History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth. Vol. IIIFroude, James Anthony
History
History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth. Vol. III
Froude, James Anthony
Great Britain -- History -- Tudors, 1485-1603
The third and most important section divides itself into an address,
first to the king and then to England; finally to the foreign
powers--the Emperor particularly, and the Spanish army.
[Sidenote: He will be the king's physician, and unfold his wicked heart
to him.]
[Sidenote: The king a thief and a robber.]
"I have spoken," he commenced, "but, after all, I have spoken in vain.
Wine turns to vinegar in a foul vessel; and to little purpose have I
poured my truth into a mind defiled with falsehood and impurity. How
shall I purify you? How, indeed! when you imagine that yourself, and not
I, are in possession of the truth; when you undertake to be a teacher of
others; when, forsooth, you are head of a church. But, come, listen to
me. I will be your physician. I will thrust a probe into those envenomed
wounds. If I cause you pain, believe that it is for your good. You do
not know that you have a wound to probe. You pretend that you have only
sought to do the will of God. You will say so. I know it. But, I beseech
you, listen to me. Was it indeed your conscience which moved you? Not
so. You lusted after a woman who was not your wife. You would make the
Word of God bear false witness for you; and God's providence has
permitted you to overwhelm yourself in infamy. I say, you desired to
fulfil your lusts. And how, you ask, do I know this? How can I see your
heart? Who but God can read those secrets? Yes, oh prince; he also
knows--to whom God will reveal the heart. And I tell you that I am he to
whom God has revealed yours. You will cry out against my arrogance. How
should God open your heart to me? But contain yourself a little. I do
not say that God has shewn more to me than he has shewn to any man who
will use his understanding.[51] You think that the offspring of your
harlot will be allowed to sit on the throne, that the pure blood of
England will endure to be her subjects. No, truly. If you dream thus,
you have little of your father's wisdom. There is not a peer in all the
land who will not hold his title better than the title of a harlot's
bastard. Like Cadmus, you have flung a spear among your people, and
armed them for mutual slaughter. And you--you, the vilest of
plunderers--a thief--a robber--you call yourself supreme head of the
Church! I acquit the nation of the infamy of their consent. They have
not consented. The few suffrages which you can claim have been extorted
by terrour. Again, how do I know this? I, who was absent from my
country? Yes, I was absent. Nor have I heard one word of it from any
creature. And yet so it is. I have a more sure testimony than the
testimony of eyes and ears, which forbids me to be mistaken."
The witness was the death of Sir Thomas More, Bishop Fisher, and the
Charterhouse monks; and the story of their martyrdom was told with some
power and passion.
[Sidenote: He calls on England to rise in rebellion.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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