The History of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland

But if you refuse this my most reasonable and just Petition, what defence that ever you appear to have before men, then shall God (whom in me you contemn) refuse you;¹ he shall pour forth contempt upon you, and upon your posterity after you; the spirit of boldness and wisdom shall be taken from you; your enemies shall reign, and you shall die in bondage; yea, God shall cut down the unfruitful trees, when they do appear most beautifully to flourish,² and shall so burn the root, that after you shall neither twig nor branch again spring to glory. Hereof I need not to adduce unto you examples from the former ages, and ancient histories: For your brethren the Nobility of England are a mirror and glass, in the which ye may behold Gods just punishment;³ For as they have refused him and his Evangel which once in mouth they did profess, so hath he refused them, and hath taken from them the spirit of wisdom, boldness, and of counsel; they see and feel their own misery, and yet they have no grace to avoid it. They hate the bondage of strangers, the pride of Priests, and the monstriferous Empire of a wicked woman, and yet are they compelled to bow their necks to the yoke of the devil, to obey whatsoever the proud Spaniards and misled Mary list to command; and finally, to stand like slaves with cap in hand till the servants of Satan, the shaven sort, call them to Council: This fruit do they reap and gather of their former rebellion and unfaithfulness towards God; They are left confusion in their own counsels; he, whom in his members for the pleasure of a wicked woman they have exiled, persecuted and blasphemed, doth now laugh them to scorn, suffereth them to be pined in bondage of most wicked men, and finally, shall judge them to the fire everlasting, except that speedily and openly they repent their horrible Treason which against God, against his Son Christ Jesus, and against the Liberty of their own native Country they have committed. The same plagues shall fall upon you,⁴ be you assured, if ye refuse the defence of his servants that call for your support. My words are sharp; but consider, my Lords, that they are not mine, but that they are the threatenings of the Omnipotent, who assuredly will perform the voices of his Prophets, how that ever carnal men despise his admonitions.