iniquity of the King of England—to show that, as an adversary of the Church, he was infinitely more formidable than the Sultan—and that the arms of the Emperor, if he wished well to the interests of religion, should be specially directed against the chief offender.[1] When the King's crimes were understood in detail the Christian sovereigns would see in their enormity that such a monster must be allowed to vex the earth no longer. He recapitulated the heads of his book, and Henry's history as he there had treated it. In an invective against Cromwell he bathed his name in curses;[2] while he compared the King to Nero, and found the Roman tyrant innocent in the contrast. Finally, he closed his address with a peroration, in which he quoted and applied the prophecy of Daniel on the man of sin. Henry of England was the king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences, who was to stand up in the latter time and set himself above all that was called God; whose power should be mighty, but not by his
- ↑ 'Of the evils which now menace Christendom those are held most grievous which are threatened hy the Sultan. He is thought most powerful to hurt: he must first he met in arms. My words will bear little weight in this matter. I shall be thought to speak in my own quarrel against my personal enemy. But, as God shall judge my heart, I say that, if we look for victory in the East, we must assist first our fellow Christians, whom the adversary afflicts at home. This victory only will ensure the other.'—Apol. ad Car. Quint.
- ↑ He speaks of Cromwell as 'a certain man,' a 'devil's ambassador,' 'the devil in the human form.' He doubts whether he will defile his pages with his name. As great highwaymen, however, murderers, parricides, and others, are named in history for everlasting ignominy, as even the devils are named in Holy Scripture, so he will name Cromwell.—Apol. ad Car. Quint.
