¶ A special grace, appointed to haue been said after a banquet at york, vpon the good nues and proclamation there, of the entrance in to reign over us, of our sovereign lady ELIZABETH, by the grace of God, queen of England, france and Ireland, defemder of the faith, and in earth the supreme head of the church of England, and also of Ireland, in november. 1558.  Psal. 21. Qui timetis dominum, laudate eum Psal. 65. Qui terribilis in consilijs supper filios hominum.  

To the guests.  
THE chief part of your cheer is, that ye are welcum all.  
A word with your favours, I would say, & that is this. It is a maner after meat, no less ancient then commendable, to haue a grace to be said, ear water be given: which, though it more aptly perchance appertain to sum of these Clerkes, that haue vouchsafed to be here with us this day, then unto me. Yet forasmuch as with myself I haue conceived a far further cause of thankes giving to God, then peradventure sum of them haue, I will with your patience take the office vpon me. And say: that since it hath pleased Gods mighty mercy, to haue called unto his grace, our late queen, a lady that of her own inclination, wished all for the best, and would( I believe) even so haue wrought: wear it not that she had been so miserable seduced, and so marvelously abused, by certain evil and most ungodly persons of her spiritual counsel about her. Who first forced her to alter religion, then fetched in foreign powers over us, of the late king here, and that wicked usurper the Pope. After that, plucked away her lamdes and revenues, brought her into warres, lones, and subsidies: and ended at last with the lamentable loss of Callis. such was the thrift of their ghostly government, such was the proffites of those prelates advises about her, these hath been the fruits of their catholic counsel. That what was there left of our utter vndooyng, but onely to be over run by the Spaniard or Frenchman? After which they both gaped, and onely thus disappointed by God.  
But since( as I said) that it hath pleased his almighty majesty, now thus to haue called her to his mercy( as most humbly I beseech his highnesse he haue) whereby queen Elizabeth our most gracious Sooueraign is cummen to her just inheritance and kingdom, thus to reign over vs. I Prince( as ye wot all) of no mingled blood, of Spaniard or stranger, but born more Englishe here amongst us, and therfore most natural unto vs. Of educacion, brought up and instruct in al virtuous qualitees and Godly learning, specially( that may be most cumfort and ioy to us all) in the sincere knowledge and following of Gods holly word. Of natural inclination, so Godly disposed as without reuenge she patiently suffered so much malice and wrongs. Of wisdom so ware, as she may shun the inconveniences and follies that her sister fell in. Of circumspection( we may trust) so wise and politic, as she may straitly stay back, the daungerous rashness, of those deuaunt currours that run before laws, and seuearly keep short the wicked kind of libertines that pass for no lawe, but will make their belief, and live as they list. Of mercy so gracious toward her commons, as her highnes pitifully regarding the daungerous estate of both body & soul, that the Spiritualty of this Ream, hath of late brought thē in, may vouchsafe to set sum Godly and charitable order, for restraint and reformation of their extreme outrages and abominacions.  
Whose Pride hath been such as first amoong all degrees of men, they knue neither make nor fellow, but still striuyng for soueraintee haue with might and main, endeavoured to cast of all yoke of obedience to their Prince, contending to keep that estate under them, and to swear themselves subiectes unto a bishop. To contemn nobilitee, and to be the onely sooueraignes themselves. The calling in and setting up, of their patron the Pope( contrary to their natural ligeaunce and former oaths) The chekmate of his faithful minister, our cousin the Cardnall, and the importable arrogancie of all the residue beside, what else hath it shewed?  
Their avarice so insatiable, as they held them not content so farforth miserable to haue insensate & dudled their Prince( alas poor woman) as at one chop to make her give away a fifty thousand pound and better yearly, from the inheritance of her crown unto them, and many a thousand after, unto those idle hypocrites beside: but even at one self and same Parliament to cause her crave a subsidy, when she had done. In the grant whereof on their part, it is worthy to be noted, the pure honesty and great wisdom of these men. That where the lords and Commons, like good faithful and true meaning subiectes, did freely and sinceerly, for good will to their Prince, and relief of the State, made their grant therof unto the king and queen, her heires and successors: Our clergy of a further forecast, could work with a caution, and grant it no further, then unto the king and queen onely( like as under that tenor, was the other subsidy they passed) Wise men I warrant you, lads of circumspection, and verè filii huius saeculi: 
Luke. xvi.  That as Christ saith, ar always more wise in their generation, then the children of light. What good hart they bare toward their queens successor: though we wear not in their Conuocacion amoong them, yet by this and other, we may give a good guess.  
And yet this great profusion of their Prince, did so smalli serve their hungri guts as like storuen tikes, that wear never content with more then enough, at all their collations, assemblies, and sermons, never lined yellyng and yalpyng, in pursuit of their pray: Restore, Restore. These devout deacons, nothing regarded how sum for long service & travail abroad, while they sat at home. Sum for sheddyng his blood, in defence of his princes cause and country, while they with safety al careless in their cabains in luxe & fifteens, did sail in a sure port. Sum selling his ancient patrimony, for purchase of these lands, while they must haue all by gift a gods name. they nothing regarding I say, what injury to thousands, what vndoinges to most men, what danger of uproar & tumult through out the hole ream, and what a weakenyng to the State, should thereby arise: and then by that means, what a gap opened to the enemy, to run in as he list, and ruin us all,( which thing sum think they little forced for, so they might haue had their purpose) that wot not I in dead, but this wot I well: that with none of these matters wear they moved a whit, but still held on their cry, Restore, Restore. And that ye may be the surer, they ment nothing more then how to haue all, & that with al hast. After that their Pope, this seditious Poule the fourth, that now is, had sent hither his bulls and his thunderbolts, for that cause and other, and yet little restored( because the world in dead would not so be faced out of their liuelod) sundry of our Prelates, like hardy champions of the church, stacke not a whit themselves, to thrust lords out of their lands, and picked quarrels to their lawful possessions. Well let nobilitee consider the case as they list, but as sum think if clergy cum ones more to be the Masters again, they will teach them a school point. But how trow ye in time, would these douty divines haue dealt with poor men, that grew so presumptuous, and durst without law be so bold with their betters?  
And( now to the purpose afore) though by sum men it wear wisely  told them. Why restoring is made now, and ye can be content: for, from the temporalty those possessions cam: & now, although not so cheaply as ye had thē, yet ar they thither sum restored again. Tut, tut, that was none answer to them for they call nothing restored, but that is given them a gods name. And then( hardly) a good kind of people for the common wealth haue we of them, that haue a capacitee thus stil to take of us, and never to give vs. mary, as needful may we count them amoong us, as amoong gamners, is ten and four for a Christmas box, that in small process of play( if the banks be not the bigger) is like to rob all the board. It was time in dead for princes aforetyme to stay them with Statutes of praemunire & Mortmain which they yet now( taking advantage vpon the time that served them) like the popes true squires, and for the liberty of his church( as they term it) haue won( I warrant you) to be set at large, and if it wool hold. much ado God wot, haue they made for this restoring, but if God sand us ones a world, whearin we may meet with them on an even ground, so as with patience and indifferency, it may be quietly reasoned: whither by lawe politic & divine, that temporal possessions, may more aptly square with the estate of Princes, lords and laifee, then with the office of bishops and abbots and profession of priesthood: I believe then it shall easily be found, and fall out full well: that as the Princes benignitee, may vouchsafe thē sum tithes or pensions: even so as for lands and temporal possessions, they shall haue as much as they may be born unto, and as our saviour Christ appointed out for them, and as his holly apostles had, whose successors they say they be. And when that day cums( as with Gods grace it may shortly full well) then shall we cry as fast for our Prince, as they haue done for themselves, vpon a better ground, & with a more equitee Restore Restore. they haue set us a saumple, that we must not be silent, if occasion may serve. That if to say truth, they be not better sum other way provided for, so as they may be curteisly unburdened of their great cares and study, which nedefully now they take poor solles, about keeping of their courts, lookyng to their fines, considering of emprouments, harkenyng to their best proffers, aduisyng vpon new leaces, scanning of old covenants, consultyng vpon sum suits of profit with the prince, aduise with their learned counsel for matters in lawe, exchanges of their Lordships and lands for the better, commoditees of fisshyngs, sales of Woods, provision of household, storyng of pastures and shepegates, regard to their game in parks, bildyng of Palaces, amplifiyng their sees & estates, maintenance of their Churches liberties, and sooch other infinite of troobles beside, whearwith they are now so continually cumbered alas: Let us never trust after at their hands, either more virtuous example of living, more contentation with their more than enough, more charity to their even christen, yove to their cuntree, or else any firmer obedience to their Prince. And as for sinceer Religion: how may we ever look, for to haue gods word truly taught us of thē that by means of their possessions, are so tied to the world? What a mockery is it, both to God and man, that under Popeholly profession of wilful poouerty, penance or prayer, thus to wallter & wallow in worldly wealth, of a three or four thousand pound a year? Under semblaunce of shepherds, with sheep hook of silver, and surcote of raynes, to rule over all men, and to reign as Princes? Under name of humility, to live in luxe and excess, of wine and spices, and costly garments, and train of household, and all kind of affluence beside, able to compare, or rather exceed any lord in the land? That if they would be in dede, as their would seem to be: Why leave they their charge? Why bear they office of so great gain and fee, and leave their cure vnserued? How think they that they may not be spared out of Princes courts? Why will they be called lords? Why haue they sooch ample possessions? Why maintain they a foreign bishops power aboou their own princes, and that in her own land? why rob they their prince and empouerish their cuntree by sending that gold over, for their first fruits and ootherwise to the Pope, that is due to their Prince? And why abide our Religious in bowers of sooch sumpt & easment, and so ny to good tounes? Christ taught the young man, that perfection was in Vade, 
Mat. xix.  vend, & da, and not in mane, acquire, accumula. why get they not into deserts, or desolate places, as holly jerom and Polle Hermit, & diuers other did? That if their devotion to God ward, and contempt of the world, wear so fervent as they make for.  
Why tarry they at home? Why do they not Ire & praedicare, hye them to hungary, and toward Turkey, or into the partes where Christ is contemned, or else unknown? doubt to be cared for, they should need to haue none, since gods goodness provideth for the birds of the air, 
Mat. xvi.  that neither sow nor reap: how much the rather will he provide for them that do his commandments, and trust in him? Death or violence should they not haue cause to dread, since( as they well wot) no pour can hurt them, whoom Gods pour sheeldeth, no violence empair, th● Gods might defendeth. That if in case for our Master Christ, & his holly doctrine, and for the confirming of them they had won they should be drawn to it: 
joan. x.  then like as a good shepherd giveth his soul for his types sakes, 
Mat. x.  and he that loseth his life that way for a while, winneth his life an other way for ever. even so( O lord) how sure is theirs all redy, the kingdom of heaven that suffer smart and persecution for righteousness sake? 
Mat. v.  But( shall I tell you) they ar wise men I warrant you, they will tarry at home &( if time serve them) call for more land, they haue a nearer way to heaven, with more eas and less pain, & that by many a mile.  
Now, as touchyug their malice, that hath been so despiteful and cankered, that beside their devilish malignitee toward all good men, they haue not spared openly in their sermons, co slander and rail at their own late natural Princes: that noble king Henry, and that virtuous king Edward: calling them heretics, schismatics, or what vile name else their rancour could devise. Put them quiter out of their beads biddyng and beadrolles( whither I ly, look in the bishops Iniuncions) and not so ceasyng: haue hatefully procured, utterly to be defaced the tomb of the tone, and could never afoord any cost to be done on th● toother. To the intent to make of thē, either no mention, but slanderous: or else( if they might) to haue put them both quiter out of all memory. Nay, what may we say, if there wear amoong them( without horror and trembling, alas can I scant rehearse it) that could enter into meditation & practise, so farfoorth to haue profaned the hurtles corpses of those sacred princes( Gods holly anointed, the Masters, the makers, and sooueraigns to them all) as to haue plucked them out of their tombs, to haue burnt their bones? O merciful god what impietee, what malice matchable with these mens? What malignitee comparable with these spites of the spirituallty?  
Their doctrine again, so fals, so wicked, so blasphemous against GOD and all goodness, and thearwith so inconstant, specially inducing error and blindness: as they haue not stuck to enforce & procure us, to a greater obedience unto a foreign bishop( whom ones yet they themselves exploded, preached, & swore out of doors) thāvnto their own natural Sooueraign: to that Archapostata the Pope( I mean) then to their liege Prince. forbade us our Bibles, and commanded us beads. plucked away our prayers, and forced us to talk to God in a strange language. they took gods book, his holly testaments out of churches, they wiped out his word, & stack up images without caution of idolatry. Condemned their marriages, and taught that hoordoom amoong thē is more sufferable, than sacred matrimony. Which doctrine in dead, like fervent followers of their own laws, they haue stoutly expressed in their order of living. And haue bisily taught, diligently preached, earnestly written, solemnly sworn, fully and hoolly at one time in those points: which within a little while after, as they saw oportunitee to serve thē. O merciful God, how soon forsook they? making no bones most impudently, so open, so often, to cant, incant, outcant, descant, and recant: And like most vile curres, to turn to their vomit. To the utter destruction of both body and soul( in as much as in thē lay) of many thousand of the poor Christen flock. Against their own teaching, their sincere preaching, their godly writing, their sacred oaths: yea, and that is most execrable both before God and man, against almighty God himself, and his holly doctrine, and against their own consciences( if we may think they haue any conscience at all). For as it seems, they haue shewed plain sign, that they beleeue there is none other godhead, but their kingdoom in this world, none other life after, but only this here.  
For maintenanuce yet of this their wicked, inconstant & recanted doctrine, O mighty GOD, what malice is it that they haue not shewed? What mischief haue they left vn put in praictise? What kind of cruelty unattempted? What tyrant vnexecuted? First, as soon as ever they had felt, how easy the Prince was to be seduced by them, and to be brought to their lure: strait by & by, against lawe and conscience, the poor married ministers, they put out of their benefice, compelled them to forsake country, wife and children, drove thē to distress of vndooyng & beggary, & onely forsooth, because they wear married: which nevertheless, by the laws of the ream was then sufferable, and by themselves also assented unto: by the ancient popish laws permitted, & with the laws of God directly agreeing( as out of saint Polle and other Scripture, they had often  told us in sermons themselves) they yet persecuted them from place to place, or else to be reconciled a Gods name, & to recant: and confess themselves knaves, & call their wives hoores. Than procured they commissions for heresy, in which as they had plucked in diuers of nobilitee amoong them, for face of their dooynges: and as there wear sundry beside, of wisedoom & worship, that by policy had insinuat themselves, for mitigacion of matters, and for fence to their friends: even so a wonder was it to see sum other again, of our great justicers & learned men( that would not sit out) how wickedly and willingly they became their rackers & tormentors, and what matters by the omnipotency of that commission, they durst enterprise to deal withall, and with what corruption & bribery, they did execute the same commission. That surely it was commonly thought( I am sorry to say it) to haue crept into favour, or if the bishop had bid them: For their partes, they would little haue stuck to haue made Ione Moon a Martyr, and james Ellis a Saint. But( as they said) for sooch a commission, they wear a great deel meter, then they that sat still. Then got this our clergy proclamations, under great pains for books, which as they wear of matter most true & Godly, and of doctrine sincere( yea, and though of their oun making) so wear they sureliest remembered, & soonest forbidden. And because they would be sure, 
Anno. v. Richardi. 2. ii. Henri. 4. ii. Henri. 5.  yet none estate should escape them, they renewed those three catholic statutes for heresy, that thereby if need be, they might convent all kind of men before them alone as they list. And in these matters me thynkes I wear much to blame if I did not a little remember ye, of the catholic service and pollecies prelantine of that blessed bishop stout steven of Winchester. Who, as his fatherhode considered, how much it should be for his famed & honour at Room, though wear it never so much against his Book De vera obedientia, & against his oath & his honesty at home to haue th● hole praise to bring in th● pope again. How much it should be for his glory, though never so much vnfittyng for his degree: to reign and rule over lords, & triumph like a tyrant, how much for his profit & pōpe( wherein bi his will he would exceed all men) though nothing at all for his pastoral profession: to haue sooch abostdaunce of revenues, by lands & office and other fetches beside. He brought the queen to that point that after appointment of parliament the writ her letters to shriues for choice of good Catholiks, a Gods name: himself beside commending many, and in a maner by name, commanding sum to serve for th● turn as he thought best. whereby he still placed in th● house right many: That if any beside, with wisedoom & reverence had  told his tale frankly, after the ancient liberty of the place, and haply detected the mischefs of the matters that this prelate preferred: then was he by and by sent for, and sought for, and fetched up in post: and sure to haue pict to him, one quarrel or other, whereby he should be shopt up for sunburnyng: or ootherwise punished, that he and all other might haue warning, what matters they talked in, & teach them from thensfoorth, how they stick & be stiff, in points with the prelacy. Had not this Postle much wrong of the people in king Henries days trow ye, that ever did count him & call him a papist? Well, he is as one said, Mortuus & sepultus, descendit ad inferna. I will say the less of him. God haue mercy of his soul, if he be in state to be prayed for. But if it had pleased God, I would he had lived, to haue seen this season: that ones more at Polles cross to the people, as afore that to king Henry, he might haue recanted again. His Catholicalitie, was so well skilled in the feat, that I doubt not, he would haue set sooch a sample to the rest of our prelates, as they would never stick to follow a place. And where, for these letters, & stop of free speech, all contrary to the laws of the land, he was author with his Sooueraign of those so fowl and unlike sum examples, as ever Prince amoong us here shewed to her subiects, and in dead tending to much toward oppression & tyranny: even so beside many inconveniences, that else might thereby arise, this might she be sure to be one: that, The laws that ar forced, will never endure. But as for those laws that he procured, abide they or go they, he played his part kindly, to bring them to pass. And after al this, what ment they, what ment they may we guess, by the forcyng of th● late statute of armor? But only( as the wisest could deciphre) because having colour to haue armor themselves, under name of quantitee, they might take to them as much as they list. So that if need wear, when they saw time, they might strengthen their matters hereafter, as well with Polles bloody sword as they haue done already with Peters counterfeit key of theirs. That if their provision may plainly appear, it shall well be seen( I dare warrant) they ar furnished at full: and haue a great deal more, then for men of the church, or likely by thē to be kept for a good purpose. Now then, their popely injunctions, their homely homilies, who can not but with extreme wonder, be marvelously amazed to consider, with what impudency and tyranny, they thrust forward their abominable impities: red them advisedly, confer them with scriptures, and with sincere religion, nay with their own former teachings: then shall ye see how shamefully they haue discovered themselves, and bewraid their own wickedness. Bye them, bye those precious pamphlets I pray, they ar worth the moony, and it wear but to look on, and laugh at their foolish gloses, & detestable devises. Well, thus beginning with the ministers: as for other, sum they threatened, sum they cursed, sum they put out of office & living, to sum procured they th● Princes displeasure, to sum, banishment, sum whipped they their own hands, sum kept they in their colehous, sum cast they into prison. And there( O GOD) sum maimed they with torture, sum lame they with ierns, sum famished they with hunger, sum burnt they in the hands with candle, sum pined they away with ill keeping: And from thence again, sum heaved they to hanging, sum trapped they with treasons, so that none shaped free, that they could catch in their clutches: if they did but ones talk of that doctrine, that they before time had taught them, and would not recant, and be as wicked as they. And yet to, how unmercifully, how cruelly, how tyrannously dealt they with that good & virtuous prelate doctor Crammer archbishop of Canterbery? Whom they themselves vaunted they made to recant, & set it out solemnly in print, and yet soon after( see the charity of their church) stack not a whit most tyrauntly, against their own laws to burn him. Wear it meet trow ye, that after repentance of their faults, by their own examples, they should be so served themselves? Mary God defend {quod} sir Tristram. And while I remember me, this would not be forgotten unto you, the pure devotion, the sacred sanctimony of our opely prelate: that most virtuous, most godly, and well learned man( as their injunctions call him) the lord Cardnalls grace, 
And ye look in the sermon that Cuthberte the bishop of Durham( that now is) made before king Henry, a xix. year ago, and after put it in print: for the kings supremacy, & against the popes vsurpacion. there amoong other, calleth he this Card●al, archtraitor to his king and cū●rey. Upon what spirit I know not.  who al though he wear bishop elect and sure of the See of Canterbury, a long while in bishop Crammers time of trouble, yet would he by no means meddle with the matter, until it must be a little more mended, with a too or three thousand pound a year forsooth: yea, and then neither would he of his catholic conscience, take the promotion vpon him: till he was sure his predecessor was burnt. And then would he be priest strait, and enstalld out of hand. O precious priesthood, O pient prelate, O catholic Cardnall, most worthy to haue been a pope, that GOD save his life, while he haue his deserving.  
But now further: for any man to talk of this their wickedness, to stand by Gods word, to hold that doctrine that they before so long time had taught us and preached: this forfoorth was stark heresy. For straight, quick, & seuear poonishment whereof: Lord God how they laid about thē. they spared neither bishop, priest, clerk, nor lay man, gentleman nor vngentle, rich nor poor, learned nor unlearned, guilty nor vngilty, wise nor foolish, good nor bad, man nor woman, boy nor girl. Still most unmercifully condemnyng in earth, & daning to hell( as much as in them lay) both bodies & solles of those poor wretches, for the self same doctrine( I say) that they before had openly {pro}fessed preached, sworn, & taught them. merciful GOD, was there ever vncharitee, hate, ungodliness, malice, cruelty, or tyranny, able to be compaard with this of theirs? But as they saw that their market grew great, & had not help enough as they would, to cut that throats of the sely sheep, so fast as they had procured them to be brought to their boochery: a nue devise vpon an old ground and a full charitable fetch( hardly) for dispatch of their work had they, and that was this. they procured the shriues, to sit present with them at the conviction of those, whom they had appointed afore to comdemne for heretics. That as the prelate had ones pronounced his sentence vpon them, the shrive was strait charged to see execution of burning: and then might he not tarry for any warrant of writ from the Prince( as good lawe and custom afore time had been) but strait to the fire with thē: and thus made they a riddaunce of their slaughter a place, & alleged it for lawe, that the Shriues being present at those condemnacions, was warrant and commandment sufficient, without further process to burn those persons, that they had condemned. And though in dead sooch an old law there wear, 
ii. Henri. 4●  yet by them now, with sooch vncharitee and crueltee revived: it was thought amoong us, a thing very hard & strange, that our Prince might haue her people by thē thus still made a way, and never to wot either whom when, or how.  
And why, & why, I pray ye, all these their marvelous persecutions, cruelties, & tyrannies? But onely( as I said) for the self same doctrine that they afore had taught us themselves. For who taught us to take the Pope, to be a wicked usurper vpon us? Who taught us, that by scripture & Gods lawe, priesthood must be subject unto Princehod, and not Princes to priests? Who taught us, that it stands most with Gods lawe, the Prince to be Sooueraign of all, and supreme head of the church of that land, whereof he is lord, and not of a foreign priest or potentate? Who taught us, that the same Supremitee, stands not vpon the qualitee or kind of the person, but vpon the state of Princehod? Who taught us, that it is no more repugnant to Gods law, under one head we should haue several Churches of England & Ireland, and yet both as membres to the universal, & true catholic church of all christen, whereof Christ is the head: then it was that saint john in his apocalypse 
Cap. primo.  should writ unto the Churches of Ephesus and Smyrna, and to the rest of the seven Churches in asia? who taught us that the Popes pour at the best, was no better then a bishops in his own dioces? Who taught us that Thomas Becket was no saint but a devil, no true subject, but a false traitor, that did disobey, & contend with his Prince, and took part with the Pope. And yet that precious pearl of prelacy that constant constance, 
Marcus Antonius Constantius.  lord with what pain did he bisy himself, to saint him again? who( I pray ye) put into the prayers of the Primer: From the tyranny of the bishop of Room, and all his detestable enormitees, O lord deliver us? & whither the acts of our blessed bishops, the Popes execurioners, haue been such as we haue needed( if we might) so to pray still: I report me to you. Who made it allwais one chief part of their matter in pulpits, still to show us of his intolerable arrogancy and abuse of Princes, of his tyranny, war, quarreling, avarice, apostasy, simony, sacrilege, hoordome, buggary, sodomy, malice, pride, poysonyngs, and all kindes of wickedness & abominations beside, so continually exercised by him, & all his hole holly company his Cardnalls & court? Who taught us that his dispensacions, his pardons & bulls, wear but false trumpery, wicked for him to give, & folly for us to receive, and utterly damnable for any to trust in? Who taught us, that scripture never made never mention of Purgatory after this life, or if there wear any sooch pains: yet wear they not redimable by the Popes pardons, by monks masses, or priests penypraiers? Who taught us, th● it was meetest for us to haue th● lawe, that we all professed, and to haue divine service in that language, that we best knue? Who taught us, that sacraments wear ever most fruitfully ministered in that tongue, that the people best understood? and specially those whereby we made any coouenaunt or promise to God, or received any cumfort of his mercy & goodness: as baptism matrimony, and the holly Communion. Who taught us to pluck images out of churches for doubt of idolatry? Who taught us to make our prayers, not to our Lady, or any other bisaints, but onely to GOD? whose mercy by promis was sooch as would soonest here us, and his pour by experience sooch as coold best help vs. Who taught us, out of texts of Saint Polle, that priesthood & matrimony in one person might very well stand with the laws of God? Who taught us that Scripture never mentioned, 
Kept at Room. 〈◇〉  nor ancient fathers( afore the counsel of lateran) ever knue this term of transubstanciacion, in the blessed Sacrament? Who preached unto us what parcialitee, what sacrilege it was, in ministration of the holly Sacrament, to receive it themselves in both kindes, and to defraud the laitee of the one half, ootherwise then it was ordained, 
Bibite ex hoc omnes. Mat. xxvi. joan. vi.  and against our saviour Christes institution? Who taught us, that as it was a most Christen cumfort unto the worthy receiuour: even so was it neither to be kept in boxes for doubt of corruption, nor to be hanged up for worship, for aduoiding idolatry? Who the devil so mangled & minst it amoong us, as not content with the old doctrine of our ancient fathers: that it was Gods body in foorm of bread: but must with the mischief, enter into fine siftyngs, questions, & quidditees, of substance, nature, qualitee, quantitee, dimension, realitee, accidence, relacion, action, passion, and all the elenches I ween of Logik beside? Who sent out their injunctions, & made their visitacions to be sure to see that their teachings might accordingly be coond, as they had bisily taught thē? Who taught us all this, and ten times more then I haue layser to tell, or ye to here: and now can recant it every whit? who I sai who, and who I pray ye? Mary who but even they and they of their cote. Our bishops, our suffragans, our doctors our deans, our deacons, our parsons, our vicars, our chaplens, our hedge priests & all, whereof many yet alive both quick and queathyng. But if they will now( as they can ever full well) unsay and forswear each for himself, that they wear none of thē: where then a Gods name, becā they in all that hole season of schism and wicked time?( as they term it) where hide they their heads th● we hard not of thē, when they should rathest haue shewed themselves, and haue uttered their learning? where was then their true, their ancient, their universal & catholic doctrine?( as they call it) where was their conscience, their conscience alas, to suffer so many Christen solles to be mistaught, & lead to the devil( as they say) and they to stand by, and say never a word? where was then their foritude of mind and trouble for Christ, where by we might haue known they had been hizzē? How remembered they, or else past vpon the promise of Christ, that he would acknowledge that person before his father in heaven, 
Math. ●  that confesseth him before men: like as he will utterly deny him before his father in heaven, that hath denied him here before men? where was then that desire to truth, constancy of belief, and contemt of the world, that still they now found, inthose poor simplo solles, that daily alas they slue? That sorry I am, my tale is so true, not a whit amoong them all. But when they had thus liberally preached & taught a toside, & recanted a toother, and amazed the poor people, with this their most pernicious inconstancy, and confusion of doctrine: then soon after so to persecute thē, prison them, torment them, rak them, hak them, hang them, and burn them? O merciful GOD, O heaven, O earth. Was there ever vncharitee like to this of theirs? ever slaughter so unnatural, for their own doctrine, to kill their own cuntree men? ever tyranny so cruel for the teachers, to slea their own disciples, for cunnyng of their own lessons they gave thē? and sand thē both body & soul, utterly to the devil( if their tale be now true) & give thē no leisure, either to learn better of other, nor take time with thē to teach them better themselves? O terrible godhead, how fear they not flies, pleas, vermen, frogs, pestilence, plagues, serpents, venoms, water, fire, tempests, swalloyng of earth, ruin of houses, falsehood of friends, treason of seruaunts, wrath of the world, indignation of Prince, torment of conscience, or else the dreadful furour of the lord: which so justly without his more mercy, they haue deserved, and is all ways in every place impendaunt vpon them? How ar they not moved with the horrible examples even now of late days, 
This, in a little latin book entitled the story of Francis Spiera, 1548. appeareth, and I ween is since turned & printed in English  of francis Spiera at Padua in Italy, and of james Hales of Kent: who both for renouncyng Gods holly doctrine, and agnitam ueritatem. most lamentably languisshing in desperation: the one by will & a wait to cut his own throat, thoother by drownyng himself, so wickedly ended their lives? How ar they not troobled with the terrible cry of the solles( as Scripture tells them) of the people they haue slain for the word of GOD, 
Apccal. vi.  and for the witness they bare, which solles lie under the auter, & cry out unto the lord with loud voice for vengeance vpon them, and reuenge of their blood? How haue they not been warned with these sundry unlucky Comets, these uncouth signs in the air, these frequent monsters, and these strange, terrible, and hurtful tempests? whereby as Gods displeasure might be apparent unto all men, even so his wrath to be feared of them chiefly, as chiefly deserving the same?  
O how great cause haue we again to magnify, extol and heartily to aclowledge that divine power, majesty, and godhead: that they seemed either to despise or to doubt on. Whose wisedoom sooch, 
Gods wisedoom.  as( seeming to thē somewhat to slacken the reins of his rule, casting bridle in their necks whereby they might at their wills, take the bit in their teeth, & run the race they best liked) can set up a Prince, whoom they might abuse as they list. And thereby might plainly disclose their affection how little it was toward his divine majesty, how much toward their own worldly estate, their ambition to reign and contention for Sooueraigntee, their indissoluble leag with the papacy, their obedience to the Pope, their hypocritical hartes and dissemblyng with princes, their contempt of Gods word in respect of goods getting, their extreme vncharitee their cruelty & tyranny toward their even Christen, all which afore time with countenance dissembled, and contentation counterfeit, they coold keep so coouert. 
Gods might  His immesurable might again sooch, that( as we see) in a moment, can overturn all their foundations and bildyngs, seem they never so deeply cast, & so strongly reared: It can call the mighty from the seat, 
Luke. i.  and advance thearvnto the meek: It can regard the humbleness of his handmaid, & cause her called blessed from age to age amoong all nations. It can incline the hart of the Prince, to hearken after his laws, and even in the same to goouerne his people. It can make the stiff necked to boowe, be they never so sturdy and stubborn.  
And here with his most benign mercy sooch, 
Gods mercy.  as although for our most unworthy demerits( for I sai not, that we ar fautles) we haue been somewhat touched with danger by one means and mischief by another, of foreign goouernment: with extraordinary taxes, with war, with sickness, with seduction of doctrine and tyranny: yet his benignitee never forgetting th● tender affection he beareth, toward the flock of those his sheep, that gladly here his voice: 
Luke. xi.  and th● promis he made that if we ask it shalbe given us, if we seek we shall find, if we knock it shall be opened unto vs. 
Math. xi.  And will refresh all them that cum unto him & ar in pain & pressed with burden: and hath accordynly( as we see) thus graciously vouchsafed the same his mercy vpon vs. which since it hath pleased his majesty so benignly to show us: Let not us then so soon forgetting the same & ourselves, be redy to reuenge, & be( as they wear) celeres ad effundendum sanguinem. But rather( partly deterred by the danger of pain, that for our vncharitee we may worthily suffer and chiefly provoked with the example of him, whose steps we should endeavour to follow) remember his words spoken to us all: that take ourselves to be hizzen. 
joan. xiii.  I GIVE ye a nue commandment, that ye love toogither, as I haue looued you, that ye also yove each other: herein shall all men understand that ye ar my scholars, if ye haue yove & charity each toward other: and again how saint Polle shows us of himself, 
i. Cor. xiii.  that if he had knowledge of tongues, ye wear it of angels, gift of prophecy, Science of mysteries, faith to remove mountains: & yet lack charity he is nothing at all. If he bestow all that ever he hath vpon the poor, yea, and yeld his body to the fire, and yet haue no charity, it is utterly no profit unto him. And of the three divine virtues, faith, hope and charity, that charity is chiefest. That sins for their part, they may be right sure( unless they repent them & show sign of amendment) there is one that most mightily can, and most certainly will, pay them their hire to their utter confusion. even so again on our part great impietee & presumpcion wear it for us to meddle in his office that hath said Mihi uindictam & ego retribuam. 
Deu. xxxii. Roma. xi.  And against all conscience & Christen charity, to charge thē all with the evils of most. It is not unknown, there wear sum amoong thē that being right heartily sorry to see their lewd leaders ungodly demeanours, wear in dede rather violently drawn, then either did readily cum, or willingly follow. And sundry fled from them. Diuers again like poor ignorant lewdlyngs,( most vnwityng in that they should best haue been skilde) taught GOD wot as they thought, & followed their conscience: which thing toward sooch, take I a great cause of commiseracion vpon them. And as for the residue( me thinks I see that now at erst considering with themselves how through over much trust of their worldly wit, theihaue so unhappily confounded the board, & disordered their game, by misgidyng the paunes, misusyng the knights, misrulyng the rooks, and through the false draughts of the bishops, ar like to receive chekmate of a Queen) they keep them at home, and sigh in their cells, to think vpon how much they haue begilde themselves in the reconyng, and lament alas how to late they remember that, Bonum est sperare i dno, 
Psal. cxvii.  quàm sperare in pricipibus. they see that we see, their world will not last, and that well may they whisper in corners for eas of their harts: but they flock not in assemblies, for consultacion and counsel. And those of them that haue cause to cum abroad, me thinks I sai I see, how they leave of their rochets or cloak them for rain, put their tippets in their purses, pluk their caps down afore or hood thē with hats, and ar full sore ashamed alas and woofully bewail them, that ever the devill had so much poor vpon them. And being thus sorily beested, and in this case of care, let us consider how little manhood it is to strike at thē, that ar down allredy. Who cannot but rather pity then reuenge? And rather regard, that as at the best they may live & amend, and as s. Polle was( through Gods grace) of cruel persecutors, become Godly teachers: even so at the worst, be they our neighbours, our brethren, our even christen. Whom, if we regard our religion, & be as we should be, we ought no less to yove, then our oun selves, to wish their amendment & not to will their destruction. Let us thearfore haue in mind, not what deeds they haue done or what they haue deserved, but what is our duty and how we would be dealt with all ourselves. even like also as( if I had my desires) would I heartily wish the queens majesty, to show forth & extend her Princely pity vpon them and not to remember their evil deseruyngs but her noble dignity, and how the magnificence of a Prince is as well in Parcere subjects as in debellare superbos. considering again: how easy, how slipper, how wretched, how wicked it is for man to err & offend: and how hard, how magnific, how princely and divine it is, to do virtue & forgive repentant offenders. How well it agreeth with her sex, for a virtuous virgin to be pitiful vpon her humble subiectes. With her estate of a queen to be merciful. With her highnes profession of a Christen Prince & no papist, to be charitable. That had never been their heinous offences, then should her majesties mercy never had matter, whearupon so Princely to work. And transversely me thinks that as there shall be found but few amoong them, but will be content to renounce their unlawful obedience unto that foreign tyrant the Pope▪ and can well assent in yove of their cuntree, to afoord their first fruits & other profits again, rather to the state of their native soil here( out of which but of late they wear taken) and to their natural Sooueraign & liege Lady, then unto Gods enemy & ours the Pope. even so conceived I a great hope, that vpon cumfort of mercy, and for getting of their fauts, they will readily return to their mother holly church here amoongst us again, cast up their wicked papistical heresies, & forsake that schism and division from us, acknowledging ( as with true catholic consent afore time they haue) one God, one faith, one obedience, and one supreme head under Christ, of the same his church here, the head of us all the Prince of this realm the queens majesty that now is, or her Uicegerent in that case( if it pleas her to make any) her highnes shall find I hope, they will show themselves, as redy to render to the estate of the crown, as ever they wear greedy to pluck from it, or hungry to haue. Yea, they will preach I warrant( if it pleas her to trust them) the pure & perfect doctrine again. And none of likelihod, can better skill of the engines of the lock, then those that know where they wrinched the wards of th● key. And so may her majesty more rejoice vpon the coming home of one of those stray sheep, then vpon nienty and nine, that never ran out of the flock. And pity wear it to lose that thus might be saved, so that considering what use may cum of them, ones more to try them me thinks wear not amiss: since in dead if they preach well, they may do much good, if they preach ill they must look to make answer. and surety is there enough of them, for they can not start, and I hard ones old Roch Alderman of London say, that vpon good surety, a man might trust a dog with a puddyng.  
Now to conclude( for right loth wear I to make ye weary with sitting) since it hath pleased Gods almighty majesty, thus merciful to haue hilde his holly hand over us, as to haue called to his grace the late queen. The wicked & unhappy goouernment of those spirituals under whom: began( as afore is said) first to allter religion, then to bring in a stranger king, to fetch in the Pope, to make her abase her royal estate, to deface her Princely title, to pluck away her patrimony of the crown, to take it to themselves, to let her self lack it, to drive her thereby into everlasting lones, taxes, & subsidies, to raise up religions more perfect then Christes, to maintain with sooch wast so many idle hypocrites. And they themselves so to triumph, and tyramnize over the world by persecution of her subiects, and slaughter of innocents: and ended at last with forcing her to fall out with her neighbours, to draw us into war, to neglect her pieces, to contemn calling vpon, and( with utter dishonour) to the loss of her lands. And that his merciful goodness again: hath vouchsafed thus to preserve us from the imminent danger of distress of us all, and so graciously to haue placed our Queen that now is in her royal seat over us, by whom: for her natural birth amoong us & affection unto us, for her divine disposition, her virtuous educacion, her Godly wisedoom, her Princely majesty, her gracious circumspection, affabilitee, iustice, & mercy. We haue good cause to conceive an assured hope: that as her highnes stands greatly in the yove & fear and favour of almighty god: even so by her grace, shall we haue Gods word & Religion restored amoong us, honourable marriage to her highnesse best likyng, noble issue of her body for cumfort of us all, expulsion of that poisond vicar the revels deputy the Pope, advancement of her royal estate & Princely title of her predecessors again, resumpcion of the rights of her crown from the Clergy for eas of her commons, chastisement or chasyng away of those idle hypocrites or else they return into the christen congregation amoong us again, quenchyng of the Clergies execrable thirst of tyranny, reduction of them to the knowledge of themselves and to a woorshipfull estate after Gods lawe most meetest for them, amitee and peace with her neighbours and friends, yove and obedience unto her at home, a gracious regiment over all estates, and a likesum living & a loouyng here amoong us under her reign. Unto that most mighty & benign majesty divine therfore that hath so graciously, thus wrought his mercy vpon vs. Let us most humbly & heartily offer and yield all honour, glory, empery, thanks giving, that liveth & reigneth world without end. And say with david: 
Psal. cxvi.  Laudate Dominum omnes gentes, laudate eum omnes populi. Quoniam confirmata est supper nos misericordia eius: Et veritas domini manet in aeternum. Gloria PATRI & FILIO & SPIRITVI SANCTO. Sicut erat sprincipio et nunc & semper, & in saecula saeculorum. Amen. God save the Church, the queen, sand us peace, and haue mercy vpon all Christen solles. AMEN.  
Masters, much good dooit you. I haue been the bolder to lengthen my process, because me thought ye sat at eas, and wear content to here me speak. I thank you of your patience and ye ar ones again all heartily wellcum. How sirs give water.  
Et veritas Domini manet in aeternum.   

¶ Imprinted at London, by john Kyngston, for Nicholas England.