EXperience of the leud lustinesse & vnchastitie of Popishe clergie hath long agoe ministred an olde tale, how a person of a towne hauing the lordship annexed to his personage, as many haue, by reason therof was by speciall custome charged, as in many places they be, to kéepe a common Bull for the towne, wherby theyr cattell and his tithe might be encreased, which Bull had great libertie and is by custome not poundable. It happened that complaint was brought to him by hys neighbors of the insufficiencie of his Bull, that he dyd not get calues so plentifully as in tyme past they were wont to haue. The person a wise man of good skill as it should seme, c [...]used hys Bull to be tyed fast and hys crowne to be shauen, and then let him goe, saying, now goe thy way, there was neuer any bad of thys marke, he will get calues I warrant him. So is it happened that of late a holy Bull, I thinke some Iupiter is come for loue of hys Io, or rather for iust to some leud Pasiphae arriued in this land.
It is the great persons bull, which person was wont by custome to finde common [Page] Buls for all England, when he claimed or vsurped the Lordship of England as annexed to hys personage. It is the same Bull that begat the famous Monecalfe that of late yeares made the terrible expectation. Of late being against custome empounded, or kept from breaking of hedges as he was wont to do, and from spoyling of seuerall pastures, he grew to some faintnesse. But now hath his owner new shauen hys crowne & sent hym to get calues agayne for encrease of the townes hearde and the persons tithe.
And surely the experience is notable, for since he came ouer so lately disguised, he hath light vpon certaine ranke kyen, who I thinke by their long forbearing are become the lustier, that is, treason, superstition, rebellion, and such other, and with them he hath so bestirred him, that by the helpe of maister Doctor Harding, Sanders, and other, some there, some here, iolly cowkéepers and herdemen of Popish clergie, which sent and brought him ouer, & brake open for him the seuerall hedges and senses of true religion, obedience, allegeance, fayth, and honestie, he hath begotten a marueilous number of calues in fewe yeares, that is, since the yeare. 1567. [Page] he hath begotten multitudes of all the formes of calues hereafter mentioned, beside other in the wilde woodes not yet knowen, & lastly he hath begotten a most horrible monster, of whom shall hereafter be entreated.
He hath begotten some traitorous calues, as the practisers and vnderminers of the state. Some rebellious calues, as those that haue combred the realme with vnhappy sedition. Some deinty calues with white faces, as dissembling hypocrites that watch their time. Some calues with blacke faces, as black soule and his fellowes common bleaters and railers at true religion. Some Apostaticall calues, that haue forsaken fayth and do impugne the knowen truth. Some tame drousy calues, that with their brutishe superstition can not raise vp their heads from ground, nor their eyes to heauen. Some mad wilde calues, as Roges and Rumor spreaders. Some running and gadding calues, wiser than Walthams calfe that ranne nine miles to sucke a Bull, for these runne aboue nine hundred miles. And no maruell, for they desire not to sucke milke but bloud. Some calues with hornes, and some without, some with power running [Page] fiercely, some pushing with their vnarmed heades as eluishly as they be able. Some doctor calues, some proctor calues, and some of other degrees. Some weyward calues, euer running backward and athwart, without regard of ditch behinde them, or hedge before them. Some calues whom no fense will hold, no not the brode sea. Some cow calues, some bull calues. Some calues that neuer wil be but calues, though they liue these hundred yeares. Some winking calues. Some suttle vndermining calues. And some fonde licking calues there he that be none of the same Buls calues, but calues out of Gods own hearde, seduced by leude companie of other stray calues. These in séeking to licke woundes whole, do not onely licke poyson into their owne bodies, but also enuenime other therby, and specially the good damme with whose wholesome milke them selues be fedde. This Bulles calues since they receaued their sires blessing, are waxen wilder then they were, no heardman can rule them, but as if the gad flye were in their tailes, they runne whisking about, or of mere eluishnishe will taste no wholesome and naturall foode.
The Monster of whom I tolde you, [Page] is no way so fitly to be described, as by the olde tale of the ancient Poetes, that seme as it were to haue foreshewed him in figure, as followeth. Pasiphae Quéene of Creta, not sufficed with men, conceiued inordinate, vnnaturall, and therewith vntemperable lust to engender with a Bull. Neither regard of vertue, honor, kindnesse, nature or shame, in respect of God, her husband, her countrey, her selfe, or the whole world, could restrayne her violent rage of vncleane affection. Yet wist she neither how to wooe the Bull, nor how to apply her selfe vnto him. A meane at length was founde to make this vnkindly coupling.
There liued then a cunning craftesman Dedalus, the selfe same Dedalus of whome it is famous how he made hym winges, wherewith by cunning guiding him selfe he passed seas & countries at his pleasure. And winges he made also for Icarus his sonne to fly with him. But the vncunning Icarus, climbing to neare the sonnes heate, his winges melting, fell into the water and gaue name to the sea.
This fine Dedalus, to satisfie the wicked Quéenes feruor of lust, & to match her and the Bull in abhominable copulation, [Page] framed a cowe, and so made couered and vsed it with leud deuises, and therein so inclosed and placed the good innocent and vertuous Lady, that of the Bull she conceiued the abhomination of the world, and in time brought forth the monster Minotaurus halfe a Bull and halfe a man, fierce, brutish, mischeuous, cruell, deformed, and odious.
To shroud thys monster from common wonder, & yet therewithall to deliuer him the foode and contentment of hys crueltie the destruction of men, a Labyrinth or Maze was builded by the same cunning Dedalus, wherein Minotaurus the Man bull or Bull man lurked, and men passing in thether to him by entanglement of the Maze & vncertayne error of wayes, were brought to miserable end, till at length valiant Theseus, furnished with the policy of wise Ariadna, receaued of her a clew of thred, by which, leauing the one end at the entrie, he was continually guyded and preserued from the deceauing Maze, and hauing slayne the monster, by conduct of the same thred safely returned.
The appliance hereof to the experience of our times hath an apt resemblance, [Page] not to proue but to shew the image of some doinges at these dayes, and therewith by conference not onely to sharpen an intentiue sight of that which we winck at, but also to rayse a iust lothing of that whereof by some hurtfull impedimentes we haue not discerned or rather not merked the horror.
Lecherous Pasiphae may well be applyed to treason in hys estates addicted to papistrie, forsaking Gods ordinance of humane royall gouernement. Which when so euer it happeneth, (for happe it may and hath oft so chaunced) such treason destroyeth good and naturall affection, it kindleth vile and beastly desires, and among all other none comparable in filthinesse to the lust of yelding them selues to beare the engendring of the great Bull of Basan or rather of Babylon, the oppression, incumbence, and tiranny of Rome, the vsurpation of the Romaine siege the siege of all abhomination. This principall traitorous lust, that throweth downe the person vnder this vncleane desire, throweth away vertue & respect of God, for Romane pride hath climbed into the seate of God and shooued to shoulder him out, and banished vertue by open dispensing [Page] with vice. It expelleth remembrance of honor and kindnesse in regard of husband, for fayth of wedlocke hath no place in adulterers, and by Romane practises neither doth superstition permit the soule to keepe her chastitie from idolatries and from forsaking Gods rules of religion, nor the wife her due fayth from wandering lust, nor the husband his safetie from traitorous violence. It driueth out naturall loue of countrey, for it prostituteth all dominions to the common adulterer, vnderminer, and forcer of kingdomes, the Bull of Rome. It banisheth shame, for it boasteth her filthinese to the worldes sight, soliciteth it publikely, practiseth it openly, defendeth it impudently, and carieth it in glorious pompe and triumph, not as Iö ryding on a Bulles backe through the water, but as it were carna [...]ly wallowing with a beast on the toppe of Traianes piller. And surely no more sodomiticall is in nature the vnnaturall mixture of a Bull and a woman, than is sodomiticall in policie and religion the intermedling of the popish vsurpation of Rome with a temporall prince, yelding his or her realme to Popish iurisdiction, or with the spouse of Christ the vniuersall church rauished [Page] by that Bulles force or desyled by his abuses. But as in Pasiphae, so where such rage of traiterous and superstitious desire entreth, Gods grace forsaketh, honest feare departeth, shame flyeth, and the lust is vntemperable.
The Daedalus that must bryng the enioyeng of this horrible lust to effect, is the treason of Popish Clergie, full of cunnyng workmanshyp, as the world hath long had great experience, euen the same Popish Clergie that hath framed to hym selfe wynges, not naturally by Gods ordinance growyng to the body therof, but made of fethers pulled from temporall Princes and from Byshops in theyr owne Dioceses by vsurpation, fastened together by art of symonie, and ioyned to theyr bodyes with the glew of superstitious credulitie. With these haue they passed landes and seas, clymbyng & flyeng in ayre, that is, vpon no stedfast ground, aboue mountaines, trées and countries, that is, aboue Emperours, kinges, iust prelates and common weales.
The sonne of this Dedalus, that is, of treason of popish clergie, is Icarus, that is, aspiring treason of subiect, which following [Page] his father and guide popish treason, but not so well guiding himselfe for lacke of experience, and desiring to sodenly to climbe to nere the Sunne, or perhappes mounting with more hast than good spéede before his winges were well fastened, or while himselfe could but yet flutter with them and not perfectly flie, as God would, his glew melting, and his winges dropping away, fell downe in his climbing, and no doubt will geue name to the place where he lighteth for perpetuall memorie of his vndue presumption, surely yet piteously bewayled of papistes as Icarus was of Dedalus his father.
This cunning Daedalus, Popish treason, to bring this copulation to contentment of the vnchast Pasiphae, encloseth her in a counterfait cow, that is, such princes or great estates as desire to lie vnder the Bull of Rome, popish clergie turneth into brutish shape to serue brutish lust, maketh them beastly, forsakyng the dignitie of man and womans shape, whom God made vpright to looke to God and Gods seate the heauen, & it maketh them cowishly stoupe to earthward, without regard of the nature of man, the dignitie of kyngdomes, [Page] the reuerent aspect to diuinitie, or any other manly and reasonable consideration, without any more vigor, agilitie of soule and industrie to do noblely than is in a cowe: a beast in déede profitable for worldly foode, as Papistrie is, but (as most part of beastes be) redy to promiscuous & vnchosen copulations, and specially méete for a Bull, and among other prety qualities hauyng one speciall grace, (as one of theyr owne Popish Doctours preached) to swynge away flyes with her tayle wett in the water, as foolish papistes swinge away sinnes and temptations with a holy water sprinkle.
In this beastly likenesse, degenerating from manly forme, and maiestie of gouernance, by Dedalus workmanship, that is, by popish clergies traitorous practise, ensued the copulation of a Bull and a Quéene in a cowishe shape, that is, Sodomiticall and vnnaturall mixture of popish vsurpation with and vpon royall gouernance in brutish and reasonlesse forme.
Of this ingendring is begotten Minotaurus, a compounded monster, halfe a Bull and halfe a man, a beastly cruell bodie, roaring out with the voyce or sound [Page] of a Bull, and wordes of a man, the sense of a deuill. The selfe same monster Bull is he that lately roared out at the Bishops palace gate in the greatest citie of England, horrible blasphemies agaynst God, & villanous dishonors agaynst the noblest Quéene in the world Elizabeth the lawfull Quéene of England, he stamped and scraped on the ground, flong dust of spitefull speches and vaine curses about him, pushed with his hornes at her noble counsellers and true subiectes, and for pure anger all to berayed the place where he stoode. And all this stirre he kept, to make a proofe if hys horned armye of calues would or durst come flyngyng about him toward midsommer moone.
But he looked so beastly, and he raged so vaynely, that though the whole wood rang of hys noyse, yet hys syre the great Bull, hys damme the prostitute cowe, and hys children the foolish calues, were more ashamed of hym than the noble Lion was afraide of him. And therfore the Bull hys fire, the cowe hys damme, and the wysest of hys calues, fled once agayne to Daedalus the treason of Popish Clergie, for succour and good counsell, by whose good workmanshyp this myngled monster is [Page] closed vp in a Maze, that is, in vncertaintie of vayne and false reportes, and (as it happeneth in a Maze) by wayes leadyng to other places than they seme to tend vnto, by crokednesse of deuises, by spredyng into sondry créekes of rumors, to hyde whence the Bull came or where he lurketh, euen as in the Maze of Daedalus it happened, so it commeth to passe that the Minotaure is not found out, and such as enter into the Maze, that is, into folowyng of Popish reportes and deuises, entangle them selues so, that wanderyng vncertainely at length they may hap to perish in Daedalus engyne. And iudgement they lacke (the euident proufes considered that are in that behalfe to be ministred) that beleue the report to be true of transferring that Bull to Protestantes deuises. But I feare a worse thing: for if they haue no wisedome that say so, wise great persons can not beleue them: and if they lacke not witte, then can not them selues beleue it, and so is their truth to the Prince to be perilously suspected.
The remedie resteth that some Theseus, some noble and valiant counseller, or rather one bodie and consent of all true and good nobilitie and counsellers [Page] follow the good guiding thred, that is, godly policie deliuered them by the virgine whom they serue, and conducted thereby not onely may passe without error through the Maze and finde out the monster Minotaure that roared so rudely, but also destroy hym and settle theyr Prince and them selues in safetie: so as, Pasiphae duely and deseruedly ordered, Daedalus vnwynged and banished, hys fethers ryghtly restored, Icarus fayre drowned, the cowe transformed, the Maze dissolued & razed, the monster destroyed, the calues (after the cow perished) sent with Walthams calfe to sucke theyr Bull, Theseus may be victorious, the virgine Ladie most honorable, the land quyet, the subiectes safe, and Gods prouidence euer iustly praysed not vaynely tempted, hys kyndnesse thankfully embraced, his name louyngly magnified, hys policies wisely folowed, hys Religion zelously mainteyned.
But till these noble enterprises be acchieued, it is not good to be hedelesse. The Monster may be let out of the Maze, when it pleaseth Pasiphae and Daedalus.
It is good to be awake. Some men be wakened with tickelyng, and some with [Page] pinchyng or pullyng by the eare, that is, some with mery resemblances, and some with earnest admonitions. Some be raysed out of sléepe with noyse, as by the spéech or calling of men, or by brute voyces, as the roaring of Bulles and noyse of beastes, that is, either by aduises of them that warne with reason, or with the bragges & threateninges of the enemies, or inklinges slipped out of vncircumspect aduersaries mouthes. Some be wakened with very wisperinges, as with secret rumors and intelligences. Some agayne are so vigilant and carefull, that the very weight of the cause and pensiue thinking of it, wil scarcely let them sléepe at all. But most miserable is their drowsinesse, or rather fatall semeth their sléepinesse, that for all the meanes aforesayd, and specially so leude and loude roaring of so rude and terrible a Bull, can not be wakened or made to arme and bestirre them, till the tumult and alarme in the campe, the clinking of armour, the sounde of shotte and strokes, the tumbling downe of tentes round about them, the groning of wounded men dying on euery side of them, treason, force, and hostilitie triumphing in their lustiest rage, and Sinon, that perswaded [Page] the safetie of the traiterous horse, insulting among them, yea till the very enemies weapon in theyr body awake them. Such may happe so to sléepe as they may neuer wake.
Let vs all wake in prayer to God. Let vs cry louder in sinceritie and deuotion, than the Bull is able to roare in treason and blasphemie. Let vs pray God to arme our Quéene and Counsell with all wisedome and fortitude, and our selues with all fidelitie and manhoode, and to repose our selues vpon confidence of their most blessed gouernance, and redy with our liues and all that we haue to follow and serue them.
Let vs dayly and nightly pray God to send a curst Cow and a curst Bull short hornes, or to be well capped, or well sawed of, that they budde no more, for els it were better to take away head and all to be sure, least honester then these calues be made calues, or knocked on the head as though they were calues. Surely as of a body there is but one head that can not be spared, so in a body may be many hods that must néedes be spared, as perhappes twenty byles & euery one hath a head, in which case there is no perill but least they [Page] goe into the body againe & then perchance infect the hart bloud and put the body in danger. And the onely perill of driuing them in agayne you wote is colde and colde handling. Some of our botches be runne already, of some theyr heads be broken, some ryping and I trust shall be well launced or cleane drawne out in time. In the meane time beware cold. And God send & maintayne the warmth of his grace.
Amen.