MarginaliaAn. 1549.any other sayth, and so to consent with the speaker. MarginaliaAlteration of seruice from an vnknowen tounge to a knowen tonge.If the seruice in the Church was good in Latine, it remayneth good in English, for nothing is altred but to speake with knowledge that was spoken with ignorance, and to let you vndersrtand what is sayd for you, to the entent you may further it with your owne deuotion: An alteration to the better, excepte knowledge bee worse then ignoraunce. So that who soeuer hath moued you to mislyke thys order, can geue you no reason, nor aunswere yours, if ye vnderstoode it.

Wherefore you our subiectes remember, we speake to you being ordeined your Prince & King by almightye God: if any wise we could auaunce Gods honour, more then we do, we woulde doo it: and see that ye become subiectes to Gods ordinances, obeying vs your Prince, and learne of thē which haue authoritie to teach you, which haue power to rule you, and will execute our iustice, if we be prouoked. Learne not of them, whose fruites be nothing but wilfulnes, disobedience, obstinacie, dissimulation, and destruction of the Realme.

Marginalia4.
The Masse.For the Masse, we assure you, no small study nor trauell hath bene spent by all the learned Clergie therein, and to auoyde all contention, it is brought euen to the very vse as Christ left it, as the Apostles vsed it, as holye fathers deliuered it, in deede somwhat altered from that the Popes of Rome, for their lucre brought to it. And although ye may heare the contrary of some popish euill men, yet our Maiestie, which for our honor maye not be blemished nor stained, assureth you that they deceiue you, abuse you, and blowe these opinions into your heades for to finish their own purposes.

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Cōfirmation.And so likewise iudge you of Confirmation of children: and let them answer you this one question. Think they that a Childe christened is damned because it dieth before Bishopping? MarginaliaBaptisme saueth without any Byshopping.They bee confirmed at the tyme of discretion, to learne that they professed in the lacke thereof, by Baptisme: taught in age, that which they receiued in infācie, & yet no doubt but they be saued by Baptisme, not by Confirmatiō, and made Christes by christening, & taught how to cōtinue by Cōfirmation. Wherfore in the whole, marke good Subiectes, how our doctrine is foūded vpō true learning, & theyrs vpō shameles errours.

To conclude, beside our gentle maner of information to you, whatsoeuer is contained in our Booke, eyther for Baptisme, Sacrament, Masse, Confirmation, and seruice in the Church, is by our Parliament established, by the whole Clergie agreed, yea by the Bishops of the realme deuised, and further, by Gods word confirmed. And how dare ye trust, yea how dare ye geue eare, without trembling, to any singular person, to disalow a Parlament, a subiect to perswade against our Maiesty, any man of his single arrogancie, agaynst the determination of the Bishops and all the Clergie, any inuented argument against the word of God?But now you our Subiectes, we resort to a greater matter of your blindnes, of your vnkindnes, a great vnnaturalnes, and such an euill, that if wee thought it had not begon of ignorannce, and continued by perswasion of certaine traitors amongest you, which we thinke fewe in nūber, but in their doinges busy, we could not be perswaded, but to vse our sword and doo iustice, and as we be ordeined by God, that is, to redresse your errours, by auengement: But loue and zeale yet ouercommeth our iust anger, how long þ^t wyll be, God knoweth, in whose hande our hart is: and rather for your own causes, being our christened subiectes, we would ye were perswaded then vanquished, informed then forced, taught then ouerthrowen, quietly pacified thē rigorously persecuted.

MarginaliaThe rebels require the vj. Articles.Ye require to haue the statute of the sixe Articles reuiued: and know ye what ye require? Or know ye what ease you haue with the losse of them? They were lawes made, but quickly repented, to bloudie they were to bee borne of our people, and yet at the first, in dede made of some necessitie. Oh Subiectes, how are ye trapped by subtile persons? We of pitty, because they were bloudye tooke them away, and you now of ignoraunce, wyll aske them againe. You know full well, that they helped vs to extend rigour, & gaue vs cause to draw our sword very often: they were as a whetstone to our sword, and for your causes we left to vse them. And since our mercye moued vs, to write our lawes with Milke and equitye: how be ye blinded to aske them in bloud?

MarginaliaThe vj. Articles takē away by Parlament.But leauyng this maner of reasoning, and resorting to the truth of our authoritie, we let you wyt, the same hath bene adnulled by our Parliament, with great reioyce of our Subiectes, and not now to be called bySubiectes in question. Dare then any of you, wyth the name of a Subiect, stand against an act of Parliament, a law of the whole realme? What is our power, if lawes should be thus neglected? Yea, what is your suretye, if lawes be not kept? Assure you most surelye, that wee of no earthly thing vnder the heauen, make such a reputatiō as we do of this one thing, to haue our law obeyed, & this cause of God, which we haue taken in hand, to bee throughly maynteined, MarginaliaA notable zeale and þ^e princely worde of þ^e kyng.from the which wee wyll neuer remoue a heares breadth, nor geue place to anye creature liuing, muche lesse to any subiecte, but therein wyll spend our owne royal Person, our Crowne, treasure, realme, and all our state: whereof wee assure you of our high honor. For herein in dede resteth our honour, herein standeth our kingdome, herein do all Kinges knowledge vs a King. And shall any of you dare breathe or thinke against our honor, our kyngdome, or crowne?

MarginaliaThe kings age.In the end of this your request (as we be geuen to vnderstand) ye would haue thē stand in force vntill our full age. To this we thinke,if ye knew what ye spake, ye would neuer haue vttered the motion, nor euer geuen breath to such a thought. For what thinke you of our kingdome? Be we of lesse authoritie for our age? Be we not your king now, as we shalbe? Or shal ye be subiectes hereafter, and now are ye not? Haue we not the right we shall haue? If ye would suspende and hang our doynges in doubt vntil our ful age, ye must first know, as a kyng we haue no difference of yeares nor tyme, but as a naturall man and creature of God, we haue youth, and by his sufferaunce shall haue age: MarginaliaA king possesseth hys crowne not by yeares, but by Gods ordinaunce.we are your rightfull kyng, your liege Lord, your kyng annointed, your king crowned, the soueraigne kyng of England, not by our age, but by Gods ordinaunce, not onely when we shalbe xxj. of yeares, but whē we were of x. yeares. We possesse our crown, not by yeares, but by the bloud and discent, from our father kyng Henry the ryght. You are our subiectes because we be your kyng, and rule we will, because God hath willed. It is as great a fault in vs, not to rule, as in a subiect not to obey.

If it be considered, they whiche moue this matter, if they durst vtter them selues, would deny our kyngdom. But our good subiectes know their Prince, and will encrease, not diminishe his honour, enlarge, not abate hys power, knowledge, not differre hys kyngdome to certaine yeares: all is one, to speake agaynst our crowne and to deny our kingdome, as to require that our lawes may be broken vnto xxj. yeares. Be we not your crowned, annoynted, and established kyng? wherein then be we of lesse Maiestie, of lesse authoritie, or lesse state, then our progenitours kynges of this Realme? except your vnkyndnes, your vnnaturalnes will diminishe our estimation. We haue hetherto, since the death of our father, by the good aduise and Counsayle of our deare and entierly beloued vncle, kept our state, maintayned our Realme, preserued our honour, defended our people from all enemyes: we haue hetherto bene feared and dread of our enemyes: yea, of Princes, Kinges, and nations: yea, herein we be nothyng inferiours to any our progenitors (which grace we knowledge to be geuen vs from God) and how els, but by good obedience of our people, good counsaile of our magistrates, due executiō of our lawes. By authoritie of our kyngdome, England hetherto hath gayned honour: duryng our reigne, it hath wonne of the enemy, and not lost.

MarginaliaYounge yeares hindereth not the royall gouernmēt of a realme.It hath bene marueiled, that we of so young yeares haue reigned so nobly, so royally, so quietly. And how chaunceth it, that you our subiectes, of that our countrey of Deuonshyre, will geue the first occasion to sclaunder this our Realme of Englād, to geue courage to the enemy, to note our Realme of the euill of rebellion, to make it a pray to our old enemyes, to diminishe our honour, whiche God hath geuen, our father left, our good vncle and Coūsaile preserued vnto vs? What greater euil could ye committ, then euen now when our foreine enemy in Scotland and vppon the Sea seeketh to inuade vs, to arise in this maner agaynst our law, to prouoke our wrath, to aske our vengeaunce, and to geue vs an occasion to spend that force vppon you, whiche we ment to bestow vpō our enemyes: to begin to slay you with that sword which we drew forth agaynst þ^e Scots & other enemies: to make a conquest of our owne people, which otherwise should haue ben of þ^e whole realme of Scotland.

Thus farre ye see we haue descended from our hyghe Maiestie for loue, to consider you in your base and simple ignoraunce, and haue ben content to send you an in-