〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the present commodity is euer most accepted for the subtill age to come will alter all Together with this iron earthly age the seede of corruption is daily sowne whose blossomes nowe already put foorth though they shine cleere and bright as dooth the cockle amiddest the wheate yet if they once beginne to reape to threshe to grinde to grinde to bake to eate they shall soone perceiue that there is cockle amongest the corne and ofte times vnder the painted viserd of great knowledge you shall se blind bayard wax so bold that through many wordes and often speaking amongest the ignorant whose eyes dazell in beholding such painted sepulchers hee is reputed for wise and learned According to that true saying of that lerned Dorne In hoc ferreo postremoque saeculo non nisi faeces artium superesse videmus etsi non nulli putent eas maxime vigere propter sermonis ornatum In this last iron age we haue but the dâ—egges of artes and sciences although manie thinke that learning florisheth more nowe then in times past because we talke more then they did and that more cunninglie more smoothlie more courtlie Which great absurditie of this our age throughly mixt with earth iron to the great perill and daunger of many thousand soules mooued mee first to penne this rudely written treatise in the behalfe of the Church of Iesu Christ and the soules health of all true Christians vnto whose handes it shal come Which secret cogitation taking effect by outward sence and shewing to my bodilie eyes in sundrie places and manie solemne foundations nowe made desolate whereby manie thousandes of learned pastours might haue beene maintained for the preaching of the Gospell of Christ and the dailie praysing of his name credidi propterea loquutus sum with the holie Prophet and Apostle I beleeued and therefore I writte that which the holy scriptures the holy counselles the holy fathers haue plainelie affirmed When I looked backe and considered what wee are and what wee ought to bee what wee haue doone and what we ought to haue doone the truth piersed my spirite my heart rent and my ioyntes did cleaue in sunder the passion of that sight beganne to worke the fyer was kindled within the sayinges of the holie fathers ministred oyle wherewith the flame brake foorth at my mouth crying alowde for Sions sake I will not hold my peace Here with returning to the mirrour of trueth the holie word of God whereby all our thoughtes wordes and workes are to bee tried and furthermore perusing the holie fathers by the assistaunce of the holie Ghost openers of the true vnderstanding thereof I meant to gather some store of testimonies out of them to witnesse with mee that this my affirmation in this matter is a certaine and vndoubted trueth Hauing behelde this radiant sunne of light the word of God and the little starres the holie fathers illuminated with the cleare beames thereof though the trueth appeared plainelie in them both yet their testimonies concerning thinges once dedicated to holie vse seemed to mee neither so manie as I expected nor so plaine Herein hauing made some spence of time in seeking that which was not so plainely figured in the fathers as I hoped and as it was truely meant at length the trueth of that conclusion offered it selfe most plainelie to my cogitation which was that as that auncient Solon hauing made many excellent lawes amongest the Athenians hee made no lawe neither set hee downe any punishment for him which should kil his own father supposing that the earth would neuer nourishe so wicked a creature Euen so it is truely supposed that those holie fathers liuing in the siluer age of olde antiquitie did neuer imagine that out of this earthlie yron age of ours there should spring anie so barbarous so cruell so wicked that would attempt to take awaie any thing from the true worshippe of almightie God Which suppositioÌ„ least in some mens sight it should seeme to want true position and sure ground let vs turne our minds a litle from carnal cogitations of worldlie minded men which thinke of necessitie the course of the world must bee mainteined howsoeuer the seruice of God be neglected and his holie temple your mindes thus turned cleane away from wordlie vanities which in one minute shall all vanish and consume like the paper cast into the fier turne your eies and behold the booke of life therewith conferre the expositions of holie councels and ancient fathers expounding the true sence of the same and you shall see most plainlie that things once dedicated to holie vse are not in anie wise to bee altered vnleast it be in extreame necessitie the braunches whereof are plainlie laied open by that holie father Saint Ambrose in these wordes Vasa ecclesiae initiata in his tribus confringere conflare vendere etiam licet primum vt extremae pauperum egestati succurratur c. In these three cases it is lawfull to breake to melt to sel the vessels of the Church first for the relieuing of the poore secondlie for the redeeming of the Christians beeing captiues to infidels Thirdlie for the preseruing of the Church christian buriall of the dead these extremities make that irreligious fact sometimes lawfull as appeareth though verie seldome in the practise of the primatiue Church according to that which Sozomene writeth in the fourth booke of his ecclesiasticall storie the 24. Chapter Saith hee when the people of Ierusalem wanted meat and were all readie to perish through the great famine which was amongest them Cyrillus the Bishoppe of the citie solde the treasure of the Church with all the costlie clothes belonging to the same distributing to the poore according to their necessitie First of all the goods of the Church being dulie and dutifullie bestowed on the worshippe of God and diuine function the true proper and principall vse and end of the same Secondly in extreame necessitie this is a good lawfull and also a holie vse of them and scarcelie to be called alâ—enating of the Church goods sith the poore are belonging to the same according to that generall sentence of all the councels and fathers Bona ecclesiae sunt bona pauperum the goods of the church are the goods of the poore But to take awaie the landes and goods of the Church whereby the beautiful feete of those which bring the glad tydings of the Gospel are shed their sides clothed their bodies fed and numbers of those which dailie praie in his holy temple are or ought to be mainteined lifting vp pure hands with hartie prayers for the sinnes of the people and those also which dailie sing praises to his holie name for his wonderful mercies shewed to mankind no scripture no councel no father no writer no religioÌ„ whatsoeuer doth allow it If wee looke into the law of nature or the rules of humanitie not much dissonant from the conclusions of morall
and holy things dedicated to God almightie which impietie beleeue me will not helpe you one whit in these your great daungers and extreame necessitie And although peraduenture it seeme not so to many yet without all doubt as a most fierce piercing poyson which with the deadlie contagion thereof is woont to infect and poison all things which come neere it Euen so your great strength and preparation to warre by your former impietie towardes the Church is like which God forbid to bee cleane vanquished and destroyed Iulius Caesar would neuer haue admitted such wicked councel though he were an heathen who as it is apparant in his life wheÌ„ he entred by chaunce into Aruernia the meÌ„ of that countrie pointed to the sword of Caesar hanging in their Church as it were a spoile got from the Emperour by force of armes Caesar entring the Church seeing the sword he smiled to him selfe saying nothing and when his frendes willed that it should bee pulled downe Caesar in any wise would not suffer it Out of question hee did both wisely and religiously for hee accounted the sword and all thinges else dedicated to holy vse to bee sacred thinges therefore he thought it vnlawfull to touch them any more with carnal hands or to haue them in any wise employed in humaine affairs Also your auncestors would neuer haue done so they would neuer haue imagined any such thing Those ancient rulers much renowmed for their great wisedome which being free from all danger from aduersitie from all extremitie they would neuer haue hearkened to such counsell nor haue accepted of any such subsidie And that most wisely for they knew full well that the best kinde of gouerment by which a common wealth is preserued augmented and encreased be two especially Religion and Iustice. Which when they are maintained the common wealth is safe and sure but if they faile it must needes also decay With these kinde of artes and orders rather then by force of armes they obtained this ample dominion which is enlarged by sea and land But so soon as these excellent artes began to waxe out of vse forthwith rhe Empire it selfe began to decay and come to ruine Which thinges if you will consider aright ought to forewarne and stirre you vp into a greater deuotion and more dutifull obseruation of Religion and holy thinges Neither ought these examples of your owne countrie affaires which haue fallen out vnluckily onelie bee a warning vnto you but also that great care and dutifull deuotion which your auncestors continuallie and plentifâ—lly yeelded vnto diuine thinges and vnto them whose function was to attend vppon the same Amongest the Aegyptians as Diodorus affirmeth all the yearly reuenues of the land were deuided equallie into three partes The first part the Priestes did challenge to themselues who were of such auctoritie amongest them that al things were gouerned by their councell and wise foresight being free from al burdens taxes they had the second place of the rule and dignitie next the king Also the Indians diuiding the whole common wealth into seauen tribes constituted the tribe of the priests in the first place free from all burthen seruice yeelding them great honor reuerence But yet in mine opinion concerning worship and dutie towards God the Aethiopians did farre excell all others For with them the priestes and keepers of their temples were in such great honour that they onely were the men whom they thought eligible to bee their kinges and that which seemeth vncredible they were of such auctoritie and credit amongest them that when they thought good they gaue notice to the kinges that they should die affirming that it was the sentence of their gods which was the cause that al their Kinges til the time of Ptolomy the second obeyed the edict of the priestes and willingly tooke their death at their appointment not constrained but euen by old custome being loth to alter the superstition Wherefore they boast that they haue reaped this fruit and reward for that their great pietie towardes their goddes that the inuasions of all their enemies and that crueltie could neuer do them any harme and that they were neuer conquered or subiect to any forraine nation For Cambyses that most mightie king of the Persians wheÌ„ he once assaulted them with a most dreadfull armie most of his souldiers being destroied with great ignominie he lost almost his whole armie Hercules and Dionisius hauing trauailed through the whole world would not once trouble the Aethiopians in respect that they were so religious The same thing also appeareth in the holy Bible For in the booke of Genesis we read that in the dayes of old there was so great so strange a famin through the whole world that corne and victuals were scarcelie to be had in any place The fiercenes of this famine was especially in Aegypt pinched them sorer than other nations insomuch that the inhabitants of the lande were compelled to sell their farmes their possessions and their houses nay their houshold stuffe for victuals Which when they began to faile them through the long and harde famine at length least through hunger they should die straungely most miserably they gaue themselues also into the kings hands Wherefore that religious steward of the king hauing laid vp exceeding great store of prouision euen of purpose He bought the whole land of Aegypt the possessions of the Priests excepted and their countries into the hands of king Pharao From which time vntill Moses as the scripture witnesseth the fift part of the increase of Aegypt was paid vnto the king But those thinges which appertained to the priests and the keepers of the temples they were safe from this lawe for Pharao did not onely giue them faire and large possessions but also hee appointed that they should be duly fed and nourished all the time of the famine by the common store and prouision which was the cause that they sold not their possessions and goods as the other people did What should I heere make mention of the Romans did not they appoint a most solemne priesthood to the ministers of holie thinges did they not alwaies imploie their greatest studies and paines in preseruing and increasing religion For as Valerius Maximus saith that citie preserued religion aboue all other things whatsoeuer so that the highest and chiefest magistrates did willingly yeeld themselues and their seruice vnto holy rites hoping assuredly that they should attaine the chiefe rule and magistracie of the worlde if they humbled themselues deuoutly vnto the heauenly power But to what end doe I shewe these things sith all bookes that euer was written either diuine or prophane are full of these examples and cleare monuments and therefore read you those books and peruse them diligently Neither thinke you that the priests and ministers of God as some talke should now be poore physitions as they were somtimes But on the
theÌ„ know that they must die like men that theyr bodies are made of a lothsome matter that they are but wormes meate dun ashes earth earth earth most vile and corruptible earth as all other men be though their descent bee princely ofte times from the house of many mighty Kings and Emperours though the knee of flesh and bloud doe bowe and kneele at their presence though their honour bee great in the eyes of the people their scepter mightie their crown gorgious yet one clod of earth must couer their heades in the graue and all their glorie shall be shut vp in a fewe lines according to the saying of saint Augustine in his booke De vera innocentia Qui splendes in mundo c. Thou which shinest in the world aboue the rest thou accountest of thy nobilitie of thine auncestors thou reioycest in thy large dominions in thy parentage in the great honour and homage which all men doe vnto thee knowe thy selfe that thou art earth and thou shalt bee consumed into earth againe looke vppe but a little and beholde those which were placed in the same throne of maiestie before thy time What is become of those excellent Oratours those mightie princes those puissant conquerous those renowmed Emperours Looke vnto the graue whether thou art passing beholde and see are they not all nowe rotten dust are they not like a sparke of fire which is vanished is not all there glorie and fame contained in a fewe lines written of them by some poore contemned scholler shall not the greatest Prince in this world rise vp naked at the daie of iudgement all amazed trembling and quaking Naie not his bodie onelie but his heart and his minde his soule and his conscience shalbe laied open before the Lord his Angels his saints and all his elect If hee haue plaied the tyraunte beating his fellowe feruantes ruling for his owne gaine and not for the benefitte of his Church shall not the remembraunce of his honour bee a stinging serpent to him in his conscience and his Princely dominion a most deadly corasiue to his heart Therefore be wise ye kings and princes of the worlde and yee which iudge the earth hearken to the wordes of vnderstanding Knowe yee that the wisedome of this world is not as is the wisedome of God Many men in their wisedome forecast by all meanes possible to come into possession of riches honour authoritie power and maiestie which when they haue attained let them but looke back a little and consider with what wicked sinnefull greeuous paines they were gotten with what feare and daunger they are possessed with what greefe they are loste let them enter into theyr owne heartes and beholde what a hell of corruptions and what an armie of tempting serpentes accompanie the minde that is set vppon riches let them marke howe manie wise men of this world haue come vp of nothing to great aboundaunce of wealthie authoritie and yet after they haue well practised and wiselie waied manie yeeres which waie they might come to enioye the height of their desire which is to rule whilest they liue heere on earth and to leaue the like to their posteritie it hath pleased the Lorde in one hower to cutte of the sequell and issue of all theyr hope Either theâ—â—elues togeather with their posteritie are cutte off or else the Lorde dooth take awaye that theyr ioye before theyr face or after all sendeth a worse mischeefe to theyr soule then anie penne can write anie tongue can tell or anie heart can vnderstand Which though we cannot sound to the bottome yet let vs learne by the shadowe to gesse the pourtraiture of the body by the effect to search the cause by the conclusion to knowe the trueth of that axiome Who so euer maketh his God of any thing here on earth it shall neuer prosper with him And who so maketh his quiet heauen here He shall neuer possesse the eternall heauen in the world to come Who so presumeth of his owne wisedome before the iustice of God or on his might that he may treade downe the poore hee shall not bee able to stand vpright in the daie of his daunger and to his vtter confusion he shall heare that voice at length Non est sapientia non est prudentia non est consilium aduersus dominum there is no wisedome there is no pollicy there is no counsell against the Lord. If wee will not hearken to the poore contemned ministers of Iesu Christ which forewarne vs dailie of that great daunger of our soule which wee rashlie aduenture by more esteeming of man then of God of the seruice of man then of the seruice of God of the commaundement of man then of the commaundement of God of the house of man then of the Church of God of the seruaunt of man then of the minister of God the stones in the wall shall crie out aloud and our owne conscience shall tell vs plainly that in loouing the honour the maintenaunce the issue of our bodie wee haue vtterly lost the saluation of our owne soules O that our eyes were so cleane washed with the water of life that wee might but once stedfastly behold the bright beautie of the radiant sonne of God no doubt we would leaue this great politike wisedome of this world wherin euery one striueth to frame his children and learn the true wisedome which is follie in the eyes of flesh wee would humble our selues before the Lorde and kisse the sonne least he be angry We would not count of that sweetnes which is tasted with toong nor of the fading beautie which shineth in the face of sinneful flesh we would cast our worldly honour in the dust and put our scepter vnder the foote-stoole of Iesu Christ We would not so much seeke the honour of earthly kingdoms nor triumph so often in the flesh but we would first aboue all other thinges reade the will of our God and meditare in the same both daye night wee would seeke to differ from the heathen in extolling our scepters after the manner of flesh bloud we would leaue the delight careful seeking of the worlde which is the first entraunce vnto Christ. We would knock at the doore of his mercie by a true faith and enter further by perfect obedience We would drawe neere to the father and kisse the sonne most louingly because he loued vs first so entirely that when wee were his enemies and beeing a most vile and sinnefull creature he left thousands of bright shining holie angels his daily ministers the spheares of heauen the stars of the firmament with all the rest of his beautiful creatures comming down in great humilitie was made man He beeing the high God of heauen earth for our sake was made man he suffered hunger and thirst reprochies and reuilings agonies and paines he sighed in his heart hee groned in the spirite and that which is able
of the people to sit in the throne of maiesty This did not the noble Godfrie of Bullē he did not so but possessing the true treasure of right valure and perfect vertue in his hart he coūted not his saftie to stand in the death of his enemies nor his cheefe possession in worldly riches nor his honor in glistering show nor his triumphe in magnificent troupes of noble men nor his maiestie in a crowne of molten mettal This he might haue had but he would not si quidem posse nolle nobile the noble minde ofte may but wil not The vertue of the minde was his possession and wisedome was his guide in this famous victorie He was studied in bookes of arte and wisedome hee red the Poet and liked his heroicall verse full well Sicelides musae paulo maior a canemus non omnes arbusta iuuant humilesque myricae His minde was great indeede he could not glorie in fleshly pleasures He sawe this famous Cittie was but a heape of lime and sand built with the handes of manie poore slauishe workemen the riches like glistering poison infused with the wine into y e cup of gold the whole kingdome of Iudea he saw was earthlie and easie to be won at al times with a sworde of iron and steele Therefore hee counted the glorie of the crowne and scepter but a toye And what was that then which hee counted off euen that for which hee came by which hee conquered in which hee meant to dwell Ierusalem Not that Ierusalem whose desolata est did raise a most sweete pleasaunt note from the musitions penne not the figured but the perfigured euen the Church of Christ and also that which is figured by it the heauenlie Ierusalem the true holy cittie the place of eternall rest of the true glory of perfect triumphe where hee might safelie and euer saie vnto his owne soule O my soule thou hast marched valiantlie Hee counted not of glorie which riseth out of the earth and therefore most wisely he fixed his hart and minde on true eternitie which dwelleth onely in the heauens Hauing conquered he did not ascend the chaire of maiestye that hee might showe himselfe vnto the people with great glorie but as that holie and victorious conquerour Henrie the fifte king of England when with a fewe thousands of men hee had vanquished Charles the Dolphin of Fraunce strengthened with a royall army wherein was most of his nobility he with all his armie kneled downe in the feeld holding vp his hands to heauen singing saying Non nobis Dominenon nobis sed nomini tuo da gloriam not vnto vs O Lord not vnto vs but giue the glory to thy holy name Euen so this worthy conqueror of Ierusalem though not with the same words yet with the like deuotion hee humbled himselfe before the Lord for the space of seuen daies walking on foote in Ierusalē beholding the places where our sauiour Christ was cōuersant whē he liued here on earth where he was takē wher he was examined where he was whipped scourged despitefully spit on derided with a reed in his hand a crown of thorns on his head The mighty conquerour did behold all these with his eies and his heart melted within him Hee often kneeled down and kissed the places where our sauiour Christ had beene With weeping eyes hee looked vp into the heauens and his soule desired to see the Lord of light That the Lord of his mercie would regard him he daily prayed with great humilitie liberallye bestowing on the poore In the place where the temple was founding a most solemne colledge for religious men giuing them great and large liuinges calling them Prebends building them many faire houses neere vnto the Church for them to dwell in These and innumerable such like where the fruites of this noble minde which beeing cleare in the sight of God of Angels and of men the Lord blessed prospered him wonderfully in so much that in regard of his high prowesse and victorious conquests to his eternall fame with all posteritie he is reputed one of the nine worthies of the world The fountaine of this perfect glory did first breake foorth in Fraunce flying ouer the highest Alpes euen to Ierusalem where by the way if wee will but diuert a little into Spaine amongst some good some bad we shall see one most excellent famous noble woman a great freend true louer of the church The best truest chronicles giue her this stile Serenissima ac catholica domina Elizabetha Hispaniarū ac vtriusque Siciliae ac Ierusalem Regina c. The most vertuous catholicke lady Elizabeth Queene of Sapine Sicily Ierusalem c. This vertuous woman much like the godly Helina mother of Constantinus was so greatly esprised with the loue of Iesu Christ his church so y t shee bent all her muse cogitation seeking daily diligentlie how she might beate downe the heathenish power of the Turkes and infidels therewith to enlarge the kingdome of Christ and the dominions of the Christians to the ende that her vertuous intent might the better prosper she began this worke with fasting and often praying with almes-deedes and founding of many godly temples not leauing anie worke vndone which shee thought was acceptable in the sight of God nor any meanes vntried which might procure the fauour of Iesu Christ her louing sauiour She turned her euery way and looked diligently on all sides howe and where she might best bestow the fruitfull seed of her charitable deuotion her heart was so enflamed with this heauenly desire that she could not containe her selfe anie longer in her pallace In great desire she founde no rest And what followed with the consent of her princely Ferdinando shee mustered her men of warre and gathered together the power of a mightie prince like the auncient Debora shee marched forwardes into the kingdome of Granata the greatest part whereof had beene inhabited by the Ismaelites aboue seuen hundred yeares defended by them a warlike people continually against the Christians which kingdom paid tribute to the crowne of Spaine 800000 crowns by yeare she counted not of the force of so huge strong a people neyther once regarded the greate reuenewe which came into her treasurie that waye The winters diuers times were so extreme cold that her captains soldiers requested her most instantly to breake vp her campe till a more seasonable time of the yeare yet she answering that this was the subtiltie of Sathan to hinder the woorke of the Lord warred continually for the space of three yeares till the enemies of Christ cleane ouercome shee made that whole realme christian bestowing very liberally on the poore the maimed the captiues the strangers that were in anie distresse In the same realme founding and erecting many goodly churches colledges and hospitals for the poore maymed comfortles people Wee may see by the large spreading and plentifull
contrarie you shall easilie see that in no age in no time past they were vsed so beggerlie and so vnworthilie But if in auncient time men were so religious in their errour howe deuout thinke you they would haue bene in the sincere worship of the true euer liuing God Such manner of men ought we to be which doe not worship fained idols or diuels as they did but that great creator the maker of heauen earth all things therein Wherefore I desire O most noble prince I desire most earnestly euen for that great goodwill which I beare to you your commonwelth that you and those which be of your opinion would alter your minds and take better councell concerning the church the clergie the landes and goodes once dedicated to the same Although you are not moued with those examples of your ancestors yet at the least let your late losses present calamites ioined with ill successe be a sufficient warning vnto you For I doubt of my truth am sore afraid least if you go on with the same mind and purpose as you haue begun you shal suffer greater aduersities euen as those which are of a farre better disposition haue plainly foreshewed vnto you In like manner as it is recorded it hath fallen out very daungerously to others in times past for S. Augustine writeth in his booke intituled De ciuitate Dei there was a great plague in Rome both of women and of beastes so that through the huge number of those which died they doubted that all liuing creatures would finallie perish and further also that winter was so exceeding colde that the snowe which was extraordinarie laye of a great deapth euen in the market place for the space of fortie daies and Tyber was frozen ouer verie harde and thicke Then they saie it was aunswered that the cause of the plague was in that many priuate men possessed and dwelt in manie religious houses which being shortlie after restored to their true vse foorthwith that great and wonderfull plague ceased Qu. Fuluius Flaccus as Valerius writeth left a notable example behind him euen an example to all posteritie concerning the contempt of religion For this man though he were the controler of the citie yet he scaped not vnpunished in that while he was in office he tooke the marble pillers of Iunoes temple in the citie Locrine and wickedly placed them in that house which he built at Rome For immediately after this fact he fel into a phrensie and was starke madde euer after with fierce mad passions still consuming till at the length hee hearing that of his two sonnes which were soldiers in Ilirium the one was dead the other most grieuously sicke he died most miserably By which great daunger the Senate and people of Rome not a little mooued decreed presently that the marble pillers should bee carried to Iunoes temple from whence they came that thereby the impious fact of the Censour might be corrected and by that excellent example they might note vnto their posterity that whatsoeuer is once dedicated to the immortall God cannot without great impietie be altered in anie wise though it bee imployed to some other honest and very good vses And if anie should bee so wicked and irreligious that they should attempt to violate prophane holie thinges yet they should vnderstand that the Senate would take it greeuously that they would be fully reuenged of theÌ„ for the same euen vnto death On the contrarie Xenophon writeth finely and excellently concerning Agesilaus that famous Emperour that hee alwaies with great diligence and studie did seeke to reuerence the temples of his enemies thinking it reason that the immortall God ought to bee trulie worshipped aswell amongst his enemies as amongst his friendes And likewise the religious and deuout persons euen amongest his enemies he would not suffer them in any wise to bee molested for he said it was vnreasonable and a most barbarous crueltie to take any one thing from the Temples and holy Churches or that the priestes should bee at any charges or losse in any respect Wherefore hee hated such wicked church-robbers euen vnto the death hoping thereby to vanquish his enemies and to strengthen his owne power the which conclusion prooued true as appeareth by that which is excellently written of Mithridates in the life of Lucullus translated out of Greeke into Latine by Leonard Iustinian that noble conncellor and father of your common wealth for whilest hee assaulted the citie of the Ciziceâ—anes being tributorie to the people of Rome and that with an exceeding great power both by sea and lande by and by a sodaine tempest rising and his victualles failing hee was vtterlie vanquished by Lucullus the greatest part of his armie being spoiled and destroied in the fight Afterward when he thought to saue his life only by flying againe hee was so afflicted with a straunge sodayne tempest that leauing the ship in which hee was which through the outragiousnesse of the tempest was almost readie to sincke hee was constrained to yeelde himselfe into the handes of pirats They report that Diana worthily afflicted him with that great ouerthrowe and calamitie which they accounted a goddesse because most iniuriouslie and irreligiouslie euen with wicked handes hee spoiled her temple and presumed to take her ymage from thence No lesse horrible chaunce there was amongest the Romane armie euen on the like occasion For when Carthage a professed enemie to the Romanes at length was woon of them by force of armes a certaine Romane Souldier contemning Religion in the spoiling of the Citie was not afraide to committe sacriledge taking away the goulden vesture from Apollo who was woorshipped as a GOD of all men but he escaped not long vnpunished for that wicked fact in that the most righteous God of his iust iudgement brought it so to passe that the handes of this church-robber were found cutte off amongest the peeces of the vesture wherby other afterwardes might bee taught how carefully wee ought to keepe our handes from violating holie thinges Wee may alledge manie such like examples out of holie Scriptures especiallie as it is written in the booke of the Machabees Antiochus that wicked king yeeldeth vs a plaine example which vaunted himselfe so prowdlie and so arrogantlie aboue all measure that hee seemed to himselfe as though hee could commaund the flowing of the seas and reach the heauens with his finger This man contemning the holie religion of the true and eternall God was not afraide with wicked and prophane handes to spoile that faire and famous Temple of the Iewes Though hee hoped to escape the vengeance of God yet he escaped not long for of a sodaine hee was stricken with so daungerous horrible plague that out of his bodie there issued abundance of woormes and with most horrible torment to him they issued out of his flesh hee yet liuing Hee beeing woonderfully mooued with this plaine and manifest punishment sent from