A View of the Romish Hydra, Sermon 5

A View of the Romish Hydra · Sermon 5

p. 1021. SAM. 26.

And Dauid ſaid to Abiſhai, Deſtroy him not: for who laieth his hand on the Annointed of Iehoua, and be guiltleſſe?

THE FIFTH SERMON

I HAVE cōfuted in the laſt ſermon Abiſhai of Rome, and al trayterous Remainſtes, by their owne Laws of Rome, Canonical… in name, and indeede good Rules againſt al kind of murder: I hauehave complained iuſtly of their irregular and vnruly raſhnes in contemning and breaking their owne rules, and making their owne will their law and rule.

I am now to ſpeak to Engliſhmen, and out of Engliſh laws and others,A proofe of Dauids Reaſon out of Engliſh Lawes. to admoniſh you; Fathers, Brethren, and Countrimen, in ſuch ordinaunces and practiſes as come to my knowledge: which I wiſh ſome learned Law. yer would take in hande, and better performe it. In the meane time I exhort you which now by Gods onelyonly goodnes ſecurely dwell in the p. 103Land, to think of your loyalty, and to be more and more thankful. A vertu the more to be exerciſed by vsus al, for that it is moſt rare, & very hard to be found in the world. And a woride it is, to ſee the worlde altogether grudging and ſpiting ſuch Principall perſons, and Peeres, as are excellently qualified,Murmuring and vnthankefulnes againſt the beſt. and hauehave infinitly well deſerued of the common weale. When Tully had defended by his eloquence Ch. Popilius in a doubtful cauſe much perplexed, and hazarded, and was by his meanes quitte, and returned ſafe and ſound to his country, and neither in deede nor word hurt at any time by the ſaid Tully: yet he, ſuch was his vnkindnes,Tully. maketh requeſt vntounto Antonie, that hee might be ſent to cut his throat: & vponupon the graunt he runneth to Caieta, commaundeth his Orator to yeeld his throte, and by and by cutteth off the head of the Romane Eloquence, Lib. 5.& the moſt noble right hand of peace, neuer remē bring, y^t he caried that head, which had made an Oration for his head. I report almoſt the very words of Valerius Maximus. Lycurgus, of whome Apollo gaue this Oracle,Lycurgu…. that hee knew not whether hee ſhould number him among men, or among Gods, was notwithſtanding caſt at with ſtones, ſometimes caſt out with a publicke and popular rage, and by Alcander had his eye put out, and in the ende p. 104was driuen out of his country, and in that cuntry, where he had made, enacted & eſtabliſhed many good Lawes. Let vsus not be Spartans, churling and ſpurning againſt our Lycurgus, nay our Chriſtian Lawe-maker: Let vsus not bee vnthankfull Popilians to couet the heade of our Soueraigne, who hath ſaued and preſerued many heades. Harken therefore, welbeloued Countrimen, to our own Lawes, ould and new, and afterward to other conſtitutions, & Examples abroad among our neighbours, if occaſion ſerueth.

An old Law was by Canutus, Canutus.Edgar, & Alured, that he that railed onelyonly againſt a publicke perſon,Aluredus. ſhould hauehave his toung cut out. If a man fought before the Kings counſailour, or in the houſe of a counſailor, hee was amerced and fined for it.Jnas. If in the court, hee was amerced in his goods, and whether he ſhould dy or no, it was in the Kings pleaſure and diſcretiō. Another Law of Alure du was, That whoſoeuer laid wait to kil trayterouſly the King, either alone or accompanied with others,Jn Archaeonomia. hee ſhould looſe liuing and life. The Law of King Aethelſtane was, that if a man wrought miſchiefe againſt his lord, it was a capital crime, and the loſſe of his head. Euen at that time as you may cōceaue by the premiſſes, were lawes deuiſed not only to puniſh man-ſlaughter, but p. 105woundes, not only woundes, but blowes, not only blowes, but words. This Canutus as he was a good Law-maker, ſo hee practiſed the ſame againſt Traytors, euen againſt the traitours of Edmond King of England his enemy,Fabian. 6. c. 205. R. Holinſh. lib. 7. who after the peace made betweene him and Canutus, was trayterouſly ſlaine at Oxford, as hee ſate dooing his neceſſaries of nature. And yet Canutus perſwading his Countrymen the Danes to pay the tithes truely, that miniſters might be the better relieued, was contrary to the Law ſhamefully murdered of them in Saint Albanes Church, whereof more at large you may reade in Iac. Lib. 3. Am….Meyer, in the Chronicle of Flaunders. In this and in other examples hereafter you ſhal finde to be true, that againſt theſe blood-thirſty mē, Sunt leges & legum paenae. Their be Lawes, and penalties of Lawes, not lawes as a ſword hid in the ſcabbard, but drawen out & executed vponupon them: and alſo that there is no ſuccour by Law, or by diſpenſation for Lawe-breakers, according to that ſaying in Lawe:Lauxilium. 37. ſſ. Raphael Holinſhed. Fruſtralegum auxilium implorant, qui in leges cōmittunt. King Richard the firſt though a warrior, and now marching towardes the holy Lande, yet made Lawes among his ſouldiours againſt murderers, that if it were cōmitted in the ſhip,Rich. 1. he ſhould be caſt into the Sea with the corps, p. 106if vponupon the Land, he ſhould be bound with the dead body, and buried quick with it. And theſe caſes were of ſmaler weight than treaſon cō mitted againſt great eſtates. It is therefore prouided, that a traytour ſhould be halfe hanged, and taken down aliue, his bowels caſt into the fier, and in the end quartred, if he were a male: if a woman, burned.

Theſe Lawes notwithſtanding,Diſobedience againſt the lawes. yet the vnbridled and cruel Subiectes hauehave alwaies vnkindly and vnnaturally conſpired againſt Prince and againſt their own country. What inuaſion hath there been in this Iland either by Iulius Caeſar and the Romanes, either by the Danes, either by the Saxons, either by the Normanes, but by the vnthankful and graceleſſe children of this our common Mother? Gildas complaineth of the Britanes, that they were conquered, non armis, not by battle, but by their own ſlouthfulnes, & treachery: and as Demoſthenes accuſeth his countrymen the Athenians, Jn Olynthiacis.that Philip King of Macedonia thriued and proſpered not ſo much by his own ſtrength,England alwaies ſubdued by treachery of her owne children. as by their default: Euen ſo our king Egilred, or as others terme him Ethelred complaineth in an Oration in this ſort: Wee are ouercome of the Danes, not with weapon or force of armes, but with treaſon wrought by our owne people. The cauſe is p. 107opened by Matthaeus Weſtmonaſterienſis, Pag. 396.that when the King, and his Sonne Edmond were like to hauehave the vpper hād againſt Cneuto or Canutus the King of the Danes, Edrike Traitour.Eadricus plaied the traytour, went about by ſleight and ſubtilty, and allured of the Kinges Nauy forty ſhippes, and he ſlipped to Canutus, and ſubiected himſelfe to his dominion, whereby weſt-Saxonie and the Mercians with their horſes, and artillery offered themſelues to him: Intimatum eſt Regi, quod niſi cautius ſibi prouideret, ipſe à Gente propria hoſtibus traderetur. It was priuily told the King, that if hee did not prouide for himſelfe more warily, hee ſhould bee berraied into the handes of his enemies, by his owne nation. I ſignified before how King Edmond ſurnamed Ferreum Latus, Iron-ſide, at Oxford being at the Priuy on Saint Andrewes night, was ſlaine by the Sonne of Eadrik through the fathers inſtigation: & the father after the fact cōmeth to Canutus with this ſalutatiō: Aue Rex ſolus: Matth. Weſtmona. pag. 402. Polyd. Vir. Ang. Hiſt. lib. 7.Hail O King alone, but he heard this his rewarde by Canutus, Ego te hodie ob tanti obſequij meritum cunctis regni proceribus reddam celſiorem, For this your great ſeruice I wil exalt you & ſet you higher than al the Peers of the realm. Periury and perdition or treaſon had in this realme euermore according to their deſert. p. 108When King Edward the Confeſſour kept his ſolemnity of Eaſter at Wincheſter, at dinner Earle Goodwine being burthened at the table with the treacherous murder of his brother Aelfredus, Earle Goodwin.added to the murther periury, and deſired of God, as hee was true and iuſt, that the morſell of bread which hee held in his hand might neuer paſſe his throate, if his brother by himſelfe or by his counſail at any time were neerer to death,A terrible example againſt forſwearing. and any way further from life: ſo putting the bread into his mouth with an il conſcience, was choked by it. When the King ſawe him pale, and without breath, Carry out (ſaith he) this dog,Jn vita Edwardi Confeſſor. this traytour, & bury him in the quadrangle, for he is vnwoorthy to enioy Chriſtian burial. Another traytor in the time of Egilred, or Ethelred, was Elfrik, who being made Lieutenant of the Kings army left his Maſter,Elfrick. and took part with the Danes vponupon the ſuddain, when he ſhould hauehave diſcharged vponupon the enemies of the King and the country:Polyd. Vir. lib. 7. but afterward being Admiral of the Kinges Nauy, and deſtitute of all hope of preferment with the enemy: becauſe he returned to the King, & craued pardon, his puniſhment was mitigated, for he ſaued his life with the loſſe only of his eies. In the time of King Edwarde the firſt, the Scots breaking peace which they had made to their liege Lorde, p. 109King of England, and conſpiring nowe with the king of Fraunce, partly becauſe Iohn Beliol by the king of England was made their King, one Thomas Turbeuile more acquainted with chiualry, than honeſty,Th. Turbeuile. plaid on both ſides, promiſing to the French-men, that by treaſon they ſhould poſſeſſe the Kingdome of England, vppon condition to receiue a large ſumme of mony & land, leauing for aſſurance his two children, as Hoſtages: And ſo that deceiuer returning from beyond the Sea, tolde the King of England another Paraſiticall tale: howe hee eſcaped hardly out of priſon, & how he had learned the weakneſſe of Fraunce. But here a crooked Snake lurked, hee caried poyſon mingled with hony, wherewith they that touched it, might be infected: & creeping into fauour, & into the ſecret counſels of the Realm, ſet down al in writing, & directed thē to the Prouoſt of Paris. This fraude & fact being opened by the prouidence of God, (who is wel called of the autor, Exterminator impiorū. The deſtroier of the wicked) & declared to the king: he was immediatly by ſergeants apprehended, bound with cordes & carried to iudgement, accuſed, and by his owne confeſſion condemned. Firſt laid vponupon an Ox hide, drawen at horſe tailes thorough London, guarded with diſguiſed tormentours, baited at & p. 110railed on by the way, & mocked, was hanged, & his body vnburied, the people paſſing by ſcornfully aſking,Mat. Weſt. in Edou. 1. Is this Thomas Turbeuile? Whoſe Epitaph a verſifier wrote in this ſort: That Turbeuile was a troubler of the tranquillity & quietnes of the Realme, & therefore hee that would bee an hoate burning ſparkle, was become a dead ſpark himſelfe, as in thoſe rythmes may appeere at large, whereof this is the beginning:

Turbat tranquilla clam, Thomas turbida villa,

Qui quaſi ſcintilla fuit, accidit eſſe fauilla.

In the time of Edward the ſecond,Andrew Earle of Carlile. Andreas Hartlee created Earle of Carlile at York, & ſent by the King into Scotland to King Robert to intreat of Peace, made another matter, & turned it into a meſſage for war, priuily, & fraudulently to compaſſe the deſtruction of his owne King. This though contriued ſecretly, yet it was certified to the King, & hee immediatly at his returne vponupon the commandement of the King,Polyd. Vir. Hiſt. Ang. lib. 18. was attached & taken by the guard, & ſo by & by cōuicted, & put to death. Ita Andreas crucem ſibi conſtruxit ex qua penderet: So Andrewe prepared for himſelfe a Galloſe to hang vponupon, & made a rodde for his owne taſle. In the time of Edwarde the third like conſpiracies againſt the Prince had the like meaſure,Polyd. l. 19. when Edmond Earle of p. 111Kent, Roger Mortimer, & others were beheadded.

Thus you ſee exemplified by theſe traitors that which was by Lawes enacted: as alſo by another example of an Italian, indeuouring to betray Calice to the French. An Ita… trick againſt Calice.For when an Engliſh man had committed it vntounto the Italian, the French-man knowing the nature of that Nation to be moſt couetous of golde, ſecretly dealt with him, that he would ſel the caſtle to him for twenty thouſand crownes. The Engliſhman being made priuy of this, diſſembleth all thinges, driueth out the French, and taketh them, & with them the principall cauſe of that treachery. In the time of Richard the ſecond, there was a conſpiracy of ſome,Jn Epit. Froſardi. lib. 1. Eccle. 10. Anſley and Carton.Eccl 10 that had in their mouth the Prouerbe of the Hebrues, Woe be to the Land, whoſe King is a Childe: And of others euen in the court, as of Iohn Anſley knight, and of Hugh Carton minding with their complices to ſet vponupon the King and to murder him: although they two were enemies before, yet in this made one, agreeing too well: but God turned all to the beſt, and mery it was for the Lande and the King, when theeues fel out: for Anſley detecting Carton, and Carton Anſley, it was determined by the priuy counſel, that it ſhould be tried in a Combate, in the which at the length p. 112Carton was wounded, and throwen downe, & euen now at point of death, cōfeſſing his fault, was drawen to the place of Execution, as Polydor teſtifieth.

I hauehave entred into a long and large fielde, and mind to goe out of it,…piſh …actiſes a…inſt Reli…on in England. and onelyonly now to declare howe our Countrymen in former time, hauehave been bewitched by Popery, and hauehave attempted to erect and prop it vp by treachery, and yet al ended in vanity. The Pope hath ſtil practiſed by many, but not preuailed: though they came in his name, and ſometime with his conſecrated ware, and armed with his conſecrated Croſſes, his Agnus Dei, and other holy bleſſed ſtuffe,Trebellius Pollio. no wiſer indeede then thoſe heathen men, who beleeued that thoſe that caried about thē the image of great Alexander expreſſed in ſiluer or gold, ſhuld hauehave al things fortunately fal out vntounto them as they would, wherein Eraſmus toucheth the Biſhoppes of Rome: In Chiliad. 1. Cen. 10.Nechodie deſunt, qui gladios in bello fortunatos, & huinſmodi nugas pollicentur Principibus. Ther be ſome now a daies, which promiſe to Princes ſwords & other trifles happy & fortunate in war, which hauehave notwithſtāding an vnhappy end: and there he much more marueileth that any mā can beleeue ſuch ſubtile merchauntes. There was ſuch a flattering Papiſtical Preacher, William Fitzoſbert, otherwiſe p. 113called Long-beard,W. Long-bearde. who in his Sermons entiſed the people to rebel againſt their King, Richard the firſt, whoſe Theme was takē out of Eſay: Cap. 12.You ſhal draw with ioy waters out of the wels of ſaluation. A faire allurement whereby hee got after him many thouſand followers, as fond people wil hearken to the whiſtle, and daunce after the pipe of ſuch Popiſh Libertines. But this liberty was ſeruitude, for though hee fledde into Bowe-Church with his concubine, and others, yet it was not long a Sanctuary for him, he was plucked out, and by Hubert Lorde chiefe Iuſtice of England was adiudged to be drawen thorough the ſtreetes,R. Holinſh. Et in vit… Huberti. and tied to the horſe tailes, to bee hanged, to bee let downe halfe quicke, his heade cut off, and his body cut in foure quarters. See heere, I beſeech you, the ſuperſtition of the people, they tooke this Concubinary Prieſt and Traytour to be a Saint forſooth,A Traytor in Popery a Martyr. becauſe his chaines wherewith he was bound wrought miracles, and the woman viſited the place where he was laide: In ſana plebs vt Martyrem diu colebat, The mad people did long honor him as a Martyr, worſhipping his members and bones, as Reliques. In Wales what Superſtition hath there not been?Welch prophecies. They were ſo deceiued with falſe prophecies, that they perſwaded out of p. 114Merline, Leoline the Prince, that hee ſhould wear the crown of Brutus, & therfore took armour againſt King Edward. In vita Iohannis Peccam.They were willed by Iohn Peccam Arch-Biſhop of Caunterbury to cary in their handes bookes of the Goſpel, as reliques. All theſe fantaſies could not ſaue the heads of Leoline & Dauid, Leoline & Dauid.which were ſet vponupon long poles, and erected on high vponupon London bridge. What a Saint was the Traitour Thomas Becket? Th. Becket Traitour a Sainct of the Pope.In what fauour with the Pope Alexander? And yet was he in a councel at Northhampton accuſed & conuicted of extortion, robbery, forgery, falſhood, treaſon, & periury, in the preſence of the King, of the Peeres, and Prelats for ſome matters in his Chancelarſhip: whereupon although he lifted on high his croſſe ſtaffe, and ran out of the court & councell in haſt and in an heat ouer the ſea to Rome, yet neither the Pope nor the croſſe could ſaue him frō y^e croſſe of death. And here obſerue the vniuſt dealing of the Pope Alexander, who canonized among the Saints, Thomas the Traitour, the Kings deadly enimy, and perſecuted King Henry the ſecond, who was not acceſſary, nor priuy at that time to it, as it fel out in proofe: for when the doers thereof ſlipping aſide to Dureſme looked for great thankes of the King, for that they gaue out, that they had moſt faithfully defended p. 115him, & rid his enemy out of the way: it is written by Polydore that Henry did take this hainous act as no benefite,Angl. Hiſt. lib. 13. but vtterly miſliked it: inſomuch as they hearing this, and hoping for no pardon, ran one, one way, & another, another way, & by reaſō of the kings diſpleaſure died al within three yeares, & yet the Pope an heauy maſter of the King, not beleeuing his Embaſſadours purpoſely ſent to Rome: ſent into England his Cardinals for the trial of it, and though the cauſe did not appeare, yet was he compelled by oath to purge himſelfe, and by inforcemēt of their order to ſend to Ieruſalem two hundred ſouldiours, & himſelfe to lead an army into Syria within three years after (which was perfourmed by his ſonne Richard:) and to promiſe to be good afterward to the cleargy, and that by an oath, & (as ſome write) that none after his and his Sons death ſhould cary the name of a King, but ſuch a one as the Biſhop of Rome did nominate and appoint, albeit by our Chronicles, Ibidem.and by the practiſe in the tract of time no ſuch bondage doth appear.Thomas Walſingham in Richardo 2. The ſeditious ſermon of J. Ball Prieſt. Another ſeditious Preacher named Iohn Bal Prieſt, prooueth the equality of States without any difference of callinges, which made the ſimple people to be giddy headed. His text was not taken out of ſcripture, but borrowed out of a common prouerb:

p. 116When Adam delued, and Eue ſpan,

Who was then a Gentleman?

But the Epilog and concluſion of this Sermon was ſorowful for himſelfe, being drawn, hanged, and beheaded at Saint Albans, and his quarters ſent to foure cities of the Realm. There was another zealous Monk in cōſpiracy w^t the Barons of Englād againſt king Iohn & againſt his ſon Henry the third,Jbidem. who beeing no great friend to the Pope, was therefore the woorſe liked of the Monk Euſtachius, in that point more deſtable thē a dog:Euſtachius a Trayte…ous Monk for the prouerb is true: Canis caninā non eſt, nec lupus lupinam: A dog is no deuourer of a dog, nor the wolfe of a wolfe: And yet in the war betwixt our King & Lewes the French King, he plaid the Apoſtata, a rebel & renegate, reuoulting frō his King to another vncōſtantly, and perfidiouſly, worthily called of Matthew Paris, In Hypod. Neuſtriae, per Thom. Walſing.Proditor Regis Angliae, & Piratanequiſſimus, being turned out of his coule into a Traytor of the King of England, & a moſt wicked Pirat: &, as it is in another hiſtory, tāquam de Monacho, factus Daemoniachus, as it were of a Monk made a Demoniacal man, and poſſeſſed of a Diuel. But this diueliſh man was drawn out of the pump of the ſhip where he hid himſelfe, and his ende was the chopping off of his head by the hande of the Earle of Cornwal, Richard, the Kings p. 117brother, carried to the King,Ma…. Da… in He…. and ſo to diuerſe places of the Realme, which the Moucke woulde hauehave redeemed with an meſtimate maſſe of money, but coulde not.Adam. Adam the Byſhop of Hereford was accuſed of treaſon, and yet was protected by the Arch-Biſhops of Canterbury, of Yorke, and of Dublin, Th. Walſing. in … wardo….and of ten other Biſhops, and with violence, and with the Arch-biſhops croſſes was pluckt out from the place of iudgement, but afterwards being found guilty by the ſworne Iurie of all the crimes obiected, was ſo pronounced, & his goods confiſcated, & the traiterous and horned Prieſts blancked: for ſo theſe verſes ſignifie.

Noſtri cornuti ſunt conſilio quaſi muti,

Sunt quaſi conſuſi, decreto legis abuſi.

This Adam, as this hiſtory reporteth, was arreſted openly in the Parlament at London, to the great reproch of the cleargy, and preiudice of the whole church of England. Againſt Henry the fourth,Conſpiratours againſt He…. the 4. what conſpiracies were there not? by Earls, and ſpecially by Cleargy men? whoſe meaning was ſodenly at the caſtle of Winſor, in the time of Chriſtmaſſe plaies, to ruſh in, to kill him & his children: but their Chriſtmas py, was a deadly pie to them: ſome ran away to London, and ſo ment to paſſe beyond the ſea, but the wind being againſt them, they were taken and beheadded: The cleargy p. 118men,Maude. Ferby. Maudlin Maude, and William Ferbie, were hanged, drawen, and beheaded at London, others at Oxford. The Prieſt of Ware, that had matriculated in a roole the names of the conſpirators, whereof ſome were innocēt, had the ſame iudgement. The Prior of Laune once Canon of Dunſtable, Walter Baldock a Prior.Walter Baldocke confeſſing himſelfe to be priuy to it, for conceiling it, was hanged, ſo were the Minorit Friers euen in the habit of their religion.Friers. An Abbat of Weſtm. As for the Abbat of Weſtminſter, a chiefe ſtickler in this matter, in whoſe houſe after the feaſt this conſpiracy was deuiſed, was by God himſelfe ſtricken with a palſey, and by & by was dum, and ſo died. At the ſame time Thomas Walſingham writeth of Owen Glendar a Welch man, Owen de Glendour. In Henr. 4.a rebel againſt the ſame King, intending by his Magicall coniuration to kill the King, the Diuel ſo working by raine, winde, ſnowe, haile ſtones, and al tempeſts againſt the King and his camp,Jbidem. Fuerunt plures, ſi fas ſit credere, qui dicerent haec aduerſa, arte fratrum Minorum contra Regem fuiſſe commentata. It was a common rumour then, that Friers hauing familiarity with Diuels, wrought & brought al theſe miſeries againſt the King, as friendes to the Welch: but you heard, how the Diuell was ouertaken by God: The Minorites executed by the King in their beſt and moſt holy p. 119weedes: and ſo Owen Glendar in the abſence of the King following his prophecy, wandred miſerably vp and downe in the deſert and in ſolitary places, & by penury and hunger pined away. The like iudgement fel vponupon Falcaſius a rebel againſt Henry the third, of a great rich man ſo miſerably poore, that he in baniſhment begged his bread in Fraunce, and had not a bolſter to lay his head vponupon. I might hauehave reckoned vp many Iackes, as Iacke Strawe, Th. Walſingham n. Hypod. Neuſiri….or Wat Tiler, Iack Miller, Iacke Carter, againſt King Richard the ſecond, and alſo Iack Cade of Kent, who was in a cart brought to London, taken before in a garden in Suſſex, and his head ſet on London bridge, his quarters ſent into Kent in the time of Henry the ſixt, but theſe are matters of rebellion indeede, but not ſo much for Religion, which is my purpoſe and chiefe ſcope: And yet all theſe drink of one cup, bitter enough here for ſuch, and moſt bitter in the life to come.

Now to come nearer vntounto our time & memory,Late Popiſh traytours for their Religion. R. Holinſh. in Henr. 8. Rebellions for religion vnde… Henr 8 our Popiſh Traitours hauehave had no better ſucceſſe. In the raigne of Henry the eight by Parliament, the Lords praier and the ten commandements were decreed to be learned in Engliſh: for this good ſeruice to God and to the common weal, the blind people ſeduced by blind guides, Monks, Prieſts, made a commotion p. 120in Lincolne ſhier: In Lincolne ſhiere.God fought for his cauſe & for his King, and gaue to him the victory: The multitude by proclamation was pardoned, a new oath of fealty to the King receiued, Captaine Cobler, Doctor Mackarel.a Monke named Doctor Mackarel, and others put to death.

How fel it out in the North by their religious rebellion?In the North an holy pilgrimage. It was forſooth for the Cacholicke Church: It was called a holy bleſſed pilgrimage: In their banners was painted Chriſt hanging on the Croſſe, a Chalice with a painted cake, in the ſleeues of the ſouldiours were embrodered the fiue wounds of our Sauior: But God ouerturned al their purpoſes, and they were ſupplaunted, and by a floud on Simon & Iudes Euen their heat was cooled,A butcher & a Priest executed. and a butcher at Winſor wiſhing, that theſe good fellowes of the North had ſome carkaſes of his ſheepe, with a Prieſt procured to preach in fauour of Rebels, were adiudged to dy by Law Martial.

Good king Edward the ſixt proceeded in zeale as his father began,Rebellions for religion in the time of Edwa. 6. Jn Cornewall. and more ſincerely reformed religion: but (alas) in Cornewall and Deuonſhire, it was not brooked nor digeſted: the king his Commiſſioner in Cornwall was ſlaine: but God did not ſuffer it is remaine vnreuenged: a Prieſt was taken, and executed in Smithfield by Law. In Deuonſhiere p. 121they did riſe for the ſix Articles,In Deuonſhiere. they would hauehave Maſſe, holy water, holy bread, but they wilfull men lacked all, they famiſhed for want of bread. The Lorde Ruſſel, the Lorde Grey, the kings army ouercame them. Sir Peter Carewe, and Gawine, and other faithfull ſubiects, with the city of Exceter, perſeuering true and loyall, were rewarded, & highly commended: but Welch, vicar of Saint Thomas in Exceter, a newe reformer of religion, was hanged vp in chains vponupon the top of the church with his ſacring Bel, holy water bucket, and ſprinkle, beeds, and other Popiſh traſh, & the chiefe captaines moſt diſloial carried to London to be executed.

In Northfolke was another rebellion of ſuch as partly were deceiued,In Northfolke. or not throughly perſuaded in religion: they had an old Oak, a tree not of life to them, but of death, called by them the tree of Reformation,The tree of Reformation. but it was the tree of Abſalom, vppon the which Miles their Gunner, and two of their falſe Prophets were executed, for they truſted in vaine Prophecies, which were partly vttered in theſe verſes:

The country gnuffes, Hob, Dick, & Hick

With clubs and clouted ſhoone,

Shal fil vp Duſſin dale with bloode

Of ſlaughtered bodies ſoone.

p. 122This prophecy was a dreame, their captaine Ket crept into a corner, but was openly put to death: his other brethren were hanged in chaines, the reſt of meaner ſort hearing the pardon proclaimed by an herauld of Armes, caſt downe their weapons, and lifted vp their voices, praying to God to preſerue King Edward.

There brake out a new ſtur in Yorkſhier, In Yorkeſhiere. Falſe Prophecies cauſe of rebellion.by falſe prophecies & by a fond miſliking of the Kings proceeding: But here alſo the captains that thought to raiſe a great flame, and to ſet al on fier, made but a ſmoke, wherewith they were choked themſelues, namely a poore man William Ombler, and a ſimple pariſh clerke Thomas Dale, and ſuch like. All theſe ment vnhappily, by extraordinary means, to turn al the Lawes of God, and ordinaunces of Princes topſie-turuie. About that time of theſe rebellions wee had ſet foorth by the authority of the King to theſe rebels an Eloquent oration by a great learned man Sir Iohn Cheeke Schoolemaſter to the King,Sir I. Cheek grauely and pithily dehorting them from ſuch vprores, as contrary to Gods word, the honour of a King, and the ſafety of the comon-weale, which in mine opinion would make any hard heart to melt.

Theſe former and fooliſh attemptes in p. 123the beginning pernitious, and tragicall in the end, might hauehave perſuaded our countrymen to hauehave learned by their fore-fathers to keepe themſelues within their tedder & compaſſe of obedience.The Raign of Q. Elizabeth. But (alas) our Soueraign Queen Elizabeth hath felt too much of their wilfull diſobedience, and they taſted ſomewhat of hir prouoked ſeuerity. Wherefore did Thomas Pearcie Earle of Northūberland, & Charles Earle of Weſtmerlande againſt the Lawes of God and man by forcible meanes ſet vp Maſſes, burne Bibles, and bookes of Communion? Why did they riſe themſelues, when they might hauehave been quiet? And raiſe the people, which ſhould hauehave been taught obedience? Let the death of the one, and the miſerable flight of the other, & the execution of Parſon Plumtree at Dureſme, and of others hanged and beheaded at Knaues. Mire not farre from Yorke, be inſtructions and examples for ſubiects. Theſe and many mo cannot warne vsus, neither the hiſtory of Iohn Story prouidently caught beyond the Seas, and trimly ſhipped into this lande, and afterward iuſtly executed vponupon a newe paire of Gallowes, euen at this day commonly bearing his name:Saunders li. 7. de viſibili Monarchia. Ann. 1566. neither the terrible end of Iohn Felton, who vponupon Corpus Chriſti day at London at the Biſhoppes gate publiſhed the Declaratory ſentence of Pius p. 124Quintus Pope, making this Realme of England, and the Queenes Maieſty, a pray, and a ſpoil to our neighbours and to al nations: neither the beggerly, and lamentable ſtate of Iames Deſmond, neither of Iohn Deſmond, bearing himſelfe too bould vponupon an Agnus Dei, and a ring ſent from the Pope, neither of Nicolas Saunders himſelf the rebellous preacher to the Iriſh-men, Saunders and the reſt.in the end taken with a frenſie: theſe al, while they bend the vttermoſt of their wittes, and of their forces againſt the Maieſty of our Prince, whom the Maieſty of God hath enthronized, they al, I ſay, hauehave but knocked their heels againſt the prick, & ſpurned to their owne deſtruction, and to the confuſion of that Popiſh ſect. By theſe and manie others, neither Campion nor the reſt of the Ieſuites new Incommers,Campion & other Ieſuites. and Inmates in this Realme coulde beware, neither yet by them other new cutters, and practiſers could be warned, neither yet to this day the people coulde bee taught or perſwaded, but that their holy fathers Buls and Decrees, & Declarations muſt be obeyed, and that his waxe, and his lead, and his Pontifical preſentes conſecrated by his execrable authority may preſerue & exempt them from al daungers & touch of our law, & hereafter from al perill & puniſhment either in hel or in purgatory.

p. 125I am to paſſe ouer at this time other examples and ordinaunces of other countries adioyning to vsus, as of Flaunders and Fraunce, which wee muſt differre till another time if God will.

In the meane time let vsus aliena frui inſania, by the madnes of theſe men learne to bee wiſe, as many of our predeceſſors both Princes, and learned men of this Vniuerſity hauehave doone, and know that the Queenes Maieſtie hath waded no farther in theſe cauſes, than other Kinges of this Land, who hauehave broken the yee before. King Stephen perceiuing that Theobald Arch-Biſhoppe of Caunterburie brought Popiſh laws from Rome into Englande, by decree of Parliament condemneth them, & burned them, as hurtful to a common weale,Iohn Bale cent. 2. in ape…lice. as Iohn Sariſbury beareth witnes in his eight book and two & twentith chapter of Polycrat. King Richard the ſecond alſo moleſted with Romiſh affaires and tyranny of the Pope in Parliament holden at Weſtminſter decreed and enacted, that it ſhoulde bee lawfull for no man for any cauſe to pleade before the Byſhoppe of Rome, Polyd. Vir. lib. 20.for excommunication of any Engliſh-man by his authoritie: and if anie ſuch commaundement came from him, it ſhoulde not bee executed vponupon paine of loſſe of all their gooddes, and p. 126perpetuall impriſonment, and therefore great marueile that any ſuch ſentence of excommunication from ſuch a forreiner and vſurper againſt our gracious Prince ſhuld in theſe daies of more knowledge by our countrimen, be either receiued or harkned to, or feared. You (dearly beloued) I hope wil not: and that you may not, take an example by old Oxford Studentes, who could ne would like of a Bull of Gregory directed againſt Iohn Wicliffe, and therefore are chidden of the Pope that would ſuffer cockle and darnel of his hereſie to grow among pure wheat, & in the beutifull fieldes of their Vniuerſity. You may alſo cal to minde, that are ancients, the daies of Henry the eight and Edward the ſixt, and iuſtifie the thinges to be true which I hauehave alleadged, and much more which might bee ſaid, to this purpoſe & to the proofe of this argument of Dauid, that whoſoeuer laieth hand of the lords annointed, ſhal not be accounted innocent, but ſhal be plagued for it. The Lord giuegive vsus grace to hauehave this doctrine fixed and ſetled in our heartes, and expreſſed in our liues: To whom bee all honour &c.