Humbly tendred to the Consideration of, &c.

THE first remarkable passage in Queen Mary's (Popish) Reign, was Her wicked Dissimulation with the Men of Suffolk, to get Herself into the Throne, and Breach of Her Faith and Word, after She had obtained it, thus:

As soon as She heard of her Brother King Edward's death, and that He had by his Will, with the consent of his Council, Excluded Her, and Nominated the Lady Jane to succeed (the said Queen Mary having been before Bastardized by her Father King Hen­ry VIII.) She, under pretence of fearing Infection, Rid 40 Miles in one day, and removed from Norfolk to her Castle of Framingham in Suffolk, where taking upon Her the name of Queen, pretended to all the Nobility and Gentry of those Countries, That if they would give Her their Assistance, She would make no Alteration in Religion; Thereupon came to Her the Earls of Oxford, Bath, and Sussex, Lord Wentworth, John Mordent and Thomas Wharton Barons, eldest Sons, and several Knights, and many others of Norfolk and Suffolk, with whom She Conditioned and Agreed, That She would not attempt in any wise the least Alteration of Reli­gion established by her Brother King Edward VI. She, by this trick, being thus assisted, wrote her Letter to the Lords of the Council, wherein She claimed the Crown, and required them to proclaim Her Queen of England and the City of London, which in a short time was done.

As soon as She got into the Throne, her fair Promises proved false Deceits, for She im­mediately (the very next day) broke her Word with them, and in a short time those of the Diocess in Suffolk whom She thus wheedled to assist Her, tasted the sharpest Persecution under Her Reign; for She was so far from keeping Her Promises and Conditions made either with them, or any others in matters of Religion, that She acted quite contrary, as appears by the Sequel of Her sad and bloody Reign.

1. It was in the 3d of August, Anno 1553. that Queen Mary rode through London to the Tower, and the very next day She set up Stephen Gardner, the bloody Persecutor of the Protestants, in the Bishoprick of Winchester, and a few days after made him High Chan­cellor of England; this was that cruel Man that the Duke of Norfolk came to dine with, who would not go to Dinner till Four of the clock in the afternoon, because he would first have the news of Bishop Ridleys and Latimers being Burnt; of whose death, by Gods heavy Judgment on him, you may read further in our Chronologies.

2. The 5th of August, (two days after Her coming to London) She turns out the Pro­testant Bishops of London and Durham, and re-established Bonner (that blood-thirsty Mis­creant) Bishop of London, and Turstall Bishop of Durham. You see her first Act was to dis­place Bishops of the Church of England, and put bloody Popish Persecutors in their room, who worried and destroyed the poor Protestants.

3. The 15th of September after, Mr. Latimer, and Dr. Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbu­ry, with others, were Arraigned and Condemned.

4. Presently after Her Coronation, which was the First of October, She pretended to shew Mercy by a General Pardon, which (says my Author) was so interlaced with Exceptions of Matters and Persons, that very few received benefit thereby; so even that, with all the rest, was a meer Cheat.

5. It was not only the Protestant Clergy that She dealt thus withall, but even with the Judges too; for Sir James Hales, one of the Justices of the Common Pleas, who had been Her Friend, and stood for Her Succession, yet he for giving Charge at a Quarter Sessions in Kent, upon the Statutes of Henry VIII. and Edw. VI. in derogation of the Primary of Rome, he was first Committed to the Kings-Bench, then to the Counter, then to the Fleet, where he grew so troubled in mind, that he attempted with a Penknife to kill himself, and at last did drown himself.

6. In this Her first Year, She also caused a Synod to be assembled about matters of Reli­gion, who restored the Romish Religion, and the Mass commanded to be celebrated after the Romish manner.

7. The 4th of February, in the said Year, John Rodgers, the first Martyr of these times, was burnt at London.

8. February the 9th, John Hooper, late Bishop of Worcester, was Burnt at Gloucester.

9. Robert Ferrer, Bishop of Man, was Burnt at Caermarthen; after him John Bradford, with many others, was Burnt.

10. October the 16th, 1554. those two famous Men, Ridley late Bishop of London, and Latimer late Bishop of Worcester (no less famous for their constant Deaths, than their Re­ligious Lives) were most inhumanely and barbarously Burnt at Oxford, after they had first been conveyed from the Tower thither, upon pretence to dispute with the Romanists about the Real Presence in the Sacrament.

11. The next worthy thing that this Popish Successor did, was, to set up the Popes Su­premacy amongst us; For as soon as She was married to King Philip, She sent to Rome for Cardinal Poole to come into England, who came invested with great Authority as the Popes Legat a latere, who made a solemn Speech to the Parliament, exhorting them to return to the Bosom of the Church, for which End he was come to reconcile them to the Church of Rome; and for their first work of Reconcilement, he required them to Repeal and Abro­gate all such Laws as had been formerly made in derogation of the Catholick Religion.

Upon which Speech, the Parliament begged pardon for their former Errors, and told the Queen, They were most ready to abrogate all Laws prejudicial to the See of Rome. And thereupon the Cardinal gives them Absolution in these words: ‘[We by the Apostolical Authority given unto Ʋs by the Most Holy Lord Pope Julius III. (Christ's Vicegerent on Earth) do Absolve and Deliver you, and every of you, with the whole Realm and the Dominions thereof, from all Heresie and Schism, and from all Judg­ments, Censures and Pains in that Case incurred; and also We do restore you again to the Ʋnity of Our Mother, The Holy Church.]’

The Report hereof coming to Rome, was cause of a Solemn Procession made for joy of the Conversion of England to the Church of Rome. And thus was all the Kingdom of England turn'd Papists in one day, by having a Popish Successor.

12. March 1555. the Queen called to Her Four of Her Privy Council, and signified unto them, That it went against Her Conscience to hold the Lands and Possessions as well of Mo­nasteries and Abbies, as of other Churches; and therefore did freely relinquish them, and leave them to be disposed as the Pope and the said Cardinal should think fit. And shortly after in per­formance hereof, John Fecknam, late Dean of Pauls, was made Abbot of Westminster, and the Lands belonging to it.

13. Before this, Stephen Gardner, the Queens great Creature, uses malicious practises against the Lady Elizabeth, the Queens onely Sister, and next Heir to the Crown, and endea­voured very much to take away Her Life, She being a Protestant; he laid all the Snares for Her that he could invent, and at last, by his procurement, the Lady was kept in hard du­rance, and a Warrant at last was framed under certain Councellors hands to put Her to death; and had been done, but that Mr. Bridges, Lieutenant of the Tower, pitying Her case, went to the Queen about it, who denied that She knew any thing of it, by which means Her Life was preserved, this bloody Persecutor Gardner saying at the Council-Board, My Lords, we have but all this while been stripping off the Leaves, and now and then lopped a Branoh; but till such time as we strike at the Root of Heresie, (meaning the Lady Elizabeth) nothing can be effected to purpose.

14. All Beneficed Men of the Clergy that were married, or would not forsake the Prote­stant Religion the first Year of Her Reign, were put out of their Livings, and Romanists put in their room.

15. On the 27th of August, in the same Year, the Service begun to be sung in Latine in Pauls Church.

16. The same Year the Popes Authority was restored in England, and the Mass was commanded in all Churches to be used.

17. In Her 4th Year Monasteries were begun to be Re-edified and Restored, and had She but Reigned long enough, undoubtedly She would have had all the Abby Lands in England restored, had not Death put a period to all.

18. Neither was Her persecution less to the common People, and plain hearted Country-Men, than to the Protestant Clergy; For observe and consider, that within the compass of less than four Years, there suffered Death for the Testimony of their Consciences in the Pro­testant Religion 277 Persons, without any regard either of Degree, Age or Sex; in the heat of whose flames was consumed Five Bishops, Twenty one Divines, Eight Gentlemen, and Eighty four Artificers, One hundred Husbandmen, Servants and Labourers, Twenty six Wives, Twenty Widows, Nine Virgins, Two Boys, and Two Infants, and nigh as many dyed in Prison, through hunger, and other cruelties.

OH the bloody Cruelty of the Papists, through their Popish Religion! Shall I call it Religion, which is more properly a Butchery? And thus you see the effects of a Popish Successor.

This is no Romance, it was de facto, and would you have it so again? Or will you put it in the same hazard once more? No sure, unless you are infatuated; let Experience teach us which is the best Mistriss; let the burnt Child dread the Fire. Oh never forget the Burnings, the Scorchings, the Tortures and the Flames that were in Queen Maries Reign! We beg and beseech you all in your places, use all the Care imaginable now in time to se­cure us our Wives and Children, and the Protestant Religion, from the like again.

19. Though many Persecutions lasted longer, yet 'tis observable by Dr. Heyling, that none since Dioclesian's time raged so terribly, Eccles. Resta [...]r. but God being merciful to the poor Land and persecuted Church. Of all since the Conquest, Her Reign was the shortest, onely excepting that of Richard the Tyrant, yet much more bloody than was his.

[She Reigned five Years and four Months, wanting two Days.]

20. She lieth Buried in Westminster, without any Monument or Remembrance at all; as in her Life She deserved none, so in Her Death Her Memory is rotten; a just Reward for Her who was so cruel and bloody: yet one hath given Her this Inscription to remain to Posterity, viz.