Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/243

 1 5 70. ] EXCOMMUNICA TION OF EL TZABE TH, 229 ' that during his Pontificate, the venom of heresy should have been spread so widely over the Christian Common- wealth. He had prayed to Peter however not to desert his forlorn bark on the stormy sea on which it was tossed ; and Peter, he did not doubt, would come to the help of his faithful servants. Many a time that precious boat had seemed to be on the verge of destruction ; yet, by the power of the Lord, the raging waves had been stayed, and the ship had come out from persecution, strengthened by the violence which had threatened it with ruin. It might be that the Lord Jesus Christ, who made old things new and new things old, had resolved to build again the Church of that realm by the hands of the two noblemen whom he was addressing men illustrious alike in their blood and in their zeal for the faith, who had endeavoured to save themselves and their country from the foul tyranny of female sensuality. 1 They -had desired to submit themselves again to the Holy Apostolic 'See. He applauded in the Lord their pious purpose as it deserved. He gave them his bless- ing. He received them under the shelter of his au- thority. He exhorted them to be constant and to per- severe. He was assured that the Almighty Lord, whose works were all perfect and who had moved them to the defence of the Catholic faith, would give them the aid of His powerful arm. Should they lose their lives in His service, it was better for them to pass at once into Paradise through a glorious death, than to be the mean De la subjeccion de la torpe y feminil incontinencia.'