MARTIN MAR-SIXTUS. A second reply against the defensory and Apology of Sixtus the fift late Pope of Rome, defending the execrable fact of the jacobine Friar, upon the person of Henry the third, late King of France, to be both commendable, admirable, and meritorious.  
Wherein the said Apology is faithfully translated, directly answered, and fully satisfied.  Let God be judge betwixt thee and me. Genes. 16. 
AT LONDON Printed for Thomas Woodcock, and are to be sold at his shop in Paul's Churchyard, at the sign of the black Bear. 1591.   

To the right Worshipful and virtuous Gentleman, Master Edmund Bowyar Esquire, the Author hereof wisheth peace and wealth, with abundance of all spiritual felicity.  
WHen the Grecians in a great solemnity presented to Philip of Macedon many goodly gifts, a poor Painter stepped in among the rest, and offered up the counterfeit of himself in a table, beside which were portrayed out many jewels & pearls, and rings; over each whereof was inscribed; Vellem & hoc; I protest it sir unfeignedly your late kindness, your courteous offer hath so overcome me, as I must needs present somewhat, and because that in so great variety as the world affordeth my slender ability can shape out nothing worth the giving, I have assayed to gratulate you with a shadow, assuring you that if there be any thing more worthy your Worship's acceptation Vellem & hoc; nevertheless because I hope that at a Painter's hand a picture will be accepted, & that there is a Decorum in it that every man should present a taste of his own trade, I thought good to offer up to your Worship this short treatise, the fruits of a scholars study, which if it shall please you to read over, I have obtained a piece of mine end: Loath I was to display myself to the world, but for that I hope to dance under a mask, and bluster out like the wind, which though every man heareth, yet none can in sight descry, I was content for once to become odious, that is, to speak in print, that such as use to carp at they know not what, may for once likewise condemn they know not whom, and yet I do not so accuse the readers, as if all writers were faultless, for why? We live in a printing age, wherein there is no man either so vainly, or factiously, or filthily disposed, but there are crept out of all sorts unauthorised authors, to fill and fit his humour, and if a man's devotion serve him not to go to the Church of GOD, he need but repair to a Stationer's shop and read a sermon of the devils: I loathe to speak it, every red-nosed rhymester is an author, every drunken man's dream is a book, and he whose talon of little wit is hardly worth a farthing, yet layeth about him so outrageously, as if all Helicon had run through his pen, in a word, scarce a cat can look out of a gutter, but out starts a half penny Chronicler, and presently A proper new ballet of a strange sight is indited: What publishing of frivolous and scurrilous Prognostications? as if Will summers were again revived: what counterfeiting and cogging of prodigious and fabulous monsters? as if they laboured to exceed the Poet in his Metamorphosis; what lascivious, unhonest, and amorous discourses, such as Augustus in a heathen common wealth could never tolerate? & yet they shame not to subscribe, By a graduate in Cambridge; In Artibus Magister; as if men should judge of the fruits of Art by the rags and parings of wit, and indite the Universities, as not only accessary to their vanity, but nurses of bawdry; we would the world should know, that howsoever those places have power to create a Master of Arts, yet the art of love is none of the seven; and be it true that Honos alit arts, yet small honour is it to be honoured for such arts, nor shall he carry the price that seasoneth his profit with such a sweet; It is the complaint of our age, that men are wanton and sick of wit, with which (as with a loathsome potion in the stomach) they are never well till all be out. They are the Pharisees of our time, they writ all, & speak all, and do all, ut audiantur ab hominibus; or to tell a plain truth plainly, it is with our hackney authors, as with Oyster-wives, they care not how sweetly, but how loudly they cry, and coming abroad, they are received as unsavoury wares, men are feign to stop their noses, and cry; Fie upon this wit; thus affecting to be famous, they become notorious, that it may be said of them as of the Sophisters at Athens: dum volunt haberi celebriter docti innotescunt insigniter asinini, & when with shame they see their folly, they are feign to put on a mourning garment, and cry, Farewell. If any man be of a dainty and curious ear, I shall desire him to repair to those authors; every man hath not a Perle-mint, a Fish-mint, nor a Bird-mint in his brain, all are not licenced to create new stones, new Fowls, new Serpents, to coin new creatures; for myself, I know I shall be eloquent enough, I shall be an Orator good enough if I can persuade, which to be the end and purpose of my heart, he knoweth who knoweth my heart: if your Worship shall demand why I published this pamphlet under the name of Martin, I must tell you, because I purposed for once to play the Martin: if you ask what Martin is, I must desire you to Etymologize, and you shall pick his nature out of his name, the first syllable whereof implying of itself to Mar, and being he added with a Tine, the murdering end of a fork, it must needs be that Martine being truly spelled and put together, signifieth such a one as galleth and pricketh men to death, but this difference is between the great Martin & myself, that whereas he most unnaturally laid siege against his native soil, & spent his powder upon his own country walls, I have picked me out a foreign adversary, a common enemy to play upon, whom the great shepherd of the sheep, as a capital consumer and wolf in his flock, shall in his good time confound and destroy. Amen.  
Your Worships in all duty. R.W.   

The Oration of Sixtus the V as it was uttered in the consistory at Rome. Anno. 1589. September II.  
COnsidering in my mind both often and earnestly, & bending my thoughts to muse upon those things, which by the providence of GOD are lately come to pass: me thinks I may rightly usurp that saying of the Prophet Abacuk, 
Abac. 1.5.  A work is done in your days which no man will believe when it shall be reported. The King of France is done to death by the hands of a Monk, for unto this it fitly may be applied, albeit the Prophet spoke properly of another thing, 
A loud lie, for neither spoke Abacuk of the incarnation, nor Paul of the resurrection, but both of strange and incredible plagues ensuing.  namely, of the incarnation of our Lord, which exceedeth all wonders and marvels whatsoever, even as the Apostle Paul doth most truly refer the very same words to the resurrection of Christ: when the Prophet speaketh of a work, he will not be understood of any vulgar or ordinary matter, but of some rare, some famous and memorable exploit, as where it is said of the creation of the world, The heavens are the works of thy hands; and again, the seventh day he rested from all the works which he had made: but where he saith, It is done, it is usual in Scripture to understand such a thing as falleth not out by blind chance, by hap hazard, by fortune, or at all adventures, but by the express will, providence, disposition & government of God: as when our Saviour saith, 
joh. 14.14.  Ye shall do the works which I do, and greater than these shall ye do, and many such like places in holy Scripture, but where he saith it was already done, he speaketh after the manner of other Prophets, who for the certainty of the event, are wont to foretell of things to come, as if they were already past; for the Philosophers say that things past are in nature of necessity, things present in a state of now being, and things to come to be merely contingent, that is their judgement; in regard of which necessity, the Prophet Esa foretelling a long time before of the death of Christ, said even as after it was said again, he was lead as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a Lamb before the shearer, 
Acts. 8.32.  he opened not his mouth; And such a thing is this, whereof we now entreat; this which hath happened in these our days, a work famous, memorable, and almost incredible, a work not wrought without the special providence and government of the almighty; a Monk hath slain a King, 
A sweet note.  not a painted King, one figured out upon a piece of paper or upon a wall, but the King of France, in the middle of his army, being hedged in with his camp and guard on every side, which in deed is such a work, and so brought about as no man will believe it when it shall be reported, and the posterity perhaps will repute it for a fable.  
That a King should die or should be slain, men are easily induced to think it, but that he should thus be cut off, the world will hardly believe it; as that Christ should be borne of a woman, we do easily acknowledge it, but if ye add further that he was borne of a Virgin, my human wit cannot subscribe unto it; likewise that Christ should die it is as easily believed, but being dead to rise again (because that to a natural habit once wholly lost, there is no retiring back again) in the reach of man's capacity it is unpossible, and by consequence incredible; that a man out of his sleep, out of his sickness, out of a sown, or of an ecstasy should recover himself again (for that in the course of nature such things are usual) in human reason we accord unto it, but a dead man to rise again in the judgement of the flesh, it seemed so incredible, that when Paul made mention thereof amongst the Athenian Philosophers, they upbraided him as a setter forth of strange Gods, and other (as Luke reporteth) laughed at him, and said, we will hear thee about this matter again: therefore in such things as are not wont to fall out according to the custom of nature and common course of the world, 
Acts. 17.32.  the Prophet saith that no man will believe when report shall be made, but yet when we remember Gods omnipotent power, and captivate our understandings to the obedience which is through faith, and to the will of Christ we are brought to believe, for by this means that which naturally was uncredible is become credible, therefore I which according to man do not believe that Christ was borne of a Virgin, yet when it is further added, that it was done by the working of the holy Ghost, above the compass of nature, I do verily assent and give credence to it; and when it is said that Christ rose again from the dead, according to man's wit, I cannot yield unto it; but when it is said again that it was done by a divine nature which was in him, then do I most assuredly believe it. In like manner, albeit according to the wisdom of the flesh and man's understanding, it be incredible or at least very unprobable, that so mighty a Prince in the midst of his camp, so guarded with such an armed troop, should be slaughtered by the hands of one poor silly Friar, yet when I call to mind on the other side, the most heinous misdemeanour of the King, the particular providence of the Almighty ruling in this action, and how strangely and wonderfully God executed his most just decree against him, then do I verily and steadfastly believe it; for why? 
Yes, some of it is to be referred to the devil.  We may not refer so notable and strange a work to any other cause, then to the especial providence of God (as we understand, that some there be who ascribe it to other ordinary causes, to fortune and chance, or some such like accidentary event) but they which narrowly look into the course of the whole proceed, may clearly see how many things were brought about, which without the special supply of a divine assistance, could never be achieved of any man. And certainly we may not think that God doth loosely govern the state of Kings and Kingdoms, and other so excellent and weighty affairs; there are in the holy stories of the bible examples of this kind, to none whereof we can assign any other author than God, but there is none, wherein more clearly shineth the superior working of God than this which now we have in hand. We read that Eleazar to the end he might destroy the persecuting King and enemy of God's people, did put himself in danger of inevitable death, When as beholding in the conflict one Elephant more conspicuous than the rest, 
Maccab. 6.43.44.45.  upon which the King was like to be, he rushed violently amidst the rout of the enemies, and making way on both sides came to the beast, got under him, and slew him with his sword, which in the fall fell down upon him, and crushed him to death; and hear for zeal, for valour of mind, and for the issue of the thing attempted, we find some resemblance and equality, but for the rest no one thing comparable. Eleazar was a professed Soldier, trained up in arms and in the field, one purposely picked out for the battle, and as it oft falleth out enraged with boldness and fury of mind, whereas our Monk was never brought up in such broils and martial encounters, but by his trade of life so abhorring from blood, that happily he could scarce endure to see himself let blood; he knew before both his manner of death and place of burial, as that more like one swallowed up into the bowels, then pressed down by the fall of the beast he should be entombed in his own spoils: but this man was to look for both death and tortures more bitter than death, such as he could not dream of, and little doubted he to lie unburied: besides many other points of difference that are between them. And well known likewise is the famous story of the holy woman Judith, 
judith. 8.32.  who to set free her own besieged city and people of God, took in hand an enterprise (God doubtless directing her thereunto) about the kill of Holofernes, then general of the enemy's forces, and in the end she did effect it: in which attempt albeit there are both many and manifest tokens of a superior direction, yet in the death of this King, and deliverance of the city of Paris, we may see far greater arguments of God's providence, in as much as in the judgement of man, it was more difficult and impossible than that, for that holy woman opened her purpose to some of the governors, and in their presence, and by their sufferance passed through both the gates and guard of the city, so that she could not be in danger of any search or inquisition, which during the time of assault, is wont to be so strait, 
A woman may pass where a sly cannot, exempli gratia, into the Pope's bed chamber.  that scarce a fly may pass by unexamined: but being amongst the enemies, through whose tents and several wards she must needs pass, after some trial and examination, for that she was a woman, & had about her neither letters nor weapons, from whence might grow any suspicion, and rendering very probable reasons of her coming to the camp, of her flight and departure from her country men, she was licenced to pass without any let, so that as well for those causes, as for her sex and excellent beauty, she might be admitted into the presence of so unchaste a governor, upon whom being intoxicate with wine, she might easily wreak her purpose. This did she, but ours a man of holy orders did both assay and bring about a work of more weight, full of more encumbrances, and wrapped in with so great difficulties & dangers on every side, as it could be accomplished by no wisdom, nor human policy, neither by any other means but by the manifest appointment and assistance of God: it was requisite that letters of commendation should be procured from them of the contrary faction, it was necessary that he should pass out by that gate of the city, which lead unto the enemy's camp, which doubtless was so warded in that troublesome time of the siege, that nothing was unsuspected, neither was any man suffered to pass to & fro, but after a most straight inquiry what letters he conveyed, what news he carried, what business, what weapons he had: but he (a wondrous thing) passed through the watches without all examination, & that with letters of credence to the enemy, which if the citizens had intercepted, without all reprivall or further judgement he had surely died: this was an evident argument of God's providence; but a greater wonder was that, that the same man soon after without all examination passed through the camp of the enemies likewise, through the sentinels and several watches of the Soldiers, and through the guard which was next the body of the King, and in a word, through the whole army, which for the most part was compact of heretics, he himself being a man of holy orders, and clad in a friars weed, which in the eyes of such men was so odious, that in the places adjoining to Paris, which a little before they had surprised whatsoever Monks they took, they either slaughtered, or else most cruelly entreated; judith was a woman, therefore no whit hated, and yet often examined, neither carried she ought about her which might endanger her, but this man was a Monk, and therefore detested, and came very suspiciously with a knife provided for the feat, and that not closed up in a sheath (which had been more excusable) but altogether naked and hid in his sleeve, which had they bolted out, 
The Pope speaketh as if the Friar were still alive.  there had been no way but present execution: these are all so manifest tokens of Gods especial providence, as no exception can be taken against them, nor could it otherwise be but that God even blinded the eyes of the enemies lest they should descry him, for as before we said, 
I wonder where they were borne which so ascribe them.  albeit some there be who unjustly ascribe these things to chance and fortune, we notwithstanding cannot be persuaded to refer them to any cause but to the will of God, nor truly should I otherwise think, but that I have subdued mine understanding to obedience in Christ, who after so wonderful a manner, provided both to set at liberty the city of Paris, which then we understood to be many ways in great perplexity and distress, as also to avenge the most heinous misdeeds of the King, and to take him out of the world, by so unhappy and reproachful a death: & truly we did heretofore with some grief, foretell that it would in time fall out, that as he was the last of his house, so was he like to come to some strange & shameful end, which not only the Cardinals of joyeuse, of Lenoncort, and Paris, but the Ambassador likewise, which then was liedger with us can well avouch I spoke, for why, we call not the dead, but men alive to witness of our words, which all of them full well remember: notwithstanding, howsoever we are now enforced to plead against this hapless King, we do in no wise touch the Kingdom and royal state of France, which as we have heretofore, so still hereafter we will prosecute with all fatherly affection and honourable regard, but this we have spoken of the king's person only, whose infortunate end hath deprived him of all those rites, which this holy seat, the mother of all the faithful, and specially of christian Princes, is wont to perform to Emperors and Kings after their decease, which for him likewise we had solemnized, but that the Scripture in such a case doth flatly forbid us. 
1. Iho. 5.16.  There is (saith Saint john) a sin unto death, I say not for that that any man shall pray, which may be understood either of the sin itself, 
Mark here a profound subtlety.  as if he should say, for that sin, or else for the remission of that sin I will not that any man should pray, because it is unpardonable; or that which sorteth to the same end, for that man who committeth a sin unto death, I will not that any man should pray, of which kind likewise our Saviour Christ in Matthew maketh mention, 
Matt. 12.32  that to him which sinneth against the holy Ghost, there is no remission either in this world, or in the world to come, where he maketh three sorts of sin, against the Father, against the Son, and against the holy Ghost, the two former are not so grievous but pardonable, but the third is not to be forgiven: all which difference (as the schoolmen out of the Scriptures deliver it) ariseth out of the diversity of the properties, which are severally ascribed to the several persons of the trinity: for albeit as there is the same essence, so there is the same power, wisdom and goodness of all the persons (as we learn out of the creed of Athanasius, when he saith the father is omnipotent, the Son omnipotent, and the holy Ghost omnipotent) yet by way of attribution unto the Father is ascribed power, to the Son wisdom, and to the holy Ghost love, each whereof as they are called properties are so proper to every person, as they cannot be put upon another, and by the contraries of these properties, we come to know the difference and weight of sin; the contrary to power (which is the attribute of the Father) is weakness, so that whatsoever we commit through infirmity and weakness of our nature, may be said to be committed against the Father: the contrary of wisdom is ignorance, through which when a man offendeth, he is said to offend against the Son, so that those sins which are committed either through man's frailty or ignorance, may easily obtain a pardon: but the third which is love, 
O Caput logicum, I never knew before that love and ingratitude were contraries.  the property of the holy Ghost hath for his contrary ingratitude, a most hateful sin, whereby it cometh to pass, that man doth not acknowledge God's love and benefits towards him, but forgetteth, despiseth, and groweth in hatred of them, and so at length becometh obstinate and impenitent, and this way men offend more grievously and dangerously toward God, then by ignorance or infirmity: therefore these are called sins against the holy Ghost, which because they are not so often & so easily forgiven, & not without a greater measure of grace, they are reckoned in a sort unpardonable, when as notwithstanding only by reason of man's impenitence, they are absolutely and simply unpardonable; for whatsoever is committed in this life, though it be against the holy Ghost, yet by a timely repentance it may be blotted out, but he that persevereth unto the end, leaveth no place for grace and mercy, & for such an offence, or for a man so offending, the Apostle would not that after his death we should pray. And now for that unto our great grief, we are given to understand that the foresaid King died thus impenitent, as namely, amidst a knot of heretics (for of such people he had mustered out an army) and likewise for that upon his deathbed, he bequeathed the succession of his Kingdom to Navarra, a pronounced and excommunicate heretic, and even at the last point and gasp, he conjured both him and such like as were about him, to take vengeance of those whom he suspected to be the authors of his death: for these and such like manifest tokens of impenitency, our pleasure is that there shall no dead man's rites be solemnized for him, not for that we do in any sort prejudice the secret judgement and mercy of God toward him, who was able according to his good pleasure, even at the very breathing out of his soul, to turn his heart and have mercy upon him, but this we speak according to that which came into the outward appearance. Our most bountiful Saviour, grant that others being admonished by this fearful example of God's justice, may return into the way of life, and that which he hath thus in mercy begun, let him in great kindness continue and accomplish, as we hope he will, that we may yield unto him immortal thanks, for delivering his Church from so great mischiefs and dangers.  
Dixit insipiens.  
And having thus definitely spoken, he dismissed the Consistory with a blessing.  
O terque quaterque beati.   

MARTIN MAR-SIXTUS.  

This foul defence a Frenchman late defied,  
And wisely wrote his censure of the same:  
His censure pleased; yet one of Rome replied,  
A home-born judge could not the cause defame,  
The French were partial for their Henry's sake;  
Why then (quoth he) 'twere good some stranger spoke.   

With that they spied, and called, and caused me stay,  
And for I seemed a stranger in their eye,  
I must be judge twixt France and Rome they say,  
And will (quoth I) nor can I judge awry;  
Sixtus was Pope, and popish was your King,  
I both dislike, list how I like the thing.    

A reply against the former Apology.  
COnsidering in my mind both often and earnestly, and bending my thoughts to muse upon those things, which by the instinct of Satan are lately come to light, me thinks I may rightly invert that saying of the Prophet Abacuk: A word is spoken in our days which no man will believe that it should be uttered. The King of France is done to death by the hands of a Monk; a deed profane and irreligious: but yet I speak of a sin exceeding that, the deed is remitted, excused, defended, commended, extolled, and that by the mouth of the Pope; hear O heavens, and hearken O inhabitants of the earth, whether such a thing hath been in your days, or yet in the days of your fathers: When I call to mind the fact of the Monk, I detest and abhor him; but when I hear the voice of the Pope, as one that had seen a monster I stand in a maze and wonder at him: and surely good cause there is to wonder. I thought it had been incident to man only to commit sin, but to commend sin I judged it proper only to the devil: 
Mat. 24.12.  therefore Satan avaunt: but these are the latter days, & iniquity must needs abound. Was it not enough to disturb the common peace, to alienate the hearts of the Commons, to stir up a restless and factious Rebel, to muster out a league of mutinous and riotous conspirators, to discountenance and overbear a lawful King, to weaken, to disauthorize, and last of all most furiously to murder him, but presently they which stand in the gate must laugh at it, the drunkards make songs of it, and thou thyself Sixtus like a parasite upon a stage applaudest unto it, factum pol optime, there, there, so should it go: but accursed be they which rejoice in iniquity, 
Esa. 5.20.  and woe be to them which call evil good. Notwithstanding, howsoever the Apology of so hateful a fact were execrable, yet if it had been undertaken but by some smooth tongd jesuit or petty Priest, or had but one Friar clawed another, I could in some sort have suppressed my grief with silence: for what is it that hath thus incited me a foreigner to the country, a stranger to the cause (save as it generally concerneth the whole Church) what is it (I say) that thus hath pricked me forth to so austere a censure and contradiction, but for that I find the fact excused where specially it ought to have been condemned, for that I find it commended where it ought to have been severely punished, for that no meaner man than Sixtus himself, the Archpriest and Prelate of the Romish Synagogue, the Vicegerent of Christ, the porter of heaven, the Supporter of all Christendom hath undertaken so damnable a defence. This is it (I say) which hath made me a confuter, which how well I have performed, or whether I have performed it or no it mattereth not, I have sufficiently confuted whatsoever I have but published or barely translated, nor needeth an ill favoured face a Poet to stand by and rhyme upon it, itself at a bare sight will show itself: & let me speak it without offence, in a case so weighty and grievous, from a person so learned and famous, I have not heard a more artless and slight defence, wherein if you look for proofs it is dry and barren; if for style, it is harsh, unpleasant and untrimmed; if for method, confused and independent; if for matter, lose & impertinent, Stultorum plena sunt omnia; not a wise word in a whole Oration: and yet sometimes I hear him discoursing like a grave Divine profoundly; sometime flourishing like an Orator with Tropes and figures bravely: sometime as one inspired with a prophetical spirit divinely: sometime me thinks I hear the ghost of Aquinas very scholastically: sometime one quoting Scriptures learnedly, and at the shutting up of all, one praying like a Saint devoutly: but the devil had Scripture, Caiphas did prophecy, and judas made many a prayer; but what is that to come near to God with thy lips, give me thy heart. 
Pro. 23.26.   
In the front and entrance of this painted process to stir up the minds of the hearers not so much to attention as to admiration, a place in Abacuk (to use but his own phrase) is usurped, A work is done in your days, which no man will credit when it shall be reported. The application whereof if it pointed to the impossibility of the work, in the sequel of this discourse I will make it plain that it was both false and frivolous, and to compare it with the incomprehensible mystery of Christ's incarnation, I tell thee (Sixtus) it was blasphemous: but if thou didst only respect the rareness, the foulness, and deformity of the work, then mightest thou justly say, A work is done in our days, and who will believe our report? Such a barbarous murder committed upon the sacred person of a Prince, Scythians and Cannibals will hardly believe it, and the posterity perhaps will repute it for a fable: and so in regard of that detestation, which every man at the first hearing will conceive, I grant it was a work incredible: but when I call to mind on the other side, and consider the Authors of the work, when I hear that the rebellious and blood-thirsty Leaguers had contrived it, that Sixtus himself the high Priest of Rome had dispensed for it, and that a murderous and wretchles jacobine did perform it, than all is credible and probable enough, we are easily drawn to believe it. And surely I see nothing therein but as in a matter of ordinary event, nothing so exceeding the reach of man's capacity, nothing so declining from the common course of nature and of the world, for which you should compare it with the incarnation and resurrection of Christ, and in every leaf to cry out, A work is done in our days, and who will believe our report? Nay rather who will not believe it? It is no strange or unusual thing to see your hands distained with blood, your laws are written in blood, your rising up in arms it is for blood, your courts of Inquisition are for blood you muse, you meditate, you hunger and thirst for nought but blood; or if that add any wonder to the work, or make it more incredible that it was wrought in the blood of a King, yet for that the assiduity of every thing taketh away the admiration, I cease to wonder at that to; indeed the elder adges did so admire and reverence the person of a King, that but to touch the Lords anointed was irreligious and profane; 
2. Sam. 1.14  but see the calamity of our times, wherein there is nothing more usually thought of, with less remorse attempted, or with more boldness attained then the slaughter of Kings and Princes; it beseemeth not the Sea of Rome to shoot at every shrub, they have learned to aim at fairer marks, they I say, whose practical and pragmatical heads, can speculate of nothing else but Kings and Kingdoms, to dispose, depose, to place, and displace, what men, or by what means they like or list, and as easily they proceed to practise upon a Prince, as upon the head of a meaner man; the bleeding wounds of Orange and Conde yet crying for vengeance from Heaven, can witness well that these practices are no novelty, or if they list but recount the sundry and successeles attempts, against the Crown and person of our Sovereign Elizabeth, they must sound a retreat, and cease for shame to cry, A work is done in our days, past belief, impossible, incredible; but what is it then that maketh this work so incredible, so strange and wonderful? was it, for that it was achieved by a Monk? Indeed it was a work unfitting that profession, but neither was it in regard of nature unpossible, neither in regard of their common practice strange or unprobable; for why? His access being as free (as it was too free) his mind being as malicious, and his tool as sharp as another man's, I see no reason why he might not strike as deep a stroke; and yet no rule in nature violate; but neither was it so strange or unwonted, but that your devilish practices do daily pattern and match it; who was it that tempered and presented an empoisoned cup to john King of England, but Simon of Swinstead a Cistercian Monk, of the order of the Bernardines? Who made away young Charles, the Son of Philip now King of Spain: but the accursed Friars of the order of Saint Iherome? For how would they spare to suck the blood of the Son, who imposed it as a penance upon the Father, to suffer a vain in his body be cut, to void out a little heretic blood? Or tell me else, how oft of late your predecessors and yourself, have hallowed the hands of Priests and jesuits to offer violence, and most unreverently to ramp upon the person of our Queen? why therefore (Sixtus) albeit the work were odious and accursed, yet was there neither wonder nor novelty in it, only this was rare and wonderful to hear, that Sixtus should be a patron and defender of it.  
But let us proceed and come to his narration: A Monk (saith Sixtus) hath slain a King: Make room good people, hear comes a figure; A Monk hath slain a King, not a painted King, where note that Kings are of two sorts, either painted Kings, or living Kings: not one figured out upon a piece of paper, or upon a wall, where we learn again to our great comfort, that Kings are painted two ways, either upon a piece of paper, or upon a wall, but he hath slain the King of France, in the middle of his army, hedged in, and guarded on every side. Claudite iam rivos, sat dixit; And bravely was it spoken, but alack that such a figure should have such luck. This figure in rhetoric we call a Preoccupation, the special use and grace whereof is to prevent an objection, and yet not every one, but such as justly might arise, or else to prevent a false understanding of our words, and yet not every one, but such as the hearer might easily fall into, as when the Lord by the mouth of Amos had said, I will send a famine into the land, 
Amos. 8.11  lest the people should grossly understand him of a bodily famine, as easily they might, he addeth further, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord: but was ever man so fantastical, as when Sixtus had said, A Monk hath slain a King, presently to conceive of a piece of paper, or of an Image, or of a picture upon a wall? But these are your popelike Apologies, with frivolous trifles and toys impertinent to delude our patience, to abuse our expectation. And yet when I call to mind again the Author of this Apology, and considering it was his holiness which wrote it, I cannot say it was altogether needles, for well we understand your rage and fury to be such, that many times when ye cannot wreak yourselves upon the man, ye cope and encounter with his shadow, ye practise upon his picture; we know it (Sixtus) we know it well whose monuments ye have mangled, whose pictures ye have martyred, whose sepulchres ye have defaced, whose bones ye have burnt, even like a fierce and angry dog, which because he either cannot or dare not set upon the man, for very madness bites upon a stone: and happily in such a heat your Monk might have crucified the picture of his King, or else at unawares he might have spoiled the Image or sacred Idol of some deceased Prince; for Images are men, and Idols are a kind of people to. A stranger travailing sometime to Rome, and seeing their Churches, and houses and streets, and every corner full of Images, reported at his return that Rome had two sorts of people, Men and Images; and so in regard of these double senses that preoccupation was not altogether amiss, A Monk hath slain a King, not painted or pictured upon a wall, but the King of France, in the middle of his army.  
But let us descend unto the proofs of this Apology, the arguments whereof for that they be entangled one within another, we will for our better proceeding reduce into order, and prosecute them as severally and distinctly as we can. In every place is urged and much ado is made about the providence of God, the often enforcing whereof to what conclusion it directly tendeth, I do ingenuously confess it, I cannot see, but what it should prove & hath in charge to prove itself expressly showeth. It was a work memorable (saith Sixtus) and never wrought without the special providence of the almighty. And again, We may not refer so notable and strange a work to any other cause, then to the special providence of God. And again, These are all so manifest tokens of Gods especial providence, as no exception can be taken against them. Et vitulo tu dignus: Why (Sixtus) is any man so godless to deny the providence of God even in those actions which are of the lowest and lightest account? I had thought that his providence had extended itself even to Sparrows, 
Luk. 16.6.7  and that not a hair had fallen from our heads but by his providence: and who knoweth not that his eye doth so behold the mountains, that not a moat escapeth his sight, and that his care is so great over the greatest things, that it is no whit less over the least, only Sixtus (I will not say denieth it) but in a sort calleth it into question. When the Scripture speaketh of a thing done (saith Sixtus) it useth to understand not such a thing as is said to fall out by chance, by haphazard, or at adventure, but that which falleth out by the express will, providence, disposition, and government of God. Where we are to note that some things fall out by chance, and at adventure, and some by the will and providence of God. Thus to serve our turns God shall govern when we lift, and when we lift Fortune shall be a God, Tefacimus fortuna deam, and providence shall be tied to those actions which we please to grace and worship with a wonder: O times and manners, a Turk would not have said so much, an Atheist could have said no more. But come we to the point: It was not done without the special providence and disposition of God; how then? I hope the act is not thereby justified: for if it be, then let judas triumph as a Saint in heaven, because his treachery was by providence, because the Prophet said before in the person of Christ, that he which did eat bread with him had lift up his heel against him. 
Psal. 41.9.  Then let Sixtus call a Consistory, and publish his Apology in defence of those disturbers, against whom Saint Jude inveighed, 
jud. 4.  because they were appointed by providence, and were ordained of old unto that condemnation. Indeed if God did wink at the wickedness of sinners, as neither regarding nor disposing, nor foreseeing their abominations, I should conclude with Sixtus, that wheresoever there were any print of his providence, the action might immediately be justified and commended, but well I see his finger moving, and his providence to have a sway and direction even in the course of things unlawful. Shall there be (saith Amos) an evil in a city, 
Amos. 5.6.  and the Lord hath not done it? not charging God to be a principal agent and author of evil things: for God is not the author of evil, but only to be a permitter: & so as unless he permit, the devil himself can do nothing. But ye will say that Amos speaketh not of evil works, but of evil plagues, and so God may be a principal author. But then God saith in another place, I have hardened Pharaoes' heart: 
Exod. 10.1.  that is, I have by providence permitted the devil to harden it: so did he by providence deliver up his son into the hands of Pilate, and so did he put the life of a worthy and lawful King into the hands of a base and butcherly Friar. But what of this? I grant these actions in regard of God's secret counsel were most just and lawful: and yet in respect of the authors who had no right or reason to execute them, I say they were injurious and unnatural. Therefore listen (Sixtus) and learn of me to draw an argument from God's providence. When I see that God by the hands and ministery of men hath wrought some strange and wonderful work, I presently conclude, that in regard of him the work was just, because even so it was his good will and pleasure: but for the ministers and instruments of the work, except I see that they had right to do it, that their end was honest and lawful in it, and that they proceeded by no indirect means unto it, I am not bound to justify or commend them: for than were every thief and murderer acquit at the bar, because he had to plead that whatsoever he did was ordered by providence: and so the providence of God shall not only serve for a stolen to justify all villainies already committed, but to further and help out whatsoever we shall conceive or contrive hereafter.  
But lift a while: It was not only done (saith he) by the providence and appointment, but by the assistance of God: blasphemous as thou art, I blush to hear thee: was it not enough to defend a bold and shameless murderer, but must thou also bring in God as accessary and assistant to the fact? I grant that GOD permitted him: but how shall I know, or whence dost thou gather that his helping hand was present with him? Didst thou see the spirit of God descending down upon him? Thou liest (Sixtus) we saw when jupiter in a shower of gold assayed, and proved, & pierced him, with whom it was as easy to sink through a friars cowl, as through the tiles of a fenced and guarded tower. Indeed it was a spirit that moved him, but such a one as moved judas to betray Christ; not the spirit descending in the shape of a Dove, for that spirit induceth to meekness, and not to murder: 
Math. 3.16.  neither was it the spirit which sat upon the Apostles in the shape of cloven tongues; 
Act. 2.3.  for that spirit did so appear to point out a Churchman his weapon, and to show that he might strike with no weapon save with the tongue: 
Mat. 26.52.  and if it happened that Peter should draw out his sword (as the Monk did his knife) then presently a voice was pronounced, put up thy sword into thy sheath: but that could take no hold of the Monk (saith Sixtus) for his knife was without a sheath: In a word, it was no celestial inspiration, it was not the abundance of the spirit, but the spirit of abundance which moved him, the only argument which persuaded judas, we will give thee thirty pieces of silver, 
Mat. 26.11.  and he delivered them the man: for how should we think that he was stirred up to this act by any secret instinct and zeal of conscience, in whose life did never appear any spark of conscience or religion, but all as an undevout and unordered Atheist; for human Sciences or divine speculation nothing was in him admirable, nothing commendable, nay nothing vulgar, but as a most rude and unlettered idiot, inferior to the lowest of that monastical society; for life and conversation (I shame to tell it) what was he but a most impure and lecherous satire? how oft was he traced and found, and fetched out of the Stews? how was he publicly chastised for his unchastity? And to show that at the first he was enforced to that profession, how oft did he assay to deliver himself by flight, even as it were repenting his former vow, groaning under the burden of his profession, and still crying, Cupio dissolui, I desire to become a new man, looking always back to the lay man's life as Lot's wife did to Sodom, and in a manner wishing he had been turned into a pillar of Salt when he was first made a Friar, and yet this Monk, this Friar Clement was the man, the man I say unto so foul a work instructed, inspired, nay assisted by God.  
But guess again and tell me, how know ye that God was assistant to the work? Because forsooth he had so promised to set at liberty the city of Paris, and to make ye beholden to him, and to yield him immortal thanks for delivering the Church from so great dangers. But soft a while, your Church is not yet delivered, nor yet is Paris set at liberty; nay never was it in such misery: but were all as well as ye wish, yet see I no reason why GOD should be drawn in as accessary to the murder of the King, considering that no act is justified by the success. And certainly I can not see what cause ye have to boast of success, or of any great deliverance by his death, since whose death all your forces have been forceles, your attempts and intentations fruitless, and whatsoever ye have taken in hand it goeth backward: so far was God from furthering you in the murder, that even for the murder he hath scourged and afflicted you ever since; which undoubtedly if he had furthered, as intending by it to work out your deliverance and release (as vainly ye boast) then never had he installed Navarra, a professed enemy to your practices and proceedings: but your misery was there but begun where ye thought it had been ended; bethink with yourselves, how ye are now become defenders, who before that murder were the only assailants and besiedgers: consider how often ye are now enforced and driven into holes, whose uncontrolled rebellions and tumultuous assemblies, all France before was hardly able to hold: consider since that time how many thousands of ye have been slaughtered, how your Nobility hath declined, your Catholic towns have revolted and recoiled: remember since that time the successful attempts of the King against you, his victory at deep, his Ash-wednesday triumph, his entering into the Suburbs at Paris, the conquests obtained in the countries of Vendosme, of Mayenne, and almost all Normandy: remember if ye can with shame, the shameful retreat of Parma, the glorious recovery of Corbeil, which after it was with 18, Cannons the space of five long weeks battered, besieged, and in the end surrendered, yet was it in a trice regained and repossessed by the King; I may not speak of half. Remember how but yesterday were wrested from your hands the towns of Louuiers, of Noyan, of Montmorillon, and Chivigny: remember how since that murder your capital Priests and Cardinals, sworn liegemen to the Apostolic sea, have united and knit themselves against you; as namely, the Cardinal d' Gondi, the Cardinal of Armignac, the Cardinal of Lenoncourt, with the young Cardinal d' Vendome, brother to the late Prince of Conde: remember how of late your great God Pan, Gregory the 14. now swaying the Sceptre, and sitting upon the Papal seat is debarred and excommunicate from all Apostolical jurisdiction, and how in his stead a Primate in France is created, how his Bulls were burnt, how his Legate Laudriano by a bitter summon was cited to appearance; which things no doubt are strange and unheard of, and portend to Babylon some speedy ruin and desolation. Thus God delivereth Paris, releaseth your Church, furthereth your attempts, and favoureth your murders.  
You tell us a long tale of judith and Eleazar, out of which examples you strain and strive to bring some matter of commendation to your Monk: and albeit I will not utterly condemn so great adventures undertaken for the Church; yet could I have wished in judith an honester means of proceeding: and truth to say, I see in Eleazar neither means nor purpose honest. Why a woman in the Church defence might not hazard her person, I see no reason to countermand it; but neither do I see what warrant she had, to put her fame, her good name and honesty upon such a venture, which she ought to have tendered as dearly as the whole Church: we may not do the least evil to procure the greatest good; and might judith than a modest and religious Matron in the Church behalf demean herself so unhonestly? might she trick out herself so enticingly, or compose her countenance wanton? might she paint out her face, set out her hair, and strumpetlike mask out in a lawn or linen weed to stir up the concupiscence of a lewd and incontinent lecher? 
2. Kin. 9.30.  I say that jezabel could do no more to jehu: and why she should not stand answerable for his sin whom she had tempted unto sin, let Sixtus tell if he can: beside all this, I speak not of her odious flattering, her cunning dissembling, her lewd lying to insinuate and encroach into the bosom of Holofernes, as though that to a lawful act we might proceed by flattering, dissembling and lying, by hook or crook, by all unlawful means, & so we creep in it mattereth not, whether it be by the door or by the window: but he that entereth not in by the door is a thief and a robber: 
joh. 10.1.  and what though God gave success and prospered the attempt? that hallowed not the means; for so did he save the babes of the Israelites by the dissembling of the Midwives, 
Exod. 1.19.  and yet was not their lie justified. But come we to the fact of Eleazar, and see what a perfect pattern it is for a Monk and murderer to work by: Eleazar adventured his life to hazard the life of Antiochus; but would to God he had but barely adventured it: it is one thing for a man to put himself upon an uncertain hazard, but another thing to cast himself desperately into danger of inevitable death; which how it can be done, and the party so proceeding not tainted with the guilt of his own death, I profess I know not, I desire to be instructed. But let not Sixtus tell me of Samson, pulling down a house upon his own head, we know what spirit it was that moved him to it; another doubtless then that which moved Eleazar; for why? your text bewrays it to be the spirit of vainglory, and saith, 
Maca. 6.44.  he jeoparded himself to deliver his people and get himself a perpetual name: A speech undoubtedly so disagreeing from the spirit of humility, as when I read it me thinks I hear the voice of Ajax, of Hector, or Achilles: and howsoever I could have borne it in a Pagan, in Eleazar it was intolerable: for what could be uttered more heathenish or profane? What more derogatory from the glory of God, unless he had affected the deity & throne of God; for glory belongeth to him, and his glory he will not give to another. 
Isa. 42.8.  The Saints of God are always commended in the Scripture, for that they never sought to be commended, but though they had brought to pass matters of great and memorable achievement, 
Psal. 115.1.  yet always they cried, not unto us O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name give the glory. When David undertook to encounter with Goliath, he protested of himself that he had no other end than that all the world might know that Israel had a God. 
1. Sam. 17.46.  But see the difference; when Eleazar undertook to overthrow Antiochus, the author of that Scripture saith, his end and purpose was to magnify himself, that all the world and aftertimes might know, that Israel had an Eleazar, unto which end howsoever he might successfully arrive, yet he could not but unlawfully aspire: for wisely the heathen Philosophers teach us, that honour is a good thing if it be not sought for: and Christian philosophy teacheth the same, that when it cometh unlooked for it is the blessing of God; but being ambitiously aimed at, he doth but nicke-name it that calleth it not vainglory. Thus have we noted in judith an end commendable, but means indirect; but in Eleazar we can commend neither end nor means as lawful: for neither may a man hang himself to pleasure his friends, neither pleasure his friends to get himself a name: & yet these examples are cited to appear as honest witnesses to commend the fact of a murdering parricide. But notwithstanding, howsoever there were in them defects and corruptions to blemish and make them appear unhonest, yet in this are more and far more grievous: for compare them together, and see what inequality is between them. For first, neither did judith nor Eleazar lay violent hands upon their own Prince, as did this savage Monk upon the person of Henry his Sovereign Lord and Liege: neither of them (I say) distained their hands with the blood of him to whom they had sworn any fealty or obedience; neither was Eleazar to Antiochus, nor judith to Holofernes, but as to a stranger, and not so only but as to a professed enemy, whom in the time of open hostility, for the benefit of our King and Country, we not only may, but must, and by discipline of war are bound to endamage and annoy. Thus see I not what matter here was either to provoke the Monk to so bloody an execution, or else to help out Sixtus with his profane Apology. Secondly, as they did execute their wrath upon strange and foreign Princes, enemies to their state and country, so likewise upon the enemies of God and of his truth. For well we know that Antiochus did abrogate the circumcision, burned the books of the law, erected Altars of abomination, and compelled the people to offer up Swine's flesh and unclean Sacrifices upon them: and what was the quarrel of Holofernes but a matter of religion? because the people refused to adore and reverence Nabuchadnezzar as a God: from which so grievous enforcements and charging of their consciences, who would not jeopard his life to release and set free his country? But neither had your holiness nor that shaveling Friar any such cause of grievance, as might exasperate and enrage him to such cruelty. For why, a Monk hath slain a King, not a strange or foreign King, not a sworn or vowed enemy, not a King of a contrary worship or devotion, but he hath slain his own King, rightfully reigning, meekly ruling, and wisely governing, a King of his own disposition, profession, religion; without pity cruelly, without conscience wickedly, without cause unjustly. Ah Sixtus, no marvel is it though ye seek to drench your swords in the blood of protestant Princes, when ye spare not your nearest and dearest friends: full well ye knew that Henry was a bird of your own brooding, a Catholic of your own Church: full well ye knew that he had both faithfully served you, and studiously endeavoured to please you, when as (God knoweth) he little regarded to please his Creator, and could ye not wink at some few offences, but must ye needs proceed to such rigour and extremity? O pride and tyranny intolerable: how better were it to serve a Turk or Pagan, then to bear a burden in your yoke, from whose rage and fury (when ye list to be furious) neither King, nor kindred, nor love, nor respect of religion can privilege or defend.  
But Sixtus happily will say, he did not compare them for the honesty, but only for the difficulty and wonderment of the work: and certainly for aught I see he standeth not much upon the honesty thereof: enough it is for him to wonder at the boldness of the adventure, for no other commendation he giveth to his Monk, than a man might well afford to a riotous and desperate ruffian. Therefore, since it cannot be proved to be so honest, let us try what courage and valour, what difficulties and wonders abounded in it, that it should be not only compared, but preferred above the hardy adventures of judith and Eleazar, in regard of whom, a base and ruffenly Friar is not only joined to sustain the comparison as a competent match or corrival, but most highly magnified as exceeding matchless and supereminent: for so saith Sixtus, that albeit for zeal and valour of mind, and for the issue of the thing attempted, there were some resemblance or equality between them, yet for the rest there was no one thing comparable. But wonderfully hath his holiness overshot himself: for let us suppose those examples to be as Canonical as some would they were, and see then not only to the persons themselves compared, but unto the spirit of GOD how foul an indignity is offered: when the holy Ghost in Scripture proposeth to our view some famous example as a pattern of imitation, it lightly commendeth such a one as no precedent of antiquity before, neither of the posterity to come shall be able to afford the like: as, who can either raise up from the memory of the dead, or summon out an example from men alive to match with jobe in patience, with Moses in meekness, with Abraham in faith, with David in courage, with Samson in might? And if Sixtus having searched through the Scripture for some rare example and mirror of magnanimity, did pick out and choose Eleazar for the best, I would know what warrant his worship had in a Cloister of Monks, a nest of Friars, in a den of Devils to show a better: but what did Friar Clement so renowned or adventurous that Eleazar came so short of him? If ye mark but the manner of proceeding and passing forward to the work, Eleazar did far surpass him: for let Sixtus be judge and tell me whether he did more desperately adventure himself, which to break into the middle of an Army had no other way but as a known and open enemy through ranks and millions of men to make passage with his sword, or he who as a supposed friend came sneaking in a friars weed unarmed, unharnest, unweaponed, with a fawning look, with a letter of passport in his hand, with a string of Beads at his side, with a Crucifix at his breast, with all habiliments of his profession, so as no matter of suspicion, of fear, of doubt was ministered to endanger him, I would know of Sixtus who did adventure most. Yea but (saith he) Eleazar was a professed Soldier, trained up in arms and in the field, whereas our Monk was never brought up in such broils, and therefore in him it was more admirable whatsoever was achieved. I answer again, that as he was a Soldier, so his attempt was more martial and Soldierlike, so was it executed without all colour in the form and person of a Soldier bravely, by dint of sword undauntedly, in the broad and open field valiantly: and who can admire a close and privy murderer, whose practices are so abhorring both from humanity, as nature detesteth them for abominable, and courage condemneth them as arguments of undoubted cowardice, and certainly I see not what manhood is required to slaughter a man in his Chamber, which every base and timorous mind may accomplish, yea even he which cannot endure to see himself let blood, for unto such kind of revenge no man for shame proceedeth, but he who in great faintness and weakness of mind, continually meditateth of flight and escape: yea but saith Sixtus again, Eleazar knew both his manner of death and place of burial: why therefore should I think that his attempt was more courageous, for where the hope of life is less, the adventure and courage undoubtedly is more, but he knew so certainly of his death, that he could likewise divine of his grave; but hardly I brook to hear of so foul an untruth, that your Friar was so sore afraid of certain death, and uncertain torments, for why, your factors and agents in the cause, had provided a double medicine to salve that fear, for so wisely they wrought to provoke this parricide to resolve upon execution, that notwithstanding the adventure in sight were perilous, yet both in regard of that policy which they had at home contrived, as also of the furtherance and assistance which in the camp of the King they expected, there was a double comfort ministered; at home they had so provided, that so many within the walls of Paris, as were either known, or suspected to be by near affinity allied, or by affection carried to favour either the King or any his aiders and associates, that so many should be apprehended, and laid up as pledges and hostages, for the safe return of the Friar, which doubtless would so bridle the fury of the King's friends, that notwithstanding himself before were murdered, yet to ransom the lives and liberties of their friends, they would be content to dismiss the Friar & send him back to Paris: again they persuaded him, that in the Kings own camp there was abundant hope of present assistance to be supplied, for if it so fell out that the King were dispatched, then so many of his train as secretly favoured the League would be present, and at hand to assist him, but the contrary part would be so amazed at the sudden alteration, that every man would rather apply his wits how to save himself, then to execute revenge upon the malefactor, and so our brother Clement could not choose but scape: this most infallibly is the truth, this was the persuading and proceeding with the Friar, who in a fools paradise, and conceit of a certain return, tanquam asinus ad caedem, went forward to his work, which howsoever it succeeded unluckily, yet out of doubt better fortune was expected, in regard of which expectation, I affirm that there was neither imminent danger, nor certain fear: therefore could not the adventure be so venturous, that Captain Eleazar with Friar Clement should change a corselet to put on a cowl.  
But as we have compared him with Eleazar, let us join and match him with judith; I speak not of a matrimonial conjunction, for Clement was a votary, never wedded to a wife, never furnished with any part of a family, save only a few children, but I speak of a joining in comparison, for what though comparisons be odious, yet Eleazar must go down, and judith must stoop to advance a bloody Friar to the skies; therefore as his holiness had commended Eleazar, so doth he likewise extol judith, but both to that end that Clement might be superextolled, and commended above them both, for both men were inferior to him, and many women have come under him. But see how Sixtus extenuateth the fact of judith, which before he had so highly magnified, and all to enlarge the honour of a Monk; judith was a woman, and therefore more gracious, therefore for her sex and excellent beauty, might she be more easily admitted into the presence of Holofernes; I smile to think how Sixtus tickleth at the remembrance of judith, but who would not break out and laugh, to see how he beateth himself with his own weapon, for if a Friar were therefore to be commended above a Soldier, if Clement above Eleazar, for that being a man of peace, and never trained up to the field, he had ventured as far as a professed Soldier, then doubtless by the same reason was judith to be preferred before Clement, for that being a woman, and therefore by nature more timorous, she attempted as much and more than he; yea but consider that as she was a woman, so she was fair, and as her sex on the one side did dispose her to fear, so her beauty on the other side made her secure; yea Sixtus, we consider it very well, and know that in Rome the argument is forcible; full well we know that your Lateran palace was never so surely locked, but a woman at midnight might boldly and freely have access. I let pass to speak of john the twelft and mistress Rainera, of Pope Sergius and his Morozia: I come to the matter, wherein against the beauty of judith, I do oppose the profession of Clement, for never was woman more welcome to Holofernes, than Monks and Friars were to Henry. Ah silly man, I rue to speak it, his devotion was fantastical, his affection was over foolish to them, and longer doubtless had he lived, if he had never loved, nor reposed any confidence in them, and that those caitiffs knew full well, for which most in humanly they repaid him that ill; therefore I say there was no cause why a Friar might not as securely adventure himself into the host of the King, as did judith into the tents of Holofernes: therefore consequently there was no cause why his exploit should be extolled above hers, as far more difficult and impossible; but what do we speak of difficulties? Sixtus saith it was full of wonders, for after that letters of commendation from them of the contrary faction were feigned, which he falsely saith were procured, see what a wonder fell out: Friar Clement passed out by that gate of the city which lead unto the enemy's camp: O wonderful, as if he should have said, he went but two miles when he might have gone ten, he took the nearest way, when he might have gone the farthest way about, whereas he might have passed out at a back or pofierne gate, and so might have gone from thence to Rome, from Rome to jericho, from jericho to Vrsa maior, from thence to Tyburn, from Tyburn to the devil, and from him with a dispensation to the camp of the King: yet he (I say) took the nearest way, even passing out by that gate of the city, which lead unto the enemy's camp: Monstrum horrendum, I think there was never such a wonder: why Sixtus dost thou wonder that he went not the farthest way about? Or that he went to the camp about such a work, his feet being naturally so swift to shed blood? Or dost thou wonder that through that gate especially he should pass without examination, I should rather have wondered if any had been so bold to examine him, considering that they who set him about the work were not so unwise, but to take order for his safe conduct out of the city, and so there was as free passage for him out of Paris, as there was for judith out of Bethulia; but see, see, here cometh another wonder; he did not only pass through the gates of the city, but also through the camp of the enemies, through the several watches and sentinels, and through the guard which was next the body of the King; how say ye by this? Was not this a terrible wonder? His holiness marveleth that the Friar was so freely received in the enemy's camp, that he was not examined, that he was not killed, as though no man should look upon a Friar, but presently he should draw out his dagger and slab him: I answer his holiness again, that happily those watchmen and warders did not see him, perhaps he went invisible: When the first dag was discharged at the Prince of Orange, a priest in Antwerp had suborned a base scullion for the feat, to whom very charily he delivered a stone of great value, affirming that while he had it about him, he could not choose but go invisible, yea though he were in the Prince's chamber; I know not whether your Friar had such a stone or no; but suppose he had not, yet coming as an intelligencer for the camp, with letters of credence from the friends of the King, in a friars weed peaceably, with all counterfeit submission friendly, I know not why he should not be as easily admitted into the Kings own pavilion, as judith was into the tent of Holofernes; but this thing in judith was wonderful, which his holiness never considered, that notwithstanding she adventured herself as far as she did, yet unpolluted, unhurt, untouched, she returned home safe and alive again, and if it had so fallen out with Clement, that after the murder committed he had handsomely escaped and come away, then had it been somewhat, then had it been a wonder: but see the hard hap, when it came to the issue, when it stood upon the making or marring, either to prove a wonder or no wonder, why then the miracle was marred, the Monk was slain: O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare what wonders are done among the sons of men. But lift again, me thinks I hear Balaams' ass speaking, the Pope is become a Prophet, and to commend this impious act, he allegeth a prophecy of his own, conspiring with the end and fall of the King, we did heretofore with some grief foretell that he was like to come to some strange and shameful end: how can we now but accept his censure upon the fact, who did so divinely prophecy and foretell of the fact: but will ye not believe that his holiness did so prophecy? Will ye require our witnesses? Will ye put us to our proofs? Why then we call to witness the Cardinals of joyeuse, of Paris, and of Lenoncort. Ah Sixtus, thou canst not so deceive us; the signs are many, the proofs are too pregnant against you; yourself foretold his end: we believe it, for well might you divine of his death, whose death yourself had contrived, and yet be no more a Prophet, than a judge which sitteth upon the bench, and saith, this thief shall die to morrow, not because he seethe it by divination, but because it is in his hand to acquit or condemn him, and so. I may justly say, that Sixtus did not Prophecy but threaten: for if every prediction should make a Prophet, then should the devil be a great one, who beholding the necessary concurrence of the causes, doth many times foretell aright of the effects; in this order (Sixtus) and in no other didst thou Prophecy: I appeal to thine own conscience, when the first relation of the Guise his death was made, when the first news were brought, didst thou not then vow thyself to avenge it? Didst thou not afterward contrive the means to work it? Didst thou not encourage the Leaguers to it? Didst thou not promise a perpetual pardon to him that should attempt it? And being now done, hast thou not indited a sweet Apology for it? And yet who now is Sixtus? Whom shall men say that he is? Is he not Elias, or some one of the Prophets? But not he alone, but many other did thus Prophecy, among whom let Gregory himself be one, who as he now succeed Sixtus in his seat, so did he exceed him in the murder, for which by a French Cardinal, his holiness is now notoriously appealed; Thus treachery and murder is impaled with a triple crown; thus traitors and murderers sit in Peter's chair: beside, we are to note that he did not only and barely prophecy it, but with some grief and feeling of his fall: alas poor Sixtus, how sorely his heart was grieved? But shall we pity him then, or shall we rather disdain and detest him? Fowl hypocrite and Crocodile as thou art, couldst thou weep for him, when as thou didst intend so mortally against him? Full well thou mightest have redressed that grief, if thou hadst been truly aggrieved; but as Absalon feasted Ammon, and judas kissed Christ, so didst thou lament his fall; for if thou didst indeed lament it, what moved thee to indite so triumphing an Apology upon it, and to erect a Trophy, where greater cause was to write an Epitaph? Why didst thou debar him from all dirges, masses, and trentals, from all dead man's rites and funeral solemnities? Did the fear of the loss so afflict thee, and could the loss be so pleasing to thee? Fie Sixtus, fie, dissemble not with the world, thy hypocrisy is too manifest, thou didst not prophecy, thou wast not aggrieved, nor canst thou so easily blear our eyes.  
Having thus foolishly mooted and declamed of thine own prophetical spirit, thou preparest at length by a personal invective to disgorge thy gall against the King, by the impeachment and defamation of whose honour thou addressest thyself to convince the execution done upon him for just and warrantable, His great offences, his shameful death, his final impenitency: but albeit I must in part confess some of these as true, yet I loathe to see thee raking in the dust of a dead man's bones, whose sins if they ought to be buried in silence, much less should they be misreported and maliciously amplified. We confess the offences of the King were grievous, and heinous, and of necessity we must confess what all the world so evidently saw, because the sins of Kings and Princes cannot be unseen; neither can a city be hid that is set upon a hill: but nevertheless, we do not acknowledge those for sins in wreak and revenge whereof this direful tragedy was performed. For shall we say his Majesty did offend in executing justice upon that recreant Guise, a furious and brainsick rebel, together with Lodowick his brother then Cardinal of Lorraine? As though a King may not correct the misdemeanour of his subjects, but an Italian Priest shall step out to countermand and control it: but how had the Guise then misdemeaned himself, or wherein had he passed beyond his bounds? Ah God, is that now called in question? Or shall we now begin to indite him, at whose boldness & rebellion all Kings in Christendom for these twenty years have stood amazed? whom neither reverence of authority, nor fear of laws, nor law of nature could keep within his bounds. But let that go, we speak of later attempts, even of the treachery which then he intended against the King when he was apprehended and murdered, which undoubtedly he had effected, had not his brother Charles d' Maine opened & disclosed it before. Yea, but suppose the Guise had offended, yet was it tyranny without formal and judicial process of law preceding to fall to execution. Indeed (Sixtus) it is true when delay is void of danger: but if a rout of thieves have so beset my way as I must either immediately slay, or be immediately slain, I hope there is no law against me if in that distress I neglect the trial of law, and work out my deliverance with my sword: for that is a law which we have not learned, not received, not heard, but a law which we have sucked out of our mother's breasts, in which we were not informed, but bred; not instructed, but inspired; not by discipline composed, but by nature prepared, that no honest way of defending our life and state should be left untried; and shall we then condemn the speedy execution upon the Guise and Lodowick his brother for unhonest, which could not be one day deferred without endangering the life and dignity of the King? No (Sixtus) no, we confess the offences of the King were grievous, yet this was no offence: but if we list indite him, we could ubrayd and charge him with matters of greater moment, which albeit we are loath and grieve to do, yet in regard of that Antichristian tyranny which in his life he practised, and for which he was punished in his death we may not be over silent, and so much the less for that we would provoke ye to repentance, lest as ye have exceeded him in his sin, so ye receive a greater measure of judgement.  
When in his life time we called to mind how sorely and bitterly he did afflict the Church, how freely he suffered the confederates of the League to assault and insult upon them, and how often himself had personally unsheathed his sword against them, we could not expect but that though God winked for a time, yet in time he would manifest his judgements on him, and when the fullness of time was expired it fell out as we feared: for so soon as in his last Parliament holden at Bloys, he had most wickedly vaunted of his victories against the Church, and boastingly reported what harm and scathe he had done them (which was in deed the fullness of his sin) this vengeance immediately fell upon him, even as Sixtus himself (a strange thing to consider) within less than a year after his Apology and triumphing in so notorious a murder, was dispatched and taken out of the world: beside, we could report how he secretly encouraged the Leaguers to effusion of blood, how himself was up in arms before the walls of Rochel, and that for no other cause but for the Gospel: and that which never will be wiped out, how at that notable occision and famous slaughter, surnamed the great massacre, being but a stripling boy he bathed and imbrued his hands with innocent blood, which doubtless hath since been so well repaid upon the heads of the murderers, as few of them consorted in the work whom God did not after mark out with some notable judgement, in so much as even the catholics themselves have observed that most of them came to evil ends: some of them being afterward indited, convicted, and hanged up for malefactors: others desperately murdering and hanging themselves, and they who were enriched by the spoil dying so beggarly, so miserable and poor, as not a penny was left to buy a halter: but for them who were the slaughter-masters and ringleaders of that riot, it is plain and manifest how God hath plagued and scourged them, considering how the Guise himself was pricked & stabbed to death, the Duke of joyeuse was slain in the battle at Coutraz, the late King Henry murdered with an infectious knife, and Charles the 9 his brother (as some say) poisoned, or died as others report of a flux of blood, which at his mouth, his ears, and nostrils, yea at every passage both upward and downward issued from him, even as it were vomiting out in his death the blood which in his life he had so eagerly sucked: and certainly God plagued the house of Valois, for that of four brethren, whereof three successively reigned, no seed was left to sit upon the throne: I speak not of the Marshal d' Retz, of Catharine d' Medici's Queen Mother and monster of France, nor many other more, whose deaths albeit they were suspected, yet for that they were doubted I leave them as matters of uncertainty. But wonderful it is to consider, how manifestly God always avenged himself upon the Leaguers and other French persecutors: During the rage and fury against the Saints which were in Provence, in Merindol and Cabriers, which was soon after the year 1530. how did God note out the chief persecutors with some apparent & memorable judgement? The Lord of Revest high Precedent of the Parliament at Aix ran mad and died, Lewis d' Vain was drowned in the river of Durance, Bartholomeus Cassaneus was stricken with a sudden death, Miniers Lord of oped being not able to void it was burnt with his own urine, and with much impatience and blasphemy consumed away, John de Roma a jacobine Monk and chief Inquisitor in this persecution rotten piece meal, and died in such stench, as being dead men were fain with a hook to drag him into a ditch: Soon after all this succeeded Henry the second King of France, a grievous oppressor of the Church, who advancing himself at the Turney, was stricken with a spear into the brain and died: after him succeeded Francis the second, who after one years reign and little more, was taken away by an Impostume in the head. I speak not of Francis the old Duke of Guise, who was slain by Poltrat with a dag before Orleans, neither of the Marshal of Saint Andrew's who died before Dreux, nor of the Constable of France who was slain at Paris, nor speak I of the late Cardinal of Lorraine shamefully strangled with a cord, nor of Francis of Valois, whom some report to have died of a venereous contagion; others gather by the arraignment of the Lord of Salceede that he was subtly and secretly made away: but as they were professed enemies and persecutors of the Church, so were they scourged for their cruelty: and what shall befall the remainder, since of so cursed a crew so many still remain, I cannot, I dare not prophecy: but sure I am that God is just, and will not tolerate so foul offenders to triumph in impunity.  
Nevertheless, what I have said, to this end have I said it, that all the world might see that they were not the offences you dream of, for which GOD delivered up this King to so open a judgement, not for reciding or falling away from you, but rather for cleaving too fast unto you, for that foolish and indulgent love he carried toward you, and for his mortal hate against the Church and Saints of God, whom as with other he persecuted, so with other he perished: so that whatsoever his offences were, we all confess he was a grievous offender. But how then? shall Peter's successor therefore say to a Monk, as the holy Ghost sometime said to Peter, Arise and kill? Was there no choice, no discretion, no difference to be made? 
Act. 10.13.  Hark (Sixtus) a Poet can teach thee wit: Etsi ego indignus qui haec patiar tu tamen indignus qui faceres: Every man is not meet to execute justice upon every offender: suppose thy father had deserved death, yet art thou an unfit man to appeal him, but more unfit to be his executioner. What if Saul deserved to be deprived of his kingdom, yet was not every private man to lay unhallowed hands upon him: and grant we that Henry had heinously offended, will it therefore in reason follow that every miscreant Monk shall dare to pray upon him? Saint Paul could not bear it that a Bishop or man of a spiritual profession should be a striker, and may he be a murderer? Nay, yourselves deliver up to the secular authority, 
1. Tim. 3.3.  whom before ye have for heresy indited and condemned, to show that ye may pollute your hands with no blood, no not of most capital transgressors, and may ye bathe your hands in innocent blood? We know he had highly offended the Majesty of GOD, but in regard of you we dare avouch him innocent. But suppose he had as deeply offended you; the positive laws give this favour to an offender, that notwithstanding he hath been already arraigned, indited, condemned, and at the place of execution stand ready to be executed, yet he that shall offer violence to slay him, shall stand as liable to law as if he had slain another man. Is there such favour afforded to an offender after judgement, and may ye murder him whom ye never condemned, never convinced, never accused? It was requisite that before your rigorous and deadly execution, ye should depose and deprive him from all kingly titles and authority; did ye ever so deprive him? It was expedient that before that deprivation ye should first excommunicate him, for while he was a member of the Church he must needs be the head of his kingdom; did ye ever excommunicate him? Before ye could proceed to the Ecclesiastical censure against him, ye should first have convinced him as worthy of it; did ye ever so convince him? Where was he convented? when was it pleaded? who were the witnesses? what were the crimes objected against him? Forsooth he refused to assist the quarrel of the League: a shameful untruth; he only prevented the practices against his person, which were coloured by the quarrel of the League. Yea but he caused the Guise be slain who was the Champion of the Church: good reason there was to do it, because the Champion of the Church had converted his forces which were bestowed for the Church defence, to maintain & uphold a civil quarrel, as namely the subversion of the king, and inthroning himself in the kingdom: beside all this, I speak not of that foul indignity which he offered the King when he forced him out of Paris, such a presumptuous and traitorous deed as could not be punished with less than death: but howsoever the King had trespassed, yet being a King he ought to be solemnly indited, and not secretly bought and sold: his cause should be formally heard, and not closely smothered; his judgement should be publicly notified, and not in a corner contrived; & his person should be arrested, not murdered.  
Notwithstanding, sith God in his secret counsel had so decreed it, let us bear it as we ought, and lay the fault of so foul a murder where in right & equity we ought. You did foretell it that he was like to come to some strange & shameful end: but whose was the shame? a riotous ruffian hath beset the way, an innocent is entrapped, his money is taken, his life lost, his body shamefully mangled, say foolish Apologizer; whose is the shame? Is this a proof to approve the murder of a King? Suppose the tower of Silo had fallen upon his head, is he therefore a greater sinner? I tell ye no; hast thou not read it that all things come alike to all, and that the same condition is to the just and to the wicked, and that many times the wicked live in prosperity and die in peace, that their horn is exalted as the Cedar in Lebanon, as Tabor among the mountains, when just and upright men are as a bottle parched in the smoke, when such as job lie scraping upon a dunghill; did not Pilate sit upon the bench, when Christ stood at the bar? were not the Apostles martyred, the Prophets murdered, the saviour of the world crucified? All cut off by strange and shameful ends; yet no man can convince either him for a Sinner, or them for malefactors, and why then should Henry so dying be adjudged to die a reprobate? Ah Sixtus, now dost thou speak as Antichrist, now dost thou usurp the sword and seat of Christ: art thou already come to judge the quick and dead? Is there no remission for his sin, no pardon to be expected, no prayers to be powered, no hope but hell? Vile murderers, how delight ye in blood, not content to kill the body, but to adjudge the soul; did ye see his soul descending to the lower parts? did ye hear him desperately crying, my sin is greater than I am able to bear? Did ye hear God pronounce the sentence upon him; depart accursed? but where then is Sixtus, and where is Clement, if Henry be in hell? full well ye teach us to despair of yourselves, who endeavour to rob us of so rich a hope: but rather had I ye should burn me for an heretic at a stake, then enrol me for a Saint in your Calendar: uncharitable & unchristian wretches, condemning for reprobates unto everlasting death, whose names God hath written in the book of life, and canonizing for martyrs, whom Turks and Pagans would detest as murderers: but what ground had Sixtus to charge him with final impenitency? Who ever saw so deep into his soul? Who knew what sobs, what groaning, what secret grief might harbour in his heart? But neither did he sorrow so in silence, as no sign of repentance was left behind: in the presence of the standers by (who with watery eyes beheld him) he made an humble confession of his faith, powered out his prayers to God, received the Sacrament, confessed himself to a Friar, desired pardon for his sin, besought God if it might be, to lengthen his days, that for his life past, he might make some amends: see, see, what signs of impenitency, what tokens of distrust are here? After that, bethinking what might become of his people, he bequeathed them into the hands of Navarra, whom he specially charged to be careful over them: yea but he cried for vengeance upon the authors of his death, even a little before his death: So cried David upon his death-head against joab and Shimei, 
1. Kin. 2.5 8  charging his Son Solomon, that for the offences they had committed against him, he should not suffer them to go to their graves in peace, and yet was David never charged with impenitence, as Henry is for the same reason; ye might first have inquired whether it were in his hands to pardon them or no, for David doubtless if he could have pardoned joab or Shimei, had never exclaimed for vengeance on them, but it lay not in his power to pardon them: such offences as are committed against our private state, or particular person, we may and must forgive them, yea though they be seventy seven times committed, but an indignity offered to the person of a King, toucheth even God himself, because they represent the majesty of God, for which God graceth them with a title of his own, 
Psal. 82.6.  I have said it, ye are Gods: therefore in reason, the remission of such offences must be resigned up only to God; could not David pardon Shimei, which had but barely railed on him, and must Henry either pardon a crew of damnable conspirators, which so profanely murdered him, or must he be adjudged to die impenitent? But how know ye he did not pardon them? Because he conjured Navarra, and such as stood about him, to take vengeance of those whom he surmised to be the authors of his death: yea so he might, and yet pardon them to, for when Christ saith, forgive, his meaning is not that every notorious offender, should be acquit from outward censure of law, for that were to pervert justice, and to overthrow all civil discipline; but to forgive him, is to entreat God for him, that his body being punished to the example of other, his soul at the great judgement might be saved: and certainly if he might punish a traitor in his life, I see no reason why he might not as well do it at the point of death, for why, the time cannot alter the nature of the action, but if it were injustice to remit him before, he could not with equity pardon him then; therefore well might he say to Navarra as David said to Solomon: Suffer not those murderers to go to their grave in peace, & yet be translated to Heaven as David was, whereof we nothing doubt, but though his sins were as red as scarlet, & his hands all stained with the blood of Martyrs, yet through the abundant grace of him, who forgave unto Paul those many afflictions he said upon the Church, we assure ourselves that mercy is showed unto him, and all is washed away as white as snow: yea but what will ye say, if beside all this he bequeathed the succession of his Kingdom to Navarra, a pronounced and excommunicate heretic, must we not then say he died in his sin? Yea there is your grief, that is it that galleth you: but why should Navarra be excluded, or what should defeat him of his lawful inheritance? Because forsooth, ye had proclaimed him for an heretic, and thrown out a thunderbolt against him; we know ye did, and well we remember how your chief agent the Guise, being suborned and set on for the work, went about by an assembly of the estates holden at Bloys, to cause him to be publicly declared, as uncapable of all temporal inheritance and succession in France, we know ye expelled and cast him out: but what saith Saint Gregory, saepe qui foras mittitur intus est, & foris est qui intus retinetur: it may fall out that jonas shall be cast out of the Ship, when Cham shall be reserved in the Ark, and yet neither the Ark retaining the one shall make him a member of the Church, nor shall the Sea swallowing up the other, exclude him from the presence of God: the Pope is like a wasp, no sooner angry, but out cometh a sting, which being out is like a fools dagger, rattling and snapping without an edge, and though sometime their censure hath been forcible, yet in these degenerate times, since their first defection and apostasy, they have stood in the holy place as idols, keys they have and open not, stings they have and prick not: the Pope did sometime excommunicate the Florentines, when the lawyers notwithstanding pronounced his excommunication void; and if your censure against Navarra were as just as it was famous, why did ye not then satisfy the challenge, which both he and the Prince of Conde demanded at your hands, whereas immediately after the sentence of excommunication passed out against them, they called for a general counsel of christian Princes and Prelates, wherein they promised themselves in person to debate, and that hand to hand against your holiness, whether the sentence so passed out against them were lawful, and upon lawful causes pronounced, which challenge as it was published to the whole world, so was it fastened upon your palace gate in Rome, and yet after so foul a refusal, and shunning of trial ye shame not still to cry out, a pronounced heretic, an excommunicate heretic; indeed we must confess ye have offered him trial, but such as neither the true Church doth willingly incline to, neither truth itself will be decided by, when the word faileth ye fall to the sword; how often have ye since that time provoked him? Since the year 1586. five several armies have ye brought into the field against him: three in Guienne and Poictu, and two in Dauphin and Auvergne: I speak not of the battle at Coutraz, 1587. nor of the sundry inroads and incursions, wherewith since his first investing with the Crown, ye have forayed out against him; thus ye try out the truth, defend your faith, and maintain your cause: but good God, how hast thou delivered him from their hands, even as a bird escaping out of the snare of the fowler? When there was for number no equality, for human power no proportion, when nothing was left to increase any expectation or hope of victory, than didst thou cause him to triumph over their tyranny, as David treading upon the carcase of Goliath; which extraordinary favour of God, if it were but ordinarily considered, it would turn the fury of a number into loyalty and obedience, and teach them to know, that even the angels in heaven are up in arms to guard him, against whom they have carried arms so long; but God hath blinded their eyes, that they should not see: I speak it to your shame, ye frantic and unbridled Frenchmen: whom have ye thus mortally pursued? Whom do ye as yet with daily endeavour persecute? The world is witness that France never bred such a flower: would ye have a martial Knight? why then behold Navarra, behold him (I say) after 20. years trouble, (the siege of Troy twice told) still conquering and surviving, valiant in arms, patiented in labours, merciful in victories, politic, successful, adventurous, a perfect soldier at all points; search but your Chronicles, and tell me, if Charles the great were ever greater; would ye have a perfect and accomplished gentleman? why then behold him, whose princely comportment and behaviour, staineth all Spanish Magnificoes, all Italian Machiavellists whatsoever, a man deeply instructed, civility nurtured, royally descended, honestly disposed, a man affable without dissimulation, wise without subtlety, religious without hypocrisy, meek, liberal, modest, and every way a Gentleman; but would ye have a catholic? then stay a while, put up your swords, and he will prove himself a catholic, let but a synod be assembled, a counsel called, let both parts speak, and the world shall soon see who is a catholic; in a word, will ye have a King? then look upon Navarra; to you I speak you rebellious Leaguers, which band yourselves together against the Lord and his anointed, which eat up God's people as bread, and chop them in pieces as flesh for the Cauldron; to thee I speak thou great Leviathan, thou that dwellest in Lebanon, and makest thy nest in the Cedars, ye are the men which trouble Israel: but behold the time is at hand wherein God will bring again the captivity of Zion, and deliver his Church as a brand taken out of the fire: your sin is now at the height, your desolation draweth near: alas, the great city Babylon, the mighty city: Babel must come down and sit in the dust, the daughter Babel must sit upon the ground. Did Charles of Bourbon lay siege to Rome? did he sack your city? and cause your Pope to be led as a prisoner? Take heed of Henry of Bourbon; the house belike is fatal: beside, I tell ye it is ominous that the conductor of your League the Duke of Guise was slain upon navarra's birthday, men will shrewdly think that the coming in of Navarra will be the casting out of the Guise, and take up a byword (I fear me) Vbi Nauarrenus incipit Guisij desinunt: as if the exaltation of the house of Bourbon should be the ruin of Romish Leaguers and of Rome, which God in his good time will accomplish: And though he stay a while, yet sure we are he sleepeth not: and though as yet their abominations defile the Temple of God, yet a time shall come when their idolatry shall be rooted out, when thorns and thistles shall grow upon their Altars, then shall Zion appear in perfect beauty, fair as the Moon, pure as the Sun, and terrible as an army with banners; which God for his Son sake, for his mercy's sake, for his Church's sake speedily accomplish: come Lord jesus, come quickly, O Lord make no long tarrying.  
In despite of Antichrist. FINIS.