20.1. The kings oration in the par|lement house.

The kings oration in the par|lement house.

Compare 1577 edition: 1 _ALthough my chancellor, for the time being, hath before this time vsed verie eloquentlie and substantiallie, to make answer to such orations as hath béene set foorth in this high court of parlement; yet is he not so able to open and set foorth my mind and meaning, and the secrets of my heart, in so plaine and ample manner, as I my selfe am and can doo. Wherefore I taking vpon me to answer your eloquent oration maister speaker, saie, that where you in the name of our welbeloued commons, haue both praised and extolled me, for the notable qualities that you haue conceiued to be in me: I most hartilie thanke you all, that you haue put me in remembrance of my dutie, which is to indeuour my selfe to obteine and get such excellent qualities, and necessarie vertues, as a prince or gouernour should or ought to haue, of which gifts I recognise my selfe both bare and barren, but of such small qua|lities as God hath indued me withall, I render to his goodnesse my most humble thanks, intending with all my wit and diligence to get and acquire to me such notable vertues and princelie qualities, as you haue alledged to be incorporated in my person. These thanks for your louing admonition and good counsell first remembred,The kings thanks to his commons. I eftsoones thanke you. Againe, bicause that you considering our great charge, not for our pleasure, but for your defense, not for our gaine, but to our great cost, which we haue latelie susteined, aswell in defense of our and your enimies, as for the conquest of that fortresse, which was to this realme most displesant and noisome, and shalbe (by Gods grace) hereafter to our nation most profitable and pleasant, haue fréelie of your owne minds granted to vs a certeine subsidie, here in an act specified, which verelie we take in good part, re|garding more your kindnesse, than the profit there|of, as he that setteth more by your louing harts than by your substance. Beside this hartie kindnesse, I cannot a little reioise, when I consider the perfect trust and confidence, which you haue put in me, as men hauing vndoubted hope and vnfeined beléefe in my good dooings and iust proceedings for you, with|out my desire or request, haue committed to mine order and disposition all chanteries,The kings promises for the well dis|posing of chantries and colleges. colleges, hospi|tals, and other places specified in a certeine act, firm|lie trusting that I will order them to the g lorie of God, and the profit of the common-wealth. Surelie if I (contrarie to your expectation) should suffer the ministers of the church to decaie, or learning (which is so great a iewell) to be minished, or poore and mise|rable to be vnreléeued, you might saie that I being put in so speciall a trust, as I am in this case, were no trustie fréend to you, nor charitable to mine euen christian, neither a louer to the publike wealth, nor yet one that feared God, to whome accompt must be rendered of all our dooings. Doubt not I praie you, but your expectation shall be serued, more godlie and goodlie than you will wish or desire, as hereafter you shall plainlie perceiue.

Compare 1577 edition: 1 Now sith I find such kindnesse on your part to|wards me, I cannot choose but loue and fauour you, affirming that no prince in the world more fauou|reth his subiects than I doo you; nor no subiects or commons more loued and obeied their souereigne lord, than I perceiue you doo me, for whose defense my treasure shall not be hidden, nor if necessitie re|quire, my person shall not be vnaduentured. Yet al|though I wish you, and you with me, to be in this perfect loue and concord, this fréendlie amitie cannot continue, except both you my lords temporall, and my lords spirituall, and you my louing subiects, stu|die and take paine to amend one thing, which surelie is amisse, and farre out of order, to the which I most hartilie require you: which is, that charitie and con|cord is not among you, but discord and dissention bea|reth rule in euerie place. Saint Paule saith to the Corinthians, and the thirtéenth chapter:Charitie and concord in common|wealths be things most necessarie: but in matters of religion, charitie and con|cord is not e|nough, with|out veritie and true wor|ship of God. Charitie is gentle, charitie is not enuious, charitie is not proud, and so foorth in the said chapter. Behold then what loue and charitie is among you, when the one calleth an other heretike and anabaptist, and he calleth him againe papist, hypocrite, and pharisie? Be these to|kens of charitie amongst you? Are these signes of fraternall loue betweene you? No, no, I assure you that this lacke of charitie amongst your selues will be the hinderance and asswaging of the feruer [...] betwéene vs, as I said before, except this [...] be salued, and cleerelie made whole. I must néeds iudge the fault and occasion of this discord to be [...] by negligence of you the fathers and preachers of the spiritualtie: for if I know a man which liueth in adul|terie, I must iudge him a lecherous and a carnall person: if I sée a man boast and brag himselfe, I can|not but déeme him a proud man. I sée heere dailie that you of the cleargie preach one against another, teach one contrarie to another, inueigh one against an other without charitie or discretion: some be too stiffe in their old Mumpsimus, other be too busie and curious in their new Sumpsimus: thus all men almost be in varietie and discord, and few or none preacheth trulie and sincerelie the word of God, according as they ought to doo. Shall I iudge you charitable per|sons dooing this? No, no, I cannot so doo. Alas, how can the poore soules liue in concord, when you prea|chers sow amongst them in your sermons debate and discord? Of you they looke for light, and you bring them to darkenesse. Amend these crimes I exhort you, and set foorth Gods word, both by true preaching and good example giuing: or else I, whome God hath appointed his vicar and high minister here, will sée these diuisions extinct, and these enormities corrected according to my verie dutie, or else I am an vnpro|fitable seruant, and an vntrue officer. Although I saie the spirituall men be in some fault, that charitie is not kept amongst you; yet you of the temporaltie be not cleare and vnspotted of malice and enuie: for you raile on bishops, speake slanderouslie of preests, and rebuke and taunt preachers, both contrarie to good order and christian fraternitie. If you know suerlie that a bishop or preacher erreth, or teacheth peruerse doctrine, come and declare it to some of our councell, or to vs, to whome is committed by God the EEBO page image 986 high authoritie to reforme and order such causes and behauiors, and be not iudges your selues, of your owne fantasticall opinions and vaine expositions, for in such high causes you may lightlie erre. And al|though you be permitted to read holie scriptures, and to haue the word of God in your mother toong, you must vnderstand, that it is licenced you so to doo, onelie to informe your owne consciences, and to in|struct your children and familie, and not to dispute, and make scripture a railing and a taunting stocke against priests and preachers, as manie light per|sons doo. I am verie sorie to know and heare, how vnreuerentlie that most pretious iewell the word of God is disputed, rimed, soong, and iangled in euerie alehouse and tauerne, contrarie to the true meaning and doctrine of the same: and yet I am euen as much sorie, that the readers of the same follow it in dooing so faintlie and coldlie. For of this I am sure, that charitie was neuer so faint amongst you, and ver|tuous and godlie liuing was neuer lesse vsed, nor God himselfe amongst christians was neuer lesse re|uerenced, honored, or serued. Therfore (as I said be|fore) be in charitie one with an other, like brother and brother: loue, dread, and serue God, to the which I as your supreame head and souereigne lord exhort and require you, and then I doubt not, but that loue and league that I spake of in the beginning, shall neuer be dissolued or broken betwéene vs. And to the ma|king of laws which we haue now made and conclu|ded, I exhort you the makers to be as diligent in putting them in execution, as you were in making & furthering of the same: or else your labour shall be in vaine, & your common-wealth nothing releeued. Now to your petition, concerning our roiall assent to be giuen to such acts as haue passed both houses, they shall be read openlie that ye may heare them.