Georg. Patrtar. de vita Chrisost. Nere this time againe Innocentius the first, ex­comunicated Arcadius the Emperor & his wife Quene Eudoxia, for that they disobeyed and persecuted their Bishop S. Chrisostom. I will reporte the Iuditiall sentence brefely because it is muche to the purpose, and full of maiestie. O Emperour, the bludd of my brother Iohn Chrisostom crieth to God against the, thou hast caste out of his chaire, the great Doctor of the whole world; and in him, by thy wiues that delicate Dalida her persua­sions, persecuted Christe: therfore (I though a poore sinfull soule) to whom the throne of the great Apostle S. Peter is comitted, do excomunicate the and her; and do suspende you bothe from the holie sacramē ­tes; comaundinge that no Preist nor Bishop, vnder paine of depriuation, after this my sentence come to their knowledge, geue or minister the said sacra­ments vnto you.

Thus did this blessed father, whome Saint Au [Page XL] gustine excedingly commendethe in his time, hādle that Emperor and wicked Queene which was the cause of her husbādes fall and offences, and at lengthe brought them to repentance.

And when by processe of time the Churche became more potent, and some Princes were falne to contempte of Religion, as it lightly hapneth by heresie or Apostasie; and that Excō ­municatiō or other ordinary ecclesiasticall disci­pline wolde not serue being onely spirituall pe­nalty, and now not hauing ordinarely annexed that corporal vexatiō, executed by sathan vpon excōmunicate persons & therfore so much fea­red in the Primatiue Churche: then aswell the Bishopes & godlie persons their owne subiects, did craue aide and armes of other Christian Princes against them, as also the most holie and aunciente Popes of Rome, did with all godly zeale incite the Catholike Kinges to the same; that those whom the spirituall rodde could not frutefully chastise, might by externall force be driuen doune, or to repentance of their disorder. There is no warre in the world so iuste or honorable, as that which is waged for religion, whe­ther it be forren or ciuill: nor crime in the world deseruinge more sharpe and zelous pursute of extreme reuenge, then falinge from the faithe to strange religions, whether it be in the supe­rior or subiectes.

2. Parali. 15. VVho so euer seeke not after the lord God of Is­raell, let him be stain, from the highest to the lowest. said Kinge Afa admonished by Azaria the Pro­phet. And againe charge was giuen expresly [Page XLI] in Deutronomie, to slei all false Prophetes and Cap. 13. their followers, were they neuer so neere vs by nature, and to destroie vtterly all citties with their inhabitāts, that were proued to followe newe strange Gods or religions: Princes and rulers no more excepted, but muche more punis hable in this case then the people, as appeareth by Gods commaundmēt to Moises, that he should Num. [...]. hange vp all the Princes of Israel vpon gallowes against the sun, for communication in sacrifice with the Moabites; and the reste of the people euery one by the hand of his neighbor, to be put to the sworde for the same faulte.

As an other time by Moises appointment, the faithfull Leuits slewe thirty three thousand of their nert neighbours, frendes, and brethren, for comittinge Idolatrie and forsakinge the true 2. Paral. cap 1 [...]. God: so iuste a quarrell is the deffence of religiō. For which also the Kinges of Iuda, as Abia and others, fought moste iustly and prosperously against Hieroboam and other Kinges of Israell, and iustly possesed the cities which they con­quered in the warre; as also Edom and Lobna for 2. Par▪ 21. religion, euen bicause he forsooke the God of his forfathers, did reuolte from Kinge Ioram and could neuer be recouered.

Iosue 22. VVherin the example also and zeale of the children of Israell was very notable, that they wold haue denounced Battell against the tribe of Rubine and Gad, for erectinge (as they tooke it) a Schismaticall alter out of the only pla­ce, in which God appointed to be worshiped by Sacrifice. So did the Christian Armenians Euseb. li. 9. c. 8. 9. take armes, against Maximinus the Emperour [Page XLII] for deffence of their faith; So did Constantine againste Maxentius the tyrante.

By all which it is cleare, that what people or person so euer be declared to be rebelious a­gainst Gods Churche, by what obligation so euer, either of kinred frendship, loialté, or sub­iection I be bounde to them, I may or rather must take armes against them▪ nothinge doub­tinge but whē my Kinge or Prince hathe brokē with Christe, by whō and for deffence of whose honor he reigneth, that thē I may most lawfully breake with him.

So in olde times of the primatiue Churche, the Catholike people did often by armes, defend and kepe their Bishopes in their seates, against the Infidels, and specially against the cōmaunde ment of hereticall Emperours: Yea and lawfully resisted them in the deffence of theīr Churches and Churche goodes. So the people defended See Pru­den▪ de monacho Antioch. Nazian. in etus laudibus lib. [...]. epi. ipsius. the Churche of Antioche from the Emperour Ga­lerius his officers. So they deffended S. Basil in the like case. So they deffended S. Ambrose.

Prouided neuerthelesse, alwaies in this case, that we followe not our deceitfull wills, as our aduersaries doe, condemning for Gods enemies suche Princes or persons as the holie Churche (who must be ouriudge & informer in all these thinges) pronounceth and holdeth to be most iuste, godly, and Catholike kinges: But then must we take thē for heretikes, when our law­ful Bishops and popes do so adiudge them to be, and so commaunde vs to take them yea and charge vs to forsake them. Then be we sure in conscience, discharged of our othe & obediēce, [Page XLIII] which be bands of such qualety and nature, that they hold not, nor haue force, against iustice, and where the matter ys vnlawfull. And we haue iust cause to arme our selues for defence of Gods honor and our innocencie, and to seke for succor at Popes and Princes handes.

Theod. li▪ 2 cap 5. & 13. Soc. li. 1. cap 13. Soz. li▪ 4. [...]rp. 7. Yea Bishops of the cuntrie so oppressed, and so persecuted by hereticall princes, should so specially doe. For so did holie Athanasius (who knewe his devvtie to his kinge and soueraigne vvel enoughe, and vvhen and vvhere he might rise against him) aske ayde against Constantius the Arian and first hereticall Emperour (vvhom Pope Felix declared to be an heretike) of his ovvne brother Constance the Catholike Em­perour of the vvest. For feare of vvhose armes he restored Athanasius and other Catholike Bishopes to their Churches and honors againe: But aftervvarde, vvhen the Caholike Constāce vvas deade, the said Emperours brother did more furiously persecute Athanasius for the same.

Soc. lib. 4 cap. 16. 17 30. Sor. lib. 6 cap. 19. So against Valens the Arian Emperour, did Petrus, Athanasius his successor, brother to Saint Basil, seke to he Pope of Rome for succor, as all other bishops in like distresses euer did, that no man neede to maruell why we haue done the like now.

Sol. 2▪ ca. 18. Nice. lib. 14. ca▪ 21 So did Atticus Bishop of Cōstantinople craue aide of Theodosius the yonger, against the Kinge of the Persians that persecuted his Catholike sub­iectes, and was therby forciblie depriued & the Catholikes deliuered. Leo epist. 7 [...]. euāg. [...]i. 2. ca. 8.

So did holy Pope Leo the first persuade the [Page XLIIII] Emperour called Leo also to take armes against the Tyrant of Alexandria, for the deliuerie of the oppressed Catholikes from him and the here­tikes Eutichians, who then threw doune mona­steries, and did other great sacrileges, as ours now doe and haue done in England. O Empe­rour (saied S. Leo) If it be lawdable for thee to in­uade the hethens, how muche more glorie shall yt be to deliuer the Churche of Alexādria from the heauy yoke of outragious heretikes, by the calamité of which Churche, all the Churches in the world be in­iured. As at this time ther is no Churche in Eu­rope, that feeleth not the smarte of our English miseries.

Lib. 1. epi. 72. In brefe, so did S. Gregory the first moue Gen [...] dius the Exarke, to make warrs against the hereti kes, as a very glorious thinge: & so haue euer all holy Bishopes of the primatiue Churche done.

Depositiō of Prin­ces for heresie. For which crime of heresie and iniuries done to Gods Churche, as for a fault most detestable, and most directly subiect to their correction, they haue specially intermedled, aswell by way of excomunicatiō, as by force procured for their De consi­deratione ad Eu­gen. li. 4. deposition. For as saith Saint Bernard, though Popes fighte not in person, nor draw the sword themselues, yet it must be done at their com­maundment, where Gods honor and our salua­tion require it. For religion therfore specially, though otherwise sumtimes, Princes haue bene by Popes iustly bothe excomunicated & other­wise punished for notorious crimes, namely whē their owne subiectes require the Churches Rhegino anno 864. aide and sentence therin; as kinge Lotarius bro­ther to the Emperour Lewis the second, was [Page XLV] excomunicated by Nicolas the first for deuor­singe Sigisber [...] Tr [...]hem. his lawfull wife, and marieng a strumpet, and diuers others for suche like offences: yea & namely Popes haue pursued in princes their fall from religion, & disobediēce to Gods Churche, as a sinne properly subiect to their correction.

Zon. in vita Leonis 3. For heresie, was Leo the third both excommunicated, and depriued of all his temporallties in Italie, by Gregorie the second.

Chalc ō rerum turc. li. 1. For heresie and Schisme, were the Greke Empe perours discharged, and the Empire therby trāslated to the Germans, by Pope Leo the third: and like wise diuers German Emperours for iniuries done Tho. 2. 2. quest. 12. art. 2. to Gods Churche, and for heresie, by sundry ho­lie Popes haue ben brought to order, as Henry the fourthe, Frederike the first, Otho the first, Frederike the secōd, Lewis the third, & many other.

Bonifa. Dec. 4. For heresie was George kinge of Bohem exco­municated, & ther vpon by the forces of the kinge of Hungarie finally depriued: As John Albert Guie. lib. 2. Honuf. in vita [...]ulij se­cundi. Polid. lib. 15. had half of his kingdō of Nauar takē from him, by Ferdinandus surnamed Catholicus, Kinge of Aragon, bicause he gaue aide to Lewis the xij. then excomunicated by Iulius the seconde.

For shamefull iniuries done to the holie Churche, and for persecution of Bishops & re­ligious, was Iohn one of our kinges of England with his whole cūtrie Interdicted, and at length forced to yeild his croune and dominions to the curtesie of the Popes legate, as afore is mēcyoned.

Nubrig. lib. z. c. 25. & 34. For like causes, and namely for being accessa­rie to the murther of the blessed Bishop S. Tho­mas of Caunterbury, was Henry the second dri­uen by Alexāder the third, to order & penaunce.

[Page XLVI] Henry the eighte also, for more horrible waste and desolation of Religion, wherin he farr sur­mounted all his auncetors, and all other that euer we reade of since the time of Julian the Apo stata: for arrogatinge the title of supreme head of the Churche, and forcinge all his people to sweare to his folly, and that his concubine Anne Bullen was their Queene and his lawful wife: for most cruell slaughter of Catholike Bishopes, Preistes, religious and laie men: for infringinge and vtterly abolishinge against his owne othe, all the priuileges and liberties, graunted to the Churche of England by holie Kinge Edward and other his forfathers: for destroing all holie hou­ses of Religion▪ and sacrilegiously inuading all their goodes and possessions: for marrienge, re­marringe, changinge, deuorcinge and killinge of his wiues, when, where▪ and whome he liste: Honuf. in vita Pau li tertij. for these and suche like vnspeakeable outrages, he was excomunicated by Paulus tertius as hath before bene declared.

Eliza­bethe ex­comunicated and depriued anno 1570. And novv lastly, not onely for iniust intrusiō and vsurpation, but also for the forsaid crimes, and followinge her said supposed fathers waies (who was radix peccati of our daies, and offen­ded the more greuously, bicause he first compel­led the people of God to Schisme and sinne, as Ieoroboam did the Israelites) this woman was by good Pius Quintus excomunicated and depri­ued, and all her subiects discharged of othe and obedience towardes her, with charge efte [...]ones to all the subiectes of the realme of Englāde, or other her dominions, that from thence forthe vnder like paine of excomunicatio and Gods & [Page XLVII] holie Churches curse, they shuold not acknow­ledge her for their Princesle or superior, nor obey, defend and manteine her, but according to euery ones power and habillite, to cocurr to her deposition and condigne punishment.

Executiŏ of the en [...]en [...]e de­ferred. VVhich sentence most holie, iuste, and dread full, though hitherto it haue not bene openly pursued, partely by reason of the decease of Pius Quintus the publisher, which ensued not longe after; and partely for that the vsurpers forces, ra­ge, and crueltie wer so great, that they could hardly be resisted by the onely inhabitans of the realme, without euident daunger & destructiō of very many noble & godlie persons, in which case the churches censures so farr as they con­cerne onely temporall matters, by the meaninge of him that gaue the sentence, dothe not binde; & lastlie for that his holines that now is (as his predecessors before him) hauinge exceding ten­der care not onely of our soules but of our bo­dies & goodes also, haue hitherto tollerated in vs, our enforced subiectiō and obedience to her in ciuill affaires▪ specially vpon expectation, and hope, that she wold after so longe and fatherly sweete patience of the supreme pastors of our soules, at the request of so many princes Chri­stian, at the pittifull sutes, cries, clamors, & complaints of so many of her owne people, for the bludd of so many men meekely yeilded and the inconsolable complaintes of so many afflicted cōsciences, either aknowledge her faulte, incline to mercie towardes the Catholikes, and seeke (as her supposed father desired to doe in the end of his life) to reconcyle herself to the Churche, [Page XLVIII] or to cum to sum good order at leaste with the see Apostolike, and graunt her Catholike nobi­bility and people, leaue to serue God after their conscience, and manner of all their forfathers. Though (I saie) for all these causes and other more, the former iuditiall sentēce hath not bene all this while executed, yet now our holy father Sixtus the fifte, seinge this vsurper and excomu­nicate person, to be nothinge moued eitherwith pittie of the people, or Apostolike authoritie, but still obstinately and obdurately to persiste, and procede in all her former mischeefes & wicked­nes, could not conteine or sorbeare any longer, not onely himself to imploie against so mon­strous and pernitious an heretike, rebell, vsur­per, and fierbrand of all mischeefe, the treasures spirituall and temporall, that the Omnipotent God hath giuen him for maintenannce of iusti­ce, innocencie, and religion; but also by the for­said examples of his predecessors & other holie Bishopes, and by a speciall canon of the great De [...]eret. cap. 3. generall Counsell of Laterane touchinge the cha­stisement of princes that will not purge their do minions of heresie and heretikes, hath seriously dealte with the chefe and greatest princes of his Christian Catholike cōmunion, that they wold giue succurse to their afflicted brethrē & cōfede rates, & ioine together with him their supreme pastor, for chastisemēt of that wicked womā ▪ the bane of Christēdome and all their kingdōs, the scoorge of God, and rebuke of womākinde; as in this case euery one wold haue bene most redy, had they not beneforced at this time, to im ploie all their forces against the heretikes & re­bels [Page XLIX] of ther owne dominions, & therfore hathe specially intreated Philip the highe and mightie Kinge Catholike of Spaine, that for the greatnes of power giuen him by the almighty, for his singular loue towardes that nation wherof by maria­ge of Holie Queene Marie of blessed memorie he once was kinge, for the olde loue and league betwixt the said cuntrie and the house of Bur­gogne, for the infinite iniuries and dishonors done to his maiestie and people by Elizabethe, and to conclude for his speciall pietie and zeale towardes Gods house and the See Apostolike, together with the consideration of the fresh barbarous murther of his consine the Queene of Scotland, by which the sacred honor and name of Kingly dignety is dishonored, and all lawfull princes highely intressed; that for these and ma­ny other causes, his maiestie wold take vpon him in the name of God almightie, this sacred and glorious enterprise. VVho at lenghte, as­well by this his Holines auctority and exhor­tation, as by his owne vnspeakeable zeale and pietie, moued also not a litle by my humble and continuall sute together with the afflicted and banished Catholikes of our nation, of all and euery degree, who haue bene by his speciall cō ­passion and Regall munificence principally sup­ported in this their longe exile, hath consented atlast, & taken vpon him this so holie and glo­rious an acte, to the onely honor of God, the benefite of the Christian worlde, and your de­liuerie (my good brethren) from the yoke of he­resie and thraldom of your enemies, and for re­stitutiō of those realmes and the subiects of the [Page L] same to their auncient liberty of lawes and con­science. For which causes his maiesty hath in the name of the lord God of Hostes, commaunded sufficient royall and mayn forces bothe by sea & lande to be gathered, and to be conducted in to our cuntrie (if nede be, and if the pretensed and principall offender will not otherwise cum to order) by the most Godly & valerous Generall, and Capitaines that be of his maiesties seruice in all Christendom.

Of whose procedinge in this action, & aswell of his holines as his maiesties intention & mea­ninge therin, we are to aduertife you all, by these presents, and to forwarne you against all false sclaunderous and seditious speaches of the ene­mies, and heretikes, by which they haue many yeres and in wonderful maner deluded some strāgers, to their vndoinge, & the ruine of their cuntreyes; And to comfort yow against all other popular feares of the simple sorte: that neither the Cōqueste of the lande, dispossessinge of the Englishe; distruction of Catholikes; ruine of auncyēt howses; abolishinge of our olde lawes liberties or customes, is purposed; nor any other annoiaunce or alteration in the world to be made, sauinge so muche as the estates of the realme shall agree vpon with his holines, and Maiestie, for the restitution and preseruation of the Ca­tholike religion, and necessary punishment of the pretended. Assuring you all (my most deare cuntrymen) by my honor, and in the worde of a Cardinall, that there shall be as greate care had of euery Catholike & penitent person, as possi­bly can be, for that is the Pope and kinges ex­presse [Page LI] will and pleasure.

VVherof you may all be the more secure, that his maiestie hathe appointed for the execution of this affaire, so worthie, fortunate, and victo­rious a Prince, no lesse renoumed for his pietie mercie, and clemencie (wherof you haue sene these yeares, hard by you, so many examples) thē for his valour & manifold victories, obteined against the Churches and the kinges rebelles▪ As on the otherside, for your like securitie, one of the worthiest peeres of Spaine, for valor, ver­tue, & swetenes of nature, & with him a greate number of the flower of that nobilitie, who haue no nede of any thinge of yours, are appointed for your succor, that if by your faulte or mishapp, the matter should come to a battaile, they might after the victory, ouer rule and re­streine the fury of the Comon soldiors, least they should ruine and sack the whole cuntry.

And for the same cause, his Holines hath also, not for my deserts, but of speciall care and loue of our nation preferred me, beinge of your flesh and blud, to this highe function; intendinge to send me as his Legate, with full commission & cōmaundment, to treate and deale from time to time, aswell with the states of the realme, as with his holynes, and the kinges maiestie for the sweter maneginge of this godly and greate af­faire, and with them to deliberate of all the beste meanes, how with the leaste damage of our cuntrie, nobillitie, and gentrie, and beste preseruation of the whole people, this godly purpose of restoringe the Catholike religion, and putting the realme in order (aswell for the [Page LII] title of the croune as other controuersies that may fall, betwixt the Churche and the common wealthe, or any membre therof, for what matter so euer, since the time that heresy, scisme, & dis­order began) may be acheiued.

Therfore hauinge now through Gods merci full goodnes, full and sufficiét helpe for your happy reconcilement to Christes Churche, and to deliuer yourselues, your cuntrie, & posterité, frō that miserable seruitude of body & soule which you haue so longe bene in for the more easie acheiuinge of this godly designement, and for your better information: his Holines cōfirmeth, renueth, and reuiueth, the sentence declaratory of Pius Quintus of blessed memorie, and the Censures of all other his predecessors, and euery brā ­che clause and article of them, against the said Elizabeth, aswell concerning her illegitimation, and vsurpation, and inhabillitie to the Croune of England, as for her excomunication and de­position in respecte of her heresie, sacrilege, and abhominable life: And dischargeth all men from all other obedience, l [...]altie, and fidelity towards her; requiringe and desiringe in the bowells of Christe, and commaundinge vnder paine of ex­comunication and other penalties of the lawe, and as they looke for the fauours and protection to them and theires, afore promised, and will auoide the Pope, kinges, and the other princes highe indignation, that no man of what degree or conditiō so euer, obeie, abetter, ayde, defend, or acknowledge her for their prince, or supe­rior, but that all and euery one, accordinge to­their qualetie, callinge, and habillitie, immedia­tely [Page LIII] vpon intelligence of his Holines will, by these my letters, or otherwise, or at the ariuall of his Catholike Maiesties forces, be ready, to ioi­ne to the said army, with all the powers and aydes they can make, of men, munition, and victuals, to helpe towards the restoringe of the Catholike faithe, and actuall deposinge of the vsurper, in suche sorte and place, as by the chefe manegers of this affare, and the Generall of this holye warr shall be appointed, for the best aduauncement of the cause.

In which case, vpon especiall desire I haue to preserue and continue all your noble Names & Famelies, beinge lothe that for the osfence of the present possessors the whole house should pe­rishe, or any other suffer, but the offenders them selues: Promise to make humble supplication in your behalfe, that the honors and possessyons of all suche offenders, may dissende to the next hei res of that name and bludd, so that he or theycan be proued to ioine with the Catholike armye, with all the forces and frendes they can make, imediately vpon knowledge had of this present, and meanes to accomplishe their desire.

Nowe therfore, My lordes and deere Cun­trymen, if yow liste followe this Gods ordi­naunce, and happy prouision that he hath of his great mercie, made for your honors, libertie, and faluation; If yow without delaie ioine your­selues, as God, conscience, and nature bindethe yow; If yow take parte one with an other in so Godly and honorable a quarrell, you shall at­teine your purpose without all bludshed: where otherwise if you should either sitt still, or refuse [Page LIIII] to helpe or seuer your selues one frō an other, or any of you seke to vphold (which God forbid) the vsurper or her complices, beinge thus cursed by the Churche, and forsaken of God and of all good men; yow that so doe, shall first incurr the Angels cursse and malediction vpon the inhabi­tantes Iudi▪ 5. of the land of Meros, who sat still, and wold not helpe God nor venture their liues in his quarrell; and secondly be as depely excomu­nicated as she is, and so yow shall be guiltie of your owne ruine▪ and the bludd of the people, and yet shall not preuaile.

Yow shall fieghte against God, & against his annointed, against your next lawfull kinge, against truthe, faithe, religion, conscience, and your deere cuntrie: yow shall bootles defend, yea to your owne present destruction and eter­nall shame, a most iniust vsurper, and open iniu­rer of all nations; an infamous, depriued, accur­sed, excomunicate heretike; the very shame of her sexe, & princely name; the cheife spectacle of sinne and abhomination in this our age; And the onely poison calametie and destruction of our noble Churche and Cuntrie.

Feight not, for Gods loue, feight not, in that quarell, in which if yow die, you are sure to be damned: feight not against all your auncesters soules, and faith, nor against the saluation of all your deerest, wiues, children, and what so euer you wolde wel to, ether now or in the time to cum. Matche not yourselues against the highest: this is the daie no doubte of her fall, this is the hower of Gods wraths towardes her and all her partakers▪ Forsake her therfore betim [...], that you [Page LV] be not inwrapped in her sinnes, punishement, and damnation. Trust me, there was neuer any persecutor of the Churche, but in himself or his next seede, he came to shame and confusion. Remember the ende of Antiochus, Iason, Iesabell, Iu lian, Valeus, and of other the Apostatous and he­reticall Emperors, with suche like vsurpers and oppressers of Gods Churche, how spedely they passed to eternall ignominie.

Cūforts▪ and helps of the Catholike parte. On the otherside, you most noble & valiaunt Champions of Gods Churche, the honor of Englishe kinghtehood & the deffenders of the glorie and liberties therof, you, and all the blessed people, to whom God hath giuen so happie a lote, zeale and coorage, to feight for your fathers faithe, for your cuntries libertie, for Christe, for religion, and for the dread soueraigne sacramēts of our saluation; the honorablest quarrell, the li­keliest and most cōmendable cause, in the sight of the present world, and the posteritie, that pos­sibly can be. If you winne, you saue your whole realme from subuersion, & innumerable soules, present and to cum, from damnation; If you die, you be sure to be saued, the blessinge of Christe & his Churche, the pardon of his Holines, giuē to all, in most ample sorte, that either take armes, die, or any waie duely indeuor in this quarrell. The praiers of all Christian people, which be publik­ly promulgated for your safetie & good succes: The blud of all the blessed Bishops, religious, preistes, and laymen, shed in that lande, crie to God at this hower for your victorie, and ven­gaunce to your enemies their perseoutors: All the Saintes in heauen, whose holy Churches, bodies, [Page LVI] and memories, your enemies haue spoiled and prophaned, make now instant sute for your happy successe. All the vertuous preistes of your cuntrie, who by the longe Tyrānic of this time, haue suffred manifold miseries & martirdomes, bothe at home & abrode, to saue their owne soules, and winne their decrest cuntrimen to salua­tion, they also streche foorthe their consecrated handes night and day for your victorie, and be present diuers of them to serue euery mans spi­rituall necessitie, by Confessiō, Counsell, and all Consolation in Christe Iesus, giuinge you testi­mony by their redines to liue and die with you, how iuste the cause of this holie feight is, and how happy and glorious is the bludd that shall be shed therin.

VVith these blessed patrons both in heauen & earthe; with the guarde of all Gods holy Angels; with our blessed Sauiour himself in the soue­raigne Sacrament, present amonge you to your protection, comunicatinge cōforte & coorage; and with the daily most holy oblation of Chri­stes owne dere body and bludd, makinge more forcible intercession frō the earthe for you, then the blud of Abel; with so many diuine vnspea­keable helpes; if you were neuer so fewe you could not lose: without these & against these holies, our enemies (be they neuer so fierce, neuer so proude, neuer so manie, neuer so well appointed) then cā not preuail, fear you not, thei cā not. Though neuer so great shewe be made, neuer so many raised against you, bicause moste of thē be Catholiltes or notoriously iniured by hereti­kes, they be armed for vs, they cā not strike, they [Page LVII] will not fighte against their owne consciēces, be bolde of it, they will not. Many others of thē be indifferente, of neither, or no religion; whose witt and warynesse will be suche in this extre­mitie, and in so iust cause to desire a Chāge, that where by ouerthrow of the heretikes many shal be aduaunsed, and by theire good successe no man bettred, in so great hassard of thinges, they will neuer adore the sun setting, nor folow the declininge fortune of so filthie, wicked, and il­liberall a Creature, or her so base and dishono­rable leaders: who also haue bene at deadly va­riaunce amonge themselues these many yeares, and sum of them mortally hatinge their misters, will neuer omitt this opportunitie to be deliue­red of her, and reuenged one of an other.

The reste of them that be pure zelous hereti­kes, which be very fewe in comparison, & not very well contented neither, with the former regiment, of all mē in the world most effeminate, delicate, and least experte in the wars: the Angel of God will persecute them, and they shall flie in feare and torment of their owne wicked min­des, though none pursue them.

You may all remember how the late great traitor the Duke of Northumberland, was in the height of his pride and power forsakē of all his men, and forced to yeilde to a poore desolate Catholike ladie. All the world knowethe how the like vsurper Richard the third, beinge moste worthely in the verie feild and feighte abandoned of the nobility and people, was made an example of Gods ire towards all tirantes and vsurpers.

But how so euer it fall out throughe the sin­nes [Page LVIII] of the people at home, the Catholike forces are stronge enough, their prouisiō sufficiēt, their appointmēt passinge, moe expert Captains thē the enemy hath good souldiers, all resolute to die, not auailable for any to flie awaye, all excedingly incoraged by the equitie of the cause, & wonderfully confirmed by Gods mercies so oft in our dayes shewed in all quarrels of the Catho­like religion.

These fiftie yeares there was neuer Catholike army which stoode to it, but had the victorie: by mistrustinge God, by ouermuche trusting man, by flying or auoidinge the battell, by yeildinge or cōpoundinge, sundry great & Godly attēpts haue bene frustrated: but in manly and cōfident combating for God and the Church, none at all.

Call to minde the miraculous victories of Charles the fifte, subduinge al the powrable Lu­theran princes in Germanie, to his & the Catholike Churches obeisance, with passinge small forces, and in a fewe yeares or rather moneths spa­ce, the enemies being almost innumerable. Re­member the three famous battaills that the Catholike Cantons and people of the Swisers, beinge in number, power, & prouision, muche inferior to the other; obteined by Gods speciall grace, & iustice of the cause, against the Swinglians their Neighbours, in one of which Swinglius himself was slaine, and in euery one a maruelous nūber of heretikes, and of Catholikes so fewe, that in suche inequalitie of humane helpes, God must nedes be the extraordinary worker of the same.

Reade the Histories of France, and see whether the Catholikes haue not had in manner, alwaies, [Page LIX] miraculous victories against the Caluinists: a­monge many, the fights at Druse, at larnabe, at Saint Denis, at Mountcounter, and specially the mercifull worke of God this last yeare, wherby we sawe the huge forces aswell of Germans as Swisers, by Gods mighty arme and very small aide of man, wonderfully defeated.

Recounte furthermore all the famous and for tunate rēcounters, of a very fewe Catholikes a­gainst the heretikes and rebelles in Flanders: as at Grooning, at Mock, at Mounts, at Antwerp, at Iemblous, and many other conflictes, wher without losse almost at all, many thousandes of Gods and the Kinges enemies haue bene cutt in peices, our lord God no doubte cōbatinge with his people against his enemies, as he did against Senacharib, Nicanor, and other mentioned in holie writ.

VVhich (thinge most noble and valiant gentle men of England) may giue you courage and cō ­fort from God himself, euen the lord God of Hostes, to aduenture your selues in a quarrell most honorable, in a cause that the diuine Ma­iestie hathe shewed himself, not onely in other ages, but euen in all our eyes & memories to haue singular care of, In a case of the extrea mest necessitie of our Iuste defence and armes, that euer any Christian people had, or can haue.

Thus much, my good lordes and most deere frendes, I haue thought good to forwarne you of the whole cause of these present sacred wars, and of his Holines and Catholike Maiesties sin­cere intention therin; and bothe their incompa­rable affections towardes our Nation, wherof [Page LX] I could giue you farr more comfortable intelli­gence, yf I were personally presente with you, as I trust I shalbe verie shortly, for that is fully meant by our Holy father and his maiestie, and of me so much desired, that euery shorte daye semeth a longe yeare, till I enioye you in our lorde, though in the meane time I stand here wholy for your seruice; wherin as I haue spente these many yeares of my banishemēt, so wold I now as God shall appointe, and nede require, bestowe my bludd & the remnaunt of my lyfe, amonge you in my deerest cuntrie, for the better accomplishment of that which all true Chri­stians and Godly Englishe hartes doe desire.

Our lorde God blesse and directe you all to followe that in this action, and in all your lyfe that shall be moste agreable to his glory our cuntries good, & your owne honor and salua­tion.