Admonition to the Germans, Title page – Translator to the reader
A FAITHFVL ADmonition of a certeyne true Pastor and Prophete, sent vntounto the Germanes at such time as certain great princes went about to bryng Alienes into Germany, & to restore the papacy, the kingdom of Antichrist. &c Now trāslated into English for a like admonicion vntounto all true Englyshe harts, wherby they may learn and know how to consider & receiue the procedinges of the English Magistrates and Bishops.
Wyth a Preface of M. Philip Melancthon.
Take heede and beware of the …euen of the popysh Phariseis.
Take hede and beware of the pestilēt poison of the cursed Papistes.
Take heede & beware in time of these godles Alienes and brutish Spaniardes, which minde to cōquer your nacion, and to subuerte the whole state thereof▪
❧The Preface of the Translator.
¶Eusebius Pamphilus, the Translator of thys folowyng treatise, vntounto the Christen Reader.
THe grace & merci of our heauē lye father, with the true knowledge of his sōne Iesus Christ. which the diuel and his members now labour with toth and naile▪ to blemish and subuert thorow Antichrist the Pope and his generatiō, be dayly multiplied & confyrmed in the▪ most Christē Reader. This folowyng treatyse, as it was first wrytten of as worthye Prophet as hath bene since the Apostles time, for a warning vntounto his deare countrye men: Euen so the state of m… natural countrye of Englād, ouer which God threatneth now his terrible plages, stāding in the like daunger, I thought that my naturall duty towards my countrey required so muche seruice of me as to translate the same into the Englishe tong, if paraduenture God wyll woorke in the harts of the Readers therof by folowing the councell ministred therein, to preuent that subuersion & extreme inconuenience which at this present hā geth ouer their hea…es. And thoughe the Papistes shal paraduēture frown and fume therat; I care not much therfore, for seing the diuel hath so bewitched thē, that they care not what destruction they worke towardes theyr coūtrey, so that theyr kingdome may florish againe, I am wel assured yt nothing proceding of the spirit of God, can content or please thē. And to say ye truth, for as much as they defyle thē selues with idolatry, supersticiō, false religiō, and with persecuting of ye true professors of the Gospel, they are not worthy that am good thing shuld delite or content thē, o… that any godlye aduertisemēt should synke into their heads. But such as hauehave the true fear of God in their hartes, let them take it as a profitable admonitiō vntounto thē, with thankes geuing vntounto almighty God, that he hath styrred vp such instrumentes indued with suche a grace & spirit, wherby they may be warned & aduertised how to auoide suche imminent dangers as their sinnes & vnthankfulnes hauehave not only worthely deserued, but also in maner, broughte vponupon theyr neckes. If such warnings as hauehave proceded of the like spirite as this present aduertismēt was writtē ▪ had bene regarded in time, paraduenture God would hauehave spared vsus our late Iosias, noble king Edward of famous memori, a litle longer. O England, England, that thy sins, vnthākfulnes & security wer such yt they prouoked God to take from thee such a prince thorow whō thou mightest so quietly and religiously hauehave bene gouerned, & to send …he such now as go about to bring the in thraldom & subiection vntounto Alienes, & to conquer the with tyranny, & seduce the with false religion. O England, Englande, thy Nobles were preached vntounto, and told plainly inough by Gods prophetes, that Gods wrath was at hand, if thei wold not redres their enormities, but they coulde not be hard, yea those to whō they preached made a mocke an… a iest at theyr earnest crieng & calling vponupon thē, asking them who made thē so much of Gods coūcel. It wold neuer sink into their heades that God would so dea…e with thē, as the Preachers ou… of the spirit of God threatened thē. They thought paraduēture that it was inough for th… to pretend Gods true religion, howe litle soeuer they framed theyr lyues thereafter. But god hath now mete …wel taught some of thē the price of pretensed religion, euen as he taught the Iewes in the old Testamēt, how litle he regarded theyr pretēse of relygion, crieng: The Temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, & shewing in theyr lyues nothing but dissolutenes, securiti, and …. God graūt that the penaūce which they that be latelye taken away, hauehave felte for theyr contempt & dissembling with God, may be an occasiō to those that are yet left behinde to consider with thēselues, & to cal to remēbraūce how good God is yet vntounto them, to cal thē still to the crediting of the godlye Preachers doctryne (I meane not of ye Papists, Antichristes messengers which now fil al Pulpits ful, with most shameful lies & most detestable blasphemies) seing God hath shewed in some of thē the ensamples of such punishmentes as they told thē before of. Which is a most infallyble token that they were Gods true prophetes, & that it was his true religion whiche they preached. And therefore hath God taken some of them away, that the punishment of them, myght be a warning vntounto the rest, to repent theyr negligence and contempt of his word, when they had it truly & faythfullye preached vntounto them, & to endeuour them selues to beware hereafter how they contemne Gods worde at the mouth of his Preachers and prophets againe: least if they neglect this further warning, more then theyr felowes had, God may gyue them also a further and a sharper penaūce. This should my Lordes and the Nobles do wherby the true feare of God myght appeare to be in theyr hartes, and not to fal from contempt of Gods holy word to the vtter renouncing and denieng of it, and to seme to feare mor… a weake creature (as Peter dyd the Girle) then the mighty God, whych hath the hartes of al creatures in hys handes. Truly, trulye, thys is not the way to pacify Gods wrath, for to denie his true religion, & to cōsent to abhominable idolatri, but rather to kindle it more feruentlye agaynst vsus. Ye hauehave paraduenture policies, fetches & diuises in your heades, but take hede least they deceyue you. Thynke not ye god is boūd to your policies & drifts. I neuer sawe, nor heard yet that euer any policie or fetche against the wil of God, came to any good ende & effect at length. As I could rehearse manye examples euen in our time.
Thus much be spoken to ye Nobles for theyr aduertisment: whose insolency & supine dissolutenes without dout hath bene a greate cause of this plage that is now come vponupon vsus. Notwithstanding I meane not therby to clear and excuse the inferior or meane sorte▪ as though theyr part wer not therin also. How vnthankful hauehave they ben… also in receiuing, & how slacke in folowing the earnest aduertismentes that were daily geuen them. I meane not onelye of the blinde Papistes whych waited and gaped daily for the restoring of their wicked Masse, and other damnable idolatry (wherwith the diuell hath nowe fylled theyr mouthes ful) thinking that al shoulde be wel, if they myght once hauehave that agayne. Now they may se what it hath brou…ght, & what it is like to bryng, name…ly the subuersion of the whole state of the realme, the ouerronnyng thereof with a straunge nacion and such a nacion as is the most vyle and godless… nacion vponupon earthe, the vtter destru… tion of them selues and of theyr posterity for euer. Let thē now make much of papistry that list, they se what fru… tes it hath brought with it, and wha… it is lyke to bryng more, if they wyl… nedes hauehave it. I meane not (I sai) on…ly of them, but euē also of those which hauehave knowen and professed Gods religion. That the same may wel be said onto vsus al, & to the whole Realme generally, which Christ spake vntounto Ie…usalē in the .xix. of Luke, that all these plages are come vponupon vsus because we did not acknowledge the time of oure visitacion. Let vsus al therfore repēt our former negligence. Let vsus all amende …ur former fautes, and also let vsus al be true folowers of the Gospel in dede, as we hauehave long bene professors therof in word, and thā doutles God shal ceasse and withdraw his plage wherwith he had minded to scourge …s, he shal driue the Papists and the alienes (which they go about to bryng in, to maintaine theyr kingdom, & to make them selues strong against God) out of our country, that wher thei sought but one way to come in, they shal seke …en to flye out of it againe. Let vsus not contemne such warnings and admonicions as this conceiued in the treatise folowynge. And speaciallye let no man misconstrue it, but read it wyth iudgement as an instruction not to styrre any man to vnlawful rebellion (as I dout not but the Papistes gods sworne aduersaries wil be readye to say, wher as they and no other are the authors of al mischiefe, as may most manifestlye appeare to any that hath but halfe his right wit) but only as an aduertisment that no mā minister ani aide or obedience to such Tirannes as bend thē selues against God and hys word, and to the subuersiō of their natural coūtrey. In which case it is not only vnlawful to obey them or in any wise to consent vntounto thē, but also most lawful to stand in the defence of gods religion, and of the lawdable & auncient state of theyr coūtry, against such vncircumcised Tyrānes (they shal neuer be called Magistrates of me,Nay, vntyll they hauehave a more lauful cōmission. tyll they shew them selues worthy of that name) as go about such diuelish enterprises. The God of heauen wyth hys mighty hand confound them.
Thus hast thou most gentle reder, both the scope of this admonitiō, and also partlye the occasion that moued me to translate it. Put now thy endeuour (if thou be a true Christian, and hast any true natural louelove to thy coū trey, to thi self or to thi posteriti) yt it be neither of ye fyrst author writtē, nor of me translated in vaine. And herewith let my yonker Papistes which nowe are in theyr ruffe, triumphe aboue the Moone, crieng: Crucifige vponupon ye gospel, and the poore professours therof▪ take their aduertisment also, that whē God hath vsed them as his scourge & rod to that that hys diuine councell hath determined, than can he find thē out wel inough, and giuegive them theyr penaunce, from the which their masse idol (make they neuer so muche of it) shal as litle saue and deliuer them, as Baal saued the wicked false Priestes and other that worshypped hym and tooke hym for theyr God.
God be merciful to hys Church and flocke of England, & deliuer the same from the violence of vnmerciful Tyraūtes, & vngracous papistes.