MarginaliaAnno 1558.wealth and realme of England, then the king. For as I said before, it was ordeined for the conseruation of the libertie of the whole realme, and to exclude the vsurped authoritie of the B. of Rome. And therfore no K. or Queene alone could renounce such title: but it ought (if they wold haue it taken away) be taken away orderly and formally by acte of Parliament sufficiently called and summoned. For the naturall and right way to loose & vndoe things, is to dissolue them by that meanes they were ordeined. And so it most manifestly appeareth, that all their doings from the beginning to the end, were and be of none effect, force, nor authoritie: but all that they haue done, hath ben meere tyrannie. O most maruelous prouidence of almighty god, that alwayes and in all thinges, doth that is best for the welth of his people. O most mighty power, that so sodenly ouerthroweth the counsails of the wicked, and bringeth their deuises to naught. O infinite mercy, that so gently dealeth with his people, that hee saueth them whome hee might most iustly destroy. MarginaliaA ioyfull day.O most ioyfull, most mery, and neuer to be forgotten Hopwednesday,  

in which it hath pleased thee O God, to deliuer thy church this realm, and thy people from so horrible tyrannie. No tongue can expresse, no penne can endite, no eloquence can worthely set out, much lesse exornate these thy meruailous doings. No no hart is able to render vnto thy goodnes, sufficiēt thanks for the benefites we haue receyued. Who could euer haue hoped this most ioyfull tyme? Yea, who dyd not looke rather for thy most sharpe visitation and vtter destruction of this Realme, as of Sodome, Gomorra, and Hierusalem.

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But we see and feele good Lord, that thy mercy is greater then all mens sinnes, and farre aboue all thy workes. And albeit there is no Christian and natural Englishmā, woman or child, eyther present, or that shall succeede vs, which is not or shall bee pertaker of this most exceedyng mercy and wonderfull benefite of almighty God, & therefore is bound continually to prayse and thanke hym: yet there is not one creature that is more bound so to do, then you noble Queene Elizabeth. For in this horrible tiranny and most cruell persecution, your grace hath bene more hunted for, then any other. Diuers tymes they haue taken you, sometyme haue had you in strong hold, secluded from all liberty: sometime at libertie, but not without most cruell Gaolers custody, and many tymes they determined, that without iustice ye should be murthered priuily. They thought if your grace had bene suppressed, they shoulde haue fully preuailed. If ye had bene destroyed, their doyngs for euer should be stablished. If ye had bene taken out of the way, there were none left that would or coulde vndoe that they ordeined. MarginaliaGod preserueth the innocent, & maketh frustrate the malicious purposes of the wicked.But he that sitteth on high, and laugheth at their madnesse, would not suffer that the malicious purposes, most cruell deuised iniustice should haue successe. He tooke vpon hym the protection of you. He only hath bene your Ieoseba, that preserued you from this wicked Athalia. He onely was the Ioiada, that destroyed this cruell Athalia. Hee onely hath made you Queene of this Realme, in steade of this mischieuous Marana. No earthly creature can claime any piece of thanke therefore, no mans force, no mans counsail, no mans ayd hath bene the cause thereof. Wherfore the greater his benefites hath bene toward you, the more are you bounde to seeke hys glory, and to set forth his honour. Ye see his power what he is able to do, he can alone saue, and hee can destroy, hee can pull downe, and he can set vp. If ye feare hym & seeke to do his will, then will he fauour you, and preserue you to the end from all enemies, as he did king Dauid. If ye now fall from him or iuggle with hym, looke for no more fauour then Saule had shewed to hym. But I haue a good hope, that both his iustice and benefites bee so printed in your hart, that ye will neuer forget them, but seeke by all meanes to haue the one, and to feare to fall into the other. I trust also your wisedome will not onely consider the causes of this late most sharpe visitation, but also to your vttermost power endeuour to out roote them.

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And forasmuch as besides this infinit mercy poured on your grace, it hath pleased his deuine prouidence to constitute your highnesse to be our Debora, to be the gouernesse and heade of the bodye of this Realme, to haue the charge and cure thereof, it is requisite aboue all things, as well for his glory and honour, as for your discharge, quietnesse and safety, to labour that the same body now at the first be cleansed, made whole, and then kept in good order. MarginaliaAn apt similitude.For as if the body of man be corrupted and diseased, he is not able to manage his thinges at home, much lesse to doe any thing abroad: so if the body of a Realme be corrupt & out of order, it shal neither be able to do any thing abroad: if necessitie should require, not yet prosper in it selfe. But

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this may not be done with piecing & paching, coblyng & botching, as was vsed in tyme past whilest your most noble father and brother raigned. For as if a man cut of one hed of the serpent Hidra, and destroy not the whole body, many will growe in stead of that one, and as in a corrupt body that hath many diseases, if the Phisition should labour to heale one part, and not the whole, it will in short tyme breake out a fresh: so vnlesse the body of a Realme or common wealth be cleane purged from corruption, all the perticular lawes and statutes that can be deuised shall not profite it.

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We need no forraine examples to prooue it, looke vpon this Realme it selfe, it will plainely declare it. And as it is not enough to cleanse the bodye from his corruption, but there must be also preseruatiues ministred to keep it from putrefaction: for naturally of it selfe it is disposed to putrifie: so after the body of a realme is purged, vnles there be godly ordinances for the preseruation thereof ordeined and duely ministred, it will returne to the olde state. For this body which is the people, is vniuersally naturally disposed to euill, and without compulsion will hardly do that is his duety.

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This must your grace do if ye mynd the aduancement of Gods glory, your owne quietnesse and safetie, and the wealth of this your politike body. And they be not hard to bring to passe, where good will will vouchsafe to take to her a little payne. The Realm will soone be purged, if vice and self loue be vtterly condemned. MarginaliaThree thinges which preserue the good estate of a Realme or common wealth.It will be in good state preserued if these three things, Gods word truely taught and preached, Youth well brought vp in godly and honest exercises, and Iustice rightly ministred may bee perfectly constituted. And without this foundation, let men imagine what it pleaseth them, the spiritual house of God shal neuer be well framed or builded, nor the publike state of your Realme well ordered. For in what body gods word lacketh, the vnitie and charitie, that ought to bee among the members thereof, and which knitteth them together, is soone extincted. Where the youth is neglected, there can no good successe bee hoped, no more then the husbandman can look for a good crop where he sowed no good seed. And where iustice is not truely and rightly ministred, there the more laws and statutes together be heaped, the more they be contemned. And surely, MarginaliaCharges not to be weyed, where Gods glory is to be furthered.if this thing could not without exceeding charges be compassed, as God forbid, that charges should be weyed be they neuer so great, where Gods glory and the wealth of the realme may be furthered: yet ought it not to be neglected. What charges did K. Dauid the father, & king Salomon his sonne, employ to build the stony house of God? Howe much more charges should a christian prince employ to build & set vp the liuely house of God? But verily, I am fully perswaded that it shall not be chargeable to do this. No, a great deale of superfluous charges, which otherwise your grace shall be forced to sustaine, shal thus be cleane cut away, and so your reuenues by a meane most profitable, & to no good person hurtfull, encreased.

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Wherefore for Gods sake noble Queene, let not the oportunitie now by God offered be by your Grace omitted. A Phisition can in nothing so much declare his good will and cunnyng, nor purchase hymselfe so great estimation, as when he findeth his pacient thoroughly sicke and weakened, and doth restore hym to his perfect health, and perfection. Likewyse if a Prince should desire of God a thyng whereby he might declare the zeale that he beareth to GOD, or whereby hee myght winne fame and glory, he could desire nothyng so much, as to come into a state corrupted, as this Realme of England at this present is, not to destroy it as did Cæsar, but to make it as did Romulus.

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If your grace can bring this to passe, as I am out of all doubt ye may quickly: Ye shall doe more, then any of your progenitours did before you. All men shall confesse that you are not onely for proximitie of bloude preferred, but rather of God specially sent and ordeined. And as the Queene of Saba came from farre of to see the glory of K. Salomon, a woman to a man: Euen so shall the Princes of our tyme, come men to a woman, and Kinges maruell at the vertue of Queene Elizabeth. Thus shall wee your subiectes be most bound to prayse God, and to thinke our selues most happy, that beyng so sodainly from the worse, be forthwith preferred to the best: rid from extremest calamitie, and brought to the greatest felicitie: and it shall be besides an example for all euil Princes to leaue their persecution of Christ and his members, to cease from their tiranny, wherewith they continually oppresse theyr poore subiectes. And so all people, not onelye wee of this your Realme, but of all other nations, shall haue iust cause to

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