The word of God wchwhich is yethe only direction of Conscience & a certaine rule for all Estates & Offices doth often & most earnestly teach ytthat Godly Priples Princes & Magistrates not only in Conscience safely may but also in duty towards God ought severely & uprightly to administer justice. For this is one of yethe principall causes for yethe wchwhich yethe providence & wisdome of God hath ordained Magistrates in Com̄mmonweales ytthat they might by Iustice & punishmtment according to yethe greatness of yethe offence repress yethe wickedness of mankind whereunto by corruption of Nature they are inclined.

The Magistrate (as St Paul saith)Rom. 13 is yethe minister of God & yethe revenger of wrath towards him ytthat hath done evill &c

And St Peter 1 Pet. 2be subject to yethe King as to yethe cheif or to yethe under Rulers as sent of him ad vindictam nocentium to yethe punishmtment or revengement of Offenders & to yethe praise of them ytthat do well

If yethe Magistrate doe not this God threatneth heavy punishmtment when you were (saith wisdome to Princes)Sap. 6 yethe Ministers of his Kingdome you have not executed Iudgmtment rightly nor kept yethe Law nor walked according to his will horrible & right soon shal he appear unto you. For as hard Iudgment shal they have ytthat fear rule & Potentes proventur tormenta patentur. Now then if yethe Magistrate be yethe Minister of God in his name & authority to punish yethe wicked according to yethe measure of their offences & are threatned grievous punishmtment if they do not & on yethe other party yethe scottish Q hath offended in two highest degrees both concerning Gods religion & yethe disheriting and & destruction of our Prince. We see not but her MatieMajestie must needs offend in Conscience before God if she do not punish her according to yethe measure of her offence in yethe highest degree.

Consider not saith GodLevt. 19. yethe person of yethe poor nor honour yethe countenances of yethe rich. It is not good saith SolomonProv. 18. to regard yethe person of yethe wicked thereby to decline from yethe truth of Iudgment.

And Iesus SyrackEcclusEcclesiasticus 7sti make no labor to be a Iudge except thou have yethe stoutness ytthat thou mightily maist put down wickedness, for if thou stand in awe of yethe mighty thou canst not but faile in giving sentence. Wherefore whether yethe late Queen of Scots be Queen or Subject be stranger or citizen be kinn or not kinn by Gods word for so great offences she should have yethe just deserved punishmtment & ytthat in yethe highest degree.

When God by his just providence doth commit any greivous offender into yethe hands of a Prince or Magistrate as to his Minister to be punished he ought to fear yethe heavy displeasure of God if by any color he do omitt yethe same. Non enim hominis judicium est sed Dei. et maledictus est qui facit opus Domini fraudulenter vel negligenter. For God oftentimes bringeth Sinners to punishmtment for other Offences then those ytthat are known & appear to yethe world. And therefore hath he shewed himself greivously displeased when such by yethe color of mercy & pitty in Princes have escaped just Iudgment.

When Saul spared Agag1 Reg. 5. although he were a King God took from yethe same Saul his good Spirit & stransferd yethe kingdome of Israel from him & his heirs forever.

When Achab spared Benadab yethe King of Syria by his unreasonable clemency tho he were a great Prince God willed the Prophet to say unto him Because thou hast let escape out of thine hand yethe Man ytthat I would have had to dye thy life shall be for his life & thy people for his people. In these examples great pretence might be made for mercy for sparing of them & great reproahreproach of bloodiness & cruelty in in contrary. But we see how God judged in them. The late Q. of Scots being a greivous offender divers ways both before she came ino this land & afterwards, hath been by Gods especialll & marvellous providence put into yethe Queens MatiesMajesties hand to be punished & far more notably then Agag & Boenadab were put into yethe hands of Saul & Achab Therefore it is greatly to be feared if she escape as Benadab did under pretence of mercy & honourable dealings ytthat Gods heavy displeasure will for yethe same light both upon yethe Prince & yethe Realm as it did upon Achab & yethe Israelites shortly after.

This sentence of yethe Prophets as it is for certain reported was spoken to yethe LdLord Iames late Regent of Scotland when wthwith so much lenity he proceeded therein. It hath followed too true in him yethe LdLord turne it from our gracious soveraigne.

Every good Prince ought by Gods commandmtment to punish even by death all such as do seek to seduce the people of God from his true worship unto superstition and Idolatry. For ytthat offence God hath always greivously punished such as com̄mmitted agtagainst yethe first Table Deut. 13 his words are these. If thy brother yethe Son of thy Mother or thy own Son or thy Daughter or yethe wife ytthat lieth in thy bosome or thy friend wchwhich is as thy own Soul unto thee entice thee saying let us go and serve otherstrang Gods & thou shalt not consent unto him nor hearken unto him thy eye shal not pity him neither shalt thou have compassion on him nor keep him secret but cause him to be slain thine own hand shal be first upon him to kill him &c And afterwards addeth ytthat all Israel shal fear to do any more such wickedness. The residue of yethe chapter containes more previous matter wchwhich we wold wish all them to read ytthat in great offences under color of pity are loath to have sharp punishmtment used. Now you may perceive ytthat God willeth his Magistrates not to spare either brother or sister or son or daughter or wife or freind be he never so nigh if he seek to seduce yethe people of God from his true worship much less is an enemy or traytor to be spared, yea & he addeth yethe cause twhy he wold have so sharp punishmtment used in such cases ytthat Israel may fear to do yethe like. But yethe late Q. of Scots hath not only sought & wrought by all meanes she can to seduce yethe people of God in this realm from true religion but it is yethe only hope of all yethe adversaryes of God throughout all Europe & yethe instrumtment whereby they trust to overthrow yethe Gospell of Christ in all Countries. And therefore if she have not yethe punishmtment wchwhich God in this place aforementioned appointeth It is of all Christian hearts to be feared ytthat Gods just plague will light both upon yethe Magistrates & Subjects for ytthat by our slackness & remisse Iustice we give an occasion of yethe same overthrow of Gods glory & truth in his Church mercifully restored unto us in these latter dayes.

Euseb. Lib. 2d de vita Constant.Constantinus Magnus caused Licinius to be put to death being not his subject but his fellow Emperor for ytthat yethe said Licinius laboured to subvert Christian Religion. The same Constantine is for yethe same in all historyes highly com̄mmended. Much more shal it be lawfull & honourable for yethe Queens MatieMajestie to execute this woman who besides yethe subversion of religion hath sought yethe life of yethe same our gracious soveraign.

The 4th reasonIt is dangerous for any Prince as well as for his own state as also for ytthat punishmtment ytthat may come from Gods hands by slackness of Iustice in great offences to give occasion by hope of impunity of yethe encrease of like wickedness. Ioab being spared of David for murthering of Abner killed Amasa also. Because Am̄mmon was winked at by his father for committing rape & incest with his own sister, Absalon under hope of like impunity was emboldened to murder his brother Ammon.

But look I pray you how greivously God punished yethe slack Iustice of David coloured wthwith tender heart towards his natural Children did he not suffer yea & by his just Iudgment raisde one of his own Sons towards whom he used but excessive tenderness & pity to rebell agtagainst him & drive him out of his kingdom.

The late Scottish Q. hath heaped up all yethe sins of yethe licentious Sons of David adultery, murder, conspiracy, treason & blasphemies agtagainst God also & if she escape wthwith slight or no punishmtment her MatieMajestie in Conscience ought as also good & faithful subjects to fear ytthat God will reserve her as an Instrument to put her from yethe royall seat of this kingdom & to plague the unthankfull & naughty subjects. Quod omen ut Deus avertat precamur. Shall we think ytthat God will nonot plague it surely our hearts do greatly fear he will do it greivously.

The 5th reasonA Prince ought in Conscience before God by all yethe means he can to see to yethe quietness safety & good estate of yethe people over wchwhich God hath appointed him governour for in yethe Prophets own times under yethe names of pastors & watchmen he threatneth great punishmtment to Princes & Governours for yethe contrary Especially Ezek. 33d & 34th & signifyeth ytthat if his people perish either in soul or body by slackness in administrating Iustice or by any other misgovermtment God will require their blood at yethe Princes hands wchwhich places if they may be applyed to Prophets & Teachers, so do they not exclude but principally comprehend Kings & Magistrates as Ironimus noteth in Ezek 33d. The words of yethe Prophet are these

If yethe watchmen see yethe sword & blow not yethe Trumpet so ytthat yethe people is not warned if yethe sword come then & take any man from among them yethe same shal be taken away in his own sin from among them but his blood will I require at yethe watchmans hands.Ierem. 23

And again whowoe unto yethe ShepherdShepherds ytthat destroy & scatter my flock, saith yethe Lord &c. you scatter & thrust out my flocks and do not look upon them therefore will I visit yethe wickedness of your imaginations &c. By these & such other words in many places God signifieth if his people perish either in soul or body by yethe slackness or remise governmtment of them ytthat are appointed Rulers over them as it were shepherds and herdsmen to keep them from danger ytthat he will require yethe blood of his people at their hands. Solomon a wise & a good Prince spared not his own natural yea & his own elder brother Adoneus for suspition & likelyhood of Treason & for a marriage not purposed only but did put him to death for yethe same & that speedily without course of Iustice least by delay trouble & danger might have ensued not only to his own person being Prince & cheif Minister of God in yethe land but also to yethe people over wchwhich he had yethe charge, & for safety where of in Conscience he was bound to deal he wold have thought it a great burthen to his Conscience if by yethe sparing of ones mans life were he never so nigh a blood unto him he should have hazarded yethe state in wchwhich God had placed him & yethe blood of many thousands of his people wchwhich by rebellion might have been spent. But this woman & her greatly desired husband as she prretended have put far more heinous matters in execution wherefore her cause standing as it doth there is no scruple in conscience to proceed wthwith severity but great danger of in Conscience for dealing too mild & contrary to order of Iustice making yethe punishmtment less then yethe offence wchwhich is yethe the evident danger of her MatiesMajesties own Person yethe hazard of yethe Realme & yethe subversion of Gods truth.

6th reason.It is dangerous for any Christian Prince contrary to yethe word of God wthwith colour of mercy & pitty to do ytthat whereby he shall discourage & kill yethe heart not only of his own good subjects, & faithfull Counsellors but also of all other nations faithfully professing Gods religion & his true worship as it may well appear in yethe example of David. David having this infirmity of too much pitty & indulgence towards offenders wchwhich is not of any Prince to be followed. That his trayterous son Absalon should be slayn & when he was killed effeminately bewailed yethe same to yethe discouraging of his people but he was sharply rebuked by Ioeb his Counsellor Thou hast shamed this day yethe faces of thy servants wchwhich have saved thy life & yethe life of thy Sons &c Thou lovest those ytthat hate thee & thou hatest those ytthat love thee & thou shewest this day ytthat thou passests not for thy captains & for thy servants. And now I perceive if Absalon had lived & all we had been slayne it wold have pleased thee well. What great inconvenience was like to fall unto David by this doing & wtwhat other good directions may be taken out of this history well considered, for brevity sake we leave to yethe consideracon of wise Princes and Governors. But David was so much moved wthwith these words ytthat he was contented to take any other course wchwhich turned both to yethe comfort of his own subjects & his own benefitt, yethe application needeth not. If David were moved thus to do for yethe comfort of his own subjects only & yethe abasing of his own private rebells how much more have we to desire God to move yethe Queens MatieMajestie by yethe execution of this Lady to glad yethe hearts of all true Christians in Europe & to bash & damp all yethe minds of all yethe enemies of God & freinds of Antechrist.

ObjectionIt may be objected ytthat thus to proceed is not honourrable for yethe Queens MatieMajestie